The Storm-class battle destroyer is only one of the various military equipment innovations of the Chinese Empire, and in the 11th year of Guanghua, the Chinese Empire is in the midst of a new military reform plan for the navy, land and air force.

In addition to continuing to develop and build Song-class battleships equipped with 16-inch guns, the Navy set off the global arms race in 1911 and continued to be in the leading position of the world's navy.

In addition, after more than three years of testing, the relevant technical demonstration work has been completed for the Navy's revolutionary secret weapon aircraft carrier. With the four modified aircraft carriers of Fubo Mountain [CV-2], Elephant Trunk Mountain [CV-3], Caidieshan [CV-4] and Danxiashan [CV-5] as test platforms, the Navy accumulated relevant experience, the first newly designed domestic aircraft carrier Huangshan class officially started construction at the Guam Naval Base Shipyard on March 5, 1909, and was completed at the end of June 1911, and after five months of sea trials, it was officially put into service at the end of 1911.

The main reason why the aircraft carrier was chosen to build in Guam was to prevent the Imperial Chinese Navy from being detected by spies from other countries. Choosing to build on an inaccessible island in the Pacific Ocean can not only avoid the close detection of foreign spies, but also facilitate direct access to the depths of the Pacific Ocean for sea trials.

A total of two Huangshan-class aircraft carriers were built, and the Huangshan [CV-6] and Lushan [CV-7] were named after the famous Chinese mountains Huangshan and Lushan, respectively.

As the first completely newly built aircraft carrier, the Huangshan class directly chose the right-angled hypotenuse flight deck layout mode, integrating take-off, landing, standby, and lifting operations, with the island concentrated on the starboard side, and the three chimneys merged into an elliptical large chimney, and the middle and upper part of the island is a regular octagonal bridge command room, which integrates the functions of combat command, personnel scheduling, and tower, and is convenient to view the take-off and landing operations of aircraft carriers and carrier-based aircraft from any direction.

This is 40 years earlier than the European and American aircraft carriers in history adopted the same layout method, so that the aircraft carriers of the Imperial Chinese Navy have realized the development model of modern aircraft carriers from the very beginning.

The Huangshan-class aircraft carrier has a standard displacement of 25,300 tons, a full load displacement of 36,500 tons, a length of 203 meters, a width of 40.5 meters, and a draft of 8.5 meters. The flight deck is 195 meters long and 66 meters wide, and can carry 120 Cat Demon carrier-based aircraft.

There are six hangars, each with a capacity of 15 aircraft, and 30 in the open air on the flight deck. There are 4 elevators, 2 starting platforms in the take-off area on the port side of the island, and 2 platforms at the end of the landing area behind the island.

The main engine is 12 oil-fired boilers and 4 sets of Parsons gear-driven steam turbine units of Beiyang Power Company, with a total power of 1200000 horsepower, a maximum speed of 30 knots, and a cruising range of 12000 nautical miles/20 knots.

In terms of the structure of the ship island, it is smaller than the island of any 30,000-ton warship of the first class in the Chinese Empire, and its position is closer to the tail section, and the overall structure of the whole ship is more reasonable. It is about 18 stories high from the ground floor to the bridge. Below the flight deck is divided into 10 floors, with floors 1-4 being fuel tanks, fresh water tanks, ammunition tanks and engine rooms. The 5th and 6th floors are the sailors' quarters, food storage, dining hall and administrative offices. The 7th and 8th floors are the maintenance rooms of carrier-based aircraft, the living quarters of maintenance personnel and radar crews; The 9th and 10th floors are hangars, combat duty rooms and pilot restaurants. The island superstructure above the deck is divided into 8 floors, from bottom to top: firefighting, medical, combat personnel quarters, tools, communications and electrical materials warehouse, bridge captain's room, officer's room, tower flight command personnel, communications studio, etc.

There are 2 steam catapults on the right-angled and beveled decks, which are mainly used to catapult the bomber and help the bomber fly safely, while the fighter can take off without the help of catapult. On the beveled deck there are 4 barricades and 1 barricade net; The ship is divided into 10 combat departments, namely: operations, aviation, navigation, weapons, marine engineering, medical services, communications, supply, security, and aircraft maintenance, and each department has a number of detachments, with a total establishment of 2,480 personnel, including 1,130 crew members and 1,350 air crew.

Since the Imperial Chinese Admiralty still used the battleship as the flagship of the fleet, there was no fleet command department on the aircraft carrier. Aircraft carriers are used as take-off and landing platforms for fleet naval aviation, following fleet actions.

For this arrangement of the Admiralty, as the emperor of the Chinese Empire, Wang Chenhao, he did not interfere, after all, in this era, the giant ship cannon doctrine is still in an absolute leading position, and only after experiencing several naval battles in which aircraft carriers participated, the Admiralty will really realize the power of aircraft carriers.

Since the aircraft carrier fights with the fleet, the coastal defense work is only the responsibility of the other combat ships of the fleet, and the aircraft carrier itself is only equipped with 22 twin 102-mm rapid-fire guns, all of which are high-level dual-purpose guns.

Along with the construction of the aircraft carrier platform, the improvement of carrier-based aircraft is indispensable.

The Cat Demon carrier-based aircraft three years ago has now been greatly upgraded. In addition to a shortened wingspan that folds to make it more suitable for naval carrier-based aircraft, the speed, bomb load and range have been increased accordingly.

The Catdemon carrier-based fighter has added a hook under the belly, which can carry two 300-kilogram aerial bombs, or a 600-kilogram red-headed torpedo with a black gold charge, with a combat radius of up to 400 kilometers.

Since the completion of the two Huangshan-class aircraft carriers, live-fire tests have been carried out in the waters near the Marshall Islands. Cat Demon carrier-based aircraft carry aerial bombs or torpedoes and rush to the target ship hundreds of kilometers away to carry out bombing.

The bomb roared from the sky and landed on the target ship, exploding with a bang, and a cloud of fiery mushrooms took off. The torpedo was dropped from a sea area several hundred meters away, rushed at the target ship at high speed, and after the successful impact, there was a thunderbolt from the sky, stirring up huge waves hundreds of meters high...... More than ten kilometers away on the sea, the battleship Han Wudi, the flagship of the Pacific Fleet, was moored here. Above the island, which is more than 20 meters high, officers and officers of the Pacific Fleet Command used binoculars to observe the naval aviation's live-fire exercise.

Half an hour later, the remote-controlled target ship was sunk in a violent explosion.

"Sunk! Sunk! The officers immediately shouted excitedly.

Li Dingxin said with a smile: "The power of the aircraft carrier is really not to be underestimated!" Sink the target ship so quickly! ”

Lin Jianzhang snorted and said, "It's just to sink an old armored cruiser, this kind of bombing effect is useless for the main battleship." ”

Due to the weight of the bombs carried by the Catdemon carrier-based aircraft, the destructive power of a 300-kilogram bomb can only be used against ordinary light cruisers, hunting ships, or ships with armor less than 50 mm. The power of the red-headed torpedo with a 600-kilogram charge was considerable, but it was a pity that the aircraft threw the torpedo into the sea from the air, and the accuracy was too poor, and the torpedo was either too far away from the target target ship, or it was in the wrong direction and could not hit the opponent. Or when encountering a fast warship, the opponent can avoid it in time, which also makes it difficult to succeed in a torpedo attack.

For all these reasons, the combat capability of the aircraft carrier is not enough to compete with the main battleship, and once the position of the aircraft carrier is locked by the enemy's capital ship, then a Huangshan-class aircraft carrier costing 9 million yuan will be immediately reimbursed.

Li Dingxin nodded and said, "Although the current aircraft carrier is not yet able to pose a threat to the super god bow type capital ship, the combat concept of the aircraft carrier has revolutionized the direction of future naval warfare. Twenty years ago, we thought that the Dingyuan-class ironclad ships were invincible, but now it seems that the Tang-class battleships we are building can sink them with a single shot, and this speed of progress is really amazing. Similarly, at present, our planes are not yet able to carry weapons that can blow up and sink the battleship of the Super God Bow, but it is foreseeable that in the future, the range and bomb load of our aircraft will be greatly increased, and as long as they can carry more than 1 ton of aerial bombs, it will be enough to threaten our battleship. ”

Lin Jianzhang looked up at the sky, couldn't help sighing, and said, "That's right!" In the future, the war may be decided by the sky, but that may be decades away, when we should all retire and let the next generation do it! At the moment, our main opponents are engaged in the battle of the superbow battleships, and our focus should not be on the unreachable aircraft, but on reality. ”

In any case, Lin Jianzhang always believed that the giant ship cannon was a symbol of the strength of the imperial navy, and the aircraft carrier always relied on the aircraft of the air force, and the three arms of the navy, land and air force competed with each other.

Li Dingxin could feel Lin Jianzhang's mentality, and he thought so in his heart, so he nodded and said, "Yes, let the next generation go." ”

Lin Jianzhang suddenly asked, "How is our new ship progressing?" ”

Li Dingxin replied: "I just had a phone call with the Admiralty this morning, and the supplementary budget for the Song-class battleships has been approved by Congress. This time Congress was very generous, and at one time approved our navy to build eight Song-class battleships. ”

Lin Jianzhang snorted and said, "Will they be so happy?" And not because of the castration of our battle cruiser plans? ”

Li Dingxin nodded and said, "That's right, the Congress is cutting our plan for the Yuan-class battlecruiser. However, our Song-class battleships were already designed to reach a speed of 29 knots, and they were already capable of fulfilling the tasks of battlecruisers. The General Administration of Naval Ships calls it a fast battleship, and there is no need to build a new type of battle patrol that surpasses the Sui-class battle cruiser, and it is enough to use a fast battleship to break the engagement at sea. ”

Lin Jianzhang said: "Our battle patrol has made great contributions to the empire, and I still have a lot of affection for them. In fact, I once imagined that if the battle patrol was involved in the battle of the capital ship in a decisive battle, even if the speed was only two knots higher than that of the opponent, it would have an advantage in the fight. ”

Li Dingxin was surprised: "You actually have this kind of thought? This is forbidden by His Majesty to use battle patrols to fight the main battleship. ”

Lin Jianzhang smiled and said, "Yes, Your Majesty expressly forbids it." It is precisely because Your Majesty's holy decree is stuck that I am very curious, we have no experience in fighting battleships with battle patrols, why does Your Majesty necessarily think that our battle patrols cannot defeat the enemy's battleships? In fact, I compared, and if there was a decisive battle between a battlecruiser of the same caliber and a battleship, it would be obvious that the battlecruiser would suffer. However, if we use our Sui-class battlecruisers to attack the early British St. Vincent-class battlecruisers or the early American Delaware-class battleships, the armor of both sides is about the same, and the caliber and speed of our main guns have an absolute advantage, and our battle cruisers will still take advantage of the fight. ”

Li Dingxin smiled: "It's just theoretical. You must know that the enemy also knows the truth of this Tian Ji horse race, and they will not send the old warship to the mouth of the opponent's new warship. Besides, in a naval battle, the capital ship is in a decisive battle, if our battle cruiser goes to fight the enemy's old battleship, then the enemy's battle patrol will also hit our old battleship, the opportunity is equal for both sides, you can't take this risk. ”

Lin Jianzhang smiled and said, "Your Majesty's holy decree is pressed on the top of my head like Mount Tai, do you think I have that guts?" ”

Li Dingxin smiled and said, "You'd better not be carried away by your military exploits, how many people are staring at your position!" ”

Lin Jianzhang smiled: "There must be you!" ”

Li Dingxin laughed a few times, noncommittal.

In response to the U.S. Navy's Naval Expansion Act passed in March 1911, the Act stipulated that the U.S. Navy would build five new Tennessee-class battleships (BB-40 New Mexico, BB-41 Mississippi, BB-42 Idaho, BB-43 Tennessee, BB-44 California) and four Atlanta-class battlecruisers (Atlanta, Nashville, Columbus, and Pittsburgh) over the next two years. The Imperial Congress of China approved the construction of eight Song-class battleships in June of the 11th year of Guanghua.

The reason for the construction of eight Song-class battleships in one go was not only to deal with the addition of nine capital ships (five battleships and four battle cruisers) to the United States, but also because the British Navy also began to build nine Revenge-class battleships in May 1911 (no battle cruiser plan).

The five Tennessee-class battleships of the U.S. Navy have a new keel design, and their hull underwater protection is much improved compared with the old battleships of the past, with multi-layer compartments and strengthened horizontal deck protection. The class ships used the same electric propulsion power system as the Pennsylvania-class battleships. Its 14-inch main gun and secondary guns are equipped with fire control systems, and large masts are installed on the front and rear masts to install fire control facilities (some of the battleships built in the early stage have also implemented this modification). And its main guns could be raised to 30 degrees, while the previous battleships could only reach 15 degrees, which increased their range by 10000 yards, and the landing point could be determined by equipped seaplanes.

At this time, the U.S. Navy already knew about the Chinese Imperial Navy's plan to build new Tang-class battleships and Sui-class battlecruisers, and as a counterpoint, the U.S. Navy originally planned to install 15-inch guns on the Tennessee-class battleships and Atlanta-class battlecruisers, but the U.S. Naval Engineering Department had been delayed by the development of the previous 13-inch and 14-inch guns, and the U.S. Navy's artillery technology was finally unable to keep up with the pace of the Imperial Chinese Navy's naval gun technology at this moment, and the 15-inch guns could not be delivered to the U.S. Navy on time. It was too late for the Tennessee-class battlecruisers and the Atlanta-class battlecruisers to be launched.

For this reason, the US Navy had no choice but to improve the caliber of the existing 14-inch 45-fold main gun and increase the caliber of the main gun to 50 times the extension, so that the intrusive force of the 356-mm shells fired would not be much worse than that of the shells fired by the 381-mm 45-fold main guns of the Chinese Empire.

At the same time, the U.S. Navy learned that the British Navy, the Queen Elizabeth-class battleships, began construction of nine Revenge-class battleships, equipped with main guns with a caliber of 45 times and 381 mm. The U.S. Navy believes that Britain has not upgraded the main gun (16 inches) of a larger caliber, and must have thought that the 15-inch main gun has reached the limit, and another reason is that the possibility of a war between Britain and Germany is expanding, and the British Navy feels that the war with Germany is imminent, so it will stop building immature 16-inch caliber guns and choose 15-inch guns with good technology as the main battle weapons.

The U.S. Navy believed that the Chinese Empire built 18 capital warships in one go, which was a signal for war, and that the Chinese Empire launched a war against Britain just after the completion of the project, and the United States' political axe, military, and civilian population were basically 100% sure that a major war would break out in Europe. The U.S. Navy believes that the Imperial Chinese Navy, as a global force, will inevitably not be involved in the war, and the U.S. Navy believes that the Chinese Empire will not be indifferent to Britain's large-scale expansion, and they must be worried that the British will one day seek revenge on the Chinese Empire, so they speculate that soon the Imperial Chinese Navy will also build a large number of capital ships as a precaution. Therefore, the U.S. Navy's concern for the Chinese Empire's maritime power and the awareness of territorial defense in the face of a serious crisis forced the U.S. Navy to urgently need a large-scale expansion of its main warships.

As a result, both the U.S. government and the Navy are demanding the completion of nine capital ships in the next two years in order to balance the potential maritime pressure on the other side of the Atlantic and the other side of the Pacific.

Time was pressing, and the U.S. Navy had to fly first, so it couldn't wait for the 15-inch guns or the more powerful 16-inch guns to be developed, so they had to carry 14-inch guns on the Tennessee-class battleships and Atlanta-class battlecruisers, but the multiplier was increased to 50 times, so as to narrow the power gap with the 15-inch guns of China, Britain, and Germany as much as possible.

The Tennessee-class battleships are designed with a standard displacement of 32,600 tons and will reach 35,190 tons at full load. It is powered by 2 Westinghouse-style steam turbines ("California" GE type) + 2 generators, and 8 Babcock-Wilcox oil-fired boilers with a power of 27,200 horsepower and a speed of 21 knots.

Comparatively speaking, the boiler system and steam turbine system developed by the United States were still very far behind the relevant technology of the Chinese Empire and the United Kingdom, and the 21-knot speed of the battleship was seriously outdated.

Due to the Chinese Empire's ban on the export of advanced diesel boilers, the US Navy could not imitate them for the time being, so it could only use heavy fuel oil, a total of 4,656 tons, with a cruising range of 8,000 nautical miles / 10 knots. The use of heavy oil will often block the fuel injector, causing frequent boiler failures, which will be exacerbated by prolonged battles.

In addition to the increase in the main gun extension to 50 times, the other layout methods are the same as those of the previous Pennsylvania-class battleship, and the only thing worth noting is that the US Navy used a catapult small seaplane for the first time on this class of battleships for wartime impact point reconnaissance, which was inspired by the intelligence intercepted by US spies from the naval circles of the Chinese Empire. In fact, the Imperial Chinese Navy has been trying it a long time ago, but it has been kept in strict secrecy. With the leakage of the news, European and American countries have begun to use water planes as high-altitude reconnaissance eyes.

Similarly, the four Atlanta-class battlecruisers approved by the U.S. Navy in 1911 were essentially the same as their predecessors, the Birmingham-class battlecruisers, but with a slight increase in speed, between 26.5 and 27 knots, which was significantly behind the Sui-class battlecruisers of the Chinese Empire (34 knots) and the British Prestige-class battlecruisers (31 knots).

In any case, the U.S. Navy's construction of nine capital ships in one fell swoop, and the United Kingdom's construction of nine Revenge-class battleships (a simple and improved version of the Queen Elizabeth class) in the same year, had to stimulate the Imperial Chinese Navy in turn.

The Imperial Chinese Navy originally planned to build four Song-class battleships and four Yuan-class battlecruisers, but the Beiyang Power Group's Diesel Boiler System and Parsons Steam Turbine System were further improved, greatly reducing the weight and volume, while the combustion efficiency and actual output power were greatly improved, so that the Imperial Political Axe had been troubled by a decision on whether to cancel the battlecruiser project.

As we all know, the battle cruiser had to greatly increase the number of boilers and engines because of the requirement to obtain more speed, and the fuel consumption was huge, resulting in the fuel tank needing to reserve more fuel and occupy too much space and weight, so that the cost and maintenance of a battle cruiser became far more than that of a battleship of the same class.

Congress has been clamoring for the battle cruiser project to be axed, mainly because of the high cost of construction and maintenance. Now Congress has an excuse, after the Beiyang Power Company's actual testing of the new oil-fired boiler and steam turbine unit, the results show that the newly designed Yuan-class battlecruiser to achieve a speed of more than 34 knots, previously needed to be equipped with 333 oil-fired boilers and at least 4 sets of steam turbine units, now only 18 oil-fired boilers and 2 sets of steam turbine units can meet the requirements. The newly designed Song-class battleship only needs 15 new oil-fired boilers and 2 new steam turbine units to reach a speed of 29 knots, and the hull space and weight occupied by the power system do not affect the installation of its 16-inch main gun system and corresponding armor protection.

In this way, the Song-class battleship with a speed of 29 knots already has the ability to break the battle of the cruiser, and there is no need for the role of the Yuan-class battlecruiser. Therefore, the thinly armored Yuan-class battlecruiser plan was cut by Congress, but considering that the United States added 9 new capital ships, and Britain also claimed to build 9 revenge-class battleships, the domestic media of the Chinese Empire said that Britain was ready to take revenge on the Chinese Empire. Under the pressure of domestic public opinion, in order to appease the people of the empire, the National Assembly approved the construction of eight Song-class battleships.

Of course, there is another reason, that is, the General Staff of the Chinese Empire judged that war would break out between the Allies and the Entente in the near future, because the British contradictions had reached a critical point, and Britain did not want to engage in an endless large-scale naval arms race, because the huge naval ship building and maintenance costs had brought Britain's finances to the brink of collapse, and the British economy would be dragged down if the competition continued. Therefore, the British top brass already had the idea of ending the contest with a war situation (George V had tried to settle the contest peacefully with Wilhelm II but failed, so the only way was war).

Britain started to build 9 revenge-class battleships in one go, and comprehensively pressed the German Navy, which was the signal of war, and it was the same reason that the Chinese Empire suddenly built 18 Shenbow-type battleships to prepare for war against Britain.

The Chinese Emperor Wang Chenhao keenly felt that the European war was about to break out, so when the Congress cut off the four Yuan-class battlecruisers, he instructed the Congress to approve the addition of four Song-class battleships, because the armed forces of the Chinese Empire would not be idle during the outbreak in Europe, in addition to suppressing the US Navy, the rise of the naval power and the relationship between the US quasi-alliance was also Wang Chenhao's concern. He wanted to take advantage of the fact that the European countries had no time to take care of Asia, drive the footprints of the European powers out of Asia in one fell swoop, crush the foundation, and finally establish a Greater China Co-Prosperity Sphere in Asia, and establish a dominant position in the world in all aspects of politics, economy, military, science and technology, and culture centered on Oriental Yanjing in the world.

In order to achieve this goal, the European and American colonies in Southeast Asia will obviously not sit idly by, and they will not obediently bow down, and the American Philippines will definitely need a major war between China and the United States to be able to decide who to take the surname. And to start a war with the United States, Wang Chenhao had to make preparations in all aspects, after all, under the huge industrial capacity of the United States, God knows how much war potential he has. Wang Chenhao's strategy has always been either not to fight, and if you want to play, you must hit it with one hit, and not give the opponent a chance to turn the tables.

Under the influence of this international and domestic atmosphere, the construction of eight Song-class battleships of the Chinese Empire has begun, which are undertaken by the eight strongest shipbuilding enterprises in China, and the bidding price of a single ship has soared to 25 million dragon coins.

Song-class battleships, named after the eight emperors of the Song Dynasty. The first ship, Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin [BB-51], was built by Shanghai Shipbuilding Industry Co., Ltd. The other seven shipyards were built by Song Taizong Zhao Guangyi [BB-52], Song Zhenzong Zhao Huan [BB-53], Song Renzong Zhao Zhen [BB-54], Song Yingzong Zhao Shu [BB-55], Song Shenzong Zhao Xu [BB-56], Song Zhezong Zhao Xu [BB-57], and Song Zhengzong Zhao Ji [BB-58].

In order to carry a 16-inch cannon, it had to maintain more than 15 inches of armor, and it required a speed of 29 knots, so that the standard displacement of the Song-class battleship was more than 37,200 tons, and the full load displacement was more than 40,000 tons, reaching 47,300 tons.

The fire system uses 12 16-inch (406 mm) caliber guns, 45 times the extension of the main gun, 4 triple turrets, two in the front and two in the rear, a knapsack layout, and a maximum elevation angle of 40 degrees. The secondary guns are 16 single-mounted 152 mm 50 times extensible rapid-fire guns, with a turret design and an even arrangement of the two sides of the ship's aboard. 32 88-mm 55-fold high-pitch flat-purpose rapid-fire guns with 16 twin turrets. There are two Cat Demon seaplanes, two sets of anti-submarine bomb throwers, and two slide rails.

With a height of 25 meters, the island is designed for the first time according to the layout of the island of the Huangshan-class aircraft carrier, connecting three chimney pipes together to form a huge oval chimney, which makes the island more compact and the structure of the entire warship more reasonable.

The 211-meter-long slender hull, square stern, four-axis propulsion system, hexagonal bridge and mainmast, strong geometric arrangement, and silver-gray metallic livery constitute the most striking symbols of the warships of the Imperial Chinese Navy of this period.

On the surface, this arrangement of ships and islands of the Chinese Empire is to be unique among the naval warships of all countries in the world, highlighting the characteristics of the Chinese Imperial Navy, and the advertising effect is obvious, so that people can know at a glance that it is the warship of the Chinese Empire.

However, only a handful of professionals know in their hearts that this layout is purely based on military considerations.

The reason why the regular hexagonal arrangement is mainly chosen for the ship island is that the regular hexagon is composed of regular triangles in geometry, and the gunnery experts of the Chinese Empire believe that the inclined armor layout can effectively bounce off or reduce the intrusive and cutting force of the shell when it hits, and at the same time, the inclined armor protection can reduce the thickness of the armor, thereby reducing the total weight of the armor. For example, 100 mm vertical armor has a cross-section of 100 mm thick, and when it is tilted at a certain angle, the thickness of its cross-sectional armor will increase to 120 mm, so that the 100 mm vertical armor is changed to a regular hexagonal inclined armor arrangement, which can effectively increase the protection capability.

In terms of armor protection, the main armor belt is still 15-inch Chinese special steel, and the front of the main gun turret, the front of the command tower, and the ammunition depot are all 406 mm. Since the observation and fire control system of the Song-class battleships can already fire at a distance of 20 kilometers, the elevation angle of the shells has been increased to 40 degrees, and the ballistic curve is more curved, which is no longer the horizontal direct strike method during the First Sino-Japanese War, nor the low-arc strike method during the Sino-British War, but the parabolic strike mode in the real sense.

In this way, the shells hit the battleship in a parabolic way in the higher airspace, and the waterline belt armor was no longer the main defensive part, and the horizontal armor deck had to be thickened. So for the first time, the Song-class battleships arranged five layers of protective armor on the horizontal armor deck, each layer of 40 mm of Chinese special steel, to withstand the damage of 16-inch shells.

At the same time, the main warships of European and American countries had very thin horizontal armor, and most of them only had three layers totaling about 90 mm.

It can be said that the Song-class battleships of the Chinese Empire are a generation ahead of the navies of Europe and the United States in terms of design concept.

Similarly, with the strong support of the Chinese Empire's world-leading radio technology for more than ten years, in April 1911, Tesla, Marconi, Xu Jianyin and others completed the development of a wireless telephone system, realizing the first wireless telephone communication in human history.

The successful development of the wireless telephone system is due to the fact that Tesla and Marconi have developed the relevant technologies of key circuit components and systems such as vacuum transistors from the radio communication system of the Jiaolong of the Chinese Emperor Wang Chenhao, and they have developed the wireless telephone system based on these electronic components and circuit-related technologies. (4 years before the world's first wireless telephone) Transoceanic wireless telephone communication researched by Beiyang Science and Technology of the Chinese Empire is a special surname that uses short-wave radio wave energy to be refracted from the ionosphere back to the ground. Marconi and Xu Jianyin came out in 1910 and accidentally discovered ultra-short waves by testing the Jiaolong's radio communication system, and then Tesla discovered microwaves. Neither ultrashort waves nor microwaves can be reflected from the ionosphere, have the characteristic characteristic of traveling in a straight line, and can pass through the ionosphere. They can only propagate at line-of-sight distance on the ground. Tesla and Marconi used this unique surname to develop multi-channel wireless relay communications. Ultra-short-wave relay communication can transmit less than 30 wireless telephones, and microwave relay communication can transmit thousands of telephones. The so-called relay communication is to set up a relay station within the straight-line line-of-sight range (about 50 kilometers in the ground plain area) for receiving and forwarding. The longer the communication distance, the more relay stations will be set up.

Because the radio communication system developed by Tesla is still very primitive, although it can achieve transoceanic communication, the equipment is bloated and huge, and it cannot be civilianized. However, the Chinese Empire's Super Bow battleship had a 25-meter-high island, and the Admiralty installed this radio communication system on the main battleship island.

In the past, the fleet headquarters of the Imperial Chinese Navy could only communicate with the ships through wireless telegraphy, but now, the fleet commander can directly use the special radio channel to directly communicate with the commanders of each sub-fleet and each warship to convey orders, and for battleships with a combat radius of more than 20 kilometers, this radio communication system can help the fleet commander adjust the tactical formation in a timely and effective manner.

With the exception of the Huangshan-class aircraft carriers and the Song-class super battleships, the navy has not made much progress in light cruisers, mainly because the light cruisers are sunk under the guns of the capital ships, so they have withdrawn from the decisive battle of the capital ships and become escort warships at sea. For this reason, the Fengxian-class light cruisers of the Imperial Chinese Navy were still up to the task, and the subsequent Fengxian-class light cruisers were successively equipped with advanced oil-fired boilers and steam turbine systems, reaching speeds of up to 32 knots. The earlier Fengxian-class light cruisers have also been upgraded and refitted, and their speed has also been increased from 28.8 knots to 30 knots, which can be fully promoted to the tasks of escorting, inspecting and swearing sovereignty over territorial waters.

In terms of hunting ships, the Imperial Chinese Navy reduced the torpedo launcher to two twin 21-inch torpedo tubes on the design blueprint of the Storm-class battle-destroyer, and freed up space for a new main gun system, which was changed to a Rainstorm-class hunting destroyer.

After such a refit, the new hunting ship has a standard displacement of 1,367 tons, a full load of 1,828 tons, and a main size of 122.5 meters (full length) / 11.2 meters (width) / 3.1 meters (draft). The power system adopts two Parsons 10 gear brake steam turbines and three Diesel high-efficiency diesel boilers, with an output of 38,000 horsepower, a design speed of 35 knots, and a cruising range of 8,000 nautical miles/18 knots.

In terms of artillery, four twin Guanghua 10-year 127 mm 55 times extended-speed rapid-fire guns, five twin 25 mm high-level rapid-fire guns, and two twin 12.7 mm Browning machine guns were used. In terms of torpedoes, it is equipped with two twin 610 mm red-headed torpedoes. In terms of anti-submarine, it is equipped with 8 deep-bomb projectors and 2 slide rails.

The tonnage of the Rainstorm class destroyer fell back to 1500 tons, mainly considering that if the displacement was increased, it would exceed the light cruiser, and the Imperial Chinese Admiralty had different opinions on the light cruiser and the large-tonnage destroyer, so the tonnage of the Rainstorm-class destroyer was limited, and it could not reach the 3000-ton and 39-knots ultra-high speed of the Storm-class battleship, but the class of hunting ship further expanded its endurance, so that it could serve as a fleet destroyer to follow the fleet to fight in the ocean, and at the same time, it could also escort the ocean-going fleet alone. Become the first fleet destroyer in the true sense of the word. At the same time, it is equipped with more powerful anti-submarine weapons, which are specially designed to target foreign submarines that can reach the level of domestic submarines.

The Imperial Chinese Navy will build 100 Flying Fish and Mistral-class Destroyers to replace the old Exocet-class and Mistral-class Destroyers.

In terms of submarines, because the Imperial Chinese Navy has no rivals in the field of submarines, although the speed of development of foreign submarines is relatively fast, the report of the Central Intelligence Agency shows that the most advanced submarines of Europe and the United States and other countries have only just reached the Western Han-class submarines of the Chinese Empire.

The anti-submarine hunting ships of the Imperial Chinese Navy have been updated to the Rainstorm class, and the opponent is the most advanced submarine of the Chinese Empire, and the Eastern Han class submarines in service of the Imperial Chinese Navy fully have a dominant position over the submarine forces of Europe and the United States, so the Admiralty has been shelved under the influence of the giant ship cannon doctrine, and only 10 submarines have been built to replace the old and outdated Xia class (10 submarines), Shang class (1 ship), Zhou class (3 ships) and Western Han class (18 submarines). Of the 82 Eastern Han class submarines originally in service in the Navy, only 49 are now left (the other 33 were sunk in battle or accident), so that the Imperial Chinese Navy has only 59 submarines.

Such a small number of submarines are caused by the Admiralty's lack of attention, although Holland and Lake and other submarine researchers are very dissatisfied with this, but fortunately they did not cut their submarine research and development funds, they continue to develop Sui-class submarines that can be more advanced than the promoted submarines, but because there is no combat experience of the submarine fleet as a reference, their research and development progress began to slow down, and it seems that they have encountered a bottleneck again, and they need a war to stimulate their inspiration and find the shortcomings of the promoted submarines to improve and upgrade.

Unlike the Imperial Navy's equipment renewal rate, they have a huge amount of scientific research and design funding, and the Imperial Army's scientific research funding is less than a fraction of the Navy's appropriation.

However, the army was not discouraged, and in their eyes, the navy could not fly to land no matter how bullish it was, and the land was still up to the army.

Although the War Department's scientific research funding is not as good as that of the Navy, the War Department has also achieved innovative results.

Chariot, as the king of land warfare, the Emperor of the Chinese Empire attaches great importance to it, and because of this, the Imperial Army is fully committed to developing the chariot project.

After four years of painstaking revisions and upgrades, the M11 infantry fighting vehicle finally looks like a modern tank.

The M11 tank is still a huge "convex" iron box in appearance, with a warhead in the upper part and a rectangular hull in the lower part. This time, the chassis of the Holt tractor is no longer directly applied like the M07, and the steel plate is covered with it. Instead, according to Wang Chenhao's guidance, various load-bearing wheels, induction wheels and towing wheels were installed, and a spring suspension shock absorption system was installed between the load-bearing wheels and the car body, so that the combat vehicle could drive and the personnel inside would not be stunned, which greatly improved the environment in the vehicle.

The combat vehicle has a total length of 7 meters, a width of 2.6 meters, a total height of 2.8 meters, uses a 37-mm smoothbore gun, full armor protection, covers an average of 25 mm armor, and has a total combat weight of 22 tons.

In order to be able to propel this behemoth, the propulsion system abandoned the gasoline engine and switched to the Diesel 11 diesel engine. Adel gasoline engines were used before, but the thrust was not enough and the speed was not fast. At that time, the diesel engine was too large to be installed in the combat vehicle, so it was not selected.

After the instruction of the emperor Wang Chenhao, the combat vehicle should use a diesel engine with many advantages, so the War Department contacted the Beiyang Power Group, and after four years, the volume and weight of the high-power diesel engine were finally reduced to meet the requirements of the M11 combat vehicle.

Equipped with a powerful M11 tank, it can reach a maximum speed of 10 km/h on flat ground, which is equivalent to the speed of a bicycle, and 4 km/h on mountainous ground, which is only equivalent to the off-road speed of infantry.

The greatest success of the M11 was the greatly increased durability of its tracks. Wang Chenhao once told them that one of the most critical things in the chariot is the life of the track, and they can try to add a layer of rubber and lubricating oil to the bearing of the track connection to reduce vibration and friction, so that the technicians of the Imperial Iron and Steel Plant can specially develop a high-strength bearing steel, which can greatly improve the life of the track.

After four years of arduous testing, they introduced the most wear-resistant special alloy steel from Imperial Iron and Steel Company as the track connection bearing, and added an embedded groove between the bearings, which was filled with rubber and lubricating oil to increase the wear resistance of the track.

In this way, the track life of the M11 tank suddenly increased from 5 km to 120 km of the M07 tank, making the M11 tank meet the operational requirements and can be used as a pawn and attack weapon for the army.

As a result, the Reichstag allocated an additional 10 million yuan to the War Department in the 1911 fiscal year for the production of 100 M11 infantry fighting vehicles.

To this end, the War Office established a chariot unit for the Royal Praetorian Guard, designated the Third Chariot Regiment of the Royal Praetorian Guard.

In this way, the first tank unit of the Chinese Empire was born.

(To be continued)