"Cruiser? Just relying on cruisers may not be able to improve these negative public opinions!"
"That's right. If it's just a small-tonnage cruiser, I'm afraid it won't work. Now the people's vision has become higher. Twenty years ago, we just built a steam steel battleship for an office day, and the people enthusiastically participated.
Now, if you hold a public tour of cruisers or frigates, not many people will come."
"Yeah, these people are hard to take care of. Nowadays, you have to have a battleship for an open day, or at best an armored cruiser, otherwise no one will come to see it!"
"People still like to see warships with big hulls and thick tubes!"
"Some time ago, there was a shameless Army bumpkin who said that they could kill our cruisers with just a heavy artillery battery. Although they were bragging, it can be seen that ordinary cruisers and the like
It is already more difficult for small and medium tonnage warships to suppress the arrogance of those country bumpkins!"
Shao Shun looked around the group and then said: "Today's topic is cruisers, not battleships!"
"Of course, if any of you can solve the three major technical problems faced by the new battleship, I will go to the palace to apply for shipbuilding funds tomorrow!"
As soon as these words came out, everyone who had spoken before also shut up.
The technical standards for the new battleships of the Datang Navy have actually been proposed a long time ago.
The technical indicators of the new battleship are very clear: it must maintain a speed of more than 20 knots under normal pressure ventilation, at least eight main guns with a caliber of more than 300 mm and a barrel of 40 times, and an advanced armor belt that can withstand its own artillery.
.
It's a pity that they can't achieve any of these three indicators now!
At this time, Shao Shun continued: "Among the many subsystems developed for new battleships, power, firepower and armor are difficult to achieve for a while. The only one that can see hope in the near future is the unified firing director."
"The people below suggested building a technology demonstration ship and testing this unified firing director on small and medium-sized ships first!"
"At the same time, it is also to verify the new model of future naval warfare, so for the time being, we will use existing tactics to simulate future new warships as much as possible!"
"People from the shipbuilding department have also demonstrated that with our current steam engine technology level, as long as we are willing to spend money and use more tonnage for the power system, the speed can still be increased to more than 20 knots!"
"In terms of firepower, it is planned to deploy four twin-mounted 150mm and 40 times the main guns."
"As for armor, dome armor is used to free up tonnage for the power system."
"In this way, in addition to the protection capabilities, we can simulate the future main battleships in terms of speed and firepower to the greatest extent, and explore the changes in combat modes brought about by unifying the main guns!"
After hearing what Shao Shun said, everyone basically knew that this technology verification ship was probably built to unify the firing director and eight main guns of the same caliber and barrel multiple. As for protection and speed, etc.
, actually it doesn’t matter.
But when it comes to such a thing, although the knowledgeable naval generals know the importance, the people don't understand.
Ordinary people only like to see guns with large tonnage and thick barrels.
If you tell him whether you are technical or not, he will not be able to understand it and will not care.
You said that the technology is advanced and the combat power is even more awesome. I guess most people in the Tang Dynasty can just say that!
They don't care about advanced technology, it's already awesome enough now anyway.
Even without the use of the navy, the Tang Dynasty had so many civilian steel and steam ships that could sink all the indigenous sailboats.
If the navy took action and brought in a few frigates to ensure logistical supply and maintenance, it could sail from the Pacific to the Atlantic, circle the earth, and sink all the indigenous sailboats it could see.
Therefore, more often than not, people pay attention to the navy not to its advantages over the indigenous fleets, but simply to the shock that the navy's large-tonnage ships bring to themselves.
The shocking feeling of standing on the dock and seeing a behemoth of tens of thousands of tons is far more shocking than any technical details.
However, now people don’t even bother to take a look at a cruiser with several thousand tons.
But, again, the new 20,000-ton battleship continues to be difficult to produce.
Tens of thousands of tons of battleships cannot be built for the time being. The Holy Emperor does not support the tens of thousands of tons of old-style battleships. The Navy does want more, but the Holy Emperor does not provide more funding for shipbuilding, and the current funding of the Navy is not enough.
To use it, you can only squeeze out a little bit of toothpaste every year.
Therefore, the Navy has only placed orders for a few battleships in recent years. It has basically maintained the construction technology of one battleship before starting a new one. However, the construction period of battleships is long, one takes three to four years. This is also
This means that it will take the Navy three to four years to launch a battleship.
In fact, the biggest purpose of doing this is not to maintain the scale of naval battleships, but to maintain the R&D and production capabilities of relevant manufacturers.
After all, they will continue to develop and produce only if they have orders. If there are no orders, no one will be working on many technologies related to battleships.
If no one does it, it will be troublesome to pick it up again in the future. It will cost more and take longer, and most importantly, the Navy will not be able to immediately place an order for construction when needed.
It needs to be designed and developed from scratch.
This is why almost the entire empire knows that the navy's battleships are just big toys. They are not only toys for the navy, but also toys for the public to watch, and they continue to allocate funds to maintain the research, development and construction of battleships.
As for the actual role of battleships, they are basically useless in the current empire's foreign wars.
Because the navy has no need for these battleships, a fleet of frigates and cruisers is enough for the empire to control the global seas. Even these cruisers and frigates are actually severely over-fired.
If it has any effect, it is probably used to guard against various internal rebellions in overseas territories and other places in the future.
But this kind of thing is impossible to see, at least while the Holy Emperor is still alive.
The prestige of the Holy Emperor is so high that no careerist dares to have the slightest intention of rebellion.
The navy itself also knows that battleships have no practical effect. However, for the navy, the significance of battleships is not in actual combat, but in increasing the navy's influence within the empire.
Especially its influence among the people.
To put it bluntly, it’s a matter of face!
That's why the Navy always insists on building large-tonnage battleships, because they look powerful and shocking enough!
The current technology verification ship is to conduct technical verification for future battleships. Of course, now that it has been completed, the Navy also plans to increase the speed, at least lower than that of civilian ships like the Nova.
The Navy does not allow the embarrassing situation that among many naval warships, not even one battleship can catch up with the Nova!