Chapter 364 The Navy Wants to Build Ships

@@@@

The sale of oil cracking technology brought a glimmer of hope for the coming 1914, and $25 million was not much, but it was a good start, according to Lu Bicheng, Rockefeller began to improve the process as soon as he got the technology, and it was expected that the technology would be used to produce gasoline and diesel from the second half of 16 years at the latest, and then Huachen Petroleum Technology would be able to obtain a stable and extremely considerable annual income ().

As for the oil refining waste residue that was exchanged, it began to be transported back to Changsha to decompose ammonia, and then liquefied and distilled to obtain propane, which was used to make synthetic rubber. This technology is tied to the explosion-proof tire technology in the data machine, and the equipment can also use the current chemical plant technology, which only needs a period of time for workers to explore and practice to manufacture, and when the construction of the Xiantao Petroleum Smelter helped by the United States is completed, a preliminary petroleum processing industry can be established.

However, these can't be compared with the appearance of sulfonamides, so that Yang Qiu has left all his work and rushed back to Wuchang Pharmaceutical Factory, and there is less than a year before Europe will start, so it is necessary to arrange immediate testing and development of qualified products, and mastering this technology is not just as simple as making money.

The first thing Yang Qiu did after returning to Nanjing was to repay the $20 million loans of the three companies, which he didn't need to repay so quickly, but considering that the world situation will undergo major changes next year, he must have enough funds in hand.

However, he didn't expect that he had just repaid the loan in advance to increase the reserves of the central bank, and before he could sit firmly on Sa Zhenbing, he pulled Wang Guangxiong, and brought Xie Baozhang, who had lived in his hometown in Fujian for many years before returning to the navy as a rear admiral.

After rushing into Yang Qiu's house, Comrade Lao Sa felt that he had the support of the student president and said directly: "President, commander-in-chief, can you build six cruisers for our navy?" ”

"Flutter."

As soon as Yang Qiu picked up the "love" coffee made by Miao Luo, he was shocked by this sentence, if it weren't for Sa Zhenbing, Xie Baozhang and Li Yuanhong in front of him, it is estimated that Lei Meng would have driven away the customer.

It was rare to see Yang Qiu so embarrassed, Miao Luo covered the corners of his mouth and bent over with a smile, so angry that Yang Qiu glared at him fiercely, and after giving a night to clean up your eyes, he spread out his hand and smiled bitterly at Sa Zhenbing: "My deputy chief of staff, aren't you embarrassing me?" The Ministry of Defense has almost exhausted its budget this year, and there is still money for the construction of cruisers, and six more (). ”

After Sa Zhenbing became the deputy chief of the general staff, the navy, which had been chaotic for several years, finally embarked on the right path, and the three naval schools in Tianjin, Shanghai and Fujian were all converted into naval schools and were fully funded, and he also accepted Yang Qiu's suggestion to reduce several old warships to save money, and felt that the navy should also develop, so he said: "Don't worry, commander-in-chief, I'm talking about next year." ”

As soon as Comrade Lao Sa finished speaking, Xie Baozhang hit the snake with a stick: "Vice President, can you favor one over the other, yesterday at the General Staff Headquarters' three-year national defense budget meeting of the Republic of China, the army purchased 40 million weapons and equipment from Germany in the second half of this year alone, plus orders from Hubei and Chongqing, almost 70 million. Next year's budget is also as high as 100 million, and even the air force has received a budget of 5 million, but our navy only gets 20 million to feed two fleets and so many soldiers! That's too little, so today I hope to double the budget and build at least four cruisers. ”

Yang Qiu knew about the next year's national defense budget meeting, because he was in Wuchang, so he asked Song Ziqing to hold it, but he didn't expect that before he got the budget report, the navy would come to the door, and the total budget of the army and navy plus the air force had reached 125 million, not counting the expenses after Japan entered Qingdao once Europe broke out, so next year's military spending will definitely exceed 200 million.

Thinking of this number, Yang Qiu even had the mind to jump into the sea, but he didn't think that the navy would actually ask for the construction of a cruiser.

Taking the three training cruisers Zhaohe, Yingrui, and Feihong, which the Second Fleet had just taken over, as an example, the three training cruisers that were not strong all cost an average of 200,000 pounds each, which is equivalent to 2 million people's dollars, and the four were 8 million yuan.

What's more, with these three training cruisers, there is no need for the navy to add small cruisers for the time being, but Yang Qiu instead ordered a large ocean-going sail training ship from the United States after getting a loan from the United States, so even if you want to build it, you have to build a big one, but in this way, it is technically impossible to build a warship of more than 3,000 tons in China, and the price will be relatively high.

"Don't hide a few." Yang Qiu turned his head to look at Li Yuanhong and said: "You can ask the president, next year's budget is already very tight, just now it is overspending by 50 million, and it is expected that it is likely to overspend more than 150 million in the end, so ()." ”

Before he finished speaking, Sa Zhenbing laughed like a cunning old fox: "Don't cry poor, commander-in-chief, we have heard that your factory has just repaid a loan of 20 million US dollars, which is enough to buy two battleships." ”

Isn't that right? I just repaid the loan myself, why did the news get out so quickly? Isn't it to take care of Zhang Wenjing, this money is a special fund that cannot be used for the time being? Before he could finish thinking about it, Li Yuanhong suddenly turned his head and looked at a mural on the wall with relish. Seeing his appearance, Yang Qiu knew who betrayed him, and said, "Teacher, you too." ”

Li Yuanhong smiled: "Chenhua will do it himself, Sa Lao is my mentor after all, and I will pass on a word." "Since he said so, what else can Yang Qiu do? What's more, the navy really needs to be properly strengthened, gritted his teeth and asked: "Let's talk about it first, what kind of cruiser is needed?" ”

Xie Baozhang returned to the navy as the chief of logistics, so after seeing Yang Qiu's words, he excitedly glanced at Sa Zhenbing and Wang Guangxiong, pinched his fingers and said slowly: "What our navy means is to consult with Britain, Germany and the United States to build four 6,000-ton steel-armored cruisers, install two twin 203-mm cannons, 12 152-mm cannons, and have a turbine (steam turbine) speed of 25 knots. ”

It is worthy of the old Beiyang generation, and he has not neglected the development of the world's navy for so long, except for considering that there is no actual battleship gun and the latest British oil-fired small water-tube boiler, almost all of the latest equipment reported are the latest equipment in Europe and the United States. However, these data made Yang Qiuzhi frown, not to mention that the endurance figure of 6000 tons after installing two twin 203 mm naval guns will definitely be very small, just this kind of high and low configuration He shook his head directly, not to mention that if he goes to build it now, even if he places an order in addition to the United States, he will not be able to drive it back.

"Nope."

Yang Qiu simply refused: "Made in China!" It must be domestic, the turbine last time we have purchased a batch from the United Kingdom, and it can be delivered before May next year for temporary use with the navy, and other internal equipment can also be introduced to the United States, but the main body must be based on domestic construction, and I will not consider ordering from foreign countries at the cruiser level. ”

Nationally made?

Sa Zhenbing and the three of them stared at each other, they ran Jiangnan and Mawei several times more than Yang Qiuke, Mawei did not have the ability to build a new type of cruiser at all, Jiangnan could, but after consulting American engineers, they had already received a positive answer, the monolithic military keel with a standard displacement of more than 3,000 tons could not be built at all, unless the navy was willing to accept a large warship with the standard of a civilian ship.

Although Yang Qiu's idea is to exercise the technical ability of domestic shipbuilding, he insists on self-construction under this kind of technical conditions, isn't this fatal! However, Wang Guangxiong scratched his head, and before he could recover his senses, he asked in surprise: "Commander-in-chief, did you promise to let us buy battleships?" ”

Yang Qiu shook his hygienic eyes, took out a pen and quickly drew the basic outline of the American Porter-class large destroyer in the future. At present, domestic technology will definitely not be able to build a real Porter-class, and even the flying scissor bow cannot be built, so it is only similar in appearance, and the power armor is insufficient, but now we must first solve the problem of having and not having it, and the weakened version can barely be used.

So after finishing the painting, he handed it to Sa Zhenbing and said: "Large artillery mine strike ships (destroyers), with a standard displacement of 1,900 tons and a full load of 2,200 tons, must use our own 120 mm naval guns, three twin guns, using the knapsack turret installation method currently used by large European warships, 4 twin 37 mm machine guns, cancel the underwater torpedo tubes, reserve two sets of quadruple torpedo tubes on the deck, the speed shall not be less than 28 knots, and the unit price of each ship shall not exceed 2 million." ”

Although the knapsack turret and three twin 120mm main guns are already a good configuration, the gap between them and the navy to get at least four cruisers like the four Haiqi cruisers is too big, you must know that their imaginary enemy is Japan, in the face of the super battleships launched one by one in the vicinity, this kind of small warship is simply cannon fodder, so Sa Zhenbing shook his head again and again: "Isn't it embarrassing for the commander-in-chief, this kind of small warship can't beat Japan at all, and it doesn't even have the ability to resist." ”

His words caused everyone to nod their heads again and again, even Li Yuanhong felt that such a small warship was not good, but Yang Qiu didn't think so.

"So, if I buy you four 6,000-ton cruisers, you can guarantee the defeat of the Japanese Navy? Can you train sailors comparable to the Japanese Navy in a few years? Although his words were a bit harsh, they were true, even if four battleships were bought at once, the Republic of China Navy would not be able to defeat Japan, the main reason was that the talent gap that appeared after Beiyang was too big ().

So he chose to make his own, technically speaking, Hubei and Chongqing can only build a maximum of 150 mm barrels, but the 150 mm naval guns want to be loaded with a displacement of 3000 tons, so the best way is to use 120 mm naval guns, in addition, he did not choose to build cruisers because the protection requirements of cruisers are different from destroyers, the latter is basically unarmored except for key parts, which can greatly relieve the pressure of insufficient capacity of Chongqing Special Iron and Steel Plant, and the destroyers are not unable to deal with battleships, If a large 550-mm torpedo can be developed, or even an oxygen torpedo, it will be possible to fight even if the Japanese Combined Fleet is pulled up.

"Technically, you can figure it out by yourself, the twin turret, electric motor and ammunition winch technology can be purchased from Germany, but you must get all the drawings to the factory to copy, and all the subsystems must be completed by May next year. We have purchased a batch of turbines and boilers in advance for the navy first, and we can continue to purchase them if they are insufficient, and I can also promise you to purchase oil-fired hybrid boilers. After all the subsystems are completed, I will place the first two orders with Jiangnan and Mawei at the same time, and if the tests can reach the design level, I promise you to allocate funds for construction in the next five years. In fact, there are countless technologies of this kind of destroyer subsystem in the data machine, and you can directly copy it for the factory if you take it out, but Yang Qiu doesn't want the navy to get it for nothing, if you want to get it, you have to pay, so that you can train the navy to cultivate its own research and development strength, and only after finishing speaking, did he pause slightly, raised his finger and shook it a few times.

"16."

"16 ships!"

This number shocked the audience, not to mention Xie Baozhang and Wang Guangxiong, even Sa Zhenbing and Li Yuanhong stared in shock, just now they said that they had no money, and now they are building 16 ships at once? ! Although it is divided into five years, the budget will only increase by 7 million yuan per year, but counting personnel training and logistics, it will actually increase the budget of the Navy by at least 10 million yuan per year.

Is there a hallucinogens in coffee? Sa Zhenbing stared at Yang Qiu's coffee cup suspiciously for a long time before asking, "Does the commander-in-chief's words count?" ”

"After the completion of 16 ships, all the old gunboats and mine-striking ships that were commissioned before 1905 in the Navy will be phased out, and 20 years ago, the Navy will only retain 6 cruisers, 18 large mine-striking ships (including the newly delivered Yongji and Yongjian), and 6 submarines, if you can ()." Yang Qiu nodded emphatically: "I will add at least 2 large warships to the navy 20 years ago." ”

Capital ship?!

Sa Zhenbing felt that he was happy to die, 2,000 tons can only be regarded as a lightning strike ship, and a large warship is not going to run to more than 20,000 tons!

Without waiting for them to cheer, Yang Qiu raised two fingers again: "Two things, thousands of old Beiyang have been dismissed after the first noon, and there are many outstanding people among them, you must find them back to enrich the naval force and let them show their abilities!" As for the second thing. He deliberately dragged out a long note, glanced at the three navy men in the room, and closed his mouth.

Although he didn't say it, everyone knew that after solving the domestic warlords swept by Beiyang, Yang Qiu already had the mind to use a knife against the largest "sea warlord" in the Republic of China, which led to the emergence of the Second Fleet. As a matter of fact, several people present here have already seen that the current Fujian Gang of the Navy is not conducive to the development of the Navy. The Navy needs to be united, but that is against a foreign enemy, not at home, so now they have to make a choice between maintaining the Hokkien Gang or reviving the Navy.

The silent atmosphere made the air in the living room depressed for a moment, and it took a long time for Sa Zhenbing to slowly raise his head: "Commander-in-chief, rest assured, within four years, we will recruit at least four thousand sailors from all provinces of the country for training, and the officer structure in the three naval schools will also be slowly adjusted." ”

After receiving Sa Zhenbing's affirmative reply, Yang Qiu immediately asked Cai Gongshi to go to Song Ziqing and allocate 200,000 yuan from the special budget to build a ship.

This time the navy made up its mind, and after getting the reserves, Xie Baozhang led the team, and also invited Cheng Biguang to form a naval delegation of more than 50 people to visit Britain, Germany, the United States and other countries, Sa Zhenbing also took action, personally invited hundreds of outstanding people in the old Beiyang to return to the navy, most of these people later became instructors in naval schools, shipyard supervisors and other demobilized officers.

As the Navy began to work shipbuilding, the bell rang for the end of 1913.

!@#