Chapter 945: The Destruction of the Super Battleship
Moreover, in past counterattacks, battleships of the Daheng Empire Navy were severely damaged one after another. Even the Daheng-class super battleship Bei'an had a main turret destroyed by its main gun, and the rear side was torn off.
A large hole opened up, and due to water intrusion, it tilted and had to be filled with water to maintain balance. Eventually, the ship's speed was reduced to less than twenty knots.
However, the Bei'an also made a great contribution. Four of the five shells that hit the enemy ships were hit by the Bei'an.
In the middle of the night, multiple destroyers of the Daheng Empire Navy launched a torpedo attack, completely sending the opponent's half-dead super battleship into the bottom of the sea!
The remaining warships of the Krul Kingdom Navy scrambled to escape one by one!
In this battle, coupled with the battle in the waters of Bari Port, the Krull Kingdom's navy was sunk five battleships, one battlecruiser, and more than 20 other cruisers and destroyers on the two battlefields.
The strength was once again severely damaged, and more importantly, the Krul Kingdom Navy's plan to unite the two fleets, one in the south and one in the north, was completely bankrupt!
What's more, their first super battleship, the USS Alia, was sunk not long after it was completed and put into service when it went to sea for the first time!
It will never be able to go to the port of Barry to rendezvous with its sister ship Arthur.
After the news spread back to the Kingdom of Krul, the country's top brass wailed!
As the Daheng Empire Navy once again blocked the main fleet of the Krul Kingdom Navy in Budel Port and Barry Port, it also declared that the Krul Kingdom Navy's breakout operation had officially failed.
Kingdom Island continues to be blocked, and the time to break through the blockade and resume maritime transportation is far away!
Moreover, as the blockade of the Daheng Empire continues, the minelayers of the Daheng Empire Navy are directly laying mines outside many important ports of the Kingdom of Krul almost day and night, especially the two major military ports of Bari Port and Buder Port.
A key mining target for the Imperial Navy.
The minefield formed by the dense mines caused great trouble for the Krul Kingdom's navy. Even though they continued to clear mines, mine clearing was much more troublesome than laying mines.
This war is extremely detrimental to the Kingdom of Krul!
In April of the 27th year of Qian Sheng, the Daheng Empire once again launched a landing operation on several islands of Kingdom Island under the premise that the navy continued to blockade the Kingdom of Krul.
The Migratory Bird Island located in the southern part of Kingdom Island was captured, and strict anti-aircraft firepower was built on it, and a large number of aircraft and ground troops were deployed. This place also became an important forward supply base for the Daheng Empire Navy after it became Bell Island.
It is enough to provide extremely important logistical support for the Daheng Empire Navy on Kingdom Island.
In May, the Daheng Empire captured Hogan Island in the southeastern waters of Kingdom Island.
As a result, the Daheng Empire Navy's strategy of seizing islands has achieved a comprehensive victory. It has successively captured Bell Island, Migratory Bird Island, and Hogan Island, and fully covered the waters of Kingdom Island from west to east.
At this time, the daily supplies of the main fleet of the Daheng Empire Navy can be completed directly in the waters of Kingdom Island.
Routine maintenance, minor damage repairs, and mild modifications can be completed on Dongji Island, while serious damage and major modifications can be completed back to the mainland.
In this way, the scope of activities and endurance of the Daheng Empire in the waters of Kingdom Island have been fully improved.
What's more, the strength of the Daheng Empire's navy is still increasing.
The four basic models and two improved models of the Daheng-class battleships were put into service last year and in the spring and summer of this year.
A total of six Daheng-class battleships became the core pillar of the Daheng Empire's navy.
Two basic models of the 40,000-ton Royal Princess-class battlecruisers were put into service last year, and two improved models were put into service this year.
But this is already the last battlecruiser of the Daheng Empire.
Because the battle distance is getting farther and farther, the Daheng Empire's navy has fully tended to focus on protection designs in battleship design. Coupled with the continuous advancement of power technology, the speed of the Daheng Empire's battleships is now getting faster and faster. Finally,
The speed of the two Daheng-class improved battleships, namely the Bei'an and the Nan'an, has reached 27 knots.
Although the speed of battlecruisers is faster, and the fastest Royal Princess-class battlecruiser can even reach more than 30 knots, its weak protection capability is a huge shortcoming. In many naval battles, the four Royal Princess-class battlecruisers
The performance of the battleship was not eye-catching, and it was severely damaged many times. Since the Royal Princess entered service, it spent most of its time lying on the local slipway for repairs...
During the Great Battle of Dongji Island, the Royal Princess was severely damaged and had to be repaired for several months.
During the Battle of Budr Port, the battleship was hit by multiple 350mm naval guns from enemy ships, and was severely damaged again.
This thing only runs fast, but without fighting, its firepower is one less than that of the Daheng-class battleship, not to mention the twelve-door of the new generation Jingzhou-class battleship that is more advanced and is expected to enter service in the second half of this year.
The main gun.
In order to improve the survivability of this class of ships, the Daheng Empire Navy added armor to them while they were being repaired after heavy damage. This also resulted in an increase in tonnage and a decrease in speed.
After the modification, the speed of the Royal Princess is only 28 knots. It is not much better than the Bei'an, but its firepower and protection are not as good!
The performance of the Royal Princess class battlecruisers was so embarrassing, and the performance of several other classes of battlecruisers in the Daheng Empire Navy was even worse.
In several large-scale battles from last year to now, the Daheng Empire Navy has lost more battlecruisers than battleships. Almost half of the battlecruisers have been sunk, and most of the others have been severely damaged one after another.
In order to improve survival success, these heavily damaged battlecruisers will be more or less armored during repairs.
Although it will run slower this way, it is still better than one shot!
The emergence of fast battleships directly abolished the greatest tactical value of the battlecruiser's fast running, and then only the shortcomings remained.
After such a setback, the Daheng Empire Navy simply stopped the construction of battlecruisers and turned its focus to the design and construction of fast battleships, which are the follow-up battleships of the Daheng class battleships.
Even the order for the Jingzhou-class battleship was cut, because although this thing has twelve cannons, its speed is still a bit low, only 26 knots, which does not meet the requirements for a fast battleship.
The Daheng Empire Navy is now more inclined to build a deeply improved version of the Daheng class. The specific standard is to have three triple-mounted 400 mm caliber main guns, and the main guns are fifty times the caliber.
The speed requirement is a minimum of twenty-eight knots, and will develop towards thirty knots in the future. From this speed requirement, it is actually not much different from a battlecruiser.
In terms of protection, it has armor to protect its own main gun, and continues to adopt the key protection concept, focusing on underwater protection and horizontal protection.
In terms of main gun firepower, the super-heavy bomb plan was further explored and adopted to enhance the armor-piercing power during long-distance bombardment.
This series of changes in the construction of capital ships also caused the Daheng Empire to become the first country among several naval powers in Blue Star to actively stop the construction of battlecruisers.
However, in order to avoid future accidents, the Daheng Empire Navy further increased the number of heavy cruisers built to replace some of the tactical roles of battlecruisers in the past.