Daming 1805

Chapter 227 Distribution of Naval Ship Construction Industry

Zhu Zhongliang participated in the seven ceremonies held at the same time, and then began to visit around the shipyard.

The five ships that had already launched went up to have a look in person.

Looking around in the cabin, several times I couldn't help but chant along with the crew:
"It's spacious, it's really spacious, it looks like that boy Jingyuan's thinking.

"It's not like the former designers of the Ministry of Industry, who were all digging and searching.

"Those boats look aggrieved. Can the soldiers live comfortably? Can they exert their combat effectiveness?"

Zhu Zhongliang complained carelessly, and the shopkeepers, managers, and craftsmen around the shipyard immediately echoed.

But they couldn't help nagging and complaining in their hearts.

The previous designers were stingy with tonnage, isn’t it because you have been stuck with the shipbuilding share?

Your requirements for naval ships have never been more than adequate.

So that in order to be able to pass your permission, the designer reduced the tonnage as much as possible when designing a new ship.

Looking back now, I find that everyone is thinking about it.

Your old man is not stingy with tonnage at all, but the ship designed before cannot satisfy you.

That's why I don't want to build on a large scale.

Standing in the combat commander of the Dreadnought cruiser, Zhu Zhongliang looked at this place that could serve as the headquarters of the Grand Fleet and said:

"It's better to be bigger. The bigger the ship is, the cheaper the steel is anyway, right?"

The craftsmen around nodded again and again, the most worthless thing on the battleship is the hull.

If there are no special regulations specifically restricting the size of warships, designers usually tend to make the ships slightly larger if the basic design requirements and use requirements are met.

Greater space redundancy, more reserve buoyancy, more fuel and ammunition storage space, more comfortable living space and facilities, which means longer sustained combat capability.

There is more room for upgrades and modifications.

The service life of warships starts at ten years. With the advancement of technology and the renewal of design ideas, continuous improvement, transformation, and equipment updates during the use of warships have always been continuous.

There is no such thing as a warship that can be scrapped in one go without any upgrades or refits.

The relatively large space of the hull can also make it easier for designers to play, making the construction of the shipyard more convenient, and finally making it more comfortable for the navy to use.

In addition to spending more money, it can be said that everyone is happy.

Besides, even if it costs more money, it doesn't actually cost much, but it's all mass-produced steel.

Of course, it can't be too much. If you have to increase the number of turbines in order to maintain the speed, the loss outweighs the gain.

While the craftsmen were feeling so emotional in their hearts, they all thought of Zhu Jingyuan who was far away in the Persian Gulf.

It's still good for His Royal Highness Prince Dashi, so many orders for warships are coming in one go.

The design requirements and ideas he gave are all in this happy direction.

Zhu Zhongliang went around on several ships and returned to the lounge on land to rest for two days.

Then start to visit the surrounding supporting factories.

What the shipyard is building are all integrated products of existing technologies, and the things in the supporting factories, in addition to existing products, also have products that are being developed and tested for the future.

There are countless civilian shipyards in the Ming Dynasty. Almost all coastal cities have large and small shipyards, and the inland cities along the Yangtze River and Pearl River also have many inland shipyards.

There are three large military shipbuilding bases, Liaodong, Suzhou, and Guangzhou.

In Edo (Tokyo) and Lion City (Singapore), there are also two large shipyards.

However, the three large local shipbuilding bases all have a complete warship construction industry chain.

Iron and steel smelting, armor forging, boiler production, turbine assembly, shells and charges, artillery and turrets, motors and cables, pipelines, observation equipment and ballistic calculation equipment, etc., all the manufacturers corresponding to the equipment required on the warship are all in Distributed in several prefectures around the area where the shipyard is located.

Around Liaodong, Suzhou, and Guangzhou, each has a set of independent systems, that is, three complete industrial chains.

In Edo and Shicheng, there are only large shipyards, and conventional raw materials can be produced in the surrounding areas.

But the core power system, artillery and observation equipment must be supplied from the local industrial chain.

Among them, the industrial chain in Liaodong and the factories in Edo are under the direct management of the Ministry of Industry.

The industrial chains in Suzhou and Guangzhou, as well as the factories in Lion City, are all affiliated institutions of the royal consortium.

After Zhu Zhongliang left the shipyard, he first went to the nearby artillery factory.

Looked at all kinds of firearms and artillery, from small to large.

Zhu Zhongliang has been emperor for more than 30 years. In addition to visiting the navy and army, he can go around various warships and artillery, and ask some simple questions superficially.

If you want to get close to these things in a completely relaxed state, you only have the opportunity now.

The caliber of Daming's firearms is currently 8 mm, and there are 12 mm, 16 mm, and 20 mm upwards, a total of four calibers, each with a level of 4 mm.

The caliber of the artillery ranges from 40 mm to 240 mm, with a level of 40 mm. There are currently six main calibers.

These are the calibers used by cruisers of all ranks, destroyers, gunboats, torpedo boats, and armies.

Above 240 mm is the caliber of the battleship's main gun, and it is currently expanding upwards by a level of 60 mm.

300 mm is the active caliber, 360 mm has been developed, and 420 mm has been developed.

There is also data for calibers above 420 mm, but not for artillery, but for torpedoes.

Torpedo boats under 480 tons use 520mm torpedoes, and destroyers and cruisers use [-]mm torpedoes.

The aviation torpedoes currently under test continue to use the lighter 480 mm caliber.

The Navy is developing a larger 600mm torpedo for destroyers and above.

Originally, there were still many artillery calibers actually used by Daming, and the original data was not as regular as it is now.

Mainly in the era of smoothbore guns, it is customary to use the weight of shells to indicate the level of artillery.

When entering the era of rifled guns, the gun caliber was used instead to indicate the gun grade.

Using the original artillery direct conversion representation method, the directly formed artillery caliber numbers are all piecemeal.

Not only are most of them not integers, but many even have decimal points.

The emperor at that time may have obsessive-compulsive disorder. During that round of military industry upgrades, he unified all the artillery calibers.

Zhu Zhongliang, under the guidance of the shopkeeper and craftsmen of the artillery factory, paid special attention to several types of artillery that were being designed and tested.

Quadruple mounted 40mm anti-aircraft guns, dual mounted 80mm and 120mm dual-purpose guns.

And the 420mm 50-caliber naval gun in the test.

The old emperor stood in front of a gun barrel placed on a shelf, looked at the gun barrel that could fit an entire adult, looked at the smooth thread and gate, and asked curiously the factory manager and craftsmen around him:
"Since the new artillery has been produced, has it been tested in practice? How is the test?"

The big worker of the factory stepped forward and bowed his hands and reported:

"Reporting to the Supreme Emperor, the barrel of the new cannon trial production has been tested separately.

"Using a lighter projectile weighing 800 kilograms, the muzzle velocity can reach about [-] meters per second.

"Under this parameter, it can stably shoot more than 150 rounds continuously.

"But the Dashi Prince requires the production of cannonballs weighing more than [-] kilograms, preferably [-] kilograms.

"It is also necessary to hit a muzzle velocity of more than 760 meters per second.

"When we tried the [-]-kilogram shell, a bombing accident occurred during the continuous firing test.

"To meet the requirements of His Royal Highness Prince Dashi, we must continue to optimize the production process..."

The test data of the naval guns trial-produced by the artillery factory is similar to the early naval guns of the Lexington-class battleship cruisers, Nagato-class and Colorado-class battleships in 1918.

Zhu Jingyuan's request was based on the Iowa-class MK7 naval gun.

The MK7 naval gun is a 406 mm caliber, 1225 kg super heavy shell.

After scaling up to 420 mm, the weight of the shell should be about 1360 kg.

Zhu Jingyuan gave a range between 1300 kg and 1500 kg, which was given by continuing to increase.

After hearing the craftsman's report, Zhu Zhongliang asked back in astonishment:
"[-] kilograms of shells? Isn't this standard a bit too high?"

The master craftsman of the artillery factory nodded in agreement and said:

"What the Supreme Emperor said is true, the 460-kilogram shell is more suitable for the main gun of about [-] mm.

"In a 420mm naval gun, it is an extremely overweight shell.

"Thirteen hundred kilograms can already be regarded as a heavy bomb.

"The requirements for the production process of the gun barrel are too high. We estimate that this gun barrel will have to be kneaded for several years..."

The old emperor had some doubts about Zhu Jingyuan's request in his heart, but it didn't show on the surface.

Even if you want to discuss and ask, you have to ask Zhu Jingyuan directly in private, instead of complaining in front of outsiders.

That would reduce Zhu Jingyuan's prestige among these craftsmen, and even make him suspect that he doesn't trust him.

So the old emperor just nodded slightly, expressing another idea while agreeing:
"The research and development of the gun barrel must continue to explore, and continue to dig out the upper limit of the power of the artillery of this caliber.

"Optimization of the production process must continue. If there is a new technological breakthrough, the research and development of all naval guns will benefit.

"But looking at this trial-produced gun barrel, since it can use [-] kilograms of light artillery shells for continuous combat, it can already be used on battleships, right?
"Even if the 420mm naval gun uses a relatively light shell, the power is more than 360mm, right?
"Can the existing 420-ton warships be equipped with six to eight [-]mm naval guns?"

The master craftsman explained to Zhu Zhongliang:

"It is designed to be installed, but only six guns can be installed at most, and the firepower density will be relatively low.

"And the newly designed battleship has a high-speed hull, and the hull is relatively long and narrow, which limits the use of large-caliber artillery. The key is that the turbine takes up a lot of tonnage and space.

"Forcibly installing artillery of this caliber, the strike effect should not be very good.

"To use the hull shape of the new warship and be able to use the 420mm naval gun stably, the hull should be at least [-] tons, preferably [-] tons.

"If it is a wide hull suitable for a speed of 420 knots, it can directly install eight [-]mm naval guns."

Zhu Zhongliang slowly nodded and said:

"That's right, naval guns and hull design should cooperate with each other, and larger guns require larger ships.

"The [-]-ton battleship happens to be Jingyuan's target ship..."

(End of this chapter)