In the navy's dockyard, a worker was joking with his colleagues while working: "The progress on the navy's side is really fast. The sailboat stopped as soon as it was said to stop. Genesis just came back and went south again. This time he took it away."
We have bought more than 30 sailboats, so we must be able to bring back more rubber."
His colleague was also working hard and replied without raising his head: "Because we saw three whole ships of rubber, the navy was very proud this time. The tire production plant is waiting to use rubber, and many of them use steel.
The projects have to make way for the Navy’s new warships.”
This time after the Navy came back, it really got the attention of the people above. After all, although there are many alternatives, having natural rubber is indeed a lot less troublesome. Therefore, the Navy's enlarged meeting was held in full swing.
Interestingly, the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy once again did not attend the naval development meeting. Genesis took his battleship south again and only rested on land for a morning.
This time the number of the fleet going south was very large: not only were there 10 sailing ships specially built by the navy that could fight and transport things, but they also included three previous warships and 20 unarmed pure transport sailing ships.
In order to improve the efficiency of his trip south, Lawns even commandeered five large fishing boats and headed south to Dothan to transport rubber. This time, even conservative estimates suggest that he could plunder tens of thousands of tons of rubber from the Dothan Empire.
rubber.
In order to support the Navy's southward strategy of transporting rubber, Deserguerlo and others supported the Navy's military expansion and war preparations. In their view, as long as the Navy does not want oil and too much steel, everything is negotiable.
It is against this background that the Navy approved a crazy shipbuilding plan and decided to launch 20 all-metal multi-purpose warships at once, and an additional 20 fast transport ships. In addition, 50 large transport sailing ships, 50
The low-armed sailing ships pieced together a huge fleet that focused mainly on transportation and supplemented by naval warfare.
Of course, this is just a grand shipbuilding plan. Whether it can be completed or when it will be completed is still unknown. However, the first multi-purpose warship that has fallen on the Navy, which was previously unthinkable, has been built in a month.
Construction started before.
"Yeah, look at that boat over there, in the dock! I heard it can transport 1,000 tons of rubber in one go. It's made of all metal and is scary big!" The worker pointed with his chin at the big guy in the dock in the distance.
Said to his colleagues.
The colleague looked in the direction pointed by his chin and saw the giant ship with more than half of its hull already welded, lying quietly in the dock.
A boiler as big as a house has been placed inside the hull, and a huge chimney has been manufactured and placed next to the hull. On this giant ship, at least hundreds of workers are busy working nervously, and every part is precisely
is installed in its designated location.
A modern steel giant is definitely a systematic precision project, including the attention to ventilation pipelines, power line layout, fire extinguishing systems, drainage self-rescue systems, each of which has condensed the wisdom and exploration of countless generations.
The good news is that, with the help of the Magic Ball of Knowledge, the naval designers directly inherited these design experiences, and they designed the first all-steel ship in Elland Hill to be almost seamless and perfect.
The brand new battleship actually does not seem to be very large in tonnage. This kind of battleship has a full load displacement of 7,500 tons and is not a fully armored main cruiser. Because he knew that this kind of battleship would be eliminated, the battleship that Chris finally selected was a
Cheap alternative.
The plan he came up with was the design of an auxiliary cruiser. This kind of warship can transport people and supplies in peacetime. The cabins are spacious and the living conditions are very good. Moreover, this kind of warship can use coal as fuel, which is very good for Alan Hill.
appropriate.
This new type of warship is equipped with three turrets, equipped with six of the latest naval 105 mm caliber guns, and is equipped with 10 30 mm caliber high-level dual-purpose guns on the ship's side.
As a result, this kind of warship has good sea attack capabilities and strong air defense capabilities. It can be said that it is a maritime overlord in the new era. The only depressing thing is that the main business of this maritime overlord also includes cargo transportation.
and passenger transport.
The newly designed battleship was built in less than 6 months. After all, this kind of transport ship is just a cargo ship at its core. It has neither very heavy armor nor powerful large-caliber artillery, but it still allows
The feared overlord of the sea.
The only difference from the auxiliary cruiser is that this type of battleship is equipped with a sighting device, which allows the six main guns to attack distant targets more accurately. Therefore, in a sense, this type of cruiser is the first type of cruiser that can
A battleship that "accurately attacks distant targets".
This battleship has four huge chimneys, which look similar to the Titanic cruise ship. Its sides are very high, which also means that it has a huge tonnage and can carry a lot of things and people.
When fully loaded, it can run at a terrifying speed of 35 kilometers per hour. If converted into knots, it is about 19 knots, which is already faster than a serious high-speed sailing warship. This is when fully loaded. If it is in combat status, like this
The speed can be increased to about 38 kilometers.
Compared with the previous sailing battleship, this new auxiliary cruiser can concentrate 6 105mm caliber artillery on either side, and the shooting accuracy is higher at long distances. Therefore, in terms of firepower, it is better than the one on one side of the ship.
A sailing battleship equipped with 10 75-gun guns is more powerful.
If you include the 30mm caliber high and flat dual-purpose guns distributed on the sides of the ship, the combat effectiveness of this new type of warship is simply off the charts.
Compared with the sail battleship, it can run at full speed under any circumstances without having to worry about the wind direction. This is another huge improvement.
The emergence of the first-generation steel battleships of Eiland Hill had a specific historical background and mission requirements. Because of the enemy's insufficient combat power and mission limitations, Eiland Hill's navy was fully confident in crushing enemies on the sea.
The weapons and equipment in their hands have been stronger than the opponent's for one or even several eras, so they have no pressure from the opponent's navy at all, so they focus on other aspects.
On the vast sea, whether it is a mission to go south to purchase rubber or a mission to plunder the opponent's coastline, the mission is long and requires a certain speed and large endurance.
At the same time, they only need moderate firepower to fight against the slow-moving enemy sailing ships with no armor protection in naval battles. For these tasks, if Eiland Hill is allowed to build regular cruisers that can cruise at high speed and have large-caliber artillery, it will be simply
It's just a waste of resources.
From a production perspective, if we build real battleships, we will not only waste precious steel and valuable artillery production capacity, but also waste the speed of producing battleships. Under the same production time limit, almost ten auxiliary cruisers can be built in a year.
There are several, but it is estimated that only one or two regular cruisers can be launched.
The regular battleships that have been painstakingly manufactured are unable to control the coastline due to their scarcity, and the regular cruisers are not suitable for the southward escort and transportation mission of Airan Hill, because the advantages of regular cruisers in speed and firepower are difficult to deal with when facing sailing enemies.
Sometimes, it is completely overflowed and no more benefits can be obtained.
At the same time, the endurance and loading capacity sacrificed by regular cruisers in order to install heavy armor and large-caliber artillery, as well as the living conditions of sailors, become even more important when supporting long-term maritime activities.
To put it more bluntly, the enemy is too weak, and using cruisers is a waste. The long route also wastes the endurance and comfort of regular warships on unused armor...
After careful consideration, Chris found that the high-speed cruise ships and auxiliary cruisers modified from merchant ships that began to appear in the late 19th century just met the needs of missions such as Alan Hill: these ships have fast speeds, usually 18-26 knots, and very long range.
Outstanding, the radius of movement is of course not to mention, but more importantly, the space on this type of ship is ample and comfortable to live in. It can load enough supplies while allowing the crew to have enough living and activity space, which is conducive to long-term boring cruising.
maintain sufficient morale.
The best thing is that these ships are all coal-fired! They don’t need to waste precious diesel or heavy oil. They only need a relatively large amount of coal in Elland Hill to sail on the sea, which is very convenient and fast.
What's more important is that the auxiliary cruisers modified by this type of ship can serve shipping when they are eliminated or in peacetime. They can transport a large amount of materials and personnel. After removing their weapons, they can be used as cruise ships. This is very economical and practical.
.
After all, Airan Hill's technological development is very fast, and it is absolutely commonplace to eliminate some warships. Such wasteful behavior that consumes steel and then immediately eliminates it must be avoided by Airan Hill, whose production capacity is still limited.
of.
"When we have more and more warships, the Endless Sea will become our ocean of Ailanthir!" The boatman who spoke first said with a smile. He had no reason not to laugh, after all, he has been working overtime every day recently.
, the salary is enough to support his whole family.
This treatment was much better than what he had received before, and it made him very satisfied: he had worked hard and received ample wages and bonuses. Isn't this the happy life he had dreamed of before?
"Yes, when we have more and more ships and fill up the endless sea, we can go and see what is on the other side of the sea?" Another boatman smiled and looked at the sea in the distance and spoke.
