Daming 1805

Chapter 63 "Battleships"

In Zhu Jingyuan's mind, there is the development context of modern naval ships in his previous life, as well as a large number of experiences and lessons summed up by later generations.

I have to refer to and learn from these theories to plan the naval ship system of the Ming Empire for the next 30 years.

If you simply consider the total cost of construction and use, you can build enough battlecruisers in batches to use as the capital ships of the current era.

After the aircraft carrier tactics are mature, these old war cruisers will be fully upgraded and transformed with new technologies, and they will be filled with anti-aircraft guns to serve as an air defense escort platform for the aircraft carrier.

Before the guided weapons are mature, the aircraft carrier formation must be escorted by high-speed battleships to deal with various emergencies.

After the guided weapons are fully mature, the large artillery capital ships can be completely retired and escorted by missile cruisers of the new era.

In the original history, the life cycle of dreadnought battleships and battlecruisers from birth to elimination was a total of 50 years.

In this world, with our own guidance and acceleration, this cycle will be shortened again, perhaps only thirty to forty years.

The lifespan of a battleship is usually so many years.

Simply considering the cost of construction and use, it is possible to build only a batch of battle cruisers for the missile era.

However, if one considers "high-end" needs such as maintaining the two-ocean domination of the Great Ming Ocean and the Little West Ocean, maintaining the more important hegemony of the world empire, and maintaining strategic deterrence, the early battle cruisers are not enough.

The current world situation is very close to the situation in my previous life before and after the First World War.

It is the period when the second industrial revolution is fully rolled out and the technology of weapons and equipment develops rapidly.

With the current level of industrial technology of the Taixi people, it is estimated that within ten years, a [-]-ton battleship will be built.

After 20 years, if Britain learns from the Japanese in its previous life, it is not impossible to produce a warship of [-] to [-] tons.

At that time, if Daming only had [-] tons of old-fashioned battlecruisers, they would not be able to restrain their urge to use battleships for decisive battles.

Before the aircraft carrier can form combat power, Daming needs to have large and cutting-edge battleships.

Even if the aircraft carrier has initially formed its combat effectiveness, Daming still cannot directly give up the super battleship.

The aircraft carrier, which is a cruiser, needs to prove itself in actual combat and send multiple battleships to the bottom of the sea.

Before this kind of thing happens and is widely known, Daming still needs to continue to maintain the super battleship.

If there is no war similar to World War II, and the aircraft carrier cannot prove itself quickly, this process will be longer.

During this time period, super battleships will become an important fulcrum of the empire's strategic deterrence capabilities, just like super nuclear-powered aircraft carriers in the new century.

Their existence is meaning in itself, and there is no such thing as waste without fighting.

Unless, like Japan in the previous life, the Yamato secrecy is kept until it is eliminated before taking it out...

The current international status of Daming is completely different from the book before World War II, and more similar to the United States after the end of the Cold War.

Therefore, Daming's super battleship will be publicly promoted and displayed.

As Zhu Jingyuan told the old emperor before, they would be the glory and symbol of the empire and the navy.

After considering this, how to plan the future naval ship system?

Build a batch of similar prestige battlecruisers first, and then build a batch of super battleships in more than ten years?

Or is it the same as in the historical context of the previous life, and now the battle cruiser is built together with the traditional battleship?
After waiting for the relevant technologies to mature, merge the technologies of the two lines to form a complete "new cutting-edge high-speed battleship"?
However, since as a traveler, since we already know that the "new high-speed battleship" of World War II is the final complete body of the battleship.

The key is that they also know what their "new and cutting-edge" places are.

So can I skip the battlecruisers and traditional battleships and go straight to designing and building high-speed battleships now?
It is definitely impossible to do it in one step, but it should not be a problem to make a semi-finished product.

Of course, many of the designs used on the high-speed battleships at the end of World War II were limited by the level of technology at that time.

But there are also many designs that have little to do with the level of technology and are completely new ideas and ideas, as well as lessons learned.

For example, key protection design, horizontal armor and core armor box, inclined main armor, multi-layer protruding lightning protection structure, application and defense of underwater bombs, armor stripping cap design, hood and cap armor-piercing projectiles, etc.

Most of these technologies can now be reproduced quickly and can be directly applied to radical versions of dreadnought designs, along with the more critical small-tube oil-fired boiler and steam turbine technologies.

As for a sound damage control program, a sound air defense weapon and command system, a better observation and firing command system, radar and ballistic computers, and so on.

These are still not mature enough, or the technologies that have not yet been formed, can leave a space margin in the hull design in advance.

It is the most unscientific design idea to squeeze the hull space in one step. Unless it is strictly limited by force majeure, it cannot happen in that situation.

It is a matter of course normal operation to reserve room for improvement and upgrade.

Then actively promote the development of the corresponding technology, wait until it is basically mature, and then install it through upgrading.

Then the semi-finished high-speed battleship can be turned into a complete body.

Under such a framework, after the high-speed battleship becomes a complete body, there is no need to worry about its combat effectiveness.

The key is the combat power in the semi-finished product period...

It doesn't seem to worry too much.

The battleship of this design will definitely surpass the traditional battle cruiser in defense, and the sinking resistance should not be weaker than that of the traditional slow-speed battleship, which is also dubbed the "Iron King" by military fans.

But since it is a high-speed battleship, the most important thing is speed.

If the speed of the new ship cannot go up, then she is an iron king with a newer defense design.

If you need to stretch the power compartment excessively, weaken the defense or firepower to achieve the desired speed, then it is just a new war cruise with a better design.

Of course, even if only to this extent, they are better than traditional battleships and battlecruisers.

As for the specific level that can be achieved, it is still necessary to confirm the details with the relevant power system manufacturers during the formal design.

Whether the power density of the power system, as well as the power level of the single machine, as well as the gearbox and drive shaft, can meet the requirements.

These ships will not be explicitly divided into one, two, or several batches to design and build.

During the design and construction of warships, it is not necessary to put too much pressure on the empire's finances, but also to allow shipbuilders to always have orders.

It is necessary to maintain the inheritance and development of large-scale warship production and construction technology.

Therefore, it is necessary to continue to build continuously and evenly over a long period of time, and at the same time, to continuously optimize the design in depth.

The mature designs are gradually differentiated to form two or three optimal design solutions of different sizes and uses.

Small battleships lead the activities of the screen cruiser fleet, medium-sized battleships are built in large numbers as the main body of the decisive battle fleet, and large battleships exist as a strategic deterrent.

Due to the existence of the medium ship cost trap, small capital ships are not cost-effective for large powers.

However, Zhu Jingyuan believes that the small battleship is at least [-] tons, and it is the absolute main force at the current stage.

After all, even including Daming himself, the tonnage of the world's largest battleship is less than [-] tons.

When the [-]-ton battleships are downgraded to "small" battleships, Daming will not build new battleships of similar size.

These early-built battleships, like the battlecruisers in history, were upgraded and remodeled again in an era similar to World War II, and they were used as "small" secondary capital ships.

In general, Zhu Jingyuan only needs to plan the design indicators of "small" battleships now, and the design of medium and large battleships will be gradually upgraded with the development of technology.

As for the design indicators of aircraft carriers, cruisers, and destroyers, it is the same logic, going straight to the optimal solution in the era of World War II.

Now that I can't make a complete body, you can make a semi-finished product first. Even the semi-finished product is much easier to use than the conservative first edition.

In this mode, the early design and construction costs of a single ship will definitely look relatively high.

After all, the tonnage of capital ships has soared by more than 50%, and a large number of new technologies must be enabled at the same time. It is estimated that the cost of one ship can be higher than that of two traditional capital ships of [-] tons.

However, there will be a longer period of peace and development after the peace talks, and the new warships do not need to explode in production capacity and quantity immediately.

It will actively catalyze the accelerated maturity of related technologies, maintain continuous construction and continuously reduce the actual cost of a single ship, and eventually make it fall into an acceptable range.

(End of this chapter)