In the early decades of the 20th century, military competition among the world's major powers was normalized. Throughout the process of each colonial battle, there is an astonishing speed of weapons and equipment transformation and upgrading. Among them, the most typical and important are naval vessels.

Especially at the end of the 19th century, with the explosive development of Western science and technology, the construction of warships, which directly represents the strong level of the country, has become an intuitive means to integrate the country's technological productivity and national financial resources. The traditional European powers, led by the British Empire, in order to burn the flames of war to every corner of the earth, in order to maintain their long colonial chain, almost frantically invested money and industrial technology in the manufacture of updated battleships.

There is no doubt that before the era when no fighter planes dominate the sky, the displacement, armor, caliber and number of main guns of ships at sea will determine the life and death of a country.

In order to ensure their leading position, or to compete for hegemony, several major powers dare to gamble.

As a rising star challenger, China, in the face of the wolves of the great powers that may join forces at any time, can only constantly upgrade its military strength, with the help of the technological advantages of another time and space assistance, in this competition, at the minimum cost, to seize the most advantageous and unique leading position.

Yang Hao knows very well how severe the challenges in the future are, don't look at the current Chinese Navy has four battleships with a maximum displacement of more than 30,000 tons, in terms of its firepower, armor, speed, and comprehensive combat performance, in another ten or twenty years, it may be just head-on with the follow-up ships that the foreign devils have researched and built by themselves.

But to say that this can be guaranteed, he is not optimistic at all.

The main gun caliber of the "Hebei-class" battleship is only 12 inches and 305mm, even if its performance can eventually reach the excellent level of the "Alaska-class battlecruiser", the pinnacle of World War II. Regardless of range, rate of fire, thickness of armor piercing. All are unique. But compared to real battleships, this cargo can still only be considered barely improvised.

Without a main gun over 15 inches, are you embarrassed to say that you are the main battleship?

Therefore, in the planning of several major fleets of the Navy in the future, the role of the four "Hebei-class" warships will gradually change to the position of fighting patrol. After all four main engines are fully equipped, the speed of more than 30 knots is enough to crush one qiē.

Although in terms of hull strength and design, this battleship can be upgraded to a 356mm main gun. Yang Hao felt that it was too accumulative, and it was better not to go up or down.

With the plan so made, there is no doubt that the model of the main battleship must be further upgraded. At the same time, in order to ensure that they are always one step ahead of foreign devils in the shipbuilding competition, the "Guangxi-class battleship" that began to be designed and built last year has become the main player in this important task.

The design and construction of the main ships of the Chinese Navy in the second plane is systematic, and according to the design of its main turret and the structure of the hull, it can be roughly divided into two categories: triple turret and triple turret and triple turret.

Triple three-turret construction, in the fifty years of war in this world. It has been proven to be the most reasonable structure and the most cost-effective one. It has three seats and nine main guns, which ensures the density and efficiency of ammunition delivery in one-way or two-way strikes. It can also save the displacement as much as possible, and thicken the local armor as much as possible to achieve a relatively balanced anti-strike ability.

At the same time, the hull width brought by the three turrets ensures the deployment of the lower power system, and the structure of the four main engines and four thrusters meets the requirements of high power, high efficiency and high survivability. And the American "Iowa" and the Japanese "Yamato" battleships, which are at their peak, seem to prove this set of statements to be correct.

China does not have the experience of building its own battleships, and even if it gathers masters from all over the world to work together, it will not know better than those masters who have accumulated decades before World War II and are under the environmental conditions of the time. So the best thing to do is, plagiarism and imitation.

As a result, there was the first "Tianjin" heavy cruiser, which was then enlarged into a "Hebei-class" battleship on its basis.

So is it possible to follow this system and go to the dark to satisfy the pinch? Obviously, Yang Hao doesn't think so, as a standard multi-turret activist, when he has the opportunity to mix in a space-time military change, he will definitely not let go of the possibility of satisfying his own preferences.

Is three turrets enough? That's still too little! Is the structure of the front two and the back one piggyback perfect? Such a high center of gravity, such a crowded middle superstructure, such an ugly bottle-like hull structure, is not beautiful at all!

It must have four turrets, must have more than ten main guns, and must have a perfect structure without defects to create the most powerful steel behemoth of the sea.

The four-turret structure came into being, and the "Langya-class" light cruiser became a test of this idea.

On this basis, it is the current "Guangxi-class" battleship. Four triple 356mm guns, a majestic hull with a length of 236.23 meters, and an armored monster with a standard displacement of 38,270 tons - absolutely worthy of the late 19th century.

And out of a preference mentality, as the next model of the upgraded version of the "Guangxi class", carrying a behemoth with a main gun of at least 16 inches and a body tube of more than 406mm, the real surface super giant will become the ultimate version of this series.

As for whether the three triple capital ships will appear, Yang Hao is not sure now.

Regarding the design indicators of the "Guangxi-class" battleships, there was still a fierce quarrel. After all, Liu Fatzi and others didn't know that Yang Hao was really building battleships. He and all the designers of the world took it for granted that this was just another project based on real fantasy.

As a member of the design team, they can design the battleship as close as possible to reality, and carefully consider all aspects of the needs to ensure that when it is actually built and used one day, there will be no flashy and comical scenes that cannot be carried out.

After all, starting from the "Tianjin (Dongfang)" and the later "Hebei-class" two ships, the whole team has been running in for several years and the verification of actual construction to ensure that their work is meticulous and thoughtful. The entire production and construction scheme from scratch. After getting the B plane. It can still be copied according to the cat and the tiger. Two B-plane self-built "Hebei-class" battleships were successfully put into service. It's proof.

But there is one of the most critical issues that they always ignore intentionally or unintentionally, that is, the inheritance and systematization of production capacity and technological upgrading.

In the 21st century, Liu Fatzi and others don't have to think about the difficulty of production, nor do they need to think about technological upgrades, as long as they can design it, they will have enough conditions to produce it. Whether it is the high-strength armor of the hull, or the main engine system with high power, small volume and low failure rate. No matter how large the size of the propeller is integrated cutting and manufacturing, or the main gun of more than 18 inches, it is not a problem.

So these guys are also trying to satisfy their hobbies, and they want to make a real super battleship. The most ready-made goal was to rebuild the "Montana-class" battleships. To do this, they proceed from realistic conditions, from the selection of steel to the construction of machinery, the metallurgical formulation of the main gun and the forging press, to the heat treatment plant, chrome plating and intensive treatment processes.

Because of the support of Yang Hao, a local tyrant, thousands of people can give full play to their imagination regardless of the cost. The design team, led by Liu Fatzi, broke down the task into hundreds of small pieces, which received enthusiastic input from professionals from all over the world. It takes a short time to collect complete information, and then design a complete set of drawings and process flow.

It can be said that as long as the printed drawings with dozens of containers are realized, any country with the industrial level of the thirties of the twentieth century can build a super battleship with a standard displacement of more than 60,000 tons!

These guys put their main energy on that super battleship, and the smaller "Guangxi-class" became a small job by the way. Then in order to satisfy their own delusions, this gang changed Yang Hao's original request beyond recognition!

When Yang Hao got the first version of the design sketch, he was almost angry. What Liu Fatzi gave him was actually the design of a three-seat triple 380mm main gun! That is a copy of the French "Richelieu"-class battleships, combined with the synthesis of the Italian "Veneto" carrying the M1934 cannon.

If you want to talk about the advantages, there are quite a few. The body of the 35,000-ton standard platoon, the main armor, the mine protection of the bilge, the main gun mount, the command tower, etc., exceed the thickness of 16-inch armor, the endurance of more than 12,000 nautical miles, and the 140,000-horsepower main engine can achieve superior performance at a speed of more than 30 knots. It is a full inch smaller, but it can hit an ultra-long range of 42 kilometers, and its accuracy and dispersion surpass the excellent 50 times the body barrel of the German Bismarck main gun in all aspects. Even in World War II in this world, this is definitely not weaker than the vast majority of battleships, including "Iowa".

Good value for money. If you show it to the B-plane powers, you will definitely like it like it like it madly.

But Yang Hao was so angry that he slapped the table on Liu Fatzi and shouted: "What I want is a four-gun turret!" A battleship with three loads and four turrets! It's not the kind of thing that doesn't go up or down! ”

Liu Fatzi didn't understand his real needs, and argued with his professional knowledge: "In your original requirements, whether it is the standard 305/50L main gun or the 356/50L gun that can be upgraded, the caliber firepower is too small. According to the test results of the British that year, even if there are 12 main guns with a caliber of less than 14 inches, the comprehensive combat effectiveness is not as good as that of 8 main guns with a caliber of more than 15 inches! So from the beginning of the construction of the Queen, they tried their best to improve the caliber of the main gun. In the subsequent shipbuilding competition of various countries, the reason why the main guns were constantly increased was not simply to show off their industrial strength, but was supported by practical experience. ”

Yang Hao couldn't tell him that the target of the warship he needed was the backward thing that the displacement of the countries in the second plane was less than 30,000 tons, and the caliber of the main gun was no more than 356mm. At least before the British "Queen Elizabeth class" entered service, with the current 305mm/50L main gun, coupled with heavy armor, it was enough to sweep a qiē.

The point is, he doesn't just write and draw on paper, he really has to spend real money to build a real thing! According to the willful design of Liu Fatzi's gang, what level will the construction cost have to rise to in a straight line?

According to the design of the three triple 380mm main guns they gave, the construction cost is five or six for each person! Yang Hao extorted the money from the foreign devils, but it was completely insufficient!

To this day, the funds used by Yang Hao to build a navy in the second plane come from the great powers. Whether it is the war reparations or the cost of ransom for prisoners of war and warships. Or buy technical equipment and warship facilities and materials. and even participated in the investment in the development of the Philippines. In the case of the simultaneous advancement of the domestic revolution. He really doesn't have much room to engage in a World War II-level super battleship!

Even the giant ship in the design is scheduled to be built at the node of ten years! By 1910, it was able to build a 60,000-ton standard row of battleships, enough to crush one opponent. The powers can only follow his ass and eat ashes, and that's enough.

There is also a very critical factor, the issue of technology upgrading and inheritance.

There is no problem in the construction of warships in the 21st century, but in the second plane around 1900, even if a complete set of industrial equipment of the seventies and eighties of the 20th century is pulled, it will not be able to keep up with the construction capacity due to the lack of talents.

So in the entire shipbuilding plan. Yang Hao always pays attention to the improvement of industrial production capacity. Up to now, the B plane can be riveted and welded to build "Hebei-class" battleships, which is already the highest level, and the manufacture of 305mm main guns is also the limit. The next upgrade node is to take the construction of the "Guangxi-class" battleship as an opportunity to improve the main gun and hull construction capacity, focusing on mastering the production and manufacturing of the 35,000-horsepower steam turbine system.

It is expected that in five years, the integration of China's industry in the second plane will be realized, and a series of production technologies and capabilities related to the construction of 35,000-ton battleships will be thoroughly mastered. After that, warships of larger tonnage, larger caliber, larger power systems will be considered.

Industrial productivity is never achieved overnight. That takes time, it takes money. Talent accumulation is required.

Liu Fatzi didn't know any of this at all, so disagreements between the two inevitably arose. However, in the end, it was Yang Hao, the big boss who paid the money, who had the upper hand, so Liu Fatzi finally compromised and completed the modification of the "Guangxi-class" battleship.

The 380mm main gun battleship they had spent a lot of energy on was put on the shelf and put into the "Grand Voyage" game as a model to satisfy their fantasies.

The design of the "Guangxi-class" battleship was finalized, which coincided with the rectification of the Yang Group by the "relevant departments", and under the dangerous conditions of all-round monitoring, Yang Hao had no way to disperse the processing in this world. People are just waiting for their family to make mistakes, the old and the young are all missing, leaving only him, a legal person, to deal with it with a projection stand-in, all the institutions are suspended, and don't expect anything to procure.

It was in this difficult environment that the construction of this type of battleship had to rely entirely on the personnel of the B plane. There are sufficient reserves of hull steel plates and armor, artillery, diesel engines, pipelines, cables, etc., purchased in advance. However, it can no longer be like the "Hebei class", where the module is welded in the African factory in the world and transferred to the B plane for assembly.

All the sensitive research projects of the African factory were urgently transferred by Yang Hao to the B plane, where not even a single piece of paper was left, and the slipway was empty, only the fragmentary civil ship repair business was perfunctory.

So starting with cutting the steel plates, all the work was pressed to the shipyard in the B plane. Without the world's advanced modular welding production capacity, the proportion of the riveting process of warships has been greatly increased, and these problems have also forced Jiao Hai and other B-plane ship designers to rack their brains to find ways to modify the drawings. This also gives them a rare opportunity to learn and practice, and they can really participate in the design and production of an advanced battleship, which is of great benefit to their growth.

After all, with the experience of producing the "Hebei-class" battleships, the construction process of the first two "Guangxi-class" is still relatively smooth. In March 1899, both hulls were completed and outfitting began. Optimistic estimates that in the spring of 1901 they will officially enter service.

On the whole, compared with the huge hull with a standard row of 38,000 and a full row of 47,000, there is no doubt that the 356mm main gun of the "Guangxi class" is weak. Even the number of 12 main guns seems to be insufficient compared to the general firepower of 380-406mm during World War I.

But this does not mean that the battleship is really inferior. Because the caliber of the main gun is small, the turret is light, and the balanced design of the front and rear seats ensures that the center of gravity of the hull is stable, the internal space is increased, and the excess displacement is inclined to the carrying capacity of armor, fuel and ammunition.

The main armor belt of the waterline of the "Guangxi class" is wider, the bottom is equipped with a mine-proof compartment, the horizontal armor is thicker, and the armor of the gun mount and the command tower is enough to withstand the long-distance strike of 406mm cap-piercing shells - this is based on the elastic performance of the guns of various countries in the late World War II as the calculation standard.

In the face of the development capabilities of the main guns of the countries of the second plane, it can be said that in one or two decades, there will not be any kind of main guns that will penetrate the armor of the ship. On the premise of satisfying the large range and self-sustaining capability, the survivability in combat is guaranteed to the greatest extent, and the modification margin for future-oriented air defense, mine protection, and defense against large main artillery attacks is set aside.

The battleship cost more than 10 million taels of silver, so it would have to be cost-effective for him for decades!

Yang Hao also has another purpose, that is, on the basis of satisfying his own needs, he misleads the development ideas of the Western powers!

He knows very well that Western countries attach great importance to the caliber and quantity of the main guns of warships, and if they knew that China had made such a monster with 12-barrel main guns, they would inevitably try to surpass it unconvinced. When the time comes, they will endlessly pursue larger and thicker guns, and will have to design larger hulls in order to carry the cannons. However, both of these need to be kept up with industrial technology, and when the time comes, they will not be able to keep up with their own research, and they will either buy from China, or they can only sacrifice part of the performance of the warship.

Either way, it will make them lame, and when the time comes, when the warships of the great powers triumphantly carry the short-barreled main guns and run to Asia, the scene of the battle between the two sides will become very exciting!

The main gun is not just a caliber, and the ammunition technology must be kept up to be qualified. The British's latest 45 times diameter 305mm main gun, with a range of only 17,200 meters, was extended to 50 times the diameter in order to pursue a farther fight, and the spread was large enough to discredit the prestige of a naval power for hundreds of years. Even Elizabeth's 42x 380mm cannon was still inadequate. And without the bonus of American-style armor-piercing shells in World War II, their armor-piercing ability is far from keeping up.

Yang Hao is very much looking forward to the day when the shipbuilding competition of the great powers will be misled by him and fall into the ditch. (To be continued......)