Among them, the first-class cruisers of the Imperial Navy are relatively simple, that is, all armored cruisers, and there are no protective cruisers of more than 7,000 tons.

In the case of cruisers of the second rank, there are armored cruisers and protective cruisers.

Among the cruisers of the third class, there were protective cruisers of small tonnage, unprotected cruisers, and cruisers converted from civilian ships.

Needless to say, cruisers are known to be warships that conduct ocean-going operations and undertake secondary tasks.

And in the cruiser, there are many terms, such as first-class cruisers, second-class cruisers, third-class cruisers, armored cruisers, protective cruisers, dome cruisers, and flat-armored cruisers. fast cruisers, etc., as well as heavy cruisers and light cruisers in later generations.

These terms cannot be directly compared, among which the first, second, and third class are the distinction of tonnage, and the distinction between heavy patrol and light patrol is the distinction of the caliber of the main gun.

As for the armored cruiser and the protective cruiser, it is the distinction between the protection mode, the former has a waterline armor belt, the latter does not have a waterline armor belt, and only has flat armor or dome armor for indirect protection, that is to say, the concept of protective cruiser includes dome cruisers and flat armor cruisers.

As for fast cruisers, as the name suggests, they are particularly fast cruisers, usually with the main fleet, as the vanguard to carry out reconnaissance missions.

The cruisers of the first rank of the Imperial Navy were all armored cruisers.

Strictly speaking, most of the cruisers in the Imperial Navy are second-class cruisers, and most of them are protective cruisers, including dome cruisers and armor cruisers, in addition to some smaller tonnage armored cruisers used as the flagship of overseas fleets, and then there are fast cruisers with capital ships, etc., in fact, these cruisers are just different in protection mode or purpose, but they all belong to the category of second-class cruisers in the Imperial Navy.

For example, ordinary protective cruisers are used for ocean-going cruises, route escorts, armed deterrence and other tasks, and are mainly assigned to foreign fleets, and the main fleet is also attached to a large number of them, and like battleships, they form a number of cruiser detachments.

Then there are some small armored cruisers with a displacement of more than 4,000 tons to about 6,000 tons, which are mainly used by overseas fleets as flagships.

In addition, there are special assignments to the main fleet, with the use of fast cruisers, this kind of cruiser regardless of tonnage or large, but have very obvious characteristics, that is, super speed, this kind of fast cruiser, in the Imperial Navy positioning is very clear and simple, that is, attached to the main fleet, as a battleship, armored cruiser and other main fleet reconnaissance ships.

In recent years, the fast cruisers in service with the Imperial Navy have generally exceeded 23 knots at maximum speed, and a very few have been able to reach more than 25 knots.

For example, the Yulin fast cruiser, which was commissioned in 1894, has a tonnage of 4,000 tons, but it is equipped with a luxury power system comparable to that of a battleship, and the output kilometer under normal pressure reaches 16,000 horses, which is enough to propel the cruiser to run at a high speed of 23 knots, and in the state of strong pressure and ventilation, the output power can be stabilized at more than 18,000 horses, and once even exceeded 20,000 horsepower.

In this state of strong pressure and ventilation, its speed may exceed 25 knots.

The large number of cruisers, together with those battleships, made up the Imperial Royal Navy.

After the empire officially declared war on Spain, in order to guard against the reinforcement fleet of the Spaniards, and of course, more importantly, to guard against Britain and France, especially the British Royal Navy, so Lin Zhe specially ordered the formation of the 'Pacific Fleet of the Royal Navy of the Chinese Empire', and the Pacific Fleet temporarily commanded the First Fleet, the Second Fleet and the three sub-fleets under the Imperial Royal Navy.

Among them, the essence of the Pacific Fleet is naturally the First Fleet, which consists of two battleship detachments and four cruiser detachments, including the second battleship detachment, which has four Yandi-class battleships.

The 3rd Battleship Detachment, which had four Houyi-class battleships.

The 1st Cruiser Detachment, which had three Taiwu-class armored cruisers.

The 2nd Cruiser Detachment, which had two Taiwu-class armored cruisers and the Ziyuan armored cruiser.

Eighth cruiser detachment, which had four fast cruisers.

The ninth cruiser detachment, which had three fast cruisers.

The above six detachments basically include most of the essence of the modern Imperial Navy, including all the active pre-dreadnought battleships and six armored cruisers.

In addition to the First Fleet, there was also the Second Fleet, which consisted of the First Battleship Detachment and five Shaohao-class battleships.

In addition, there was a third cruiser detachment, which had four Laurel-class armored cruisers, and the tenth cruiser detachment, the eleventh cruiser detachment, which had six fast cruisers.

In the case of the Second Fleet, its positioning is a second-line force, and its warships are generally between eight and eighteen years old.

As for the Third Fleet, the ships it has are even more old, except for some newly built training ships, which may be new ships, most of the others are old goods that are more than fifteen or even twenty years old, such as the Yandi-class battleships, so they are not incorporated into the Pacific Fleet.

In addition to the First Fleet and the Second Fleet, the three task forces of Japan, Hawaii, and Luzon are also part of the Pacific Fleet.

In addition, several independent sub-fleets were formed, namely the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Fleets, which generally had ships such as protective cruisers or small armored cruisers, and were mainly responsible for auxiliary tasks.

The Imperial Pacific Fleet actually includes all Imperial Navy warships except for the major coastal defense fleets and the Third Fleet.

Therefore, if the Pacific Fleet is a fleet, it is better to say that the Imperial Navy has set up an all-naval command organization for the convenience of command, similar to the combined fleet during the Pearl River Estuary Naval War.

The total tonnage of the Imperial Navy, which has a huge warship, is now more than 450,000 tons, compared with the more than 600,000 tons of the French and the more than 1 million tons of the British.

In other countries, the ratio of armored and non-armored ships is generally about two to one, but on the Empire's side, the ratio of armored ships accounts for more than three-quarters.

The concrete embodiment is that the Imperial Navy is inferior to the British in terms of capital ships, especially cutting-edge battleships and armored cruisers, but it is much stronger than the French, and as for Russia, Germany, the United States, Italy, and Austria-Hungary, these countries cannot be compared.

Why did Lin Zhe think that the longer the war against Spain dragged on, the more unfavorable it became?

It is because the empire concentrated on building and commissioning a number of cutting-edge capital ships in the early years, so that the imperial navy had a great advantage around 1895, if a few years later, until about 1900, the countries around the world after 1893 or 1894 built dreadnought battleships and new armored cruisers will be in service in large numbers.

At that time, although the empire will also have new capital ships to join the active service, the four Yandi-class battleships and five Taiwu-class armored cruisers that served between 1887 and 1890 are already facing the embarrassing situation of outdated performance.

In the late nineteenth century, the renewal of the navy was very rapid, and around 1890 it was still the most cutting-edge warship, but by 1895, the performance tended to be mediocre, and by 1890 it had basically been reduced to second-rate, and it was difficult to assume the position of the capital ship.

As a result, this period will be an awkward event for naval expansion, and that is that the warships are still under construction, but they are already outdated.

At that time, the total tonnage of the Empire's navy may continue to rise, and even surpass the French Navy to rank second in the world, but the number and performance of capital ships compared with other countries, especially compared with the British, will begin to tend to mediocrity, and the number of warships will increase, but the advantage will decrease.

Therefore, Lin Zhe thought of taking advantage of this favorable time to launch a war against Spain, hoping that Britain would have some scruples, as long as they hesitated and thought about re-establishing twice or even triple their naval superiority in a few years before going to war, then it would be enough for the empire.

After the establishment of the Imperial Pacific Fleet, Admiral Lin Tongshu served as the commander-in-chief, Lin Tongshu was also famous in the Imperial Navy, belonging to the kind that became famous in the early years, in 1866 during the Battle of the Pearl River Estuary, he was the head of the staff group of the Combined Fleet, and actually planned and commanded the Battle of the Pearl River Estuary, as for the commander of the Combined Fleet at that time, Shen Tongdeng, strictly speaking, it was just a name.

After the Battle of the Pearl River Estuary, Lin Tongshu's career was naturally rising, and he held many important positions in the Navy, such as the principal of the Naval Officer Academy, the director of naval gunnery, the commander of the First Battleship Detachment, the chief of the Naval Staff, the commander of the First Fleet, and the director of the Naval Operations Department, and his military rank was also quickly promoted from the original lieutenant colonel to the admiral, and when he was promoted to admiral in 1892, he was only 52 years old.

Before being transferred to the Pacific Fleet as commander, his position was the head of the Naval Operations Department, which was an important position in coordinating the operations and training of the entire navy, and the standard military rank was admiral, and the chief of operations was not responsible to the Minister of the Navy, but directly to the emperor.

The difference between the chief of the Naval Operations Department and the chief of the Admiralty is that the former is responsible for operations and training, while the latter is responsible for military and political affairs. As for the Minister of the Navy, it is not strictly a position, but a title, which is generally held by the Chief of the Admiralty.

After Lin Tongshu took office, on the one hand, he reorganized the establishment of each fleet and the relevant generals, and on the other hand, he led the fleet to conduct frequent and intensive training.

In just the first week of the intensive training, the Imperial Navy carried out the usual year's worth of live-fire training, sinking more than 20 target ships.

While the Imperial Navy was conducting intensive training, the Imperial intelligence officers also sent back relevant news that the Spanish fleet reinforced from Europe had crossed the Indian Ocean and was about to enter the Strait of Malacca.

Although the current news is only the Spanish fleet, no one can rule out the possibility that the British will finally enter the war, and whether the British will enter the war and send the fleet north, then the key node is the period when the Spanish reinforcement fleet arrives.

Therefore, after the news reached the country, the navy acted quickly, and the combat readiness of the navy was not only aimed at the Spaniards, but also at the British who might participate in the exhibition.

Around 20 January, the fleets at the naval bases in Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Zhanjiang, and Sanya began to move south one after another, preparing to make a final assembly at the Cam Ranh Bay naval base.

According to the inherent plan of the Imperial Navy, it was to prepare to assemble the main fleet, and then directly block the western exit of the Strait of Malacca, that is, in the direction of Singapore, to carry out an active defense strategy and intercept the enemy fleet outside the South China Sea, otherwise after the enemy crossed the Strait of Malacca and broke into the vast South China Sea, the variables would be too great.

Not to mention anything else, it is unacceptable to let the enemy's fleet sneak in a sub-fleet at random, and then swim away to attack the Empire's transport fleet, it is okay to sink a material transport ship, but if the enemy sinks a troop carrier, the casualties can easily be thousands or even thousands.

In order to cover the landing on the Philippine side and subsequent operations, the Imperial Navy had to block the enemy fleet in Malacca, whether it was the Spanish fleet or the British East India fleet. (To be continued.) )