Seven Seas Beacon Fire

This can only be described as confidence. However, in its current state, this ship is definitely a formidable opponent to the Longyuan-class battleships. In addition to these two South Dakota-class battleships, the Columbia Empire also has two Colorado-class battleships, which are known as "quasi-super battleships" and can replace the 16-inch guns. Of course, after the modification is completed, they should probably be called Maryland-class battleships.

This battleship, armed with eight 16-inch guns, may be inferior to the Longyuan, but it still has a clear firepower advantage over other treaty battleships.

Given such internal and external troubles, it's no wonder that some people in the navy have developed a kind of fear of insufficient firepower, and are trying every means to improve the firepower of the 420mm naval gun system.

Li Che didn't really care about Wenren Mu's concerns and those of many big-ship, big-gun advocates in the navy, because in his view, whether the future technological route is super-heavy shells or underwater shells, the power of the 420mm naval gun is definitely not insufficient.

Of course, the navy's idea of ​​"maximizing the combat effectiveness of existing equipment" inexplicably reminded him of the so-called "Guam Naval Treaty" that Mr. Shi had talked about in a program on Guancha.cn.

That episode also discussed some issues related to the modernization of old ships, mentioning the aircraft carriers from the University of Tokyo that take off from two ski-jump decks.

It is said that if the West University realizes that it is declining and is willing to sign a new naval treaty with the East University, with each side retaining four aircraft carriers, then in addition to starting construction on another nuclear aircraft carrier, the East University will naturally have to find a way to modernize the two ski-jump aircraft carriers, 001 and 002, so that their combat capabilities are as close as possible to those of supercarriers.

Then, naturally, in a pleasant atmosphere, everyone discussed how to replace the island superstructure, how to remove the raised bow and add an electromagnetic catapult, and so on.

In short, it's about making things work within the constraints of the rules. Right now, under the technological onslaught of two powerful enemies, the Tang Dynasty is preparing to maximize the power of its 420mm naval guns.

Li Che could only laugh at this: "But rare earth steel cannot erase the huge caliber difference between a 420mm naval gun and an 18-inch naval gun."

This is the real world, not some magical naval warfare game with special parameters. There's no limitation that a three-millimeter increase in caliber can drastically alter a player's performance in actual combat.

If the Royal Navy's current 18-inch guns are given the opportunity to be upgraded with better ammunition in the future, their armor-piercing performance, combined with the new ammunition, will not be much worse than that of the 460mm guns used by the Royal Navy.

Even if you made the entire shell of a 420mm naval gun out of rare earth steel, it would still be almost impossible for it to achieve comparable penetration depth to an 18-inch naval gun using armor-piercing shells of the same era.

It can be said that the difference in caliber is not so easy to make up for, and the difference in firepower density is even more difficult to make up for. The Longyuan has already been built, and you can't just put an extra 420mm naval gun in each turret on these ships, right?

"We'll make up for what we can, and our soldiers will compensate for the remaining shortcomings in equipment performance through their daily training and their performance at the end." Li Che was quite satisfied with Wenren Mu's words. If he could maintain this mindset in the future, he would definitely become a great general.

It's a pity that such a good young man would go and believe in big ships and big guns.

You'd be so much better if you were in the aviation industry.

Although Li Che thought this way, he certainly wouldn't deliberately bring Wenren Mu to the aviation faction. Firstly, he naturally respected the personal wishes and ideas of the officers and soldiers below. Secondly, for at least the next 20 years, battleships and heavy artillery would indeed be the absolute mainstay of the navy, steel monsters that aircraft carriers could hardly shake.

However, the technological testing methods and understanding of the metallurgical industry in that era were not as advanced as in later generations. Therefore, it would be difficult to accurately find out why the performance of the fourth batch of shells suddenly improved so much. However, the Navy's purpose this time was not to "find the reason why". In fact, the Navy was simply to "find the black box".

To put it simply, the purpose of this trip is to find out which of the countless mines in the Baiyun Obo region the ore used to produce the steel for the fourth batch of artillery shells came from. The main suspicion is that the iron ore in the target mine contains other elements that greatly enhance the performance of the steel produced. The goal of this trip is to find this mine, seal it off, and then use all the ore produced in this mine exclusively for the production of naval artillery shells and other special steels.

To be honest, this is actually a rather crude and even wasteful way of using rare earth elements, but Li Che has no intention of stopping it.

After all... there's no way around it; having the world's largest rare earth reserves is truly remarkable.

However, what Li Che did not expect at this moment was that he had come here specifically to avoid some trouble, but at this moment a somewhat dilapidated truck, like a lame person, was also driving towards the city with some difficulty.

Chapter 330 Hiraga “Refuses” (1)

The World Island did not become completely stable after the end of the World War. The turbulent situation within the Ursus Federation continued to affect the nerves of the surrounding countries and all the major powers in the world.

However, with the world's attention focused on the Ursus Federation, it's a perfect time for certain countries to "sneak in and do nothing."

As a nation that, to some extent, won miserably in naval treaty negotiations with the support of the United States of Colombia, the current Yingzhou regime—the Kingdom of Kii—has suddenly transformed from a nation with previously insignificant naval strength into a powerful maritime force that, apart from the five major naval powers, can even rival the Ursus Federation in terms of the scale of its main fleet, and is even more formidable in terms of the quality of its fleet.

Although the world's perception of the Kii Kingdom and the Yingzhou Navy is still largely based on their defeat at the hands of the Tang Dynasty Navy outside Edo Bay, it is undeniable that the Yingzhou Navy lost face but gained substance.

The massive beating that the Tang Dynasty inflicted on Yingzhou outside Jianghu Bay effectively halted Columbia's further armament of Yingzhou. However, for Yingzhou itself, this might not be a bad thing. After all, for Yingzhou, with its small land area but high population density, supporting a larger fleet would be truly militaristic and an extremely heavy burden on the entire country.

Although in terms of the size of its fleet, the Yingzhou Navy in this world is far from comparable to the "Liankuo Kangtai" of another world, and it seems that it has not yet reached the limit of expansion, considering that Yingzhou in this world does not have the colonies of the "Xiaozhi" of the other world, it can be said that the current size of the garrison fleet is the limit of the entire country for quite some time.

However, although the world is different, perhaps because the people born on this island all share the same extremism, when the news of the signing of the naval treaty reached the country, many young people who had been blinded by the Colombian rhetoric believed that the treaty was a shackle binding the Yingzhou Navy.

After Colombia took control of the island, its elites effectively exploited the discontent of young people in Japan with the former shogunate rule and their resistance to the traditional Eastern tributary system, and carried out a series of ideological and social guidance initiatives that were remarkably effective for many young people.

After all, for these young people from Yingzhou, Colombia is more than a father to them, providing them with money and ships whenever they need it. How could a country like this, which tells us it will build a free society with us, be lying?

If a country wants to establish a new era of international order with Colombia and become one of the leading nations within that new order, it will naturally need to build a fleet capable of ensuring its own national defense while also being able to intervene in other countries to a certain extent.

During the Ming Dynasty, there was a debate regarding the maritime defense concept of Yingzhou, with the debate between coastal defense and border defense ultimately prevailing. After all, given the formidable strength of the Ming Imperial Navy, what need was there for Yingzhou to build a powerful navy? Especially in an era of rapid advancements in naval technology and the exceptionally fast replacement of warships, it was far more cost-effective to build a fortress than to spend heavily on a fleet that would soon become obsolete and require replacement. This approach would ensure national security at a lower cost.

However, this view has now been completely overturned, and the fleet faction has now become the absolute mainstream in the navy. Under such circumstances, a treaty has interrupted the expansion of the fleet size, which is naturally unacceptable to many young people who have become lost due to the rapid acquisition of large capital ships in a short period of time.

Although these young people's mentality was as ridiculous as someone who takes Viagra and thinks it's their own ability, this mentality was also reflected in some officers within the garrison fleet. Although these officers understood that the treaty had been signed and they had to endure any dissatisfaction, it did not prevent them from hoping to obtain the strongest possible fleet strength with the limited tonnage at their disposal.

The current garrison fleet theoretically has six capital ships, including four battlecruisers: "Amagi" and "Akagi" (Defflinger-class battlecruisers) and "Atago" and "Maya" (Lion-class battlecruisers). Although some are still under repair, these ships will undoubtedly be combat-ready in the future. However, the two King-class battlecruisers that have been destroyed only exist on paper.

For the garrison fleet, the most important task was naturally to "repair" and "improve" the two battleships as stipulated in the treaty. Originally, this task was not particularly difficult. Although Yingzhou's shipbuilding industry had never built a giant ship of more than 3 tons before, building just a hull was not particularly difficult. Both the power system and the firepower system could be obtained directly from Colombia.

However, the problem lies in the fact that the treaty stipulates that countries may not sell finished products of the technical equipment used in these capital ships to other countries during the treaty period. While the power system can at least be obtained indirectly, it is impossible for Japan to obtain finished products for the firepower system.

Although both Colombia and even Victoria have provided or sold blueprints for some warships and weapon systems to Yingzhou, and the Colombian Navy has even sent many experts to Yingzhou for guidance, the difficulty of "developing" a weapon system from scratch is indeed considerable.

Fortunately, before the treaty was signed, Yingzhou had already purchased several turrets from the Victorian Empire. These 13.5-inch turrets would certainly be considered outdated if used on regular capital ships, but fortunately, Yingzhou was planning to build two of its own large light cruisers based on the Victorian Empire's large light cruisers, so the 13.5-inch guns were sufficient for Yingzhou.

Compared to the cruisers that Yingzhou had previously built, the tonnage of such large light cruisers was not particularly exaggerated. Building two such large light cruisers could effectively enhance Yingzhou Navy's experience and strength in building warships, which would naturally be of great benefit to the battleships to be built later.

However, as mentioned earlier, probably due to some dissatisfaction with the treaty, the Yingzhou Navy naturally hoped to improve its strength as much as possible within the existing fleet restrictions. According to the treaty, in addition to the four battlecruisers that Yingzhou currently had, after deducting the tonnage of two more to be reserved for future battleships, the tonnage that could be used to build large light cruisers was only 1 tons.

As is well known, Yingzhou bought four turrets, which were originally intended for two large light cruisers, but now half of them have been cut.

Therefore, when Hiraga Yuzuru, the head of the Yingzhou Naval Shipbuilding Headquarters, was commissioned to design the "Mubang" class large light cruiser, he quickly realized how important it was to have a client with a stable mental state.

When the design work began, the treaty had not yet been signed. At that time, Director Hiraga planned a displacement of 12,000 to 14,000 tons. He put forward a total of 6 schemes within this displacement range. All 6 schemes could achieve a speed of more than 30 knots because they could use the new generation of Columbia General Dynamics boilers, which had better performance than the large light cruisers of the Victoria Empire. With a significant reduction in displacement, they could achieve a speed that was even faster than the Courageous-class large light cruisers.

However, soon after the treaty was signed, not only was the number cut in half, but the tonnage was also limited to no more than 1 tons. After all, the remaining tonnage had to be reserved for the two battleships that followed. If the large light cruiser used more tonnage, then the tonnage of the future battleships would have to be reduced.

For the garrison fleet, the priority was to ensure the future development of new battleships. Therefore, they proposed that the tonnage of the large light cruisers needed to be reduced, and initially inquired whether the tonnage could be reduced to 8000 tons.

At this point, Director Hiraga was still relatively calm. He first responded to several powerful high-ranking naval officers, including Navy Minister Saito Juichiro and the new commander of the garrison fleet, explaining why the 8000-ton requirement was unrealistic. He then stated that he would do his best to come up with a sufficiently excellent design within the 1-ton limit.

To reduce weight, Director Hiraga racked his brains. For example, all the secondary guns on the ship still adopted the gun gallery structure. Not only was the caliber reduced from the original six inches to four inches, but in order to avoid the need to install additional anti-aircraft guns, it adopted a completely new gun gallery structure that could even fire at air.

In a sense, this could even be considered the first medium-caliber dual-purpose secondary gun.

As for other methods used to reduce tonnage, such as cutting armor and shortening the forecastle, Director Hiraga finally managed to keep the weight of the entire ship at 1 tons on paper.

However, to his surprise, after receiving the design proposal, the Navy discussed it for several days and announced that he had won the bid, while also proposing suggestions for further improvement. Director Hiraga thought that after some minor modifications, construction could begin. This ship was the culmination of Yingzhou Shipbuilding's expectations—everyone was waiting to learn from him and gain experience!

If we don't hone our skills on you, how will we play poker on two newer, bigger, and stronger battleships in the future?

But unexpectedly, even after all this, the navy sent someone to inquire again—can't we really install the remaining two turrets as well? If it's really not possible, we can install another one.

Hiraga Yuzuru really wanted to grab this guy by the collar and ask him if he knew what he was saying. What did he think a turret was? Something you could just put on a warship?

Do you know how big the turret is below the deck?

If we insist on cramming these turrets in according to your requirements, do you think there will be any space left to dry the boilers? How much speed will a battleship have left? It will probably degenerate into a floating gun emplacement used for defense in port, right?

After being rebuffed, the Navy felt they had lost out, so the next time they sent someone, they said they wouldn't ask for more power, but hoped for higher speed, for example, 35 knots.

Inspector Hiraga didn't tolerate the officer at all and directly told him to see him out. Before, he didn't know how much space there was under the turret, but now he didn't know how much space the boiler occupied.

What's the difference between 30 sections and 35 sections?

To use a battleship as an example, when your naval power is extremely high, you can build a battleship that can run at 30 knots with a 13-ton power plant—the Vanguard battleship. But if you want to run at 35 knots, even the Iowa would need to overload its power system to more than 24 horsepower.

Due to the diminishing returns, the requirements for the power system become increasingly demanding once the speed of a warship exceeds 27 knots. At a speed of 35 knots, let alone 1 tons, even if you were given a 2-ton ship and filled it with boilers, it might not be easy to get going.

Therefore, Director Hiraga rejected the suggestion to increase the power again. Just like last time, the Navy did not make any further demands on the speed issue this time. After all, two battlecruisers capable of running at 28.5 knots should be sufficient for the Navy's future adversaries.

However, soon after, as Director Hiraga had anticipated, the Navy proposed further modifications; this time, they wanted to add more armor...

This time, Hiraga Yuzuru could no longer bear it. He went directly to the Minister of the Navy, Saito Juichiro, and bluntly stated that he would not make any major modifications to the design. He explained that the ship's stability had already been reduced to slightly above the threshold during the previous weight reduction phase, and that strengthening firepower or adding armor would only worsen the ship's seaworthiness and stability.

If the Navy insists on further major modifications to the entire ship, then please allow him to resign from his position as Chief Shipbuilder!

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P.S.: Chicken Nuggets came to play with me again today. After picking him up at the train station, I immediately started to mess with him. This guy is no match for me at all and has now become my plush ball.

Also, a screenshot I saw today that revealed the 052DG, although many things in it seem reasonable, the idea that a 052DG could fight HHQ16 really confused me. To be honest, I think the 052D is more likely to fight Standard 6 than HHQ16.

Chapter 331 Hiraga “Refuses” (2)

"Hiraga Yuzuru is completely incapable of understanding the difficulties faced by the Empire!"

When Crown Prince Akihito heard that Hiraga Yuzuru had rejected all his suggestions to the Navy Ministry to modify the large light cruiser "Mubang", the young prince was furious.

Yes, Yingzhou's repeated attempts to modify this large light cruiser were largely due to Crown Prince Zhaoren's constant suggestions for improvement.

His Highness the Crown Prince's suggestions for revision must certainly be taken seriously. Although some of the suggestions are already considered unattainable targets even by some naval officers, even if they are not from the perspective of professional designers, in the traditional view of the island nation of Yingzhou, even if the superior's requirements are unreasonable, the subordinates should do their best to strive towards those requirements and show their determination.

However, Hiraga Yuzuru completely disregarded the important figures above him, saying things like, "I have a set of bottom-line standards for designing warships." This was clearly the bad influence he brought from the mainland. Back when Hiraga Yuzuru was studying in the Ming Dynasty, he also picked up the style of those Ming scholars and literati, criticizing the emperor whether he was happy or unhappy.

"This kind of person has no reverence for Amaterasu in their bones!"

Emperor Akihito was filled with anger but had no way to vent it. He wanted to smash things, but as the heir to the throne, he had to act as a "living god" and should not show his emotions. He knew that his anger was already very obvious and that if he smashed things again, it might have a bad influence on him if word got out.

The officials and priests around Crown Prince Akishino were all very cautious at this moment. Most of them didn't know why the Crown Prince, who seemed intelligent (compared to his father) and refined (also compared to his father), had become so irritable and easily angered after attending the Honolulu Naval Conference.

Among these people, only one old priest could guess some of the reasons. It seemed that the Crown Prince's change in temperament was after he met Miss Akiko at the Honolulu Naval Conference.

In fact, the old priest's guess was completely correct. Crown Prince Zhaoren's current behavior ultimately stemmed from his impotent rage after his defenses were breached.

To use a somewhat inaccurate but easily understood analogy, Zhao Ren probably sees himself as Xiao Yan from Battle Through the Heavens, thinking he has a protagonist's script. Tokugawa Akiko may not be comparable to Xiao Xun'er, but she can at least be considered a Nalan Yanran who did not break off the engagement.

He felt that if things had gone according to the script, he should have lived happily ever after with the female lead, married his white moonlight, become the ruler of the Yingzhou Archipelago, and led the Kii Kingdom to its peak.

But now "Xun'er" has actually hooked up with the Soul Clan. Although he did not witness the intimate scene between the two, he had already filled in a million words of the plot in his mind from the natural and intimate actions between the Crown Prince of Tang and Tokugawa Akiko.

Damn it, this was supposed to be the plot of XX Sky, how did it turn into XX Rampage?

I was supposed to be the main character!

This distorted mentality, stemming from his idealized image of a white moonlight, reached its peak at the end of the Honolulu Naval Conference when the representatives from various countries left Honolulu aboard warships. The Japanese Navy did not send any warships to escort the delegation to Honolulu at the beginning of the naval treaty conference, but at the end of the conference, it sent its best cruiser to pick up Akihito and his party.

It was an Omaha-class cruiser transferred from the Colombian Navy to the Yinzhou Navy. While it could certainly be considered a decent new cruiser by today's standards, the fact that the Omaha-class cruiser, carrying a mere six-inch gun and displacing only a few thousand tons, was compared to the battlecruisers sent by the Tang Dynasty Royal Navy made Crown Prince Zhaoren think even more about the difference in appearance between himself and the Tang Dynasty's imperial grandson.

This inferiority complex led to a distorted reflection in Zhaoren's expectations of the Yingzhou Navy. It seemed that if the Yingzhou Navy could be built to be magnificent and powerful, his body and appearance could also become perfect.

"Your Highness, the main purpose of the 'Mubang' large light cruiser is to enrich our country's shipbuilding industry with experience and lay a good foundation for building our own battleships. This kind of large light cruiser mainly undertakes the mission of disrupting trade routes. Its firepower and armor are not that important. You don't need to worry about this all day long. The two future battleships are the foundation of our country's navy."

“Yes, yes, yes, battleships are our foundation.” Zhao Ren muttered to himself as he paced back and forth in the room. “I must make Mingzi see what a mistake it was for her to leave Yingzhou. We must build battleships even more powerful than Longyuan! We must build the most powerful battleships in the world!”

Seeing the Crown Prince begin to mutter to himself as if in a trance, the officials exchanged glances and couldn't help but give a look to the Minister of the Sea, Saito Juichiro—Your Excellency, perhaps you should remind the Crown Prince not to have such unrealistic fantasies.

Saito Juichiro had no choice but to step forward, forcing himself to speak: "Your Highness, according to the treaty, the maximum displacement of the battleships we can build cannot exceed 35,000 tons, and the maximum caliber of the guns cannot exceed 15 inches. Within these restrictions..."

"35,000 tons? 15 inches? Can't we build battleships with calibers of 16 inches or more?"

Faced with the Crown Prince's question, Saito Juichiro felt a headache coming on. If it weren't for the Crown Prince, he would have grabbed the man by the collar and yelled, "Wasn't it you who attended the meeting? Didn't you even glance at it after the naval treaty was signed?"

"Your Highness, in the naval treaty, only the three powers of Victoria, Columbia, and the Tang Empire are allowed to retain a few capital ships that exceed the treaty's specifications. Other countries and the new battleships built by these three powers in the future to replace retired old ships cannot exceed the standard displacement of 35,000 tons and the gun caliber of 15 inches. Your Highness also reviewed the treaty before it was signed."

Are you questioning whether I haven't read the treaty?!

No, no, no, what we actually want to question is whether you have understood the treaty.

These words resonated with almost everyone present, but no one dared to say them aloud.

"It's alright. Our warships were built later, and we will use more advanced technology... The Leitanian Empire's warships also have smaller caliber cannons than the Royal Victorian Navy's warships, but they can still sink Royal Victorian Navy warships in naval battles. What the Leitanian Empire can do, we can do too!"

Although the Leitanian Empire's warships have smaller calibers, they are actually larger in tonnage. As for the Leitanian Empire's warships defeating the Victorian Empire's warships... where does the greater weight go when the caliber is smaller?

Warships built later certainly have the advantage of being a latecomer, but what kind of advantage could erase the difference of several thousand tons and tens of millimeters in caliber? Saito Juichiro couldn't possibly come up with an answer. To avoid the Crown Prince having any unrealistic fantasies about the future of the navy, Saito Juichiro once again gritted his teeth and said, "Okay, Commander Hiraga once said that future new battleships will..."

"Don't mention that person again!" Crown Prince Zhaoren stomped his foot angrily. "Is he the only chief shipbuilder in our entire country? I'll replace him sooner or later!"

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"The Crown Prince wants to replace me?"

There are no secrets that stay hidden forever. Given Hiraga Yuzuru's status, he naturally learned of the Crown Prince's strong dissatisfaction with him very quickly. However, Hiraga Yuzuru's reaction was unusually calm, as if he didn't take the Crown Prince seriously at all.

"Yes, teacher, shouldn't you first apologize to the Crown Prince? The Crown Prince doesn't actually understand technology, so even if we wanted to fool him in the future..."

When faced with his students' concerned suggestions, Hiraga Yuzuru casually waved his hand and said, "I'm waiting for them to find someone to replace me. If they have someone to replace me, I won't stay in this position."

Hiraga's arrogance was not without reason; Yingzhou's warships had either been purchased directly from the Ming Dynasty or built using blueprints provided by the Ming. For a long time, Yingzhou lacked designers capable of independently designing large surface warships.

Hiraga Yuzuru was the first one.

When he first became a government-sponsored student to study in the Ming Dynasty, Hiraga Yuzuru was full of ambition. Who else in the entire Yingzhou Archipelago could do that besides him?

Not to mention that after his defection in Yingzhou, he also had the opportunity to go to the Victorian Empire for exchanges and further studies with the designers of the Royal Navy. It can be said that he not only had the solid foundation he had laid when he studied in the Ming Dynasty, but also the advanced knowledge and experience he gained from studying in the Victorian Royal Navy.

In particular, their understanding of the performance of many Western technologies and equipment is unparalleled in the entire Japanese navy.

The simplest and most direct point is that Yingzhou is currently "self-developing" a 15-inch naval gun based on blueprints provided by the Colombian Navy. This naval gun is actually the Mark I 15-inch naval gun of the Royal Victoria Navy.

During the war, the Colombian Navy encountered difficulties in producing 16-inch naval guns, so the Colorado-class battleships adopted 15-inch naval guns imported from the Victorian Empire. After the war, the Colombian Navy handed over the complete set of blueprints for these naval guns and the relevant production and manufacturing process experience to Yingzhou.

This 15-inch naval gun is one of the most successful naval guns in the world, and it is equipped on the most ships in the world. The Queen Elizabeth-class battleships, the Revenge-class battleships, the Renown-class battlecruisers, the Admiral-class battlecruisers, and the Colorado-class battleships are all equipped with this gun.

Yingzhou also plans to copy and improve this cannon and use it as the main gun of its own battleships. How to effectively install this cannon, which has a strong Victorian Empire lineage, on Yingzhou's own battleships in the future? Who is more confident and experienced than Hiraga Yuzuru?