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Monday, August 12, 1624.

The "Atlantic Checkers" are in full swing in the country, many factories and enterprises are working overtime on Saturdays, and the stockpiles of supplies ready to be shipped to the city of Twin Bays in Bermuda are piling up in the dock storage area almost day and night, and the social attention is no less than the transatlantic European trade that is in the limelight, but in the Navy Command, a special seminar on the development of naval armaments has not been smooth.

In the first phase of the annexation of Guadeloupe, in fact, the biggest benefit is the navy. On the day the Congress passed the bill, the Navy received an additional $700,000 in annual plan for the Navy's military expenditure, and then an additional $600,000 in naval military spending each year for two consecutive years, which made the Navy Commander Brigadier General Wang Tiehammer directly happy to foam his nose.

And the most pressure is also on the Navy. Because starting from this year, in the next few years, the maritime layout of the Republic of China and the United States of America will have two more nodes. The North American conflict with England had become public, and the future handling of the colony of Virginia in England, the need for regular patrols for home security, and the need for patrols on the Atlantic trade routes had begun to exacerbate naval shortages.

At present, there are a total of 8 ships in service in the Navy, including 4 Republic-class light cruisers and 4 enterprise-class frigates. The last two of the Republic-class light cruisers began construction in April this year and are expected to enter service in March next year; The USS Constitution, a light cruiser with sails for many practical applications, had just been launched, but there were no other capital ships to build again.

That is, by 1625. The Navy will have six Republic-class light cruisers, four Enterprise-class frigates, and one mechamark light cruiser USS Constitution. Then there will be a ship-building vacuum, which is caused by the Navy's constant hope that the next batch of warships will be all sail hybrids.

In fact, the actual Yàn of naval steam power is not just the Constitution. The Navy's light inland river patrol ship "Snail" was completed two months ago and put into the Song River for test application. With a full load displacement of more than 300 tons and two 220 hp steam units, the ship can easily run more than 10 knots against the tide of inland rivers, and its Yarrow boiler is more coal-efficient than the old fire-tube boiler. The overall thermal efficiency power of the unit is higher. For more than a month, there are not too many major faults, and the overall effect is within the expected range.

The USS Constitution sail light cruiser used for the verification of the main armament. Outfitting will be completed at the end of the year, followed by a six-month sea trial period. By the time the final design of NORINCO's latest, more compact 320-horsepower marine steam unit is finalized next year, the Navy will have to make the final plan for the next stage of shipbuilding.

Participation in the Naval Seminar. Except for those who did not return from duty, all officers above the rank of lieutenant were officers, and the navy was divided into two factions regarding the direction of the development of the navy's capital ships and equipment after 1625.

The first faction, headed by Bai Jun, who was recently promoted to the rank of major, took the main operations of the ocean-going navy as the guiding ideology, especially the maritime strategy of facing the Far East in the future, and demanded that the navy's new capital ships must have high-quality combat readiness capable of transcontinental voyage operations. Emphasis is placed on large tonnage, high material load, strong firepower, cruising and maximum speed not lower than that of active flying shear warships.

The second faction was headed by Major Sun Yang. It is believed that the possibility of a major conflict with the European naval powers in the next few years is low, and that the sail warships and weapons and equipment in service have formed an overwhelming technological advantage, and the cost performance of large capital warships of high specifications will be very low. In the coming years, the country's overseas territories will continue to extend to more strategic locations, and more naval deployment tasks will focus on trade escorts, sea patrols and anti-piracy. This requires the Navy to have a large number of small- and medium-sized warships at a lower cost.

Although these are two very different naval strategic guiding ideologies, and have been entangled for centuries with maritime powers such as England and France, without exception, both schools of thought believe that the hybrid of sails should be the priority choice for the navy's capital ships in the next phase, on the grounds that it will allow the navy's ocean-going deployment to be no longer overly affected by monsoon currents.

Not counting the newly allocated 700,000 military expenditures, the naval budget for 1624 also amounted to 1.2 million. After the Republic-class sail light cruiser took the lead ship, the Republic, after it was completed and put into service. Inflation is gradually emerging in China, coupled with the continuous addition of new and improved technologies, the cost of a single ship has climbed from the initial 270,000 to 300,000, and the construction of the Bermuda naval base has also cost a lot of money. From 1622 onwards, a total of six Republican-class sail cruisers were built in three years, which was already a very difficult burden for the underfunded navy.

The total budget of the Navy in the next three years, including additional appropriations, will not exceed 5.5 million, and nearly half of the salaries of officers and men, the construction of naval bases, daily training, and ship maintenance will be consumed. Including offshore patrol ships and ocean-going armed transport ships, the maximum amount of money that can be used to build new ships is only 3 million.

If the next generation of capital warships with hybrid sails and sails continues to carry out large-tonnage and high-specification design on the basis of the Republic-class light cruisers, then no matter how much the navy's budget increases, it will not be able to support such a noble navy. More importantly, the substantial increase in construction costs will inevitably limit the number of capital ships, and the shortage of naval forces will be even more severe for the maritime strategic layout formed after the "Atlantic checkers". Moreover, using expensive capital warships for ordinary trade escorts and route patrols is obviously a very uneconomical deal.

From this point of view, Major Sun Yang's view is the closest to the actual situation. A large number of small and medium-tonnage warships will make up the naval force of the Republic of China and the United States of America in the coming years, which can be used and deployed more flexibly and more cost-effectively.

However, judging from the map, from the North American mainland to Guadeloupe, small and medium-sized warships are completely sufficient, and to ensure that to Cape Town, at the southern tip of Africa, the original design and construction of hastily built, rough workmanship, and long-term heavy-duty service of the enterprise-class sail frigate is a little inadequate. Under the tinkering, the logistics support cycle is getting longer and longer. The service life of the enterprise level is approaching the end of its life, and it will have to be retired in a few years at most. The Republic-class light cruiser is a high-quality large warship, which has no problem in this regard at all, and its combat readiness voyage time is a grade higher than that of the enterprise class, with a long service life and a lower comprehensive cost, and the future naval strategy will inevitably include the Far East in the core. The simple idea of low-cost warships may not be up to the task of such a military deployment.

So from this point of view, Major Bai Jun's consideration is also very long-term.

For the two captains who are currently the best military in the Navy, their opinions clearly represent the most likely direction for the Navy in the coming years.

After hours. Navy Commander Wang Tiezhu specially invited You Qi of the Beiyang Shipbuilding Company to his home as a guest, and on the one hand he learned about the construction of the two sail light cruisers, the Yingu and Shuangwan, and on the other hand, he also raised his own questions. I hope You Qi can give some help to the side.

Since the completion of the construction of the Snail Yàn type pure steam patrol ship, You Qi knew that the Navy would inevitably accelerate the construction and service of the real Yàn type "Constitution" sail hybrid light cruiser. It's just that I didn't expect that Wang Tiehammer is now facing a longer-term choice, whether it is a high-specification large capital ship plan or a relatively low-cost small and medium-sized warship plan.

"Xiaoyou, the technical parameters of the Constitution sail light cruiser, the standard displacement of 1,380 tons, the full load of 1,720 tons, four 220-horsepower steam engines, the cost of 400,000. A significant cut above the Republic-class sail light cruisers. If the models in the future are to be larger, will it not be possible to achieve 500,000 or 600,000? The wife Xiang Wei was pouring wine for You Qi, who looked like a young man on the surface, while Wang Tiehammer asked softly on the side, "It's all for this country, and you can give me a better plan." You can make layoffs at a loss. I don't dare run out of money to disband the Navy. ”

"Brother Wang, now that the shipyard is getting bigger and bigger, inflation can't be suppressed, and all kinds of peripheral expenses are getting higher and higher, my orders for the navy have been discounted, but when will the country's tax revenue be less than my penny?! And also. And what about the various components, weapons, and marine steam units supplied by NORINCO and General Industries, which ones are not just in the thousands? In fact, the ship itself is really not worth much. You Qi touched the wine glass, and he also had a bitter expression, "I still wish the navy could build a lot of capital warships at once, and I also have a sense of accomplishment!" ”

"Well, I understand, so this time I have to be careful with my calculations, and I will also visit North Industries Company and General Industry Company to get the best combination of solutions from all aspects!"

Wang Tiezhu knows that the country's military industrial chain is currently in an extremely strict technological oligopoly stage, and if you want to reduce the procurement cost of military equipment, you must grasp each key supply chain, otherwise these money-making addicted people are basically a virtue.

"Well, no problem, as long as the supply price of key parts of other companies can be reduced, the cost of the whole ship can be controlled." You Qi knew the other party's allusions, and he was helpless.

Xiang Wei, who is pregnant, has nothing to say about her cooking skills, a family banquet made You Qi, who is still a single person, eat with a mouth full of oil, and at the dinner table, Wang Tiehammer and his family inevitably talked about You Qi's lifelong events, but except for a mysterious smile, You Qi did not express his position.

In the following days, the figure of Commodore Wang Tiezhu, commander of the Navy, began to appear frequently in the offices of various domestic military industry suppliers. In fact, the rumors that the navy will build new capital ships on a large scale in the next few years have long been no big secret, but Wang Tiezhu's solemn and personal participation in the demonstration of the overall equipment production plan has made entrepreneurs see the image of a big housekeeper who is eager to break a penny in half to use.

In the end, after obtaining information from all sides, Wang Tiezhu issued a plan for the construction of the navy's capital ships in the next stage. The new ship will take into account the opinions of both factions within the navy, weigh multiple needs and compromise. As long as the Constitution sail light cruiser of the real Yàn type can pass the final quality acceptance of Guò in 1625, the large order for the construction of 8 "jewel" class sail light cruisers will be officially issued!

Continuing with the full-fledged clipper bow, the design has a standard displacement of 1,180 tons and a full load displacement of 1,450 tons, and will use 1 Yarrow boiler and 2 320 hp steam units, plus three-masted sails. When there is no wind in the sea conditions, the cruising speed can reach 8 knots, the speed of the half-power full sail is 15 knots, and the maximum speed of the full power and full sail can reach more than 18 knots, even if the sail is simply used, the full sail downwind will not be lower than 13 knots.

The armament scheme will be much stronger than the four 90-mm naval guns on the enterprise-class sail frigate, reaching six 90-mm naval guns, one in the front and one in the rear, and two on the left and right sides, which can engage both sides at the same time. With a total of 90 officers and men, and a material capacity of more than 500 tons, the ship's self-sustaining power at sea will greatly exceed that of the enterprise-class sail frigate, and it will be able to sail from Guadeloupe to Cape Town in southern Africa in a near-straight line, advancing at cruising speed, and the sailing time will only be 20 days at most.

Inflationary pressure has quietly emerged, and the supply cost of domestic shipbuilding raw materials is gradually rising, but after the careful design and calculation of the Beiyang Shipping Company, the construction period of the gem-class sail light cruiser is 12 months, and the cost of a single ship is charged at 280,000 yuan, which finally does not exceed the bottom line of the navy's psychological bearing, and the construction contract is arranged according to the schedule of 2 ships in 1625, 3 ships in 1626, and 3 ships in 1627. From 1627 onwards, super-strength enterprise-class sail frigates, which have been in service for many years, will be decommissioned one after another and converted into civilian transport ships.

Beginning in 1625, the six Republica-class sail cruisers, which had been designed with plenty of room for upgrades, were to be upgraded with steam power and gun configurations. In this way, by 1627, with the mechanized sail light cruiser USS Constitution, the entire navy of the Republic of China and the United States of America would consist of 15 light cruisers and a number of ocean-going armed transports, and all of them were sail hybrids!

After that, the Navy will replenish the standard displacement 800-ton sail frigates with a higher first-class efficiency ratio to replace the retired enterprise-class sail frigates to fill the vacancy of small and medium-sized combat ships, and will then undertake regional cruising missions in various overseas territorial and trade routes, or carry out light maritime operations.

As for the "Princess" class light cruiser with a larger tonnage, ready to adopt an iron keel structure, and designed with a standard displacement of 1,800 tons, the cost of $550,000 at this stage is too high, and there are still many details of the iron keel processing technology that have not been solved.

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