In June, the North Sea has entered a hot summer. However, because of the seaside, the sea breeze is blowing, and the weather is not very hot. When he got up in the morning, Wang Yuze was used to sitting on the beach, looking at the shipyard that had started construction in the distance, and was working overtime to build warships in western Sichuan, Wang Yuze's heart was surging. The modern navy of western Sichuan and even the whole of China was born from here and went further.

"Wang Wei, where is the fleet now?" Wang Yuze asked. It was already June 5th, and the reason why he stayed in Beihai and did not return to Chengdu was to personally greet the returning fleet. This batch of returning flotilla included two "Brandenburg-class" battleships, four cruisers and 0 small destroyers improved according to Wang Xiao's requirements.

"Marshal, I received a telegram from Commander Deng last night, they have set off from the Lion City, and they are expected to arrive at Beihai Port in a week!" Wang Wei replied. The returning fleet, starting from Hamburg, Germany, entered the Mediterranean Sea through the Strait of Gibraltar, entered the Indian Ocean from the Suez Canal, and finally crossed the Strait of Malacca into the South China Sea and reached the North Sea. The whole journey was more than 20,000 kilometers and lasted more than a month.

"Oh, that's good!" Wang Yuze nodded. He was thrilled at the thought that the huge fleet was about to return home. Two improved "Brandenburg-class" battleships, that's a giant ship of more than 10,000 tons! The most powerful warships in the whole of Asia far surpassed the two ironclad ships of the Manchu Beiyang Fleet, "Dingyuan" and "Zhenyuan", which are now the first in Asia. At the end of the year, two "Sovereign-class" battleships ordered from Britain will also return. At that time, the western Sichuan Navy will become the most powerful navy in Asia.

Time passed slowly, and in the past few days of waiting, Wang Yuze went to the shipyard from time to time to check the progress of the "Leshan" class light cruiser that was being outfitted. At the same time, the construction of heavy cruisers of the "Chengdu" class has also begun. In the four 10,000-ton docks of the Beihai Shipyard, these four warships were started at the same time, which made the workers of the Beihai Shipyard extremely scarce. Although a lot of trainees had been recruited, the lack of skilled workers had to be recruited from the Jiangnan shipyards and other places in the Manchu Qing Dynasty to make up for it.

In June, the weather was clear and cloudless. At ten o'clock in the morning. Wang Yuze and the high-ranking members of the Western Sichuan Admiralty were all waiting on the dock in the military port. The merchant ship dispatched yesterday has made contact with the fleet and sent a wireless telegraph machine, so that the fleet can communicate with the port. The fleet is expected to arrive at the North Naval Port at around 0:30 this morning.

"Minister Zhang, after the fleet returns, we will immediately organize training. We will step up training in the hope that the fleet will be able to form combat strength as soon as possible. Western Sichuan spent a lot of military spending, and I don't want to just buy back a bunch of scrap iron! Wang Yuze said to Minister of the Navy Zhang Cheng.

"Rest assured! When the time comes, the Admiralty will develop a thorough training plan. It will definitely ensure that the fleet will have combat effectiveness in the shortest possible time! Zhang Cheng said. The navy, unlike the army, often uses a century-old navy to prosper. The Army generally undergoes three months of recruit training. Then, after one or two battles, the recruit has completed the transformation into a veteran. But the Navy is not good, without a long period of accumulation, without a deep heritage, this will not work. Even if there are powerful warships, if the soldiers who operate these warships are completely inadequate, it is equivalent to scrap metal. The navy of western Sichuan is undoubtedly in such a state now. Wang Xiao and Wang Yuze, father and son, have placed great hopes on the navy. He did not hesitate to spend huge sums of money to purchase the most advanced warships in the world. However, the talent of the navy cannot be bought, and it needs to go through a lot of training and cultivation before it can form a combat force. And, if we are to reach the level of the Royal Navy, we still have a long way to go.

"In terms of ammunition. There is no need to save at all, the new arsenal is about to be put into production, which can provide sufficient ammunition for the fleet! Wang Yuze said. The accuracy of naval artillery is far inferior to that of the army. In order to improve the accuracy of artillery shelling, it is necessary to strengthen training. For this reason, the Kawanishi Navy may have to spend a lot of money on ammunition. However, fortunately, the equipment imported from Germany has arrived, and the Beihai Naval Arsenal has been built, and will start production one after another, and the first to produce is the various ammunition needed for naval naval guns. Slowly, large-caliber naval guns will also begin, and new armor steels will be produced by iron and steel enterprises in western Sichuan. At present, this task is mainly entrusted to Wuhan Iron and Steel Group. After the second phase of expansion, Panzhihua Iron & Steel Group will maintain this scale after its annual output reaches 400,000 tons of pig iron and 200,000 tons of steel. Because the iron ore in Panzhihua is vanadium ilmenite. With the current level of science and technology in western Sichuan, vanadium and titanium cannot be well refined and applied, so controlling the amount of mining can be regarded as protecting the vanadium and titanium resources here.

"Yes, Dashuai!" Zhang Cheng nodded, and from the conversation with Wang Yuze, he felt that Wang Yuze attached great importance to the navy. This made him feel that the burden on his shoulders was very heavy. Wang Yuze has provided so much support to the navy, if the navy cannot achieve the desired results, then he really has no face to see people again.

"It's coming, it's coming! The fleet is back! At this time, the crowd suddenly erupted in cheers. Everyone immediately stopped talking and looked out at the horizon.

I saw that dark pillars of smoke appeared on the edge of the sky, which was a sign that the fleet was sailing from a distance. Soon, two huge battleships like small mountains appeared in front of everyone's eyes. The crowd on the dock welcoming the battleship home erupted in cheers.

"It's back, it's back! My 10,000-ton megaship is back! Wang Yuze was also shouting loudly in his heart. Behind the two improved "Brandenburg-class" battleships were more than a dozen battleships that appeared much smaller, these were four cruisers and 0 destroyers.

The improved "Brandenburg-class" battleships were directly named "Sichuan-class" battleships in western Sichuan, which were "Sichuan" and "Xikang". Battleships of the "Sichuan" class with a standard displacement of 500 tons and a full load displacement of 4200 tons. The armament consists of three twin 05 mm 50 x caliber naval guns and six 05 mm caliber single guns; door millimeter single-mounted gun; 2 7-mm machine guns; 6 x 450 mm water torpedo tubes. Overall length 27. 6 meters, width 2. m, draft. 4 meters. The power is 6 round boilers, two three-expansion reciprocating steam engines, the main engine power is 5000 horsepower, two-shaft propulsion, the maximum speed is knots, and the endurance is 6000 nautical miles 0 knots. The armor was 450 mm at the waterline; deck 60 mm; main gun turret 400 mm; Command tower 400 mm. The crew is 62 people.

The four cruisers were light cruisers with a displacement of 3,000 tons, the western Sichuan Navy was named the "Mianyang" class light cruisers, and the four annual warships were named "Mianyang", "Deyang", "Luzhou" and "Yibin". The standard displacement of the "Mianyang" class light cruiser is 000 tons, and the armament is two twin 55-mm naval guns, 6 05-mm single-mounted guns, 6 millimeter rapid-fire guns and 7-mm machine guns, 4 giant mine tubes, and a maximum speed of 2 knots. Although the displacement is about the same as that of the self-built "Leshan" class light cruisers in western Sichuan, it is much worse in terms of combat power and speed, and this is still the result of the key requirements of western Sichuan. Otherwise, a speed of 2 knots would be considered good. The shipbuilding concept of the German Navy has always been to sacrifice speed and firepower in exchange for high strike resistance and survivability.

As for the 0 destroyers, they are small guys of less than a thousand tons, armed with two 05-mm naval guns, four millimeter rapid-fire guns, four 7-mm machine guns and 2 torpedo tubes. The maximum speed is 25. This destroyer is named the Beihai class, however, each ship has no specific name, only the code name of Beihai 1 and Beihai 2.

Soon, the battleship, guided by the guide ship, sailed into the military port. After getting closer, the two "Sichuan" class battleships were even more shocking, as if a tall mountain range was standing in front of everyone's eyes. On the battleship, the soldiers of the Western Sichuan Army wearing white military uniforms stood in a neat row to be inspected by Wang Yuze, the Admiralty and his compatriots. Because of the shortage of naval cadets in Germany, in order to drive these warships back, the fleet commander Deng Shichang had to temporarily hire a group of sailors from the German Navy, and then the fleet was driven back to China.

Deng Shichang, commander of the fleet, and Li Dingxin, chief of staff of the fleet, stood on the deck of the flagship "Sichuan" with tears in their eyes. They had been sent to Europe for several years, studying the advanced ideas of naval warfare in Europe and inspecting the fleets of various countries. After Kawanishi ordered battleships from Germany, they soaked in the shipyard all day long, and watched their warships take shape day by day, which also made them very excited.

"We're back. It's a pity that Wang Xiao is handsome and won't be able to do this day! Deng Shichang said with red eyes. He also remembered that before leaving western Sichuan for Germany, Wang Xiao personally summoned them, talked to them about the vision of the western Sichuan navy, and had great expectations for them. Now, the fleet has returned to China, but Wang Xiao has died.

"Old Deng, the marshal Wang Xiao is gone, but the young marshal has become the marshal. You, this huge military port, and those shipyards, the young marshal also has great expectations for our navy! Next, it's time for us to serve our country! Chief of Staff Li Dingxin said.

"Crackle!" When the battleship docked, firecrackers rang out, and the welcoming crowd cheered indulgently to welcome the fleet home.

Deng Shichang and Li Dingxin walked down from the "Sichuan", came to Wang Yuze's side, saluted the military salute and said: "Report to the commander!" Deng Shichang, who was lowly and led the fleet back to China! ”

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