Wild North America 1846

Chapter 573 Expedition Fleet
Are you planning to build an expedition fleet and go on an expedition to Egypt?

When such a big problem was thrown in front of Marshal Pan Hengchen, it really made his scalp tingle. This was an unprecedented severe test for the Royal Navy.

There are countless problems involved in such a long cross-ocean expedition, but His Majesty has made up his mind, no matter how difficult it is, it must be completed.

"Please rest assured, Your Majesty. The Royal Navy of the Empire is confident in fulfilling the sacred mission entrusted by Your Majesty. From now on, we will mobilize elite soldiers and generals to organize an expedition fleet." Marshal Pan Hengchen bit the bullet and agreed.

He thought about it. It is already mid-June. The naval warships that are about to go on an expedition must go to the shipyard for overhaul immediately. What needs to be repaired, what should be replaced, what should be installed, and what should be installed, there is no 6~3 months to get out. .

If it breaks down in the vast ocean, then you won't even be able to cry.

Based on this calculation, the voyage will be at least mid-to-late October, and the arrival in Egypt will be after March next year. This is still under the condition that everything goes well.

After careful consideration, Marshal Pan Hengchen clasped his fists again and saluted; "Your Majesty Qizuo, our Royal Navy plans to prepare everything on October 10 and pledge to go on an expedition. We are just afraid that our troops will not be enough to meet the minimum requirement of 28 people..."

The Royal Navy has only two marine divisions, of which the first Royal Marine Division guards the mainland, and the four main regiments are deployed in the imperial capital Chang'an, Los Angeles, Seattle and Panama.

The 2nd Royal Marine Division is still far away in South America, and it is also stationed in various ports in units of regiments. It will not be able to gather for a while.

"It doesn't matter. I have planned for this expedition for a long time. Two field divisions were drawn from the army and organized into the 3rd Royal Navy Expeditionary Division and the 3rd Expeditionary Division. Well... these two marine divisions only retain the main command skeleton, plus Some senior sergeants and veterans, the total number is about 5600." Emperor Li Cha had already made arrangements for this, waved his hand domineeringly, and ordered calmly;
"These two divisions will be assigned to the Royal Navy within this week. You and the Army Staff Headquarters will go through the handover procedures, and they will be yours from now on.

There are a total of more than 5600 key officers and non-commissioned officers of the third and fourth divisions of the Royal Marines. They will carry weapons and equipment within half a month at the latest, and set sail for Paradise Island by boat, where they will receive recruits and complete the reorganization.

Don't worry, in fact, these are not new recruits, at least they are all soldiers for more than one year, and they are more familiar with fighting in tropical areas.

After the reorganization is completed, the strength of the two full-staffed marine divisions can reach more than 3.2, each equipped with a cavalry regiment and an artillery regiment, which are sufficient to meet operational needs.

As for the date of departure of the expeditionary fleet, it must not be later than October 10.

At that time, the expeditionary fleet will meet up with the infantry who arrived in advance for training in Paradise Island, and together they will go on an expedition to Egypt.

Remember what I said, those who openly violate the Tang Empire will be punished no matter how far away they are. "

"I will keep this in mind, those who violate the Great Tang Empire will be punished no matter how far away they are." Marshal Pan Hengchen replied solemnly.

Now that the final decision has been made, everything surrounding the expedition has been intensively prepared.

His Majesty's will is extremely firm, and it is imperative to safeguard the glory of the empire. At this time, the Royal Navy is like a lamb being roasted on the fire, and it must come up with a strong response.

Where can we see a rainbow without going through wind and rain?
The expedition to Egypt was a sacred mission entrusted to the Royal Navy by the Tang Empire, and the Imperial Navy Department would never dare to ignore it.

If it is a bad start, it will lose not only the face of the Imperial Navy, but also the face of the Tang Empire, and the apotheosis of His Majesty's invincible legend will also be shattered.

The consequences cannot be afforded by the entire Royal Navy.

After careful deduction in several combat meetings, the Royal Navy finally determined the size of the expedition fleet. Considering the long voyage, the "Han" iron-clad frigate with a displacement of only more than 1500 tons was first ruled out.

皇家海军拟以最新服役的“恶风”号、“凛风”号、“山风”号和“海风”号4艘装甲巡洋舰为主力，该级舰4980吨的满排水量，装备了4门8英寸主舰炮（203毫米）和10门7英寸副炮（178毫米），服役期3~7年间不等，舰船技术状况较好。

Besides
It will be equipped with no less than 12 coal carriers of five to seven thousand tons, and each coal carrier will be equipped with seven-inch cannons. In wartime, it can cooperate with the main battleship to block the bay and capture the Egyptian sailing cargo ships.

In addition, the main battleships need to install coal storage iron cabinets to extend the cruising range.

As for troop carriers, oil and water supply ships, and other cargo ships, they are all ready-made, and they can be requisitioned directly from major shipping companies at that time, no problem at all.

The most important thing now is to select an experienced expeditionary fleet commander. After repeated screening, two admirals, one old and one young, entered the final list.

At this time, the situation suddenly changed...

The Holy One was led by the Eleventh Prince Tang-Li Xin, who was appointed as the Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Navy Expeditionary Task Force and awarded the rank of Rear Admiral. He was accompanied by Commodore Zheng Huaishan Viscount Zheng Huaishan, an experienced naval officer. general.

in the american war
Zheng Huaishan participated in the expeditionary fleet's strangling battle against the sea power of the United States of America throughout the whole process.

There are also two generals on the expedition together, one civil and military, the other is Colonel Pan Shouguo, an aide to the royal family, and the other is the heir of the Duke of the Protectorate, the eldest son of Admiral Pan Hengchen.

The other is the 26-year-old Lord Liu Daqing, the son of the former Prime Minister Liu Xianjun and the companion of the eleventh prince Tang Li Xin.

No. 11 Pier of Chang'an, the imperial capital, namely Oak Bay Town

After more than 20 years of construction, Oak Bay Town has become a satellite city of Chang'an, the imperial capital. The town's population is close to 20, and it is an excellent place with beautiful scenery, mountains and bays.

In the encircling bay, more than a dozen large and small ironclad warships are moored quietly. This is the largest local military port of the Royal Navy.

In the large Royal Navy shipyard on the north side of the bay, there is a huge monster moored by the pier, and many workers are going up and down for the final installation, a busy scene.

This is the "Zhenyang" class ironclad ship with a displacement of more than 8600 tons. The first ship "Zhenyang" has been launched after two years of construction and is in the stage of dock installation.

"It's a pity. It's a pity that I can't steer this unprecedentedly powerful battleship to sail across the ocean." Wearing the uniform of a rear admiral, His Highness Tang Li Xin was tall and heroic.

He raised his hand to caress the thick steel barrel of the 305mm main gun on the bow, showing his sincere love for this powerful main gun. This is a breech-loading main gun representing the advanced level in the world today. It is huge and sturdy The mounts are simply unshakable.

The "Zhenyang" ironclad ship is equipped with two 305mm double-door main naval guns, one on the bow and one on the stern. This is the largest caliber main gun produced by Colt Arms.

The gun mount of the gun is inclined backward with a slope of 17.8 degrees. When the main gun is fired, it will move violently to counteract the huge recoil.The backward-tilted gun carriage will counteract the recoil of the 78-ton cannon and return the inertia forward after firing.

It's no surprise that men are fascinated by super-powerful artillery.

The Eleventh Prince Tang-His Royal Highness Li Xin took the initiative to invite Ying to go on an expedition to Egypt this time. Like the third and seventh brothers, he worshiped his father crazily. He joined the army at the age of 13. Although he has experienced many wars at a young age, he is a colonial A loyal supporter of expansionism.

After taking over as the commander-in-chief of the expeditionary fleet, His Royal Highness Tang Li Xin began to actively prepare. He has been stationed in Oak Bay Town for the past two months, because several main warships preparing for the expedition have been thoroughly overhauled and refitted here, and there are two ships in the dock. A "Gust" class armored cruiser is under construction and reconstruction.

Boilers and pipes with hidden dangers must be dismantled, new boilers and pipes installed, power output shafts replaced, and coal storage iron cabinets installed in vacant places to extend the cruising range of the warship as much as possible.

Beside His Highness Tang Li Xin, several of his main entourages are all on the line, and seeing His Highness's favorite appearance, he couldn't help laughing.

Brigadier General Zheng Huaishan, deputy commander of the expedition fleet, stepped forward and said after saluting;
"Your Highness, this is the marshal's darling!

Moreover, this is the first 1-ton main ironclad ship, and the power configuration and ship operation system still need a long trial voyage before a stable technical state can be determined.

Such a new ship is not suitable for long-distance expeditions.

It is estimated that it will take three to four years of running-in to eliminate all kinds of hidden dangers before it can have stable and reliable ocean-going sailing capabilities.

by then
Presumably His Highness has the opportunity to steer this gigantic ship to gallop across the oceans. Where the ship's guns are pointed, I will bow my head and subdue the crowd of evil spirits. "

"Hahaha... General Zheng's words are reasonable. I am also delighted to see Lie, and I can't help it for a while." His Highness Tang-Li Xin responded with a laugh.

Only by standing on this huge ship can we truly feel the power of the most amazing war monster in the world today?

In addition to the two 305mm main naval guns one behind the other, this class of ships is equipped with four dual-mounted 4mm secondary guns, a total of eight, arranged along the sides of the ship.

The steel muzzles lined up represent the abundance of martial arts. Such a giant iron-clad ship sailing into the port is very convincing, representing the pinnacle of the steam industry's scientific and technological achievements of the Tang Empire in the past [-] years.

Twelve 12mm fast guns are also equipped on both sides of the ship's side. This is a sharp weapon for dealing with small boats and sailing cargo ships. It has abundant firepower and flexibility, and is fatal to wooden ships.

The ship uses two sets of reduced-profile vertical steam turbines and a power combination of 10 new high-pressure oil-fired boilers, which can output a total of 9600 horsepower, pushing the ship to achieve a cruising speed of 10-11 knots and a maximum speed of 16 knots.

In the case of extreme power squeeze, it can maintain the extreme high speed of 17.5 knots for 5 hours, and the power level ranks first in the world's naval ships.

Of course, such a huge ship is expensive to build, and the equipment cost is as high as 230 million Tang yuan, which is about 46 pounds.

If the Royal Navy purchases more than 8 ships on a large scale, the equipment cost will be correspondingly reduced to less than 40 pounds.

The currently approved Royal Navy shipbuilding project is a one-time purchase of three ships of this class. Now one has been launched and outfitted, and the construction progress of the other on the berth is about 40%.The last ship will cut its first steel plate early next year.

Iron-clad giant ships have always been important weapons of great powers, and they must be carefully constructed and equipped. Only after various technologies have been verified and matured can they be built on a large scale.

It is still in the period of technological exploration, and the Datang Empire can't do it just like Britain's prodigal behavior of launching a four- to five-ton giant ship.

(End of this chapter)