Zhuge Weidao's current position is Chief of Staff of the Naval Aviation and Naval Armaments Commissioner.

The headquarters of the naval aviation is not in the city of Beijing, but in an airship base outside the city of Beijing, at the foot of the West Mountain. Therefore, in order to facilitate commuting, Zhuge Weidao does not live in the house in Goolan Hutong in the city, but lives in a villa in Xishan, and it is not very convenient to go to the city. Fortunately, Zhuge Weidao recently bought a car, which is a newly launched "Chitu" brand convertible car. With 16 hp and a top speed of 20 km/h, it's a pretty good car with a shockproof bullet yellow, seat belts, gear shifters (not to mention the gearbox), soft car seats and a removable canvas roof. It's just that it's a bit difficult to start, and you have to use a rocker stick to insert into the engine and shake it several times to start the car.

But people have to be content, he now has a house, a car and a wife (more than one), what is there not to be satisfied with?

Therefore, after learning that the Admiralty wanted him to go to a meeting, he immediately took matters into his own hands, dressed neatly, washed cleanly, had a casual breakfast, put on his briefcase, and called his orderly soldier Xiao Xiao (Yu De's brother, named Yu Gang), and drove the "red rabbit car" together, at a speed of 960 miles a day, to Beijing. There is no traffic jam on the road, and the journey of more than ten kilometers took less than an hour to complete. At 9:30 a.m. that day, he had already held a meeting with Guan Tianpei, Zhuge Weiyi, Zhuge Weiyong, Li Tiezhu, and several other members of the Naval Armaments Commission.

The so-called armaments commissioner, of course, is a member who participates in the formulation of the naval armaments program and supervises its implementation, and it is a position of considerable power in the Admiralty. Normally, only the secretary and squire of the Admiralty, the chief and deputy chief of staff of the Navy General Staff, and the top leaders of the Navy Department, the Navy General Staff, and the important departments (headquarters) and bureaus under them can be members of this committee.

However, Zhuge Weidao made an exception and became this armaments commissar in the capacity of chief of staff of the Naval Aviation Command, so he was qualified to sit in the conference room of the Admiralty today and watch the briefing on the Versailles Armaments Conference jointly prepared by the Naval Staff, the Naval Armaments Department, and the Naval Intelligence Bureau.

After successfully recovering the dog of Japan, the Ming Dynasty is still unhurriedly implementing the strategy of "small bets and small wins" - starting from the "arch gold print", the Ming Dynasty has tasted the sweetness in several "small bets", and naturally will not easily change the strategy to play stud. And now there is no way to stud, because the naval armament of the Ming Dynasty also exposed a lot of problems in the battle of Jiyin Waterway...... It seems that neither the battleships nor the cruisers of this generation can afford to take on the responsibility of the world war, and they must be redeveloped and built.

"7.5 million tons of ......" Minister of the Navy Zhuge Weiyi had already finished reading the briefing, and a smile appeared on his face, obviously he was not worried about this surface combat ship with a total tonnage of up to 7.5 million tons.

Subsequently, the shipbuilding expert of the Zhuge family threw the problem to Zhuge Wei, who could "really" pinch and calculate, and said: "Daozi, what do you think? Can they build that many warships? ”

"Well," Zhuge thought for a while, "Britain alone will definitely not be able to make so much, but Britain only makes 3 million tons of it, the rest of France is 1 million tons, Rakshasa is 700,000 tons, Prussia makes 500,000 tons, Austria makes 500,000 tons, and the Netherlands, Sweden, Spain, the United States, the Kingdom of Sardinia, Portugal, Brazil, Mexico, and Belgium all make 200,000 tons...... As if it weren't impossible. Even if it doesn't reach 7.5 million tons, 7 million tons or 6.8 million tons in the end, there should still be some of them. However, this tonnage and combat effectiveness cannot be equated, and the key is to have strong ships and guns. If the British really built a million 10,000-ton cruisers and dozens of 25,000-30,000 ton battleships, it would not be difficult to deal with. ”

Zhuge Weiyi and Zhuge Weiyong glanced at each other, Zhuge Weiyi took a sip of tea with a smile and asked, "Daozi, tell me, how should we deal with it?" ”

"Those dozens of 25,000-30,000 tons of slow battleships are not difficult to deal with," Zhuge weidao pondered, "We can use 30,000 tons of battleships to deal with...... Our shipbuilding level is much stronger than that of the British, and with the same 30,000-ton battleship, our speed, defense, and firepower will be stronger than the British, and we are not afraid that we will not be able to win. What is really difficult to deal with is the 100,000-ton ....... This is to break the war with us, right? The battleships we used to fight the main decisive battle with the British could not catch up with them, and if we also built 10,000 tons of loading and patrolling, this loading and patrolling would probably have to fight for numbers in the end.

If our opponent is just a British, we are not afraid to compare numbers, but now...... In my opinion, we have to develop a ship type that is somewhere between an armored cruiser and a battleship. It should have the speed of patrolling, the firepower of a battleship, and it can be worse than a battleship in terms of defense, but it must be far superior to that of a battleship. ”

Zhuge Weiyong laughed and said, "This kind of ship is called a battle cruiser...... The tonnage can also be set at 30,000 tons! ”

Zhuge nodded for the road, he didn't approve of building a war patrol, but if the British brought a group of white-skinned friends to make a big patrol....... Then Daming should develop a war patrol.

Of course, carrier-based aircraft and aircraft carriers are the ultimate solution!

Even if it is just a biplane, for a battleship sailing on the sea, it can form a dimensionality reduction strike. It's just that the airplane hasn't been invented yet...... Even if an aircraft carrier is built, it is useless.

In addition, because the battle cruiser requires a more powerful power system, it is more difficult to develop than a battleship of the same tonnage, and it is also not easy to build.

Thinking of this, Zhuge Weidao said to Zhuge Weiyi and Zhuge Weiyong: "Shangshu, Chief of Staff, Xia Guan suggested that a 20,000-ton battle patrol be developed on the basis of the Hongwu Emperor level....... The armor should not be too thick, but the speed must be as fast as possible, and heavy oil boilers and steam turbines should be used as power. The power compartment should be as large as possible to preserve room for upgrades.

As for the main gun, a four-seat twin 280-mm design scheme was available...... to test the design of the knapsack turret.

Through the development and production of this class of battle cruisers, we can understand the hull and power system of 20,000-ton fast warships, and then we can develop 25,000-30,000 tons of battleships on the basis of it. When the battleships of 25,000-30,000 tons have been thoroughly eaten, it is most prudent to develop battle cruisers of the same tonnage.

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In addition, the hull of the 20,000-ton fast ship is of great use to our naval aviation, which can be used to convert into an aircraft carrier, and is not afraid of waste! ”

The great use he said, of course, is as the basic hull of an aircraft carrier!

The aircraft carrier used to take off and land biplane carrier-based aircraft has a displacement of about 20,000 tons, which is enough. But since the range of the biplane will not be too far, the possibility that the aircraft carrier will be mounted by the opponent's surface ships cannot be ruled out, so it must be stronger and run faster.

The hull and power system of the 20,000-ton battle cruiser are of course the most suitable!

"Daozi," Li Tiezhu, director of the Naval Intelligence Bureau, touched his beard and said, "The plan to develop 20,000 tons of battle cruisers first, and then 25,000-30,000 tons of battleships and battle cruisers is stable...... It's just slow! If we do it step by step, we will have to carry out 20,000-ton battle cruisers for at least three years, and 25,000-30,000 ton battleships for at least another year or two, and then battle cruisers and aircraft carriers. When will we be able to finish our 3 million tons, and maybe the 1 million tons hanging in the name of Japan? ”

"Chief Li," Zhuge Weidao said with a smile, "Xia Guan thinks that the key to winning the future war is speed!" And, of course, the speed of shipbuilding...... It's also combat power if it's built quickly!

We must not only build ships quickly before the war, but also build them faster during the war! ”

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhuge Weiyi, the secretary of the naval department of the shipbuilding division, asked knowingly: "How can I build it faster?" ”

"There should be many ways," Zhuge Weidao said with a smile, "First of all, of course, mass production is taken into account when designing, and in the future, we will mass-produce the same battleship......