"It's time for us to build our own treaty ships. Whether it is Colorado or Lexington in the United States, it is by no means comparable to the Fuso and King Kong types of the current imperial navy. Yamamoto-kun, the Navy should have issued a design order to the Ship Administration Headquarters, right? The thin man pushed the glasses on the bridge of his nose and said with some expectation.

"Since the launch of the Colorado warship last month, the Admiralty has given us an order to prepare for the design of a corresponding treaty-type warship. Now that some of the information on the American cruiser has also been obtained, we no longer have any scruples about our design work. The middle-aged man named Yamamoto nodded, a look of joy appeared on his face, "It's up to us in the shipbuilding department next." A year and a half ago, His Excellency Kato brought back the battleship drawings of the Independence Nation from the Washington Meeting, and if we cannot design a battleship that dominates the Pacific Ocean on this basis, it will really be an insult to the name of our shipbuilding department for more than 30 years! ”

The thin man's eyes were filled with joy, and his nervousness, which had just become a little nervous due to the launch of the imaginary enemy's large capital ship, was instantly swept away. As a well-known shipbuilding star in the Japanese naval industry, he undoubtedly came into contact with the king-level design provided to Japan by Qing Ying, and after some research, he found that the defense mode of this design was perfect, and the overall defense force was fantastic with the least armor weight! If it weren't for the fact that the King-class power still uses coal-fired boilers, which forced the main core cabin to cover 65% of the length of the waterline, its overall strength would have taken a big leap. In contrast, the four battleships and four battle cruisers currently retained by the Japanese Navy can be said to be a whole era behind; If it weren't for the strict restrictions on the conversion of capital ships in the treaty, he would even have written to the upper echelons. A large-scale rework of these warships has been carried out!

"Hiraga-kun. This time the new type of warship. It's up to you to be my vice-host. Yamamoto Kaizo, head of the shipbuilding department of the Ship Administration Headquarters, smiled at the thin man and spoke, his words full of undisguised admiration, "In the past seven years of work, you have fully demonstrated your precise computing ability, and I need your assistance to better complete this level of the core sea beast of the future of the Great Japanese Empire." ”

After some complicated work, the new ship design, codenamed A-1O2, was immediately put in front of the Japanese Navy's top brass. This is due to the strategy that the Japanese Navy has been pursuing since the Meiji period of "making up for the lack of quantity, making up for the lack of quality". The chief designer, Kaizo Yamamoto, and his deputy, Hiraga, did not comply with the provisions of the Washington Treaty on the single ship limit for Japan's newly built capital ships. The Japanese have a very clear idea, the United States is already 4 to 2 superior to itself in the number of new capital ships to be built, and if it abides by the 30,000-ton tonnage limit for a single ship, won't it be completely useless?

In terms of design concept, this type of battleship borrows the idea of the King-class fast battleship, and there is no return to the idea of the King Kong-class British thin-skinned battle cruiser. After all, the tragic scene of the British war patrol's successive martyrs in the decisive battle in the North Sea is still vivid, while the German King-class battleships have a near-perfect performance in the final battle, and they have educated the Queen-class with roughly the same number on paper!

Japan, who were adept at learning from the strengths of other countries, soon achieved a complete transformation of their design style on this new type of capital ship. The ship has a long bow type. Four twin 4o6 mm 145 guns were placed in a piggyback position in the stern of the battleship: the more weight-efficient triple turret was not used because the latter required a wider hull to carry than the twin. The resulting increase in the resistance of warships at high sailing was absolutely intolerable to the Japanese Navy, which had always pursued the flight of capital ships. The ship has a waterline length of more than 225 meters, but the width is maintained at 29 meters of the King's class, and it is expected to reach more than 27 knots with an output of 110,000 horsepower, driven by 26 heavy oil boilers and four steam turbines.

At the same time, the ships of this class have the ability to ensure protection in a considerable range while achieving firepower and degree. Its main armor belt is 3O5 mm 2O degree angle, and has a double TDS bulkhead that extends to the bottom of the ship like the King, which can protect against torpedoes and underwater bullets. In addition, the ship's main horizontal armor has been increased to a considerable extent by the protrusion: the power compartment deck is 1oo mm, and the ammunition magazine is 12o mm. The Japanese Navy was greatly satisfied with the balanced performance of the ship, and immediately submitted a request to the Diet for the construction of a new ship; Although the Japanese government, which is currently under the control of the Sixth Army, is indignant at the lion's opening of the navy's red deer, it is only a matter of time before they agree to the Navy's appropriation bill as the new capital ships of the United States continue to outfit.

The continuous advancement of the United States and Japan in the field of 16-inch guns has undoubtedly affected the construction of the British Navy. With the commissioning of these cutting-edge ships, the deterrent power of the British Navy's 1o capital ships equipped with 15-inch guns will be greatly reduced, and this is undoubtedly a situation that the London authorities absolutely do not want. Although they were defeated in the previous European wars and are now reduced to a situation where they are only one step stronger than their former student Japan, the glory that has lasted for more than three hundred years was summoned to them not far away ten years ago, which makes the John Bulls still have a unique affection for the sea that is difficult to match in other countries. In addition, the war in Europe, which lasted only one year in this plane, also gave Britain, whose economic situation was far better than that of the same period in history, the ability to continue to chase the seas: even Japan was ready to start building 16-inch artillery warships, so its economic and industrial power was far superior to its own, so why couldn't it start construction of new capital ships according to the provisions of the treaty?

To the excitement of the British, the Naval Design Bureau had recently succeeded in figuring out a completely new defensive layout. Due to the heavy losses of British capital ships in previous naval battles, the British designers led by Incott began to explore the reasons for this situation in an all-round way: after nearly two years of hard work, the classic armor box structure such as the historical N3 and G3 was proposed by the new tens of millions of pounds project leader Incourt. Compared with the traditional layout of belt main armor + thin leather dome armor, the new built-in inclined main equipment + single-layer large-thickness horizontal armor form has the absolute advantage of crushing the former on the battle line. Now British designers are eager to go back ten years and change all the British capital ships after the Intrepid to this new armor arrangement; If this were the case, the Royal Navy would not have fallen to this position under the heavy artillery bombardment of the High Seas Fleet!

In an atmosphere of gnashing of teeth and remorse, the British completed the design of a new battleship codenamed N3. With a standard displacement of 346oo tons and three triple 4o6 mm 145 main guns, it is of the same class as the cutting-edge capital ships of the United States and Japan in terms of tonnage and firepower. , and has a triple 4o6 mm turret developed to fulfill, so this castrated treaty ship is hardly too difficult for the British.

However, due to the fact that the British Navy suffered from insufficient defenses in the Great War, they gave this class of battleships unprecedented heavy protection. Its three main turrets were concentrated in the front of the battleship in the form of the former 2-in-1, and together with the ammunition depot formed by the nearby four triple 152-mm secondary guns, they were firmly protected by built-in main armor up to 349 mm thick and inclined at 2o degrees; Considering the superiority of Britain in armor materials, this defense power even surpassed that of Germany's Bavarian class. The rear power compartment is slightly less defensive, but it also has a staggering number of 324 mm 2o degrees of inclination.

Based on the significant reduction in the width of the main deck brought about by the built-in main armor belt, the horizontal defense thickness of the ship has also been greatly increased with the reduction of the area. The main horizontal armor of the N3 class is up to 15o mm thick, which is comparable to the thickness of the Bavarian class. On board, the ship also relied on the role of oil-fired boilers to achieve unsatisfactory results: its maximum power is 45ooo horsepower, and the design will have 23 knots.

Due to the strong offensive and defensive capabilities of its predecessors, the British Navy named it the Nelson class, in the hope that the Royal Navy could sweep away the current decline with a Trafalgar-style victory under its pillars, and regain its position at the top of the planet. Only a month after the design was finalized, the noisy House of Commons agreed with a budget for the construction of two new Nelson-class ships. The British Navy was full of self-confidence, believing that its own capital ships of this class were the strongest on the battle line, and its armor must be thin!

Seeing that the United States and Britain and other countries began to implement the provisions of the Washington Treaty on the construction of new capital ships, Qingying also decided that it was necessary to strengthen the naval strength of the allies. Now is the time to fill this gap and respond to it. Qing Ying then sent a proposal to Vienna to start the construction of a new ship. In the leather bag he had given to Archduke Ferdinand, it had one less main turret than the Bavarian class, and had a considerable range of more than 10,000 nautical miles. Judging by the future situation, this type of warship is even more suitable than the German Bavaria-class; It will be used from now until 3o years without the need for power modifications. (To be continued!)

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