After recapturing Haojing at the beginning of the year, the Tang Dynasty Navy found that it was close to the estuary of the Xijiang River and the port was relatively good. It could also guard the estuary of the Pearl River and could cooperate with the Hong Kong base dozens of kilometers away. Therefore, the navy also established a military base here.
A small naval base was established and a squadron, the Second Squadron, was stationed for a long time.
The Wuzhou is about to be launched. This is a big event, both for the navy and the entire Tang Dynasty!
Because the smooth launch of the Wuzhou means that the Tang Dynasty will have its first professional warship, and there will be more warships in the future!
The starting point for the rise of the Tang Dynasty's navy was the Wuzhou!
For something of such great significance, Li Xuan naturally needs to go there in person!
He even went to see the mass production of the Nine-Pin Artillery in person. This was the launch of a battleship that was more important than the Nine-Pin Artillery, so he naturally would not miss it.
On May 4th, Li Xuan led more than a hundred emperors and ministers out of the city, and then went to the Zhaoqing Shipyard, which was only separated by a wall from the Zhaoqing Arsenal, to personally watch the launching ceremony of the Wuzhou!
After the group arrived at the Zhaoqing Shipyard, some first-timers were immediately amazed by the huge Zhaoqing Shipyard!
The Zhaoqing Shipyard, like the Zhaoqing Arsenal, can be said to have been built from a wasteland, covering an area of hundreds of acres. The most important facility among them is the shipyard, which was built using a lot of manpower and material resources.
At present, Zhaoqing Shipyard has three ships that can build 400-ton ships, and as many as six docks that can build 100-ton ships.
The reason why a larger dock is not built is because the navigation capacity of the middle and upper reaches of the Xijiang River is limited. No matter the Ming Dynasty in the past or the Tang Dynasty now, there is no systematic dredging of the Xijiang River. In the spring and summer when there is abundant rain,
The season is fine, but in autumn and winter, after the water level drops, the middle and upper reaches of the Xijiang River become more dangerous. The water level is shallow, and there are many rocks in Antelope Gorge and other places. It is more dangerous for ships with large tonnage and deep draft to navigate.
The ocean-going warships of the Tang Dynasty were all specially built for long-sea operations. They had very deep drafts. The larger the tonnage, the deeper the draft.
Therefore, after comprehensive consideration, the Ministry of Industry simply rebuilt two shipyards in Lianzhou Port and Guangzhou, specifically for the construction of large-tonnage naval ships.
As for Zhaoqing Shipyard, the ships currently built are mainly third-class frigates of more than 300 tons and smaller river warships, or traditional Chinese ships with shallower drafts, such as sand ships, Guangzhou ships and the like.
In other words, although the Zhaoqing Shipyard is located in Zhaoqing and has received relatively large attention, in fact the main shipbuilding base of the Datang Navy is not in Zhaoqing, but in Guangzhou. Even Lianzhou is more developed than Zhaoqing.
is better.
There is no way, who made these two places trading ports, they already have relatively good ports and huge demand.
The Guangzhou Shipyard built by the Ministry of Industry is larger than the Zhaoqing Shipyard. It has three 500-ton shipyards, and is also planning to build a dry dock capable of building 1,000-ton ships.
Compared with the exclamations of those who came here for the first time, Li Xuan and other people who had been here before were very calm!
People in the Ministry of Industry have become accustomed to this. The many factories under the Ministry of Industry of the Tang Dynasty are basically large factories. Several arsenals, shipyards, textile factories, and steel plants are all very large-scale factories.
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Along the way, Li Xuan was not in a hurry to see the Wuzhou that was about to be launched. Instead, he first visited some of the workshops and equipment of the Zhaoqing Shipyard. As a shipyard, the most abundant materials in it were all kinds of wood and equipment used to process wood.
Mechanical tools.
Although it looks primitive and simple, Li Xuan knows that the technical content here is not much worse than that of Zhaoqing Arsenal!
After a brief tour of the factory area, Li Xuancai led the civil and military officials to the docks. Regardless of their size, these dockyards all had unfinished ship hulls!
In the largest dock inside, there is a huge ship standing!
This vessel is very different from the Fu Chuan, Guang Chuan, and Sha Chuan that are common in the Xijiang River Basin and even in China's offshore waters. First of all, this vessel is extremely slender. Unlike those traditional Chinese ships, it looks like a
The square bricks are somewhat similar to Western ships, but they are just similar.
Because the ship in front of you is also very different from the Galen ship among the Western ships that are more common along the coast today!
The most obvious difference is that its body is more slender and has three masts!
And this difference in size is also the difference between the design concepts of the warships of the Tang Navy and those of other countries, regardless of whether it is the Ming Dynasty or the Europeans. The only mission of the warships of the Datang Navy is to fight at sea, and it is based on
Different combat needs require different designs with different focuses.
The slogan of the Tang Navy is: use all the carrying capacity in combat!
As for the naval ships of this era, they generally also had the responsibility of loading cargo. The Tang Navy scorned this.
Let's fight, let's fight. What are you pretending to be?
To load goods, there will naturally be merchant ships and even armed merchant ships behind them. Navy warships are used for fighting!
This conceptual gap is directly reflected in the design of the ship!
The Wuzhou has a slender hull and three masts. What does this mean? Compared with other sailing ships of this era, it has high speed and good seaworthiness.
In addition, the slender hull can also deploy more artillery on both sides of the deck to further enhance the firepower!
If there is no need to load cargo, the freed load capacity can also be used to strengthen the hull structure and thicken the hull's defense capabilities.
Although this Wuzhou is only 350 tons, it was designed for maritime warfare from the first day of design!
Looking at the Wuzhou, Li Xuan seemed to have seen the day when the Tang Navy completely rose to prominence!
Not long after, following an order, the Wuzhou began to slowly enter the water, and then floated on the water!
The entire launching ceremony was not complicated, and could even be called quite boring. However, Li Xuan was still full of interest. After the Wuzhou was launched, he boarded the ship and inspected it carefully, and then continued to plead with the navy.
Next, I personally wrote the words "The First Battleship of the Tang Dynasty" with ink.
Although the Wuzhou is small, and the larger third-class cruiser Lianzhou will be launched in the next month, it can still be worthy of the title of the first battleship of the Tang Dynasty, because she has set a precedent.
And this kind of precedent does not even refer to the land of China, but to the whole world!
Nowadays, the navies of various countries around the world are mainly composed of Galen ships that can be used for both loading and fighting. Even some old-fashioned Karak ships are still in service.
Strictly speaking, these ships are actually armed merchant ships, they just carry more artillery!
And for the time being, there are no warships purely for fleet battles!
The two ship types currently designed and built by the Tang Navy, namely third-class frigates and third-class cruisers, are actually carved from the same mold and adhere to the same core design concept.
Although there are some detailed design differences, for example, a third-class cruiser has two gun decks, while a third-class frigate has only one, but strictly speaking, the difference is not big. If the third-class frigate is enlarged to 550 tons,
Add another deck, and it becomes a third-class cruiser.
After watching the launching ceremony, Li Xuan returned to the palace, but the navy was busy. They had to outfit the cannons as soon as possible, and then conduct a simple test, and then directly put the Wuzhou
We drove to Haojing Naval Base.
The outfitting and testing are also simple, because during the construction process, the main projects and even the details have been basically completed, leaving only some simple tasks, such as running into the artillery and replenishing a lot of supplies.
Hundreds of naval officers and soldiers, currently the most elite in the Tang Navy, were transferred from various departments of the navy. They set sail on this frigate and then went to sea along the Xijiang River. Finally, they arrived at the Haojing Naval Base and joined the 3rd Fleet under the First Fleet.
Second Squadron Order of Operations!
In June, a third-class frigate, the Xunzhou, will be completed and put into service.
By July, the first third-class cruiser Lianzhou will be completed and put into service.
By then, the Datang Navy will have three professional warships. Even though the number is smaller, the strength will not be weak. I can't say that in the near sea, but if it goes out to the open sea, with the excellent speed and maneuverability of these three ships,
, I dare not say that it can kill those traditional Chinese-style hard sailing ships and those Galen ships in the hands of foreigners, but it can also seize the T-front, and then use broadside firepower to hit the enemy's bow or stern position to gain a tactical advantage.
Even if you encounter a large enemy ship that cannot be defeated, you can still escape with high speed!
It is a pity that after these three warships were launched into service one after another, the subsequent warships will have to wait for several more months.
The third third-class cruiser is not expected to enter service until December, while the second third-class cruiser is not expected to enter service until January next year. This is because when the Navy formulated the shipbuilding plan, it was divided into several batches.
Yes, these are the first batch of warships. The start of construction of the second batch of warships was delayed by several months.
Therefore, if the Tang Dynasty Navy wants to obtain the fourth warship, it will have to wait for more than half a year. If it wants to form a fleet with more than ten or even more warships, it may take several years.
But even if there is only one ship at present, it can only be increased to three ships in the next two months. However, the Tang Navy has already ambitiously formulated a battle plan to completely regain the Pearl River Estuary and even expel Fo Langji!
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