Chapter 286 New Warship

"The Japanese army has conquered Lushun!"

... Early in the morning, the people who shuttled through the Nanjing Naval Department talked about the war situation in the Northeast from time to time. More than ten days ago, when the Japanese army conquered Hill 203, they believed that it was only a matter of time before the Japanese army defeated Lushun, but they did not expect it to be so fast when the officers were talking about Lushun's recovery.

Several generals successively walked into the naval naval administration office at the rear of the naval headquarters. This is the naval warship design and supervision headquarters. However, there are not many people here at this time. Most of them are in Ma'anshan or Jiangnan shipyards to supervise the warships made by the navy.

"Chu Tao, it's so cold here. What's going on? Didn't you turn on the heating?"

Entering the conference room, Ye Zugui did not feel the heat of other rooms.

"The heating is broken."

Shi Tiange said without raising his head.

"You looked at my coat. These days, I'm used to wearing coats indoors.

"Is it broken? Didn't you tell them?"

Shi Tiange was silent and thought about it several times, but in the end he forgot who was in the naval office. Even if he was a director, he was so busy now, not to mention such things.

"Sergeant Liu."

Ye Zugui shouted at the door. After a naval sergeant entered the office, he ordered again.

"Go and inform the logistics department and ask them to repair the heating in Director Shi's office before this afternoon. If it can't be repaired, the logistics department will be removed. What should they do?"

After saying that, he turned his head and looked at Shi Tiange again. This is a rare talent in the naval department, the director of the shipping department and the naval shipbuilding director. In Ye Zugui's eyes, he is more important than ten generals. What China lacks the most now is talent like him, especially this kind of talent that can lead students. The naval administration department of the naval department has been established for half a year. In addition to warships, he has trained dozens of shipbuilding supervisors for the navy.

" Zhu Tao, it's my fault that I haven't repaired it for so long. You are a southerner. You can't stand it. Turn back..."

"Minister, you and Commander Sa are here. I'm afraid it's not for my heating!"

Shi Tiange then put down the pencil in his hand, left the workbench, and personally poured tea for the two generals.

Ye Zugui and Sa Zhenbing listened to this and smiled at each other. They took a sip of tea first and put down the teacup in their hands. Ye Zugui looked at Shi Tiange and said.

"Ji Tao, know something about the navy's 7-year expansion plan!"

Raise your eyes, if it's someone else, Shi Tiange, I'm afraid you'll look like an idiot.

"Minister, I have participated in the formulation of the 7-year expansion plan of the navy! It is still my suggestion to build a large number of light armored cruisers and heavy armored cruisers as vehicles to cruise the world and train sailors. After the personnel and technology are mature, we can build the main warships!"

His answer made Ye Zugui and Sa Zhenbing look at each other, and Sa Zhenbing asked another question.

"I have read your evaluation report on the shipbuilding capacity of Ma'anshan and Jiangnan factories. I mentioned that after adding equipment, the Jiangnan factory has the ability to manufacture 10,000 tons of cruisers, while Ma'anshan has the capacity to manufacture 15,000 tons of warships!"

"It's just ability!"

Shi Tiange looked at these two generals. Now the navy is talking about the main warships. The navy does not have the main warships. Although the two "Zhenhai" class made the navy more or less show off, after all, they are warships of "war non-war, patrol and non-cruiser". After returning home, the ship has served as The main force of the navy fell into an embarrassment: as cruisers, they did not have enough speed, and enemy cruisers could easily get rid of the threat of their heavy artillery with speed; as battleships to participate in the decisive battle, their armor was thin, and their survivability in high-intensity artillery warfare was doubtful; their heavy artillery was also used for fire support. It works well, but these are all tasks that can be completed by cheap gunboats.

They asked about the shipbuilding ability, is it ready to build its own warship?

"Although China's modern shipbuilding industry is longer than Japan, the accumulation of shipbuilding technology is far inferior to Japan. Take Ma'anshan Shipyard as an example, although the equipment is to purchase first-class shipbuilding equipment, most of the more than 300 technicians are directly hired from Britain and Germany. These two are nothing, but what about the workers? Of the nearly 6,000 workers, there are only more than 1,100 workers with more than ten years of shipbuilding and ship repair experience, and only 2,000 of them with more than five years of experience. These people were all dug from Guangdong, Fujian and Shanghai when they built the factory, but the number of ships they built is also very limited, and most of them are involved in ship repair.

When answering their questions, Shi Tiange thought about why they had such a question.

"Minister, the reason why cruisers were mainly formulated at the beginning is that, in addition to taking into account technical capabilities, the more important thing is that the navy has a shortage of officers or crew members, so it is proposed to be used as a vehicle for patrolling the world and training sailors, and then build the main battleships after the personnel and technology are mature."

Looking at Shi Tiange, Ye Zugui and Sa Zhenbing listened silently.

"In the Spanish-American War and the Russo-Japanese War, the armored cruisers from all countries participated in the war had excellent performance because of this. For some navies in the rising period, there is a lot of investment in equipping battleships. It may be a good choice to buy or build armored cruisers with relatively little investment. It is mainly in line with the development needs of China's navy! And it won't arouse the vigilance of the great powers!"

"That's what I said! The development of armored cruisers does meet the needs of the development of the navy, but now there is a question of whether the development of armored cruisers meets the needs of the national defense strategy. We have to consider it!"

At this point, Ye Zugui's tone is very low, and his expression and words are full of the helplessness of the navy's inability to resist the enemy in the previous "tariff incident". Even now, if that plan is implemented, the navy still needs to "avoid war and stand by". Without a capital ship, it is impossible to go to the sea to seek the fleet. Decisive battle, defend the coastal defense.

It is also for this reason that the navy showed hesitation when Germany expressed its willingness to sell the "Pismarck" armored cruiser. On the one hand, like the "Pismarck" and the "Zhenhai class", it has the same embarrassment of "non-war, patrol", on the other hand, it is because the navy does not want to have valuable experience. It's a waste on this embarrassing ship.

"The navy needs the main warship, at least the warship that can fight against the main warship! No matter what kind of warship it is!"

Sa Zhenbing stopped talking, picked up the teacup and took a sip of tea, looking at the silent Shi Tiange.

"The navy needs a warship that fights with the main battleship!"

Half a month ago, the Naval Intelligence Office just transferred a piece of information about the development of the Japanese navy. As the first imaginary enemy of the Chinese navy, the navy has been paying attention to the development of the Japanese navy's strength and technology.

"If you really need it, then build a cruiser! In this way, it is easy for the ruling axe to approve. After all, it is within the plan, and it will not arouse the vigilance of the great powers!"

Shi Tiange continued to add.

"About 15,000 tons, equipped with two double 12-inch turrets, the armor is similar to that of an armored cruiser, about 8 inches. Although the protection is weak, the speed is not inferior to that of the new warship of the armored cruiser..."

"Zhou Tao, you mean to imitate the "Zi Armored Cruiser" and "Chou Armored Cruiser" in the original."

The two looked at each other and could read the joy from each other's eyes. In fact, the purpose of their coming here was to discuss with Shi Tiange whether Ma'anshan Shipyard had the ability to produce a warship similar to the "Zhi Armored Cruiser".

"Japanese... I don't like it!"

Shi Tiange's face is a little contemptuous. He will never copy the design of this warship.

"It was only equipped with the main gun of the same caliber as the battleship on this type of armored cruiser, but in principle, it is still the same as the armored cruiser that cooperates with the battleship, and I'm talking about the cruiser, which is not the same concept."

"A warship that combines the powerful firepower of battleships with the high mobility of armored cruisers. The current steam turbines, new boilers and other new technologies provide the possibility of building new warships. The British Navy once put forward the idea of an "ideal cruiser", which is basically the concept of a cruiser, "fasterthanthestrongest, strongerthanthefastest."

"Fer than the strongest, stronger than the fastest."

Sa Zhenbing repeated the last sentence of Shi Tiange in Chinese.

"That's what the British need, but not what we need!"

Shi Tiange laughed, and his heart was very happy. After all, he had been paying attention to the ideal cruiser when he was in England. Now all he needed was to persuade them to support his design of the cruiser.

"The huge British overseas colonies need cruisers, so their ideal cruisers can easily hunt cruisers, because their main guns allow them to attack enemy ships before they enter the range of the cruisers. And its high speed allows it to not only hunt down ordinary cruisers, but also escape its nemesis battleships, or attack the damaged battleships of the other party in the naval battle. Just like myself, it is just a supporting role... But this is not what we need. What we need is a warship that can fight with the capital ship in the naval battle! What we need is not only faster than the strongest, stronger than the fastest, but also adhere to the principle that is, faster than the strongest firepower. Nelson has a famous saying that the naval battle comes down to the end, that is, the two sides use cannons to talk. Whoever has a big mouth and speaks fast will basically win. The big mouth is the caliber of the cannon, and the speed of shooting. Therefore, cruisers should increase their firepower and throws as much as possible, and also improve their range. With the help of the most advanced aiming equipment, they should actually shell long-range!"

"Can our technical conditions meet the requirements?"

Ye Zugui mentioned one thing he was most concerned about.

"It's nothing more than the difference between fast or slow construction! And it is possible to complete the design at least until around July this year.

"Maybe, we can build two ships to try it, but on the ruling side,..."

While Sa Zhenbing agreed, he also raised his own concerns. After all, the navy has made a decision not to build a capital ship for five years.

"In the name of the cruiser! And now the government is more concerned about the upcoming national election"

(to be continued)