Australian Storm 1876 - Chapter 1044

Chapter 1044 Dinghai-class aircraft carrier

Red River Valley Metropolis

It has been three months since the last inspection of the southern state and the delegation of Canberra. The corresponding new imperial capital construction project by the Ministry of Internal Affairs has been started. Many major projects are in the process of material preparation and preliminary preparations, and construction will be started one after another.

Li Fushou plans to donate the Daming Palace to the Royal Charity Federation, a non-profit charitable organization. The primary and secondary schools, Renji Hospital, Renci Hospital, and major colleges and universities donated by the royal family are all managed by the association. The president is named by the queen, and the princes also serve as the honorary chairman of the board of directors, forming their own traditional fields.

The honorary chairmanship of the Daming Palace Museum, Li Fushou is going to hand over the house to the tenth prince Li Sixi. Li Sixi is entrusted as the Duke of Cebu. He is 25 years old this year and has two sons and three daughters.

The third, the seventh and the tenth are all from the Queen Gu family, and they are also the first, second and third heirs to the throne. Li Fushou naturally loves him more than other princes. In the future, this honorary chairman position can be replaced It is passed down from generation to generation, and a lot of income is distributed every year.

In the big city of Honghe Valley, even if the Daming Palace Museum rents out a separate small courtyard, whether it is holding high-class banquets or holding exchange activities, it can make money with the dignity of the royal family. Gotta be full.

No one has the right to sell these properties under the name of the Royal Charity Federation. The children of the royal family can receive a stable and generous income every year. The relevant schools and hospitals are naturally managed by professionals, so there is no need to bother.

The royal family has built a lot of palaces over the years. Li Fushou still likes to live in a dream castle in the Red River Valley.

In my spare time, I go to the Lijia Town Palace in the suburbs for vacation and recreation, and sometimes I also go to Qinglong Lake Palace or Songjiang Palace. This Daming Palace is really too big, with many palaces and pavilions, and it looks particularly cold.

Solo music is better than crowd music

Donating the Daming Palace to be used as a royal museum, taking out the classical cultural relics collected by the royal family and sharing them with the general public, so that people can experience the charm of the royal garden in person, is not a beautiful thing.

To collect some tickets to ensure the funds for the staff of the Royal Museum and the maintenance and repair costs of cultural relics, maintain the operation of this charitable organization, and control the flow of visitors, which was originally the meaning of the title.

“Sir, Admiral Zhang Daoru, Minister of the Admiralty, asks to see you.”

“Announcement.”

“Follow the purpose.”

Soon after

The sound of footsteps came from the door of Dongji Hall, and General Zhang Daoru in military uniform followed the secretary in, bowed respectfully and saluted, saying, “Wei Chen pays homage to the sage, and respectfully asks you to be safe.”

“No gifts, seats, tea.”

“Wei Chen thank you for your seat.”

After some etiquette, General Zhang Daoru took out a memorial and presented it, and the secretary took it and presented it to the imperial case.

Li Fushou picked it up and looked at it. He saw that it was a small thick book about the construction of the Navy’s global base and the development of the new fleet. After flipping through a few pages, he was not interested in continuing to read it.

So he closed it and said, “Take a look at this memorial when you have time. Since it is a plan presented by the Admiralty, let’s talk about it and pick up the most important ones.”

Admiral Zhang Daoru owes his lower body. He told the Admiralty’s plan to perfect the global base construction plan in 12 years.

Especially the 22 islands in this transaction, many of which are very important geographical locations. It has improved the layout of the Royal Navy’s naval bases in the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean, and made up for the shortcomings of the global base network.

What    needs is to continuously increase financial allocations, establish a network of naval bases with sufficient logistical facilities, and provide reliable guarantees for the Royal Navy’s global military operations and safeguarding the interests of the Empire.

This additional expenditure is a necessary price to support the empire’s global ambitions, and there is no doubt that the Royal Navy is the only one to maintain and realize the empire’s global ambitions.

Now that the finances are abundant, it is a good time for major construction.

Some old naval base dock warehouses need to be renovated and expanded, adding oil storage facilities and airports, and upgrading ship maintenance facilities to adapt to the rapidly increasing ship tonnage in the era of large ships and giant guns. A batch of 50,000-ton docks needs to be built.

Adding some new naval bases, focusing on the Atlantic and Indian Ocean regions, the Admiralty plans to relocate the headquarters of the Indian Ocean Fleet from Baltic to Banda Aceh, the most northwestern tip of Sumatra Island.

Located on the east side of the Indian Ocean, it is the northwest entrance of the Malacca Strait. It forms a base group that echoes with the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, covering the entire Malacca Strait.

From here, you can easily go deep into the vast Indian Ocean, reach any country in South Asia and West Asia, and exert strong military and political influence on it.

Banda Aceh Port is one of the key points in the construction of this naval base group.

Another key point is that several base groups in the Atlantic Ocean, including the Azores, Wallis and Futuna Islands, and St. Helena, which have just been acquired, will increase the construction of enough to dock 50,000 to 60,000 tons of naval ships. deep-water docks, warehouses, coal and oil supply stations, ammunition storage warehouses, large ship maintenance facilities and spare parts warehouses, naval stations and power generation facilities, etc.

After completion

The above naval bases will form a chain of pearls across the Atlantic with important naval bases such as Norfolk, Hampton, Panama, Guantanamo and other important naval bases along the North American coast, extending all the way to Guinea, effectively supporting the Royal Navy’s presence in the Atlantic Ocean, Europe and Northwest Africa. Military operations deeply embedded the influence of the Empire.

Why develop deep water berths of 50,000 to 60,000 tons of naval docks?

The era of large ships and artillery

With the innovation of ship power technology and large-caliber artillery, the tonnage of advanced main battle ships of the world navy is getting bigger and bigger, and the first-line main ships have generally entered the level of 30,000 to 40,000 tons.

The advanced naval countries headed by the United Kingdom, the Ocean Empire, France and Germany, the main battleships of the first-line battleships generally have a caliber of 381 mm, Germany 343 mm, and a double-mounted turret can easily 1500~1600 tons, which leads to the larger the displacement of the warships. Thicker armor.

The “Prestige” class battlecruisers built by the United Kingdom in 2014 are equipped with 381mm main guns, and the “Royal Oak” class battleships built in 2015 are also equipped with 381mm main guns.

The “Hood” class battlecruiser under construction is even preparing to adopt a new generation of 406mm main guns, but the plan is a bit mysterious, and the new equipment may not be able to keep up with the construction progress of the British shipyard.

Looking to the future

In the next ten or two years, the displacement of the new generation of main ships will reach 50,000 to 60,000 tons, which is almost a certainty.

at the same time

The ship power technology developed by leaps and bounds in the early 20th century, driving the main battleships up to 30,000 to 40,000 tons to rush on the sea, and can reach an average speed of 25 to 26 knots per hour.

Such a high speed has surpassed the average level of old-fashioned cruisers at the end of the 19th century, such as the “Brave” class cruisers of the Ocean Empire and the “Flower Moon” class cruisers, and the maximum speed is this level.

With a cruiser’s displacement of 4,000-6,500 tons, relatively weak firepower and armor, the speed of the battleship could not be able to shake off tens of thousands of tons of battleships. Once encountering enemy main ships in naval battles, there is almost no chance of survival.

Therefore, the rapid development of technology has forced a large number of old ships to be eliminated.

The newly developed cruisers of the Royal Navy of the Ocean Empire generally have a speed of more than 32 knots, and the speed of destroyers is more than 35 knots. In order to place huge ship power equipment and maintain high endurance, the corresponding hull is also enlarged.

Take the new “Mountain” class cruiser as an example, with a standard displacement of 10,510 tons, a maximum speed of 33 knots, a cruising range of 6,800 nautical miles, and the capability of transoceanic combat.

When it comes to the new ships developed by the Royal Navy, we have to mention the aircraft carrier that is being developed by the Ministry of the Navy. This is a direct-deck aircraft carrier with a displacement of 41,000 tons and a long sideboard. The shape is very similar to the amphibious assault ships of later generations. .

Emperor Li Fushou is very interested in this new type of aircraft carrier and has personally participated in a lot of his own opinions, so this aircraft carrier of Ocean Empire is very beautiful and has a very visual aesthetic.

The ship’s standard displacement is 41,070 tons. The hull is based on the “Princess Elizabeth” class battleship. The corresponding broadside armor belt settings, multi-compartment settings are generally the same, and the power configuration is slightly enhanced, which can reach a maximum speed of 30 knots per hour. .

This level of aircraft carrier can be seen as a combination of battleship shells and new power units, cancelling the bulky main ship turrets, but setting up three convex turrets on both sides, plus the bow and ship. There is one fort in the stern, and a total of eight fort are equipped.

Each turret is equipped with a single-barreled 155mm rapid-fire gun, and a double-mounted 40mm rapid-fire gun on the left and the right, for a total of 8 152mm guns and 32 40mm guns.

In today’s era where firepower is the only thing, such a large ship with such a small amount of firepower can be described as extremely poor and weak.

Two years ago, 13 aircraft carrier plans submitted by the Ministry of the Navy, after multiple rounds of technical expert review, the remaining 5, and finally submitted to the Imperial Council for decision-making.

Li Fushou took a fancy to the straight deck plan at a glance, but this straight deck plan is to add a layer to the surface of the battleship, and the top is a completely straight deck without any auxiliary facilities, so simple and unsightly.

The second layer under the straight deck is a completely overhead design, and is equipped with large-caliber main guns on both sides, and the large-caliber artillery has not been given up in the bones.

Li Fushou’s evaluation of this; “Although there are new ideas, everything is familiar and everything is loose.”

he pointed out;

Since it is an aircraft carrier in the new era, it should specialize in one item. The entire ship should serve to ensure that the carrier-based aircraft can fully exert their combat effectiveness, instead of fantasizing about fighting with the enemy’s artillery at sea.

The combat effectiveness of an aircraft carrier should be reflected by carrier-based fighter jets, bombers and reconnaissance aircraft. It is suitable for searching large-scale sea areas, controlling the airspace above your own fleet, combating submarines, blocking, controlling the entire sea area, and attacking and destroying small and medium-sized enemy ships and merchant ships. .

for this purpose

Aircraft carriers do not need to be equipped with large-caliber main naval guns. They should sail in formation during normal missions and operations, with destroyers and cruisers going out for reconnaissance and protection, and battleships accompanying them.

Leaving professional things to professional ships is the correct solution.

In order to make the Royal Navy less detours, Li Fushou can only open the golden finger, and determine a clear path for the development of the aircraft carrier.

Anyway, in his memory, the US aircraft carrier never seemed to act alone.

There are two aircraft carriers of one type and two first developed by the Empire. The first “Dinghai” has been built and outfitting. The second ship “Dingbo” is expected to be launched at the end of the year and will be commissioned in March next year.

The “Dinghai” class aircraft carrier developed by the Royal Navy of the Ocean Empire will be widely recognized by the world navy as the originator of modern aircraft carriers, guiding the development history of aircraft carriers for more than 100 years in the future.

The operational norms established by it, such as aircraft carrier formation operations, the existence of aircraft carriers is to provide complete logistical support for aircraft, give full play to the combat effectiveness of carrier-based aircraft, etc., which have become the golden rules that later aircraft carriers will not violate, which can be called classics.

(end of this chapter)