Chapter 118 The mobile fleet sets off!

A red glow gradually emerged from the gray sky.

The red color slowly rendered the color, gradually dyeing the sky light into light blue. A fiery red light ball slowly exposed the blue when the water and sky was in the sky. Gradually, the light ball finally broke through the shackles of the clouds, stretched its body, and radiated warmth and light freely.

Above the sea surface, the steel beast that covered the sky and the sun suddenly appeared.

The towering pagoda-shaped bridge, the lined giant cannons, and the brand new twill anti-submarine coating.

The golden dragon of the Chinese Empire Navy's naval battle flag flutters in the wind.

Nearly a hundred giant steel ships, including auxiliary ships and transport ships, a super fleet of 580,000 tons, finally appeared on the sunny side of the Western Pacific.

The upcoming maritime decisive battle is an unprecedented decisive collision of nearly one million tons of steel warships on this earth. The enemy and us have a total of more than 30 warships of more than 10,000 tons, and more other warships will have a violent collision.

Xu Fan knew very well that the traditional sailing warship formation and tactics, with the navy's forces having developed to such a complex division of labor, was indeed beyond the heavy responsibility.

He also reorganized the teams in a series of drills in the south early.

At this moment, the Chinese army was clearly divided into four groups.

The leading cluster located in front of the entire fleet was led by Xu Bo, the former commander of the Fifth Light Patrol team and later promoted to the Navy Colonel for his merits made in previous battles with the Black Panther Detachment. It included two large Baoding-class cruisers: Baoding, Anyang, and three Battle Knife-class light cruisers: the surviving forces of the Fifth Light Patrol team, which were repaired and modified by the Navy Zhoushan Military Port dry dock and returned to China with two American-made Wenzhou-class battleships. The San Francisco Shipyard in the United States installed Chinese boilers and steam turbines in accordance with Chinese drawings. The Saber, which had just joined the active service, also included four Chunyu-class destroyers originally belonged to the First Destroyer Team.

The Baoding-class large cruiser is the latest type of the Empire. Unlike the traditional European and American navy classification of protective cruisers, the Empire Navy was built according to the idea of ​​a battle cruiser in another time and space, and adopted a new construction concept, focusing on achieving a balance between firepower, speed and armor, as the flagship and main combat power of the fleet's pioneering rapid formation, and can independently carry out raid operations.

Since the Baoding class undertakes a special mission, the Imperial Navy took the strictest confidentiality measures and carried out strategic deception in the construction of the Baoding class large cruisers. Since its design, the Baoding class has adopted the so-called "special cruisers", namely Special Cruise No. 1 and Special Cruise No. 2. The newly expanded No. 6 ship platform from the Annan Provincial Haifang Shipyard and the No. 9 ship platform of Guangzhou Huangpu Naval Shipyard were closed, and the outfit was also completed in the Navy's closed dry dock.

Regarding the two special patrols, major media in the Chinese Empire have published various speculations and predictions, with displacements ranging from 8,000 tons to 15,000 tons, main guns ranging from 8 inches to 12 inches, and speeds ranging from 22 knots to 26 knots. There are all kinds of statements, which makes foreign naval intelligence personnel unconfident.

The Baoding class has adopted a different design idea from the Cheetah class due to its different combat tasks. Its main features are: it adopts the latest steam turbine and oil-fired boiler, with a maximum speed of up to 27 knots, and adopts a key protection strategy. Its standard displacement reaches 15,400 tons, a total length of 160 meters and a width of 22 meters. It is equipped with eight large boilers, four steam turbines, and four-axis drives.

In terms of firepower, the ship is creatively equipped with a triple-mounted 45-diameter three-5 mm main turret in front and rear, with a central axis configuration. This arrangement ensures the output of firepower while shortening the length of the swelling armor box, making it easier to improve the protective power.

The actual name of this so-called special cruiser should be a battle cruiser, which is somewhat similar to the Invincible Class Battlecruiser of another time and space, but due to the use of an oil-fired boiler, it has stronger power. Moreover, its three-unit twelve-inch turret is more reasonable than the Invincible Class's swelling double turret, and it also shortens the armor box. In addition, this type of ship also has four 105mm double turrets, six 75mm rapid-fire cannons, ten 37mm contour rapid-fire cannons, and two 533mm quadruple torpedo tubes.

Compared with the Cheetah class, the Baoding class has a speed of two knots higher, and the firepower shot on the same side has dropped from eight gates to six gates, and the displacement and hull size have also been greatly reduced.

Compared with the Cheetahs that pay attention to protection, the waterline armor belt of Baoding is only 180 mm thick, the remaining waterline part is 60 mm, the front thickness of the turret is 240 mm, and the commander tower is 300 mm thick, and the horizontal direction is double-layered protection with a fifty-mm upper armor plate and a sixty-mm main water bottle armor plate. The main horizontal armor plate is connected to the main armor bullet on the side, and forms a tight armor box with the 80 mm horizontal armor plate and the 40 mm tail armor plate at the bottom. The various ammunition depots, engine compartment, and important pipelines of Baoding are arranged in the armor box.

The Baoding-class anti-torpedo compartment is similar to the Cheetah class, but the inner armor plate is thinned. In addition, the Baoding-class watertight compartment is also divided into similar parts to the Cheetah class, and is also equipped with spare diesel engines.

The crew of the entire ship is 780, which is considered a small and fast version of the cheetah.

Xu Bo's team receives telegrams from various reconnaissance airships around the fleet at any time and is alert to the surrounding ships. The order he received was very simple: all ships not from this party will be sunk. If the national ship goes into the sea without authorization, it will be seized on the spot and will be disposed of by the rear team.

The second cluster was personally directed by Marshal Xu Fan, including the third and fourth light patrol teams, totaling four Feng-class light patrols and four Xue-class light patrols, as well as the second and third two destroyers that strengthened a sword-class destroyer. Under the heavy protection of these light ships, the backbone of the cluster: the second team commanded by Xu Bo himself, and Sa Zhenbing's first team.

The first armored cruiser of Sa Zhenbing was under the jurisdiction of the two meritorious warships that had just completed maintenance and modification at the Wusong Military Port dry dock, and the two meritorious warships that had been completed in the sea trial - the Cheetah and the Snow Leopard, as well as the Guilin-class armored cruiser that had also been completely overhauled and had a new look, and the last Guilin-class armored cruiser that was originally from the Second Fleet, which had previously traveled north from Guangzhou - Dali.

After the baptism of the two major naval battles of the Black Panther formation, the superior performance of the Cheetah-class has been proven. This class of invincible warships called armored cruisers can finally be legitimately classified as "battle cruisers". In the dry dock of Wusong Military Port, some problems exposed in previous actual combat are difficult to solve. They can only be modified in time during the construction of subsequent ships, and those that can be improved will be carried out accordingly.

The centralized layout of the two Cheetah-class sub-turrets cannot be changed, but the protection of the sub-turret ammunition depot has been strengthened. Since the command towers of both China and Japan have become the focus of strikes on both sides during the naval battle, the base of the Cheetah-class command tower has been strengthened to a certain extent, and some additional armor has been welded.

Due to the heavy damage of Guilin and the sinking of Lijiang, the weak defense of Guilin-class has been revealed. However, due to the shortage of time, it is difficult to improve these warships more than 100% so they can only install simple firepower sighting and command equipment in Wusong and Guangzhou military ports to improve their firepower output capabilities.

The first battleship team sailed side by side with the First Armored Patrol Team was the First Battleship Team composed of four new battleships. The Imperial Navy Marshal, Minister of the Navy, Chief of the General Staff of the Navy, and Chief of the Mobile Fleet, Duke Xu Fan, personally served as the commander of the team. It is under the jurisdiction of two Guangzhou-class battleships: Guangzhou and Fuzhou, and two American-made Wenzhou-class battleships: Wenzhou and Zhangzhou.

The Wenzhou-class battleship was built by the Imperial Navy under the name of the Connecticut-class battleship modification and the drawings provided by it. The battleships built in the United States have similar purposes to the Haikou-class, and also contain the intention of playing the card for economic cooperation to improve Sino-US relations. In order to avoid the United States implementing neutral laws after the war, in addition to purchasing additional ships to accelerate outfitting, China took the lead in completing the pickup before the war. It left the port in a hurry without even completing a lot of paint and interiors. It conducted sea trials off the US coast together with the oil tanker and other auxiliary ships that completed the pickup in advance, and then returned to China through Guam.

The design of these two Wenzhou-class battleships combines the bloodlines of China and the United States. The American-style cage mast combines the Chinese-style comprehensive bridge. Although it is far less complex and exquisite than the Guangzhou-class, it highlights a sturdy and durable. The fly-scissor-like ship bow can improve the waves on the fore deck, the center of gravity of the hull sinks, and the stability is better. The three American chimneys have been changed to a solid and low rear-tilt combination chimney. The oil-fuel boiler and steam turbine are directly transported and installed from China. The speed of 24 knots is definitely the top among the current battleships. The main manufacturing process and the main design of the cabin are all requested by China, and the United States will do it.

The main gun is a US-made dual-mounted three-four-5mm forty-five-diameter main turret with three seats, two seats in the front, one seat in the back, and all central axis configurations. This configuration method opens the eyes of American designers who blindly follow the British Navy. These denims without the aristocratic arsenals directly apply this idea to the Mississippi class, the next battleship of the United States.

The secondary guns of this class warship use four 200 and 3 mm dual secondary turrets arranged in four corners of the swollen part. Twenty American-made 76 mm and 50-drain rapid-fire guns are configured with gun profiles, but four torpedo launchers have been cancelled.

According to the requirements of the Chinese army, a series of 37mm high-level dual-purpose rapid-fire cannons and water-cooled heavy machine guns were installed on the swelling. The Americans did not understand this, and the Chinese were just smiling.

On this class of ships, according to special requirements of China, the original Connecticut-class nine-inch main armor belt became a key armor box, with a maximum thickness of up to twelve inches on the side. The front protection of its main turret is also twelve inches, and the horizontal steel plate with a thickness of 75 mm has become a double-layer deck of 100 mm total thickness, and the maximum protection of the commander tower is as high as thirteen inches, and lightning protection compartment is installed in the underwater part.

The so-called Connecticut Chinese version after the modification is actually a brand new warship, and its displacement has increased by 4,000 tons in one breath, reaching the standard displacement of 20,000 tons.

On both sides of the first patrol team, there are four light cruisers with round arrays in a circular shape - the third light patrol team composed of four light patrol ships, strong wind, light breeze, light breeze and cold wind, and the fourth light patrol team composed of four snow cruisers with heavy snow, light snow, ice and snow.

The Fengzi cruiser is the first fuel-powered light cruiser independently designed by China. It has a displacement of 3,200 tons and a maximum speed of 27 knots. It is equipped with two double-mounted main turrets of 120 mm and 45 times the diameter, 120 mm and 175 mm secondary cannons installed with twelve guns, and eight 37 mm machine cannons.

The Snow Cruiser is the second fuel-powered light cruiser independently designed by China. It has a displacement of 4,560 tons and a maximum speed of 28 knots. It is equipped with two dual-mounted main turrets of 152 mm and 45 times the diameter, 14 guns installed in the 75 mm secondary guns, and ten 37 mm machine guns.

On the outside of the third and fourth teams of the Light Cruiser are the first and second torpedo teams that strengthened a Warknife-class light cruiser respectively.

All three torpedo teams are flagships by a War Knife-class light cruiser, commanding six latest destroyers. These destroyers with displacement of 1,350 tons are the first comprehensive performance among the active destroyers in various countries. Four 12O rapid-fire guns, three dual-mounted 45O torpedo tubes, and 34 knots of speed make them the strongest lightning strike ships of this era.

The third cluster is located on the right wing, with Lin Tai, who is in charge of the Haishou, as commander-in-chief, and Ye Zukui as chief of staff, including the first team composed of two Haikou-class and four Hanoi-class ships. In addition, it also includes eight light cruisers from the first and second teams of the defense patrol, as well as twelve thick fog-class destroyers, as well as six strange-looking "hammer-class" shallow water heavy gunboats specially added.

Located in the center of the formation are six battleships that were personally commanded by Admiral Lin Taizeng, a column of six battleships: two British Haikou-class battleships: Haikou, Sanya, and four Hanoi-class battleships: Hanoi, Da Nang, Lang Sang, and Hue.

The Hanoi-class battleship is the first-class battleship of the Imperial Chinese Navy and is also the first-class self-built 10,000-ton battleship. Its prototype is an old star battleship designed by the UK for the Far East Fleet. The Chinese Empire adopted a half-buying and half-built approach on this type of warship, that is, the first two warships were sent to the UK by several major shipyards of the Imperial Chinese Empire to build with the working teams of the British Armstrong Shipyard and Vicks Shipyard. It participated throughout the process, and the No. 3 and No. 4 were assembled in China, and installed British main guns and armored steel.

This type of warship has made many revisions to the original old man's star-rated design according to the special requirements of the Shipbuilding Office of the Ministry of Defense of the Chinese Empire, including removing the torpedo launch tube, further refining the watertight chamber, appropriately reducing the armor in non-critical parts, thickening the armor on the deck and the upper part of the turret, and laying the coal bin on both sides of the key parts such as the engine compartment and ammunition depot to strengthen protection, increasing the inclination of the armor, thickening the watertight doors of the key watertight chambers, and installing a more efficient lightning protection net. In addition, the shape of the bow was revised for the sea conditions of the Sea of ​​Japan.

The revised Hanoi-class battleship has a standard displacement of 14,200 tons and a maximum speed of 19 knots. The armor is made of Harvey armor, the thickest part of the waterline with armor is 320 mm, the thickest part of the deck is 75 mm, the command tower armor is 320 mm, and it is equipped with two forty-fold three-to-five mm double main turrets, one at the head and tail, six double one-five mm stitching secondary guns, and ten seventy-five mm rapid-fire guns. The first ship of Hanoi was built by Armstrong Shipyard.

, the third year of China (1898) was launched in June and officially joined the North Sea Fleet of the Imperial Navy in June 19oo. The sister ship Da Nang was built by the British Vickers Shipyard and joined the North Sea Fleet at the same time as the Hanoi ship. The third and fourth ships started construction at the Huangpu Naval Shipyard and the Coast Defense Shipyard in the Imperial China. It was officially put into service three years ago. Except for the armored steel being replaced with German Krupp armored steel, the other parts were similar to the British warships.

The Haikou-class battleship was customized by the Imperial Chinese Navy at the Armstrong Shipyard in the UK. In addition to rapidly expanding naval strength, spy on the progress of the UK's shipbuilding capabilities, and learning its craftsmanship and design details, it also contains the Chinese Empire's use of the opportunity of the economic crisis to improve Sino-UK relations with government orders, and then conclude a Sino-UK alliance against Germany and Russia.

Since the British and Japanese Navy have always been involved in it, the Chinese Empire did not output much new technology on the modified warships. Due to the exchange of steam turbines and three-5 mm wire fastening main gun production processes and drawings with the British, the Chinese Empire used original domestic steam turbines and oil-fired boilers on these two Haikou classes. However, due to some technical limitations and immatureness, despite the improvement, the maximum speed is still only 22 knots.

Compared with the prototype ship, this class of ships adopted a flying scissor-like bow according to the sea conditions of the Sea of ​​Japan. The watertight compartment has increased from sixteen to twenty-four, and comprehensive protection has changed to key protection. Krupp armored steel is used, with a maximum thickness of twelve inches on the side of the armor box. The armor plate on the side of the side is inclined inward to improve the upward waves and improve the protection of incident shells. A lightning protection compartment is installed on the water surface, and an electric-driven removable lightning protection net is installed. It can be opened and closed at as fast as half a minute.

The main gun is two dual-mounted three-o-five main guns, one in front and one in the back, and is equipped with all central axis. The foremast is still a British single-bar mast, but after returning to China, it was rebuilt into the dock and turned into a solid simple integrated bridge, which is somewhat similar to the later Queen Elizabeth class, but is slightly simpler than the later Cheetah class and Guangzhou class. It is a phased product of the application of the integrated Chinese bridge on warships. In addition, the three chimneys in the middle are also merged into a back-tilted combined chimney.

The modified warship displacement increased to 18,000 tons, and the editors were 890.

The design of this type of warship made the British shipbuilding department admire the design strength of the Chinese Empire. It originally had a contemptuous vision and became a cautious reference, and some ideas were also applied to the development of the Fearless Class battleship.

Chapter 118 The mobile fleet sets off!

Chapter 118: Mobile Fleet, Setting Off!, Go to the Website
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