Although the combat area of the water bomber is very large, due to the large size of the H1N2 bomber, the warships of the Imperial Navy cannot carry it on ocean voyages, so a platform that can carry aircraft has become an urgent requirement for naval aviation.

The concept of carrier carriers was then proposed by some officials of the Admiralty to carry seaplanes to follow the fleet.

The Naval Council soon approved the conversion of existing large domestic transport ships into aircraft-carrying carriers, the original purpose of which was to transport aircraft for naval aviation.

Because the Chinese Empire intercepted a large number of British merchant ships in the Sino-British War, most of the thousands of merchant ships were sold to domestic merchants at low prices, forming a huge ocean-going shipping and trading fleet of the Chinese Empire. However, more than 400,000 of these transport ships were not sold, but were used as material carriers of the Imperial Navy and were managed by the Navy's Logistics Department.

In April 1908, the Dalian Shipyard of the Chinese Empire converted a large British coal carrier, the USS Duncoente, into a seaplane carrier and named it Baiyunshan (the name of a mountain in Dalian).

The Baiyun Mountain laid a platform in the front of the foremast and the rear mast, each with a hangar made of iron frame canvas, carrying 8 seaplanes, 4 front and rear hangars, and the hangar in the cabin was modified after the original four coal tanks were dismantled, and each hangar was equipped with 4 planes. In total, it can carry 24 seaplanes. In addition, two large cranes were installed on the ship to carry the aircraft. The main surname data of the ship are: standard displacement 9180 tons; The length between the perpendiculars is 136.25 meters, the width is 14.68 meters, the draft is 5.78 meters, and the power is 4 steam engines, two-shaft drive, and the speed is 15 knots. It is armed with 2 80mm single-barreled rapid-fire guns, 2 47mm single-barreled rapid-fire guns, and a crew of 334.

In this way, the Baiyun Mountain became the world's first seaplane carrier. The aircraft on board the ship are not able to take off and land directly on the ship, and all aircraft need to take off and land on the water before being lifted from the water onto the warship.

Although it is only a seaplane carrier, it has already crossed the threshold of an aircraft carrier. Because the combat ability of seaplanes is far inferior to that of land-based aircraft, the officers of the Air Force and Army Aviation learned that the Navy had converted the Baiyunshan seaplane carrier and ridiculed the naval aviation for not directly converting the ship into an airfield.

In the face of the ridicule of the army aviation and the air force, the naval aviation did not care, and the navy and the army were originally at the tip of the needle, and they were already accustomed to it. However, the growth of the air force divided the Chinese Emperor into three major systems, and the navy, land and air forces were also cheering at each other.

However, Captain Lin Shupu of the Naval Aviation brought up his idea when he wrote to his uncle, Lin Jianzhang, who was the commander of the naval fleet at the time. In his view, naval aviation is too limited and the fighters, reconnaissance planes, and bombers used by the air force and army aviation are far stronger than the modified seaplanes used by naval aviation. In order to enhance the competitiveness of naval aviation with the army and air force, he believed that the navy could build a mobile airfield on the water, so that the naval aviation would have advanced aircraft of the army and air force.

Lin Jianzhang did not attach much importance to naval aviation at first, and in his eyes, the navy's giant ships and artillery were the king's way, and naval aviation could only be used as an auxiliary, and it was enough to engage in reconnaissance or something.

However, at another military meeting, officials of the Shanghai Army, Air Force, and the Army, in order to compete for military spending, belittled each other one after another in front of the meeting of the Military Department Committee.

War Minister Duan Qirui ridiculed the navy and said: "Your navy is about to become obsolete, and our army aviation's long-range bomber is being developed in a hurry, and once it is completed, it will be able to easily destroy your naval fleet. ”

Deng Shichang and other officials of the Admiralty were immediately angry, and Lin Jianzhang immediately remembered the suggestion that his nephew had made, so he retorted: "What are you army bulls? Our navy doesn't have the same knowledge as you. Let me tell you, the aviation of our Navy is not idle, we are building mobile airfield platforms at sea, when the time comes, long-range bombers can take off from anywhere on the sea. The airfield of your army aviation does not have long legs and feet, and the monks who run away can't run away from the temple, and we will destroy you as soon as we bomb you. ”

Duan Qi Ruiqi said: "What is a maritime mobile airport? ”

Lin Jianzhang smiled: "This is our secret weapon, and it doesn't hurt to tell you." We build airstrips on our ships, and our airfields follow the ships to maneuver at will in any area of the sea, quietly taking off to bomb you. ”

"How can there be such a weapon platform?" Duan Qirui looked at Deng Shichang in confusion and asked, "Old Deng, you are not kind, you don't tell us if you have this secret weapon?" ”

Where did Deng Shichang know that there was such a weapon, but for the sake of face, he couldn't object to Lin Jianzhang's words, so he hummed: "There are many secret weapons in our navy?" And that's just the tip of the iceberg. ”

Duan Qirui asked, "Then when will we arrange for us to go and see your so-called sea mobile airfield?" ”

Deng Shichang glanced at Lin Jianzhang, and when he saw him, he coughed lightly and said, "Well, this is a secret of the emperor's [***] affairs, and it can't be spread for the time being." ”

"Keep it a secret from me?" Duan Qirui was curious, what military secrets were kept secret from him, the Minister of War.

"Of course! If you don't believe me, go and ask Your Majesty! Deng Shichang replied without changing his face.

"Cut!" Duan Qirui glanced at Deng Shichang and said, "You know that I don't dare to ask, so use Your Majesty to prevaricate me!" ”

After the meeting, after Deng Shichang and his officials returned to the Admiralty, they immediately surrounded Lin Jianzhang and asked him about the so-called sea plane take-off and landing platform.

Lin Jianzhang didn't think about it, but after saying it, the officials of the Admiralty agreed that the idea was bold but feasible.

"The Air Force has increased the development of bombers with longer range and greater bomb loads. In a recent test, the Air Force used bombers to blow up and sink a target ship. The future defense of our Navy will no longer be limited to enemy naval fire from the sea, but also to the threat of bombers from the air. ”

"Yes! Our Naval Engineering Department is developing an anti-aircraft combat weapons platform, and in addition to installing high-level dual-purpose artillery and anti-aircraft machine guns on warships in the future, naval aviation needs to be responsible for air defense security for the fleet. ”

"But the combat capabilities of our seaplanes are far inferior to those of the Air Force and Army Aviation, and the task of naval aviation is arduous."

Therefore, the take-off and landing platform of the sea airport proposed by Commander Lin is a breakthrough. If our navy also has this kind of take-off and landing platform, then our aircraft will be the same as the air force and army, and even if we can't defend against them, we can carry out a counterattack in reciprocity. ”

The officials of the Admiralty analyzed each sentence and I said one by one, so that Lin Jianzhang had to reconsider the importance he attached to naval aviation.

"It's not very difficult to build a sea airport platform!" Lin Jianzhang said: "At present, the take-off distance of the cat demon fighter is only 70 meters, and the landing distance of 90 meters is enough, we only need to build a 100-meter-long straight-through deck on the basis of the Baiyunshan seaplane carrier." ”

Liu Buyun said: "The take-off runway of the H1N1 bomber needs to be 140 meters long, and the landing needs to be 170 meters. ”

"Yes!" Lin Tai once agreed: "Their air force and army are crowding out us, so let's build a naval aviation force that can attack air bases and army bases in the interior, and let them all shut up." ”

Deng Shichang nodded and said, "That's right!" Our navy will always be the most powerful, so I will draft a report and apply for funding for this project, and you will immediately contact the relevant departments to start the project research immediately. ”

"Yes!" Everyone immediately stood up and saluted, and thus, the aircraft carrier plan of the Chinese Empire surfaced.

×××××××××××××××××××××× sunny afternoon, Wang Chenhao had a rare leisure, accompanying his queen and other seven imperial concubines, as well as a large group of princes and princesses to play in the Summer Palace. There were also hundreds of Yulin guards, female officials and palace maids on the left and right of the tunnel attendants.

Wang Chenhao took all his family members to visit the Summer Palace for the first time, and it was not until this time that he found that he had inadvertently had eight wives and twenty-three children, including Queen Li Youyi, Shufei Luohill, Concubine Ning Yuntong, Concubine Qiao Yuying, Concubine Gong Linglin, Concubine Chen, Concubine Salina, and Concubine Zhuang Wulan Qiqige.

A large amusement park was built at the foot of Shou Mountain in the Summer Palace, which was built by Wang Chenhao according to the amusement park facilities of his time. Since the day it was built, it has become the favorite place for Wang Chenhao's family to stay, and it is the same today.

Of course, adults and children alike have their own ways of playing. It's rare that you don't have to go to school, and the princes and princesses play to their heart's content under the protection of the female officials and palace maids.

However, among Wang Chenhao's concubines, Concubine Li always didn't like the amusement facilities he designed, and she always chose to ride a horse and shoot arrows at this time, or play frisbee.

Today too, she quickly ran to the shooting range, picked up the re-gun, and in the distance, naturally, there were guards in the distance who used catapults to bounce the frisbee into the air.

Concubine Li is good at martial arts, but her shooting level is not flattering. Archery is okay, but shooting is too far off.

She missed the shot repeatedly, Wang Chenhao smiled, walked over and took a rifle, and gave her a shooting demonstration.

Bang! Bang!

Wang Chenhao fired two shots in succession, and the two frisbees were shattered in response.

"The emperor is so good!" The surrounding palace maids and guards immediately shouted in unison.

Concubine Li suddenly stretched out her hands to Wang Chenhao, and said coquettishly: "The emperor teaches the concubines!" ”

"Good!" Wang Chenhao then came behind Concubine Li and taught her hand in hand.

The posture of the two is extremely ambiguous, and Wang Chenhao even took this opportunity to tease Concubine Li.

Although they are all old husbands and wives, but whenever this happens, Concubine Li is always ashamed, and soon leans on Wang Chenhao's arms and lets him be light.

"Is this teaching?"

Soon, the ladies not far away saw Wang Chenhao going to tease Concubine Li, and immediately ran over to join in the fun.

"Your Majesty is great! Concubines also have to play! ”

All the imperial concubines were eager to try, and Concubine Gong was the first to jump out.

"Good, good!" Wang Chenhao shouted several times in a row, and then let go of Concubine Li and turned to teach Concubine Gong, which was also so ambiguous.

Concubine Li rolled her eyes helplessly, she was busy building this frisbee shooting range, but it took a lot of effort to build it. She didn't shoot accurately, but deliberately, she wanted to only share the common happiness of the two with Wang Chenhao, but she didn't expect to arouse the interest of the other sisters.

Of course, where Wang Chenhao stays, they will be immediately interested.

Looking at Wang Chenhao's hand-holding posture of Professor Concubine Gong holding the gun and aiming, the two of them were in close contact with each other, where it seemed to be teaching, it was clear that they were living a small world of the two of them in a tender and ambiguous way.

Although Concubine Li doesn't care that Wang Chenhao has many women, she is also the same as other concubines, women are always jealous.

"That's not the right position! That's how it should be! Concubine Li suddenly stepped forward, interrupted the tender ambiguity between Wang Chenhao and Concubine Gong, stepped forward to help Concubine Gong correct her posture, and deliberately knocked off Wang Chenhao's bad hand on Concubine Gong in protest.

Wang Chenhao smiled and let go helplessly, so Concubine Li personally corrected Concubine Gong's body posture and commanded her to shoot the first shot.

However, when Concubine Li looked at Wang Chenhao again, she found that Wang Chenhao ran to the other side again, holding the hand of Professor Zhuang. Under Wang Chenhao's teasing, Concubine Zhuang even closed her eyes and fell into Wang Chenhao's arms, accepting Wang Chenhao's favor in every way.

Feeling Concubine Li's gaze, Wang Chenhao smiled and winked at her, angry she stomped her feet on the side, but there was nothing she could do with him.

In this way, Wang Chenhao went to the queen to take the opportunity to rub the oil for a while, and then went to teach Concubine Ning to eat her tofu, while playing, **, really uncomfortable.

Although Wang Chenhao let go of the military and political powers and delegated the cabinet and the general staff, the final decision on many things still had to be submitted to Wang Chenhao for approval and signature before they could take effect.

It is rare to have such an opportunity to relax, so that Wang Chenhao can have fun with his family. However, happy times are always short-lived, no, Defense Minister Wang Shizhen is here again.

"Weichen see the emperor, the queen, and all the imperial concubines!"

Wang Shizhen bowed down to salute, but none of the queens and concubines paid attention to him, and they all turned their heads and pretended not to see it. What they are most disgusted with is that these civil and military ministers come to disturb them to spend a good time with their husbands at this time, but Wang Shizhen is used to it, he has appeared at this time more than once, so he is very calm.

Wang Chenhao coughed lightly, signaled him to excuse him, and said with a smile: "It's rare to come here, how about hunting together?" ”

"Thank you Your Majesty for your kindness, after Weichen asks for instructions, I won't bother Your Majesty and all the ladies!"

As soon as Wang Shizhen said this, the faces of the queen and several other imperial concubines suddenly improved a lot, and the queen got up and said to Wang Shizhen: "It's rare for Lord Wang to understand, Your Majesty really should rest more!" ”

"Yes, yes, yes! That's what the queen said! Wang Shizhen nodded again and again.

The queen nodded, turned to Wang Chenhao and said, "The concubines are waiting for Your Majesty over there!" ”

Wang Chenhao nodded, and the queen left with several other imperial concubines.

"Your Majesty!" Wang Shizhen said: "The minister came to ask Your Majesty this time, the Admiralty has launched an unprecedented plan, and the Minister doesn't know how much impact this will have on the future development of the Imperial Navy, so he came to ask His Majesty to judge!" ”

"Unprecedented?" Wang Chenhao suddenly said curiously: "Let's hear it." ”

"Yes!" Wang Shizhen received the order, so he replied: "Your Majesty, with the development of the Air Force getting faster and faster, the Air Force equipment is becoming more and more advanced. At yesterday's meeting of the military department, the competition between the navy, the army, and the air force became more and more intense, and the army and air force even clamored that they could completely destroy the navy with long-range bombers in the future, so they wanted to squeeze out the navy's funds. Naturally, the Admiralty would not agree, so it went-for-tat and proposed that the Navy should develop sea-based air forces, that is, build combat platforms that can take off and land any aircraft at sea, so as to counter the threat of the Army Aviation and Air Force to the Navy. ”

"Sea-based aviation platform?" Wang Chenhao thought about it, his eyes suddenly lit up, and he said: "Aren't they going to develop aircraft carriers?" ”

"Aircraft carriers?" Wang Shizhen tasted these words, and suddenly said: "Your Majesty is really wise, and you guessed it at once." That's right, the Admiralty does want to build a carrier-based airfield platform that can take off and land any aircraft, and call it an aircraft-carrying cruiser, but Wechen thinks that it is more domineering for His Majesty to call it an aircraft carrier. ”

The aircraft-carrying cruiser was the original name for the aircraft carrier. The literal translation of aircraft carrier in the West is the meaning of aircraft-carrying cruiser, but after World War II, Chinese changed to paraphrase, so there is a new word translated from aircraft carrier.

"It doesn't matter what it's called!" Wang Chenhao asked in surprise: "Who thought of building an aircraft carrier platform at sea?" ”

Wang Shizhen replied: "It is a nephew of the fleet commander Lin Jianzhang, named Lin Shupu. ”

"It's a very avant-garde idea, and it deserves praise!" Wang Chenhao nodded and said happily: "So the Admiralty has started the aircraft carrier plan?" ”

Wang Shizhen replied: "I already have an idea, but building an aircraft carrier combat platform at sea is a completely new concept, and the imperial navy or even the world's navies do not have this experience." ”

Wang Chenhao smiled: "Don't worry, their development direction is right!" Originally, I had this idea for a long time, but I was worried that the empire's technological reserves were not enough, and the aircraft carrier was an epoch-making new weapon, and I didn't want other countries to develop aircraft carriers too early. ”

Wang Shizhen asked, "What does Your Majesty mean?" ”

Wang Chenhao replied: "I plan to provoke a global naval arms race, so that they can concentrate on building expensive battleships and battle cruisers, and then drag down their economy. The cost of an aircraft carrier is very low compared to battleships and battlecruisers, but its combat effectiveness is stronger than theirs. ”

Wang Shizhen asked: "Your Majesty means that aircraft carriers will replace battleships in the future?" ”

Wang Chenhao nodded.

Wang Shizhen immediately understood Wang Chenhao's intentions, was amazed, and said, "That Weichen temporarily suppressed the Admiralty's aircraft carrier plan!" ”

"No!" Wang Chenhao waved his hand and said, "Let them develop aircraft carriers, but keep it secret." ”

Seeing that Wang Shizhen was puzzled, Wang Chenhao said with a smile: "Actually, I have been thinking about a problem, the development of aircraft carriers can never be perfected in a short period of time, and requires a lot of experience and technology accumulation, so our current priority is to accumulate all the relevant technologies needed to build aircraft carriers, train pilots and command personnel on aircraft carriers, and reserve technology and talents should be launched immediately." Only in this way will it be possible to guarantee the superiority of the Imperial Navy in this regard. ”

Being reminded by Wang Chenhao like this, Wang Shizhen suddenly realized and said: "What Your Majesty said is extremely true, it is not a simple matter to build aircraft carriers and land planes that can fly on aircraft carriers. Rather, it requires a complete set of comprehensive improvement plans, and at the very least, it is a difficult problem to make the aircraft take off and land on deck, and it takes too much experience. If we wait until the future when aircraft carriers are used and then start developing and building, then it will be too late, after all, the industrial strength of the empire is not enough to open up the gap with other countries, and even some areas have not yet reached the level of developed industrial countries. ”

In fact, Wang Chenhao's worries are not unreasonable. The development of aircraft carriers has not been smooth sailing. Regarding the theory of aircraft carriers, as early as the birth of airplanes, the famous French inventor Krayman first described to the world this fascinating dream of combining aircraft and warships. In his book "Military Flight" published that year, he put forward the basic concept of aircraft carriers and the preliminary idea of building aircraft carriers without precedent. And for the first time, the concept of an 'aircraft carrier' was used.

It will not be long before the countries of Europe and the United States will begin to study the combination of aircraft and navy, and although they are still far from the aircraft carrier, once the war breaks out, the use of aircraft carriers will be immediately discovered in the battle between the navy and the air force.

Therefore, the Chinese Navy must carry out relevant research and design of aircraft carriers in advance, otherwise it may suffer a big loss in the coming war.

With the approval and support of His Majesty the Emperor, the Imperial Chinese Admiralty immediately proceeded to conduct aircraft carrier tests.

First of all, aircraft carriers are still uncharted territory, so a lot of experience is needed. The first aircraft carriers were based on modifications. Therefore, the Imperial Navy directly refitted the three captured 15,000-ton British coal carriers, demolished the buildings with more than two floors, moved the chimneys to the two sides, and added flight decks to the cruise ships to conduct take-off and landing training for reconnaissance aircraft, so as to summarize the flight and landing experience and data of carrier-based aircraft.

A lot of the time. When the plane takes off and lands, it falls into the sea before it takes off, and when it lands, it either hits the deck directly, or slides into the sea, and accidents occur frequently for a while.

In this regard, Wang Chenhao thought that this problem had also occurred in China's carrier-based aircraft in later generations, and later chose to train on aircraft carriers of other countries. However, today's Chinese aircraft carriers are at the forefront of the world's navies, and no one else can help. Therefore, we can only rely on ourselves and try to move forward on our own.

Regarding the frequent accidents in aircraft carrier tests, Wang Chenhao thought that it was not necessary to take off and land on the deck of the aircraft carrier? The test data can be carried out on land. Therefore, in accordance with Wang Chenhao's reminder and guidance, the Admiralty built a simulated warship flight deck on land for land aircraft testing. In this way, the risk at sea is eliminated and the data is obtained.

Soon, the effectiveness of the tests increased rapidly, and the pilots of naval aviation basically solved the difficult problem of taking off and landing aircraft on the deck of an aircraft carrier.

However, one problem after another arose. Airplanes can take off and land on the deck of an aircraft carrier, but in a combat situation, an aircraft carrier cannot stop and wait for the planes to land and take off. Aircraft carriers are always sailing at high speeds, and pilots need to be constantly trained to accumulate take-off and landing experience in aircraft carrier maneuvers.

In this regard, the Chinese Imperial Naval Aviation paid the price of the precious lives of more than 100 outstanding pilots, and finally provided the most precious experience and data for the flight of the aircraft carriers of the Imperial Navy. For these pilots who sacrificed their lives for the cause of the Chinese Empire's aircraft carriers, the Emperor Wang Chenhao gave them high praise and posthumously awarded them the glorious title of Imperial Navy Heroes.

After naval aviation solved the problems of deck flight and landing, the next step was the transformation of the battleship itself and the aircraft themselves.

The length of the hull of the three large coal carriers in the conversion is enough to meet the runway requirements for aircraft to take off and land, so the Navy does not add a horizontal flight deck to the coal carrier, which is the same as the runway design on land. Experts call it a flat prototype aircraft carrier.

The Admiralty named the aircraft carriers after the mountains, and the three first refitted aircraft carriers were classified as the Fubo class and named Fubo Mountain, namely the Fubo [CV-2], the Elephant Trunk [CV-3], and the Caidie [CV-4].

For example, after the refit, the Fubo has an all-access flight deck with a length of 172 meters and a width of 20.5 meters, and the bridge is located under the starboard front of the flight deck, and the port side of the hull is equipped with two retractable hinged chimneys. The flight deck is supported by 18 single-column quilters, with an aircraft lift in the middle and four of the original six coal tanks underneath converted open hangars. Among the six cabins of the coal carrier, the first compartment was converted into aviation gasoline tank, the two cabins adjacent to the first compartment were converted into Hangar No. 1, the No. 4 compartment was converted into ammunition compartment and storage depot, and the upper two compartments were converted into lifting shafts, and the two aft compartments were converted into Hangar No. 2. Below the flight deck, on the track that runs through the end to the end, there are two mobile cranes that lift the aircraft from the hangar to the lift, which then lifts it to the flight deck. The space between the flight deck and the roof of the hangar is used for aircraft maintenance operations.

The Fubo aircraft carrier has a standard displacement of 12,250 tons, a full load displacement of 15,600 tons, a maximum speed of 18 knots, two 127-mm rapid-fire guns, four 47-mm rapid-fire guns, and can carry 36 Cat Demon fighters, 2 H1N1 bombers, and 477 people.

After the successful transformation of the Fubo aircraft carrier, the Chinese Navy has the world's first aircraft carrier that can take off land fighters.

Since the Admiralty classified aircraft carriers as a secret item, even if spies from all over the world discovered the converted aircraft carriers and reported their unsightly monsters to the political axes of various countries, they did not pay much attention to them, because they learned that these ships were converted from unarmed coal carriers and were not dangerous, so they did not care.

Immediately after the completion of three Fubo-class aircraft carriers, the Imperial Chinese Navy conducted flight tests on them. Collect and accumulate relevant flight data and experience.

(To be continued)