Chapter 152

"It is simply a shame that the important weapons for the defense of the country are made by foreigners!"

When did this statement begin?

No one knows, but at least one thing is certain, that is, this statement must have originated in the Northeast, because only the Northeast has tirelessly pursued the localization of national defense equipment, not imports, from the transformation and maintenance of rifles during the initial Seoul Machine Bureau period to the "Jinhae Combat Ship" It took only 6 years. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

In just six years, the launch of the "Zhenhai" has witnessed the rapid development of the overall industry in Northeast China, after all, to a certain extent, the construction of battleships is the most direct way to judge the true level of a country's shipbuilding industry and even comprehensive national strength. Although the commissioning of the "Zhenhai Ship" is of great significance to the Northeast industry, in fact, most of its key equipment, such as main guns and power, are imported from Britain, France and other countries.

What is flawed is that although the Zhenhai ship has a certain technological leadership, its performance is not as superior as that of foreign manufacturing in any case, and even this is the reason why Beiyang insists on outsourcing, after all, the performance of domestic warships is still much worse than that of foreign manufacturing, so for many years, the Beiyang Navy has pursued the policy that all capital ships are purchased from abroad. During this period, he only built light ships, and used them to trial produce and explore shipbuilding technology.

However, compared with the Beiyang Fleet, which "insisted on outsourcing", the Northeast has always insisted on building its own warships, just as it is now, almost at the same time that the construction of the "Zhenhai" has just been completed, the transformation of its next-class warships has already begun, and the work of the next-level improved warships has been carried out at the same time. Work on a new type of armored cruiser was also launched.

"It can't be!"

In the conference room of the Admiralty Admiralty's Naval Administration. Smoke filled the air. As the designer of the "Zhenbo", Stenge held his whale tooth bone pipe and loudly retorted the advice of the young man in front of him.

Compared with the caution in the construction of the "Zhenhai," in the construction of the "Zhenba-class" armored cruisers, the navy placed orders for as many as four ships at a time because of its excellent "paper performance." At the same time, orders were placed for two subsequent improved models. Of course, the reason why the Navy issued this huge freehand was entirely based on the needs of the Navy's expansion plan.

However, although the Navy agreed to issue an order, the Harbour Master's Office once again disputed the perfection of the Zhenbo plan, and the reason for the dispute was very simple: several young engineers who had just returned from studying in England objected. Although he did not directly oppose this plan, what he was aiming at was the expansion plan of the entire navy, or the navy's plan for cruisers.

"Even without regard to recoil. The 10-inch naval gun weighed much more than the 8-inch naval gun, by the standards of the Royal Navy. The 10-inch naval gun is equivalent to the standard of firepower of a second-class combat ship, and the armored cruiser we need now is the high rate of fire of the 8-inch naval gun! In contrast, even if you barely add a 10-inch naval gun, what can you do? It is nothing more than a large "mosquito boat", another super brave! ”

With the help of thousands of tests conducted by the Navy in the past few years, he made sufficient improvements when designing the "Zhenbo" with the early scheme of "Zhenhai", and he believed that its performance would far exceed the two 10,000-ton armored cruisers purchased by the Navy from the United Kingdom.

But when he didn't expect it, before the "Zhenbo" proved its performance to the world, it was questioned by others within the Ship Administration Office, and the root of the doubt was the 8-inch naval gun that the Navy had selected.

"The rate of fire of the 12-inch naval gun is 30 seconds and 1 round, you have to remember that this is not the limit rate of fire of the "Zhenhae", in fact, the rate of fire of the Zhenhai is 40 seconds per round, not 30 seconds per round, and its continuous rate of fire can only maintain one round per minute, do you understand? But even so, except for the Zhenhai, almost all the 12-inch main guns of battleships are flashy and expensive furnishings and garbage, because ordinary armor-piercing shells are powerless against case-hardened armor, and the case-hardening layer can destroy the tip of armor-piercing shells. Because of the defects that cannot be solved by the armor-piercing shells themselves, hardened armor of medium thickness of more than 6 to 7 inches can withstand 12-inch armor-piercing shells, so it is impossible to sink enemy ships with ordinary armor-piercing shells, so only high-explosive eggs with new explosives are king! Throwing a sufficient number of high-explosive shells at enemy ships, destroying their superstructures, killing and wounding their crews as much as possible, and reducing their combat effectiveness is the most important means of future naval warfare, so the navy needs 8-inch naval guns with a faster rate of fire, not the so-called secondary main guns! ”

If we say that as a junior of the Navy, the Northeast Navy has any advantage, I am afraid that it will obtain first-hand test data through thousands of shots through the way of sea targets, and use sufficient test data as the basis for designing warships. It was also on the basis of those tests that the Navy developed an engagement strategy based on high-explosive shells. When designing warships, it is also required that warships must have sufficient defense capabilities against high-explosive bombs.

It can be said that it is thanks to those test data that the "Zhenbo-class" armored cruiser designed by Stenge learned the experience of the "Zhenhai" in armor defense, and is completely worthy of the name of "armor", which realizes the perfect marriage of dome armor and armor belt, and the old central fort type, pure dome armor, and pure armor belt are completely abandoned, and it can be called the first among armored cruisers. The 80 mm nose and tail waterline armor belts are completely immune to 6-inch shells, preventing them from easily sinking like the Dome Cruisers and the old Central Fort armored cruisers, while its 180 mm thick main armor belt makes it immune to 12-inch gun piercing shells.

Two twin 8-inch turrets and 14 6-inch secondary guns - the number of secondary guns is not even inferior to that of the "Zhenhai class", and in order to save tonnage, the horizontal armor has been thinned. Even the mast was reduced to one. There is also only one conning tower. And in speed. Although its power is only 15,000 horsepower, with the perfect flying shear bow design, it can reach a high speed of 22 knots, while avoiding the vicious expansion of power tonnage and total tonnage, falling into a dead cycle of adding more water and more water, and rationally controlling the tonnage and cost!

Masterpiece!

Even the Admiralty, which was inclined to order armored cruisers from the British, in order to get closer to the relations between the two countries and to draw on the experience of British naval construction. It is also necessary to admit the advanced nature of "Zhenhai", believing that it has achieved maximum combat power under limited tonnage through careful design. It is precisely because of this that almost after it showed the Admiralty the "Zhenbo" to the Admiralty, it was immediately accepted by the Navy, and even in the eyes of the Navy, this is exactly the warship that the Navy needs, especially the ammunition throwing power of the 8-inch naval gun, which is undoubtedly a more attractive factor for the Navy that chooses to use new explosives and high-explosive shells as the main means of engagement. It can even be said that "Zhenbo" to some extent. It even affected the Navy's shipbuilding decisions.

And this is the way of heaven!

Where the true Heavenly Dao lies. But now, Stengge's Heavenly Dao, the Heavenly Dao of the Navy in his eyes, has been challenged like never before, because someone has come up with a bolder design, more precisely, a bolder idea.

"Since 12 inches is too big to be useful, then, let's use 10 inches, is 10 inches a slow rate of fire? Yes. ”

Nodding his head vigorously, Li Daolin's action will even arouse the curiosity of several Japanese naturalized engineers in the conference room, who will think that this person is Japanese, but his height of more than 1.8 meters clearly reminds people that he can never be naturalized.

At best, it's just a habitual, or rather an emphatic action.

"Is it heavy? Yes! ”

Isn't this a slap in the face? But Li Daolin did not think so at all, if he learned anything from studying at the Royal Academy of Engineering in Berlin, it was to discover the similarities and differences in military science and technology between Germany and Britain, and of course, after returning to China, he also discovered some leading points in domestic industry. It is precisely because of this that he will synthesize the strengths of Yingde and the Northeast and make a new decision, or rather, a new idea, and if he wants to turn this idea into reality, I am afraid that more efforts will be needed, such as making a breakthrough on the "Zhenbo" class armored cruiser.

"However, if there is no room for improvement, I will never admit it, I think that through the adjustment of steel and processing technology, the weight of the ten-inch naval gun, although it can not be reduced to the level of 8 inches, but it can be reduced by about 30%, so that it is not necessarily much heavier than the 8-inch naval gun, and our current artillery body barrel technology, still stuck in the thoughts of ten years ago, but completely ignored a point, ten years ago, the use of ordinary steel as cannon steel, And now the Shenyang Arsenal is using stronger alloy steel to make the body tube, so why can't we reduce the weight of the gun by a large number of thinning the body tube, in this case, based on 4 10-inch naval guns and 14 6-inch secondary guns, well......"

As a weapons engineer, Li Daolin has already calculated the gap between the two, and even the gap he gave is still a conservative situation, in fact, it may be possible to reduce it even more, after all, the current gun body is still made with the technology of more than 20 years ago is too heavy, and the current artillery technology completely ignores the progress of metallurgical technology in the past 20 years.

"Well, now there is another problem, that is, the difference between the weight of a ten-inch shell and the weight of an eight-inch shell, the former weighs about 500 pounds, as for the latter, it is 200 to 250 pounds, well, this amount has been solved by the remaining weight of the artillery, so the overall tonnage will not increase, then the last problem is the ...... of ammunition carried"

With Li Daolin's explanation, in the whole room, it seemed that only his words could be heard, and everyone was listening to his explanation, what was the improvement of the position of the ammunition inside the ammunition depot, in short, in the end, he was still in a limited space, reaching the amount equivalent to 8 inches 75% of the ammunition carrying, which can be said to be an extremely considerable amount.

Slowly it seems that people are really convinced by him, what steel yields, what strength gaps, etc., detailed data will not deceive, there is indeed a certain possibility or feasibility.

"Well, now only one last question remains, after all. Or a question of artillery. It is. What kind of artillery should we use, whether it is British or German, this is very critical, we are now using the former, because the technology we introduced is British technology, but the German-style bolt locking machine has the unmatched rate of fire advantage of the screw locking machine, of course. If possible, I think that if the brass cartridge is adopted, its rate of fire can be further increased! So, in my opinion, the inferior rate of fire to 10 inches to 8 inches is not only arbitrary, but also extremely irresponsible! ”

After a while, when Li Daolin looked at Shi Tengge, as a junior, he not only did not have the slightest politeness, but was even full of challenges. This is precisely a certain characteristic of the officials of the Northeast -- the superiors who never submit to authority, let alone are unlikely to submit. They will always express their views directly at the meeting, even if they contradict the superiors.

"We are the staff of the state, not the staff of the chief! We need to be accountable to the state, not to the governors! ”

This kind of rhetoric, which disregards the dignity of the officials, is quite marketable in the northeast, and is not only widely circulated among young officials, but also among technical personnel, and even among the military, there is a certain market. In the semi-military institution of the Ship Master's Office, there is naturally a very good market. Only by not being afraid of authority can we make a breakthrough!

"Hmmm......"

Although Stenge's temper has always been good, but now, when his authority is challenged and even himself is questioned, he is rarely angry, but looking at that face full of vitality, he is unwilling to suppress him. Therefore, he just forcibly suppressed the dissatisfaction in his heart, even anger, and listened to him continue.

"Also, Your Excellency, it is another reason, according to the expansion plan of the Navy, in five years, the Navy will serve six combat ships, six armored cruisers, and of course two 10,000-ton cruisers purchased by the British, which is often said in the Admiralty "Six Seas and Eight Waves" Fourteen warships, will constitute the main force of the Northeast Navy in the future, but one thing we should note is that while our Navy wants to develop rapidly, our imaginary enemy Russia! ”

After a pause, Li Daolin looked directly at Shi Tengge and said loudly.

"The Russians have also developed a larger "big naval plan", we now only have 4 slipways that can make capital ships in Dalian and Incheon, and 6 slipways of 8,000 tons to 10,000 tons, which is also the core of the Navy's five-year plan, that is, based on shipbuilding capabilities, but Russia has 8 slipways that can build large battleships, and it has started construction of five combat ships at the same time this year, one of which is started in Japan, and it is expected that in the next three years, with the improvement and progress of Japan's shipbuilding capacity, the Russian large navy plan will reach its peak at that time, that is, the construction of 8 combat ships at the same time, and what does this mean? ”

Silent!

His words made everyone silent for a while, and even together with Shi Tengge, who had suppressed his anger in his heart before, he also silently smoked his pipe and stopped talking, indeed, for the Northeast Navy, Russia is like a mountain that cannot be bypassed, and it has always overwhelmed them, but now the pressure caused by this mountain is getting bigger and bigger. The fourteen warships of the "Six Seas and Eight Waves" were the Admiralty's preparation plan, but they were far from being comparable to the Russians.

"Your Excellency, I would like to ask, in five years, how can we use a cruiser fleet with eight armored cruisers against a Russian Imperial Navy with more than ten or even more combat ships? And do not forget that the Russian armored cruisers are much more powerful than us, and their armored cruisers are not even inferior in tonnage to the "Zhenhai" In this case, how can we go against them with the same eight-inch naval guns? ”

After a rhetorical question, seeing that everyone was in deep thought, Li Daolin's voice raised slightly.

"If I'm not mistaken, the Shenyang Arsenal has made a certain breakthrough in the development of new armor-piercing shells, and one thing is for sure, with the development of technology, the definition of 12 inches large and useless will definitely be broken, and when the new armor-piercing bullets come out, then will 8 inches be able to meet the requirements of new tactics by then?"

In the successive rhetorical questions, Stenge's brows frowned, and his mind repeatedly pondered the data about the test of the new type of armor-piercing bullet, indeed, compared with the old armor-piercing bullet, the new type of armor-piercing bullet has indeed made a great breakthrough, maybe in the next few years, with the resolution of another problem, it is likely to change the definition of naval warfare, suddenly, he raised his head, looked at Li Daolin and asked rhetorically.

"So, do you think 10 inches is really very promising?"

"I don't know if there is a future, but I think that at least 8 armored cruisers equipped with second-class main guns should be much more deterrent to the Russians than armored cruisers equipped with 8-inch naval guns!"

In the face of the chief's inquiry, he smiled calmly and expressed the most practical point of view in his thoughts.

"After all, even if it's a small boat carrying a cannon, it's also a threat! Not to mention the "Zhenbo" ...... Not small! ”

Zhenbo is indeed not small, the 8,150-ton armored cruiser is a little smaller than the Russian 12,000-ton armored cruiser, but in fact, it is only 2,000 tons smaller than the second-class combat ships of the British.

"In fact, it is in no way inferior to the British second-class combat ships, so why can't we be a little more daring and replace armored cruisers with battle cruisers that are more powerful than them?" (To be continued.) )