Between August 1894

Dream Castle

Xianju Palace

Li Fushou is reviewing the Metropolitan-class steam iron armored battleship officially developed by the Navy. The first ship is the "Red River Valley". Therefore, this powerful iron armored battleship is named the "Red River Valley" class battleship.

The first ship, the Red River Valley, cut the first steel plate on June 19, 1894. The construction period was one year and one month, and it was launched for 5 and a half months. It is expected to be officially put into service in early 1896.

This class of ships is based on the "Old Man Star" class battleship planned and built by the British Empire Navy. It basically adopts an equivalent design and the only improved design is to add an additional 440 tons of bulletproof armor belt to the ammunition depot. The ship's standard displacement is 13,243 tons and full load displacement is 14,860 tons.

Main dimensions; length 132.5 meters, width 22.7 meters, draft 7.9 meters.

Maximum speed; 18.5 knots, range of 4600 nautical miles/10 knots.

Power: vertical three-expanding engine, 15400 horsepower, 2 axes and 2 paddles;

Military equipment: artillery 305mm dual-equipped × 2,152mm×12,96mm×10; torpedo 457mm×2;

Armor: 557mm on the side, 103mm on the deck, 532mm on the turret;

Personnel: 680 people.

Cost; 1.376 million yuan (equivalent to £688,000)

From the current perspective, the design of the "Red River Valley" class battleship is quite balanced, and does not pursue special excellence in a certain indicator. The defense, firepower and speed have reached the current high standards. At the same time, the cost of the steam iron armored battleship can be suppressed to a certain level, which is conducive to the construction scale.

This is the characteristic of the British Empire's battle fleet. It does not pursue special outstanding capabilities in one aspect, so as to maintain a reasonable cost, it can form a large fleet size and maintain global maritime hegemony.

Judging from the main gun fire power, the Red River Valley-class battleship with a full load displacement of nearly 15,000 tons is only equipped with two dual 305mm main guns in front and back. It seems to be the same as the Zhenyuan class iron armored battleship with a displacement of 7,600 tons. For such a huge battleship, the firepower is quite weak.

Actually not

The British "Indomitable" class battleship, which was contemporary with the Zhenyuan Iron Craft, was equipped with four 406mm Armstrong breech reloading cannons, and a projectile weighed more than 730 pounds. It is hard to say that it is more powerful than the Red River Valley-class battleship, because although the two are only more than 10 years apart, they are not a product of the same technical level.

The former uses black gunpowder, while the latter uses yellow particulate gunpowder with stronger performance. The improved gun barrel can withstand greater momentary pressure. The explosion of the new gunpowder pack is more powerful, the initial muzzle velocity is higher, and the armor-breaking ability is stronger, so it has greater lethality.

Whether it is Dingyuan, Zhenyuan ship, British unyielding battleship, majestic battleship, or Ocean Kingdom Qinglong class heavy cruiser, although it has only been built for more than a decade, today with the rapid development of technology, it has become a product of the previous era.

The "Red River Valley" class battleship is equipped with 305mm main gun and 12 152mm body tube rapid-fire cannons. The ship is covered with reinforced steel armor and is equipped with a new coal-fired steam engine. It has a comprehensive crush on the iron armor ship in terms of armor protection, maneuver and firepower.

First of all, in terms of armor protection, taking the "Red River Valley" class battleship as an example, the standard displacement has reached 13,243 tons. The increase in tonnage means an increase in the thickness of bulletproof armor and a great improvement in defense.

The thickest part of the main armor belt of the "Red River Valley" class battleship is 557 mm, the thinnest part is 132 mm, the front of the main turret is 532 mm, the front of the second-level turret is 202 mm, the thickness of the commander tower is 294 mm, and the thickness of the deck is 103 mm.

Such protection is far beyond that of the ironclad ship.

Take the Dingyuan ship, the first-class ironclad ship, known as the "No. 1 giant ship in Asia", as an example. The armor thickness on the Dingyuan ship's Iron Armor Fortress, the armor thickness under the waterline is 355mm, the armor thickness of the 305 gun seat is 304mm, the cannon shield thickness is 15mm, and the command tower armor thickness is 203mm. This armor protection data is quasi-first-class among the first-class ironclad ships, but it is also very different from the "Red River Valley"-class battleships.

If the main gun is on the strategic line, the main gun of the Dingyuan ship cannot penetrate the heavy bulletproof armor of the Red River Valley battleship, while the latter can easily tear the former's defense. This is because the Red River Valley battleship is equipped with new types of bombs such as caps and armor-piercing bombs, which greatly improves the armor-piercing capabilities of the main gun.

Secondly, in terms of maneuver, the Red River Valley battleship with a new coal-fired boiler can run at a high speed of 18.5 knots, while first-class ironclad ships such as the Zhenyuan and Dingyuan can only run at a speed of up to 15 knots when the tonnage is several thousand tons less than the former.

The "Yosino" fast cruiser customized by Fusang Kingdom can run to a highway of 23 knots, but due to its displacement of only more than 4,000 tons, the hull is weak. This is an incurable fetal problem. It can only participate in low-level rookies and show its majesty in front of the Zhenyuan and Dingyuan ironclad ships.

If it is opposite the "Red River Valley" class battleship, it will only be defeated as a scum in minutes.

The main artillery of the "Yoshino" fast cruiser hits the "Red River Valley" class battleship with ten or 20 shots, and the latter can enter the soul with one shot, which is the gap.

According to the words of General He Fang;

The Red River Valley battleship is a huge iron lump with unprecedented armor protection capabilities, which is an unprecedented test for the enemy's main gun fire. With the current latest 305mm caliber main gun technical level, it is difficult to break its defense.

The implication is that only a 343mm caliber main gun or a 381mm caliber main gun can cause fatal damage to its heavy carburized bulletproof armor.

Finally, in terms of firepower configuration, the firepower of the "Red River Valley"-class battleship is several times stronger than that of the ironclad ships.

It is equipped with 12 latest 152mm body tube re-entry rapid-fire cannons, 10 95mm Miss Australia rapid-fire cannons, and 12 37mm five-tube Haqikas machine cannons, which can form an extremely dense barrage and baptize the enemy ships on the battle line.

Although it cannot cause damage to the main turret protected by heavy armor, the damage to the enemy ship's secondary turret and all exposed equipment is fatal, which is enough to affect the progress of a naval battle.

Compared with the two Krupp 150mm breech secondary guns equipped on the Zhenyuan, four 75mm Krupp guns, and eight 37mm five-barrel Haqikas machine guns. The former projected firepower per unit time is more than 8 to 10 times that of the latter, which is not the same as that of the other.

Unlike the main gun fire arrangement of the ironclad ship, the double-mounted 305mm main turret of the battleship "Red River Valley" battleship is arranged along the central axis. This arrangement allows the main turret to adjust the shooting angle more freely, and allows all main guns to shoot in the same direction, thereby increasing the intensity of the battleship's firepower.

Therefore, from the current perspective, this class of steam iron armored battleship is still very advanced, bringing together many advanced technologies developed by the world's naval forces, reaching the mainstream level of a world naval power, and being more than 10 years old.

"What a waste!"

Li Fushou sighed with his teeth, then placed the documents on the desk, pinching his eyebrows with some headaches, and then felt a little better.

His sigh was not unreasonable. With the gradual deepening of the Second Industrial Revolution, the development trend of the main naval battleships in the world today is changing with each passing day, and revolutionary new technologies and inventions are constantly emerging, completely changing the current situation of naval equipment.

Therefore, a costly iron armored battleship has a lifespan of only a few more than ten years or less than 20 years, and then it is quickly eliminated by new equipment and becomes a marginal character that grandma does not love his uncle.

The Admiralty urgently arranged the battleship "Red River Valley" to hold the first steel plate cutting ceremony, which demonstrated its urgent mood, and was also reflected in the construction arrangements of the second battleship "Brisbane".

The Red River Valley Shipyard has two 20,000-ton shipyards, mainly used to build 20,000-ton freewheels, and can also be used to build steam iron armored battleships of more than 10,000 tons. After obtaining the construction order for the "Red River Valley" class battleships, it is planned to start construction of two 30,000-ton shipyards to meet the increasingly prosperous world maritime market and possible arms construction needs.

After the 20,000-ton Cape-class Freewheel in the dock is launched, the "Brisbane" battleship will enter the dock at the beginning of next year and can be launched and installed at the end of next year. The construction progress is only 6 months away from the first ship "Red River Valley".

This also shows

The year after that, at the end of 1896, the Admiralty of the Ocean Kingdom would have two main steam armored battleships, an unparalleled strength throughout Asia and Oceania.

Think carefully for a while

Li Fushou still did not approve the construction of the No. 3 "Songjiang" and the No. 4 "Melbourne", but made the following instructions;

The Admiralty Department immediately studied the next generation of 4,000-ton cruisers, requiring attention to ocean navigation capabilities, trial sailing and crew living comfort to adapt to the kingdom's long coastline patrol and guard the economic stability and prosperity.

The Navy immediately studied the next generation of 2,000-ton ocean destroyer plan. As the backbone of daily tasks, this type of destroyer has a high frequency of use and a large amount of demand, and needs to form a certain scale effect.

This type of ocean destroyer requires low construction costs and good ocean navigation performance. It can appropriately weaken the firepower and armor defense requirements to maximize the navigation performance.

Putting down his pen, Li Fushou nodded with satisfaction.

There is money to build a "Red River Valley" class steam battleship. It can build 15 cheap ocean destroyers, which are widely used in the long seas of the Kingdom of Guarding, and can also transport personnel, weapons and supplies. This cheap destroyer can be used for 60 years and can be used forever as long as it does not rot. It is cost-effective.

This type of warship with second-line or even third-line is not very demanding. All the 36 Seagull Patrol ships of various types belonging to the Ocean Kingdom have removed the 210mm main gun and 95mm secondary gun, and replaced it with a new single-turret 120mm rapid-fire gun with two 37mm five-barrel Haqikas machine guns and the firepower configuration of two Maxim heavy machine guns.

In this way, the power of the main gun and the secondary gun is greatly reduced, but the fire density is unprecedentedly increased, which is enough to deal with general low-intensity patrols.

In the past, carrying such a large cannon was used as a decisive battle for the main ship, and there was no way to do so.

After a naval battle, the thin steel deck around the 210mm main turret was torn apart, showing violently undulating corrugated shapes. Even the steel plates in the lower floor of the main turret were distorted and deformed, showing an unbearable limit. Not to mention the 210mm main gun's accurate head. In several naval battles, there were basically no results, and most of them were the victory won by the 95mm secondary gun.

Now that I have returned to my true nature, it is the right posture.
Chapter completed!