Chapter 115: Reclamation
In the navy shipyard, a worker joked with his colleague while working: "The progress of the navy is really fast. The sailboat stopped when it said it stopped, and Lawnes came back and went south again. This time he took it away. After more than 30 sailing boats, I must be able to bring back more rubber."
His colleague was also busy working hard, and replied without looking up, "Because I saw the rubber of three ships, the navy is proud this time. The tire factory is waiting to use rubber, many of them use steel. The project will give way to the new navy warships."
This time the navy did get the attention of the people above after it came back. After all, although there are many alternatives, it is really less troublesome to own natural rubber. Therefore, the Navy’s enlarged meeting was held in full swing.
Interestingly, the navy commander-in-chief of the naval development meeting did not attend yet again. Lawnes took his warship to the south and only rested on land for one morning.
This time the number of fleets going south is very large: not only the 10 sailing ships specially made by the navy that can hit and transport things, but also three previous battleships, and 20 purely transport sailing ships that are unarmed.
In order to improve the efficiency of a southward trip, Lawnes even requisitioned five large fishing boats and went south to Dothan to transport rubber together. This time, even if conservatively estimated, he would be able to plunder tens of thousands of tons of rubber from the Dothan Empire.
In order to support the navy's southward strategy of transporting rubber, Desser Gurlo and others supported the navy's military expansion and preparation for war. In their view, as long as the navy does not want oil and too much steel, everything is negotiable.
In this context, the Navy approved a crazy shipbuilding plan and decided to launch 20 all-metal multi-purpose warships at one go, and another 20 fast transport ships. In addition to 50 large transport sailing ships, 50 low-armed sailing ships put together a huge fleet that is mainly transported and supplemented by naval warfare.
Of course, this is just a magnificent shipbuilding plan. Whether it can be completed or when it will be completed is still unknown, but it has fallen on the navy. The first multi-purpose warship that I could not even think of before has been in a month. Construction started before.
"Yeah, look over there, the one in the dock! I heard that I can transport 1,000 tons of rubber back in one go. It is made of metal and it is big and scary!" The worker pointed his chin to the big guy in the dock in the distance. Said to his colleague.
The colleague looked in the direction of his chin, and saw the huge ship that had welded more than half of its hull, lying quietly in the dock.
A boiler as big as a house has been placed in the hull, and a huge chimney has been built and placed next to the hull. On this huge ship, at least hundreds of workers are busy busy, and every part has been accurately made. Is installed in its designated location.
The modern steel giant ship is definitely a systematic precision engineering, including the exquisite ventilation pipelines, power line layout, fire extinguishing system, drainage self-rescue system, each of which has condensed the wisdom and exploration of countless generations.
The good news is that, thanks to the help of the Magic Ball of Knowledge, the naval designers directly inherited these design experiences. They designed the first all-steel ship of Ailan Hill to be almost seamless and perfect.
The brand-new warship, in fact, does not seem to have a large tonnage. This kind of warship has a full load displacement of 7,500 tons and is not a fully armored main cruiser. Knowing that this kind of warship will be eliminated, the warship Chris finally selected is a cheap alternative.
The plan he came up with was a design plan for an auxiliary cruiser, which can transport personnel and supplies in peacetime, and has spacious cabins and excellent living conditions. And this kind of warship can use coal as fuel, which is very suitable for Ailan Hill.
This new type of battleship is equipped with three turrets, equipped with 6 of the latest Navy 105mm caliber artillery, and is equipped with 10 30mm dual-purpose guns on the ship's side.
In this way, this kind of warship has good sea attack capabilities and strong air defense capabilities. It can be said that the only depressing thing about the maritime hegemon in the new era is that this maritime hegemony also includes freight transport. And passenger transport.
The newly designed battleship was manufactured in less than 6 months. After all, this kind of transport ship is just a cargo ship in its bones. It has neither very heavy armor nor powerful large-caliber artillery, but it is still an awesome maritime overlord.
The only difference from the auxiliary cruiser is that this warship is equipped with a targeting device, which allows the six main guns to attack distant targets more accurately. Therefore, in a sense, this cruiser is the first warship that can "accurately attack distant targets."
This warship has 4 huge chimneys, which looks like the Titanic cruise ship. Its sideboard is very high, which also means that it has a huge tonnage and can hold a lot of things and people.
After being fully loaded, it can run a terrifying speed of 35 kilometers per hour, if converted into a knot, it is about 19 knots, which is already faster than a serious high-speed sailing warship. This is under full load. If it is in combat, the speed can be increased to about 38 kilometers.
Compared with the previous sailing warships, this new auxiliary cruiser can concentrate 6 105mm caliber artillery on any side, and it can shoot more accurately at long distances. Therefore, in terms of firepower, it is more powerful than a sailing ship with 10 75 guns on one side of the ship.
If you count the 30 mm dual-purpose guns distributed on the sides of the ship, the combat effectiveness of this new type of warship is simply out of the table.
Compared with the sailing warship, it can run at full speed under any circumstances without worrying about the wind direction. This is another huge improvement.
The emergence of Ailan Hill's first generation of steel battleships has a specific era background and mission needs. Because of the enemy's insufficient combat power and mission limitations, Ailan Hill's navy has full confidence in crushing the enemy on the sea.
Their weapons and equipment have been stronger than the opponent for one or even several times, so they have no pressure from the opponent's navy at all, so they focused on other aspects.
Whether it is the task of procuring rubber southward or looting the other's coastline on the vast sea, it has a long task time, requires a certain speed, and a greater endurance.
At the same time, they only need moderate firepower to face those slow-moving and unarmored enemy sailing ships in naval battles. These tasks would be a waste of resources if Ailan Hill were to make a regular cruiser capable of cruising at high speeds and possessing large-caliber artillery.
Analyzing from the perspective of production, if a real battleship is made, not only the precious steel but also the precious artillery capacity is wasted, and the speed of producing battleships is wasted. Under the same production time limit, almost a dozen auxiliary cruisers can be built a year, but it is estimated that only one or two regular cruisers can be launched.
However, the regular warships manufactured with great effort cannot control the coastline because of their scarcity, and the regular cruisers are not very suitable for Ailan Hill’s southward **** transportation mission, because the superior speed and firepower of regular cruisers are in the face of sailing enemies. At that time, it is completely overflowed, and no more benefits can be obtained.
At the same time, the endurance and loading capacity sacrificed by regular cruisers to install heavy armor and large-caliber artillery, as well as the living conditions of sailors, are more important when supporting long-term maritime activities.
To put it more bluntly, the enemy is too weak. Using a cruiser is a complete waste. The long route makes the endurance and comfort of regular warships wasted on armor that is not available...
After weighing it over and over again, Chris found that the high-speed cruise ships and auxiliary cruisers modified by merchant ships that began to appear in the late nineteenth century just met the mission requirements of Ailan Hill: this type of ship has a faster speed, usually 18-26 knots, and has a very long range. Outstanding, the radius of activity is naturally not a problem. More importantly, this type of ship has ample space and comfortable living. It can load enough supplies while allowing the crew to have enough living and activity space to facilitate long-term boring cruising. To maintain sufficient morale in the
Best of all, these ships are all coal burning! They don't need to waste precious diesel or heavy oil, they only need more coal in Ailan Hill to sail on the sea, which is very convenient and fast.
More importantly, the auxiliary cruisers modified by this type of ship can serve for shipping when they are eliminated or in peacetime. They can transport a large amount of materials and personnel, and can be used as cruise ships after they are dismantled. This is very economical and practical. .
After all, Ailan Hill's technology is developing very fast, and it is absolutely commonplace to eliminate some warships. This wasteful behavior, which consumes steel and is immediately eliminated, still must be avoided for Ailan Hill, whose production capacity is still limited.
"When we have more and more warships, the endless sea will become the sea of Ailan Hill!" The boatman who spoke first said with a smile. He has no reason not to laugh. After all, he has been working overtime every day recently, and his salary is enough to feed his whole family.
This treatment was much better than his previous treatment, and it made him very satisfied: his hard work, in exchange for ample salary and bonuses, is not the happy life he had previously dreamed of.
"Yes, when we have more and more ships and fill up the endless sea, we can go and see, what is on the other side of the sea?" Another boatman smiled and looked at the distant sea, and said Said with emotion every word.
