1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 1746 If you want to buy it, you may not be able to buy it
Whether to choose to buy or manufacture weapons and equipment is a long-term difficult decision for many countries in the South China Sea region.Especially for large-scale equipment such as warships, although all countries have certain shipbuilding capabilities, no one can deny the huge gap between the Haihan Navy and the Haihan Navy in terms of ship combat performance.Who wouldn't want to have a powerful fleet at sea if possible?
For a long time in the past, Haihan has been reluctant to sell combat ships to the outside world. Such a decision is naturally reasonable, and all countries can only be greedy by the side.However, since Haihan lifted the ban, it seems that countries no longer consider the issue of whether to buy or build, but spend all their money to order warships from Haihan, even if only the exploration-class warships with the smallest tonnage are on the sales list Let the countries flock to it.

The reason for this situation is that apart from the outstanding performance of the Haihan warship itself, another important reason is that the shipyard responsible for building the warship has limited production capacity, and the number of export warships that can be delivered every year is not as many as you buy. , A large number of orders may even be delayed for two or three years before delivery can be completed.In such a situation where the supply is in short supply, countries naturally want to scramble to buy it so that they can take the lead in the arms race in the South China Sea—even if they have no chance to sit in the top spot, at least they can fight for it under one country. position above the country.

And such an environment has not only brought about the tight demand of Haihan warships in the international arms market, but also caused its prices to rise all the way. From the seller's pricing in the first few years to the current buyer's bidding, buyers from all over the world For the ten or twenty warships produced by Haihan every year, they almost broke their heads.

Faced with such a hot market, Haihan Military Industry has to accept foreign orders for profit, so it has to allocate part of the dock slipway and shipbuilding technicians to complete the task, which will inevitably affect the order delivery and daily maintenance of Haihan Navy.The original Shengli Port Shipyard was renamed Sanya Shipyard after several upgrades and expansions, and more docks were built, but even so, it still could not fully meet the production requirements of Haihan Ordnance.

Therefore, in Hong Kong, Guangdong, Magong Port, Zhoushan Dinghai Port, and Annan Jinlan Port overseas, Haihan Ordnance Industry also built shipyards, and gradually released restrictions on the construction of standard warships overseas.In this way, the repair and maintenance needs of the navy's overseas fleets are alleviated to a certain extent, and small-tonnage combat ships can be built in various places to supplement the overseas fleets nearby.Of course, the exploration-class and majestic-class warships equipped with steam propulsion power with high technical content are still only available in Sanya Shipyard.

However, export-oriented warships for export are still built in Sanya in order to facilitate technical control.Therefore, the annual warship export order activities are still arranged in Sanya.

"Actually, with regard to combat ships, even if we don't do any promotional activities, everyone here will still be very proactive in paying and placing orders. On behalf of Haihan Ordnance Industry and Sanya Shipyard, I would like to thank you all for many years. patronage since then.”

Bai Kesi bowed slightly to pay tribute, and then went to the main topic: "But in line with the attitude of being responsible to buyers, we still invited experts to introduce this situation to you today."

Then the old man who came to the stage was not amazing, he looked about fifty or sixty years old, and there were even many people in the audience who didn't know him at all, and they whispered to each other to inquire about his identity.

Li Xi didn't know this person either. After asking the staff of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs next to him, he found out that this person was Zhang Tiangui, the chief engineer of Sanya Shipyard.Li Xi didn't know anything about Zhang Tiangui's deeds, but the official title seemed to be quite high, and Beks called him an expert, presumably because he had special attainments in the field of shipbuilding.

In fact, anyone who has bought a warship from Haihan, or has visited the Sanya shipyard, basically recognizes this person who is called "Master Zhang" by Haihan's senior officials. He is the on-site technical director of Haihan Shipbuilding.All Haihan warships exported abroad must be inspected by him at the shipyard before they can be delivered to buyers.

Matters related to shipping, including port construction, shipping and shipbuilding, were in charge of Sun Changmi and Yue Zhiyun in the early days.However, although the professional knowledge of these two people can beat the contemporary navigators, but in terms of actual hands-on ability, it is still not as good as the senior technicians working on the front line of shipbuilding.And Haihan was very lucky to get Zhang Tiangui's help shortly after crossing. It was because of the complete shipbuilding technology brought by this person that Haihan's shipbuilding industry was able to start smoothly, surpassing Zhang Tiangui in a short period of time. other countries in the South China Sea region.

Zhang Tiangui and his five sons are all working in Haihan's official institutions. It is rare in Haihan that all the men in the family are working as officials.Today's Zhang Tiangui is no longer the down-and-out shipbuilder he once was. If one were to rank the Haihan upstarts who had been promoted from naturalization all the way to the upper echelon, Zhang Tiangui would definitely be at the top.

It is precisely because of this situation that Haihan officials will not doubt Zhang Tiangui's loyalty at all, and have always trusted him deeply.For matters like new ship design, Sun Changmi and Yue Zhiyun would also bring Zhang Tiangui to a meeting to discuss the technical details of ship design.And Zhang Tiangui also came into contact with a lot of professional knowledge beyond the times. He has long regarded the high-ranking officials of Haihan who can build large iron ships as gods descending from the earth. Han's determination to be loyal.

However, as a technocrat, Zhang Tiangui didn't show up in front of people very often, and only when his superiors arranged for foreign VIPs to visit the shipyard, he would come forward to receive them, and by the way, act as a professional commentator during the visit.Outside of Sanya, not many people have heard of the head of the Sanya Shipyard.

Today, Beks arranged for Zhang Tiangui to explain this year's warship sales arrangements to representatives from various countries. On the one hand, it was out of respect for Zhang Tiangui, and on the other hand, it really needed a knowledgeable professional to answer buyers' questions immediately on the spot.

There are three main points that Zhang Tiangui explained. First, the total number of warships that Haihan can deliver before the end of this year will not exceed [-], and the actual delivery date of this order may extend to the middle of next year.The second is that the warship purchased by the buyer this time can enjoy more customized content, such as the number of artillery equipped on the ship, cabin layout, hull protection and reinforcement, etc.The third is that this year's technical upgrades for warships are mainly focused on the seaworthiness of the ships and the ease of use of the sails.

Zhang Tiangui's explanation was almost free of nonsense and exaggeration, and it came to an end soon.However, the audience did not intend to let him go. When Zhang Tiangui announced that he could start asking questions, Annan's Zheng Zuo took the lead and said: "Then according to Mr. Zhang, the ships that can be delivered this year may still be bought last year. The boat I bought for the first time may not be built until next year, am I right?"

Zhang Tiangui nodded and said: "Exactly. We took the initiative to announce this situation, hoping that you will consider whether your actual needs are urgent before placing an order, and don't come to the shipyard every day to urge the delivery of the ship."

Zheng Zuo said: "Then the rules of previous years can still be expedited?"

"Of course." Zhang Tiangui replied: "The expedited fee is [-]%, priority is given to construction and delivery."

Everyone who heard these words in the audience knew it well, and this was also a way for the Haihan people to raise prices in disguise.If you want a boat in a hurry, you can pay more for it, otherwise you can wait slowly.Don't dislike the long queue time, Haihan can only deliver about [-] boats every year. If your family doesn't buy other ships, you will come with money and wait to buy.

However, Zheng Zuo, who asked this question, would not actually choose to increase the money, it was purely to create an atmosphere for Haihan to support.The shipyard built by An Nanguo near the Tushan Peninsula has been in operation for two or three years. After spending a lot of money to obtain the technology transfer from Haihan, Annan himself can build small-tonnage exploration-class warships. The country's shipbuilding technology and the size of the shipyard are limited, and only four to six warships of this kind can be built each year, and the cost even exceeds the cost of buying directly from Haihan.

For An Nanguo, who intends to imitate Haihan and build a powerful navy, this speed of shipbuilding obviously cannot meet the needs of the ruler, so every year An Nanguo will still place an order with Haihan to buy several warships to speed up the country's war effort. The formation speed of the navy.

Another big buyer, Fujian Xu, also understood this, and immediately expressed that he would consider placing an order at a higher price in exchange for a relatively short delivery time.But the actual situation in Fujian is similar to that of Annan. Haihan also transferred the blueprints and construction technology of the Exploration-class warships to him, and its shipyards in Zhangquan and Quanzhou can build warships of this class by themselves.Fujian people now buy ships from Haihan, and generally give priority to expedition-class warships with larger tonnages.

As soon as these two companies expressed their views, others ignored the fact that the performance upgrade of the warship launched this time did not seem to be obvious, and instead focused on how to shorten the shipbuilding cycle and allow Haihan people to deliver their orders earlier.So after a while, the Portuguese raised a question related to technology: If the number of artillery deployed on the ship is to be further increased, will it affect the seaworthiness of the ship?
Zhang Tiangui's answer was also very straightforward: "The most suitable number must be the original plan designed by our shipyard. This is the result of repeated calculations and demonstrations by the chiefs. However, considering the actual needs of some countries, it is provided. Custom project. If you want to add artillery to the exploration-class warship, then the center of gravity of the hull and the carrying capacity of the deck need to be recalculated. As for how much it will actually affect the seaworthiness, I am afraid that the exact answer will not be known until the ship is launched. .”

In fact, the shipyards in Annan and Fujian have already conducted private experiments on the transformation similar to what Zhang Tiangui said.The naval guns that Haihan sells with the ship are also versions with reduced performance. Buyers are very aware of this. If they want to shorten the gap in combat power with Haihan Navy if they cannot equip them with the same type of artillery as Haihan Navy, then It can only be equipped with stronger firepower on board.Either use artillery with a larger caliber and longer range to serve as naval guns, or deploy more artillery on board.

But their experiments were not very successful. After the more powerful artillery was on board, it would often exceed the carrying capacity of the exploration-class warship, and would cause damage to the hull that was difficult to repair in the combat state.If more artillery is deployed, the problem mentioned by Zhang Tiangui will arise. The center of gravity of the entire ship needs to be readjusted. Otherwise, the warship may capsize to the other side in case of collective firing on one side during wartime. .

Without Haihan's participation in this kind of experiment, it would be difficult to obtain a rough result through calculations before implementation. Even if Haihan knew that they were making these changes in private, they would pretend not to know, leaving them to run into a wall.If it is so easy to modify this warship, then Haihan will not easily give up the manufacturing technology of the exploration level.

Zhang Tiangui was quite opposed to the transfer of shipbuilding technology at the beginning, but Sun Changmi and Yue Zhiyun told him that transferring some outdated and backward technology would not allow these buyers to catch up with Shanghai Han in the shipbuilding field, but would put them in a more secure position. Bind to Haihan's military industry system, because they will soon find out that this thing is not so easy to infer other cases from one instance. Buying exploration-level manufacturing technology does not mean that they will be able to build more advanced exploration-level warships.

But when the fleets of these buyers are all Haihan-style warships as the main force, their tactics and organization can only follow the mature model of Haihan.In the future, when these ships face upgrades, they will still have to ask Haihan, because only Haihan can provide them with a safe upgrade plan.

Although Zhang Tiangui didn't quite understand why the chiefs were so sure about the future situation, but based on past experience, the chiefs' predictions on the development of the situation were always correct, so Zhang Tiangui was not worried about any recurrence in the future.After launching the official order this time, Zhang Tiangui expected that the biggest buyers in the past would definitely be interested in it.However, this kind of upgrade service is expensive, even if it is just a modification plan, and the other party carries out the modification by themselves, it is not a small amount.

Although only the Portuguese raised this question at the scene, when Zhang Tiangui answered this question, Fujian and Annan listened very carefully.

Although Li Xi didn't know much about shipbuilding technology, he listened carefully to Zhang Tiangui's explanation.On his way south, he basically saw several of Haihan's main warships, and then went to Manila with the army to witness the terrifying strength of Haihan's fleet.It’s just that the treasury of North Korea is tight. Even if he wants to buy it, the country simply can’t spend that much money to buy a large number of Haihan warships. He can only learn as much as possible about the purchase of warships while being a spectator. doorway.

(End of this chapter)