Although from a distance, this battleship is not huge, at least far less than the size of those super aircraft carriers that Lin Zhe has seen in later generations, but when he walks in, this 10,000-ton giant ship can still bring him a heavy sense of oppression.

A 10,000-ton ship, this is the most expensive and massive weapon of our time!

Even if it is still more than 100 meters away from the Chiyou, the current Lin Zhe can't wait for the ship to take a look.

Immediately, Lin Zhe didn't pay attention to the other itinerary scheduled by the navy, such as visiting the First Fleet Headquarters building first, but got off the carriage, and then went straight to the Chiyou on the dock.

Fortunately, the navy has made relevant preparations in advance, and the Chiyou, which is preparing to hold the commissioning ceremony, has also made preparations in advance.

After Lin Zhe boarded the deck of the Chiyou, on top of the battleship, Lin Zhe could feel the enormity of this battleship even more, especially looking at the two 250 mm giant cannons in the bow, he even touched it with his own hands, feeling the cold and hideous aura of steel.

When visiting the ship, Lin Zhe was kind-hearted, from the naval guns to the commander, and even finally went to the interior of the cabin to see, such as the dining room and the sailor's cabin.

After the visit, Lin Zhe held the commissioning ceremony of the ship on the deck of the Chiyou, and personally appointed the first captain of the ship: Colonel Cheng Cheng.

In 1866, he served as attaché to the U.S. Navy, but in the wake of the Hawaiian War, he fought in Hawaii and served as a staff officer to the Hawaiian Task Force, and later as commander of the fleet's ironclad detachment.

After the end of the Hawaiian War. When it came to meritorious deeds, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel for his outstanding military exploits. He was then transferred back to China, where he first served as commander of the First Escort Fleet of the South Ocean Fleet. He then served as the captain of the second-class ironclad ship Shaohao, and was later transferred to the First Fleet Staff as a staff officer, where he was promoted to the rank of naval colonel.

In just four years, he has rotated so many positions, so it can be seen that he belongs to the kind of young officer who has been trained in the navy.

Now in service, the Chiyou, a young officer who is highly regarded within the Navy, is the first captain of the ship.

Of course, the captaincy of the Chiyou has been spied on by many people, and a large number of senior naval colonels want to be the captain of the first battleship, but they have not been able to compete for the surrounding achievements.

Although he was a junior colonel, he served as the captain of the Shaohao in his early years with the rank of lieutenant colonel. This was an abnormal thing in the Imperial Navy.

In the rank system of the Imperial Navy, generally speaking, the captain of the capital ship is generally the rank of colonel, and the capital ship does not have a clear tonnage, firepower, etc. So also the rank of colonel.

In 1866, after the classification of warships, the Pangu class, Yandi class, Tianwu, and Kuafu class were all classified as second-class ironclad ships to distinguish them from those cruisers.

Later armored cruisers appeared later, at the time of 1868. The Imperial Navy made a second division of warship types, adding armored cruisers, abolishing cruisers of the first class, cruisers of the second and third ranks, canceling ironclads of the third class, and adjusting the corresponding rank of captain.

For now. The types of warships of the Imperial Navy include battleships, armored cruisers, second-class ironclads, cruisers (including conventional cruisers and rapid reconnaissance cruisers), offshore ironclads, offshore gunboats, river gunboats, torpedo boats, supply ships, coal carriers, minelayers, minelayers, etc.

The second-class ironclads are a product of the old era, and the Imperial Navy has no plans to continue building second-class ironclads. After the retirement of the second-class ironclad ships in service, it is estimated that this type of ship will be abolished.

Ironclads and battleships of the 1st rank. This is the same kind of product, but Lin Zhe himself changed the first-class ironclad ship into a battleship.

In terms of the military rank of the captain, it is generally relatively fixed, battleships, second-class ironclad ships, and armored cruisers, all of which have the rank of colonel, while cruisers are lieutenant colonels.

On the offshore ironclad ships, the captains of the two large-tonnage offshore ironclad ships, the Bifang and the Diyu, are colonels, while the captains of the Zhenguang-class ironclad ships are only lieutenant colonels, and some lower warships, such as auxiliary ships and small boats of more than 100 tons, usually have the rank of major or even captain.

What rank the captain has is mainly based on whether the status of the warship is important within the Imperial Navy, the important is the high match, and the unimportant is the low match.

When Zhou Cheng was still a lieutenant colonel, he was able to serve as the captain of the Shaohao, which in itself shows its particularity, and the young generals who had experience in naval warfare in these years belonged to the key training objects within the navy, and the same was true for the surrounding Cheng, as well as other officers who had participated in the Battle of the Pearl River Estuary or the Hawaiian Navy.

After the commissioning ceremony of the Chiyou, the Chiyou and other naval warships left the naval dock one after another, and then went to sea, and then Lin Zhe also boarded the royal ship, that is, the Yanhuang, and then went to sea with a vote of military and political dignitaries, and they will watch the navy's parade at the mouth of the Yangtze River.

This naval parade is the second naval parade held by the Imperial Navy, but it is much larger than the first parade in previous years, with a battleship Chiyou leading the way, followed by two second-class ironclad ships of the Kuafu-class, namely the Kuafu, Houyi, and then the Tianwu.

In addition to the four cutting-edge warships, there are also the capital ships of the Imperial Navy for many years, namely three Yandi-class ironclad ships, four Pangu-class ironclad ships, Bifang offshore ironclad ships, and Emperor Yu offshore ironclad ships.

There are a total of thirteen steel giants with a total standard displacement of about 53,000 tons.

In addition, there were a number of iron-ribbed wood-hulled cruisers, such as the Cullen-class cruisers, the Kunming-class cruisers, and the obsolete wooden cruisers Nanjing-class.

There is also a small tonnage Zhenguang-class gunboat and other offshore and inland river gunboats.

The total tonnage of the various warships of the Imperial Navy added up to about sixty-five thousand tons.

Its total tonnage in the 1870s was almost the same level as Italy, Austria-Hungary, the Netherlands, Spain and other traditional European powers, and belonged to the second echelon of the world's naval powers.

It's just that compared with the first echelon in front, the gap between this second echelon is too big.

In 1870, the British had a total tonnage of 630,000 tons of warships, ten times that of the Imperial Navy.

The French in 1870 had a total tonnage of about 450,000 tons of battleships, seven times that of the Imperial Navy.

When other countries only have tens of thousands of tons, their total tonnage is hundreds of thousands of tons, which is simply incomparable.

However, although the total tonnage of the Imperial Navy is not much, if you simply look at the strength of the Navy, then the current Imperial Navy is enough to rank among the top three.

First of all, most of the warships of the Imperial Navy are new ships less than ten years old, and they are all armored ships.

The Imperial Navy can be said to have developed from scratch, and did not have a lot of historical baggage like the navies of other countries, when the Imperial Navy decided to develop ironclads around 1860, all its resources were invested in ironclads.

At the same time, the Imperial Navy did not have a wide range of colonies like Britain, France and other countries, and needed a large number of cruisers, frigates, etc. to protect the colonies and shipping routes.

If a naval battle broke out between the Imperial Navy and the navies of other countries, then the Imperial Navy in 1870 could gather at least nearly 50,000 tons of warships to participate in the decisive battle of the fleet, and this number is very large.

In the Pacific Ocean, the contemporary Imperial Navy has a basic attitude of ignoring the navies of other countries in addition to being afraid of the British and French, after all, except for the British Royal Navy, the navies of other countries really have little ability to run into the Pacific Ocean to pose any threat to the Imperial Navy.

And this is still the strength of the 1870 period, if you give the empire a few more years, then the total tonnage of the imperial navy will rise rapidly, if the first phase of the naval development plan is successfully implemented until 1875, the total tonnage of the imperial navy will swell to more than 100,000 tons.

If the plan is fully completed, then the Imperial Navy will have six battleships and eight armored cruisers, and this is still a battleship less than ten years old, counting those cruisers, frigates, offshore gunboats, etc., as well as some of the main warships that have been relegated to the second line, the total tonnage of more than 200,000 tons is not enough.

At that time, you can barely call yourself the third in the world, but the premise is that the Russians do not develop the navy, and if the Russians also develop the navy, it will really be difficult to grab the third position in the world at that time.

After 1880, when the Germans and Americans also began to develop their navies, it would be even more difficult to grab the top three positions in the world.

But those generals of the Imperial Navy definitely don't know that now Lin Zhe wants not only a navy that is the third in the world, but the most powerful navy in the world! (To be continued.) )

PS: Let's give you a small welfare chapter of X.9 thousand words!