afterglow

Chapter 349 Yongle-class battleship; strange new enemy
Similar to the Royal Navy, a major problem faced by the Ming Dynasty Navy is the lack of sufficient high-speed medium and large warships.

But the British Navy at least has a large number of heavy cruisers, while the Ming Navy has always underestimated heavy cruisers. So far, there are only 6 heavy cruisers in service - because the Ming Dynasty does not have as many overseas colonies as the British, and the navy also agrees that The price-performance ratio of treaty-type heavy cruisers is very low.

In the past 20 years, the Ming Navy has built a large number of small and medium-sized warships. There are currently as many as 27 light cruisers and 172 destroyers in service, ranking first in the world. Moreover, these small and medium-sized warships are relatively sophisticated. , cutting-edge, the overall level is quite high.

In contrast, the navies of other countries generally retain many old destroyers from the European War.

In the original plans and assumptions of the Ming Dynasty, when the naval treaty expired, it should start building new high-speed battleships in batches, but it still did not consider building heavy cruisers.

The U.S. Navy on the other side of the Pacific is equipped with a large number of heavy cruisers, but the Ming Navy believes that it is not cost-effective to use heavy cruisers to fight against heavy cruisers - the cost performance of heavy cruisers is very low, and they will be beaten when encountering battleships, and the production capacity of American shipyards is If there are more countries than our own country, we are bound to suffer losses in such a competition.

Therefore, the Ming Navy hopes to build a first-class cheap small high-speed battleship that can deal with the heavy cruisers of the US Navy with one enemy and many, and the cost of such a battleship will not be greater than that of two heavy cruisers.

Since the Americans like to focus on using heavy cruisers, they don't need too many cheap small battleships, about three are enough.

However, the disastrous defeat of Fleet A made the Ming Navy realize after a brief revelry that future naval battles would undergo earth-shaking changes.

Almost that night, after the hearty celebration banquet, individual generals and technical officials were keenly aware of two points:
First, the significance of battleships in decisive battles has declined, but their huge tonnage makes them an excellent weapon-carrying platform. Consideration should be given to equipping battleships with a large number of anti-aircraft weapons so that they can provide a solid and tight protective umbrella for the aircraft carrier air attack fleet.

Second, the navy needs professional small and medium-sized air defense warships.Theoretically, light cruisers with a standard displacement of [-] to [-] tons are the best choice in terms of air defense performance.Although anti-aircraft destroyers are cheaper, they carry correspondingly fewer weapons.

What’s interesting is that the two new battleships that are now being outfitted have just drafted ship names. They were previously called by code names.

According to the customary naming rules of the Ming Dynasty navy, new ships should choose the prosperous era after Long Shuo.

But then came the chaotic period of Wu Zetian's usurpation of the throne and the Anshi Rebellion, and there was no suitable era name to choose from.

Later, the Song dynasty basically had nothing to do with the word "powerful". People in the Ming Dynasty always liked to make fun of Zhao and Song Dynasty, so it was inappropriate.

The Yuan Dynasty temporarily ignored it selectively, so the reign name that should be adopted now came to this dynasty.

Considering that if an accident occurs, the sinking of the Hongwu may have a greater impact on the morale of the military and civilians, the new battleships were officially designated as the Yongle class, with the No. [-] Yongle and No. [-] Xuande.

The single battleship Longshuo is a synthesis of the Ming Navy's technological progress during the interwar period. As a technology verification ship, she inevitably has some congenital problems.

After these problems were solved, the Yongle class became a masterpiece of many advanced technologies, representing the peak level of Ming industry today.

As the most sophisticated and largest weapon in human history, what can better embody a country's technology than the battleship?

The Yongle class is a flat-deck ship with a bulbous bow and a square stern, with a standard displacement of 4.12 tons.

It is rare to find a square stern on today's large warships - a study by the Naval Ordnance Gezhi Institute found that when the warship's speed reaches 30 knots, a square stern can reduce the resistance by about 4% compared with the traditional round stern, and at the same time make the warship more stable. Sex has improved.

The disadvantage is that the low-speed sailing performance is not as good as the round stern, but the navy finally adopted the square stern design.

At the same time, the bulbous bow can also significantly reduce wave-making resistance, and the effect is about 6%-8%.

As we all know, the French have always been at the forefront of boiler technology, and after taking the lead in developing supercharged boilers, they are even more unparalleled in the world.

Akito learned considerable valuable experience from this and created an equally first-rate powertrain.

The power configuration of the Yongle class is eight high-temperature and high-pressure boilers, four steam turbines, and four-shaft propulsion.

The steam superheater can heat steam to an exaggerated temperature of 420°C, and the output steam pressure is as high as 35㎏/c㎡.Just relying on eight boilers can output as much as 18 horsepower, and it can exceed the 20 horsepower mark when overloaded.

Such surging power allows the Yongle class to reach a speed of 33 knots in design.

However, according to common sense, her trial speed must exceed the design speed, especially since the designer underestimated the drag reduction effect brought about by the unique combination of bulbous bow and square stern in the world.

The main gun is a Type 416 46-inch (1410㎜) triple mount with a caliber of 740 times. The supporting trial-produced Type [-] special armor-piercing projectile weighs [-]kg and has a muzzle velocity of [-]m/s.

The bullet weight coefficient of this armor-piercing bullet is 0.63, which is a completely super-heavy bullet. The warhead contains a special tungsten alloy steel ball...or "ball", and its armor-piercing ability is extremely exaggerated.

The Navy believes that super-heavy bullets with a slightly lower muzzle velocity can have a miraculous effect - during long-distance bombardment, the more curved trajectory can hit the opponent's horizontal armor at a larger angle, and the bullet will penetrate the enemy's soul.

Its protective performance is not impressive. The main armor belt on the side is 304mm thick and tilted inward at 16°; the turret front is 416mm; the horizontal armor is better, reaching 240mm.

Thanks to the advancement of the power system, the Yongle-class battleship's power compartment is relatively short, saving a lot of tonnage - in other words, it can carry thicker armor with the same tonnage.

As for the secondary guns and anti-aircraft guns, the originally planned configuration was urgently stopped.

The disastrous defeat of Fleet A has alerted the Ming Dynasty's navy - the anti-aircraft weapons of battleships must be strengthened, and the existing firepower is far from enough!
The performance of Yongle and Xuande is undoubtedly superior, but the high cost has also made the navy miserable. The Consultative Council is also very dissatisfied because the construction cost of these two new battleships has exceeded the cost by [-]%.

As a result, the Consultative Council also vigorously promoted the cancellation of the construction of No. [-] and No. [-] ships, and built a first-class large aircraft carrier based on them.

Anyway, aircraft carriers do not need to be equipped with expensive naval guns and armor. They only need to purchase additional carrier-based aircraft. And didn’t the recent battle prove that aircraft carriers are the general trend?

The next day, morning.

Nanjing is still cold in late winter. Even though the sun is shining, it cannot stop the north wind carrying moisture.

Normally, on the tenth day of the Lunar New Year, the capital city should be slightly less festive than last year's festival, and it will not return to the excitement until the Lantern Festival a few days later.

However, the impatient court announced the news of victory early in the morning that made people rejoice. The morning newspaper and the morning news detailed this glorious victory.

People find it unbelievable - big means strong. Battleships are as important as steel hills, so how can they be easily sunk by buzzing planes?
Some people question this because it is too unreasonable.

Although most questioning comments are not malicious, it is not ruled out that there are some ulterior motives mixed in.

The Foreign Enforcement Agency, which pays close attention to the trend of public opinion, has a different view on this. Some officials believe that these people who deliberately disturb people's hearts should be found.

Then... a reputation for defamation will definitely not escape, killing the chicken to scare the monkeys.

But some people hold a different view. They feel that rushing to arrest people now will show that the court has no confidence - just like the incompetent and furious approach after a lie is exposed. "Fake things can't be true, and true things can't be faked." Shen Yu is one of those who holds the opposite view.

"Uh... we can't just ignore it, right?"

"Wait for a few days before taking action. That's not right. You shouldn't take the initiative to arrest people. You should issue a summons and maintain a high profile."

Forbidden City, Wenhua Hall.

The regular cabinet meeting was held as usual, and all cabinet ministers were busy people. From time to time, they would encounter urgent matters and delay some time, so some people would always be late for a while.

"There is something I haven't finished, so it took me a little longer. You guys have been waiting for a long time." Yu Shenhua was the last one to arrive today, and he seemed to be still thinking about other things.

"Hey, Jinrong, if you didn't come here, we wouldn't be able to do it today." Li Guangyuan said with a smile while flipping through the files in front of him.

"It's like this. Siam's attitude is not clear yet. We have tried our best in negotiations. Now it seems that using both soft and hard methods is not enough. We can only wait for it to change its mind."

Siam has long been close to the Ming Dynasty and often paid tribute. However, with the invasion of Western forces, it was in crisis and began to do everything possible to seek to preserve itself.

Similar to history, the three eggs in Siam are very good at dancing, so they still have sovereignty.

The Ming army used Pattani, the southernmost point of Siam, to land on the Malay Peninsula. The Annan Royal Army also used northern Siam to launch a massive attack on British Burma in the west.

Siam knew very well that the Ming Dynasty was now a powerful force, so it still exercised restraint even when troops from other countries crossed the border. They only made a small diplomatic inquiry and did not even protest.

But essentially they still have a wait-and-see attitude and don't want to take sides early.

"It's very tactful, not worth placing high hopes on." Gao Qingkui nodded slightly, "We have temporarily put aside our diplomatic efforts, as long as we prevent them from turning to the West."

If you don’t join the team now, do you want to get a share of the pie when the overall situation is settled?dream!
"Do we really want to suspend it? I don't think it's good." Lin Xi was very worried about this. "If Siam does not fully cooperate, Annan's troop strength and the deployment and transportation of supplies will be problematic."

Although the Siamese now acquiesce to the transit of soldiers and horses from other countries, they will not actively cooperate after all.

This caused a lot of trouble for the Annan Royal Army, and it was difficult for them to ensure sufficient logistical supplies.

"Does the military have any ideas?" Gao Qingkui asked.

"First of all, the Siam issue must be resolved as soon as possible. It is not appropriate to allow them to play both sides. We can consider using force to deter them, or..."

As he spoke, Lin Xi glanced around at the cabinet ministers present and said calmly: "Someone in the governor's staff office has come up with a rough idea - to break into Bangkok with lightning speed and force the Siamese to submit."

"This is very powerful." Li Guangyuan asked thoughtfully: "How feasible is it?"

"In the final analysis, Siam is just being tactful, but if they really want to go against our country, they would never dare to do so. The military feasibility is [-]%. Paratroopers falling from the sky are extremely difficult to defend against."

Gao Qingkui, who was at the front, closed his eyes and considered it for a while, then mused: "This method is not impossible, but it is a bad idea. Don't consider it unless it is necessary. Let's discuss it after Nanyang is pacified."

The core of Ming Dynasty's strategy is the Nanyang region, and the South Asian subcontinent has a lower priority.

The Ming army currently stationed in Yunnan is mainly defensive and supplemented by offensive; Annan, on the other hand, is very active and eager to launch a multi-pronged attack on British Burma.

This kind of abnormal enthusiasm is not appropriate in the eyes of the Ming Dynasty monarchs and ministers, so let them put in more effort for the time being. The logistical difficulties will be more difficult. If they really sweep across Southeast Asia, it will be difficult to divide the fruits of victory.

In the next few days, the Ming army on the Malayan Peninsula advanced hand in hand on both the east and west fronts, making rapid progress.

The embarrassed British and Indian troops often fled to a place and barely regrouped before completing the digging of field fortifications. They were quickly defeated by the Ming army that followed them.

So, again and again.

After defeating the British-Indian 9th Infantry Division defending Kuala Terengganu like a storm, the assault group led by Zhou Changfeng captured the important east coast town of Kuantan on the second day of March.

Obviously, the defeated 9th Division had no morale at all, and fled southward as if it were flying at the slightest resistance.

Under such a vigorous advance, the assault group arrived at Mersing in a furious rush the next afternoon.

This is the last city in the southern part of the Malayan Peninsula. After taking it, we will go to the coast and face Singapore across the strait.

"...Singapore is the most important port city in the UK. It has been working tirelessly on defense for a long time. Many fortifications were only officially completed at the beginning of last year. It is known as one of the most difficult to conquer fortresses in the world. It is estimated that in the future, we will It may have to face more than 6 troops, and there are many permanent fortifications, including more than 100 medium and large-caliber artillery pieces."

On the armored command vehicle, Zhao Hanfeng explained to Zhou Changfeng the latest war situation briefing.

The latter carefully looked through the aerial photos and smiled nonchalantly: "No matter how strong the fortress is, it still needs people to defend it. No matter how complete the facilities are, what's the use if the defenders have no morale?"

But at this moment, a series of explosions and gunshots suddenly came from the front, which sounded like a fierce encounter.

"Chinese infantry is approaching to the west! Major!"

"Henderson, bring your men to reinforce Company B!"

"Incoming artillery fire! Mortars!!!"

A British Commonwealth army that was different from the past encountered an assault group of the Ming Army on the Eastern Front. The leading units of the latter thought that they were still vulnerable to defeat.

Frontal containment, flanking detours, and then simultaneous attacks - this trick has been tried and true, and the British and Indian troops often collapsed at the first touch.

However, this time the opponent is particularly calm?Amidst the sound of whistles, the soldiers of the Ming army who shouted and attacked in a sparse formation were unable to shake them.

The explosion of grenades and the dense bullets knocked down many people, and more than a dozen infantrymen at the front were killed or injured.

But neither the enemy nor we retreated. In the blink of an eye, both sides fell into a rare hand-to-hand combat.

(End of this chapter)