Valley Emperor

Vol 2 Chapter 589: Datang's first ocean-going warship

As the saying goes, a century-old navy, and this term is actually even more so in the era of sailing, because the navy in the era of sailing has higher requirements for personnel quality, and there are not a large number of well-trained naval officers and sailors, giving you a Spanish invincible. The big fleet can't go away either.

Not to mention, sailing in the open sea is basically a struggle between man and nature when the contemporary technology is so rudimentary. Without experienced captains and sailors, the ship is very likely to sink to the bottom of the sea.

The era of great sailing has nothing to do with the word romance. What he represents behind him is **** cruelty!

Words such as shipwreck, pirate, and death are the essence of the age of sailing.

This is also the reason why Colonel Bao Yifen proposed to set up a sea school to train naval officers!

To build a huge navy, not only ships, but also guns and sailors are needed, and the Tang Dynasty does not have any of these three.

This is also the reason why everyone saw these plans, and all of them were enthusiastic, but everyone quickly became suspicious: How could such a huge naval development plan be realized?

If it is said that temporarily the ships can be refitted with civilian ships, and the personnel problem can also be solved by recruiting Ming army navy soldiers and civilian sailors, but the problem of naval guns is unsolvable.

Because according to Bao Yifen's shipbuilding plan, even the early shipbuilding plan requires at least 100 naval guns, and these naval guns are not the Flange machines and small-caliber shotguns in the Ming Army Navy. Auxiliary firearms such as guns, these auxiliary types of artillery are not included in the list of anti-ship naval guns in the Datang Navy.

In the list of naval guns, they are all cannons, and they still need a lot of large-caliber cannons. What they need are 12-pound or even 18-pound, 24-pound, 32-pound, and 64-pound cannons. .

And these artillery pieces, even 12-pound artillery pieces, could not be built by the Tang Dynasty!

Even if it can't be built, the Tang Dynasty is now in the period of fighting against the Ming army. The army is not enough for artillery, and the navy is even more unable to allocate the output of artillery.

Based on the above, Bao Yifen's plan sounds very exciting, but in fact it is extremely difficult to realize it. At least the current Tang Dynasty is not capable of supporting such a large-scale naval expansion. .

Although this plan was proposed by Bao Yifen, in fact, this naval expansion plan was formulated under the guidance of Li Xuan. Li Xuan naturally knew that it would be very difficult to build such a large fleet. Speaking of it now, it would not be possible to complete it within ten years of the Tang Dynasty. Even if it were completed, it would be an extremely heavy financial burden.

A navy with 30,000 people is much more expensive than an army with 30,000 people.

But even if he knew that this plan could not be completed, Li Xuan still needed to put it forward, because he needed to set a goal for them to catch up.

His ideals for the navy are not high. He can recover the Pearl River Estuary in a short period of time and control the Pearl River. The medium-term goal is to maintain the routes along the coast of Guangdong, while the long-term goal is to completely defeat the Ming Army Navy and control the coastal waters of China.

As for building a huge fleet comparable to the Spanish Invincible Fleet, it will be a long time ago. Li Xuan thought, if he is lucky enough to unify the land of China, and he is lucky enough to continue to live for decades, it is estimated that It is possible.

As for now, YY will do it!

YY does not break the law!

Around this naval expansion plan proposed by Bao Yifen, a group of naval officers started a detailed discussion, and in the course of the meeting, the details will be perfected.

But Li Xuan doesn't care about the perfection of these details!

So soon, a group of naval officers expressed their approval of this naval development plan. Immediately, Li Xuan also pushed the boat along the way: "Since all the Aiqings agree, let's do it in order!"

According to this shipbuilding plan, the discussion on the model and performance of ocean-going warships has also begun. There is nothing to say about this. The Navy Department of Warships has already made plans.

There are currently two plans for ocean-going warships, one is to build a new pure warship, and the other is to use the existing civilian ship hull for modification.

Modification is naturally necessary, and because the existing civilian ships have different specifications, it is impossible to form a unified model specification. Just like the previous Dragon-class warships, it is said to be 80 tons, but in fact, there are also 100-ton ships. , There are also more than 70 tons, and almost every Dragon-class battleship is different.

It is said that it is a battleship of the same level, but in fact they are equipped with roughly the same firepower, and the others are basically different, which can be regarded as similar ship types.

It is even more so now to refit large warships, because ships weighing hundreds of tons are hard to find, and it is difficult to find so many that are exactly the same. If the Datang Navy wants to refit warships, only one can be refitted. .

Because almost every modified warship is different, and the performance data in all aspects is very far from that of professional warships, at least it is too far from the standards of various special warships proposed by the ancient sage Li Xuan.

Therefore, in this meeting, the Navy will call the existing and subsequent civilian ships "Armed Merchant Ships", and return these ships to their original names.

However, according to the size of firepower and tonnage, there are four levels of armed merchant ships, first-class armed merchant ships, second-class armed merchant ships, third-class armed merchant ships, and fourth-class armed merchant ships.

Among them, the first-class armed merchant ships refer specifically to armed merchant ships of more than 800 tons.

Second-class armed merchant ships are armed merchant ships between 400 tons and 800 tons. Most of the large ocean-going merchant ships these years are basically within this range.

The third-class armed merchant ships are armed merchant ships with a displacement of 200 to 400 tons. Armed merchant ships of this tonnage are barely capable of ocean navigation. At present, the new flagship of the Datang Navy, Wuzhou, is a 230-ton sand ship. A converted armed merchant ship.

As for the fourth-class armed merchant ships, they are less than 200 tons. For example, the flagship of the Datang Navy before, was also converted from a sand ship, with a displacement of more than 130 tons, the Xingquan.

The existing warships and the warships that are expected to be refitted in the future are called armed merchant ships, so where are the real warships?

It's not hard, it's still on paper!

In order to establish a grand goal for these natives of the Datang Navy, Li Xuan worked hard, and even the types, standards and names of the warships were personally designed, for fear that these naval natives would make a difference.

And it is one of them that the existing warships are renamed as armed merchant ships. These warships do not even have a few artillery pieces. How dare they call themselves warships?

How can you make warships with double decks or even three decks or four decks equipped with dozens or even hundreds of naval guns!

Therefore, Li Xuan imitated the classification of warships of later generations and formulated a simple standard for the classification of warships of the future navy.

The first is to divide it from the purpose. The ships used for ocean-going operations are divided into three levels, namely battleships, cruisers, and frigates. For inland and coastal operations, there are inland gunboats and shallow sea gunboats.

The battleships will be used for the decisive battle of the ocean-going main fleet, and will be divided into first, second, and third classes according to the tonnage and firepower of the battleships. As for the minimum standard of battleships, that is, third-class battleships, Li Xuan proposed the least To have 1,000 tons and more than 50 artillery pieces requires powerful firepower and excellent protection capabilities.

Unfortunately, at present, the Datang Navy has no plans for this type of ship, whether it is in active service or in the follow-up shipbuilding plan, even for third-class battleships.

This is beyond the capabilities of the current Tang Dynasty!

Cruisers, this kind of warships are used to patrol the ocean, act as the vanguard of main ships, and attack merchant ships of enemy countries. They are also divided into first-class, second-class, and third-class. The lowest third-class cruiser should have a minimum tonnage of more than 500 tons. , Have more than 30 artillery pieces, and should have excellent seaworthiness and high speed.

Frigates, which will be used to perform **** and low-intensity combat missions, are also divided into three classes. Among them, the third class frigates need to have a minimum tonnage of more than 300 tons and more than 20 artillery pieces. Requires lower cost and smaller crew.

For the above three types of warships, Li Xuan asked the Ministry of Warship to take into account the design of Chinese and Western ships when designing them. ~www.wuxiaspot.com~ who can't mount a few artillery pieces, don't be a big fool like a Spanish galleon, slow at sea is like courting death.

It is necessary to have innovative thinking and carry out innovative design combining the advantages of China and the West!

In addition to these main battleships, there are also inland gunboats, which are warships used for inland battles, and their biggest feature is their shallow draft.

Shallow sea gunboats, which are warships used for combat in coastal areas and some inland rivers with sufficient water depth, are characterized by sacrificing seaworthiness in exchange for shallow draft, larger firepower, and better defense.

The two types of gunboats are also divided into first, second and third class.

However, although Li Xuan has formulated a detailed classification for the Datang Navy, it is a pity that so far, the Datang Navy still does not have a regular warship, even the inland gunboat.

Because the existing warships in the Datang Navy are all armed merchant ships, but this does not prevent them from establishing standards and moving towards this goal.

And now, they are taking the first step towards this goal: designing and building the first ocean-going warship of the Datang Navy!

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