I want to be emperor

Chapter 1134 The Era of Total Armor

In the regional rebellion operations in the Kingdom of England, the powerful offshore combat capabilities demonstrated by the littoral combat ships of the Navy's 253rd Fleet gave the navy's top brass a lot of peace of mind.

After all, before this, some senior generals in the Navy advocated the construction of offshore combat ships, and they were also deduced from strategies and tactics on paper.

Although a few littoral combat ships have performed combat readiness missions in Europe in the past few months and have also conducted live-fire drills, they have not seriously fought such a large-scale and realistic battle.

Therefore, the actual role of littoral combat ships in overseas areas has been unknown before, and the cost issue is also something that has not been confirmed.

After this battle, the Navy has confirmed that although offshore combat ships have some shortcomings, in the comparison of various combat ship types within the Navy, the oceans are dominated by regular ocean-going ships, and the offshore are dominated by offshore battleships and armored ships. Fighting...if it actually enters a river, it is not as flexible as a shallow-water gunboat because of its larger tonnage.

But... when these shortcomings are combined, the offshore combat ship has the advantages of the above three at the same time: it has a certain ocean navigation combat capability, a certain offshore combat capability, and can barely enter river operations.

When littoral combat ships equipped with these three capabilities appear in indigenous areas and face off against indigenous troops with little strength, they are not unable to do anything, but capable of doing anything.

This reflects extremely strong battlefield adaptability and extremely low combat costs.

Therefore, the top brass of the Navy quickly adjusted and increased orders for two types of littoral combat ships, while reducing orders for some frigates and cruisers, as well as large-tonnage offshore patrol ships and large-tonnage shallow-water gunboats.

Doing this can reduce some of the shipbuilding costs... After all, one littoral combat ship can now replace the combat missions of two or three warships. At the same time, littoral combat ships use backward technology and equipment, and the cost of construction is extremely high. low.

Calculated in this way, the saved shipbuilding costs alone can save a lot.

At the same time, the navy's personnel can also be used in more important places. The total number of personnel in the navy is also limited. It is impossible for the navy to increase personnel without limit... because personnel also need training and salary costs.

Littoral combat ships are so easy to use, and the Navy has also begun to design and develop a new generation of offshore combat ships based on the current two large-tonnage offshore combat ships.

For example, the flagship littoral combat ship. After this actual combat, the Navy found that the current Gaozhou-class littoral combat ship with a full load displacement of more than 4,000 tons is still a bit too large, so that the draft is relatively deep, and the tonnage is too large. The hull is also too large, making it difficult to turn in complex environments such as offshore and rivers.

Although the offshore combat ship Gaozhou has powerful firepower and is equipped with a 200mm rapid-fire gun with a caliber of 40 times, the navy's firepower is a bit excessive in actual combat...the shells fired by the 200mm main gun are too powerful. , and the indigenous fort defenses and military facilities in the port city simply do not need such large-caliber rapid-fire artillery.

It is sufficient to use a 150 mm caliber main gun. In actual combat, a 120 mm caliber main gun can also fully destroy these indigenous stretch-span defenses and has sufficient range.

Based on these two points, the Naval Ship Administration Department, instead of expanding the tonnage and enhancing firepower of the next-generation flagship large-scale littoral combat ship, made reductions in all aspects;

A full-load displacement of more than 4,200 tons is completely unnecessary. Three thousand tons is sufficient.

In terms of firepower, don't use any 200mm rapid-fire cannon. Even if it is the 40 times the caliber rapid-fire cannon of the previous generation, it is very expensive. Just abandon this thing and use the 150mm 400mm rapid-fire cannon of the previous generation. A double-caliber rapid-fire cannon is sufficient.

The caliber of this artillery piece is smaller, and the weight and volume of the artillery piece are immediately greatly reduced, which is just enough to shrink the hull and reduce the draft.

So it didn’t take long for the main performance indicators of the Ministry of Ship Affairs’ next-generation flagship offshore combat ship to come out. It has a full load of 3,100 tons, and adopts the front and rear central axis dual-mounted turrets to deploy four 150 mm guns. For artillery, four single 120mm 40x rapid-fire cannons were deployed amidships in the gun gallery. The entire battleship deployed four 150mm cannons and four 120mm cannons.

In addition, there are several 75mm rapid-fire secondary guns and 40mm rapid-fire secondary guns.

This firepower layout can be said to be greatly weakened compared to the Gaozhou-class littoral combat ship, but it is still enough to deal with the indigenous people... and by weakening the firepower to reduce the weight, the tonnage is greatly reduced, and part of the weight can also be used In terms of protection, achieve more comprehensive and comprehensive protection.

Strong comprehensive protection is still very important for littoral combat ships... because the design of this thing is to carry the enemy's shore defense firepower directly up to the face for bombardment, and even venture into rivers to strike deep targets in the enemy's hinterland.

Therefore, other aspects can be reduced, but protection can’t be reduced. Not only can it not be reduced, but the protection capabilities must be strengthened.

And after such operations, the cost of building a ship can be saved a lot... After all, after not using the extremely expensive 200 mm naval gun, only using the 150 mm previous generation rapid-fire cannon, the cost can be reduced immediately. Larger, smaller tonnage, and less armor.

Armor steel these days is actually quite expensive... In the contemporary Da Chu Empire, ordinary steel only costs 11 or 12 Chu Yuan per ton, but armored steel costs almost 200 Chu Yuan per ton. The tonnage of the ship If you save armor steel, the cost savings is not a small amount.

The cost of naval guns has been reduced, and the cost of armored steel has been reduced. At the same time, the requirements for the power system have also been reduced due to the smaller tonnage. Taken together, the cost of this new generation of flagship large offshore combat ships has been reduced by more than ten dollars. Ten thousand.

The navy estimates that one can be built for thirty thousand or tens of thousands...

What is the concept of this price?

The navy is building a new generation of high-performance fleet ocean frigates with a full load displacement of more than 1,800 tons and a cost of more than 400,000 yuan.

The so-called new generation of more than 3,000-ton offshore combat ships being designed is less expensive than the more than 1,000-ton fleet frigate that others are building.

And this is why the Navy develops low-cost frigates, cruisers, and low-cost littoral combat ships... The new generation of regular fleet ocean-going battleships are too expensive. The frigates cost more than 400,000, and the new generation, four The price of a light armored cruiser of more than a thousand tons soared to more than 800,000 yuan!

Even though it spends money lavishly, purchasing millions and tens of millions of warships at random, the navy, which has always been taken advantage of by the defense industry... also feels that today's advanced warships are too expensive and cannot be built!

Low cost has always been the main topic of the Chu Empire's navy throughout the 1940s and 1950s... From cost to deployment operations, the navy pays more and more attention to 'mission cost'... This mission cost includes shipbuilding costs, Regular deployment costs, operational costs.

Specifically, the performance of warships is reduced, comprehensive warships are used to replace a variety of professional warships, and close-range precision bombardment is used to replace the previous long-distance coverage bombardment.

Then low-cost ocean-going combat ships and littoral combat ships appeared.

This means that the current Da Chu Empire Navy has no rivals. But in the late 19th century in the original time and space, even those powerful navies would not recognize their parents if they did this.

But... the fact is that the current Da Chu Empire Navy really has no opponent, so not only can it be done like this, but it is also very enjoyable.

This confirms that after the large-scale littoral combat ships are further shrunk during the new generation, there will not be much change in the medium-sized littoral combat ships. The Yongding-class guard combat ships are still more suitable for use.

However, under the 1,200-ton littoral combat ship, the Navy is planning to build a 6,700-ton littoral combat ship, which will be used to replace a large number of medium- and large-tonnage offshore patrol ships used by a large number of colonies. gunboat.

It is worth noting that it is only used to suppress offshore patrol ships and shallow water gunboats in overseas colonial areas.

Offshore combat vessels in East Asia, the Americas and other areas directly under the jurisdiction of the mainland... This is no longer under the management of the Navy, but under the jurisdiction of the newly established Coast Guard a few years ago.

The main tasks of the Coast Guard in the Great Chu Empire are maritime rescue, inspection of maritime smuggling, and combating maritime crime. In addition, there are tasks such as wartime port guarding... Previously, they had received a large number of offshore patrol ships from the navy, but now the Coast Guard has begun to dislike these offshore patrol ships.

I feel that the seaworthiness is too poor, the living performance is also too poor, and the firepower is a bit excessive and unnecessary... Therefore, the Coast Guard has also begun to renovate some of the existing offshore patrol ships in recent years. For example, it is useless to dismantle them. medium and large caliber artillery. At the same time, they newly designed and built their own ships, paying more attention to navigation performance, living performance, endurance and speed, etc., but did not pay much attention to protection and firepower. After all, they are not a pure military force, but a peacetime law enforcement and rescue force. , it is just a paramilitary force that cooperates with the navy in wartime operations.

Therefore, their current combat ships are now renamed coast patrol ships.

Therefore, offshore missions in East Asia, America and other regions have nothing to do with the navy. Today, the navy is responsible for maritime combat missions in India, West Asia, Africa and Europe, which naturally includes offshore missions.

The Navy now wants a six- to seven-hundred-ton offshore combat ship to replace some of the medium and large-tonnage offshore patrol ships and shallow-water gunboats in the above-mentioned areas.

Why replace?

Because the current offshore patrol ships basically do not have the ability to sail in the ocean, and they are all unprotected warships. Even facing the smoothbore guns of the indigenous people is still risky.

As for shallow-water gunboats, they are basically flat-bottomed boats. Not to mention the open sea, when the sea is calm when going out to the offshore, they can basically only sail and fight in inland rivers and lakes. Occasionally, they have to be wary when going out to the offshore.

A six- to seven-hundred-ton offshore combat ship can barely carry out long-distance sea navigation. It has no problem sailing and fighting in offshore waters, and can also enter inland river operations... The most important thing is that this small offshore combat ship, despite its small tonnage, But it still has the basic characteristics of a littoral combat ship: armor protection.

Therefore, it can still go forward and bombard the enemy's face, and because of its small tonnage and shallow draft design, it can also enter most rivers for combat.

With this kind of small offshore combat ship, it can replace a variety of offshore patrol ships and shallow water gunboats at the same time, which can greatly reduce the fleet maintenance costs of overseas colonies.

In this way, the Navy's offshore combat ships in overseas colonies can form a three-tier configuration of large, medium and small, which can complete a series of various offshore and even inland river combat missions, and completely realize the Navy's strategic concept of using the sea to dominate the land.

At the same time, it can also significantly reduce the cost of fleet deployment in overseas colonies.

The top brass of the Navy naturally like this kind of good thing from the bottom of their hearts.

Compared with the rapid development of littoral combat ships, which have received widespread attention... the development of traditional ocean-going fleets has naturally encountered problems!

Because with the presence of littoral combat ships, there is no longer a need to use expensive traditional ocean-going fleets to perform offshore combat missions... What does this mean?

Reduction in the size of traditional ocean-going fleets!

The top brass of the Dachu Empire's navy have decided to gradually reduce the size of the traditional ocean-going fleet from the current approximately 600 ships to 400 ships in the future as offshore combat ships gradually enter service.

Even these four hundred ships... To be honest, many people think it is too many... These so-called advanced ocean-going warships are at sea every day and do not participate in colonial battles. Why do they do so many? It's better to get two more littoral combat ships, so that they can bully the natives.

Otherwise, just save money to improve the treatment of soldiers...

But... most of the top navy generals are strongly opposed to this!

Are you kidding me? If their navy no longer controls the sea, is it still necessary for their navy to exist?

This is to control the land with the sea. To put it bluntly, it is an expedient measure made by the navy in order to survive. If you really want to talk about it, is it possible that the empire can do without the navy's littoral combat ships? The army can just push it all the way and fight, and It’s not like the Army doesn’t have surface combat forces in coastal waters and rivers. The Army also has battleships…

Using the sea to control the land is to increase your presence and compete for military spending...

But controlling sea control in global waters is the foundation of the navy's existence... If we no longer compete for sea control, what else will the navy do?

There is no need to exist anymore.

Therefore, even if there are no actual enemies, the navy still advocates various maritime threats every day. At one time, it is said that the indigenous people may develop an advanced fleet in the future, and at another time, it is said that even the indigenous sail battleships can cause damage to Chu's maritime routes. Actual threats, and then said that pirates in East Africa, North Africa, Europe and other regions are very active...seriously threatening maritime security and so on.

It was even said that aliens could land on the earth and then attack from the sea and attack the coast of the empire.

By the way, nowadays, various science fiction novels about aliens, especially aliens invading the earth, are the key cultural projects supported by the propaganda agency under the Ministry of Navy and Military Affairs... After various cultural novels are released, many people really swear by them Some people believe that aliens will invade the earth sooner or later, and once they invade the earth, they will first go to the vast sea, and then launch an attack from the sea...

At this time, a powerful imperial navy is needed to protect the imperial waters from infringement...

How to protect it? Naturally, we have to drive the battleship, the pillar of the country and the powerful symbol of the navy... Use a large 300 mm pipe to fight the alien battleship. The scenes depicted in some illustrations are not to mention very exciting.

In order to protect itself, the Navy even talks about alien invasion in a serious manner. One can imagine the pressure the Navy is under now.

Being invincible is also stressful.

In many cases, the Navy will not give up the development of warships competing for sea control... Reducing the number is just a compromise, but it does not mean that the Navy will completely abandon traditional ocean-going warships.

On the contrary...the Navy has used the funds saved by littoral combat ships to increase investment in the research and development and construction of ocean-going battleships, and has paid more attention to the protective performance of ocean-going battleships...

The emphasis on protective performance is not to fight against enemy warships, but to be able to get close to the coast and even enter rivers to control the land with the sea...

We cannot let the offshore combat ships do all the work. At any rate, the ocean-going combat ships must also retain a certain ability to strike land.

If you want to attack land, you must have protective properties.

This is also the reason why the new cruiser is no longer a dome-armored cruiser, but a light armored cruiser... The protective capabilities of the dome-armored cruiser are not very good. If the indigenous smoothbore cannons hit it, it is impossible for our own dome-armored cruiser to be hit. It is heavy, but it is also prone to deck damage... The grenades fired by the indigenous smoothbore cannons will also explode.

Therefore, the new cruiser has become a light armored cruiser, and its protection capability has been greatly improved.

Even the frigates have changed from the unprotected frigates in the past to the current dome-armored frigates... And now the Navy is still preparing to build a new generation of light armored frigates...

Of course, the armor attached to this so-called armored frigate is very weak, and the armor thickness in key areas is only thirty or forty millimeters... But this weakness is only relative to the Chu army's own firepower, and for the indigenous smoothbore As far as guns are concerned, this kind of protection is sufficient. Key areas can withstand large-caliber smoothbore cannon solid shells at close range, and other areas can also prevent grenade explosions from indigenous people.

Therefore, after the fifty-third year of Chengshun, most of the new generation combat ships developed in the Da Chu Empire Navy included first-class battleships, second-class battleships, cruisers, frigates, offshore combat ships, and smaller tonnage inland river gunboats. Except for a few offshore patrol ships with special purposes, the others are all armored warships...

Although the armor thickness of the Chu army's warships is generally thin, and its protective performance is not very good from the perspective of the original time and space of the late 19th century... it is still sufficient to deal with the indigenous people.

The navy of the Dachu Empire is gradually entering the era of comprehensive armor!

(End of this chapter)