On January 16, the "big victory" promoted by Japan had spread to all countries in the world, but because the war in Europe was raging, no one cared.

Of course Liu Yiming also knew the news. The whole Nanhua people were very excited about the "failure", and the people were very angry about the navy's "failure".

It was just anger towards the Navy Department, because the people attributed the "failure" to the fact that the Navy was too slow to expand its armaments.

As we all know, the Department of the Navy is responsible for naval armament planning.

Under the pressure of public opinion, the Navy Ministry submitted the third revised shipbuilding plan to Parliament. This was a brand new expansion.

The Navy Department's 1915 shipbuilding plan is a five-year shipbuilding plan.

This includes the construction of six new battleships, eight large cruisers, 12 medium cruisers, 36 ocean-going destroyers, and 12 large-scale ocean-going integrated supply ships.

According to the plan, the Dahan-class battleships will be decommissioned and mothballed in 1918, and then the number of large battleships in the battle fleet will be maintained at twelve.

The basic parameters of a large cruiser are that the displacement does not exceed 15,000 tons, the main weapon is more than nine 203mm guns, the speed is more than 30 knots, and the cruising range is more than 15,000 nautical miles.

This is a product derived from actual needs. Due to the dispersed territory of Nanhua, medium and large battleships with high speed and large range are needed to respond quickly. Battleships alone are obviously not enough.

Moreover, the cost of using battleships is also high. First-class fast and large cruisers are obviously more cost-effective in daily use.

If we look at it according to mainstream thinking, this kind of battleship is undoubtedly the benchmark in the waste of tonnage. The Invincible-class battlecruiser only has an excess displacement of 2,000 tons, but is equipped with eight 305mm guns.

However, the thickest part of the main armor belt of the Invincible-class battle cruiser is only 178 mm, and this cruiser is required to be able to defend against attacks by weapons of the same caliber, that is, 203 mm artillery.

Moreover, it also requires an endurance of 15,000 nautical miles, which has never been achieved by previous warships, because the new warships need to consider sailing directly from Arabia to Hawaii and then going into battle.

This has resulted in new warships needing to use a large amount of tonnage on protection and power systems, and paying less attention to armaments.

The Naval Design Bureau only took a very short time to come up with the design plan, with a design displacement of 14,500 tons.

In order to meet the range of 15,000 nautical miles, it uses new boilers and steam turbines to ensure that the maximum speed is higher than 30 knots. It is equipped with ten 203 mm guns and a three-two-two-three layout.

In terms of protection, due to the high price of warships, the design bureau has strengthened it as much as possible. The main armor belt is 203 mm and tilted inward at 15 degrees. The number of watertight cabins has been increased as densely as possible, and key defenses have been carried out in important areas.

When the Naval Design Bureau finally made a cost estimate, it came up with a staggering price - a conservative estimate of the cost was around seven million.

This is close to the cost of a battleship. The cost of a single Queen Elizabeth-class battleship in the UK, which has not yet been commissioned, is only 12.5 million, with a displacement of more than 10,000 tons.

Of course, the endurance of the Queen Elizabeth class is only a fraction of that of this class of cruisers.

The Navy once envisioned reducing the tonnage and defense in order to reduce the cost to less than 6 million, but Liu Yiming rejected it.

Liu Yiming didn't want a ship that could be blown up at one point, as that would just be a waste of money.

When the European War began, the prices of various supplies rose. Nanhua sold some supplies and made a huge profit, leaving him with money.

Affected by the pressure of public opinion, the government approved the naval shipbuilding plan with a wave of its hand and allocated funds to start the construction of four ships at one time.

Compared to the construction of large cruisers, both civilians and parliament paid more attention to the development of main battleships. However, this time, the battleship was difficult to produce.

"I have seen the design plan of the new warship. Although many new technologies are used, I see conservative design thinking in general. Why?"

Liu Yiming quickly flipped through the sketch in his hand, then threw it aside casually, the dissatisfaction on his face almost overflowing.

This time, the warship designers still continued the thinking mode of fast battleships and designed under the standard requirement of 35,000 tons.

The first is the speed. By using large water tube boilers, the space occupied by the power system is reduced, freeing up tonnage for other systems.

Eight heavy-duty boilers drive four steam turbines, providing 120,000 horsepower, a design tonnage of 35,000 tons, and a design speed of 29 knots.

In addition to the increase in speed, the level of protection has also undergone qualitative changes. The waterline armor has been increased from 260 mm to 350 mm, and the main turret front and seat ring have also been increased from 310 mm to 350 mm.

In addition, the weapon system has also been upgraded. The main gun is still three 356mm triple-mounted main turrets, but the number of secondary guns has been increased, including sixteen 76mm anti-aircraft guns and twelve twin-mounted 37mm anti-aircraft guns.

guns, and ship-borne seaplane systems.

The electronic communication system has also been upgraded. An electronic information center is installed on the front and rear masts. The former can conduct fleet command and communication center, and the latter can conduct remote communications.

Overall, this is an all-rounder with good overall strength and a standard fleet core battleship.

For Nanhua, this is the next generation core battleship. Because of the existence of the information center, it can integrate the power of the battle fleet and exert the maximum power of the fleet.

However, Liu Yiming expressed disappointment with this, because this design shows that the Nanhua Naval Design Bureau and naval officers are still focused on the anti-interference stage.

This kind of warship is very powerful, but it is not enough to deter and cope with the next generation of warships. Liu Yiming does not know the specific development of the navy, but he is very aware of the development of caliber.

The battleships of World War I underwent another innovation, the most obvious of which was the breakthrough in artillery caliber.

In World War I, the British first broke through the 343 mm caliber limit and increased the main gun caliber to 15 inches, 381 mm.

Germany's Bavaria-class battleship is also under intense construction. Its defense indicators are similar to those of the new first-class warship, but the main gun caliber has reached 380 mm, and the tonnage indicator is 5,000 tons less.

In the past, Nanhua had no choice, lacked technical strength, and had an urgent need for warships, so it had to resort to increasing tonnage in exchange for other indicators.

British warships attach great importance to firepower and speed, relatively sacrificing defense, while German warships attach great importance to defense, sacrificing firepower and speed.

Nanhua is even more strange. It sacrifices firepower and defense, and uses a lot of tonnage to increase speed and range. In other words, Nanhua's vision is one version ahead, otherwise it will really not scare people.

However, at present, Nanhua's need for new warships is no longer so urgent. For at least five years, Nanhua will not be threatened much. At this time, it should rebalance between anti-interference and foreign interference.

Moreover, this design indicator is still advanced at the moment, but it will not necessarily be the case when it is put into service.

War will cause the military to make a crazy great leap forward, and there will be more technological changes in one year than in ten years in peacetime.

If you don’t prepare in advance, you can only come up with a pile of waste.

"As for increasing firepower, we discussed the comparison between twelve 356mm main guns and nine 380mm or above main guns."

"The key issue is that we believe that twelve 356mm main guns will not greatly improve combat effectiveness, but the cost is not small."

"As for equipment equipped with main guns of 380 mm or above, we have asked various factories, but they are not sure that the research and development will be completed before the warship is launched."

"Due to limitations in processing technology, the development progress of larger-caliber artillery is relatively slow."

Zhao Jiaxing looked at Gu Fan before Gu Fan dared to stand up and speak cautiously.

"Is there such a thing? When we cooperated with the Germans before the war, did we retain their technology?" Liu Yiming was stunned. He realized that he might have been tricked by the Germans.

Although, he also showed off the Germans, and did not give the technology and strategy that can really determine the outcome of the war, but only gave the technology that can delay the war.

"The factory is not sure. Half a year ago, the factory trial-produced a 406mm artillery barrel. During the test, it was damaged after only three shots."

"Three weeks ago, the factory rushed to complete the new prototype gun. The test results showed that the lifespan and accuracy of the gun barrel were far from the standards."

"What is certain at present is that we are still unable to meet the requirements in terms of precision machining capabilities. Currently, various metallurgical laboratories are trying to use new materials to compensate, but it is not yet known whether it is feasible."

Gu Fan is also difficult. If there is no requirement and only one caliber is required, it is not difficult to produce a few guns. Just like the British MK.Ⅰ 406mm gun, which has poor accuracy and short life, it is not as good as the 381mm gun.

"The construction cycle of large warships usually takes about three years, and it takes more than a year to wait for launching and outfitting. The main gun installation is carried out in the middle and late stages, which is slightly slower and takes two years."

"Gather professionals from various metallurgical laboratories, equipment research institutes, etc. to conduct intensive research on artillery. Two years should be enough."

"Even if the research and development progress is slightly behind, it is acceptable. At present, we have no external threats, so there is no need to rush to make a decision."

"I need a warship that can still maintain overwhelming combat effectiveness ten years from now. Currently, all countries are looking for bigger and stronger ships, and we must keep up with this pace."

Liu Yiming knocked on the table gently, knowing why Gu Fan brought Zhao Jiaxing to report.

Doesn’t Gu Fan understand what Liu Yiming said?

No, as the Chief of General Staff of the Nanhua Navy and an outstanding graduate of the Royal Naval Academy Greenwich, the highest naval military school in the world, Gu Fan would not understand the entire issue.

Including problems in the design of this warship.

In fact, Gu Fan is also very dissatisfied with this first-class warship, but this is a warship that designers should design under current conditions and can be put into construction immediately and put into service quickly.

The Naval Design Bureau did not know the top-level strategy. The starting point of the design was to "defeat Japan" and win the decisive battle at sea.

This level of warship is just right, the technology is mature, the construction cycle can be shortened to two years and a few months, the price is not expensive, and the combat effectiveness can completely crush the warships in the world today.

However, it only applies to the present moment...

Gu Fan knew it, but there was no way to solve it, so he had to deal with Liu Yiming. After all, Nanhua not only had a navy, but also an army and air force, as well as a large number of industrial institutions.
Chapter completed!