Under the watchful eyes of more than 1,000 people, the destroyer "Shanfeng," the lead ship of the "Shanfeng" class, was successfully launched, and it will usher in two stages: "outfitting" and "sea trials."

As long as these two phases are successful, the Shanfeng can officially join the Chinese Navy's combat sequence. The combat mission of the 'Shanfeng' ship is also very simple, the task during the battle is to shell, break through the enemy's warning network, and carry out close torpedo attacks, and in peacetime it is to escort the convoy to prevent its own transport fleet from being intercepted by the enemy or attacked by submarines. At the same time, the entire destroyer was also specially designed for the Japanese Seabreeze destroyers.

The launch of the 'Shanfeng' did not attract much attention, at least most of the newspapers in the world did not publish this news, and some of them published the words 'a new type of destroyer launched by China' in the corner of the newspaper...

It is not surprising that not everyone in this world should care about China, at least the vast majority of countries do not care about China at all, after all, China at this time is not Britain, it is not a country that can influence and lead the world, it is just a semi-colonial country...

Of course, despite the fact that places such as Oceania, South America, Africa and Europe did not care about this, the news of the launch of the destroyer made headlines or was more prominent in some places. For example, some Chinese communities in North America or Southeast Asia, or in China and ......... Japan, which is most concerned about China...

It's really touching, do you want to give Japan a hug?

Needless to say, the Chinese community in some parts of Southeast Asia and North America (at this time, the Chinese in China did not seem to have all the Chinese in later generations, and most of them basically stayed in these two regions.) As for those in Europe, it will have to wait until after the First World War), and their own countries will always have to be cared for.

And the country is also jubilant about the launch of the 'Shanfeng' ship. You must know that since the Gengzi Incident, there has been no new warship launched in China for a long time, especially since the recovery, it has been insulated from this for a long time...

What's more, the 'Shanfeng' ships built this time are completely different from the assembled ships of the past, and most of the materials are provided by the country, including the extremely critical steam turbine (copied after purchasing a license from the UK, and now the Wuhu shipyard has the capacity to produce it. But the design capability is still a little worse), only a few 150mm naval guns on the ship were imported from Krupp in Germany, but the Anqing Arsenal has already purchased relevant technology from Germany.

Today, the Anqing Arsenal has the capacity to manufacture 150mm caliber guns. It's just that naval guns have never been made in the past, so they don't dare to try it easily. Moreover, if you design a naval gun, it will inevitably take too much time, and if you really want to redesign, I am afraid that it will not be able to catch up with the service of this batch of destroyers.

However, according to the Arsenal side. It is estimated that the last few destroyers of this batch will be able to use large-caliber naval guns produced in China.

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A new ship for a long time. In addition, it is almost domestically produced, and all walks of life are naturally very proud. And no matter how you look at it, the Shanfeng is the largest destroyer in the world. On paper alone, it is definitely the most combat-ready destroyer in service or under construction.

At the same time, in addition to a few Chinese designers, many British and German designers participated in the design process, so no one doubts whether there is anything wrong with the design of this destroyer.

As the main competitor of the Chinese Navy, the Japanese are naturally very concerned about the performance parameters of the 'Shanfeng' class destroyers, and they are also very generous for the Japanese to start construction of ten destroyers at a time. Just while understanding. The Japanese couldn't help but ridicule it.

"These Chinese are so stupid that they were shocked to see them build ten destroyers of this class at a time. Now that I look at it, it's just a matter of worry..."

Shaking his head, Minoru Saito threw the materials he had just read on the table, and the other ministers who had read the materials at the meeting also had a sneering smile on their faces.

After reading the paper parameters of the "Shanfeng" ship, even they have to admit that the performance of the "Shanfeng" ship is indeed better than that of the "Sea Breeze" class destroyers currently in service with the Japanese Navy.

The appearance of such new ships also caused some irritation for the Japanese Navy, and if China's purchase of dreadnoughts from abroad could be tolerated by the Navy, then the quality of China's own warships was actually better than that of the Empire (albeit only destroyers), which made it unbearable for the Navy to bear it any longer.

Now the navy and the civilian population have strongly demanded the design of a new warship with a larger displacement and stronger firepower, but the shipyard's response to this is...

"2,000 tons......... Why don't you just build some cruisers out ...

Of course, these are only at the naval level, and for the ministers of Yamamoto's Gonbei cabinet, the current construction of the Chinese Yamakaze ships is indeed stronger than the Japanese current Haifeng-type destroyers...

But...

So what?

Minoru Saito and others ridiculed the Kokusha government for one reason entirely.

That's right, this time the Nationalist government did make a big move, starting construction of 10 large destroyers plus two cruisers at a time. If they can be included in active service, then the combat effectiveness of these twelve warships will be even more than twice that of the original navy.

And then...

Here's the problem...

In order to drive all three battleships back to China, the navy hollowed out almost all of them, and even brought some people down from many warships, so that these warships can now only be parked on the dock as 'ghost ships'.

But even so, the navy was unable to gather the required crews, and finally had no choice but to hire the Brazilian navy and ask them to send some crews to help drive two of the battleships back to China when they returned to China...

And this time the Navy started to build a total of 10 destroyers, plus 2 cruisers.

The former requires at least 100 men per ship, and the latter requires almost 300 men, all of which add up to fifteen or six hundred men.

At present, the Navy has almost exhausted its entire manpower in the Americas. Although there are a lot of people left in the country, most of them are ground crews, and the number of full-time crew members...

Anyway. It's definitely not enough...

Isn't it a big joke that a lot of advanced warships have been built, but they can't even get together the people who drive them? It's no wonder that when they heard the news, the Japanese all showed disdain.

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The current situation in the Navy is very complicated, and to put it simply, there is a shortage of both equipment and personnel.

Moreover, the navy is different from the army, and the army can basically go to the battlefield after two or three months of training. Even give him a gun to familiarize him with, and he can also pull it on the battlefield like a strong man.

But the words of the Navy ...

The previous series of physical training and water survival adaptation training will also be counted. You can also omit live-fire training. But some other professional training, such as guns, etc., should be given at least half a year...

equipment, Yan Shao can also be solved by buying. But it's not so simple with people's words.

At present, the navy has begun to work at full speed to recruit many students from the Anhui Naval Academy and the Fuzhou Shipbuilding Academy. Efforts should be made to get a good grasp of training a number of qualified officers. In addition to the existing Anhui Naval School and the Fuzhou Shipbuilding School, the Kuomintang Government also plans to open naval schools in Nanjing, Tianjin, Qingdao, and Guangzhou, in an effort to train more naval talents. The crew has also recruited a lot to start training, and even recruited many experienced sailors, but these are not things that can be done in a short time...

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That is, when the people of the Fuzhou Shipbuilding Bureau were jubilant on both sides of the dock, Yan Shao also got the news that the 'Shanfeng' ship was successfully launched.

"The first step was a success." Rubbing his temples, Yan Shao half-leaned on the chair and smiled slightly.

Yan Shao has been thinking about cars these days, but he can't come up with a way to think about it. As a result, the head is almost big, and now the news is coming. It made his mood much better.

Of course, he also knew the current predicament of the navy, such as the ship was built, but the people couldn't make it up or something. This also reminded him of a saying in later generations, it is better to wait for people to be equipped than to be equipped with people.

But the problem is that the current conditions are not ideal, so we can only let the equipment wait for people.

"Fortunately, Minister Sa and they are now recruiting experienced sailors in ports such as Tianjin and Shanghai, and I believe that they should be able to change this situation in a short period of time..."

As Yan Shao's adjutant, Wu Qianqiu was certainly aware of the navy's predicament.

"Yes..."Playing with a pen holder made of white jade on the table, hearing Wu Qianqiu's words, Yan Shao's slightly frowning brows loosened a little.

Since there is a problem, it is natural to solve it.

The biggest problem for the Navy at the moment is not a lack of funds, nor a lack of ships—————— or a lack of special needs.

What the navy lacks most at the moment is people, people who can drive ships.

If we train a group of crews from scratch, it is unlikely that it will take more than half a year. So not long ago, Sa Zhenbing came to Yan Shao to ask for a permit, that is, to allow the navy to recruit experienced sailors.

To put it simply, it is to recruit ship crews from the civilian sector.

This is not a strange thing, and many countries have done this kind of thing in the past.

For example, the battleship Agincourt, which has been exemplified many times, historically the chief adviser of the Turkish Navy was the British Rear Admiral Limps. His first job when he arrived in 1913 was to train the crew of the Turkish battleship Resadih, which was under construction, but it took a lot of effort for the British to find Turks who could train them to be sailors on modern warships. As soon as the training was on track, on 29 December, Limpus was told that he needed to find enough men and men for a larger battleship, a task that would be no less difficult than building the ship, and Limpus and his assistants had to go through the small fishing villages along the Turkish coast to find the men.

China's situation is significantly stronger than Turkey's, although the size of the Chinese navy is much smaller than that of the Turkish navy at this time, but this is mainly due to a lack of money. In places such as Shanghai and Tianjin, there were quite a few Chinese sailors working on ships.

This time, Sa Zhenbing's recruitment target is them...

Accustomed to life at sea, they will undoubtedly be able to help the navy get the newly launched ships up and running in a short time. Of course, it is not enough to be able to sail a ship as a qualified navy. They also need to completely eliminate some of the past customs through military training, and then receive education in naval discipline and a sense of honor.

But it's not too late for them to train when they get the boat up, and the only thing Sa Zhenbing needs now is to get the boat up...

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In the office building of a shipping company in Shanghai. A Navy officer in a major's uniform walked out of the office, then turned to shake hands with a middle-aged man who had walked out with him.

"Manager Zhang, I'll leave this matter to you..."

"Please rest assured..."Although his face was chubby, Manager Zhang still behaved very sincerely. Since he can make some contributions to the country, Zhang is naturally obliged, and I will go down later to ask which ones are willing to join the navy, as long as there are people who are willing. I'll let you know right away..."

"Well, then thank you Manager Zhang first...", pressing down the brim of his hat, the officer said.

After saying goodbye to Manager Zhang. Li Yang exhaled and walked out of the office building of the shipping company, and next to the building, some employees in the company were looking at Li Yang with curious eyes.

It's like what I said before. At the moment, there is a shortage of officers in the navy. There is also a shortage of necessary crews.

The latter, in particular, is probably even more lacking than the former.

After all, a warship can be driven even if there are no officers, but if there is no crew on a warship, it is obvious that the officers themselves will not be able to drive it.

Therefore, after asking Yan Shao for instructions and getting approval, Sa Zhenbing immediately asked the local government to cooperate as quickly as possible, in the name of the national government.

Forget about those inland provinces. Almost all the provinces along the river or along the coast now have people in the navy. Especially in cities like Shanghai, Tianjin and Guangzhou, it is the target of the Navy's key care, as long as it involves ships, the Navy people will come to inquire to see if their company has employees willing to serve in the army, considering that the Navy is now short of personnel, the treatment is preferential...

At this time, the relationship between the army and navy was still good, and in fact, even if there were contradictions, it was rare for the army and navy of any country to make trouble like Japan—————— and it was simply that the other side would perish as soon as possible, and it did not matter if it harmed the interests of the entire country.

The same is true, after receiving orders from the national government, even the army side helped recruit people.

For example, in the cities along the river or in the coastal cities, the navy is responsible for some of the strength of these navies, while some inland cities, such as the provinces with more rivers, are responsible for the army, of course, there are certainly not as many people as the provinces along the river, but for the current navy, even three or five people are precious resources, and the current navy is not afraid of many people, but is afraid of not many people.

In addition to helping recruit people, the army itself has also conducted an internal investigation, as long as there is anyone who has worked on a ship, the army will come forward to persuade them to transfer to the navy—————— the army's 33 infantry divisions plus a guards regiment, all of which add up to more than 600,000 people, it is impossible to have not even one, and basically as long as they are found, most of them are willing to transfer to the navy.

The reason is also very simple, the navy is short of personnel at the moment, since they are active soldiers, they are inherently better than those who were recruited later, and the chances of promotion are much better than in the army. Now you're just an ordinary soldier in the Army, and you might become a non-commissioned officer when you move to the Navy.

And at the moment, the navy is short of personnel, and the treatment given is also very high, what do you say they don't want to do?

But in general, this kind of work still depends on finding it from some coastal cities, after all, there are many students there, but...

"Diggers came to me?"

After seeing that Li Yang had left, Manager Zhang's originally sincere face gradually turned cold, and was replaced by a look of disdain.

There are not many people in the coastal areas who are suitable for boarding, but the navy still has a lot of trouble, and these troubles mainly come from the relevant companies or enterprises.

The saying that capitalists do not have a motherland is somewhat excessive, at least in history there are still many businessmen with a conscience. But if you want to say something that doesn't make sense, he's...

For many enterprises, if they really respond to the call of the navy, I am afraid that the whole company will have to run to the navy, after all, the army's monthly salary is 10 yuan, which is much higher than their existing salary, and there will be no deductions or dismissals...

The question is, if all the people run over, their company still can't open?

So although they have always been very cooperative on the surface, in fact, most of these people are behind the scenes to set up obstacles for the Navy. More than a week down. Counting the inland part, the navy has more than 300 people, which is still far from the requirement...

After all, there are 10 destroyers and 2 cruisers on the slipway alone. In addition, you can't let go of those 'ghost ships' that have to be parked on the dock because there is no one to let go of the wind and rain, right? So in fact, the shortage of personnel is about 2, 3,000 people—————— in the heyday of the Beiyang Naval Division in 1888, there were only more than 4,000 people, after the first noon, the navy was completely abandoned, the number of people is really ...

On the other hand, Yan Shao also made it very clear that a lot of money will be invested in the navy next. The situation of more than a dozen ships on the slipway together will definitely not be a flash in the pan, so considering the next situation, the expansion of the navy in terms of personnel has become an inevitable thing, and this number will definitely not be less.

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Walk out of the company's door. Li Yang sighed softly.

Of course, he knew that Manager Zhang was dealing with him just now, in fact, he had encountered this kind of thing many times in the past. Although the bosses of those companies greeted each other with smiling faces, he could clearly feel the indifference behind his back.

"If it goes on like this. When will we be able to gather the required number of people..."Shaking his head, Li Yang decided to throw this idea out of his head, anyway, he was just a small major, and such an important matter should be handed over to the people above. He just had to keep his task busy.

Come to think of it. Li Yang took another step and then walked towards another company related to the shipping industry.

Those things that the shipping company resisted about it, Sa Zhenbing quickly knew.

"Sa Lao, why don't we think of something else?"

Glancing at the information in his hand, Gu Chengzhou frowned slightly.

Because of his seniority, Gu Chengzhou lost to Sa Zhenbing in the competition for the Minister of the Navy. However, as the commander of the Anhui Navy, Gu Chengzhou still got the position of deputy minister, and he is also the leader of the Anhui faction in the navy.

Although the entire army was divided into two factions, the navy at this time was still too weak after all. Therefore, whether it is the Anhui or Fujian systems, they have no intention of fighting for power and profit, which also saves Yan Shao a lot of heart.

Similarly, Sa Zhenbing is still convinced that Gu Chengzhou, the Minister of the Navy, is still convinced. After all, Isaac has the highest seniority in the navy today. And if you don't mention ability, Sa Zhenbing has absolutely nothing to say about his personality and ethics. So it's a pleasure for two people to get along with each other.

"What else can I think of..."Rubbing his head, Sa Zhenbing's face showed a trace of bitterness. Now it seems that we can only throw away that little face..."

"You mean..."

"Let's recruit troops externally, this is probably the only option at the moment..."Sa Zhenbing let out a long sigh as he said this.

The recruitment in Sa Zhenbing's mouth is definitely not an ordinary recruitment, and there is nothing difficult about ordinary recruitment. The problem is that most of the newly recruited naval soldiers have little experience, and it will take at least half a year to train them to become qualified sailors.

For most of the year...

If you really have to wait for such a long time, not only the original ships, but also the new ones will probably rust...

And if you want to get a large number of experienced crew members in a short period of time, you can only openly and honestly explain the requirements of the navy, and this involves a series of problems, such as the face of the navy and so on...

Although the navy has been in decline since the first afternoon, Sa Zhenbing still hopes to save some face for this branch of the army that he has served for many years, and not let the outside world think that the navy has fallen so far that it can't even get together the people who drive the ship. In fact, this is also what other generals and officers within the Navy think.

That's why the Navy chooses to send officers and contact one company at a time, so that although the efficiency is slower, at least it can save the face of the Navy.

But nowadays, almost none of those companies are cooperating, and this is probably the only way to achieve the goal.

"But if you do this..."Hearing Sa Zhenbing's words, Gu Chengzhou's face was a little ugly.

As far as he was concerned, he had just become the deputy minister of the navy and did this, and he would lose all his face.

And after staring at Gu Chengzhou for a moment, Sa Zhenbing suddenly chuckled.

"Is personal face more important than the fate of the Navy? How can the face of the Navy be more important than the security of the country? Forget it, let's do it, anyway, even if I lose face, I will lose the Minister of the Navy........."