The Datang Navy launched the construction and equipment of a new generation of warships, announcing that the Datang Navy had fully entered the era of breech-loaded rifled guns.
But this does not mean that old warships will be retired. In fact, a large number of these old warships will still be active on the front line. After all, many warships are very new in age.
Even the earliest ironclad Jiangnan was only fifteen years old!
This means that all the steam steel battleships of the Tang Navy are no more than fifteen years old, and most of them are within ten years.
For these warships, the Tang Navy naturally would not just throw them away, but would mainly modify and upgrade them and then continue to serve them.
When the Tang Dynasty Navy was equipped with front-loading rifled cannons, it actually focused on upgrading and modification. The smoothbore guns on many battleships were upgraded to front-loading rifled cannons.
This time after entering the era of breech-loaded rifled guns, the Navy also adopted the same strategy.
Moreover, the upgrade and modification strategy is even more radical. This time the Navy plans to upgrade all naval guns to breech-loading guns.
In the past two years, the Navy has successively upgraded and refitted some warships, mainly dozens of armored cruisers, namely Shanxi-class and Guangxi-class, followed by some cruisers and frigates, but these warships are mainly relatively
As for the new warships, as for the Jiangnan class and early cruiser frigates and other old warships that are more than ten years old, the Navy no longer plans to upgrade and refit them, but is preparing to mothball them or simply sell them for scrap.
Because upgrades and modifications are not cheap, and because the technology of these early warships was not mature enough at the time, maintenance was more troublesome during actual use. Breakdowns occurred every three days, and the cost of use was very high. To maintain and use them, it was better to build new ships.
What a bargain.
Of the eight Jiangnan-class ironclads back then, only half are actually still on duty today, and the rest have been temporarily mothballed because the cost of use is too high to be worthwhile.
The only fate awaiting them is the ship-breaking yard.
At the same time, upgrades and modifications are generally carried out when the battleships are overhauled. Considering the large number of battleships and their duty tasks, as well as more important funding issues, the entire upgrade and modification plan will last at least five years or even longer.
In other words, for many years to come, there will still be a large number of front-loaded rifled guns in the Tang Navy.
The fleet is too large, and there is no way around it. Upgrading and modification must be done slowly. Even if the front-mounted rifled guns are replaced by upgrades and modifications, it does not mean that they will be thrown away directly, but will be installed on older auxiliary battleships.
There are many old offshore patrol ships, river warships and the like, and many of these warships are equipped with smoothbore cannons...
However, it is generally limited to warships within ten years of age. Warships older than this age will be sealed or dismantled.
This is to save money and free up space for upgrading, refitting and building new ships.
The Navy has begun to retire early steel steam battleships since the 32nd year of Xuanping, and the Jiangnan class is a typical example.
At that time, the technology to build these warships was not up to par, and the maintenance costs were already very high. When the ships get a little older, the maintenance costs will be even higher if they want to continue to use them.
The Navy felt that this was too much of a loss, so it might as well mothball the old ships or sell them for dismantling, and then free up funds to build new ships.
The Jiangnan-class No. 7 ship Fuzhou is a warship that has been put on the retirement list by the Navy.
In fact, the ship was not originally called Fuzhou, but Jiangxi, because at that time it was still called a battleship, but later the battleships became larger and larger, and the Jiangnan class of more than 1,000 tons continued to be called a battleship.
It was really inappropriate. After being classified as cruisers, all ships of this class were renamed after the state capital.
The current captain of the Fuzhou, Captain Ge Chengbin, is in a complicated mood right now!
Last year, he led the Fuzhou to be incorporated into the European fleet and participated in the capture of Ceuta. He also participated in the bombardment of many Tatar ports commanded by Rear Admiral Ren Zian, and escorted diplomats to the Ottomans. Although this series of actions did not
It brought him some practical military exploits, but even without merit, it was just hard work.
After six months of duty in the European fleet, the Fuzhou was originally going to return to the South African Port Naval Base for routine maintenance. However, after inspection, it was found that there were major problems with the engine, which posed safety risks, and it had to return to China to prepare for overhaul.
As a result, Naval Captain Ge Chengbin returned to China with the Fuzhou.
This voyage back to the country is naturally not a hurry, as this would be a waste of effective use time of the warship.
In fact, when Captain Ge Chengbin led the warship back to China, it was still considered a mission, but it was just an escort mission. When he arrived from South Africa to West Asia, he escorted four merchant ships. When he arrived in Ceylon from West Asia, he and two
A merchant ship returned together.
In addition, when returning to the coastal waters of India, he temporarily accepted the invitation of local diplomats and conducted a humanitarian bombardment of the port of a coastal indigenous state in India, relieving the suffering of hundreds of indigenous people who were bewitched by barbaric cults.
Send them to the west!
When we returned to the Strait of Malacca, we also played a guest role as a troop transport ship, transporting more than 200 retired navy soldiers back to China!
Along the way, the Fuzhou was actually never idle.
This is also the current norm for most Datang Navy warships. They nominally go to a certain sea area to perform tasks, but on the way there and back, they still need to undertake other tasks, mainly escorting and transporting supplies or personnel.
After all, you can't go on a trip in vain, it would be such a waste.
After a few months of stop and go, I finally returned to the Hong Kong Naval Base.
However, just after returning, Ge Chengbin received an order again.
His Fuzhou will not undergo major repairs, but will be decommissioned directly.
This made Captain Ge Chengbin a little unacceptable at first. He has been the captain of the cruiser Fuzhou for two years, and he has some feelings for it. In his opinion, although the Fuzhou is a bit old and has some engine problems, it is still good.
As for retiring directly.
However, the superiors had decided so, and he had no choice.
However, this unhappiness soon disappeared, because his superiors told him that his arrangements had been finalized. After the Fuzhou was decommissioned, he would lead the entire crew of the Fuzhou cruiser to the Colombo cruiser.
During the service, he will also serve as the captain of the cruiser INS Colombo.
After he got to know the cruiser Colombo a little bit, his mood was not so bad.
After the Fuzhou decommissioning ceremony was held yesterday, he will lead all officers and soldiers to sail the Fuzhou on its final voyage today.
The destination is a ship-breaking yard in Guangzhou.
That will be the final destination of the Fuzhou!
But that is not where Captain Ge Chengbin and other officers and soldiers belong!
With the loud whistle, the Fuzhou completed its last voyage and rushed directly to the beach of the shipbreaking yard!
At the same time, the Navy also arranged for a patrol ship to fire a salute outside to see the ship off!
After Ge Chengbin disembarked the ship with the officers and soldiers, and after the handover was completed, he took all the officers and soldiers on an inland river ferry to the No. 1 Shamian Shipyard not far away.
Captain Ge Chengbin’s new ship, the cruiser Colombo, is still at the No. 1 Shamian Shipyard.
Accompanying Ge Chengbin and other officers and soldiers were several other officers from the navy.
After arriving at the No. 1 Shamian Shipyard, Xu Zhuliang, the general manager of the company, welcomed them warmly. Along the way, he also told Ge Chengbin and others about the situation of the cruiser Colombo.
"Although this is not the first time our Shamian Shipyard has built a warship, it is the largest and most advanced warship we have ever built. For this cruiser Colombo, our Shamian Shipyard has put in a lot of effort!"
"Especially in order to deliver it as soon as possible, many of our workers are working hard day and night!"
When Xu Zhuliang spoke, his words were full of emotion and also meant to complain.
This makes Naval Captain Ge Chengbin quite disdainful. Such a cruiser costs at least three to four hundred thousand, and your shipyard's profit is already tens of thousands. How can you complain about making money?
Naval Captain Ge Chengbin was not a technician, and he only knew a rough idea. He had no idea that the First Shamian Shipyard had not only made no money, but almost lost money when it took over the Colombo cruiser.
This is mainly because the process for this cruiser Colombo is somewhat complicated.
The ship actually started construction three years ago. At that time, it was expected to be equipped with a front-mounted rifled gun. However, a year after it was launched, the hull was almost completed, and news came that the breech-loaded rifled gun was successfully developed.
The top brass of the Navy issued an order to suspend the construction of all warships under construction, and also suspended subsequent orders for warships that were not yet under construction.
The purpose is to change the design in time so that the front-loading rifled gun can be replaced by a breech-loading gun.
At that time, the Colombo was more than half completed, and in the end it was forced to change the design, and even part of the completed hull was dismantled.
I originally thought that it would not take long to resume work, but although there was a breech-loading cannon at that time, there was actually only a 300 mm breech-loading cannon, and other caliber artillery had to be designed.
After waiting for half a year, after the expected rear-mounted main gun was designed, the Colombo modified the design based on the data of the new naval gun and then started construction again.
It took a lot of effort to finish the hull, but the guns still had to wait, because the production of breech-loaded guns was still limited, and there were too many ships waiting to be used. The cruiser Colombo was just one of the ships waiting to be loaded with guns.
It took several months of waiting. At the end of last year, we got the naval gun, installed it, and then carried out outfitting and testing.
After struggling for a long time, it is finally completed and delivered to the Navy.
Due to repeated setbacks, the First Shamian Shipyard also suffered certain losses, although the Navy paid additional related expenses when the design was changed.
However, the construction period has been extended for too long, and the costs of the occupied dock and employees are considerable.
After the final calculation, the First Shamian Shipyard found that although it was profitable on the surface to undertake this warship, it actually made no money after deducting the extra hidden costs.
Otherwise, I wouldn't be complaining today.
But it's just a complaint. Of course, I don't dare to complain about anything. The warship market is very profitable. Their Shamian Shipyard relies on long-term accumulation to be controlled by the Ministry of State-owned Enterprises Shipyard and the Royal Shipyard.
to fight his way through the warship market.
Naturally, we will not easily destroy the relationship with the navy!
They are also thinking about receiving orders for a few more new-generation cruisers and frigates.
They even have ambitions to get a foot in the door on large warships to see if there is a chance to build armored cruisers.