1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 1011 Founding Ceremony ([-])

This port area, which is separated from the Shengli Port Naval Base by a estuary, has two comprehensive piers and about ten trestles. There are currently at least 200 ships docked here.Zhang Jinbao contacted that the boss of this ship is a local. He got the inside information about the military parade earlier, and took a good unobstructed position on the pier a few days in advance. People climbed up the mast, and Zhang Jinbao felt that the money he spent was well worth it.

The captain of the ship led Zhang Jinbao and his party to the bow deck, pointed to the east coast and said, "Here, look over there. The warships participating in the military parade in the afternoon are parked there."

Zhang Jinbao squinted his eyes and looked around. The official viewing platform was indeed on the opposite side of the harbor, and the distance was no more than a mile away. The military ships participating in the military parade were moored on the east bank of the Tiandu River estuary. There are at least twenty ships.Zhang Jinbao was still calm. Several students shouted excitedly when they saw the warships. Although they had seen military warships when they were in Danzhou, they were almost all "exploration class" with a small tonnage. Warship, this is the first time I have seen a full fleet.

Seeing the boss of the boat looking at his students with a smile, Zhang Jinbao knew that most of them regarded his group of people as rural nouveau riche who had never seen the world. It's paid.

After receiving the money, the boat boss said: "I have food and drink on this boat. If you need it, you can buy it in the back cabin."

Zhang Jinbao nodded in response, saying in his heart that Sanya's business is prosperous, and even the boatman of this fishing boat is so good at doing business, the rumors are indeed true.However, the cost of chartering the boat has already made him feel pained once, and he doesn't plan to spend any more money on the boat.

After waiting for about an hour, two blue fireworks were set off on the pier of the naval base on the east bank, and the people immediately clamored, knowing that the naval parade was about to begin.

For this military parade, the navy assembled most of the military ships stationed on Hainan Island, and equipped two "majestic class" steam sail warships as the flagship of the formation. All specifications of the Navy's existing combat ships.The fleet under review was personally commanded by Admiral Wang Tom, and the specifications were quite high.

When the fleet sailed away from the Tiandu River estuary and headed south slowly, the people watching in the West Bank port burst into cheers.Almost all of these warships are produced in the Shengli Port Shipyard, and the shipyard currently employs more than 3000 people. Counting the employees' families and some supporting raw material suppliers, at least [-] people in Sanya rely on the shipbuilding industry for their livelihoods. The family members of the Shanghai Navy have a very strong mass base, and they will feel extra proud and proud when they see this fleet appear.

"The Haihan people's fleet... has been changed to double flagships now?" Fan Diemen looked at the fleet slowly approaching from a distance, and said to himself with some doubts.

"Perhaps this is just a temporary fleet for the military parade." Su Keyi is quite optimistic about this: "My lord governor, look at their fleet establishment, which should also exceed the number of ships we know."

According to the normal establishment, Haihan's fleet is a Majestic-class flagship, at least four Exploration-class and eight Expedition-class warships, two light reconnaissance ships, six to eight comprehensive supply ships, and one to two Troop carriers, and an ambulance repair ship.However, the number of ships in the fleet seen right now is obviously much higher than the normal level of the Haihan fleet.

Van Diemen nodded and said: "I heard that the Haihan Navy also has an organization called a task force, which is to mix two or more fleets together. Perhaps what we are seeing now is such a fleet. Special fleet."

The task force is not a product of the aircraft carrier era. In fact, the Zheng He fleet that sailed to the West during the most prosperous period of the Ming Dynasty was an unprecedented maritime task force.At that time, Zheng He's fleet consisted of more than [-] ocean-going ships of different models and purposes, with more than [-] personnel, which was large enough to wipe out small countries in Southeast Asia in one fell swoop.Naturally, the size of Haihan's fleet cannot be compared with Zheng He's fleet, but the actual combat power is already very strong, and this has been proved in several actual battles.On the premise of not considering the supply, the two majestic-class flagships on the sea alone are enough to run amok in the South China Sea.

For individual countries that have had experience with Haihan at sea, the sense of oppression brought by this fleet is very strong. The existence of a sea killer like the majestic class is simply an unsolvable problem for these countries. exist.A warship of the same tonnage can probably be built somewhere on the other side of the earth, but it is impossible to have the same level of firepower output and high speed, and the overall performance is still not comparable to that of the Haihan warship.

And for those countries that saw the true appearance of Haihan's regular fleet for the first time, the visual impact brought by this scene is too strong.The water combat ships of most countries in the Far East are still at the equipment level of the cold weapon era, and they are far inferior to the almost deserted navy of Ming Dynasty. It is even unthinkable to imagine such a well-equipped fleet.Envy, jealousy, hatred, all kinds of emotions, but the most important thing right now is to find the opportunity to ask Haihan about the prices of these ships.Envoys from some countries heard that Annan had already equipped many warships of the same model, and some of them immediately went to Zheng Zuo for verification.

Annan has indeed installed a batch of Haihan warships in his own navy, but they are all export models with the smallest tonnage. In the past, the cost of building three or four ships by yourself, and artillery ammunition had to be purchased separately.It took Annan four or five years to barely scrape together a fleet built entirely in Haihan, but it was still far from the requirements for taking charge of Annan's coastline.

The speed of building the fleet is so slow. On the one hand, Haihan is consciously controlling the supply of warships built for Annan. On the other hand, it is also because the price of the ships is too high. It is difficult for Annan's limited military budget to afford a large scale. navy.Fortunately, regardless of whether Annan is willing or not, at least there is Haihan as a military ally. The Haihan Navy stationed on the coastline of Annan is still in charge of most of the Annan sea border patrol affairs.Perhaps in the future, after the establishment of the Annan Navy is complete, the patrol affairs will be gradually handed over, but the military base deployed by Haihan in Annan will probably remain.

The fleet sailed slowly on the sea about [-] meters away from the viewing platform of the pier. During the period, the crew gathered on the port side and lined up in a neat horizontal line to salute in the direction of the viewing platform.The Shanghai and Han military personnel on the shore also stood up collectively and returned the military salute to the sea.

It took about 10 minutes for the fleet to pass the viewing platform from beginning to end, but the guests saw that Haihan and the others were sitting still, and knew that the military parade might not be over yet, so they all sat obediently and waited for the good show to take place .

Compared with the military parade in the morning, the navy has a great advantage in that the venue is more open. The entire Victory Harbor has been closed to sail, leaving the space in the harbor for the fleet to play. Naturally, Wang Tom will make full use of this condition to show it well Consider the power of the navy.

With the sound of a trumpet on the ship, gray-white smoke rose from the chimneys of the two Majestic-class flagships, which was the effect of water vapor mixed with soot. The speed was slowly accelerating, and soon rushed out of the fleet and rushed to the front.Such a scene surprised the guests who saw the steam warship for the first time on the viewing platform, because they had never seen a warship speed up in such a short period of time.

The two flagships turned westward with a brisk attitude at the mouth of the bay, drew an arc along the west bank of Victory Harbor, and then turned back to the east.The other ships chose a smaller turning radius and completed this 180-degree sea turn almost simultaneously with the two flagships.Although it seems nothing special, knowledgeable sailors know how difficult it is for so many ships to turn simultaneously at sea.If you are a soldier who has served at sea, you will know better than ordinary people the important role of this ability to turn to grab a favorable position in a sea battle.

On the pier on the west bank of the harbor, the people who thought they could only take a look from a distance cheered excitedly when they saw the warship approaching along the coast.Zhang Jinbao and his students thought that the fleet would be over after passing the viewing platform from north to south, and were planning to leave when they saw the fleet making a big circle on the sea and heading in their direction.Everyone suddenly became excited again, but the boss of the boat changed color when he saw this, and hurriedly told everyone to hold on to the side of the boat, so as not to be untenable when the waves came.

The two flagships passed by less than [-] meters away from the coastline, and the water split by the bows formed waves, rushing towards the shore one after another.The boat that Zhang Jinbao and others were on was a fishing boat with a displacement of less than ten tons. When the waves came in, they swayed from side to side. If the boss of the boat hadn't told them to hold on to something to stabilize their bodies, they might have been shaken down. several.

The students yelled and stared at the two huge battleships with excitement.At this distance, the black hole on the side of the ship can already be seen clearly, and the crew on the deck can be seen busy operating the sail ropes to correct the course under the command of the boatswain.The speed of the two ships was so fast that everyone felt dazed for a moment, and the two ships had already passed by, and the speed was more than double that of when they passed the viewing platform on the east bank.

This high-speed performance along the coastline of Shengli Harbor not only shocked the spectators, but also shocked the guests from all over the world who were seated on the viewing platform.Most of them saw this kind of big ship that can emit smoke for the first time, and they were deeply impressed by its flexible steering and extremely high speed. They heard that the Haihan Navy was invincible before. Some people are somewhat skeptical, but after witnessing Haihan's fleet with their own eyes, most people will feel that it is indeed worthy of the name. There is probably no warship from any country that can stop this high-speed gunboat.

In fact, not to mention these foreigners, even the Haihan traversers who are also sitting on the viewing platform, as long as they are not related to the fields of military industry, shipbuilding, and the military, most of them have never really seen their own navy in wartime at close range. In this state, there are many people applauding while watching.

In this era, the most clear understanding of the importance of sea power is this group of travelers who came from centuries later.Haihan is based on the sea, and the control of the sea is the most important thing, and the means to realize Haihan's strategic goal are these armed sailboats.Although these ships look very primitive and backward in the eyes of the traversers, they are already a black technology beyond this era, and it is extremely difficult to build and the cost is very high.

In the eyes of the traversers, these ships are not just piles of wood floating on the sea, but piles of quantifiable real money.In order to build a fleet of sailing fleets guarding various places, Haihan spends as much as one million on building warships every year, and the more advanced the model, the higher the cost of building the ship.Like this majestic-class warship that was outfitted before the celebration this time, due to the adoption of many new structures and new materials, its construction cost is one-third higher than that of previous ships of the same type.If the extra part is more than enough to build an exploration-class warship, it also shows the high cost.

The high military budget will become the focus of controversy in the annual special discussion meeting, and the navy's military expenditure is rising almost every year, which has caused the most controversy.But at the end of every fight, almost all the opposition choose to compromise, because the actual situation is like this, Haihan's ever-expanding territory must be guarded by enough naval fleets, otherwise it will be difficult to guarantee the safety of overseas colonies and major trade routes.

Although we have to quarrel for a few days every year, the navy's budget will still be satisfied in the end. After all, although the military expenditure is high, the market and labor value brought by the expansion of the control area are also very considerable, which is enough to make up for Haihan's military strength. field expenditures.

After the naval parade fleet made a full circle in the bay, it slowly sailed south out of the harbor.Wang Tom didn't want to waste such a rare opportunity to assemble, so he planned to take advantage of this opportunity to pull the fleet to the open sea for training.After all, the area of ​​this harbor is too small, so you can play with skills, but if you want to practice fleet tactics, you still have to go to a wider sea.However, the content of the training after that is not open to the public, and the guests watching the ceremony have no chance to see it.

"Everyone, today's military parade has come to an end. Next, we will have a grand dinner. Please leave the venue one by one under the guidance of the staff. There will also be a fireworks show in the evening, and we will organize to watch it at that time... "With the sound from the tweeter, the military parade during the celebration finally came to an end.The guests who couldn't get enough of it were still excitedly exchanging their impressions and discussing various topics about the Haihan Navy Fleet.

(End of this chapter)