On March 13, 1900, Wei Han, the chief of the Ship Administration of the Chinese Imperial Ship Administration, submitted a plan to the Admiralty for the construction of a new concept battleship. The design drawings have been completed, and the relevant calculations will soon be submitted to the National Assembly and the Cabinet for final decision.

The new concept battleship is to develop an epoch-making capital battleship based on the large armored cruiser Daji. The new concept is mainly new in removing the secondary artillery and adopting a unified caliber of all-heavy first-class artillery, adopting a fully armored and comprehensive protection design, and using a new steam turbine system to drive the battleship to a high speed of 21 knots.

At the end of the 19th century, due to the range and rate of fire of shipborne artillery, it was popular for all types of battleships of various naval powers to mix two caliber main guns, and the smaller caliber (6-10 inch) main guns (rapid-fire guns) could make up for the lack of firepower of large-caliber (11-13 inch) main guns. However, with the advancement of artillery technology, the rate of fire, firing range and accuracy of shipborne artillery have been greatly improved. When firing with the two caliber main guns, due to the different ballistics and rate of fire, the observation of the projectile impact point and the control of fire cannot be unified, so that the rate of fire and the hit rate of the main guns are affected.

Of course, this malaise was not exposed until the historical Battle of the Tsushima Strait, and now everyone in the world does not pay attention to this issue, except for Wang Chenhao and Wei Han, of course, the latter was also reminded by Wang Chenhao.

With the rapid development of the Chinese Imperial Naval Industry, by 1900, the Chinese Empire had greatly improved the range, rate of fire, accuracy, and power of large-caliber naval guns, and the sea trials of the Daji proved that the Chinese Imperial Navy was at the forefront of the world in fire control technology and observation and sighting technology, so that the progress of aiming technology could effectively improve the accuracy of artillery. Therefore, the smaller-caliber main guns were abolished, and the number of large-caliber main guns was increased, and the large-caliber artillery could fire outside the range of the small-caliber artillery, and the purpose of improving the hit rate was achieved by centrally controlling the fire "coverage" of the target area by centrally controlling the artillery salvo. With the testing of the Daji, fire control was transformed from concept to practicality, and this was made possible.

This new concept battleship that can be comprehensively improved in terms of speed, firepower and protection, and when the world's navies are faced with whether these three castes can be fully taken into account, this new concept battleship suddenly caused a huge wave in Congress, and the vast majority of congressmen do not believe that this is the truth.

In their words: this new concept battleship was not designed even by the British, the strongest in the naval industry, and it was absolutely impossible to do it with the current naval industrial capacity of the Chinese Empire. The congressmen considered this to be a purely crazy idea of the Admiralty, in order to ask Congress for money, to divert funds for the Admiralty to develop other projects under the guise of building a new concept battleship.

The congressmen believe that the current focus of the imperial budget should be shifted to preparations for war against Russia, and they plan to allocate more of the imperial budget to the imperial army in order to recruit more troops and reserve more military supplies, and they hope to use more funds to prepare for war, so the new concept battleship plan of the Admiralty that is not too sure is directly shelved.

Of course, most of these MPs did not know that this was a project that Emperor Wang Chenhao had first proposed and hoped to complete as soon as possible.

Soon, Wang Chenhao made corresponding instructions, asking the congressmen to pay attention to this matter.

The congressmen saw that Wang Chenhao attached great importance to this, so they reconsidered it.

On April 8, after nearly a month of discussion and revision, the Congress added a series of project requirements for the new concept battleship, and finally approved the relevant plans for the new concept battleship, and allocated 10 million dragon coins to the Admiralty for the design and construction of the new ship. Of this fund, the Ministry of Finance directly allocated 3.75 million yuan, and the remaining 6.25 million yuan was 1.25 million pounds sterling in installments from the war reparations against China in 1900.

Emperor Wang Chenhao and members of Congress of the Chinese Empire are highly concerned about the new concept battleship project, and the successful completion of it means that the Chinese Navy can grasp the development direction of the world's navies in the future. Therefore, after the plan was approved, the Admiralty set up a joint project team codenamed "Shengong" on November 11 to ensure the smooth progress of the new concept battleship and the timely and smooth completion of the various titles.

"Divine Bow", as the name suggests. The Bow of God, named after the Divine Bow used by Hou Yi Shooting, is intended to express the hope that this new concept battleship can achieve infinite combat power and shock the world.

As a result, this new concept battleship was classified as the Shengong class, and one was built in the same class, named the Shengong.

The Shenbow-class battleship has been at the forefront of the world's naval warship design from the very beginning, winning dozens of laurels in new fields and becoming a world-class star warship.

First of all, the standard displacement of the Shengong class has reached more than 18,000 tons, and the full load is directly more than 20,000 tons, reaching 21,028 tons, which is larger than the tonnage of battleships currently in service in all countries in the world, nearly 6,000 tons more than the London class under construction in the United Kingdom, more than 5,000 tons more than the Liberty class under construction in France, more than 8,000 tons more than the German Brunswick class under construction, more than 7,000 tons of the Borodino class under construction in Russia, and nearly 10,000 tons more than the Illisno class under construction in the United States.

It can be said that in terms of the tonnage of capital ships, only the Chinese Empire in the world dares to start building capital ships of more than 20,000 tons, which can be described as the first glory in the world.

The most striking feature of the Shenbow-class battleships that distinguishes them from previous battleships is that they use 8 305-mm main guns of a unified caliber, no secondary guns, and only 36 rapid-fire guns in close defense.

In contrast, the popular main gun arrangement in various countries is to arrange a twin 280 mm or 305 mm main gun at the bow and tail of the hull, and it is popular to mix two caliber main guns or two main guns of the same caliber but different barrels, such as 4 305 mm main guns + 10 234 mm 2nd main guns of the British style. American battleships usually have 4 305 mm guns + 8 203 mm 2nd guns, as well as many different caliber 1st and 2nd main guns on the battleships of France, Italy, Russia and other naval powers.

The design work of these battleships was finalized without being tested in war, and precisely because they were not tested in actual combat, the layout and distribution of firepower of battleships in various countries were varied.

Of course, spies from European and American countries have also peeped at the Daji battleship under construction of the Chinese Navy before, and they are surprised by the layout of the Daji battleship, but that's all, the layout of the main guns of a unified caliber is generally not recognized by the international community, because they believe that in the absence of an improvement in speed, the absence of a second-stage main gun is equivalent to not defending a high-speed torpedo boat, which is equivalent to suicide.

It is precisely because the great powers of various countries do not attach importance to this unified firepower layout of the main gun caliber and the secondary artillery, that when the Shengong class is completed, this glory belongs to China.

The third glory of the Divine Bow class is speed, which is also one of the most commendable honors of the Divine Bow class battleship.

The biggest improvement in power for the Shenbow-class battleships was the first large steam turbine system to be used on a battleship. In the design of the scheme, the Navy's Chief of Naval Ship Wei Han's requirements for maximum speed - 21 knots - can be maintained for a long time. In terms of experience at that time, the maximum speed created by the battleships of various countries was 19 knots, and it could only be maintained for a short time, and the cruising speed that could be maintained was 14.5 knots, and it could only be maintained for less than 8 hours, beyond which the reliability and life of the relatively complex reciprocating steam engine were fatal, and at the same time, the main shaft was overheated, the engine was overloaded, and even the most experienced engineer could not do anything in the face of these failures.

Prior to this, the British Royal Navy had begun to experiment with this new engine on smaller warships in order to test and accumulate experience, and later successively adopted this type of power unit on some destroyers and reconnaissance cruisers, and the actual use proved that this new type of power unit surname could make a comprehensive leap forward compared to the steam engine.

However, when Fisher proposed a new steam turbine system on large battleships, the British Admiralty rejected it on the grounds that it was unreliable and a waste of money. Fisher, on the other hand, was only the Third Sea Secretary at this time, and did not have enough rights to claim the Admiralty's services, so the British lagged behind China in this respect, and were preempted by Wang Chenhao.

Of course, the decision of the Imperial Admiralty of China to install the steam turbine system on large battleships was also made after careful consideration. At this time, the steel technology of the Chinese Empire has reached the first in the world, and the technical team of Zhili Iron and Steel Company further improved and upgraded the Chinese special steel, and finally designed a new type of special steel that can ensure the long-term operation of the transmission shaft of the warship, this special steel has added alloying elements such as chromium, nickel, molybdenum, silicon, tungsten, etc., according to the special ratio, the alloy steel has the advantages of high strength, special high temperature resistance, special wear resistance, special corrosion resistance, etc., and the engineer only needs a little maintenance to ensure that the warship can maintain high-speed operation for a long time.

After solving this problem, the key bottleneck of the high-speed navigation of the Shenbow-class battleship was suddenly opened.

The outside world does not know that China Special Steel has solved the problem of the special transmission shaft for ships, but only knows that the Shengong class uses a steam turbine with immature technology as the drive system. None of the powers, including the British themselves, were optimistic about steam turbines. However, China dared to try, which was the first time in the world, and was jokingly called a leap of design thinking by the great powers of various countries.

The power section of the Shengong class is equipped with 20 triple-type steam boilers, 4 Parsons steam turbine units with 26,299 shaft horsepower, and a designed maximum speed of 21.47 knots. In comparison, the fastest battleships of various countries had a top speed of 19 knots, and they did not last long. The steam turbines installed in the Shenbow-class can ensure that the battleship can continue to travel at a speed of more than 20 knots for 24 hours and maintain a good and reliable surname, which is especially important in combat conditions, and in some cases can even be understood as an absolute advantage.

Naval experts have long believed that it is impossible for any advanced capital battleship to achieve the perfect balance of speed, firepower and armor protection. Improving any one of the surname energy indicators is at the expense of the other two surname energy indicators.

However, the comprehensive defense capability of the Shenbow-class battleships of the Chinese Empire is not inferior to that of any country's warships, and the armor is mainly made of Chinese special steel, which exceeds the current world's best Krupp steel and Harvey steel. Moreover, the total weight of the armor reaches 6,000 tons, the armor thickness of key parts such as the turret, engine room, ammunition depot, and command tower reaches 280 mm, and the thickest part of the armor belt of the hull is also 280 mm, all covering the hull. In particular, attention was paid to attacks against explosives in the water (mines and torpedoes) at and below the waterline. The deck armor plates were arranged in multiple layers, with a total of 75 mm in three layers at the thickest point, and theoretically it would take at least 12 tons of shells to sink a non-lethal piercing hit from a Shenbow-class battleship, i.e. 30 rounds of 305 mm shells or 4.4 torpedoes. And if you take into account the naval battle factor, if the enemy ship's main gun shells hit 10%, then 300 rounds of 305-mm shells are needed. With such strong armor protection, basically none of the battleships currently in service in various countries can sink the Divine Bow. Of course, this is just a theoretical deduction.

On the other hand, the huge displacement of the Shengong-class battleship allowed it to carry more shells and coal, and its main guns were 200 rounds each, and the eight main guns were 1,600 rounds of shells. Of course, this is only a theoretical calculation.

In other aspects, the Shengong-class battleships are also equipped with the most advanced radio system, the most advanced fire control system, and the most advanced optical observation system, which greatly enhance the scientific and technological content and combat capability of the warship. As well as the use of forward tilting bow, square stern and other improvements, so that the battleship looks more slender and graceful.

According to the traditional concept of military strategists in the world today. No warship is already behind when it comes to construction or service, but the Divine Bow class battleship is special, and she is a leader in designing, building, and serving for a few years, which is one of the reasons why she will become an international star in the future.

In short, the Chinese Empire began construction of the Shenbow-class battleships, which triggered a great revolution in the world's naval circles. Originally, the British battleship Dreadnought was supposed to lead the pace of the world's navy, but now it was replaced by the Shenbow, making the word Shengong known as the term of the future world naval era, and has been influencing future generations.

From the day the construction of the Divine Bow began, the era of the world's navy was divided into two parts. Before the construction of the Divine Bow, it was called the pre-Divine Bow era, and then it was called the Divine Bow Era, and the future period will also be divided into the Super Divine Bow Era and the Post-Divine Bow Era, all of which are named after the Divine Bow, and when the British dreadnought is launched, the Intrepid at that time will lose the international status that should have belonged to her, so the Intrepid has been obscure, and finally drowned in the tide of history.

On May 15, 1900, the Shengong began to lay the keel at the No. 6 dock of Shanghai Shipbuilding Industry Co., Ltd., which was planned to be launched in August 1901 and completed in September 1902, and finally entered service with the Chinese Imperial Navy in 1903, that is, the third year of Guanghua.

With the start of construction of the battleship Shengong, politicians in Europe and the United States only scorned this, believing that this was just a deliberate bluff by the Chinese, in order to increase international prestige and show off their achievements in the naval industry over the years.

Under the influence of most politicians and military strategists, the media in Europe and the United States have exposed the Shengong as a wrong investment, in order to belittle the wrong decision of the Chinese Empire to have money and nowhere to spend it.

Although the British ostensibly scoffed at the Chinese Shengong, the displacement of the Shengong exceeded 20,000 tons, which exceeded the displacement of thousands of tons of battleships of the British Imperial Navy, which was not good news for the British Imperial Navy, which had always been arrogant.

"The British Empire is the strongest, and no one can surpass it, not even a single warship."

The new British Foreign Secretary, the 5th Marquis of Lansdowne, said this in front of the British media, and then the British Admiralty used the excuse that the Chinese Empire's new 20,000-ton battleship had surpassed any of the British Navy's existing and ongoing battleships, and they reached out to the British Parliament to ask for money, asking for funds for the British Navy to build ships that surpassed the Chinese Imperial Shenbow.

At the same time, the British Admiralty, citing the fact that the British Asian Fleet in the Far East has lost its dominant position, said that the Imperial Chinese Navy will complete the second phase of the Naval Expansion Act next year, and that after the completion of the Third and Third Fleet Bills, the Pacific Fleet of the Imperial Chinese Navy will have nine first-class battleships, nine first-class armored cruisers, nine second-class armored cruisers, and fifty-four destroyers, and the total tonnage of the Second Fleet's combat ships will reach 330,000 tons, plus 80,000 tons of the native First Fleet, as well as a large number of supply ships, communication ships, gunboats, and torpedo boats. The total tonnage of the Imperial Chinese Navy will exceed 500,000 tons, surpassing that of the United States, rising from fifth to fourth place in the world.

According to the British Admiralty's report to Parliament, the British Asian Fleet in the Far East had been reduced to fifth, and even the newly rising Combined Fleet surpassed the British Asian Fleet in total tonnage, not to mention the Russian Far East Fleet and the French Far East Fleet, two enemies of the British Imperial Navy.

In order to make the British Congress pay for it, the British Admiralty even fabricated that the US Navy would transfer the US fleet to the Philippines in order to strike at the Philippines, and the British Navy would then be reduced to the sixth place in Asia, which would be a real bottom, and the face of the British Empire would be lost.

Although the British Parliament knew that the Admiralty was deliberately exaggerating, and used this as an excuse to ask Congress for money. However, in view of the fact that the contradictions between China and Russia in the Far East are rapidly escalating and have reached the point of being on the verge of war, in order to control the situation in the Far East and prevent the situation in the Far East from getting out of control due to the war between China and Russia, the British political axe still allocated 10 million pounds to the Admiralty to speed up the construction of warships and replace the old ships.

The Chinese Empire allocated 10 million dragon coins to the Chinese Admiralty, while the British political axe allocated 10 million pounds to the British Admiralty, five times that of China. With such a generous allocation, in addition to the fact that the British Navy does need to build more new battleships, the most important thing is that the British political axe also found that the Chinese Empire began to rise rapidly like the United States back then, and the British political axe needs to be stronger, otherwise I am afraid that it will not be able to control China.

According to the requirements of the British political axe, 10 million pounds was allocated for the construction of five first-class battleships, and it was required to suppress the 20,000-ton Shengong-class of the Chinese Empire and maintain the maritime supremacy of the British Empire.

After the British Admiralty got the money, it immediately said that the Shengong-class battleships of the Chinese Empire were only test ships, and their technology and combat effectiveness had yet to be tested, and at the same time, the orders in the major British shipyards had been filled, and the only few 20,000-ton docks were crowded by other warships, and the British Admiralty said that it could not start building five 20,000-ton battleships in a short period of time, in fact, they did not regard the Shenbow-class as a threat at all, so the British shipbuilding department did not have the design drawings of the 20,000-ton battleships.

In the end, the British Admiralty found a number of reasons to persuade Parliament to spend 10 million pounds to build seven 16,000-ton first-class battleships, of which the two additional London-class battleships were only 12,000 tons, and the remaining five Duncan-class first-class battleships were only about 14,000 tons. British Admiralty officials were just trying to win orders for British shipyards, and then they could get kickbacks to fill their pockets.

Of course, the British MPs have not been less profitable, and there is a way to pluck the feathers of geese, and these MPs naturally understand the chain of interests and interests involved.

In this way, the British Admiralty spent money on continuing to build the "former Shenbow" battleship, and when the Shengong of the Chinese Empire was officially commissioned, it proved her strength, and at that time, dozens of battleships of the British Navy in the "former Shenbow" era would all be obsolete overnight, and the British would cry at that time.

Fisher seems to have seen the advanced surname of the Chinese Empire's Shenbow battleship, but he is now only the Third Sea Minister, and his rights are only limited to the development of high-speed torpedo boat destroyers, and he wants to test steam turbine technology on large battleships, but he suffers from lack of money, so he can only watch the Chinese go ahead of the British in this regard and cannot stop it.

Although France is also concerned about the construction of the naval power of the Chinese Empire, the domestic political situation in France is chaotic, the moderates are facing a series of scandals[***] cases, facing the seizure of power by the Radical Party, France is too busy to take care of itself and has no time to participate in external competition.

However, Britain was France's second enemy, and across the English Channel, British and French ships had a tense military confrontation every now and then. Although both Britain and France denied the confrontation in front of the media and deceived public opinion, the navies of both countries were nervous, after all, the war between Britain and France did not end for long. And in Africa, Britain's North-South 2S plan and France's East-West 2C plan collided, and the expeditionary forces of the two countries clashed almost daily in skirmishes.

In this case, sometimes the French listed Britain as enemy number one, and not Germany.

France was less concerned with the naval expansion of the Chinese Empire, but it was concerned with British naval expansion plans across the Strait. With the British Navy allocating 10 million pounds to the British Admiralty, Britain began to build seven first-class battleships, and the French political axe, despite its internal instability, allocated 125 million francs to start the construction of six Danton-class first-class battleships to ensure that the total tonnage of the French Navy was maintained at the level of 75% of the British Navy.

(To be continued)