On February 7, 1903, when the cold wind had not completely dissipated and the howling north wind was still raging over Europe, a huge figure loomed in the wind and snow at the third berth of the Germania shipyard. The triple turret at the stern of the ship is arranged in a piggyback layout is very different, and this layout clearly tells people its identity, he is the first dreadnought fast battleship of the Chinese Republic, the first ship of the Longtai-class fast battleship, the Longtai!

This was due to the fact that Liu Buyun and others were dissatisfied with the high profile of the Longxing-class battleships when they were commissioned last time, and also because of the apprehension of Scheer and Hipper, among others, about exposing their most elite weapons to potential enemies. Even a proud one like Wilhelm II had to take into account the opinions of both the Chinese Republic and the Imperial Admiralty. After all, whether it is Liu Buyun or Scheer and others, they represent more than themselves. Even Tirpitz said to William very cryptically: "The greatest advantage of our navy is that in the choice of fast battleships, our fast battleships have an advantage over the battlecruisers chosen by the British." And if we want to guarantee this advantage, then we must let as little people know about the ship as possible. ”

For these reasons, the German Admiralty instructed the Germania shipyards to outfit the entire ship in winter, and to complete sea trials in early spring, when the North Sea was still covered in a thick fog. By April, when the North Sea began to come alive, the ship's sea trials and weapons tests had been completed, and even if a foreign spy discovered the ship, the most they could get would be a few skins such as size and appearance. There is no other way to get specific information about this battleship.

"Are all these people here to pick up the boat? Look at this scale. They are at least 50% overstaffed. Hipper said, looking at the crowd of people waiting for ships by the dock. The Chinese Navy built a total of three fast battleships, one of which was built in our country, while the other two were built in our country. Considering the construction period, the completion time of the self-built warship of the Huaxia Republic will be at least one and a half years later, so in order to form combat effectiveness as soon as possible, they need to use this battleship to train the crews of other warships first. Scheer replied.

"Your Excellency, I have always had a question now, the Republic of China provided the German Empire and Britain with 2 different types of fast battleships, which is better than the British battlecruisers and our fast battleships? The British ships were faster. Our ships were better protected, each side had their own advantages, and the British battlecruisers gained defense of the core compartment by strengthening the dome. Its protection of the core is also reasonable. "Sippel looked around at no one. He asked in a low voice.

"Each has its own advantages. If against armored cruisers, it was definitely the British that were more suitable, because they were faster, and the cruiser-class guns could not deal a fatal blow to them. But if against battleship-class artillery. We have an advantage, after all, the dome armor can only ensure the safety of the core cabin, and the loss of reserve buoyancy is too much, which is still not good. Scheer said uncertainly. Okay, brother, let's go up and see this battleship, maybe in the near future, you will command such a battleship to gallop across the oceans of the world. ”

"The thickness of the main armor reached 11 inches, and the inclination was 12 degrees. The height of the main armor reached 3.5 meters. The upper armor is only 5 inches. The length of the armor belt was about 65% of the hull. THE THICKNESS OF THE MAIN HORIZONTAL ARMOR IS 70MM. BEHIND THE MAIN ARMOR IS A 30MM STRETCH OF HIGHLY ELASTIC STEEL PARALLEL TO THE MAIN ARMOR TO PREVENT THE BACKPLATE FROM COLLAPSING. THE MAIN GUN ARMOR WAS 350MM FRONT, 280MM ON THE SIDES, 150MM IN THE REAR, AND 100MM IN THE HORIZONTAL ARMOR ON THE TOP OF THE TURRET. TURRET ARMOR 300MM. Because there was no armor in the gallery, the armor of the secondary gun was 4 inches thick. This battleship doesn't have dome armor? Is Beiyang too confident in its own protection design? Hipper said, pointing to a drawing.

"No, at least in modern times, this defensive layout is completely sufficient, and according to a colleague at the Krupp Artillery Test Field, this protective layout has no problems even in the face of the 12-inch 45L heavy gun and the armor-piercing shell with hardened quilt caps that have just been developed at the Krupp Gun Field. AND YOU SEEM TO BE MISTAKEN, THAT IS, THE 11-INCH MAIN ASSEMBLY IS DIVIDED INTO TWO LAYERS, 50MM OF MILD STEEL AND 230MM OF HARDENED ARMOR. According to simulations, even at a distance of 4,500 meters, a direct shot from a Krupp 12-inch 45L heavy gun would not be able to destroy the armor belt of such a layout, and even a crack would not occur. Scheer whispered.

If Xu Jie heard these two future heads of the High Seas Fleet comment on his protection, he would be quite proud! As a traverser, especially a professional traverser in the navy, he has quite a lot of research on the performance of various armor protection. According to a place called the Battleship Forum in later generations, after comparing with a bunch of gods in it, it is possible to conduct a qualitative analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of vertical protection.

Taking several battleships in World War 2 as an example, King George V's armor is 349MM vertical arrangement (power compartment), although the armor thickness is good, but the defense standard is quite water, even the SKC34 gun, which is claimed to be the most inferior in the new 15-inch guns in Europe, can easily penetrate at a distance of 20,000 meters. It can be said that King George V of England has a strong armor thickness, but the actual effect is very tragic! So a purely vertical armor layout is the most tragic.

AFTER THE END OF WAR 1 AND BEFORE THE START OF WAR II, MOST OF THE NEWLY BUILT BATTLESHIPS OF THE MAJOR NAVAL POWERS IN THE WORLD ABANDONED SIMPLE VERTICAL ARMOR, AND THE SIDE CHORD OF THE NORTH CAROLINA-CLASS BATTLESHIPS OF THE SAME PERIOD AS QIAO WU WAS THE MAIN EQUIPMENT WITH A 307MM TILT 15 DEGREES. In terms of thickness, the difference between the thickness and Qiao Wu's is nearly 2 inches. But the actual protection is higher than Qiao Wu. The root cause is that as the distance increases, the distance between the engagements increases. The influence of inclined armor on the angle of fall of shells becomes very large.

Subsequently, when the Americans designed Nandakota and Iowa, they continued to retain the armor thickness of the early 12 inches (not counting the back plates) that had remained unchanged for 10,000 years, with the only difference being the reinforced hull plates. The actual effect is one layer higher than that of North Carolina, on the one hand, because of the increase in inclination, and on the other hand, the hull plate of a certain thickness can knock off the hardened quilt of the armor-piercing shell, and once the armor-piercing shell is out of the hardened quilt cap, then the solution must be quite tragic!

It was the Italians who really took this layout to the pinnacle. (I have to say that the Italians are really very unique in designing warships.) The Veneto-class battleships had almost the most powerful vertical defense of World War 2! Let's take a look at the design of the great Italians! THE OUTERMOST LAYER IS 70MM THICK STEEL ARMOR, WHICH WORKS TO SMASH THE CAP OF THE OPPONENT'S ARMOR-PIERCING SHELLS. BETWEEN THE 70MM EXTERIOR AND THE 280MM MAIN LOAD, 250MM FOAMED CEMENT IS USED AS A BUFFER, FOLLOWED BY THE 280MM MAIN ARMOR BELT TO DEFEND AGAINST THE OPPONENT'S ARMOR-PIERCING SHELLS THAT ARE NO LONGER CAPPED, FOLLOWED BY AN OAK LAYER AND A BACK PLATE TO HOLD THE ARMOR, AND THEN TWO LAYERS OF 24MM AND 36MM ANTI-SPALL LAYERS. Coupled with the 15-degree inclination of the main installation, this defense is already comparable to that of Yamato! And even the damage caused by the cracking of the backplate is minimized! And Xu Jie learned this protection system, and worked out the sidestring defense of the Longtai-class fast battleship.

"In fact, the most outstanding part of the Longtai is the underwater protection and power, the power group of Longtai uses the alternating layout of the unit compartment and the transmission shaft and the engine, even if one power compartment is flooded, the other power compartments in the ship can still be used. And in the rear of the hull, in the drive shaft section, additional anti-mine protrusions were arranged. It makes up for the lack of lightning protection depth of the hull. THIN STEEL PLATES IN THE LIGHTNING PROTECTION SECTION REACHED 40MM, AND THERE WERE ALSO 20MM ARMORED PARTITIONS BETWEEN THE EMPTY COMPARTMENT THAT ABSORBED THE ENERGY OF THE EXPLOSION AND THE LIQUID TANK BEHIND IT. It's also enough to withstand blast fragments. "Scheer is still very satisfied with the mine protection of the Longtai-class fast battleship.

"Is it said that the Longtai can reach speeds of more than 24 knots?" Sippel asked, a little confused.

"That's right, the power of the warship is relatively conservative, especially the new warship after the replacement of the steam turbine, the maximum output is more than 30% of the rated output is very common, and the maximum speed of the Longxing can reach 21.5 knots. So if the power system of the Longtai is fully output in the case of a light-loaded ship, it is still credible to run 24 knots. But this speed is mediocre. After all, the condition of a battleship will be affected by the load, sea conditions, fuel and mechanical conditions, not that it can run out. ”

The Longtai was equipped with 18 Bellevue boilers, powered by four Parsons-style steam turbines. The rated output is 32,000 horsepower, and the maximum output exceeds 44,000 horsepower. As for firepower, the Longtai uses the same 12-inch 45L main gun as the Longxing class, and the secondary gun is 12 6-inch guns. At the same time, there were 16 rapid-fire guns of 12 pounder. The torpedo side had two 18-inch torpedo tubes in the bow. The total displacement is more than 21,000 tons. Aside from this turret layout, I'm very happy with this ship. Scheer said after that.

Just as Scheer and Hipperer were commenting on the new warship of the Chinese Empire. Liu Buyun and others were also discussing some issues with Tirpitz, the head of the German Navy, and Ludendorf Haacke, who was responsible for supervising the construction of this type of warship, in the officers' cafeteria of the Longtai. The two of them can be said to know the performance of this new warship very well, after all, one person personally supervised the construction, while the other person has almost all the reports, including sea trial reports, armor test reports, artillery test reports, etc.

The only thing that worries Tirpitz now is whether the design ideas of the fast battleships provided by the Chinese Republic for Germany and the design ideas of the battlecruisers provided by the British are better or worse. After all, at some point in the future, the German High Seas Fleet may have to go to war with the British Empire!

First of all, I wish all book friends a happy Mid-Autumn Festival~~~. Secondly, I feel that the reward of the book friend Shan Qingying, as well as the monthly ticket support of the book friend's heart floating and the battle of China~~~. (To be continued......)