August 16, 2010

Port of Norfolk

Six new ships with a displacement of more than 20,000 tons were docked at the dock in two rows, the ships were full of flags, and the officers and men in white military uniforms stood along the side of the ship, holding their chests and stomachs, not to mention how proud they were, and their faces were full of flying light.

These six ships were captured after landing in Virginia on April 3 last year, and were originally part of the 13 20,000-ton Dreadnought-class battleships carefully built by the US military.

From the upper echelons of the shipyard to the workers, with simple patriotic enthusiasm, they poured great effort into these new ships, and kept improving in the construction and construction in order to build a high-quality warship.

At the beginning, it has been built 6~7 into it, and the result is ...... All cheap Royal Navy expeditionary fleet.

After these new ships were obtained, a group of experts from the Royal Navy conducted several rounds of research.

It is unanimously agreed that the foundation of these battleships is very good, as a traditional industrial country, the level of workers is high, the quality of ship construction is very guaranteed, and the new ships use dome armor, longitudinal multi-diaphragm seal anti-sinking, Germany introduced cemented carbide bulletproof armor, advanced steam turbine drive technology, etc., technology to create a world-class level.

Although there is a slight gap from the world's top level in Britain, Germany, and foreign countries, these gaps are mainly in terms of design concepts and do not affect the quality of ships.

Overall, the experts give a high rating.

It is believed that this type of battleship can basically reach 6% of the combat power of the Somali-class battleships developed in the late imperial period, and there is little difference in displacement between the two, and the specific difference lies in the difference in advanced radio sighting technology and the technical level of the main ship's gun.

By the time they got their hands on it, the six new ships had been basically formed, the side main armor belts had all been installed, the steam turbine power room, boilers, and pipes had been basically completed, and what was missing was the superstructure and weapon system installation.

Considering that the Imperial Navy's battleship establishment had already been greatly overstaffed, the Admiralty had to reluctantly decommission a large number of warships headed by the Qinglong, Baihu, Suzaku, and Xuanwu, and then included these ships in the equipment plan in the name of replenishing heavy cruisers.

The ship's firepower was changed several times, and it was finally decided to adopt three triple extended-range 281 mm main naval guns, two in the front and one in the back, and a hunched layout in the front, with a total of nine main guns.

The secondary guns were changed from the original 20 105-mm single-barreled guns, which were slightly weaker after repeated demonstrations, to 16 152-mm single-barreled guns, 10 twin-mounted 95-mm secondary guns, and 4 three-pack steam torpedo tubes.

The ship is equipped with 8,300 tons of armor, especially thickened dome armor above the ammunition depot, and is a very resistant heavy cruiser, with a speed of up to 28 knots, and a maximum speed of 30.5 knots during sea trials.

The original old ships have been removed after decommissioning, and these 6 warships will be renamed Qinglong, Baihu, Suzaku, Xuanwu, Gluttony and Kirin, continuing the glorious tradition of the Divine Beast family, this is the second generation of heavy cruisers named after the Divine Beast.

The original Seiryu and Genwu were donated to the Ryukyu Kingdom, and were renamed "Naha" and "Makiko", becoming the main ships of the Ryukyu Kingdom to support face, especially the second "Makiko", which greatly stimulated the sensitive and fragile national pride of Fuso and lodged a strong protest to the Pacific Alliance.

When the lawsuit came to Li Fushou, the monarch of the Ocean Empire, he only said one sentence lightly, which made Fusang State speechless, and never mentioned anything that hurt the feelings of the nation.

The phrase is; History cannot be erased, everything must be looked forward.

yes, it's ugly.

The other two Heavy Cruisers, the White Tiger and the Vermilion Bird, were refurbished and given to the Viet Quoc and renamed "Hanoi" and "Hue", two places that were once the ancient capital of thousands of years and the other are the current royal capital, which is of great significance.

There is no doubt that these two ships have also become the leaders of the Vietnamese navy, and after having them, it is really shaking up all of a sudden, and they have become a regional second-rate naval power.

As for the "Red River Valley", the "Brisbane" and the captured US battleships "Maine" and "Vermont", a total of four retired battleships, they are all treasures in the heart of the Royal Navy, and they cannot be given away under any circumstances.

After a thorough renovation before being decommissioned, it is now parked in the Gulf of Tasmania and mothballed along with more than 20 other cruisers and destroyers as a reserve for war weapons.

The six 20,000-ton heavy ships in service this time, of which the Qinglong, Baihu, Suzaku and Xuanwu belong to the Pacific Fleet, and the Kirin and Glutton belong to the newly established Atlantic Fleet.

In the port of Norfolk

Colorful balls fluttered on the tall viewing platform, and the members of the imperial expeditionary force system gathered, headed by Marshal Li Xuanzhu of the Army, Admiral Huo Xiaohu, deputy commander-in-chief of the expeditionary force, Admiral Liu Shan, Vice Admiral Duan Qixiang and other generals, Admiral Zhu Qingxi, Admiral Li Jie, Vice Admiral Li Sixian and other high-level generals of the Royal Navy.

Besides

There were also high-level local government officials headed by President MacDonnell Keynes of the Republic of Virginia, and high-level officials from the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, the United States, the Republic of Texas, the Republic of California, the Northern Union, Panama, Chile, Fuso, Vietnam, the Ryukyus, and Uruguay who were invited to attend the ceremony.

A neat lineup of honor guards separated the crowd from the audience, and the celebration procession of Chinese lion and dragon dances waited quietly aside, ready to show off their skills.

The crowd of spectators was mainly local officers and soldiers, basically a combination of Chinese officers and soldiers with white girlfriends, both navy and army, which looked very interesting.

Under the blazing sun of Virginia in August, the six huge warships docked at the dock showed a strong visual shock, and the steel ships seemed to contain violent power, which could be wildly vented through the huge cannon ports of the black holes at any time.

This is undoubtedly a masterpiece in the history of human industry, with six ships parked in three rows along the pier in groups of two, with a length of half a kilometer in front and back. The tall steel triangular masts are 14 stories above the sea, and when they emerge one after another, they bring great fear and trembling to the enemy, enough to break the weak-willed in an instant.

Admiral Zhu Qingxi looked at the 6 powerful warships in front of him and smiled from ear to ear, he stabbed Admiral Li Jie beside him and said; "Hey, Lao Li, do you want the other ships of the British?"

"I think the price is too high, I always want to take advantage, and I'm ripping off."

"By the way, didn't the French intend to compete, and how have you been in contact lately?"

"The French don't want to equip themselves, but want to sell it to the Ottoman Empire to make a profit, and now the Ottoman Empire's finances are very tight, and they can't come up with so much money, so now the French are also a little hesitant."

"Otherwise, let's jointly tell Your Majesty that we can leave a few more ships down, and equip the Atlantic Fleet with two more ships to form a main fleet pattern of four battle columns and four patrols, and the rest of our Pacific Fleet will be collected, anyway, I don't have too much."

"Commander, you are thinking of a good thing, Marshal He has already conveyed His Majesty's will, the size of the Royal Navy must be moderate, too much!"

"It's a pity, these ships we captured in the late war are basically more than 90% completed, three of them can be used after a perch, and the other four are missing the main guns and are not in place, so it's a pity to deal with them like this."

"What's the pity, Commander, haven't you calculated this account yet? The empire is not short of docks and workers for the construction of advanced battleships, as long as there is an appropriation budget, it is really necessary to build as much as you want, and it can also create jobs for the shipyards within the empire. ”

"I know this account, but I'm a little reluctant."

"Your Majesty said, regardless of whether the British or the French, the benefits of the war reparations have been given, and if you want to take these ships, you have to pay real money, and it is not easy for anyone to speak." Speaking of this, Major General Liu Shan suddenly smiled strangely, and the old god continued; "So...... Let's not worry, the British will pull the skin if they want, and the French will grind if they want, anyway, don't want to take advantage, things are not afraid of him flying in our hands, wait for two years...... When Your Majesty is in a good mood, hehehehe......"

Admiral Zhu Qingxi was broken by this sentence, and he laughed out loud after a moment, feeling more cheerful; "Hahaha...... That's right, let's collect more good things and offer them, maybe Your Majesty will be happy and let us go with a wave of his hand. ”

"Commander, this is the reason."

The two senior admirals laughed very happily, and Marshal Li Xuanzhu next to him was not happy to hear it, and said with a frown; "Why are the two of them laughing so happily? Now that the time is almost up, let's start the ceremony quickly, don't rub it in. ”

Marshal Li Xuanzhu is unhappy, that's normal, after returning to peacetime, the imperial military budget allocation is limited, your Royal Navy has eaten more, so what should I do with my Royal Army?

The Royal Navy's main warships have increased from 11 before the war to 24 now, and 6 powerful heavy cruisers have been added, each of which requires eight or nine hundred people to operate, and the first-line main fleet is 30,000 people.

Add to that the size of the cruiser, the destroyer fleet and naval base support personnel that are still under construction, and the marines, and the Royal Navy strength of more than 100,000 men is a sure thing.

In this way, 1/3 of the original budget of the army may be eaten by the Royal Navy, and you two old ghosts are here to discuss getting a few more capital ships, how can this work?

Due to the tremendous expansion of the Empire's territory and the garrison of the Republic of Virginia, the interests of the Empire have spread almost globally, and the tasks of the Royal Army have become more onerous, and the size of the troops required has increased accordingly.

Marshal Li Xuanzhu is considering how to make every effort to persuade the present Shengyu after returning to the mainland in the near future, stating that he has seen that some army units should be reduced as little as possible, and that the establishment of two more armored divisions should be appropriately increased, which will require a large amount of funds.

A fully staffed T-2 tank division (the existing armored division is only equipped with one regiment of T-2 tanks, mixed with two regiments of Cheetah medium tanks) is also a gold-swallowing beast, and the cost of equipment and maintenance is basically the same as three battleships.

At present, the empire has three armored divisions, and two more will make it five, which is not a lot of money.

In addition, the current army heavy artillery division is small, and some should be increased, especially the tracked self-propelled gun vehicle is particularly easy to use, but this is also a dead expensive guy, the Royal Army is eager to equip more, which is inseparable from military appropriation.

For most of the year

The expeditionary force occupied the advantage of separating the north-south communications, made a lot of money without conscience, and accumulated a lot of money on hand, about 70 million to 80 million US dollars, almost 27 million gold oceans.

This part of the money is mainly intended to be used to purchase equipment, such as T-2 chassis self-propelled guns, towed heavy guns of more than 105 mm, T-2 tanks of a whole division, and mortars and other firepower in the whole army.

The cost of army equipment is only one aspect, and the large amount of maintenance expenses required every year after equipping equipment is another, so without the establishment of the army, you can only stare dryly, and no one can do anything.

The equipment and use of the armed forces is an extremely sensitive area, and the Cabinet is rarely involved in it, and it is inconvenient for the Cabinet to intervene.

In this regard, His Majesty has always acted arbitrarily, and the naval and army armies have only obeyed His Majesty's orders, which has long been a common practice.

Being reminded by the marshal like this, Admiral Zhu Qingxi and Admiral Liu Shan immediately understood, and said apologetically; "The marshal forgives the sin, it's because we didn't think it through, and the ceremony will begin."

"Okay, it's not appropriate to keep guests waiting."

"It's still the handsome to think about it." The marshal is a higher rank beyond the general, one of the top figures in the military, Admiral Zhu Qingxi could only salute again, turned around and ordered; "Let's start the ceremony!"

"Yes." The protocol officer replied loudly, then walked over to the microphone and announced loudly; "The Imperial Navy Qinglong, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, Xuanwu, Qilin, and Gluttonous Six Ships Formation Ceremony begins now, all stand up, fire a salute, play the national anthem, and salute!"

The salute sounded, the magnificent melody echoed in the air, and the officers and men participating in the ceremony were instantly infected, and a feeling of infinite sacredness rose in their hearts, and tears welled up in their eyes.

After one bloody battle after another, the officers and soldiers present cherished the time of peace more than anyone else, they admired honor, were loyal to the empire, condensed iron faith in the war, and witnessed the glorious history of the rise of the empire.

The belief in sharing the glory and disgrace with the empire is deeply rooted in the bone marrow of these elite soldiers of a hundred battles, they are proud of the strength of the empire and the army, and they are proud to be a part of it.

When the music stopped, the deafening sound of firecrackers rang out, followed by a festive dragon and lion dance, bringing the joyful atmosphere to a climax.