Zhu Jingyuan continued to explain his thoughts to the officials and craftsmen of the shipbuilding system headed by Zhu Zhongliang and Wang Lai:

"The cost per unit tonnage of high-speed destroyers used in the fleet is much higher than that of battleships.

"However, the cost of a single destroyer, the specific cost of building a destroyer of two or three thousand tons, is, of course, much lower than that of any battleship of tens of thousands of tons.

"So, if we can do the work with destroyers, we can't build battleships to do, and the overall cost is too high.

"At the same time, in the short term, none of the Tessians should be able to build 50,000-ton battleships.

"When they can build more than 50,000 tons of battleships, our 60,000 tons of battleships should be more than them.

"Before they built a battleship of this size, the main task of our own existing 60,000-ton battleship was actually to exist as a world-class deterrent.

"In fact, the work that battleships need to do in peacetime is to let 40,000-ton mass-produced battleships do it.

"In terms of the current level of shipbuilding technology in the world, they are completely sufficient.

"If we use the technology we have just completed to upgrade the existing 40,000-ton battleship, it should be enough to deal with the battleships of the Tessians under 45,000 tons.

"Even in the face of their 50,000-ton battleships, in fact, they may not be without the strength to fight.

"It's just that with our Daming family background, there is no need to do that kind of challenge."

When Zhu Jingyuan said this, his attention turned to Wang Lai:

"Don't talk about the ship's division...... The Ministry of Ordnance does not have a plan for the technical upgrade of the existing 40,000-ton warships? ”

Wang Lai immediately nodded very seriously and roughly reported the relevant situation to Zhu Jingyuan:

"Your Highness makes sense, of course we have already done the upgrade plan.

"Based on electroslag remelting technology, the production of 360 mm naval guns was redesigned and replaced, and the latest boilers and turbine systems with greater power density were replaced.

"The number of guns can be upgraded from three triples with a total of nine guns to four triples with a total of twelve guns without reducing speed and defensive power.

"The new artillery can use at least super-heavy shells of more than eight hundred and fifty kilograms, or even nine hundred kilograms.

"The actual power will not be lower than that of a 380 to 400 mm gun made by traditional techniques.

"It is even possible to try to replace three or even four twin-mounted 420-mm new guns.

"Or continue to keep the nine main guns, and increase the overall thickness of the main armor to three hundred and sixty millimeters.

"Or raise the core part of the horizontal armor to two hundred millimeters."

Zhu Jingyuan listened and nodded slightly:

"Technology upgrades are certainly possible, especially for boiler and turbine systems.

"I would rather slow down the construction speed a little, and all the new 40,000-ton warships in the future will be switched to new power systems.

"But the number and caliber of the main guns of this type of ship, as well as the thickness of the armor, do not need to continue to increase.

"It's completely enough at the moment, and it may not be needed in the future.

"After using the new technology, the weight and space saved can be used for internal technology upgrades such as observation, control, and command.

"You should have some idea of the shipbuilding status of the Tessie countries, right?"

Wang Lai was a little surprised, but the two had worked together for a long time, and Wang Lai quickly understood Zhu Jingyuan's thoughts.

Zhu Jingyuan revealed his judgment to Wang Lai, the most core designer, and he believed that the future would be the era of aviation weapons.

The 40,000-ton mass-produced high-speed battleship is a necessary supplement before the aircraft carrier can no longer operate independently.

At the same time, it is also a large air defense platform next to the aircraft carrier, as well as a future fleet combat command center.

The 60,000-ton battleship is the supplier of deterrent force before the aircraft carrier can provide deterrent force.

Under this guiding ideology, the main guns and armor indicators of the 40,000-ton battleship certainly did not need to be significantly upgraded.

Just upgrading with new technology on the existing scale should make it difficult for the Taixi people to surpass it in the next ten years.

As the person in charge of the design of the warship, Wang Lai certainly knows the news of the navies of the Taixi countries.

Hearing Zhu Jingyuan's special question, Wang Lai immediately briefly explained:

"Three years ago, after our 40,000-ton battleships cruised around the world, the new generation of battleships that the countries of Taixi immediately built with our new warships as the goal have been launched one after another this year.

"Without knowing the actual details of our warships, the parameters of their design targets were actually estimated.

"Most of the admirals and craftsmen of the Taixi countries can see that the maximum speed of our warships is not only twenty-five knots, but they also dare not think about thirty knots, and their estimates are based on about twenty-seven knots.

"With the exception of the four traditional naval nations of Great Britain, Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands, the design of warships in other countries is directly guided by our craftsmen, so we have the most accurate understanding.

"Among these countries, the French have the most accumulated naval technology, and the new warships finally designed and built are also the most balanced in all aspects.

The first ship of the new warship was named the Duke of Normandy, and the second ship built at the same time was named the Duke of Orleans, using the titles of the French crown prince and his wife.

"The new ship has four twin turrets, all of which are new guns of 360 mm caliber and 45 times the diameter.

"With three hundred millimeters thick broadside main armor, one hundred and twenty millimeters thick horizontal deck armor.

"The full load displacement is about 38,000 tons, and the maximum design speed is 27 knots.

"If there is no indicator comparison of our new ships, this is a high-speed battleship with a fairly balanced design.

"According to intelligence from other sources, the new warships built by the British and Spaniards, the indicators are very close to the French.

"The Prussians, under the guidance of our craftsmen, designed and built a new battleship that was named the King.

"With a slightly higher displacement of 40,000 tons of full load, they basically achieved similar indicators to the new warships of the French.

"The Italian Dante of Sardinia and the Combined Forces of the Austrians each completed the design of the turret in a triple set.

"But the guns of both countries used slightly lower calibers, both 340 mm and 45 times the diameter of the main guns.

"Both countries have four triple turrets on a 40,000-ton hull, each with up to 12 main guns.

"However, in the Austrians' triple turret, there were only two sets of shell delivery channels, and the loading speed was slightly slower.

"However, the speed of the new warships of both countries was a cut lower than that of the French and Prussians, and both were only twenty-five knots.

"The largest tonnage of the new ships was the St. Petersburg class of the Lucians, with a full load displacement of 42,000 tons.

"The Lucians mounted six twin 360 mm caliber and 45 times the diameter of the main guns on it.

"The broadside armor and horizontal armor were the same as those of the French, and the maximum speed was slightly lower, reaching twenty-six knots.

"The Ottoman factory, under our guidance, built on its own a battleship with a full load displacement of 30,000 tons, a maximum speed of 23 knots, and four twin 300-mm guns.

At the same time, a battleship with a full load displacement of 35,000 tons, a maximum speed of 27 knots, eight 360 mm caliber and 45 times the diameter of the main gun was ordered from the Daming Royal Shipyard, and now it has also been launched.

"This ship is a simplified version of our 40,000-ton warship.

"Important technical indicators such as square stern, bulbous bow, turbine power, triple turret, and gun double diameter have been reduced, but among the new warships of the Taixi countries, the technical level is still the highest."

Zhu Jingyuan couldn't help but laugh when he heard this:

"Among the Tessie countries, the highest level of cutting-edge warships is actually in the hands of the Ottomans?"

Zhu Zhongliang and Wang Lai also laughed when they heard this evaluation.

The French and the British, to achieve this level, also had to weigh more than 38,000 tons.

And the reliability cannot be compared with the production of Daming.

The atmosphere at the scene eased for a while, and Zhu Jingyuan asked a new question:

"What about their shipbuilding plans? When a new warship is launched, there must be new ideas for the future, right? ”

Wang Lai, as the general manager of Daming's shipbuilding, is also very clear about this information:

"The primary goal of most of the Tessie countries at the moment is to continue to optimize the design of the existing 40,000-ton warships.

"All countries are working to improve the power and efficiency of their power systems, and to tackle and improve the design of multi-mounted turrets.

"In addition to the power system, the Austrians and Italians are hesitating about whether to develop a three-hundred-and-sixty-millimeter gun.

"There's a chance they'll jump straight to 380 millimeters, or even 400 millimeters.

"Their follow-up new ships, which are highly similar in design to existing ships, are primarily aimed at increasing their speed to twenty-seven knots.

"The Prussians and Lucians were mainly working on the design of the turret of the triple.

At the same time, we have also begun to tackle artillery with a caliber of 400 mm and above.

"The new ship is going to use a triple turret, and the Lucia will have to increase the ship's maximum speed.

"The French were more jumpy in their thinking, and they were ready to continue the construction of existing Normandy-type battleships.

At the same time, technicians are preparing to tackle the design of a quadruple turret.

"There is relatively little intelligence on the British side, and it is completely confirmed that efforts are also being made for the triple turret and power system power.

"In addition to this, we have also received information that they are secretly developing and building a new type of warship.

"The level of secrecy of such a warship is unprecedented, and discussions among those in the know are often referred to by the word 'boo'.

"Rather than directly mentioning some engineering code or predetermined ship name......

"In general, with the exception of the British, which is a somewhat special boo battleship, no other country has plans for a larger tonnage.

"That's still not enough for the vast majority of countries.

"Even their new target warships still lag behind our existing 40,000-ton warships.

"Not to mention the new model after the upgraded electroslag remelting process."

Zhu Jingyuan was a little surprised when he heard this, and asked rhetorically:

"......Shhh Battleship? Do you know anything else about this type of battleship?

"The judgment of Ankang technical and information personnel, what type of warship could this be?"

Zhu Jingyuan was a little surprised by this boo, because the British in the previous life built a "boo" class battleship before World War I.

At that time, the Boo class was a "brave class large light cruiser", which was later changed to an aircraft carrier.

The first two ships were brave and glorious, both two hundred and forty meters in length and thirty knots in speed.

Seventy-six mm armor of the light cruiser class, four fifteen-inch (three hundred and eighty-one mm) guns of the battleship class.

The third, even more outrageous, was loaded with two eighteen-inch (457 mm) cannons.

This is not even a battle cruiser, nor a large cruiser of later WWII, but a large light cruiser with huge guns.

In Zhu Jingyuan's memory, they seem to be the crispy cannon ships with the largest difference in artillery and defensive capabilities in history.

At that time, Fisher, the first admiral of the United Kingdom, used the concept of combat patrol in exchange for speed and range for defense, and under the financial budget constraints of cutting the door, he built a freak warship in the name of light cruiser.

Fisher's battle patrol philosophy of "speed and range is the best defense" cannot be wrong.

Because the ultimate realization of this concept is the later aircraft carrier.

If Fisher had been Lord of the Admiralty for a few more years, the Queen Elizabeth class would likely have been on the Twenty-Seven Quarter Battle.

If he had lived a few more years, he might have become a fanatical aircraft carrier faction.

According to Zhu Jingyuan's understanding, Nelson, the most famous British admiral, is closer to Fisher's thinking.

It is also the logic of pursuing speed for defense.

The point is that now the aircraft has matured, and the idea of aircraft carriers has appeared in the navies of various countries.

It is likely that the current Nelson will support the construction of aircraft carriers.

So the British boo battleship of this world, will it be an aircraft carrier from the beginning?

When Zhu Jingyuan was thinking about it in his heart, Wang Lai on the other side directly gave a similar judgment:

"The judgment of our craftsmen and the information staff of the West Plant is that there is a high probability that the British are building large aircraft carriers, and a lower probability is building a super-battleship of a much larger scale.

"However, whether it is a large aircraft carrier or a super battleship, it is impossible to directly reach the level of 60,000 tons.

"The 60,000-ton battleship and aircraft carrier project, which we are steadily advancing, will not be inferior to the British in speed and standard, as well as in number.

"So we don't think there's any need to care too much about this so-called boo ship......"

Zhu Jingyuan nodded lightly after hearing this:

"Without understanding the design of our aircraft carrier, it should be impossible to think of building a 40,000-ton aircraft carrier directly.

"The key is the issue of cost, and it is impossible for their decision-makers to do this kind of experiment at the cost of building a 40,000-ton warship without absolutely reliable data to support it.

"Even if the navy and craftsmen believe in this design, it is impossible for traditional decision-makers to follow suit."

Wang Lai also fully agreed with Zhu Jingyuan's judgment, and at the same time wanted to ask rhetorically, why can the two of you make such a decision?

Is it just because an aircraft carrier of this class is actually the idea of the two of you yourself?

Zhu Zhongliang next to him had been listening, and finally couldn't help but interject when he heard the aircraft carrier:

"Now that there are planes all over the world, all the countries of Tessie have thought about aircraft carriers, right?"

Wang Lai immediately reported:

"Yes, the navies of the Tessie countries have studied the method of using aircraft on ships.

"The most radical of them are the British, the French, the Spaniards, all of whom have already done the actual modification tests.

"Laying flight decks on existing cruisers or large merchant and cargo ships has created a test aircraft carrier capable of releasing and recovering aircraft.

"However, the design is still very immature, and there are still many problems in the eyes of our craftsmen.

"The Tessie countries all think that we must have an aircraft carrier design as well, so the countries we work with want to get information.

"However, His Royal Highness the Prince of Great Food has already issued an order, and we have given a gag order to all craftsmen, and we must not disclose any aircraft carrier-related designs to the Taixi people.

"Under such circumstances, when they find a more mature aircraft carrier design scheme on their own, our 60,000-ton supercarrier should form combat effectiveness."

(End of chapter)