Since Wang Chenhao arranged for Huo Lan and Lake to be stationed in the Dagu Shipyard to be responsible for the research and development and manufacturing of submarines, Wang Chenhao began to plan to build a submarine naval base.

As a new weapon of the navy, submarines were listed by Wang Chenhao as a key development object of national strategic defense. At present, Wang Chenhao's naval strength is still very weak, and the naval industry is not yet perfect, and it will not be able to compete with the navies of Britain and other powerful countries for a long time.

As an economical and affordable naval weapon, the development of submarines is in line with China's current national conditions. Holland and Lake are developing and building new submarines in the enclosed dock of the Dagu Shipyard, and will be built in batches once the newly developed submarines are operationally effective. Therefore, the construction of submarine bases was put on the agenda.

Wang Chenhao considered that the current important coastal ports of the Qing Empire are infested with many warships of foreign powers, and it is difficult to hide submarine bases, so Wang Chenhao decided to find a suitable seaport in the north of the Bohai Sea, which the navies of the great powers did not pay attention to, to build a submarine base, as the home port of future submarines.

Located in the southeast coast of Lianyunbao under the jurisdiction of General Sheng Jing, there is a small fishing village called Huludao, the whole island from northwest to southeast deep into the sea, like a gourd floating on the sea, so it is named.

In Wang Chenhao's time, Huludao Port was used as a naval base for the North Sea Fleet, not only berthing various surface ships, but also a submarine base, and also a base for building nuclear submarines and berthing nuclear submarines.

However, the port of Huludao Naval Base was built in 1930, and now Wang Chenhao is facing a small fishing village that is not well known. But it just met the requirements of Wang Chenhao's plan to secretly build a submarine base.

Just after the New Year in 1897, Wang Chenhao ordered a group of harbor casting engineers from the Engineering Department of the Navy Administration to set off to Huludao to actually survey the terrain, design the blueprint of the Huludao Naval Base, and begin to prepare relevant port casting equipment and materials. Wang Chenhao asked for the construction of the base to start at the beginning of spring, so the engineers only had two months to conduct field surveys and designs.

Island Port is located on the Huludao Peninsula in the northwest of Liaodong Bay, 90 nautical miles away from Qinhuangdao Port in the southwest and 60 nautical miles away from Yingkou Port in the east. After the engineers conducted a field investigation of Huludao, they believed that the port was connected to Qinhuangdao Port in the west and the Jingfeng Railway in the north, so it could control North China and become a key pass in eastern Liaodong, and praised Wang Chenhao for his foresight.

After planning, Huludao Port is bounded by a breakwater, which is divided into two ports. Warships and supply ships can be berthed in the outer harbor, and submarines can be berthed in the inner harbor. The port area covers an area of 2 square kilometers, the water depth is 7 to 9 meters, the port is wide and deep, sheltered from wind and waves in summer, and slightly frozen in winter, which is the ideal ice-free port second only to Lushun in the north.

The port construction project is scheduled to start in early April, and the construction machinery will be transported from Tianjin by rail and sea in advance. Prior to this, the engineering team will complete the construction of a machinery factory, a carpentry factory, a small workshop, an office room, and temporary quarters for workers and staff.

The entire naval base is planned to cost $6.4 million, including the fortified defense batteries, base shipyards, base barracks, and base iron docks needed to build the base, all of which will take 28 months to complete.

The main reason for this long construction period is that the engineers plan to raze the coastal Banla Mountain in Huludao to the ground in order to widen the width of the port's exits. The mountain is made of solid stones, the plane is inclined to the east, the highest point is more than 200 feet, the sea side, the cliff is steep, and the workers want to level the mountain It takes time and effort.

When Wang Chenhao learned of the situation, he immediately called a halt. At that time, Huludao Port was built to facilitate the transportation of goods by large transport ships with shallow draft and large width, and it can be said that Huludao Port was built for commerce. But now it is different, Wang Chenhao does not need to build Huludao into a commercial port, but to build a submarine base.

Wang Chenhao knew very well that this Banla Mountain was extremely important for the concealment of the submarine base, and if it was razed to the ground as it was in history, then the submarine would have no place to hide.

Wang Chenhao knew that the natural enemy of future submarines would come from air power, and that submarine bases would go underground to hide, and digging caves in the mountains along the coast would be the mainstream of future submarine bases.

Wang Chenhao did not want to bulldoze Banla Mountain, but hoped to use the entire Banla Mountain as a fortress for submarines. Therefore, at the request of Wang Chenhao, the engineers changed the design blueprint, retained Banla Mountain, dug a cave under the steep cliff near the sea of Banla Mountain, hollowed out Banla Mountain as a secret base for submarines, and two exits on the side of the sea led directly to the bottom of the sea, which was extremely hidden. On the Lingang side, two tunnels lead directly to the Inner Harbour. The submarine mooring dock is a rectangular pool 10 meters deep, which can hide twenty submarines.

The submarine base consists of two rectangular enclosed docks 200 meters long, 40 meters wide and 10 meters high, once Holland and Lake have designed the submarines and successfully passed sea trials, the two submarine docks will start to build submarines for the Navy, which can build six submarines at the same time or repair six submarines.

The base has a barracks, a granary, 4 oil depots, 4 ammunition depots, 4 machinery and equipment warehouses, and a branch railway is built on the west side of the base, which controls the communication line of the Gyeongbong Railway. Base supplies are usually supplied by ships at sea, and can be replenished by land and rail if necessary.

After the replanning, the workers did not need to risk climbing to level the mountain, which significantly shortened the construction period and was expected to be completed in 24 months. At the same time, the submarine base is partly hidden in the hollowed-out Banla Mountain, and partly in the inner harbor. Even if the enemy discovers a submarine base, he can only see the submarine moored on the surface of the inner harbor, which is extremely important for the reconnaissance and intelligence personnel who confuse the enemy and cover the real combat strength of the submarine base.

After the design blueprint of the Huludao Naval Submarine Base was finalized, Wang Chenhao named it the Wolf's Nest, but on the surface it was also called the Huludao Naval Base, and the Wolf's Nest was just the internal name of the submarine base. Subsequently, Wang Chenhao immediately ordered the start of the casting of the port.

At the same time, Wang Chenhao also inspected the Dagu Shipyard, ostensibly to inspect the construction of the new dock at the Dagu Shipyard, but in fact he came specifically for the new submarines in the closed submarine dock.

As the main person in charge of the submarine dock, Holland and Lake are accompanied by their assistants who work here, plus a group of domestic technicians assigned by Wang Chenhao to help them, a total of more than 500 people.

They arrived in Tianjin, and their entire laboratory was transported by ship, along with the equipment needed to build the submarine. Before 1897, Holland had designed and built a total of eight Holland-type submarines in the United States, numbering from Holland 1 to Holland 8. In total, Lake built 3 submarines.

Holland 1 was first developed, launched in 1875, and it became a sensation all over the world. However, Holland 1 is small, with a displacement of only 74 tons, which is smaller than Jiaolong. The main size is 16.4m×3.1m×2.6m, and the main engine is 1 Otto 6-cylinder 2-stroke gasoline engine (for surface navigation), 1 motor (for underwater navigation), and a single propulsion shaft; Power (surface / underwater) is 50 hp / 40 hp; Speed (surface/underwater): 6 knots/5.5 knots, endurance of 30 nautical miles at 5.5 knots underwater, armament of 1 450mm bow torpedo tube, loading of 3 torpedoes, safe diving depth: 23m; The crew is 7 people.

Since then, Holland has successively improved its submarines, and successively built seven Holland-type submarines, and by the time of the eighth search, the submarines had actual combat capability, but under the influence of the giant ship cannon doctrine all over the world, they were not taken seriously by the US Navy.

If it weren't for Wang Chenhao's appearance, the Holland 9 submarine would have been purchased by the U.S. Navy in 1899 and served until it was decommissioned in April 1900.

But unfortunately, Huo Lan accepted Wang Chenhao's invitation and came to Tianjin to secretly build a submarine for Wang Chenhao. So that the Holland 9 submarine is no longer the first submarine of the US Navy, but the first submarine of the Chinese Navy.

Wang Chenhao used the Holan-9 submarine as the first training ship of the Navy's submarine force, which was used to train the submarine force and provide sufficient submarine combat personnel for the subsequent submarines' service.

Wang Chenhao, who has a wider range of knowledge, can hardly look down on the Holland 9 submarine, and he proposed a series of improvement plans for the Holland 9 submarine. From the tonnage, speed, firepower, structure, surname, diving time, endurance, safe diving depth, etc., a lot of requirements were put forward, although Huo Lan listened to it very reasonably, but unfortunately limited by the constraints of technology and equipment, it could not meet Wang Chenhao's requirements at all.

Huo Lan's submarine technology is actually the most advanced submarine technology in the world at present, although the submarine designed by Huo Lan looks rough and rudimentary in Wang Chenhao, Wang Chenhao has to admit that he has to accept reality.

Although Holland could not meet all of Wang Chenhao's requirements, he was also greatly inspired by Wang Chenhao's explanation of some advanced submarine design ideas, so he improved his Holland 9 submarine and launched the Holland 10 submarine.

Wang Chenhao looked at the design blueprint of the Holan No. 10 submarine, although it was still 108,000 miles away from his requirements, but it had to be said that this submarine basically had the conditions for submarine operations.

Holland 10 submarine, design displacement (surface / underwater): 107t/123t; Main size: 19.5m× 3.6m×3.2m; Main engine: 1 Otto 6-cylinder 2-stroke gasoline engine (for surface navigation), 1 motor (for underwater navigation), single propulsion shaft; Power (surface/underwater): 180 hp/70 hp; Speed (surface/underwater): 8.5 knots/7.2 knots, Endurance: 4 hours underwater; Armament: 1 450mm bow torpedo tube, loaded with 3 torpedoes; Safe diving depth: 46m; Number of crew: 7.

The Holland 10 submarine is an improved version of the Holland 9 submarine, compared with the 9th submarine, the safe submersible depth of the 10th submarine has been doubled, the size of the command station has also increased accordingly, and the power of the main engine has increased by nearly 3 times. For the first time, at the request of Wang Chenhao, periscopes and other equipment were added, so that this class of submarines has more powerful practical combat capabilities. However, due to the low structural strength of the superstructure of the No. 10 submarine and the poor ability of the sea-resistant surname when navigating on the surface, it can only be used as a defensive submarine along the harbor coast.

Despite this, Wang Chenhao was still very happy, because in a short period of time, his requirements for submarine warfare were only limited to harbor and coastal defense.

As a result, Wang Chenhao classified the Huolan 10 submarine as the Xia class, and built 10 ships of the same class, namely the Carp (CN-SS-1), the Chong Yu (CN-SS-2), the Grass Carp (CN-SS-3), the Herring (CN-SS-4), the Pomfret (CN-SS-5), the Danyu (CN-SS-6), the Carp (CN-SS-7), the Salmon (CN-SS-8), the Devil's Head Fish (CN-SS-9), and the Yellow Lingyu (CN-SS-10).

The cost of a single Xia-class submarine is less than $40,000, and the construction period only takes about three months to complete. According to Wang Chenhao's plan, during the war, only one small warship of the enemy needs to be sunk, and if one battleship can be sunk, even if ten Xia-class submarines are lost, it will be a big profit.

At present, the navies of various countries do not attach importance to the combat effectiveness of submarines, so Wang Chenhao is full of confidence in his future submarine force, but any enemy ship that dares to attack China's maritime frontier will pay a heavy price.

Holland's No. 10 submarine was approved by Wang Chenhao, but Simon Lake's submarine was eliminated. This is mainly due to the fact that Lake is not very fond of designing combat submarines, he pays attention to the depth of the submarine, the dive time, in order to explore the underwater world. Lake's submarine does not possess an attack surname, which is the main reason why his submarine was eliminated.

However, this does not mean that Lake's submarines are useless.

Submarines not only used torpedoes as attack weapons, but the early submarines also had another function, that is, to arrange mines. Lake's submarine has an advantage in depth and time, so his Lake-3 submarine can be used to lay mines with a few improvements.

In fact, the submarine that could be used to lay mines was not the patent of Lake, but of the Russians, the greatest enemy of the current Qing Empire. When Wang Chenhao learned about Russia's submarine development from Lake, he couldn't help but be surprised. Because in Wang Chenhao's impression, he always thought that the Americans were the first to develop submarines, but in fact this was not the case, Lake told him that Lake's submarine design idea was to imitate the Russians' submarines.

The submarine of the "Hilde" type was the attendant military attache of the Russian Imperial Palace, Alexander? Andreevich? Hilde-designed and built in May 1834 by the Alexander Loveski Shipyard in Petersburg. The surface displacement of the submarine of the "Hilde" type is 16t, the main scale is 6.0m×1.5m. The hull plate is made of iron plates with a thickness of 5 mm, and the hull plates are supported by 5 ribs inside the boat, and the safe diving depth is 12 m.

The Hild submarine was the world's first submarine built entirely of metal. The boat is propelled by manpower, and the personnel located in the boat shake the four wheel wings of the boat with both hands to propel the submarine forward, and its underwater speed can reach 0.5kn, and the only weapon equipped with the boat is a mine. The boat is carried out by means of lead ballast and two ballast tanks in the bow and stern grooves. In addition, a copper pipe protrudes from the inside of the boat to the sea to ensure the breathing of the people in the boat.

The Russians have been studying submarines since 1834, and the Russians have not given up designing new submarines.

Submarines of the "Aleksandrlovsky" type were developed by Ivan? Fedorovich? Alexander Loveski designed in 1862, the boat was built in 1866. The surface displacement of the boat is 355t, the main scale is 33.50m× 4.00m× 3.60m, the main engine is 2 compressed air engines, the power is 140 horsepower, the use of double propulsion shafts, underwater speed 1.5kN. The armament of the boat is 2 mines. Submarines of the "Alexander Lovesky" type are equipped with ballast water tanks with a volume of 12 m?, which are used for the submarine's descent and afloat. The safe diving depth of the boat is 12m, and the crew is 6. The typical disadvantages of the boat are poor longitudinal stability, it is difficult to adjust the underwater depth, and the underwater endurance is only 1.5 nmile.

Subsequently, the submarine "Jevitsky"-2 was designed by engineer C.K. Devitsky and was built in the autumn of 1879. The surface displacement of the boat is 2.5t, the main size is 6.0m× 1.5m×1.0m, the bow and stern of the boat are equipped with a propeller, the use of manpower to rotate two propellers to push the submarine forward, the underwater speed is 2kn, the weapons and equipment carried on the boat are 2 mines, and the number of crew members is 4. The Jevitsky-2 submarine is equipped with a slightly rudimentary optical periscope. After the completion of the Jevitzky-2 submarine, tests were carried out in Lake Gatchinsky, and the tests yielded satisfactory results. Subsequently, the Russian political axe ordered 50 "Jevetsky"-2 submarines from engineer C.K. Devitsky, which were built in Petersburg in 1881, which was the first submarine in the world to be built in batches.

By 1897, the Russian Navy had built 133 submarines, which were specially mined in the Baltic and Black Seas, often unexpectedly by the enemy, and enemy ships were constantly sinking with mines.

Since the Russian Navy did not have the Far East in mind, these submarines were not deployed in the Far Eastern Russian fleet. However, after the Qing-Russian War, it was not excluded that the Russian Far Eastern Fleet would be equipped with such mine-laid submarines. This is extremely dangerous for the country's coastal defense, because the submarine's concealment allows it to sneak into the channel and lay mines, causing heavy damage to its own warships.

Wang Chenhao didn't know this news before, but now after listening to Lake's explanation, he suddenly realized the danger of the enemy. He immediately issued an order to the fleet command through the Admiralty to pay attention to the dangers under the surface of the water by naval personnel. At the same time, Wang Shizhen was ordered to conduct reconnaissance of the Russian Far East Fleet to see if such submarines were deployed in their fleet.

Lake's reminder made Wang Chenhao more vigilant in this regard, and at the same time, Wang Chenhao also thought of a clever tactic of using a submarine to lay mines. (In fact, submarine minelaying is a basic tactic of submarine warfare, but Wang Chenhao never thought of it and has always ignored it) After the submarine designed by Lake has been improved, it has become a submarine that can carry mines for minelaying, which is equivalent to having combat effectiveness in disguise.

The basic displacement of the Laike 3 submarine is 82 tons, the main scale is 15m×4m×2m, and the main engine is one Otto 6-cylinder 2-stroke gasoline engine (for surface navigation), one motor (for underwater navigation), and a single propulsion shaft; Power (surface / underwater) is 50 hp / 40 hp; Speed (surface/underwater): 7 knots/4.5 knots, 40 knots at 4.5 knots. Armament is 6 mines.

The Laike No. 3 submarine can undertake minelaying tasks in ports and coastal waterways, and at the same time, it can also be carried by warships to carry out secret minelaying missions in enemy-occupied areas, blockade enemy ports, and quietly lay mines on enemy waterways.

Wang Chenhao then decided to mass-produce the Laike No. 3 submarine, planning to build 10 first, equipped with mine battalions for use.

Regarding the classification of the Laike 3 submarine, Wang Chenhao thought about it, and finally also rated her as a Xia-class submarine. In order to distinguish the Holan 10 submarine, Wang Chenhao changed the former to the Xia-class attack submarine, and the Laike No. 3 submarine to the Xia-class strategic submarine.

The torpedo is launched as an attack submarine, and the mine is deployed as a strategic submarine.

Lake worked with Holland to design submarines and made great strides from Holland. The two who should have become enemies at the American submarine design competition two years later have now become good friends because they both work for Wang Chenhao and work in the same submarine dock.

Lake has unique insights into improving the depth and duration of submarines, which has helped Holland a lot. Wang Chenhao also hopes that the two of them can complement each other in knowledge and technology to build better and more advanced submarines for him.

Wang Chenhao hopes to develop submarines, so he is very generous in investing in submarine funds. In order to be able to stimulate the talents of Holland and Lake, Wang Chenhao told them that they did not have to be limited to the tonnage and size of the submarine, and he could guarantee that they would have sufficient funds to study the submarine. Wang Chenhao asked them to let go of their hands and feet, and now it is too petty to build a small submarine of 100 tons, and Wang Chenhao hopes to build a submarine of a larger tonnage.

At the instigation of Wang Chenhao, and according to Wang Chenhao's plan, the development of submarines is also the same as the development of surface warships, which is divided into four steps. That is, the four steps of fantasizing about the first-class submarine, designing the first-class submarine, building the first-class submarine, and commissioning the first-class submarine.

At this time, Wang Chenhao has already approved the construction of ten Xia-class submarines, and three months later, the Xia-class submarines will be tested at sea, and it is expected that they will be officially put into service between the fifth and sixth months. As a result, the time left for the design and development of the submarine for Holland and Lake was only half a year.

To this end, the two of them worked together and began to establish a project to develop the next stage of submarines. And Wang Chenhao also greeted them, the submarine level of the Chinese Navy is named according to the name of the Chinese dynasty, and the submarine name is named according to the name of the fish.

In this way, the name of the next-class submarine developed by Holland and Lake is already known, which is the merchant-class submarine.

According to Wang Chenhao's requirements, the Shang-class submarine is required to surpass the Xia-class submarine in all aspects. Because Wang Chenhao assured Holland and Lake that they had plenty of money, they were free to design and develop new submarines.

Therefore, after research, Holland and Lake enlarged the Xia-class submarines to 270 tons in tonnage and 32 meters in length, and used two-stroke gasoline engines of Lake's own design, and the number increased to two. There are also two motors with an output of 480 horsepower, which can propel the submarine to sail at a speed of 9 knots underwater, and the surface range reaches 1000 nautical miles, but the underwater range is only 24 nautical miles. The armament was changed to two torpedo tubes, equipped with 4 torpedoes. The expansion of tonnage also makes the Shang-class submarine more armored than the Xia-class submarine, which increases the safe diving depth.

It can be said that the Shang-class submarine surpassed the Xia-class submarine in terms of tonnage, size, speed, and firepower, and met Wang Chenhao's requirements. However, this will also have some negative effects on the Shang-class submarines, such as the high speed, which leads to insufficient air, so that the submarines can only dive in the water for 3 hours, which is a full hour less than the Xia-class submarines.

There are pros and cons to everything, and Wang Chenhao positively affirmed the blueprint concept of the next class of submarines designed and developed by Holland and Lake, the Shang-class submarine. However, in order to further verify, it is impossible for Wang Chenhao to directly start mass production of commercial-class submarines, and before mass production, it is necessary to conduct all-round tests on commercial-class submarines, and only after passing the customs can they be mass-produced.

Therefore, at the same time that the Dagu Shipyard began to build the Xia-class submarine, Holland and Lake independently developed the test boat for the Shang-class submarine. According to the blueprint, when the Xia-class submarine is tested at sea, the test boat of the Shang-class submarine will also be built and sea trials will begin. When the Xia-class submarine is put into service, the sea trial parameters and surnames of the Shang-class submarine will also be tested, and after improving its shortcomings, it will be ready for mass production.

In this way, a four-step cycle of design, research and development, construction, and service will be formed as a whole, so that the submarine industry can be carried out in an orderly manner from the very beginning.

After leaving the Dagu Shipyard, Wang Chenhao immediately sent a telegram to the St. Petersburg Legation in Russia, asking Xu Jingcheng to find a way to find out the Russian Navy's situation on the design and construction of submarines.

Perhaps the Russians did not do a good job of secrecy enough, and Xu Jingcheng soon got the relevant news through bribery and other means.

In March 1895, after summarizing the Battle of the Yellow Sea and the Battle of Incheon, the Russian Navy realized the great threat that submarines would pose to the Navy.

In May of the same year, the Russian Admiralty ordered Professor I.G. Bubnov of the Russian Naval Military Academy and Russian Navy Lieutenant M.N. Bekremyshev to jointly design a submarine with the surname Jiaolong. However, because of Wang Chenhao's strict secrecy about the Jiaolong, the Russians had no way to refer to it, so they instead sent people to visit the Holland 5 submarine, and then returned to China to imitate it.

In December 1896, the submarine "Dolphin", built at the Baltic Shipyard in St. Petersburg, had a single-hull structure and displacement (surface / underwater): 113t/124t; Main size: 19.6m× 3.35m×2.9m; Main engine: 2 gasoline engines, 1 motor, single-shaft single propeller; Power (surface/underwater): 300 hp/120 hp; Speed (surface/underwater): 8.5kn/4.5kn; endurance: 28nm at underwater speed, 28nmile; armament: 2 Jevitzky torpedo launchers; 1 machine gun; Safe diving depth: 50m; Number of crew: 12.

On January 16, 1897, the submarine "Dolphin" sank due to overloading due to the excessive number of people on board during a diving test in the Baltic Sea, resulting in the death of 25 people. The boat was later salvaged and repaired to continue service with the Russian Navy.

In accordance with the requirements of the Russian Admiralty, the submarine "Dolphin" will be transported to the Far East by train after the opening of the Trans-Siberian Railway, where it will continue to serve in the Russian Far East Fleet.

After learning of this situation, Wang Chenhao suddenly gasped, secretly saying that his appearance had greatly changed history. The Russian Dolphin was supposed to be built in 1900 and sent to the Far East in 1904 to participate in the Russo-Japanese War, but now it was built three years ahead of schedule due to the appearance of its own Jiaolong, and it seems that it was prepared for the Qing Imperial Navy.

(To be continued)