I want to be emperor

Chapter 586 First Class Battleship
The prosperity of the shipbuilding industry in recent years is not only seen by the Li family, but many people have actually seen it, and many of them have devoted themselves to it.

In many places along the coast and along the river in the Great Chu Empire, shipyards have appeared one after another!
Among them, the biggest action is naturally the Ministry of Industry of the Great Chu Empire. In order to improve the shipbuilding capacity, the Ministry of Industry supplies more and better warships to the navy, and it also provides more and better transport ships for the shipping industry. In [-], a lot of money was invested in the shipbuilding industry.

Among them, the two major shipyards, Songjiang Naval Shipyard and Guangzhou Shipyard, have been invested heavily. In addition, Qingdao Shipyard has also been invested heavily in the construction of Qingdao Shipyard.

According to the positioning of the Ministry of Industry, these three shipyards all need to undertake the construction tasks of large warships, especially battleships over [-] tons, and large armed merchant ships.

Therefore, the investment scale of these three shipyards is very large, and they have recruited talents from all over the country and even all over Southeast Asia.

The CICC investment by the Ministry of Industry has also achieved quite good results. The Qingdao Shipyard is still under construction, and the equipment, large docks, and personnel are not yet ready. Therefore, we can only build some small ships with a scale of several hundred tons. Warships and merchant ships practice hands.

However, the Songjiang Naval Shipyard and Guangzhou Shipyard have already perfected the ability to build large warships. The Songjiang Naval Shipyard has built four Jinling-class third-class battleships for the navy.

Coupled with the two Jinling-class third-class battleships built by the Guangzhou Shipyard, these six battleships have become the absolute main battleships of the Great Chu Empire Navy.

Six third-class battleships of [-] tons may not be many in European waters, but in the Western Pacific waters, the battle fleet formed by them is definitely at the hegemonic level.

Otherwise, why is the Chu Empire Navy able to control the coast and the East Ocean waters, and at the same time control a certain degree of sea control in the South Ocean waters, protecting its own merchant ships from navigating to various ports in the South Seas.

Without a powerful navy, it is impossible for the Dutch or Portuguese to tolerate the merchant ships of the Great Chu Empire wandering around and robbing them of business!
However, as the strength of the Great Chu Empire's navy strengthened, the Dutch and Portuguese successively dispatched a number of battleships from India and even Europe to the South Seas in order to form a new strategic balance.

How should I put it, if the strength of these two countries in the Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean is too weak, it is impossible to conduct so-called equal trade with the Great Chu Empire...

If the Great Chu Empire could swallow the entire Southeast Asian and even the Indian market in one gulp, why should it take a share of the Dutch and Portuguese pie?

As for the profits of European trade... Please keep in mind that it is the European market that needs China's silk, porcelain and other goods. Only China has banned the sea and cut off the goods, and no European merchants have taken the initiative to cut off trade routes.

This supply and demand relationship must be kept in mind!

Furthermore, without the Dutch and Portuguese, as well as the English and Spaniards, they tried their best to get involved in the trade with the Great Chu Empire.

Spain did not hesitate to engage in global routes, and the British did not hesitate to risk being attacked by 'pirates' to break into Southeast Asia!

Therefore, today's maritime trade in Southeast Asia and India...European countries can actually replace each other, but the Great Chu Empire cannot be replaced.

Without the participation of the Great Chu Empire, the maritime trade in this area would lose its greatest value.

The Great Chu Empire has taken the absolute initiative in this series of maritime trade. If the sea power completely overwhelms the Dutch and Portuguese, they will still play wool.

This is also the reason why the Dutch and Portuguese mobilized warships to reinforce India and Southeast Asia, just to prevent themselves from being kicked aside by the Great Chu Empire to play in the mud.

The six Jinling-class third-class battleships have already had such an impact on the waters of Southeast Asia, not to mention the Songjiang Naval Shipyard and Guangzhou Shipyard, which continue to build battleships for the navy.

And there are more warships under construction...

Today, there are still a total of twelve battleships under construction in these two shipyards, ten of which are improved models of Jinling-class third-class battleships. The Great Chu Empire Navy is very satisfied with Jinling-class battleships and plans to build more of these excellent battleships. Battleships, of course, had the necessary improvements as well.

The tonnage of the improved Jinling-class battleship has increased to [-] tons. The increased tonnage is mainly used to increase material reserves to enhance ocean-going navigation capabilities.

At the same time, it is also used to replace the newer main naval gun.

Although the main naval gun still has the same caliber as the same gun, it has a longer barrel and better performance, and the same weight is correspondingly heavier.

There are also two new-generation Guangzhou-class battleships that are larger than the Jinling-class battleships. The standard displacement of this artillery has reached [-] tons, and it can carry a total of [-] long-body tube ships. gun.

Both the firepower and the tonnage, together with the typical three-layer artillery deck, make this battleship a veritable first-class battleship, and its combat effectiveness is one level stronger than that of the Jinling-class battleship.

If this thing is placed in Europe, it is also a first-class battleship, and it is larger in tonnage than a battleship with the same number of guns in Europe.

However, although this thing is good, it is very expensive, and at the same time, the requirements for shipbuilding capabilities are not low. At least, the dry dock must be that big, isn't it...

Of course, the most important thing is that the tonnage is larger and the requirements for shipbuilding technology are higher, so there are only two orders in the first batch.

To put it bluntly, these two Guangzhou-class first-class battleships are experimental products, and the navy is also a little worried about mistakes, so build two first and take a look. If the effect is good and the technology has passed the test, then large-scale construction will begin.

As for now and for many years to come, the main battleship of the Great Chu Empire Navy will still be the Jinling-class battleship equipped with 74 cannons and its improved models.

Since this kind of warship entered service, the Great Chu Empire Navy has been very satisfied, thinking that this kind of warship has reached a very good balance in terms of performance and cost, and has obtained stronger combat effectiveness at the lowest possible price.

In June of the tenth year of Chengshun, a squadron of the Great Chu Empire Navy and the Spaniard's Universal Treasure Fleet conducted a friendly exercise in the waters of Manila.

Among the battleships dispatched by the Spanish Navy, one is a second-class battleship with 84 guns and an estimated displacement of more than 600 tons. It has three decks.

However, in the live ammunition exercise, its ability to damage the target ship is not as good as the 74-gun Jinling-class battleship of the Great Chu Empire Navy.

This means that the actual combat capability of the Jinling-class battleship is no less than that of a second-class battleship with 84 guns.

As for those third-class battleships with more than 60 artillery pieces, they are not even the opponents of 74-gun battleships.

This kind of balance is actually the reason why the Great Chu Empire Navy directly gave up the construction of second-class battleships of about 74 tons and equipped with [-] or [-] artillery pieces. A first-class battleship, if it is used daily, is not as good as a [-]-gun battleship.

Therefore, the Navy of the Great Chu Empire simply canceled the construction plan of the second-class battleships, and directly adopted the high-low matching of the first-class battleships and the third-class battleships.

This is also the reason why the Great Chu Empire Navy continued to build the improved Jinling class on a large scale. If there is no accident, the number of battleships of this class built in a short period of time may reach as many as dozens of ships.

In addition to battleships, the Great Chu Empire has also built a large number of cruisers and frigates over the years, among which the number of cruisers has reached more than 20 ships.

However, there are only three or four hundred-ton frigates more, and there are already more than sixty ships.

The cruisers among them are pretty good. The tonnage of this thing is actually not small. The small ones have seven to eight hundred tons, and the new large cruisers are already over a thousand tons. The tonnage of this thing is comparable to that of many countries. Wait for the battleship.

Therefore, the construction of large cruisers can only be carried out in the two major shipyards, and the other shipyards are not far behind.

But the frigate is different. The tonnage of this thing is not large. Its positioning is to patrol the coastal waters and do odd jobs in the fleet. It does all kinds of odd jobs.

The combat power is average, but the advantage is cheap!
The most important thing is that this kind of frigate can be built in many shipyards, even several inland shipyards affiliated to the Ministry of Industry, such as Jiujiang Shipyard, Hantian Shipyard, and Jinling Shipyard can build this kind of small boat.

At the same time, the ship is small and the construction period is fast. The time required from the start of construction to the launch of service is very short. If it is rushed, it will take more than a year.

So in recent years, the Great Chu Empire Navy has built more than 60 ships in one go, and a dozen ships are in service every year.

And a large number of frigates, plus more than 20 cruisers and six battleships, have completely upgraded the Great Chu Empire Navy.

Now in the Great Chu Empire's navy, all the old Fuchuan, Bird Ships and other old warships taken over from Zheng Zhilong's troops in the past have all withdrawn from the front-line combat forces.

Because these ships are all traditional warships with hard sails, and the main battleships of all levels of the navy, except for inland river ships, all have soft sails, so these traditional ships are not very useful even as training ships...

Of course, these ships will not be scrapped and dismantled directly. They are basically decommissioned and sold to the three major trading companies and various private trading companies.

Anyway, it is also a battleship, not very good at fighting, but it is barely acceptable to be used as an armed merchant ship.

And these trading companies are short of ships, and it is too late to order new ships, so they also want old ships.

Whether it is sold to the three major trading companies or sold to those ordinary trading companies, in fact, these decommissioned warships used as armed merchant ships still belong to the Navy Reserve to a certain extent.

As long as the navy needs it, it can be recruited anytime and anywhere, or it can be recruited together with the ship and people.

Many trading companies in the Great Chu Empire are also part of the maritime armed forces of the Great Chu Empire, just like the East India Companies of various countries will also become the armies of various countries when necessary.

Today's Great Chu Empire Navy has taken on a completely new look, but the Great Chu Empire Navy has not stopped its pace of development!
The Great Chu Empire has such a long sea frontier, and at the same time, there are maritime interests in the East and South China Seas that need to be protected. Well, as the products of the Great Chu Empire enter the Indian Peninsula, the interests of this region also need to be protected by the navy.

In the South China Sea and the Indian waters, the strength of each country is not weak.

According to the estimates of the Navy, to ensure the overseas interests of the Great Chu Empire, at least one hundred battleships, plus the same number of cruisers, and at least three hundred frigates are needed!
It's not even close yet.

Therefore, the two major shipyards and the Qingdao Shipyard under construction have a long way to go.

If the three major shipyards are focused on serving the navy, then a large number of other shipyards invested by the Ministry of Industry are purely serving shipping.

Of course, some shipyards will also build warships, but they are all small-tonnage frigates, and most of them are mainly inland river, offshore vessels, and ocean-going merchant ships.

The economic development of the Great Chu Empire requires a large number of ships!

Especially the Pearl River, Yangtze River, canals and local coastal routes require tens of thousands of ships!

For example, in the late Qing Dynasty, there were at least [-] sandships in Shanghai alone, and at least tens of thousands of sandships nationwide!

This is only talking about sand boats, not including other types of ships.

The industrial and commercial development and foreign trade of the Great Chu Empire were far more open than those in the late Qing Dynasty, and the scale was also larger.

The number of ships required will also be more!

The sand ship is the center of the construction.

Sand boats, despite their reputation and appearance, are very suitable for inland rivers, lakes, and offshore navigation. The draft is shallow, and the Chinese-style hard sails have a high utilization rate of wind power and low personnel requirements.

Moreover, the technology is mature, the cost is low, and it can be built on a large scale.

This thing can be produced by any private shipyard, it's nothing more than a matter of size.

But as a ship that sails inland and offshore, this thing doesn't have to be too big.

In today's Yangtze River Basin, there are more and more sandships coming and going every day. When the weather is good and the business is busy, they can sail continuously in the Yangtze River area.

Ships come and go one after another, and most of these ships are sand ships!
A large number of small and medium-sized shipyards invested by the Ministry of Industry initially focused on building sand ships. Only some coastal shipyards with relatively large investment scales will think about building some new types of large ships, but their technical capabilities are temporarily limited. not so good.

The large-scale investment of the Ministry of Industry in the shipbuilding industry is to provide transportation tools for the imperial economy that is developing day and night. During this process, the Ministry of Industry also encourages private capital to enter shipyards to build ships. More encouraged.

It was against this background that the Li family invested heavily in the shipbuilding industry. Besides the Li family, there were also a large number of other gentry and businessmen who entered the shipbuilding industry.

In addition to the gentry and merchants, there is also a group of shipbuilders who have nothing to do with gentry and merchants. They are not willing to only get a dead salary and want to start their own businesses.

They are the founder team of Luohua Shipyard, part of the backbone of the former Songjiang Naval Shipyard.

They understand shipbuilding, but they are blind to how to run a shipyard!
(End of this chapter)