Prepare for an expeditionary fleet to Egypt?

When such a big problem was thrown in front of Marshal Pan Hengchen, it really made him feel his scalp tingle, and this was an unprecedented and severe test for the Royal Navy.

The various problems involved in such a long transoceanic expedition are innumerable, but His Majesty has made up his mind that no matter how difficult it is, it must be accomplished.

"Please rest assured that Your Majesty is confident that the Imperial Royal Navy will complete the sacred mission entrusted by Your Majesty, and will dispatch elite soldiers and strong generals to organize an expeditionary fleet from now on." Marshal Pan Hengchen stubbornly agreed.

He thought about it for a while, it was already the middle of June, and the naval warships that were about to go on an expedition must immediately enter the shipyard for maintenance, repair what should be repaired, replace what should be replaced, and add what should be installed, and there will be no 3~4 months to get out.

If you break down in the ocean, you won't be able to cry.

If you calculate it this way, the voyage will be at least mid to late October, and after arriving in Egypt in March next year, this is still a situation where everything is going well.

After careful consideration, Marshal Pan Hengchen once again clasped his fists and saluted; "Your Majesty, our Royal Navy plans to prepare everything for an expedition on October 28, but I am afraid that the troops under our command will be insufficient to meet the minimum requirement of 20,000 men......"

The Royal Navy has only two Marine Divisions, of which the 1st Marine Division guards the mainland, and the four main regiments are deployed in the imperial capital of Chang'an, Los Angeles, Seattle and Panama.

The 2nd Royal Marine Division is still far away in South America, and it is also stationed in various ports as a regiment, and it can't be gathered for a while.

"This doesn't matter, I have already planned to go on this expedition, and I will transfer two field divisions from the army to form the Royal Navy Expeditionary 3rd Division and the Expeditionary 3rd Division respectively, huh...... The two marine divisions only retain the command skeleton of the main officers, plus some senior sergeants and veterans, and the total number is about 5,600 people. Emperor Richard had already arranged for this, waved his hand domineeringly, and commanded calmly;

"These two divisions will be assigned to the Royal Navy within this week, and you will be your men from now on.

The Royal Marine Division's 3rd and 4th Divisions, numbering more than 5,600 officers and non-commissioned officers, set sail for Paradise Island by ship within half a month at the latest, carrying weapons and equipment, where they will receive new recruits and complete their reorganization.

Don't worry, in fact, this is not a new recruit, at least they are more than a year of soldiers, and they are more familiar with fighting in the tropics.

After the reorganization is completed, the strength of the two fully manned marine divisions will be able to reach more than 32,000 people, and each will be equipped with a cavalry regiment and an artillery regiment, which will be sufficient to meet the needs of the operation.

As for the date of the expeditionary fleet's departure, it must be no later than October 1.

At that time, the expeditionary fleet will meet up with the infantry who had arrived in advance for training on Paradise Island and march together on Egypt.

Remember my words, those who clearly offend the Tang Empire will be punished even if they are thousands of miles away. ”

"Weichen should keep in mind that those who clearly offend the Tang Empire will be punished even if they are thousands of miles away." Marshal Pan Hengchen replied with a solemn expression.

Now that the decision was made, everything revolved around the affairs of the expedition was in full swing.

His Majesty's will is extremely resolute, and it is urgent to maintain the glory of the empire, and the Royal Navy at this time is like a lamb roasted on a fire, and must come up with its own tough response.

Where can you see a rainbow without experiencing wind and rain?

The expedition to Egypt was a sacred mission entrusted to the Royal Navy by the Tang Empire, and the Imperial Admiralty would never dare to ignore it.

If it is unfavorable, it will not only lose the face of the Imperial Royal Navy, but also the face of the Tang Empire, and the mythical legend of His Majesty's invincibility will also be shattered.

The consequences, the entire Royal Navy could not afford.

After several operational meetings, the Royal Navy finally decided on the size of the expeditionary fleet, and considering the long voyage, the "Han" ironclad frigates with a displacement of only more than 1,500 tons were first excluded.

The Royal Navy plans to take the latest service "Vicious Wind", "Wind", "Mountain Wind" and "Sea Breeze" 4 armored cruisers as the main force, the class of ships 4980 tons of full displacement, equipped with 4 8-inch main guns (203 mm) and 10 7-inch secondary guns (178 mm), the service period ranges from 3 ~ 7 years, the ship's technical condition is better.

Besides

It will be equipped with no less than 12 coal carriers of 5 to 7,000 tons, each of which will be equipped with seven-inch guns, which can cooperate with the main warships to blockade the bay and capture the sail cargo ships of the Egyptians.

In addition, the main warships need to be equipped with coal storage iron cabinets to extend the cruising range.

As for troop carriers, oil and water supply ships, and other cargo ships, they are all ready-made, and they can be requisitioned directly from the major shipping companies at that time, and there will be no problem at all.

Now the main thing is to select an experienced commander of the expeditionary fleet, and after repeated screening, two admirals, one old and one young, entered the final list.

At this time, the situation suddenly changed......

Under the command of the eleventh prince, Tang Li Xin, he was appointed commander-in-chief of the Royal Navy's expeditionary task force, with the rank of rear admiral, accompanied by Commodore Viscount Zheng Huaishan, an experienced admiral.

In the North American War

Zheng Huaishan participated in the expeditionary fleet's strangulation of the sea power of the United States of America, and made many meritorious achievements, and was awarded the title of Imperial Viscount after the war and promoted to commodore of the navy.

There were also two generals on the expedition, one was a civil and military officer, one was Colonel Pan Shouguo, an imperial attendant, and he also had the identity of the prince of the Protectorate, that is, the eldest son of the naval marshal Pan Hengchen.

The other is 26-year-old Lord Liu Daqing, the son of former Prime Minister Liu Xianjun and the companion of the eleventh prince Tang Li Xin, who is well versed in domestic and foreign affairs and is the chief steward of the expedition.

Pier No. 11 in Chang'an, the imperial capital, is the town of Oak Bay

After more than 20 years of construction, Oak Bay has become a satellite city of the imperial capital of Chang'an, with a population of nearly 200,000 people, and is an excellent place with beautiful scenery and mountains and bays.

In the encircled bay, there are more than a dozen large and small ironclad warships, which are the largest mainland military port of the Royal Navy.

In the large Royal Navy shipyard on the north side of the bay, there is a huge giant moored by the dock, and many workers are up and down making their final perch, and it is a busy scene.

This is the "Zhenyang" class ironclad ship with a displacement of more than 8,600 tons, and the first ship, the "Zhenyang", has been launched after two years of construction and is in the stage of perching at the wharf.

"It's a pity, it's a pity that I can't control this unprecedentedly powerful warship across the ocean." His Royal Highness Don Leesin, dressed in the uniform of a rear admiral, was tall and heroic.

He raised his hand and stroked the thick steel barrel of the 305 mm main gun in the bow, and his expression revealed his sincere love for this powerful main gun, which represents the advanced level of the world today, and the huge and solid gun mount is simply unshakable.

The "Zhenyang" ironclad ship is equipped with two 305-mm twin main guns, one in the bow and one in the stern, which is the largest caliber main gun produced by the Colt Arms Company.

The gun mount is tilted backwards with a slope of 17.8 degrees, and the main gun moves violently in the recoil when fired to counteract the huge recoil force. The rear-tilting gun carriage will counteract the recoil of the 78-ton cannon and return forward by inertia after firing.

It is not at all surprising that men are fascinated by super-fierce artillery.

His Royal Highness Tang Li Xin, the eleventh prince, took the initiative to invite Ying to expedition to Egypt this time, and he worshiped his father as madly as the third brother and the seventh brother, and devoted himself to the military at the age of 13, although he had experienced many wars at a young age, and was a loyal fan of colonial expansionism.

After taking over as commander-in-chief of the expeditionary fleet, His Royal Highness Don Lee Shin actively prepared and stayed in Oak Bay for two months, because several of the main warships preparing to go on the expedition were overhauled and refitted here, and there were two "Tornado" class armored cruisers in the dockyard under construction and reconstruction.

Boilers and pipes with hidden dangers should be dismantled and replaced, new boilers and pipes should be installed, power take-off shafts should be replaced, and coal storage iron cabinets should be installed in spare places to extend the cruising range of the warship as much as possible.

By His Royal Highness Don Li Xin's side, several of his main attachés were all in the ranks, and they couldn't help but smile when they looked at His Highness's favorite appearance.

Commodore Zheng Huaishan, deputy commander of the expeditionary fleet, stepped forward and said after giving a salute;

"Your Highness, this is the heart of Your Excellency the Marshal!

Moreover, this is the first 8,600-ton main ironclad ship, and the power configuration and ship operation system still need a long time of sea trials to determine the stable technical state.

Such a new ship is not suitable for long-distance expeditions.

It is estimated that it will take three to four years to eliminate various hidden dangers in order to have a stable and reliable ocean-going navigation capability.

Until then

Presumably, His Royal Highness has the opportunity to steer this giant ship to gallop across the ocean, and the guns of the ships will bow their heads and subdue the evil spirits, which should be a weapon for our Tang Empire to open up territory and break ground. ”

"Hahaha...... What General Zheng said is reasonable, and I am also happy to see the hunt, and I can't help myself for a while. His Royal Highness Don Li Xin replied with a smile.

Standing on this giant ship, can you truly feel the power of the most amazing war monster in the world today?

In addition to the two 305mm main guns, one in front and one behind, the ships are equipped with four twin 180mm secondary guns, a total of eight, arranged along the sides of the ship's side.

The steel muzzles of the columns represent the abundance of martial virtue, and such an ironclad giant ship sailing into the port is extremely convincing, representing the pinnacle of the scientific and technological achievements of the steam industry in the Tang Empire for more than 20 years.

Twelve 40mm guns were also equipped along the sides of the ship, which were useful against small boats and chowling cargo ships, with abundant and agile firepower and lethal damage to wooden ships.

The ship adopts two sets of reduced vertical steam turbines and 10 new high-pressure oil-fired boilers, which can output a total of 9,600 horsepower, pushing the ship to achieve a cruising speed of 10~11 knots and a maximum speed of 16 knots.

In the case of extreme power squeezing, it can maintain an extreme high speed of 17.5 knots for up to 5 hours, and the power level ranks among the world's first-class naval ships.

Of course, such a huge ship costs a lot of money, and the equipment costs 2.3 million Tang Yuan, or about 460,000 pounds.

If the Royal Navy procures more than 8 ships on a large scale, the cost of equipment will be reduced to less than 400,000 pounds.

The Royal Navy's approved shipbuilding project is to purchase three ships of this class at one time, one of which has now been launched and outfitted, and the other is about 40% in progress on the slipway. The last one will cut the first steel plate early next year.

Ironclad giant ships have always been a heavy weapon of a great country, and they must be cautious in both construction and equipment, and can only be built on a large scale after the verification of various technologies is mature.

It is still in the period of technological exploration, just like the British one-hundred-thousand-ton ship, the Tang Empire can't do it.

If you think "Wild North America 1846" is not bad, please paste the following URL to share it with your QQ, WeChat or Weibo friends, thank you for your support!

( Book URL: /xiaoshuo/69084/ )