Daming 1805

Chapter 283 Visit Mozhou

The old city of the Ming capital, the Forbidden City, and the Qianqing Palace.

In the study room of the emperor's bedroom, the Supreme Emperor Zhu Zhongliang and the emperor Zhu Jianyan, father and son, were sitting and chatting.

Holding a big teacup, Zhu Zhongliang seemed to ask his son very casually:
"Have you almost read the legacy of the ancestors?"

Zhu Jianyan replied quite seriously:
"My son has copied it once, read it carefully three times, and basically memorized the content of the posthumous chapter."

Zhu Zhongliang took a sip of tea:

"So, you know why I didn't support the large-scale construction of old warships."

Zhu Jianyan nodded lightly and said:

"Because Emperor Shizu explained that in the future, aircraft carriers will dominate the oceans, and gunboats will be eliminated sooner or later."

Zhu Zhongliang said with a smile:

"So how to decide next year's shipbuilding plan, you have the right idea."

It's almost the end of the year again, and every yamen in Ming Dynasty is also starting to prepare for next year's budget.

Among these budgets, what Zhu Zhongliang is most concerned about is the budget for naval shipbuilding.

However, I have already retired, so I try not to interfere with the court's decision as much as possible.

But I can use my influence to influence my son's way of thinking to move closer to me...

Upon hearing this question, Zhu Jianyan reported the situation quite seriously:

"The continuous testing of the Intrepid and Dinghai has basically demonstrated the naval warfare mode of the new era.

"The old-style battleships have been collectively referred to as the former dreadnought ships by the Military Aircraft Department and the Governor's Mansion, specifically referring to the warships before the Dreadnought.

"The Military Aircraft Department, the Ministry of War, and the Governor's Mansion all believe that the old-style pre-dreadnoughts and armored cruisers should be completely replaced by dreadnought battleships and aircraft carriers.

"The replacement of cruisers and destroyers has already begun, and the replacement plan for capital ships has finally been basically finalized.

"The new ships will gradually replace the former dreadnoughts and armored cruisers at a rate of four ships per year at a ratio of two to three.

"Among the new warships, the number of battleships and aircraft carriers will remain at a ratio of four to one for the time being."

Listening to the previous report, Zhu Zhongliang nodded slightly from time to time. He knew the situation roughly, or could understand it.

The tonnage of the new warships has greatly expanded, and the cost of a single room has directly doubled.

Considering the current high-speed growth of the financial situation and the overall trend towards peace in the world, it is relatively reasonable to set the replacement ratio of new and old ships at two to three.

But I was not happy when I heard the last sentence:

"The ratio of battleships to aircraft carriers is four to one? Four battleships to one aircraft carrier? Shouldn't it be the other way around?"

Zhu Jianyan immediately continued to explain:

"The combat plan formulated by the Military Aircraft Department and the Governor's Mansion is to use battleships as the main combat force, and every four ships will be used as a fleet.

"Each fleet is equipped with an aircraft carrier as a reconnaissance and early strike force.

"The actual combat capability of such a fleet may be close to four traditional capital ships plus four armored cruisers.

"My son thinks this plan is quite reasonable..."

Zhu Zhongliang blew on his beard:

"Didn't you know that the future ruler of the sea is the aircraft carrier, so shouldn't we build more aircraft carriers now..."

Facing the slightly excited father, Zhu Jianyan explained helplessly:

"According to what Jingyuan said, isn't it time yet..."

Zhu Zhongliang immediately tried to convince his son:
"Even if it hasn't arrived yet, it will arrive soon, and the current aircraft development is too fast.

"The mechanical laboratory in Jingyuan produced the latest aero-engine with a power of more than [-] horsepower.

"Installed on an attack aircraft, it is enough to carry an [-]-kilogram torpedo for attacking surface ships.

"According to Yasushi, the current aircraft carrier is just not good at dealing with certain special situations.

"So take the aircraft carrier as the main force and build a small number of battleships to deal with these situations.

"So the ratio of aircraft carriers to battleships should be at least two to one, or even three to one.

"It can be used in formations of two to four aircraft carriers, with one or two battleships in each formation."

Zhu Jianyan also tried to convince his father:
"Father, no matter how fast it is, it will take a few years, and it will take time for laboratory products to be mass-produced and served in service.

"So in fact, Erchen's plan is to build more battleships before the aircraft carrier's combat capability is fully stabilized.

"There are enough new warships to support the combat power of the fleet and replace the old warships.

"After a few years, when the aircraft carrier and the aircraft are more mature, we will build more aircraft carriers.

"The final ratio of the number of battleships to aircraft carriers will eventually fall to about one to one as suggested by Yasugaki."

Zhu Zhongliang suddenly became a little unhappy, and said loudly with a straight face:

"You think well, but I will be 67 this year, and I won't be able to go out in a few years.

"When the number of aircraft carriers and battleships you build reaches a ratio of one to one, all of us will be gone.

"Anyway, you kid just try to change your ways to keep me from being comfortable..."

Zhu Jianyan couldn't hold it anymore:

"Father, appease your anger. My son absolutely didn't mean that. This was all suggested by the Military Aircraft Department and the Ministry of War."

After Zhu Zhongliang retired, he also became self-willed, and seemed to be even more angry:

"Do you listen to what they say? Are you the emperor or are they the emperor?"

Zhu Jianyan was immediately sprayed and couldn't speak:

"It's all my son's fault. My son shouldn't listen to their slander. Or, let's do it one by one now?"

Zhu Zhongliang replied with a straight face:

"That's about the same. A big ship like an aircraft carrier can be used for decades.

"Build the ship first, use it for training and exercises, and explore and verify the combat method.

"In the future, there will be newer, larger and stronger aircraft, which can be directly replaced at any time.

"If you only have airplanes but no built aircraft carrier, where would you use them?"

At this moment, Zhu Jianyan suddenly realized that his father seemed to be playing himself just now.

But what Dad said made sense.

It takes time for an aircraft to mature, and so does the construction of an aircraft carrier.

But the replacement speed of aircraft is much faster than that of aircraft carriers.

Changing an aircraft carrier for an aircraft is much easier than changing a battleship's main gun, and it's almost like changing a naval gun for a new shell.

Therefore, it is indeed feasible to build the aircraft carrier first and then continuously upgrade the aircraft.

None of the people from the Military Aircraft Department or the Dudu's Mansion have read the posthumous works of the ancestors, and they can't predict the future.

Their judgments are all made based on existing experience, and they all tend to make conservative choices.

They will not put the future of the Ming Dynasty on any new weapon that has not been proven in actual combat.

If the new weapons do turn out to be good enough, continuing to produce old weapons while testing new ones ends up being a waste of money and productivity.

If the new weapons prove to be unreliable in the end, if the old weapons are abandoned now and turned to the new weapons, the result may be a complete retreat of the army's combat effectiveness, which may lead to the overthrow of the world.

Between these two situations, the vast majority of military staff officers would choose the latter.

Sun Tzu said: Those who were good fighters in the past were invincible first, and waited for the enemy to be victorious.

You can't win by yourself, but you can win by the enemy.

In layman's terms, it is to ensure that you don't lose first, and then think about how to win.

Under this guiding ideology, the military's decisions tend to be conservative in most cases.

The staff officers dare not rashly believe that an aircraft carrier can become the main force in the fleet.

After all, there are still people who support an all-cruiser fleet, and some even support an all-destroyer fleet.

Most of the time, they add new elements to simulate new tactics in the existing mature battlefield mode.

It is basically impossible to jump out of existing tactics and directly plan a brand new tactic.

The emperor who holds the legacy of the ancestors also made this choice, so he must be cautious enough.

At the same time, Zhu Zhongliang took another sip of tea, then sighed and said:
"In a few years, I really won't be able to walk anymore, so I want to go out for a walk while I can still move."

Zhu Jianyan said something different:
"Don't you go out every year now, and didn't you just come back this year?"

Zhu Zhongliang looked up and looked outside:

"I want to go to Mozhou to see Jingyuan..."

Zhu Jianyan was taken aback:
"Mozhou is too far away..."

Zhu Zhongliang stopped his son's words with a wave of his hand:

"According to our arrangement, Jingyuan will go to Yinzhou for the next two years, and the distance from home will be even further away than it is now.

"The next two years will go to Tiannan Continent, and the next two years will be responsible for North Korea, Japan, and Eastern Xianbei.

"That is to say, in the next six years, he will not return to his native land, and will have to train overseas.

"By the time he returns to the mainland again, I will be 74 years old, and I may have gone to see my ancestors.

"So I thought, go to Mozhou and have a good chat with him while I'm still in good health."

Zhu Jianyan was also silent when he heard this, and he didn't know how to persuade his father.

Zhu Zhongliang has already stood up directly:
"That's the decision, I have to leave as soon as possible, leave as soon as possible, so that I can stay there for a few more days.

"It just so happens that the four new ships under construction should be launched now, so I can drop by for a launching ceremony.

"I went directly on the Intrepid, which is currently the most defensive warship in the world.

"The key is that the interior is decorated like a luxury hotel, which can be used as a ship for me to visit and travel."

Zhu Jianyan was immediately speechless. The luxurious hotel-style decoration that Zhu Jingyuan requested at the beginning was originally intended to be used after retirement.

Unexpectedly, it has only been in service for a year now, and it has not even been incorporated into a special combat fleet, so it is directly used by the old man.

And this usage seems very reasonable.

The most cutting-edge battleship in active service in the world, the capital ship with the best interior space decoration, is just worthy of the status of the overlord.

Can I also use the whole boat as a travel car?
Zhu Zhongliang doesn't have any job now, and there are large-scale professional caregivers, who can basically leave as soon as he wants.

The Intrepid has just completed a round of testing and inspection, and is currently parked at the Golden State Guard base waiting for new orders.

Zhu Zhongliang set off with his wife the next day, first took the train to Tianjin, and then took a boat from Tianjin to Jinzhouwei.

The [-]-kilometer land and sea journey took less than ten hours.

Zhu Zhongliang took a day off in Jinzhouwei City, and went to Jinzhouwei Shipyard the next day to participate in the launching ceremony of two high-speed battleships.

Zhu Jingyuan presided over the design of the [-]-ton cutting-edge high-speed battleship. The first ship was named the No Fear, so it was collectively called the Fearless type.

The first batch of two ships of the same type were built at the same time in the first month of the first year of Ankang. After a year and ten months of construction in the dock, it was finally time to launch.

The launch of the battleship is almost equivalent to the completion of the house itself, and the subsequent outfitting is almost equivalent to decoration.

Some renovations were done simultaneously during the construction process.

Some shipyards and warships have a large scope of simultaneous decoration during the construction process, while others have a small scope of simultaneous decoration.

Some were launched without turrets installed, and some were actually almost completed.

The two different modes of dock construction and slipway construction will also affect the extent of simultaneous decoration during the construction process.

The shipyard's deployment plan for docks and slipways, and the shipyard's construction habits will also affect these data.

If you are in a hurry to use the berth to build other ships, then you will launch the current ship as soon as possible and transfer it to the dock to continue construction.

If you are not in a hurry at all, you can even build it in the dock until it is completed, and launch it directly into the water to start the sea trial.

Therefore, for different ships, the construction cycle and service time, the gap between various time periods may be very large.

But generally speaking, the normal construction cycle of a [-]-ton battleship, plus the testing time for equipment performance and reliability, will take about three years in total.

At present, almost two-thirds of the construction cycle has passed, and it is expected to be delivered to the Navy by the end of next year.

When Zhu Jingyuan first started the design, he only named the full main gun technology verification battleship and the first target exploration battleship named Fearless and Fearless respectively.

After the design of the target battleship and aircraft carrier was completed, Zhu Jianyan placed an order for both the aircraft carrier and the battleship at the same time considering the cost issue, and the second ship was not named immediately at that time.

Now that Zhu Zhongliang came to participate in the launching ceremony of the two battleships of the fearless type, he continued the format of the first two battleships, and conveniently named the second ship of the fearless type "Wu Wang".

There are some differences between the two ships launched now and the original design.

Mainly due to the promotion of Zhu Jingyuan, the fully enclosed three-dimensional spray combustion small water tube oil-fired boiler was officially adopted, and the power density of the power system was greatly improved beyond the initial estimate.

Neither of the two Dreadnoughts actually built used the most radical double boiler arrangement originally conceived.

All of them only used sixteen new boilers arranged in a single layer, and the total power was directly piled up to 16 horsepower.

A Dreadnought battleship with a full load displacement of 13 tons is designed to run [-] knots, but only needs between [-] and [-] horsepower.

Now with a total power of 16 horsepower, it is expected to increase the speed to more than 32 knots.

After the power system design is updated, the hull tonnage has a greater margin, and the designers have also slightly modified the armor design.

The thickness of the main side armor has been further increased from the original plan of 280 mm to [-] mm.

Coupled with some other adjustments to the design, it is estimated that the actual displacement after completion will slightly exceed [-] tons.

After the two battleships of No Fear and Wu Wang were launched, Jinzhouwei Shipyard no longer had any large battleships under construction.

No Fear and Wu Wang started construction at the beginning of the first year of Ankang, and it has been 22 months since construction of a capital ship started.

Facing the slightly worried person in charge of the shipyard, Zhu Zhongliang revealed a little "insider" news to him.

Tell them that the emperor has decided that next year there will be two battleship orders, and normal construction may begin.

Let the shipyard keep the workers and equipment maintained, ready to start building more new ships at any time.

The management of the shipyard finally felt relieved after receiving reliable news.

　Sorry, I was reading in bed last night. I accidentally noticed that it was four or five o'clock in the morning. It was already afternoon when I woke up today. As a result, the update was delayed until now, and Chapter 2 got the second half of the night.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)