Opening game, American Tycoon

Chapter 802 The Prodigal Son of the Navy ([-]rd update, please subscribe)
Imperial Admiralty building.

This is a Renaissance building, it is not a new building, it used to be the Argentine Capitol.

Because the Ming Dynasty did not have a parliament, this building became the seat of the Ministry of the Navy.

Although this is the important location of the Admiralty, in the Navy Square in front of the building, there are many ordinary citizens playing there, and many children are running by the fountain.

"Peace is really the best thing!"

Sitting in the car, Ma Anwei watched the people playing in the Navy Square through the car window, and he couldn't help sighing in his heart.

The Navy Square is open, but the Admiralty is heavily guarded. After a check, the car slowly drives into this heavily guarded military restricted area.

In front of the majestic Admiralty Building, naval officers and soldiers in uniform can be seen everywhere. This is the heart of the Imperial Navy.

Soon the car slowly stopped in front of the building.At this time, a naval lieutenant with a bar and two stars on his collar walked to the side of the car and opened the door as soon as the car stopped, and said to Ma Anwei.

"Sir, long time no see, Shang Shu is waiting for you."

This navy lieutenant is the adjutant of Lin Yuehu, the secretary of the navy.

Today, he deliberately waited for Ma Anwei's arrival in front of the building.It shows how much the higher-ups attach importance to this matter, which is very unusual.

A few minutes later, Ma Anwei walked into the office of the Secretary of the Navy. After entering the office, he saw Lin Yuehu, the Minister of the Navy, who was also known as the "Two Tigers of the Empire" with the Secretary of the Army, Sun Hu, was standing in the "Youzhou Level" "In front of the model of the battleship, he seemed to be thinking about something.

So Ma Anwei stood there without saying a word. The "Youzhou class" is the core of the navy's second phase of naval expansion plan.

The "Phase II Expansion Plan" is the second phase of the plan proposed by the Navy in 1874. The core of the plan is to build four new [-]-ton battleships and four new [-]-ton armored cruisers.Once the plan is completed, the Ming Navy will have a main fleet consisting of eight battleships and eight armored cruisers.

"Siwei, look."

In fact, when Ma Anwei first came in, Lin Yuehu already knew about it, but he didn't interrupt him when he was thinking about things.

"what?"

"This is the plan for the "202 Armored Cruiser" just sent by the Ship Administration Department."

"Is this an armored cruiser? Isn't it "102 Battleship"?"

"102" is the "Youzhou-class" battleship. When he approached the model, Ma Anwei discovered that the two are not the same, and its hull is longer in comparison.

"This is……"

Looking up at Sun Shangshu, Ma Anwei said.

"They are going to equip the armored ships with 305mm naval guns!"

"You guessed it right. The experts from the Ship Administration Department believe that since the navy's armored ships need to participate in fleet decisive battles, their firepower can be further strengthened. With a displacement of 305 tons, they can completely mount 180mm naval guns. And they believe that since there are There is a new type of armor, so there is basically no difference between 170mm and [-]mm armor, so what? They thinned the armor again."

Hearing what Shang Shu said, Ma Anwei said.

"By adding watertight cabins and new nickel-steel armor, the idea of ​​thinning the armor is also possible. However, the larger the caliber of the artillery, the slower the rate of fire. The rate of fire of our 305mm naval gun is every three minutes, while The 254mm naval gun is fired twice every 3 minutes, in terms of firepower, the firepower of the 254mm naval gun is more violent!"

Although he is not a technical officer in artillery, Ma Anwei is no stranger to artillery. After all, he is also a navy soldier.

"They believe that within three to five years, the tube ejection technology will definitely be applied to large-caliber artillery. With the tube ejection technology, the rate of fire will naturally not be a problem. It may be that the rate of fire of the 305mm naval gun will be faster than it is now. The 254mm is faster."

"But the rate of fire of 254 mm will be faster!"

"But the 305mm naval gun is more powerful! The speed of technological progress is faster than we thought!"

Staring at the model, Lin Yuehu said with emotion.

A few years ago, when the "Nanhua" battleship was in service, he thought that steel armor was the best, but just one year later, Dahua Iron and Steel Company invented the "nickel steel armor" with extremely good performance. Nickel steel armor has excellent toughness and strength.Its performance completely subverted their understanding, nickel steel armor with a thickness of [-], can exert the same defensive effect as wrought iron armor with a thickness of [-].

Nickel-steel armor and tube retreat rapid-fire guns, the technological progress in the past two years has been earth-shaking, and it is precisely because of technological progress that the Naval Ship Administration made such a risky attempt.

When the voice fell, Lin Yuehu looked at Ma Anwei and said.

"By the way, you said on the phone before that the experiment was successful?"

"Yes!"

Ma Anwei laughed.

"We have conducted sea trials for half a year. The performance of the kerosene mixed boiler can fully meet the needs of the navy, and the calorific value of the heavy oil is higher, and the shipment is more convenient. It is said that even at sea, fuel can be replenished directly with the projectile tubing, and it only takes an hour to complete the replenishment.”

While talking, Ma Anwei took a folder from the briefcase.As one of the few boiler experts in the Navy, he participated in the development of the first generation of water tube boilers in the Ming Dynasty.Water tube boilers are smaller and more efficient.Larger steam can be produced at higher pressures.

The water-tube boilers with advanced performance have always been the most important export product of Ming Dynasty in recent years, and it is also one of the reasons why the Ming Dynasty Navy maintains its leading position in technology.

However, five years ago, the Ministry of the Navy, to be precise, Emperor Zhu put forward the idea of ​​"replacing coal with oil", that is, replacing coal with heavy oil. After all, the source of coal in Ming Dynasty is not safe, but there are plenty of it in China. oil supply.Under such circumstances, of course Daming had to choose heavy oil as the fuel for the navy.

It was also from then on that the oil-fired boiler became a research project of the Power Research Institute of the Naval Administration Department. "Replacing coal with oil" seems to be very simple, but there are many problems involved. They have used it for several years Time, many technical problems were solved last year, and the first oil-fired boiler was manufactured. The heavy oil boiler has many advantages, but... what about the navy's active warships?Moreover, many overseas ports do not have heavy oil at all. How to replenish the fuel for overseas cruises?

So faced with this problem, Ma Anwei tried non-stop to solve these problems by improving the boiler and remodeling the ship.

"So, as long as we carry out corresponding modifications, our warships can realize mixed combustion of kerosene?"

Looking at the report in his hand, Lin Yuehu asked.

"Yes, the difficulty of transformation is not high. Although it will take some time, it can be transformed with the normal maintenance of warships, but..."

After a pause, Ma Anwei said.

"The boilers of the "Friendship" class and "Tianlong class" are too old. They are all old-style fire-tube boilers. In terms of performance, there is no need for improvement at all. They are sold to other countries, after all, they are long out of date..."

Before he could finish speaking, Lin Yuehu said excitedly.

"What are you talking about? Sell the warship. It's a navy warship! Is there such a prodigal?"

(End of this chapter)