"General Liu, this is your cabin..."

Liu Guanxiong and his entourage were rewarded with the Rivadaville, a young white man in his early 20s with a somewhat handsome appearance, who led Liu Guanxiong to the captain's cabin.

In this era, ergonomics has not yet appeared, and almost all weapons do not take into account the feelings of the user. In order to make a breakthrough in the performance of weapons, the designers almost put the user in the most secondary position, especially in terms of living conditions, etc., the worst is probably the submarine type of weapon, although the surface ship is stronger, but considering that a warship has to be squeezed with thousands of people, I am afraid it may not be able to be stronger.

It is estimated that the only breakthrough in this regard is the 'Seven Turret Relic' Agincourt.

When they first took over the multi-turret relic, the Turks were not primarily concerned with the performance of the weapons or the power system, but with the living conditions on board, which they were satisfied with the Brazilians' previous request: the sailors' quarters were very spacious, and the officers had a porthole quarters each. But this was not enough, as the Turks demanded that each officer's quarters be decorated with luxurious and expensive wooden paneling, that the officers' bathrooms be fitted with elaborate faucets and porcelain tiles, and that the toilets be modified according to Muslim custom.

Later, after the Anglo-Turkish broke up and the British took over the Agincourt, the first impression of the British officers and men after boarding the "Agincourt" was that the Royal Navy would never design and build such a monster itself. Their assessment was, in short, too much artillery, too many ammunition bays, too long hulls. Too weak protection. Soon the seven main turrets were named from front to back from Sunday to Saturday. When they saw the spaciousness and luxurious decoration of the cabins, everyone thought they were in a palace, and the other name of the battleship—————— 'Luxury Hotel' (Gin Palace') spread. The Agincourt was of course the most comfortable warship in the Royal Navy, and one rumor has it that each of the Agincourt's cabins had a dedicated wine pipe. Gin was given to the officers, rum was given to the sailors. Many officers and men asked their friends to come up to the Agincourt just to see her luxurious officers' living quarters and spacious sailors' quarters.

In addition to its unprecedented one-week main turret, the Agincourt is also world-famous for its first-class decoration, two changes of ownership, three ship names, four constructions, and is still talked about today...

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With only 10 more people on board, the displacement of the 'Rivadavia' is slightly larger than that of the 'Agincourt', and theoretically the comfort of the ship should be better than that of the 'Agincourt', but considering that the length of the 'Agincourt' is more than 20 meters and nearly 30 meters longer than that of the 'Rivadavia'. In fact, I'm afraid that the Rivadavia is still a little worse than the Agincourt.

(The Agincourt is 204.7 meters long, while the Rivadavia, which is larger than the Agincourt, is only 178.3 meters, and the Queen Elizabeth class, which is thousands of tons larger than the Agincourt, is only 195 meters...) ）

That being said. But there has never been a reason to grieve the captain in this world, so when he walked into his cabin, Liu Guanxiong was very satisfied with the space here.

"Not bad..."Walking into the cabin, Liu Guanxiong nodded with satisfaction.

Lots of space in the cabin. Not only can it accommodate a bed. And there are bookcases and so on, which are much stronger than his original room on the Haiqi ship.

Not only him, but even the other sailors who walked into their own cabins were mostly surprised when they saw their own rooms.

"This room is really big..."

"yes, the bed is comfortable..."

"I finally don't have to look like a mouse in the bellows..."

Looking at the appearance in the cabin, the sailors were gossiping, and some of them were even anxious to lie on the bed and try the feeling. Inside the ship, there are even cheers from time to time. And after seeing that these customers from China seemed to be very satisfied with the ship, the shipyard also smiled happily.

Not surprising either. We all know that the largest Haiqi ship in service in the Chinese Navy has a displacement of 4,300 tons, but who knows that there are 476 crew members in such a ship...

A battleship with a standard row of 28,000 tons only needed 1,130 people, while a cruiser with a standard row of 4,300 tons used 476 people.

Changing boats now is like going from hell to heaven for them.

"Okay, don't make trouble, pay attention to your image..."Seeing that the sailors were making a little trouble, the one who came with them coughed lightly and frowned slightly.

In fact, he was also very happy in his heart, after all, the internal space of the original Haiqi ship was really a bit torturous, and now he was in such an environment, how could he not be happy. But now that the Americans are still watching, he naturally doesn't want the Americans to see the joke in vain.

Hearing the commander's words, although the sailors were still excited, they obediently closed their mouths, but the joy of these sailors could be clearly seen from their faces.

With plenty of space, comfy beds, and bright lights, what's not to be happy about?

Seeing that the people under his command had finally quieted down, the officer bowed slightly, and then continued to walk forward with the Americans.

Compared with Liu Guanxiong's captain's cabin, the officer's cabin is obviously smaller, but it is quite good. It was especially important that almost every officer had a cabin with a porthole, and the living conditions were very comfortable...

Although the futon has not yet been brought in, after entering his own cabin, Du Zisong still lies on the bed, closes his eyes and rests quietly.

Along the way, I first took a boat and then a train, and it can be said that I didn't have a good rest at all. Now that he has finally arrived in a more stable environment, Du Zisong has just closed his eyes and is already asleep.

Like him, there were many officers and soldiers who passed through. Even Liu Guanxiong, who is the captain of the ship, is the same.

Almost instantly, the entire battleship was covered with the snoring of the officers and men of the navy, and only a few officers and men who were still in good spirits were there excitedly discussing everything about the battleship...

Huge hull. 12 305mm L50 guns, spacious interiors, almost everything excites them ...

Compared with the Rivadaville, the two Minas Gerais-class battleships inherited by Buzigao had a displacement of nearly 10,000 tons. But the crew of the ship was also more than 200 less than that of the Rivadaville class, and it was much larger than the Haiqi ship, so the officers and men of the Navy who had just arrived in Rio de Janeiro were just as happy with the two battleships they were about to pilot.

And as the hero of this negotiation, Buzigao will also be the captain of one of the battleships. Piloted these two battleships back to China.

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On the deck of the Rivadaville, Moreno and Rivar were sitting on their deck chairs, coffee in their hands and looking at the sailors from distant lands in front of them. Learn how to steer this steel behemoth with the help of the shipyard side.

“……… These twin 305mm L50 main guns adopt the latest technology of our country, and when used..."

"The entire battleship is powered by three Curtis steam turbines, 18 Babcock-Wilcox boilers, and a total of 40,000 shaft horsepower. It is necessary to have the ability to properly maintain these power systems..."

Most of the people who can work in the navy in these years can speak English first-hand. So there was no big problem with the communication between the officers and the shipyard. Although most of the sailors did not speak English, it was not too much of a problem to have officers on hand to translate.

So it is not uncommon to see on the deck that one or more shipyard technicians are followed by a large group of naval officers and sailors, and basically the technicians will translate the sentence and tell it to the sailors who follow behind. The whole process is like the most humble student learning from the teacher, without the slightest arrogance, which also makes those American technicians take a lot of care when teaching—————— can't help it. Who called the navy people who had never touched a dreadnought, especially such a large battleship with a full displacement of more than 30,000 tons. I've never had any experience.

Moreover, after the lesson of the First Sino-Japanese War, both Liu Guanxiong and the officers and soldiers below lost the arrogance they had in the past, and they all lowered their postures, so the current scene appeared.

"But these Chinese are really desperate, it's been a few days, they haven't even gotten off the ship once, they haven't even participated in the banquet in the shipyard, they just bury their heads in studying there..." After a small sip of coffee, Moreno shook his head.

"Who knows, but this spirit is still commendable...", Rivar also took a sip of coffee.

In fact, the day after arriving at the shipyard, Liu Guanxiong and the officers woke up the sleeping sailors from their beds, and then, with the cooperation of the shipyard, learned how to control the sea monster.

Then Moreno and Rivar saw the officers chase the sailors to the deck like ducks. After assigning the work positions of each sailor, let them learn from their respective commanders, and they couldn't help but want to praise them with a serious and hard work.

It's just that the leisurely posture of these two 'gentlemen' sitting on the deck chairs is incompatible with the atmosphere on the battleship, no matter how you look at it, not only the naval officers and sailors on the ship, but even the people in the shipyard have a lot of criticism about them. It's just that they can't do anything about these people, so they have to pretend that they haven't seen them.

The operation of the battleship is obviously much more difficult than that of the original cruiser, and if they just casually find some ordinary people to come up as sailors, I am afraid that they will not even be able to drive the ship for a year and a half.

However, the sailors brought by Liu Guanxiong this time also had at least a year of military experience, and some of the officers even survived the First Sino-Japanese Naval Battle—————— although the number was pitiful.

But anyway, after all, there is still some experience, and the naval equipment at this time is somewhat common, so these people will not really be blinded when they arrive. Under the guidance of the shipyard, it only took half a month to drive the battleship to the open sea, but if you really want to cross the ocean. If you drive back to China from the United States, I'm afraid it will take some time.

During this period, Liu Guanxiong was busy with training. At the same time, he was also busy communicating with the New York office of Yushi Group.

Ultimately...

With a single battleship, after all, it is impossible to really drive all the way back to China ...

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Standing on the dock of the New York shipyard, Li Sheng looked at the steel giant in front of him with some admiration.

"It's really scary, this money is not spent in vain..."

After sighing with emotion, Li Sheng led people towards the battleship. Naturally, some officers and men of the navy stopped him on the way, but after looking at the documents he presented, there was no one to stop him along the way.

Li Sheng met Liu Guanxiong in front of the first turret of the Rivadavia. Standing in front of the turret, Liu Guanxiong was watching his subordinates operate the turret.

"General Liu...", Li Sheng took two quick steps forward.

"Manager Li?" Although each other has been on the phone several times. But this is the first time they have actually met, so there is a hint of hesitation in Liu Guanxiong's voice.

"Exactly." Li Sheng said with a smile. "You've done everything you asked me to do, now shall we talk about it in another place?"

"Of course!" Hearing Li Sheng say that everything had been done, Liu Guanxiong said with a happy face.

After taking Li Sheng to his own cabin. Liu Guanxiong brought two chairs.

As soon as I sat down. Li Sheng got straight to the point.

"Adhering to the meaning of the president and the general manager, I have prepared all the supply ships and towing ships needed for the battleship to return to the sea, as long as General Liu and General Infantry of Brazil are all ready, this side can set sail directly..."

It is very difficult for the battleships themselves to sail directly back to China from the Americas, especially since the pilots of these battleships are all novices who have never touched battleships in the past, and there is even a battleship in the sea trial stage, if there is anything wrong on the way, whether it is Yan Shao, Sa Zhenbing, Liu Guanxiong, they will not be surprised.

So according to Yan Shao's orders. The New York branch of the Rainstone Group employs a number of supply ships and towing vessels, so that even if something goes wrong on the way back. They can also tow the ship to the nearest port.

Of course, it's better not to have this kind of thing happen if possible, but if you're prepared, you always have to be prepared.

As for the route back...

Before leaving, Yan Shao had already planned it. After completing the pilot training, Buzigao in Brazil will take two battleships north to New York, and Liu Guanxiong in New York will join up, and then the three battleships will cross the Atlantic Ocean to reach the British port for initial replenishment, and then go straight to Marseille in the Mediterranean, carry out the next stage of replenishment, and finally return to China through the Suez Canal, the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean, and the South China Sea...

The reason for this route is that the Panama Canal has not yet been completed, and if you go through the Pacific Ocean, you will first have to bypass South America.

And the vastness of the Pacific Ocean is also well known, first across half of South America, and then across the entire Pacific Ocean......... Considering that one of the three battleships was in the sea trial stage, it would have been too risky.

And what about the Atlantic route...

First of all, the Atlantic Ocean is significantly smaller than the Pacific Ocean, which means that the chance of failure is reduced. Secondly, compared to the Pacific Ocean, the shipping lanes of the Atlantic Ocean are obviously much busier, and even if there is an accident, as long as you don't sink directly to the bottom of the sea, you can get help in the shipping lanes.

And from Europe across the Indian Ocean back to China, there are countless seaport cities along the way that can replenish supplies, and if there is any problem, it can also be solved on the spot, which is obviously much stronger than the Pacific Ocean.

It is especially important that if you go back from the Pacific Ocean, you will definitely pass through Japan. If you go back like this, who knows if the Japanese will do something with a hot brain? Returning from the South China Sea may also be intercepted by the Japanese, but at least the chances are much less.

Moreover, politically, if these three battleships return from the range of power of the Entente, it will also increase China's political status a little, after all, the combat effectiveness of the three dreadnoughts at sea is definitely not something that any country can ignore.

"Speaking of which, just drive all the way back to China, if there is no problem at all, you can basically declare the sea trial successful..."Seeing Liu Guanxiong's satisfied look, Li Sheng said with a smile.

"You can't say that," Liu Guanxiong smiled. But it's pretty much the same, after all, if you can really sail all the way from North America back to China without any serious breakdowns, then the chances of the battleship breaking down in the coming days are very small. ”

Saying that, Liu Guanxiong let out a long sigh, the naval officers and soldiers he brought this time had a certain foundation, and those American technicians were also very attentive when they taught. Judging by the current progress, it will take about half a month to a month before they can return home with this dreadnought under their feet...

"But then again, it all felt like a dream..."

Recalling that more than a year ago, he was still running around for a cruiser of two or three thousand tons, but now they can drive a battleship of twenty or thirty thousand tons back to China, which really makes Liu Guanxiong feel like he is in a dream.

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Fifty-seven years is like a dream, the whole country has fallen to Seoul, don't give up on the shallow water of the dragon, and finally have a raised eyebrows.

—————— Sa Zhenbing (To be continued......)