Opening game, American Tycoon

For ordinary people, they simply don't know that this world has entered a world of great controversy.

Prophecy has been a huge test of human IQ since ancient times.

It's IQ, not wisdom.

From some small details in history, it can be found that most ordinary people cannot predict even a war that will lead to the overthrow of the country within a year.

As for prophecy, they are often charged with an IQ tax.

However, there are still a small number of people who know that the war has reached its final countdown.

As an engineer in the Ship Administration Department of the Ministry of the Navy, Zhao Zhiyuan can clearly perceive the changes in the current situation, and even smell the smell of war from some details.

For example, the navy requested to speed up the construction of the "Nanhua class" and "Linhai class" under construction, and the same is true for other warships. In general, the navy is willing to pay overtime wages and strives for the launch of warships as soon as possible.

At the same time, according to the requirements of the Navy, the keel of the "Youzhou-class" battleship was laid three months ago. The difference from the past is that the shipyard is now rushing to build it day and night.

Speed ​​up, everything is speeding up!From a 3000-ton fast cruiser to a 10000-ton battleship, they are all accelerating.

The shipyards from Nanhua to Linhai are rushing to build warships day and night, and even the Xin'an Shipyard in Yingtianbian, this small shipyard is also the same.

After checking his documents in front of the gate of the shipyard, Zhao Zhiyuan entered the shipyard. He did not go to the office on a bicycle, but went directly to the dock. With the shouts and whistles of the workers, the aerial crane rotated back and forth, hoisting steel plates, boilers and other objects into the dock.

"beep……"

Amidst the piercing whistle, a 100mm single turret is slowly being hoisted to the outfitting berth, where a thousand-ton warship painted in blue-gray is nearing completion.

"How about it, Mr. Zhao, I said it will definitely be delivered this month! Look..."

At this moment, someone walked up to him and said.

It was Fang Dekai, the supervisor of the navy. He pointed at the warship on the sea with his cigarette-tipped fingertip, and then said.

"This is the first ship. In the next twelve months, there will be another 18 light cruisers in service. By then, the Imperial Navy will have the most powerful cruiser fleet in the world."

Fast cruiser gunship... The name sounds a bit awkward. This type of cruiser has almost no armor defense, but it is extremely fast and is mainly used for escort. According to the official statement, "it is to ensure the safety of sea transportation lines in wartime."

But actually?As the chief designer, Zhao Zhiyuan knew very well what kind of cruiser gunboat was there, it was clearly a large torpedo boat!
The torpedo is still a secret weapon of the Ming Dynasty until now. After years of development, it has not only become more mature, but also very powerful.However, torpedo boats are small in size and poor in self-sustaining power, so they can only be used in offshore waters.

These deficiencies were fully exposed when the Imperial Navy went to the open sea. The Navy urgently needed torpedo troops to cooperate with the fleet in the Pacific Ocean. Therefore, according to the needs of the Navy, the Ship Administration Department designed this "cruiser gunship."

According to the final design, the overall layout of the whole ship is close to the cruiser style. The total length of the ship is more than 102 meters. It adopts the traditional two-mast layout with parallel chimneys amidships. The theoretical output power is as high as 1.5 horsepower, which is comparable to the "Youzhou" under construction. The power of the main engines of the class battleships is equal, which ensures that his speed is enough to make any current warship unmatched.

In terms of weapon configuration, the ship is equipped with four 120mm guns at the bow and stern. In addition, four twin 460mm torpedo tubes are installed between the two funnels and at the stern, but they are secretly installed at the naval base. .

"Indeed, as long as the installation of these four rapid-fire guns is completed, sea trials can almost be carried out!"

Staring at the turret hanging to the bow, Zhao Zhiyuan said.

"Ten rounds in one minute... If you didn't witness it with your own eyes, it would be hard to believe it!"

Rapid fire!
After years of research and development, the Krupp Arsenal finally developed a mature rapid-fire gun. Through the advancement of the gun mount, the rate of fire of the gun was greatly improved.Compared with the old-fashioned artillery in the past, the main difference is that the cradle and recoil machine are added.And it was this seemingly inconspicuous small improvement that completely subverted the old naval warfare model.

The cradle can be simplified as a bracket model with an O-shaped or U-shaped cross-section, and the gun barrel can slide along the slide rails provided by the cradle.In this way, the recoil force generated by the gun after firing will push the gun body to move backward along the slide rail, absorbing the negative impact caused by the vibration of the gun body and maintaining the stability of the entire gun body.The upper gun carriage is fixed, which reduces the burden of the re-entry movement.The re-entry machine will automatically return the barrel to its original position, greatly increasing the rate of fire.

"The rapid-fire gun will surely usher in a new era for the Navy."

As a naval officer, Fang Dekai stared at the installed naval guns on the deck, and said in a rather emotional tone.

"The rate of fire of a mere four cannons is almost equal to that of 20 cannons. If calculated, the firepower of a fast ship is not inferior to that of three similar warships..."

Narrowing his eyes, Zhao Zhiyuan stared at the position where the torpedo tubes were installed amidships. He had once witnessed the scene of a torpedo boat attacking a target ship, and he can still recall how he stared at the two small boats in amazement. The scene where the target ship was easily sunk, accompanied by two huge water jets, the target ship sank.

If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, who would have believed that a small torpedo boat could easily sink a thousand-ton ship?

So what if it's a wooden shell, a steel shell... can sink as well.

"Soon, the navy's secondary guns will be replaced with rapid-fire guns."

Fang Dekai said in a low voice.

"I heard that the Krupp Arsenal is researching a 150mm rapid-fire gun. After it enters service, the navy will basically be a full-speed fire gun except for artillery with a caliber above 210. Maybe our number of warships is small, but in terms of firepower , must be far ahead of the British Royal Navy."

British Royal Navy!

That is the number one imaginary enemy of the Imperial Navy!
In the exercises of the Imperial Navy, the Royal Navy is the target of the Imperial Navy.

Although the Imperial Navy regards the Royal Navy as its imaginary enemy, it is not as powerful as others!

Until now, the Imperial Navy has only four battleships, four armored ships and four iron-clad ships. Their strength...

"Royal Navy..."

Fang Dekai's words made Zhao Zhiyuan think for a moment, and then said.

"There is a big gap between us and the Royal Navy. Now the second phase of the naval expansion plan has just begun. Even if the second phase is completed, the gap in our strength is still very large..."