Great warships

Chapter 1233 Electronic Reconnaissance Ship

Into the water!

Following the order, the huge warships slowly moved backwards into the water, one, two... four. The scene of these four frigates being launched into the water together was so shocking!
After all, this is a battleship with a displacement of more than 6,000 tons. In any European country, it would definitely be a main battleship. In the East, it can only play a supporting role.

The tugboat came over and towed the frigate to the outfitting dock nearby, and soon the outfitting dock was full.

"Let's go and take a look." Qin Tao was very excited.

Although Qin Tao had seen the design drawings before, he had never seen the built 054B frigate. In his previous life, he mainly studied aircraft carriers and did not pay much attention to these escort warships.

Now, walking on this warship, there is really a special feeling.

"Although it is just an ordinary frigate here, if it is placed in the world, it can be used as a destroyer. The overall performance is not worse than the world's mainstream destroyers, such as the British Type 45 destroyer." Meng Fansheng said on the side.

Speaking of this, Qin Tao became interested: "If I remember correctly, is the British Type 45 destroyer about to be launched?"

"It seems."

Far away in Europe, Port Glasgow.

The flags were flying, and the colorful banners were fluttering. Countless people stood beside the dock, their faces full of excitement.

The last time there was such a spectacular scene was when the two Queen-class aircraft carriers were launched, and this time, they finally ushered in another important moment!

On the slipway, a modern warship has been prepared for launching. Its upper hull has been retracted inward, giving it a modern stealth look. Its bridge mast is extremely tall, and the round ball on top of the mast looks inexplicably funny.

"Today, we have ushered in another important moment!" A graceful woman stood in front of the microphone, looking at everyone present, and spoke with great excitement and pride: "The first ship of our Type 45 destroyer is finally going to be launched! We named this warship Courageous, and hope that it can be as brave and confident as our navy!"

They already have two aircraft carriers, but no carrier-based aircraft, so they can only wait temporarily. Because there is really nothing to do, the second ship is often huddled in the port, probably to save money.

However, the navy still needs to have a facade. With aircraft carriers, it cannot be without escort warships. After building two aircraft carriers, they finally started to build escort destroyers!
The Type 45 destroyer is their proudest warship! A lot of advanced technologies are applied on it, such as the integrated power system of the whole ship, which adopts the most advanced WR-21 mid-section cooling and reheating gas turbine unit. The two gas turbines can output a maximum power of 43 megawatts, all of which are used to drive the generator and then transmit it to the electric motor.

However, since the aircraft carrier has this kind of power system, there seems to be nothing to be proud of. However, the electronic equipment on it is still the most advanced. It uses the Sampson radar developed by BAE. The big ball on the top has the most advanced air defense radar in Europe!
Of course, the radar has not been installed yet and will have to wait until the outfitting. Moreover, these will not reduce their faith in this most advanced warship at all.

This warship represents the future of their navy!
"Your Majesty, it's time for the bottle-throwing ceremony!"

"Okay." The woman pressed the button with a smile on her face and a very elegant posture. Then, the huge warship moved slowly and entered the water.

Wow!
Countless people applauded and cheered, and the woman watched with a smile, as if she saw the once powerful British Empire.

"There is something I need to report to you." At this moment, Benjamin came over and whispered to her.

"Go ahead."

"The Navy plans to retire two more Type 23 frigates."

"why?"

“Because the funds do not allow it, there is a shortage of staff.”

The size of the British Navy is constantly shrinking. In order to reshape their image and let the world see their strength, they decided to build two aircraft carriers. However, although they have the aircraft carriers, the escort warships have not yet been found.

They had to build Type 45 destroyers, and now, the first one has finally been launched. Those outdated Type 42 destroyers are simply unable to take on the task of protecting naval aircraft carriers.

But what about the manpower?

To operate a warship, you need people, and people cost money! The navy is really short of money, so they decided to eliminate two Type 23 frigates!

Since the Sea Javelin air defense missiles used on the Type 42 destroyer can only intercept high-altitude targets, once encountering anti-ship missiles flying at ultra-low altitude, they can only rely on the Sea Wolf air defense missiles on the Type 23 frigate. Although the performance of this missile is not very good, it can still be used.

Now, in order to fill the crew for the Type 45 destroyer, they need to accelerate the elimination of the Type 23 frigate!
"If we eliminate two more, we will probably only have nine frigates left, right?"

"Yes."

What happened to the once huge navy? It has now declined to this extent! Look at the East, there are dozens of 054 frigates, and they are still building and remodeling. The 054B is already a -ton ocean-going frigate.

What about the British Navy? They actually eliminated the Type 23 frigates because they couldn't afford to support them!

"So, we also need a brand new frigate." Benjamin continued: "The Navy calls this frigate Type 26. According to our plan, it will be a low-cost product that is easy to build in large quantities."

The Type 45 destroyer is so expensive that the British Navy decided to purchase only six at most. For two aircraft carrier fleets, six destroyers are simply not enough, so a brand new frigate is necessary.

In fact, this type of frigate has been designed since the 1990s, but progress has been slow. Now, it is time to take it seriously and develop it rapidly.

In order to meet the needs of long-distance voyages, the displacement of this type of warship cannot be small, and it also needs to have a modular design to meet the needs of different missions. However, the most important requirement for this type of frigate is that it is cheap!

Only if it is cheap can it be produced in large quantities!
"Can we improve our existing warships, such as the Type 23?" the woman continued.

Since there is a demand for cheaper ones, why not improve the existing ones? According to her thinking, it must be cheaper to modify the existing ones than to build new ones!
"Well...we have made a budget. If we want to modify the existing warships, it will cost more money. It is estimated to be more than 50 million pounds."

This was an extremely huge amount of money, so huge that it was hard for them to imagine!
For the British shipbuilding industry, it is quite difficult to control costs. A budget of more than 23 million pounds is actually not high at all. You must know that in later generations, when the British modified the Type frigate Westminster, it cost million pounds!
Due to the huge cost, the project had to be stopped halfway.

"How can it be so much? Not to mention the shipyards in the East, even the shipyards in the big dog countries probably don't have such high costs, right?"

"Yes, but we have no other choice. Are we going to purchase directly from the East?"

The conversation between the two ended. At this time, the Type 45 destroyer had left the slipway and headed to the outfitting dock with the help of a tugboat, preparing for the final step.

It has to be said that the British shipbuilding industry is relatively advanced, with modular construction widely adopted, and a lot of internal outfitting work is also completed during modular construction.

Outfitting will not take too much time and the Type 45 destroyer can be put into sea trials!
"Once our fleet is built, we will sail to the East..." The woman continued to dream.

The next day, the news was reported all over the world.

"The first Type 45 destroyer of the British Navy was officially launched, which means that the British Navy has entered a new era!"

"This is a great development and represents a new breakthrough for the British Navy!"

"Their breakthrough was that they finally had the ball on their heads." Qin Tao said with a smile while watching the news.

At this time, Qin Tao had returned to the capital and his home. He did miss home and his wife and children.

"In fact, the performance of their warship is still very good." Wu Shengli said: "Especially the radar system in the ball you mentioned. We have analyzed it and it is even more advanced than the radar used by the US Aegis system."

"Yes, the performance of the Sampson radar is advanced enough, but the price is so high that the British are reluctant to get a four-sided phased array radar and can only use this back-to-back method." Qin Tao said: "The displacement of their Type 45 destroyer is more than tons less than that of the Burke class, and the missiles they carry are only half of that of the Burke class, but the total cost is half that of the Burke class. This radar makes a great contribution."

The West could only watch as Eastern warships were produced in large numbers, but was unable to catch up. There was no way, because their construction costs were too high. The US Navy's equipment was already expensive enough, and Europe's was even more expensive than theirs. The British wanted to develop a powerful naval fleet, but that was destined to be a dream.

"Yes, but speaking of it, the performance of this Aster air defense missile seems to be very advanced, so much so that the British have no intention of equipping it with close-in defense weapons, and rely on the Aster-15 to undertake short-range air defense."

Although Europeans had many dirty tricks when it came to joint warship building, and often went their separate ways, some projects made it to the end, and the Aster air defense missile was one of them.

This missile was jointly developed by France and Italy and was selected when building European joint warships. Although the British developed their own radar system, they still chose this missile as their main weapon equipment, which shows that it also has many advantages.

This type of missile has only one body, and by combining two different boosters, it can achieve different ranges. The small Aster-15 has a range of thirty kilometers, and the large Aster-30 has a range of 120 kilometers. This is enough to make Europeans feel proud, as they finally have a missile with a range of more than one hundred kilometers!
Of course, the most important thing is the control system. In addition to the active guidance of the seeker, in terms of maneuverability, it not only uses traditional tail fins, but also uses advanced lateral thrust control. When the missile approaches the target, this lateral thruster is used to control the missile body to hit the target, which is faster than the reaction time of the missile wings, making it easier to intercept supersonic anti-ship missiles.

After comparison, the British believed that it was more powerful than the standard missile, so they used it.

"Yes, this missile is indeed their best choice. Its overall performance is only slightly worse than our Hongqi-16."

You can't compare it with the HQ-16, otherwise it would be an insult to the HQ-. If you want to compare it, compare it with the HQ-. It has all the technologies that the Aster missile has, and it also has technologies that the Aster missile doesn't have!

"Yes, if you put it that way, I do think this missile is only slightly inferior to our Hongqi-16. Their Type 45 destroyer is about the same as our 054B."

The top of the 054B is also equipped with a rotating double-sided phased array radar. This is done to save money. The British also do the same thing. The 054B uses the Hongqi-16 missile, while the British use the Aster. There is not much difference in quantity. We have 32 missiles and they only have 48.

But in terms of construction cost, the four Type 054Bs we launched are not as expensive as the other side's Type 45.

Speaking of this, Wu Shengli was also very emotional: "The fact that our navy can produce dumplings has a lot to do with the low cost of our weapons. Taozi, your Mingzhou Group has made an indelible contribution!"

"Dad, what's the point of saying this now?" Qin Tao said, "Your position determines your vision. Don't just focus on one or two advanced weapons. You should also look at the mission you are responsible for. The coast guard is doing better than you. They are planning a large-scale operation."

"How did you know?"

"I guessed it." Qin Tao said: "Although I don't know the specific actions of the coast guard, I also know their general plan."

"No, I mean, how do you know that our navy is not as good as the maritime police? When the maritime police take action, they still need the cooperation of our navy!"

"Any big moves recently?" Qin Tao's eyes lit up.

Qin Tao had been involved last time. Under his suggestion, the navy's aircraft carrier formation sailed to the depths of the ocean. The 055 even brought a 052 and a supply ship and entered under the eyes of others, shocking countless people.

Now, what big thing is the Navy going to do?
Wu Shengli rolled his eyes at him and said, "Don't you know that we also accepted the invitation to participate in the Rim of the Pacific 2006 military exercise?"

Every year there is a Rim of the Pacific military exercise, which is a joint maritime exercise conducted by the countries along the Pacific coast. For some countries, this is a naval event, while for some countries, it is enough to just watch from the sidelines without having the opportunity to get involved personally.

Who would have thought that we would also accept the invitation to this year's military exercise!
Qin Tao was curious: "Dad, the Navy agreed? I'm afraid they have other intentions!"

Even a fool can see what the people who invited us are thinking. They clearly want to find out our past!
"What's wrong with that? We can just send No. 112 over there."

Qin Tao almost laughed out loud. Isn't the navy too perfunctory? For military exercises of this level, other countries would send their most advanced warships to participate. This was a way of showing off their muscles, fearing that their navy would not be able to compete with the other side.

However, we did the opposite. When the other party invited us, we sent out the 112 warship. After all, most of the technology on this warship is Western, whether it is radar or command system, they were all imported from the West back then, and even the engine was imported from the United States.

Sending this warship over there will definitely be no leaks. In fact, since 112 was built, it has mainly served as a diplomatic star ship, sailing across oceans around the world and visiting many countries.

Just like tanks, our most advanced Type 99 tanks are never sent out. Every time we go to the Russians to participate in a tank competition, we use the Type 96 tank. Even if we lose, we won't lose face. If we win, everyone is happy.

Wait! This shouldn't be what my father-in-law is talking about. This warship is just a cover. There must be something else going on!
"Dad, if I'm not qualified to know, then don't tell me. If I know, then don't keep me in suspense."

"Well, your Mingzhou Group has been busy, so when our navy decided to purchase a 6,000-ton electronic reconnaissance ship, we did not look for you, but directly looked for the Huating Shipyard."

Electronic reconnaissance ship?
Qin Tao reacted instantly: "Dad, you guys are too mean. They invited us to participate in the exercise, but you want to drive this electronic reconnaissance ship directly over there?"

In the past, the navy had always been interfered with by other electronic reconnaissance, including airplanes and warships. Although they would take off and intercept every time, it still made people angry and helpless.

The best way is to treat others in their own way.

Aren't they spying on us? Then we'll spy on them too!

Anyway, there is the right of freedom of navigation all over the world, and we may as well use this right!
The prerequisite is that there must be such a ship.

In order to realize this capability, the Navy decided to develop a special electronic reconnaissance ship. The displacement of this ship is only more than 6,000 tons, and the hull is not important, what is important is the equipment on it, so the Mingzhou Shipyard was not asked to help.

This type of ship is named Type 815. The biggest difference between it and other ships is that it has balls of various sizes on it. The largest one is in front of the chimney, with a diameter of more than ten meters. There are two at the back and one in the front.

In addition to the mast that is about 50 meters high, the entire warship can carry more than a dozen antennas, covering almost all bands. Any electronic equipment, whether it is radar or communication equipment, can be detected, and then the specific intelligence can be analyzed using advanced processing systems.

"Of course not. That would be a slap in the face. Our ships should just operate in the waters near the exercise." Wu Shengli said, "Do you have any suggestions?"

"Dad, I think it's best to disguise ourselves. They invited us with great difficulty. We can't let them be afraid of us from now on!"

"How do you modify it?"

"We can cooperate with Starship Company and say we are launching a spacecraft. That ship is just a space tracking and control ship. This will give them some face."

"it is good."

(End of this chapter)