Chapter 158 Sailing

After a long sea test training in the East China Sea, the battlecruiser Jingyuan, which entered the Sandu-Australian Naval Base, was preparing for another sea at the base after a short rest. In fact, since Zhiyuan's service, strict and intense training has almost all of its mission.

In order to be able to master these two latest, most modern and also the most powerful warships in the shortest time, the Imperial Navy Staff can be said to take advantage of all possibilities and intensify training with an almost crazy attitude. The lower-level officers and sailors carried out the tense, monotonous and repetitive sea night after night. Go to combat training.

After three months of service, the sea artillery training for the sea artillery training was fired for more than a year, and the navy fired more than 254 mm of shells. For this reason, the Zhiyuan ship has changed the main gun chamber twice and one main gun barrel at the base, which has no intention of saving the life of the main gun barrel.

At this time, after service, because the No. 3 double turret was replaced with a 3rd turret and the main armor was thickened, the battlecruiser Jingyuan, which was regarded as the most powerful in the Imperial Navy, was adding supplies in an effort to saturate all its supplies and ammunition compartments.

The sailors loaded fresh meat into the refrigerated warehouse, flour and vegetables into the food warehouse, added oil into the oil tank, and fresh water into the water tank. Today is the first time that the "Jingyuan" cruiser went to the South China Sea for naval gunnery training. Naturally, the most important thing is to load shells into the ammunition compartment.

On the pier paved with granite and reinforced concrete, a steam locomotive sprayed thick white smoke, and a long row of convertible boxes hung behind the locomotive parked on the side. The train was filled with huge 13.5-inch shells, which had just arrived from the Jiangnan Naval Manufacturing Bureau a few weeks ago.

In the shouts and whistles of the sailors, the cranes on the ship are staggering and lifting powerful shells weighing 650 kilograms into the air. The huge, black-gray painted bullet brass bullets flashed in the sun. This 4603 13.5-inch shell is carried out by the navy. After a series of long-range artillery experiments, the "replay" was urgently improved, because the experiment showed that heavier shells would be more accurate.

Due to the increase in the weight of the shell, in order to ensure that the pressure does not exceed the design limit of the artillery, the muzzling speed also decreases, but it improves the long-range hit rate and long-range power of the shell, and the pursuit of long-range combat is precisely the fundamental purpose of the navy's artillery battle.

When the heavy shells were loaded into the ammunition compartment deep under the waterline, a team of supplementary recruits and cadets from the Naval Academy who graduated early lined up happily to the warship with their luggage. Each of them had their new identity "Jingyuan Ship" and the new military uniform "Jingyuan Ship" "Micro-chapter" is very proud. The marching team looked lively, brisk and proud. Under the guidance of the military band, they drove to the gangway of Zhiyuan.

Soon, the military band stopped by the gangway and continued to play, and the young people boarded the warship along the gangway with the precise and neat pace unique to the army. When the team came to the stern deck, the officers who led the team saluted the officers who inspected them on the ship and reported the arrival of their team. At the end of the loading and unloading work on the edge of the dock, an order came from the team to face the bridge.

At the same time, the officer who supervised the loading and unloading of arms on the dock blew the whistle first. After the whistle reminded the deck officer, he shouted, "The last one!"

An officer on the deck replied, "The last one."

The crane staggered the last 13.5-inch shell with cold light into the ammunition compartment. It turned out that a group of attendants and workers who were busy on the dock gradually dispersed, and the music gradually disappeared as the military band was blowing.

"Hi, I wrote a letter to Dad, and now everyone in the county knows that I am serving on the Jingyuan!"

"It's true. Even when the British saw the Jingyuan ship, they were scared and speechless!"

"No, not so much, our warships are very powerful, but there are more British warships than us! However, we are the most powerful, which is true!"

"Now what are you talking about in the newspaper? We and Japan are rubbing our hands. We are looking forward to the war. We have to train hard. The more accurate the gunfire, the more we fight. When we really fight, the more proficient we fight!"

"Hey, what are you talking about? Our gunners have trained on Zhiyuan, and we are losing the management team..."

The sailors who washed the coal ash on the deck with a high-pressure water dragon said word by word. Each of them felt extremely proud that they were able to serve on the Jingyuan, and so were their families.

"Oh, maybe if we fight, we won't be useful at all. We have nine 343mm cannons, the most powerful naval guns in the world. Maybe we can sink Sanli with one shot,"

"What? Mikasa!"

"Yes, the flagship of the joint fleet!"

"The Mikasa said that I had sank it myself! Let's still go there to fight Sanli!"

"No, anyway, we should be able to sink their warships easily and sink one with one shot. Maybe our warship can send the whole joint fleet to the bottom of the sea!"

Confidence, the self-confidence in the conversation of the sailors, made Yang Shuzhuang, the first mate of Jingyuan, just smile. In any case, the sailors are full of confidence in the future. No matter how they look at it, it is a good thing. Even if they are arrogant, it is a good thing!

Jingyuan is the best and latest warship, and it took nearly three times the construction cost to build. When the warship was built, the design draft or anti-draft were repeatedly considered. Experts racked their brains to draw the best conclusion possible, and finally achieved the most powerful and modern warship.

However, this also brings a negative effect. Jingyuan, like Zhiyuan, has too many extremely complex machinery. These complex mechanical equipment are not difficult for sailors, and the same is true for officers. It takes time and training to master those advanced and complex equipment.

"Ring the bell!"

Turning his head to the side of the sailor holding the bell, Yang Shuzhuang walked towards the captain's room. Today, the Jingyuan was full, and he needed to take a "family portrait" before leaving.

"Dong, Dong"

With the sound of the crisp bell, the busy sailors stopped their work one after another, and everyone's face was full of smiles.

"Quick... Hurry up, take a picture!"

"I have to grab a good seat, wait for the photo to be remade, and send one to my home..."

The sailors in white fireproof suits or blue navy uniforms happily ran along the ladder or deck to the front main gun. After more than ten minutes, they were full of officers and soldiers of the "Jingyuan" warship standing on the front main gun and on the turret. Everyone had a smile on their faces. They were proud and the same. A confident smile.

Tang Tingguang, the captain of "Jingyuan", was dressed in a naval jung general's uniform and stood in the center with a sword given by His Majesty. His face was also full of smiles and confident smiles. He was confident enough to make such a smile. Although Jingyuan was a sister ship of Zhiyuan, it was significantly different from Zhiyuan. Zhiyuan The ship's gunfire shows that his hull can fully withstand the back seat of nine 13.5-inch naval guns. This result made the Admiralty immediately decide to change the Jingyuan ship's original double-loaded No. 3 turret to a triple turret, and the increased buoyancy of the outboard torpedo tank made the Jingyuan ship's main armor belt from the 7.5 of the Zhiyuan ship. The inch jumped to 8.5 inches, with stronger firepower and thicker armor, making Jingyuan the most powerful warship in the world. As the captain of Jingyuan, Tang Tingguang naturally has enough confidence to smile like this.

"The left side is facing in..."

The photographer, who bent over and stood behind the camera and covered his head with cloth, shouted at the soldiers who took the photos when adjusting the distance. This was the first group photo of 1,282 officers and soldiers on the battlecruiser Jingyuan. This group photo means that the Jingyuan battleship has reached the level of "full staff" for the first time, although he is far away. There is still a long way to go before you can enter the battle.

"Ban!"

After the smoke of the flash powder dissipated, the photographer smiled with satisfaction. Although the negative had not been developed, he believed that it was definitely a good photo. Just the confident smiles on the faces of the sailors and officers were enough to take a good photo.

"Okay!"

After taking photos, after the sailors rushed back to their posts one after another, Tang Tingguang glanced at the "Hairong" in the distance. At this time, the "Hairong" began to spit out soot in the chimney of the protective cruiser, and the Hairong was ready to set sail.

"It's time to go!"

"Yes, captain!"

Yang Shuzhuang, the first officer of the young battlecruiser Jingyuan, nodded. After four days of repair in Sandu Macao, Jingyuan will leave Hong Kong again.

"The last sea test was very smooth, and the problems we were worried about did not happen, which shows that our shipbuilding level is more mature than Zhiyuan ship!"

Looking back at his warship, Tang Tingguang said regretfully that after the sinking of the Dingyuan ship, he once thought that it might be impossible to build such an ignorant giant ship in his life. Now this Jingyuan has a standard displacement of 19,152 tons, just Zhiyuan and Jingyuan surpassed Beiyang in the past. The sum of the fleet.

And the most incredible thing is that such a powerful warship is made in China. As for the armored wind plate made in Germany, the structural steel plate is made in Britain, France, Germany and the United States, the keel is made in Britain, France, Germany and the United States, the engine is made in the United Kingdom, the boiler is made in Britain and the United States, the main gun is made in the United States, the turret is made in Germany, and the bomb feeder. It is made in the United Kingdom, and the main designer is Chinese. The system engineers and construction engineers are all German or the United States and British. Even half of the workers are from the three countries of Germany and Britain. On the Zhiyuan ship, you can find parts of metric and British size. In any case, this is not a first-class qualified warship. In the words of foreigners.

"Zhiyuan is just a pile of children's toys!"

When Zhiyuan was just launched into the water and sea test, such and such problems seemed to confirm this statement, but none of this was considered by Tang Tingguang. In his opinion, in any case, this warship was a domestic warship and the most powerful warship in the world.

"In the future, we will definitely build a more powerful warship than Jingyuan! The Zhenyang Fleet will become the most powerful fleet in the world in the future!"

Yang Shuzhuang said expectantly, how huge will the Zhenyang fleet be in the future?

In the heart of every naval officer, there is a dream of a powerful ocean fleet. In the naval command department and the naval administration office, some relatively radical people even put forward plans such as "three teams of battleships (six ships per team) and three teams of battlecruisers (four teams)", even the most conservative plan. It is also two teams of the battle fleet (eight in each) and two teams of the battlecruiser fleet (eight in each). China has never been as eager for the ocean as it is now, and has never tried to build a huge navy as enthusiastically as it is now.

But at the right time, the Chinese have also found their own goal of naval development: the Zhenyang Fleet. Yes! It's the fleet of Weizhen Ocean! This will not only be the goal of the Chinese navy, but also the name of China's ocean-going navy!

Even in the dreams of naval officers, each of them is eager to transform China's inconspicuous offshore defensive navy into a huge ocean-going navy overnight. From Dalian, Shanghai, Ma'anshan to Sandu'ao, from the cold Yellow River to the warm seaside of the South China Sea, there may be ignorant giant ships made of tens of thousands of tons of steel in the future, constantly sliding off the platform and rushing waves in the cold sea.

At that time, all kinds of battleships, battlecruisers, armored cruisers and light cruisers will be covered with China's coasts. The royal flag and royal micro-chapter awarded by His Majesty the Emperor will appear in all oceans of the world with Chinese naval warships. Of course, at least now it is just a dream.

And Yang Shuzhuang understands that this dream may even be interrupted by me at any time!

The gap between reality and dreams is often reflected here. Once the navy thought that it had the opportunity and time to develop, but the reality did not give the Chinese navy this opportunity in the end. The newborn Chinese ocean-going navy has not taken off his tender fluff to really understand the sea. The war came when the strength of the Chinese navy was slightly inferior.

The threat of war makes the Zhenyang Fleet have no chance to cultivate itself, and can only bravely rush into the sea, which is actually strange to the Chinese navy!

"Let's go through this ocean!"

When he spit out this sentence, Tang Tingguang's left eye jumped slightly, but at this time, he didn't care about it at all.

The last day of October is a sunny summer day. The sun disperses the mist on the sea. The gray reef at the mouth of Dongchong, which is surrounded by the Dongchong Peninsula and the Jianjiang Peninsula, is like a viewing platform, inspecting the warships slowly leaving. Looking outside Haikou from the observation post of the armored fort on the coast of Dongchongkou, the battlecruiser fleet of Jingyuan has disappeared at the end of the blurred sea level.

"Finally, let's go!"

Looking at the gradually disappearing Jingyuan, until the huge mast disappeared from the sea level, Lin Shaozhi had no reason to feel a complicated emotion in his heart and let out a short sigh in the bottom of his heart. He vaguely felt that this was the last time he witnessed the two warships.

The observation post of the "Yuanhun" triple 305mm armored battery on the Dongchong Peninsula witnessed "Jingyuan" away from Liu Guanxiong. The former first mate of the Beiyang sailor Jingyuan, the current commander-in-chief of the Zhenyang fleet, only felt that it was difficult to calm down for a long time, Dingyuan, Zhenyuan, Zhiyuan..., and then to Jingyuan, now the eight of the old Beiyang. Dayuan is complete. When the Second Fleet returns to the country, the Zhenyang Fleet will become an army. Although... it can always deter the navy.

"Jingyuan..."

"Sir, what did Chief of Staff Sa say? He said that my southern dispatch fleet is moving towards the south, so I hope Jingyuan can avoid it, but if I am Gao Zhuangzhicheng, as long as I see Jingyuan from afar, I will be sure to hide far away..."

Liu Chuanshuo said lightly on the side. When he mentioned the chief of staff, his tone was hostile. In fact, his hostility was caused by the contradictions between Liu and Sa. In the old navy of the previous dynasty, Liu Guanxiong's qualifications and status were second to Ye Zugui, Sa Zhenbing, Lan Jianshu and Li Dingxin, both in the past and now. Yes, Ye and Sa are his superiors. Ye appreciates him very much and has a deep friendship with each other. Sa is not angry with him. Naturally, Liu Chuanshou, as Liu Guanxiong's cronies, knows when to say what he should say. In his opinion, his old commander is now the commander-in-chief of the Zhenyang Fleet, second only to Ye Sa. Far beyond Lan Jianshu, Li Dingxin and others, they are just captains or squadron commanders, and as the chief of staff of the Zhenyang Fleet, he himself has to express his position in occasional words.

Liu Guanxiong, who shook his head and looked at the sea level, sighed.

"Heart group, Chief of Staff Sa's concern is also reasonable. However, it is said that the Southern Expeditionary Fleet actually prepared to intercept my second fleet. The South China Sea is the place for my fleet to train. We are far more familiar with the people, but Jingyuan is not like this. Therefore, in any case, they have to go to the South China Sea for training. It is to improve gunnery, and the second is to adapt to the Nanyang climate and environment... Of course, the chief of staff's concerns should also be considered, so I ordered Zhiyuan to shorten the visiting time in Singapore. Heart group, you should pay attention to the tone of the chief of staff in the future, understand?

Although he said so, Liu Guanxiong also had his own little abacus in his heart. It is well known that he did not agree with Sa Zhenbing. It was precisely because of this that when Sa Zhenbing asked Jingyuan to carry out artillery training in the Taiwan Strait, he needed to support Jingyuan to go to Nanyang for training.

"Yes, sir, the lesson is extremely good!"

On the surface, Liu Chuanshao knows why the commander-in-chief is so cautious. Everything is due to your majesty. Although your majesty has a lot to the appointment of the navy, the thing your majesty most disgusts about is that he is that he is from the navy and the officers from Fujian Province. The commander and the chief of staff can be at war, but if the two do not agree with each other, it affects the naval operations or It is stable. With your majesty's means, I'm afraid that neither of them will be good in the end. It is also because no matter how discord the two are, they must maintain the superficial harmony, otherwise the consequences will never be what they can bear.

(to be continued)