The Qing Dynasty is about to end

Chapter 881: The key to World War I is oil?
Fuel supply is a big bottleneck problem!

Luo Yaoguo, who is well versed in the history of World War I, knows that this oil supply not only choked the Führer in World War II, but also choked Kaiser Wilhelm in World War I! Moreover, this "choke point" did not start after the outbreak of World War I. Before the outbreak of World War I, the German Navy took a conservative approach to the issue of naval fuel oil because it was afraid of being choked. As a result, the German Navy not only had no steam turbines, but also no heavy oil-fired boilers when World War I broke out.

The lack of steam turbines has already caused the German Navy to suffer from a "heart disease" compared to the British Navy. Without heavy oil-fired boilers, this "heart disease" is even more serious. Take the "top stream" of both sides in the Battle of Jutland, the British "Queen Elizabeth Class" and the German "King Class" as examples. The former is a big guy with a standard displacement of 29150 tons. Because it has 24 oil-fired boilers and 4 steam turbines, it has a surging power of 7.5 horsepower and can easily run at a maximum speed of 25 knots.

Although the "King-class" had steam turbines (equipped with 3 units), it only had coal-fired boilers (15 units), with a total power of only 3.1 horsepower and a standard displacement of 25390 tons. It was already very difficult for it to run at 21 knots. It was 4 knots short and lacked nearly 4000 tons of standard displacement!

Germany's "Bavaria class", which missed the Battle of Jutland due to its late commissioning, also suffered from the bottleneck of oil. Although it used a coal-oil hybrid power, 14 boilers (11 of which burned coal and 3 burned oil) and 3 steam turbines to produce 4.8 horsepower, allowing the giant ship with a standard displacement of 28530 tons to run at 22 knots, there was still a clear gap in power and speed compared to the "Elizabeth class".

If the Germans had not had the problem of oil bottleneck, they would have developed heavy oil boilers early and would most likely have developed steam turbines before the war - the combustion efficiency of heavy oil boilers can only be fully utilized by steam turbines, and steam turbines can be imported from the UK by paying patent fees.

With the "power package" of steam turbine + oil boiler, the Germans could have produced faster and stronger battleships in the Battle of Jutland. If they still had not solved the problem of small caliber artillery, they might have achieved more results by relying on fast and strong large ships carrying 305 "small guns".

As for those already excellent German battlecruisers, if they had a few thousand more tons of standard platoons, whether in terms of power or armor, it would have been possible for Germany to win the Battle of Jutland with extremely small losses.
If the Royal Navy's Home Fleet had suffered even heavier losses in the Battle of Jutland - for example, a "6 to 0" (the ratio of battleship losses on both sides), the British might have lost the war.

At this time, the technology for developing offshore oil and medium-shallow and deep-layer oil is not mature. Only the very shallow ultra-shallow oil can be dug out. Large ultra-shallow oil is found in the United States, Russia (Baku), Sumatra, and Borneo, except for the Middle East. The ultra-shallow oil in Borneo is submarine oil, and there is no technology to exploit it at present.

The large-scale ultra-shallow oil fields that have been developed are concentrated in the United States and Russia, with the United States accounting for more than 20% of the production. Fortunately, about % of the United States' oil production is in California.

"Fuel can be obtained from California in the United States," Luo Yaoguo said thoughtfully, "There are also several shallow oil mines in China, but the output is not large, so we still have to get most of it from the United States."

The ultra-shallow oil in China is in Yanchang, Shaanxi, Yumen, Gansu and Karamay, Xinjiang. Although these oils are shallow, they are far away and the quantity is not large. At most, a few hundred thousand tons can be produced in a year. It can only be used as a supplement, but it is not enough to supply naval operations.

Not to mention full fuel, even if it is half fuel, the size of the fleet is comparable to that of the Japanese Navy in the early days of World War II, and the annual fuel consumption can reach 200 million tons (Japan's was 400 million tons at the time)!
"Teacher," Ma Baocai said in a deep voice, "Forgive me for being blunt, but shipping oil across the ocean is like tying your lifeline to a kite string! From California to Tianjing, it's a long journey, and the British cruisers are like a knife hanging over your head!" He looked out the window at the vaguely visible Yangtze River, his brows knitted tighter, "Oil storage requires large tanks, and oil refining requires new plants, which one doesn't cost a lot of money? Not to mention building a special tanker! There's no sign of this fleet yet, so we have to invest several million yuan first!"

"What's a few million yuan?" Navy Minister Wang Yan slammed the table and stood up, the teacup jingling. He pointed at the Pacific Ocean chart hanging on the wall and said in a tone of scolding his junior apprentice: "Baocai, you are just fussy and like to settle small accounts! Look at the British battle cruiser! 22.5 knots, 305mm cannon! We use coal to burn three expansion engines, and it is God's eyes that a 2-ton ship can run 20 knots! This speed difference is the difference between life and death on the battlefield!" He turned to Luo Yaoguo with an anxious look on his face, "Teacher, if the navy wants to fight for a way out, it must be fueled by oil + steam turbines! The thermal efficiency difference is %! This % will determine the outcome of the war!"

Xu Shou, the Minister of Armaments, frowned when he heard what Wang Yan said. He only suggested the alternative of oil boiler + three-expansion machine, and then use the method of optimizing the ship shape to increase the ship speed, but he was not sure about the solution of oil boiler + steam turbine - the British had been working on this steam turbine for many years, and now only the prototype has been successful, and it is not certain whether it can be put into mass production!

Thinking of this, he quickly explained, "Minister Wang, this fuel oil + steam turbine is not easy to achieve. It's not easy to get through the material barrier alone. Turbine blade fracture, heat resistance limit of high-pressure boiler steel, catalyst for heavy oil refining." He took out a roll of technical list and unfolded it like a magic trick. It was densely marked with red circles. "The French advisory group of Jiangnan Factory has evaluated that with our current metallurgical and chemical foundation, fuel oil boilers are okay, but the core technology of steam turbines will definitely not be mastered in five years! Even if we have these five years, it may not be successful."

"What do you mean by not necessarily?" Chen Yucheng, who had been silent all this time, suddenly spoke up. He had fought in North America and knew too well how important the Pacific lifeline was. He walked to the huge sand table, picked up a small wooden boat model representing the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's main battleship, and pressed it heavily on the Pacific Ocean. "Without big ships and fast ships, how can we defend the twelve western states of the United States? If the British can really build a battle cruiser of more than 20,000 tons that can run more than 20 knots, it is only a matter of time before the Pacific route is cut off! By then, the American Corps will be rootless duckweed! No matter how powerful the army is, without the supply of ammunition and guns, it will sooner or later be consumed by the white skins of the eastern United States!" On the sand table, the red arrow representing the British high-speed fleet bit towards the fragile blue route like a venomous snake. This naked deduction instantly made the conference room fall into silence. Zhu Ba opened his mouth, but in the end he did not mention his account book of "how many infantry divisions are worth".

Many infantry divisions were used on the west coast of the United States - that is the main battlefield of the army!

What else? Ask the British to land in East Asia? Britain only has a population of 3000 million. It would be crazy for them to come to the East Asian continent to fight a land war with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom of 6 million people.

Luo Yaoguo slowly stood up and walked to the huge map that marked the origins of various minerals around the world. His fingers passed over the eye-catching black oil drop mark in California, USA, and then over the still vague loess gullies in the northwest of the country - Yanchang in northern Shaanxi, Yumen in Gansu, and Karamay.

"There are a lot of difficulties." He spoke in a low voice, but every word was weighty, "But there is only one way to victory." His finger suddenly poked at the long dark blue arrow representing the Pacific Ocean route, "Transporting oil across the sea is risky! But it's worth it! Minister Xu's five-year plan may not be fulfilled. But we still have to do our best!
But if five years is not enough, how about ten years? Fifteen years? Sooner or later, we will have to conquer the obstacle of steam turbines! Only oil-fired boilers can make steam turbines exert their maximum power! With sufficient power, we can build giant ships that can defeat the British Navy! "

He glanced at everyone with an unquestionable determination, "We used so many tricks and schemes before just to divert the British's naval development ideas, so that we can win the first wave in the future.

When we win the first wave, the British will start building really useful large battleships, and then there will be a second wave.

When their second wave of offensive comes, there will be large battleships of 2.5 tons, 3 tons, or even 3.5 tons, and the speed of these battleships may reach 25 knots!
It is difficult for us to defeat ships built with triple expansion engines and oil-fired boilers, let alone coal ships?"

He turned around abruptly and issued an order that left no room for doubt: "Ma Baocai! Immediately set up oil exploration teams in northern Shaanxi and Hexi, and dig deep into the ground to dig out our own oil! Priority should be given to the refinery and oil storage tank projects, and both technology introduction and self-development should be carried out simultaneously!

Navy Department, come up with a 2-ton tanker design within March and bid for its construction! The 2-ton verification ship design bid is code-named "Qianlong Plan". Both the three-engine + fuel and three-engine + kerosene hybrid power plans are available! The goal is... 20 tons, 305 knots, 4mm main guns. In addition, both the 5-turret and -turret plans are also available.

Xu Shou! We must make breakthroughs in oil-fired boilers and steam turbines."

"As for California oil." Luo Yaoguo walked to the window, his eyes seemed to penetrate thousands of mountains and rivers and fell on the distant west coast of North America, "Yucheng, the Army General Staff took a plan to increase troops in the western United States, secretly set up a western United States advisory group, and began to formulate a plan to defend the western United States base! And set up an arms warehouse in San Francisco, and gradually stockpile weapons and ammunition starting next year.

The Army must prepare for the worst. Even if the Pacific route is interrupted in the short term, the North American Corps must persist alone. Perseverance to the end is victory!"

(End of this chapter)