Australian Storm 1876

   Chapter 808 Super Combat Power

  The violent turbulence in today's world situation is a rare development opportunity for the two emerging countries, Citi State and Ocean Empire, which are mainly immigrants, mainly in the fields of immigration and economics.

  Enter the 20th century

The number of immigrants from Europe to the United States has increased sharply. Among them, the bottom of Italy is particularly large, reaching 700,000 to 800,000 people each year. Together with the immigrant populations of Ireland, Germany, Austro-Hungary, Ottoman Empire and Northern Europe, the average annual immigration to North America The total number exceeded 1.75 million, a record high.

  This kind of demographic dividend will last for more than 10 years, which is the golden age of the development of the North American continent.

  Among them, Italian immigrants are the main force.

  Among the European powers, Italy's development is relatively lagging. It was not until 1870 that the country achieved national unity and independence. Before this, Italy had been in a situation of alien oppression and feudal separatism.

  The process of unifying Italy with the remote kingdom of Sardinia as the main body is full of historical accidents, full of various compromises and concessions, and it is not a forceful unification of the Italian peninsula.

  This has led to weak central authority in the Kingdom of Italy, local forces do their own things, political chaos, and the upper-class aristocracy is keen on fighting for power and gains while neglecting the development of people’s livelihood.

  The consequence of stunted growth is that Italy’s capitalism is underdeveloped, agriculture and heavy industry are particularly backward, domestic resources are poor, the market is small, and the economy cannot be developed, which has caused serious domestic unemployment problems and a sharp increase in the number of people in extreme poverty.

  The failure of the war to conquer Ethiopia, while turning the Kingdom of Italy into a laughing stock in Europe, also completely shattered the last hope of the people at the bottom of society. They chose to emigrate to North America or Somalia, which is the true expression of this disappointment.

  In the Western Pacific

The   Ocean Empire benefited from the Gengzi national disaster in the north, and a large number of spontaneous immigrants gradually occupied the mainstream of immigrants. Most of these immigrants had some wealth and moved with families of men, women, and children. They were mainly arranged in the Luzon Islands to fill the lack of local population.

  Prosperous Somalia attracted 63,000 European immigrants in 1900, of which Italians accounted for the majority, which has more than tripled compared to the previous year.

  Speaking of this, we have to mention the superior geographical location of Somalia, the narrow and long Eritrean region from Djibouti to the southwest, which is about 780 kilometers long along the Red Sea coast.

  Because of its location on the plateau, the climate is pleasant, the warm and humid wind of the Red Sea meets the cold air of the Ethiopian plateau, and the rainfall is sufficient, which is suitable for the development of agriculture and animal husbandry.

  Humen, Assad, Xi'an and other cities have developed into important transit cities and supply ports for inter-European and Asian passenger and cargo transportation, shining star cities on the Red Sea and Arabian Sea, and their reputations are spread both at home and abroad.

  Freighters often stop here to add coal, add water, unload goods destined for Central and Southern Africa and West Asia, load local grain, canned seafood and other goods, and continue the rest of the journey.

  Going more than 800 kilometers southwest along the Red Sea Channel from Humen, you will arrive at the famous Suez Canal. Crossing the Suez Canal is the warm Mediterranean Sea, not far from Europe.

A ferry ticket to Humen only costs 130 Yinyang and is worth about 130 German marks, which is equivalent to 6 pounds and 10 shillings. It is much cheaper than a ferry ticket across the Atlantic Ocean. It is very attractive to the poor Italian people at the bottom, and it is also attractive. Many white immigrants from Germany and Austro-Hungary.

In this case

  Somali State is openly welcoming. Although Italy's agriculture and heavy industry are very backward, its traditional handicraft industry is extremely developed. From Milan, Turin, Genoa to the northern city of Bologna, it has always been the center of European handicraft industry with many skilled craftsmen.

  From the exquisite medieval armor, the long history of winemaking to glass, clothing and leather manufacturing, Italian craftsmen are of the first-class level in Europe, with superb skills and a long heritage.

  The arrival of Italians has greatly enriched the handicraft industry in Somalia, where it is like a fish in water and created many job opportunities.

  The Germans are the best source of farmers and excellent soldiers. For the unique economic structure of Somalia, they are high-quality immigrants, and of course they are very welcome.

  Everything went well both at home and abroad, which made Li Fushou's mood quite good. From time to time, he talked a few words with important officials of the Sakon Minister and gave out a hearty laugh.

  After the launch ceremony of the battleship "Qinglong", the firecrackers on the Beilun Wharf were blasted, gongs and drums roared, and the lion and dragon dance teams began to vigorously dance. Countless crowds waved the national flags in their hands and sang and danced into a sea of ​​joy.

   "Your Majesty, please board the ship to review it."

"Oh Well."

  Li Fushou stood up and boarded the battleship "Qinglong" surrounded by important ministers, accompanied by the senior ship designer Sir Lin Huitang, who presided over the design of the ship, gave a professional analysis of the steel behemoth.

Standing on the wide bow deck, Li Fushou gently stroked the cold huge barrel with his hand. He could feel the violent power contained in it, and he thought of a lot for a while.

  Really thinking at the beginning

  Passing the Portsmouth harbour when visiting the United Kingdom, he saw the giant steel ships on the strait anchorage extending to the end of the skyline. The strong shock pierced his heart, and he couldn't calm down for a long time.

  Twenty years of time passed by in a flash.

  Now the Ocean Empire has its own world-class battleship to defend the sea. Beilun Port is moored with a steel giant ship, exuding an icy steel luster under the blue sky, and the black hole muzzle points straight into the distance.

  The muzzle refers to power and axioms.

  "In the past two decades, the vicissitudes of life, brother He, after so many years of development, we have also established a powerful naval fleet, which is really embarrassing!"

Li Fushou’s words resonated strongly in Admiral He Fang’s heart. He was also one of the entourages who went to Europe at the time. Everything he saw and heard in the UK completely subverted the original worldview. This is also where he stayed in the Royal Manchester for further studies in naval studies. Original intention.

  He firmly believes that what Thais and Westerners can do, we can do, and we can do better.

   "Your Majesty, to be able to witness this historic moment with your own eyes, no matter where you die without regrets, this life is enough!"

  "Hahahaha...Lianpo is old, can you still have food?"

  "Please rest assured, your Majesty, the Royal Navy's officers swear allegiance to the following hundred thousand people, and wait for the empire's orders day and night, and everything that your Majesty refers to will be wiped out, and nothing will be left."

   "Well, what I want is your domineering domineering attitude." Li Fushou laughed up to the sky, and he had every reason to be proud.

  Due to the rise of the Ocean Empire, the overseas Chinese have a much higher social status than in the original history. Although it cannot be said that they are equal to the European whites, they can at least receive the same treatment as Citi.

  For Europeans who have always been proud, one is a hillbilly from North America, and the other is a hillbilly from Australia. Their international status is among the highest in the world.

  This is limited to overseas Chinese being taken a high look. Under the pressure of the powers of various countries, the Qing court, which rules the land of China, agreed on May 3 to pay a huge war compensation of 450 million taels of silver.

  From then on, this ancient eastern land fell into the abyss of semi-colonial and semi-feudal, and began the journey of suffering.

  Li Fushou shook his head and said to Sir Lin Huitang beside him; "Sir Lin, we are laymen watching the excitement. Please explain to us the original intention of the powerful warship at this time."

"Your Majesty, this is the greatest honor for the ministers." Sir Lin Huitang handed in his salute. He is a member of the Royal Academy of Engineering and the chair and professor of the Department of Naval Engineering of Red River Valley University. Come;

  "The Imperial Navy needs a great power weapon that can fight ocean-going winds and waves. It has a long range, high speed, world-class defense, and firepower. This is the overall technical requirement for the design of the Metropolis II battleship.

Therefore, we have carried out an enlarged design based on the displacement of 13,200 tons of the battleship of the Metropolis line, focusing on enhancing the armor protection and plane protection of important parts such as the conning tower, ammunition depot, and power cabin. The multi-cell warehouse dome design is adopted and Germany is applied. Krupp super-hard carburized steel technology has achieved ideal results.

  The enlarged hull allows the "Qingdao" battleship to carry more coal. At a speed of 11 knots, it has a battery life of 9,500 nautical miles and has excellent ocean navigation capabilities.

  Considering the balance of speed, defense and firepower, the biggest constraint comes from the power of the ship.

  Nowadays, most battleships are steam powered by coal-fired boilers, but at most they have been upgraded to steam powered by oil-fired boilers. Early boiler systems produced lower steam temperature and pressure, so the total horsepower was limited.

  The battleship "Qingdao" adopted three new steam turbines and eighteen oil-fired boilers, which improved the total power of the power system and laid the foundation for high-speed navigation of more than 20 knots.

  In addition to continuing to increase the total power of the power system, in addition, it is to find a way on the underwater line of the capital ship.

  I used a high-speed, deep-V, long and narrow wavebreaking ship in my design. If you look at the part below the waterline, this ship looks like an almond with sharp ends and a middle drum.

  From the top view, it looks more like a willow-leaf type, that is, the hull in the middle and rear is wider and full of shape. The width of the first half of the ship after passing the middle hull quickly narrowed.

  Foremost is a very narrow and protruding front draught section, so the overall view looks like a willow leaf.

  The purpose of this design is to break through the waves at high speed under limited power. The aspect ratio of the whole ship is very large, which can be close to or exceed 10.

  It is the advanced power system and underwater high-speed streamlined design. This class of ship can achieve a maximum speed of 22 knots with a maximum duration of 10 hours. In actual sailing, it has reached the highest speed of 23.5 knots.

  Well known

  The main battleship has a speed advantage, and the enemy can seize the "T" prefix in large-scale naval battles and control the initiative of naval battles.

  Furthermore, there is autonomy no matter whether you quickly meet the enemy or take the initiative to leave the theater, you can fight as soon as you can, and you can quickly expand the results.

  Transfer if you can’t beat, everything is under your control.

Comparing Fuso’s "Shikishima" class battleship with a top speed of 18 knots per hour, the German "Braunschweig" and "Deutsche" class have a top speed of 19 knots, and the "Qingdao" battleship has a top speed of 22 knots. Opponents are one of our big advantages.

  Of course, this high-speed, deep-V, narrow and long wavebreaker has obvious disadvantages, that is, the whole ship shakes and rolls more severely in high sea conditions, the shaking frequency of the whole ship increases, and the personnel are more prone to seasickness.

  The aiming of the corresponding ship’s main guns and other weapon systems has become more difficult, and the overall shooting hit rate has dropped.

  Moreover, at certain speeds, there will be larger bow waves in the bow of the ship, causing head-dropping, especially in the Atlantic winter when the sea conditions are harsh, which has a greater adverse effect on the warship.

  This requires naval officers and soldiers to strengthen training and work hard to overcome disadvantages.

The second unique feature of the "Qingdao" is defense. Because of the use of advanced bullet-proof armor steel technology and the thickness of the main armor belt is 348mm, it can resist the damage of the armor-piercing projectile fired by the 345mm caliber main ship gun in the world. Defense.

The armored ballistic steel weighs 2,430 tons, and almost all of the warships are wrapped under thick and heavy armor. Even the 152mm double-mounted secondary guns are equipped with 85mm thick armored panels. Unless directly hit, the shrapnel is difficult to cause major damage. Hurt, this is definitely a terrifying behemoth of war on the battle line.

In terms of the firepower design of the 152mm secondary artillery, the Fuso Kingdom’s Shikishima-class battleship is equipped with 14 independent rapid-fire guns, which means that 14 independent turrets and 14 bulletproof enclosures are required. The area to be protected is greatly increased. The thickness of the bulletproof enclosure is only 27 millimeters, and it can't defend against shell fragments.

  Like paper, it breaks with a light poke.

  The reason for this design is mainly to consider the accuracy of shooting, and try to avoid the mutual interference caused by the muzzle flame of the dual-mounted 152mm secondary guns when they fire violently.

The battleship "Qingdao" is equipped with 5 double-mounted 152mm secondary guns. Due to the compact position of the guns, the protective area needs to be greatly reduced. Therefore, it is possible to install 85mm thick bulletproof enclosures, which will bring real benefits to the secondary guns. Protect.

  The reason for adopting the dual-mounted secondary gun design is mainly because of the probabilistic coverage shooting, and it does not make much sense to pursue shooting accuracy too much.

  In the battleship confrontation, always maintaining the fierce firepower output of the main gun and the secondary gun is the primary goal in the design of the battleship.

  Finally, I have to focus on the 44-caliber 305mm twin-mounted main ship gun.

This is a large-caliber main ship gun exclusively developed by the Azure Weapon Company. The barrel life is 280 rounds. The range has been increased from 14,200 meters to 16,800 meters for the 40-caliber 305mm main gun, and the weight of a single ammunition has been increased from 386 kg to 422. Kilogram, the power increased by 1/4.

  It is also compared with the 305mm main gun equipped on Shikishima-class battleships. Its range is 13,700 meters, which is far inferior to the technical level of our main guns.

  This means that in the battle line, our warships can fire the enemy first. When the two sides are facing each other, theoretically, the 2100m distance advantage can be the first enemy to launch six rounds of concentrated fire attacks.

  Not only the shooting distance is long, but the power of a single shell is great, only inferior to the power of the 343mm shell of the British "Sovereign" class battleship.

  Compared with the British "Sovereign" class battleships, our side is far superior in terms of speed and defensive power, with only slightly inferior firepower.

It should be pointed out that the displacement of the "Qingdao" battleship is more than 3,000 tons larger than that of the opponent. The heavy bulletproof armor can carry the 343mm shells of the "Sovereign" class battleship frontally, but the "Sovereign" class battleship armor is too weak to resist "Qingdao". "The battleship 305mm main artillery bombarded.

  Fighting head-on, it is still unknown who will die. "

  Speaking of this, Sir Lin Huitang smiled proudly, and his wonderful introduction was applauded.

The   Metropolis-class battleship is super powerful, and it is indeed the top in the world today, and it is worthy of a masterpiece of painstaking effort.

  (End of this chapter)