Valley Emperor

Before the Imperial Navy made various designs for new warships and finally came up with the design of Jiangnan-class warships, in fact, the Imperial Navy had already designed and built two steam warships in the 19th year of Xuanping, both with a tonnage of 200. The offshore patrol ship of about 1,000 tons is the new steam engine test ship plan set by the Navy last year.

Although the hulls and steam engines of the two offshore patrol ship test ships are the same, one is propelled by paddle wheels on both sides and the other is propelled by propellers.

The reason why the construction is different is mainly to test the impact of different propulsion methods.

In fact, many of the tests were not carried out on the newly built two patrol ships, but on modified warships.

During the nineteenth year of Xuanping, the Empire continued to carry out the transformation of many sailing warships, and installed steam engine power on the previous sailing warships.

This early modification work is still mainly based on experiments. The main modification ships are partially auxiliary warships, mainly armed transport ships. There are only two warships, one is a 200-ton offshore patrol ship, and one is a 400-ton offshore patrol ship. frigate.

The refit work started around March. During the nineteen years of Xuanping, six different auxiliary transport ships, one patrol ship and one frigate frigate have been refitted continuously.

It is worth noting that, of the total number of eight ships, almost every one of them is different, and it can even be said that the difference is huge.

Some warships are converted to paddle wheels, and the paddle wheel propulsion method is divided into two strings, each with a paddle wheel propulsion, there are also paddle wheel propulsion installed at the stern, and even the stern and two strings are installed at the same time. advanced.

There are also modified propeller propulsion, with single propeller propulsion, double propeller or even triple propeller propulsion.

In the installation of the steam engine, a variety of methods have also been selected, such as a single unit or multiple units to drive, and even the size, volume and power of the steam engine units used are different.

The reason why the Navy has carried out many different modifications is actually more to find a more stable solution.

Combining the experience gained from two newly designed steam patrol ships and eight refitted ships, the Navy has gained experience in using many steam-engine warships on the one hand, and found the best way to use steam engines on the other hand.

After many tests, and taking into account the current and future industrial technical capabilities of the Empire, the Navy has come to a unanimous conclusion that the design and modification of steam-engine warships should be based on propellers.

Although the explanation wheel technology is more mature, and the propeller technology is not yet mature, the huge advantages brought by the propeller propulsion are unmatched by the paddle wheel.

A warship propelled by a paddle wheel, whether it uses a rear-mounted paddle wheel or a paddle wheel with two strings exposed to the outside, has become a fatal weakness. Once it is hit by the enemy's artillery fire, the entire steam engine will be turned into nothing. .

And propeller propulsion does not have this problem!

Therefore, even technically speaking, the propeller propulsion technology is more complex, immature, and has many problems, but the Navy still completely abandoned the paddle wheel technology without hesitation after a series of tests.

This is the difference between military warships and civilian ships. Today, the Yangtze River Shipping Company and the Feng Shipping Company, two companies involved in steam ships, all adopt the method of paddle wheel propulsion.

Because the paddle wheel technology is more mature and the cost is lower, and more importantly, they don't have to worry about any safety issues. They are not warships, so they don't need to consider a series of consequences caused by the paddle wheel being hit by shells.

Of course, when the Navy brings propeller technology to maturity in the future, these companies will definitely follow up without hesitation.

but not now!

After a series of modification experiments, the Navy finally determined the steam engine warship plan to be used in the future, and officially started the steam engine modification plan for the main battleship.

Although the Navy has completely stopped the construction of pure sail warships, and already has the design and construction plan of steam engine warships, but the many existing pure sail warships in the Navy cannot be thrown away directly.

After a little modification and installation of steam engines, these sailing warships can be transformed into steam warships.

Of course, not all ships will be refitted. After all, refit also requires cost, and some ships with little refit value will still retain the way of pure sail propulsion.

The Navy, in December of the 19th year of Xuanping, finally submitted the 'Navy Steam Battleship Construction Plan' that has undergone numerous revisions. This plan does not mean simply next year, that is, the 20th year of Xuanping. A naval construction plan, but a five-year naval expansion plan.

In this plan, the navy will actively carry out naval construction in accordance with the goal of "maintaining the global interests of the empire" proposed by the Son of Heaven.

The whole program is divided into three parts!

The first part is for major ports, including the Navy's own naval bases and major civilian ports, to build coal warehouses to store coal for burning coal, and to set up repair shops that can maintain and repair steam engines. At the same time, considering that the tonnage of the Navy's warships will increase in the future The bigger it is, the deeper the draft will be, and some deep-water berths will be built in advance.

After all, in addition to the Navy's Jiangnan steam battleship, there is also an enlarged version of the design plan, and this enlarged version of the plan is also included in the plan, although the detailed design has not been completed, but there is one point It is certain that the minimum displacement will be more than 3,000 tons, and this is only the most basic. After the final design is completed, it may become 4,000 tons, and it may also become 5,000 tons.

The Navy has high hopes for the multi-thousand-ton warship and positions it as the main battleship of the new era.

The second part is to carry out various types of personnel training, especially the courses related to steam engine warships in the maritime school, because it is foreseeable that the combat mode of a steam engine warship is definitely very different from that of a pure sail warship. Yes, whether it is for daily navigation or combat, special new talents are needed.

And the third part is the battleship construction and modification plan that everyone is most concerned about!

The Navy expects that in the next five years, without affecting the existing combat capability of the army, it will gradually refit the active warships. Gradually carry out different degrees of modification, some ships will only be equipped with steam engines, while some may be equipped with wrought iron armor.

This modification plan is to prevent the existing sailing warships from being reduced to nothing, but if it is only modified, it is obviously unable to reflect the ambition of the navy.

Therefore, there are plans for the construction of new warships.

In the next five years, the Navy will build twelve steam battleships one after another. According to Jiangnan, the tonnage of this new type of steam battleship should be more than 1,500 tons!

At the same time, according to technological progress, the construction of a new generation of main steam battleships will be started at an appropriate time, that is, the main steam battleships, which will replace the battleships represented by Jiangnan and become the new major fleets of the Navy. During the period, the initial number is four Ships, follow-up to see the technical progress and then look at the specific number.

At the same time, in the next five years, no less than sixteen cruisers will be built, and a new generation of cruisers will be required to surpass traditional sail battleships in protection and firepower. It is a 1,300-ton sail battleship currently in service with the Imperial Navy.

This kind of cruiser, like the existing 800-ton cruiser, will mainly be used as the flagship of the overseas squadron, and when necessary, it will accompany the battle fleet to participate in the fleet battle, so there is such a high standard.

At the same time, in the next five years, no less than 26 new types of steam frigates will be built, which will be mainly used for daily cruise, **** and other tasks.

The entire shipbuilding plan is expected to build fifty-eight capital ships, almost building a new imperial navy!

In addition to the nearly 100 existing capital ships and waiting for them to be converted into steam engines, the entire Imperial Navy will have at least 150 steamed capital ships.

As for various types of offshore patrol ships, transport ships, supply ships and other auxiliary warships, there are more.

The Navy's proposed 'Navy Steamship Plan' is larger than any previous naval expansion plan by the Empire, and the actual cost is also greater.

It is absolutely impossible to support the existing navy military spending alone.

For this reason, in the allocation of the expenditure budget at the end of Xuanping’s nineteenth year, the Empire for the first time tilted financial expenditures to the Navy, and used special funds for fleet expansion for the first time to ensure that the expansion of the Navy can be carried out.

This also led to the first increase in the proportion of military expenditure in fiscal expenditure in next year's budget expenditure allocation.

Since the end of the Unification War, although the total amount of military expenditure in the empire's financial expenditure has kept rising every year, in fact, the total proportion has been declining, but next year, it will rise.

Xuanping's 20-year budget for fiscal expenditures totaled 150 million yuan, and military spending accounted for 42 million yuan, accounting for 28 percent of the fiscal expenditure.

The Navy will take 12 million of them, and the Army will take 30 million.

Although it is said that the military expenditure of the navy is still far inferior to that of the army, this is the first time that the military expenditure of the navy has exceeded 10 million. In the past, it was only a few million.

And the increase in military spending on the financial expenditure budget also means that the empire is once again preparing for the start of a large-scale war!

Who is the enemy of this war?

Everyone on Earth except the Empire's past!