I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 344 Fearless
Russia does not have excellent heavy cruisers. The "Admiral Nakhimov" cruiser in service with the Baltic Fleet is good.

The "Admiral Nakhimov" has fierce firepower. It uses four twin-mounted 4mm main guns and 203 10mm secondary guns. It has a displacement of 152 tons. However, due to its weak power, the maximum speed is only 8500 knots.

Power is no longer a problem for George. If Parsons steam turbine units, new armor steel, and rapid-fire guns are used, the overall performance of the "Admiral Nakhimov" will be greatly improved, and it can fully meet the needs of the Imperial Navy. .

George came up with this plan, and even Petrov felt quite moved.

The Imperial Navy could not afford a 1.3-ton cruiser because the cost was too high.

An 8500-ton cruiser is absolutely fine, and the cost is actually about the same as a 1.3-ton cruiser.

But this matter doesn't matter what George and Petrov say, it still has to be decided by Alexei.

While waiting for the news, George was not idle and asked Bai Laoyi to further optimize the drawings of the "Admiral Nakhimov".

If the warships of the Russian Empire are in the Pacific, there will be some problems with their seaworthiness because the freeboard is too low.

If the freeboard is simply increased, it will cause center of gravity problems, so the task of modifying the drawings is not small.

Controlling coal and iron mines required the cooperation of the Qing Empire.

"Are these Hebrews practicing religion in Vladivostok?"

George originally expelled the Hebrews under the banner of Orthodox Christianity.

After Schiff switched to funding the Japanese, George cleaned up the Hebrews in Vladivostok.

Coal and iron are the main raw materials for heavy industry. As long as George controls the coal mines and iron mines, he can starve the Yawat Iron Works to death.

Hanyang Iron Works is also a tragedy. Since its establishment in 1890, it has invested nearly 500 million taels, but it has not yet produced steel.

George knew the importance of technology and asked Mikhail to acquire shares in Daye Iron Mine on the condition that he send people to assist in steelmaking.

In the blink of an eye, nearly three years have passed. The number of Hebrews in Vladivostok has gradually increased, and there are more than 1000 people.

George immediately blocked the news and sent people to occupy the territory first.

George does not want to monopolize the Daye Iron Ore. Hanyang Iron Works can also use it, but if Yawat Steel wants to buy iron ore, then just wait.

The prospectors sent to the Qing Empire to explore the Eastern Railway discovered several high-quality iron ore and coal mines along the Eastern Railway, which were of great mining value.

George is not competing for wood with the princes of St. Petersburg, there are plenty of them in Siberia.

The Daye Iron Mine was the first open-pit iron mine mined by machines in the Qing Empire. It was the main raw material base of the Hanyang Iron Works of the Qing Empire and Japan's Yawat Iron Works.

Hanyang Iron Works was founded by Zhang Xiaoda, the governor of Huguang. Zhang Xiaoda had no experience at the time and made a lot of jokes.

George was not in a hurry and let Bai Laoyi slowly change it. If the Admiralty did not want it, George would build one himself as the flagship of the Vladivostok River Fleet.

The news from St. Petersburg has not yet arrived, but good news came from the Qing Empire first.

Regrettably for George, officials of the Qing Empire did not seem to realize the role of industrial raw materials in Japan. Mikhail encountered some troubles when he sent people to acquire the Daye Iron Mine.

Mikhail was still very efficient, and soon learned that Elberman was planning to establish a Hebrew community in Vladivostok.

"How is it possible? Amur is a model parish in the empire."

Mikhail laughed loudly. When Pobedonostsev was the governor of Amur, the Hebrews were suppressed again. Now the Hebrews in Vladivostok are very honest and behave with their tail between their legs.

This is not a phenomenon unique to Amur. Throughout the Russian Empire, Hebrews were at the bottom of society and had no status. George didn't waste any time and directly called Duke Ukhtomsky, chairman of Dowson Bank, and asked Ukhtomsky to transfer Alberman. The reason was that Elberman and Vladivostok The horoscopes don't match.

In early October, Alexei finally sent a telegram. The Navy Ministry approved Bai Yi's design plan and decided to trial-produce a new heavy cruiser at the Vladivostok Shipyard.

It can be said that the Vladivostok Shipyard has a double blessing. The light cruiser has just been launched and it has received an order for a heavy cruiser. There is no need to worry about orders in the next few years.

Just last month, the Siberian Fleet ordered six 6-ton destroyers and four light armored cruisers from Vladivostok.

Together with orders from Aceh and Malay, Vladivostok's orders for the next two years are already fully booked.

The 800-ton destroyer is too small to occupy a large dock. George simply built four more small docks in one go, which are expected to be put into use next spring.

With the heavy cruisers, the next step must be the battleships.

The battleships being built by the Russian Empire have a displacement of no more than 1.3 tons, and have fatal flaws in their design, making them unsuitable for use by the Siberian Fleet.

George called Bai Yi and asked Bai Yi to design a new battleship with a unified main gun caliber.

Today's battleships have extremely complex armament systems, ranging from 305mm main guns to 47mm rapid-fire guns, with a total of more than a dozen calibers. This not only places a heavy burden on logistics, but also fails to fully utilize the battleship's combat effectiveness.

For example, torpedoes——

Nowadays, battleships are equipped with torpedo tubes.

George didn't understand. Why did a battleship need torpedo tubes?

Although George doesn't know much about the navy, George knows the general development trend of the navy.

Even without George's participation, the dreadnought will appear in 10 years, completely changing the development ideas of navies of various countries.

Let's put it this way, from the moment the Dreadnought was born, all the former Dreadnoughts in the world have fallen behind and are on the verge of obsolescence.

The battleship displacement required by George is still about 1.3 tons.

Different from the existing battleships, George requested to unify the caliber of the battleships' guns, remove the small and medium-caliber guns that have no significance at all, and increase the number of main guns to 6-8 to maximize the deterrence of the battleships.

"Yes, remove all the 152 and 120 artillery pieces, and install a total of 6-8 305 caliber artillery pieces on the entire ship. At the same time, they will be optimized for the environment in the Pacific region to form an overwhelming advantage over our enemies."

Since George wants to launch an arms race, he will carry it out to the end.

"Your Highness, canceling all small-caliber artillery will affect the battleship's firepower output."

Bai Laoyi did not understand the value of the dreadnought at all.

"Can the shells fired by the 152mm gun penetrate the armor of a battleship?"

George's understanding of firepower output is different from Bai Laoyi's.

Bai Laoyi was speechless. The 152mm cannon might be able to penetrate the battleship's armor only in his dream.

"Think about it, if we have eight 8 guns, then our firepower output will be equivalent to the opponent's two battleships. Why should we hesitate?"

George was not discussing with Bai Yi, but giving orders to Bai Yi.

(End of this chapter)