1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3153
Tao Donglai said: "Hearing what you said, it should be that other fleets have already expressed interest in the Glory-class warship?"

Shi Diwen nodded and said: "There are many people who are interested in this ship. Last year, Zhoushan received several special trips for inspection, but so far, the shipyard has not received any orders from outside."

Yan Chujie smiled and said: "The cost of your boat is really too high. Those who can afford it may not be able to use it, and those who can use this boat may not be able to afford it. It is somewhat difficult to promote it."

Shi Diwen responded: "This is the paradoxical situation that the shipyard is currently facing. The initial research and development costs have led to high costs, and the cost can only be diluted through batch construction. However, if no foreign orders are received, the cost cannot be reduced. It can only continue to maintain high prices.”

The development stage of the Glory-class battleship lasted for several years, and a lot of money was consumed in this process, which directly pushed up the construction cost.Even the East China Sea Fleet, which is not short of money, can only build one to test the waters at the beginning. They want to use this as a model to sell the Glory-class warships to other fleets in order to dilute the future construction costs.

But this matter did not go smoothly. As Yan Chujie said, the Glory-class warships look good, but they may not be the most needed equipment for each fleet.

The level of local military budgets is often directly linked to the level of local social affluence.In addition to the East China Sea region, the most adequate military budget is probably the navy of Guangdong, Guangxi and Fujian.

But the Guangdong and Guangxi sea areas have been peaceful for many years, the pirates have long since disappeared, and there are no other opponents in the area. There is almost no need to use the Glory-class warships. Even if the Glory-class warships are bought back, most of them can only be used as decorations.

The procurement of equipment for the Fujian Garrison has always had invisible restrictions. Even if Xu Yuzhuo wanted to spend money to purchase this new type of warship, he would most likely be blocked by the Ministry of Defense during the application process.

The real combat needs are the borders of the empire such as the Northern Region, the Luzon Region, and the Xingdao Region, as well as the North American Region far across the ocean. It cannot be compared with the East China Sea Region.

The cost of purchasing a Glory-class warship is almost three times that of the Majestic-class warship. In addition, the cost of use and maintenance after entering service is also considerable, which is enough to cool down the fleet commander's enthusiasm for purchasing and seriously think about his own plans. Does the fleet really need this new type of warship.

Tao Donglai asked, "Then how do you plan to solve this paradox?"

Shi Diwen said: "There are many ways to solve the problem, but if you want to get quick results and dispel the doubts of the onlookers, there is only one way."

"Send the Zhoushan, which has been completed and in service, to the battlefield, and use actual combat performance to prove that this new type of warship is worth the money. If its combat effectiveness can far exceed that of the Majestic-class warship, the commanders should not No longer so sensitive to the cost."

This sounds like a violent theory, but after careful consideration, it is reasonable.

Other fleets take a wait-and-see attitude towards the newly launched Glory-class warships. Apart from the prohibitively high price, of course they also have certain doubts about its actual combat performance.

In case after buying it back, it is not so easy to use until it is on the battlefield, this thing cannot be returned.

And to dispel such doubts, the best way is of course to let the Zhoushan prove its strength on the battlefield, at least it must have a performance that exceeds that of a majestic-class warship, so that people will be willing to pay for it.

Tao Donglai thought of something else, smiled and said: "It seems that you haven't been on the battlefield for too long, and you can't take it easy."

Shi Diwen avoided talking about Tao Donglai's ridicule: "If such expensive weapons and equipment are only put on display in Dinghai Port, it is not of its due value."

If Shi Diwen wants to launch a war in the East China Sea, there is only one target, that is, Japan across the sea.If Shi Diwen planned to make a comeback in the military and return to the battlefield to find the feeling of being a commander, he would probably have to use Japan as the knife.

Japan's maritime armed forces are inferior to today's North Korea, but it is quite suitable to be used as a target for feeding the Glory-class warships.

But if Shi Diwen really intends to do this, he can't do it arbitrarily.According to Haihan's system, any war against the outside world must be discussed and approved by the Executive Committee.

After visiting the shipyard, the group boarded the Zhoushan, which was purposely docked near the shipyard.

Several engineers who personally designed and built the Zhoushan also followed from the shipyard to explain some construction details of the ship to the officials.

In Haihan's shipbuilding history so far, the Zhoushan is the ship with the largest displacement, more than double the size of the Majestic class.

Compared with the warships built in the past, Zhoushan has undergone great changes in the hull structure. All the side guns deployed on the lower deck of the old warships have been cancelled, and replaced by rotatable forts on the front and rear decks of the hull.

The originally extremely complicated rigging system has also been greatly simplified, with only one main, two auxiliary and three masts retained, and the task of driving the battleship is handed over to the steam power system in the cabin.

If the majestic-class warships before this were dominated by sails and supplemented by steam power, then on the glorious-class warships, the positions of the two were exactly reversed.

But the overall design idea is not derived from the Majestic-class battleship, but more like an enlarged and improved version of the Warrior-class test ship built before.

The engineer said that when designing the Glory class, there was even an ironclad version, but the cost was too high and it was rejected at the pre-trial stage.

Of course, now that the design plan is in place, in a few years, Haihan's steel production will increase to a certain stage, and the cost of the ironclad ship can be reduced to an acceptable level, then a new era may usher in.

Although the performance of this battleship seems to have been greatly improved compared with the majestic class, it also faces higher costs for use and maintenance.

The Glory-class battleship itself has limited loading capacity. If it is going to go to sea for a long time to fight, it must be equipped with a supply ship for loading coal and fresh water to ensure that the steam power system on the ship can continue to operate.

But such a shortcoming has become a small shortcoming that can be ignored in front of the several rapid-fire guns on the front and rear decks.

These breech-loading guns using copper-shelled shells are very expensive, and the manufacturing period is very long, but considering that their combat performance is several times higher than that of the old naval guns, they are barely cost-effective.

Shi Diwen said that with the blessing of these advanced naval guns, even if the opponent is an active Haihan warship, the Glory class also has an overwhelming advantage.

(End of this chapter)