The bill is an amendment to the first five-year plan, which plans to build a main fleet with six battleships and eight armored cruisers as the core.

It is worth noting that the plan is not about how many ships to build or order, but to build a fleet of ships, that is to say, this plan is not a one-time thing, but a continuity, and the Navy does not say that it will be finished after building six battleships, but will always maintain a fleet of six battleships and eight armored cruisers.

Battleships have a service life, and after five years, the battleships will become obsolete, and after ten years, they will basically have to take a back seat, so if you want to maintain a fleet, you must continue to build and replace those battleships that are in full service.

According to the construction cycle of 10,000-ton warships of about three to four years, even after they are completed and put into service, it will take a certain amount of time to adapt and form combat effectiveness, so the whole process may last about four to five years.

If you want to keep six battleships and keep them under eight years old, then you have to start building one battleship basically every year, so that you can always keep a considerable number of cutting-edge warships in the fleet.

Lin Zhe looked at this plan, and couldn't help but think of what the 66 and 88 fleets he had done in the future. This amendment to the Imperial Navy in front of him can also be called the 68th Fleet.

In order to make up a 66th Fleet, he squeezed the whole country cleanly, and when he wanted to build the 88th Fleet, he almost crippled the whole country, if it wasn't for the signing of the Washington Naval Treaty. It is estimated that the 88th Fleet has not yet been completed, and Japan's finances will have to go bankrupt completely.

However, the cost of the battleships of this era was much lower than that of the battleships of later generations. Those battleships before World War I were more than 20,000 tons and less than 30,000 tons. The cost is about 2.5 million pounds, such as the Elizabeth, which has a displacement of more than 27,000 tons and costs about 2.4 million pounds. In the later part of World War I, the cost of about 40,000 tons of battleships or battle cruisers went straight to five or six million pounds, such as the cost of the Hood, which cost more than six million pounds.

However, the construction of capital ships is much cheaper now, basically hovering in the hundreds of thousands of pounds, and the cost of 10,000 tons of ironclad ships in the early sixties is less than 400,000 pounds, for example, the Warrior in 1861 is only a little more than 370,000 pounds. However, the price of the battleship was getting more and more expensive, and by the time the Achilles was commissioned in 1864, the cost had climbed to about 470,000 pounds.

When it comes to the current cost of 10,000 tons of ironclad ships, it is basically more than 500,000 pounds, and in a few more years, it is estimated that it will be more than 600,000 pounds.

In the case of the Imperial Navy's Chiyou-class battleships, the cost budget of this class ship is 2.2 million yuan, which is equivalent to about 480,000 pounds, and the Chang'e-class armored cruisers. The warship, with a tonnage of only 7,500 tons, cost as much as 1.5 million yuan, equivalent to about 320,000 pounds.

It can be seen that now with the increasing advancement of technology. At the same time, the earlier the battleship grows, the more expensive the battleship becomes.

Of course, this price is not comparable to the millions of pounds that later generations have often made. In terms of the current financial resources of the empire, although it is not possible to say that it is in service with the British several 10,000-ton ironclad ships every year. But if you keep building one ship a year, you can still afford it.

As the industrial revolution of the empire continued steadily. The economy continued to develop at a relatively high rate, while fiscal revenues also maintained growth.

With the empire's annual central financial revenue of hundreds of millions and more than 100 million yuan of military expenditure for the navy and army, it is still possible to spend several million yuan to build warships.

This is the difference between a big country and a small country, modern Japan, which has a small country and a small number of people, has to smash the pot and sell iron to be able to build a 66th fleet, and now if the empire wants to build a 68th fleet, it doesn't even have to cut back on food and clothing, because there is no need for that.

It's just that with the passage of time, it is still easy for the empire to maintain a fleet of six or eight fleets, but after twenty or thirty years, if the cost of warships soars to millions of pounds, it is estimated that it will be difficult for the empire's financial resources to bear, and it is estimated that if you want to build ships, you will have to weigh it carefully.

After Lin Zhe approved the amendment to the first five-year plan, the navy naturally changed the relevant plans, and the previous second-class ironclad ships and third-class ironclad ships were all cancelled, and the armored cruisers and cruisers were replaced by armored cruisers and cruisers.

This year, the Navy placed three cruiser orders in the summer, one is an ordinary unprotected cruiser, that is, the third ship of the Cullen-class cruiser, the Navy has no good impression of this cruiser although the protection ability is not good, and even the firepower is not good, but it can't stand this cruiser The technology is mature, and the key is that it is cheap.

As a cruiser designed for escort, display force and other low-intensity combat missions, the Cullen-class cruiser has more than 3,200 tons of tonnage, but the actual performance is very effective, even the Pangu-class ironclad ship that fights more than 2,000 stews can't beat, the only advantage is that the endurance is super long, the self-sustaining ability at sea is relatively sufficient, and the speed is not low.

But why does the Navy continue to purchase this warship, the reason is very simple, it is cheap!

First of all, the cost of use is low, as a cruiser equipped with a sail system, it is not allowed to use steam engine power to sail when there is nothing to do, you must know that coal is also very expensive in these years, and the battleship is casually burned is dozens of tons of hundreds of tons of coal, and it is also the most expensive anthracite, so the navies of various countries are actually strictly restricting the use of coal for sail steam ships.

Although the ship runs slowly when using the sails, it doesn't matter if it is slow in peacetime, it doesn't matter if it is slow, it is enough to walk, and when it is time for a battle to break out, it is not too late to use the steam engine.

In addition, the naval guns and steam engines used by this warship are all technologically mature things, well, although the technology is mature also means that the performance is backward, but the navy can't stand the temptation of cheapness.

In addition, the ship did not have armor belts, and the price of steel was not cheap in those days, and the practical thick armor plates of this armor belt were not cheap. Cullen-class cruisers, only with thin armor laid on some important parts. The others are basically unprotected, otherwise the Navy would not have characterized the ship as an unprotected cruiser.

Cheap to build. Practical costs are cheap, which is the most important reason for the Navy to continue to purchase Coulomb-class cruisers!

In addition to the third ship of the Cullen class, the Navy also ordered a new fast cruiser, which is based on the previous Kunming-class fast cruiser improved from the fast cruiser, still called the Kunming-class, but the displacement has been increased to 1,700 tons, not to mention other performance, just mention its speed, this fast cruiser can soar up to 18.3 knots. It is 0.3 knots faster than the first two ships of the Kunming class.

However, in order to increase the speed, it also paid a huge price, without wrought iron armor protection, it is a typical unprotected cruiser, and in terms of firepower, it is only a pitiful four 120-mm naval guns, which is not even as good as those offshore gunboats of four or five hundred tons.

However, although this kind of fast cruiser is useless except speed, the cost is quite expensive, and it is a small and expensive cargo.

A mere 1,800 tons of water discharge is priced at 480,000 yuan!

To know the 3,200-ton Cullen-class cruisers. Its purchase price is only 600,000 yuan, but the tonnage difference between the two is nearly double, according to the common sense that the larger the tonnage, the more expensive, this Kunming-class fast cruiser. Its cost should be only more than 300,000.

And the reason why the cost of this class of ships is so large is very simple, it is for the speed of those eighteen knots!

In order to allow the Kunming-class fast cruiser to run more than eighteen knots, the ship did not just use a large aspect ratio of the hull. At the same time, it also adopts an almost luxurious power system for small and medium-tonnage cruisers, and the ship is equipped with the same steam engine and boiler system as a series of new warships such as the Chiyou class. It is also the latest model of the Empire's existing steam engine power system.

Like other small and medium-sized steam vessels, they are only one steam engine with two coal-fired boilers. However, the output power is very large, reaching 2,200 horsepower, although this power system is very large and occupies a lot of space on the warship, but it is worth it for these 2,200 horsepower, you must know that the Yandi-class ironclad ship that served a few years ago has a displacement of 4,000 tons but the power system is only 2,300 horses.

As for the power of the Cullen-class cruisers, in order to control the cost, they still use the products of the previous generation, and the output power is only 2,000 horses.

In other words, although the tonnage of the Cullen-class cruisers is much larger, the horsepower of their attachments is not as large as that of the Kunming-class fast cruisers.

This situation may be difficult for outsiders to understand, but if you look at the respective uses of these two cruisers, you can see why the top brass of the Navy chose this way.

Although the tonnage of the Cullen-class cruiser is larger, it is basically useless to perform low-intensity missions, mainly escort, peacetime cruises, real force, and real fleet decisive battles.

However, the Kunming-class cruiser, as you can see from the name from the beginning, is a fast cruiser, and its design goal is not to escort low-intensity missions such as escort, from the beginning of the design, this cruiser is designed to follow the main fleet to participate in the decisive battle.

Its mission is quite simple, that is, to act as an outpost ship for the main fleet, providing reconnaissance information for the main fleet.

The Cullen-class cruisers may be assigned to various detachments in the future, such as the South Sea, the East Ocean, and the North Sea fleet, or the Hawaii Task Force, the Pacific Fleet stationed in Japan, and so on.

But the Kunming-class cruisers were scheduled to be assigned to the First Fleet!

The difference in the intended use creates a huge difference in design and a huge difference in cost.

In the 1868 naval shipbuilding plan, in addition to the capital ship, there were three cruiser plans.

Among these three cruisers, in addition to the third ship of the Kulun class and the improved model of the Kunming class, there is also a cruiser program that can be regarded as an experimental model.

At present, there is no complete design plan, but the navy has put forward clear design requirements, first of all, the tonnage can not exceed 5,000 tons, the firepower and protection performance must exceed the Kuafu-class ironclad ship under construction, the speed must reach more than 15 knots, after reaching the above design intentions, as far as possible to reduce the cost, in principle, can not exceed 60 percent of the Chang'e-class armored cruiser, that is, can not exceed 900,000 yuan, and this price is also the cost of the Yandi class.

Why does the Navy control the cost so strictly?

Because even if the Chang'e-class armored cruiser is cheaper than the 10,000-ton battleship, it is actually not cheaper there, and it is all dead expensive things.

In addition, whether it is a Chiyou-class battleship or a Chang'e-class armored cruiser, these are important capital ships, which can not be easily used, and once a small and medium-sized conflict breaks out in some sea areas, such as Hawaii or the North Sea, the navy needs a warship that can act as the flagship of the local fleet to compete with the enemy's second-class ironclads, but at the same time the cost is cheap enough.

If the new warships were so expensive, they would lose their strategic value, and the Imperial Navy would be better off building large-tonnage armored cruisers.

It's just that the navy is demanding on cost and performance, so the current ship administration department will not be able to come up with any good design plans for a while.

It's easy to meet the performance, but the cost is exceeded

It's hard to keep up with the cost of keeping the cost under control, so the designers at the Ship Administration Department are racking their brains to try to meet the Navy's performance requirements at as low a cost as possible.

Since 1866, the Imperial Navy has been designing and building new warships based on trade-offs between performance and cost, and these trade-offs have often been highly debated.

Just as the empire set off a naval construction climax in 1868, the external environment continued to change!

In September 1868, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs suddenly received a secret telegram from the envoy of the Imperial Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Kingdom of Ning, and when the telegram was translated, the official in charge of the telegraph room of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs immediately showed a look of horror, and then picked up the telegram and went straight to Song Guanqian's office.

And it didn't take long to see Song Guanqian hurriedly go to Xinhua Hall to meet Lin Zhe! (To be continued.) )