In the midst of the heavy snowfall, the Incheon shipyard is extremely lively, and the remaining garlands and ribbons can be seen on the slipway, and the red firecracker paper can be seen in the snow, and the firecracker paper dyes the surrounding snowflakes red, like plum blossoms in the snow. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

At this time, although the shipyard has calmed down from the previous bustle, there seems to be a trace of excitement on the cold red faces of the people. People talked excitedly, and looked towards the sea from time to time, only to see that in the fierce snow, a hull with colorful ribbons and garlands was being pushed and dragged by the tugboat, heading for the outfitting berth. Soon, it will be at the side of the outfitting berth for final outfitting work.

Then, the outfitted battleship will go to sea trials, and then? He will fly the flag of the navy, sail on the vast sea, show people his majestic figure, of course, for the people in the shipyard, they see honor and pride, it is through their unremitting efforts that this warship will be built from scratch.

Just half an hour ago, the completion of the hull construction of the "Zhenhai" combat ship carried out the launching ceremony, after more than a year of construction, finally when the New Year's bell rang, the hull project was basically completed, the rest of the long superstructure outfitting and armament system installation, commissioning, when all this is over, after the completion of sea trials, it will enter the navy's combat sequence, become the main warship of the Northeast Navy.

But it will all take time, and it's just getting started.

The construction of the hull and the construction of the power system can be carried out at the same time, but the outfitting work can only be carried out after the completion of the hull, and most of the ship's equipment, including boilers, main engines, turrets, etc., must be installed on the ship during the outfitting process. There are two main reasons why these tasks are not done on the slipway: first, the hull must be kept within a certain limit when launching from the slipway, otherwise it will not only encounter difficulties when launching from the water, but may even damage the slipway and hull; Secondly. So that the construction of a warship does not occupy the slipway or dock for too long, and the construction of new ships can be started at the same time as the outfitting work is carried out, so as to improve the utilization efficiency of the shipyard facilities. Moreover, the same group of large cranes can be used to outfit several warships at the same time, making more efficient use of these expensive equipment, while the lifting equipment in the slipway or dock can only be used by one warship.

Although the Incheon shipyard built only this one combat ship. However, it does not prevent it from following the normal shipbuilding process. There is nothing wrong with following the same path, especially for beginners, technical innovation is not always a good thing, but sometimes being conservative can have unexpected results.

"The outfitting construction period is expected to be 10 to 12 months, and considering the use of new tools such as electric welding, I personally think that the Zhenhai should be completed by the end of the year......"

Shi Si looked a little excited when he spoke. It is no wonder that the lifelong pursuit is becoming a reality little by little in this shipyard, and next year, and even this year's "World Navy Yearbook" will have one more type of combat ship - the "Zhenhai class" combat ship, and by that time, the whole world will know that he is the designer of the "Zhenhai class" combat ship, and the only pity is that. It seems that the Navy now has no intention of disclosing the number of performance of the "Zhenhai-class" combat ships.

The outfitting period of 10 to 12 months is the result of the rigorous work carried out by the Division. The reason why the outfitting project will be so fast, in addition to the more and more familiar engineering personnel and technicians after more than a year of running-in, more importantly, many internal secondary parts, without the use of time-consuming riveting, more and more mature welding technology in the past few years. It can be fully applied to interior outfitting.

If it weren't for the caution of new technologies, Shi Si would even like to try to build warships with electric welding, so as to speed up the construction of warships, after all, the shipyard has gained a lot of experience in welding hulls when building merchant ships. There is even a customs ship, which is completely welded.

However, it is based on this caution that the welding process was not applied in the construction of the hull of the "Zhenhai", but there is no problem at all with this technology in the internal outfitting. More importantly, the Navy also agreed.

"At the latest around the Spring Festival next year, it will be able to enter the active ...... of the Navy"

Looking at the huge crane at the outfitting wharf and listening to Shi Si's narration, Tang Haoran nodded silently from time to time, for more than a year, he had been paying attention to the progress of the construction of the battleship at the Incheon Shipyard.

The reason why he paid attention to it was not because he had come up with tens of millions of yuan in construction costs, but because of the pressure from the sea, which made him unable not to pay attention to the construction of the navy.

When the battleship was slowly pushed by the tugboat, when it was moored at the outfitting dock, Tang Haoran could see the silhouette of its hull, and its bow was different from the warships of various countries in this era, because he canceled the bow angle of attack, and the warships of all countries in this era had "angle of attack", and it was the first combat ship to adopt a flying scissor bow.

The use of flying scissors bow is not to avoid "accidental collision", but because the power of the main engine is not high, it cannot meet the requirements of the navy for speed, so in order to improve the efficiency of power utilization, they have designed dozens of ship models for demonstration, and finally determined that it is a bulbous bow. The part above the waterline of the bow of the "Zhenhai" is obviously tilted outward, the bow is in a semicircle, and its two sides are greatly stretched outward, so as to reduce the waves on the bow. The bow below the waterline adopts a bulbous bow, compared with the sharpened bow, this new configuration can reduce a certain wave resistance, although its nose bow efficiency is far from comparable with later generations, but it is undoubtedly an innovation in this era, maximizing its speed. The Navy's speed requirements for it are guaranteed. Of course, the "cannibalism" of "accidental impact" was also avoided.

For its technical details, in the past year, Tang Haoran has already memorized it, and even in the office, there is a model of a "Zhenhai", which shows the attention paid to it.

“…… In order to ensure its technological leadership, in the construction of the "Zhenhai" battleship, in addition to the latest gunnery, armor, defense and power design, but also the use of many British battleships also used experimental new technology, in addition to the turret itself using electric transmission, but also the use of electric lifting machine, at the same time redesigned the process of ammunition storage, handling, loading, the rate of fire increased to 30 seconds per round, in addition. In addition, in the defense optimization of the whole ship, the number of watertight compartments is 293, which is divided into 41 watertight areas. The upper armor belt, which also extends upwards to the upper armor fort......"

Although Tang Haoran couldn't recall the details of the design for a while, he had to admit that Shi Si's "bold and reckless behavior" in the application of warship technology, although he had said that "technology can be more bold and adopt new technologies more extensively", Shi Si is still extremely bold in adopting many unverified new technologies, and of course the Navy can tolerate its "bold and reckless behavior". It also has a lot to do with the strong color of the "Zhenhai" as a test ship.

With Tang Haoran's support, the Navy is naturally willing to use the "Zhenhai" to carry out technical verification in order to obtain the most advanced warships, of course, this attempt is not without a trace of risk. Just like the newly developed electrical/hydraulic/human triple loss management control and switching system, although it is far superior to the old loss management system in theory and experiment, it has put a question mark on its maturity and reliability because of its experimental nature, but this does not prevent him from applying it to the "Zhenhai". But that's not the boldest part of it.

“…… The main armor belt is 200 mm, which has been tested more than 100 times on the naval side. Even armor-piercing shells fired from 12-inch naval guns at a distance of 2000 meters could not penetrate 200 mm of carburized hard armor belts......"

At the mention of carburized hardened armor, Shi Si glanced at the extremely young marshal beside him, and it was known that this technique was invented by the marshal. The output of this technology has brought back many other technologies for the company, and even hundreds of technicians.

However, the Chinese still seem to have reservations about this technology, and their own hardened armor steel is more advanced, in hundreds of tests conducted by the Navy with 12-inch naval guns. Not a single armor-piercing projectile penetrates armor 200 mm thick, not even 160 cm thick armor, and even worse, those armor-piercing shells filled with sand or salt as counterweights will directly shatter when hitting hard armor, which naturally cannot penetrate the armor.

It is precisely on the basis of a large number of tests that the navy has decided to use high-explosive shells as the main type of warship before developing a new type of armor-piercing projectile, and to win the naval battle by seeking damage to the surface facilities of the enemy ship and the killing and injury of personnel, after all, the current armor-piercing projectile is too limited.

It is also based on the Northeast Navy's all-round test of hard armor that Shi Si boldly adopted a 200 mm thick armor belt, instead of the traditional 300 or even 400 mm armor belt.

"2 upright four-cylinder three-stage bulging steam engines, 26 Belleville high-pressure water-tube boilers, 22,500 hp ......"

After a slight pause, Tang Haoran looked at Shi Si, and the corners of his lips raised slightly.

"The design speed of 21.8 knots, which is even 1.3 knots faster than the "Dinghai" class cruisers, will be the fastest combat ship in the world as soon as it enters service! ”

When mentioning "the fastest", Tang Haoran couldn't help but think of another term "battle cruiser", in another time and space, after seeing the huge role played by Japan's 10,000-ton armored cruisers, the British Royal Navy immediately designed a new type of warship, that is, the battle cruiser, which is a kind of battleship that combines the powerful firepower of the battleship with the high mobility of the armored cruiser.

The current "Zhenhai" has a certain thing in common with the battlecruiser - it has the firepower of a battleship and the speed of a cruiser. Even compared to the battlecruisers of later generations, at least in the next few years, before the new armor-piercing shells are put into service, they will not encounter too many threats on the ocean, and on the contrary, they can bring unprecedented threats to the enemy with their own firepower and speed.

"Your Excellency, this is a decision based on technology, since armor-piercing shells cannot penetrate its armor, why not increase its speed and mobility?"

The words turned slightly, and Shi Si continued.

"In addition, your naval strength is not strong, in the future naval battle, it is very likely to face a more powerful enemy, your navy needs to preserve its strength, and speed is undoubtedly the most powerful guarantee, no warship can catch up with him, if your enemy sends a cruiser to pursue, this means that its weak firepower cruiser will be turned into a pile of scrap metal under the bombardment of the 12-inch naval guns of the "Zhenhai", and after losing the protection of the cruiser, the powerful enemy will have to face attacks from all directions......"

This is a simple tactical thinking, and even this tactical thinking persuaded the navy to abandon the construction of an orthodox combat ship based on the "Sovereign" and instead build such a combat ship with the characteristics of a cruiser, so as to play the role of "surprise" in future naval battles and thus win naval battles.

This is the most attractive thing about the battlecruiser, whether it is compared to the battleship or the cruiser, it has advantages that are difficult for the other side to achieve.

In other words, no one who can beat the "Zhenhai" is as fast as him, and those who run faster than him or as fast as him can't beat him......"

The corners of his lips raised slightly, and Tang Haoran summarized that in fact, it was this kind of thinking that dominated the glory of the battle cruisers, but with the development of technology, the armor of the battle cruisers was a little thin under the threat of larger caliber guns and new armor-piercing shells, but in this era - well, there is no more suitable battleship than the battle cruiser.

Even if possible, Tang Haoran prefers to have a faster speed, and of course more powerful firepower, it is best to be able to bomb the enemy's warships from a distance, and as for the armor, it can be further strengthened while ensuring the first two. Therefore, on this point, he naturally reached a consensus of opinion with Shi Si.

"That's right, Marshal, as you said, speed and firepower are his way to victory, of course, all this is based on the hard armor you invented, without which it would be all empty talk!"

For this straightforward sycophant, Tang Haoran just smiled slightly, and at the same time turned his head to look at the German who designed China's first type of combat ship, and said with a smile.

"How about it, Shi Si, do you have any idea of naturalizing China now?"

Looking at the German beside him, Tang Haoran invited at the right time, he never rejected foreign intelligence, and hoped that these foreign technicians could become Chinese and make up for China's shortcomings in this era of insufficient intelligence.

"You know, in the future, we will build a larger fleet, if you stay in China, maybe, in this life, you will not have free time, do you want to think about it?" (To be continued.) )