After the situation changed, Betty's thinking became much more conservative, and there was some resistance and dissatisfaction with the idea of facing Fisher's high-speed battleship. After all, I am going to take the fast fleet to battle in the future, how can I get a bunch of crispy skin and be directly knocked away? So, by accident, Jericho and Betty, two people who were originally a little discordant and even a competitor, actually formed an alliance temporarily. And the edge of this alliance is aimed at Fisher, the commander of the navy, who is not clear about this.

"I wonder what Your Excellency Lu Dao thinks about Australia and New Zealand's purchase of Huaxia warships? Is this very likely to cause dissatisfaction among some powerful factions within the empire? In Shanghai, Betty had just met the Australian envoy, and the first thing he said was some apprehension and uneasiness.

"Probably not, the British Empire will not interfere with the Dominion's purchase of warships, this is your freedom, and Mr. Churchill has agreed to this operation on behalf of the Colonial Department. As long as Australia and New Zealand can fulfill their promise to incorporate these two warships into the Grand Fleet in wartime, then the British Empire will not interfere but only help. Betty, as the envoy of the Celestial Empire, said with a smile.

Betty and his naval team were responsible for technical matters, while the two envoys were responsible for the development of specific contracts. What the? Didn't you say that the first time you came here was an investigation? But according to Betty's idea, when she came to Huaxia, she had to finalize the order contract for these two warships, because the warships that Fisher meddled in indiscriminately did not meet Betty's needs, so Betty had to find them by herself. As for spending money? Betty doesn't have to worry about this, there are two countries, Australia and New Zealand, and they are their warships in peacetime. It's still worth spending a little more money on a good thing.

And judging by the current situation, Australia and New Zealand have no better choice, except for the Chinese and British ships, the American ships are not eye-catching, and the Germans and Italians are simply not going to sell their precious dreadnoughts to their future enemies. And to buy a British ship? Cheap is cheaper. But even Betty didn't say good things about British ships, the meaning of this is really intriguing, doesn't Betty trust the shipyards of her own country? Although Betty didn't say it explicitly (it's a political matter to say it). But the envoys of the two countries still felt a little bit.

And at this time. Rear Admiral Yan Boxun of the Huaxia Naval Design Institute was a little unable to come back to his senses, Yan Boxun, who had just lost the Argentine order because of the disadvantage of the division some time ago, had just recovered from the blow, and it turned out that the British had actually come! And it also brought a big deal! Two younger brothers of the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, actually came to Huaxia to order warships. This made Yan Boxun a little confused. When did the vaunted Royal Navy buy a whole foreign ship? It's a little unreliable.

As a result, after a comprehensive analysis of the intelligence of the new British ship. Yan Boxun was happy, he had already figured out some internal reasons, that is, some British naval commanders were already a little tired of Fisher's fast warship planning. I can't help it with those thin-skinned and cheap things! So under the planning of some people (Jericho?) They're finally getting moving!

"Boss. The British came to buy a ship, what should we do? Yan Boxun said on the phone. Naturally, Tong Suo is not bullied, do you remember what I said about suicide in Europe? I think it is necessary for Huaxia to let them kill each other more fiercely, how can they just strengthen one of them? The other side also needs to be strengthened. On the other end of the phone, Xu Jie said with a dark belly.

"Okay, it's all on me, and I also ask if my commission can be more." How many years. Yan Boxun still can't change the problem of running the train.

"General Betty, if you've seen the blueprints of the new British battleship. Then take a look at our design drawings and you will see that our work is absolutely a masterpiece with 100% conscience. Neither in terms of design nor materials, I have always believed that the bravest samurai should be equipped with the sharpest sword and the strongest armor, and this armor must be able to withstand all kinds of challenges! Yan Boxun said.

"General Betty, before looking at the picture, I think I should first introduce the design ideas of our warships. As well as lessons learned from the Second Sino-Russian War. In future naval battles, the old days when you could rely on 8-inch armor to defend against 12-inch main gun attacks are gone! In this Sino-Russian war, based on artillery records and the investigation of captured Russian ships, we can determine that our 12-inch armor-piercing shells can penetrate at least 8 inches of armor at a distance of 9,000 meters. Considering the progress of artillery technology, I believe that in the face of the blow of 14-inch naval guns in future naval battles, the armor thickness must be more than 12 inches to be safe. After all, the muzzle velocity of the latter is higher than that of the 12-inch 45L gun, and the weight of the shell has increased by more than 5%. ”

"As you can see, it is obviously very difficult to keep the deck above two floors above the water under the protection of the main armor in the face of the main guns, and if you calculate the height of each cabin at 2.4 meters, then the water part alone is 4.8 meters, and with the underwater extension, this height may reach 6 meters or even more. And the weight to pay for this is really a bit big. ”

"But the protection on the upper deck can be reduced a little bit, let's say from 12 inches to 9 inches." So said a British naval designer next to Betty.

"Of course you can do that, but what's the purpose of doing it?" Yan Boxun asked rhetorically. "The battleship's ultra-long-range main guns were a kind of protection in themselves, allowing them to attack outside the effective range of a battleship equipped with medium-caliber guns, so the 9-inch armor defense of medium-caliber guns was completely unnecessary. And the 9-inch armor can't defend against the main gun attack, so tell me, what's the point of this armor? And in the future, we still have to face a lot of challenges, and the weight is very tight. ”

"First of all, in this naval battle, along with the increase in the distance of engagement, there was a situation of a bullet in the water. The shell does not sink to the bottom immediately after entering the water, but is righted and continues to move forward like a torpedo for a while. If your ship is unlucky, then it is very likely to win, and the penetration of cannonballs is higher than that of torpedoes, although after all, they are a minority, but once they hit, the results will be very serious. So I saved weight to increase the strength of the defenses of the underwater protective bulkhead. ”

"Secondly, according to our research, about half of the hits in the Sino-Russian naval battle hit the horizontal armor. In other words, all the side chord protection, including the upper armor and the armor of the gun gallery and the main load, even if done at the best, can only block more than half of the hits. And to block the rest of the shells, you have to strengthen the horizontal protection, and I think anyone who has studied elementary mathematics should know one problem, that is, under the same thickness. Horizontal armor is several times heavier than vertical armor. And if we want to strengthen horizontal protection, this part of the weight must be squeezed out of the weakened vertical protection! ”

"For horizontal protection, I personally believe that the protection effect of a single layer of large-thickness armor is much better than that of a double or even triple layer of protection. FOR EXAMPLE, THE SAME PROTECTIVE WEIGHT OF 80MM. IF DOUBLE LAYER IS MADE 60MM+20MM. A SHELL THAT COULD HAVE BEEN BLOCKED WITH 80MM ARMOR WOULD HAVE PENETRATED 60MM ARMOR, AND THE THICKNESS OF THE LOWER ARMOR COULD NOT EVEN DEFEND AGAINST SHRAPNEL GENERATED AFTER AN EXPLOSION, SO IT CAN BE SAID THAT THIS LAYER OF PROTECTION WAS WASTED. ”

"AND THE DESIGN OF OUR WARSHIPS IN TERMS OF HORIZONTAL PROTECTION CAN BE CALLED CONSCIENTIOUS, NOT ONLY BECAUSE THE SIMPLE LARGE-THICKNESS ARMOR PIPE IS ENOUGH, BUT ALSO BECAUSE WE HAVE SPECIALLY DESIGNED A LAYER OF SHIPBUILDING STEEL OF SUFFICIENT THICKNESS ABOVE THE MAIN ARMOR, THAT IS, AT THE LOCATION OF THE UPPER DECK, WHICH IS ABOUT 40MM, AS AN AUXILIARY PROTECTIVE LAYER FOR THE MAIN ARMOR. IN ADDITION, ON THE NORTH SIDE OF THE MAIN ARMOR WITH A THICKNESS OF 90MM, THERE IS ALSO A LAYER OF TEAK WOOD AND A LAYER OF 25MM STRUCTURAL STEEL AS AN ANTI-SPALL LAYER. Even if it is hit by a shell, there will be no shrapnel falling into the core compartment! O good conscience! ”

"As for the protection of weapons. THE FRONTAL 360MM MAIN ARMOR OF OUR TURRET CAN DEFINITELY BLOCK THE ATTACK OF ANY 14-INCH LEVEL GUN, AND THERE IS A 50MM THICK ARMORED PARTITION BETWEEN THE GUNS, EVEN IF A GUN IS DESTROYED, IT WILL DEFINITELY NOT AFFECT THE USE OF OTHER GUNS. So, the main guns on the battleship you buy will definitely play well, as long as you have shells, you can fight from the beginning to the end of the war! ”

"Then there's the servos, propeller shafts and mine protection that you care about, and the servos are protected by special armoured boxes with the same level of defense as the core area. THE UPPER PART OF THE PROPELLER SHAFT WAS COVERED WITH A LARGE THICKNESS OF DOME ARMOR, AND THE THICKEST POINT OF 100 MM WAS ENOUGH TO WITHSTAND MOST OF THE BLOWS. In addition to increasing the thickness of TDS and using detailed lightning protection compartments, we can also use all-oil boilers, and without coal, the openings of the fuel warehouses will be small, which helps to increase the strength of the structure. The power compartment is also designed in a separate compartment, so even if it is unfortunately broken down, it will not lose power at once, how about it? Pretty good, right? "I have to say that Yan Boxun has a talent for sales than Xu Jie, and a paragraph of words made Betty and others stunned. At least that's how he felt.

"Very good, at least they didn't lie to us in terms of ideas." After the meeting with Yim Boxun, a British designer said to Betty.

"I ONCE LOOKED AT THE BLUEPRINTS OF THE DREADNOUGHT-CLASS BATTLESHIPS, AND THEY ALMOST ADJUSTED THE DEFENSE STANDARDS OF THE DREADNOUGHT-CLASS, WITH INCLINED ARMOR ON THE SIDE CHORDS, AND THE UPPER EDGE OF THE MAIN ARMOR WAS CONNECTED HORIZONTALLY, AND THE UPPER ARMOR WAS ONLY 70MM TO DEFEND AGAINST 6-INCH GUNS, AND THE SAME WAS TRUE FOR UNDERWATER DEFENSE. It's just that the oil tank is used instead of the coal bunker, which is more optimized. Invincible, Longtai and Longxing, as well as the current class of warships, can be said to be in the same vein. Compared to the ships we are going to use now, this class of battleships is definitely excellent in terms of performance! Especially defense. The designer said very sincerely.

"That's going to be easy, let's draw up a document and let the Australians and New Zealanders prepare the money." Betty nodded in satisfaction.

Thanks to the book friend zhouyu1976 for the tip~~~. Anyway, yesterday, when I looked at the subscription, it wasn't even 550——! That's more than 150 less than the average subscription——! The ——! of pulling out the cold in my heart I'm not motivated~~~~. (To be continued......)