Australian Storm 1876

  Chapter 810 Army and Navy Force Reorganization

  Secluded corner

  Li Fushou did not fail to feel the sharp pace of expansion between Germany and Tsarist Russia. In particular, Germany sent the Far Eastern fleet to land on the Jiaodong Peninsula flagrantly and divided it into its own sphere of influence by imposing an unequal treaty.

  The German Far East Fleet was also expanding in the Pacific Islands, and it was at odds with the Ocean Empire over the ownership of the Samoan Islands.

These Li Fushou all chose to bear it down. The Samoa Islands were temporarily in a state of co-administration. The Germans spent great efforts to build port towns on the islands, build roads and bridges, reclaim wasteland and emigrated more than 6,000 people, and established a naval logistics station. Warehouses and coal storage yards were built as a logistics base for the German Far East Fleet.

   Now the Kaiser II is stunned by the air, so arrogant that he can't add to it, even the British Empire is not in the eyes, let alone the Ocean Empire?

  Li Fushou didn’t want to fight against this lunatic. He had the British Empire and the Fusang Kingdom in front of him. Some of the interests in the Pacific Islands were temporarily given to him. Anyway, he didn’t have time to develop it, and he would even get back the benefits at that time.

  In the past few years, the task is to farm, farm, and then farm, to effectively develop the country’s economy, to further promote the process of industrialization, and to make the cake bigger.

  At the same time, actively carry out military preparations.

  This is reflected in the reorganization of the army and the establishment of a strong fleet by the navy. Related work has been proceeding in an orderly manner, and phased results have been achieved.

  This was done to prevent Fuso’s military adventures after the Russo-Japanese War.

  The "Nomonkan Incident" that happened in history clearly shows that there is nothing impossible for such a fanatical country stimulated by aggressive ambitions.

  So, in the army;

The size of the Ocean Empire Army expanded from 124,000 to 168,000. It still retains the original 9 Type A field divisions and 15 Type B divisions, but the number of staff for each Type A division has increased from about 8,500 to 1.1~ There are 13,000 people, and the number of Type B teachers has increased slightly from 3,500 to 4,200.

  The Royal Guard has three divisions with 24,000 people, and it is expanded to 4 divisions with 48,000 people, each with 12,000 people.

  The reorganization of the entire army is over, and the standing army is maintained at a size of 216,000. In addition to the local garrison forces, it will be able to use up to 120,000 to 130,000 field maneuvering units during wartime and put them in the most needed direction.

  This refers to the army forces that have not been mobilized for war, and can basically deal with the emergency situation in the surrounding area and ensure the security of the territory.

at the same time

  The zero semi-auto rifle that has been researched and developed, and the machine gun has entered the production stage. The first step will be to equip the Tasmanian garrison for confrontation drills and continuous improvement.

The   Young Tiger tank is undergoing frigid zone tests in the southern mountains of Tasmania, and its operational performance in the frigid zone has been verified.

  From July to September each year, cold cyclones from the Antarctic continent pass through the mountainous areas of northern Tasmania. The temperature here often drops below freezing, with the lowest temperature reaching minus 15 degrees and heavy snow.

  So, it is the most ideal place to carry out the cold test of the young tiger tank here.

  Next, the Department of War plans to establish a large winter training base in the mountains of southern Tasmania. Between July and September each year, the army will be rotated here for mountain operations and cold zone combat training.

  Furthermore, the Ministry of the Army will organize high-end subjects such as actual combat training, mechanized offensive coordination training, integrated infantry training, etc., and build it into a military winter training base camp to temper the troops’ combat capabilities in severe weather.

The live battles from the front lines of South Africa have been continuously delivered to the Royal Army Whampoa Military Academy, which has greatly enriched the modern battles and teaching plans. The army has long been eager to find a large-scale exercise field to try their skills. Tasmania The southern mountain area fits this condition.

The reorganization of the Ministry of War is not simply adding an infantry regiment, but greatly enhancing the strength of the artillery regiment. The artillery regiment is equipped with an additional heavy artillery battalion, equipped with 12 122mm and 6 152mm large-caliber artillery, and equipped with Qidongying. Specially responsible for the towing of heavy artillery and the transportation of artillery shells and logistics materials.

  The other two divisional artillery battalions are each equipped with 18 95mm "Miss Australia" artillery, and are equipped with a car company for transportation and towing.

The subordinates of the Class A Field Division are equipped with three infantry regiments, one artillery regiment, one cavalry regiment, one heavyweight regiment, one teaching brigade, one engineer battalion, and one communications battalion. They belong to the semi-animal and semi-mechanized field divisions, and their firepower has been greatly enhanced. , Have a strong independent combat capability.

  In the army battle sequence after reorganization

  The attacking fist is undoubtedly the armored division. There are two armored divisions with the highest level of equipment.

The army is the Royal Red River Valley Meritorious Armored Division. The whole division is equipped with a "Young Tiger" medium tank regiment, two "Wild Wolf" light tank regiments, a 122mm self-propelled artillery regiment based on the Young Tiger tank chassis (not yet available), and one Large-scale car regiment (not yet available), an engineer battalion, a communications battalion, and a guard battalion.

  The Royal Guards is the Royal Queensland Guards Armored Division, with the same equipment as the former, and is the attacking iron fist of the Royal Guards.

  For confidentiality reasons, the "Young Tiger" tank regiments of these two armored divisions are all stationed in Tasmania for reorganization training.

  Zaitou Baolong Scientific Research Base

  A group of scientific researchers are conducting scientific research experiments in the frigid zone of the "young tiger" tank, set out to solve various technical problems in frigid zone operations, and further improve the combat performance of the "young tiger" tank.

  Another group of scientific researchers has begun the research and development of the "20-ton Tiger Tank" project. The new project will develop a tracked chassis with a stronger bearing capacity, and carefully build an advanced land warfare king that surpasses the times.

Everything that    does is a future war that focuses on preventing problems before they happen.

  According to the equipment plan of the Ministry of War;

Dongfanghong Tractor Company will produce "Wild Wolf" light tanks with an annual output of 110 units, and Hongshan Machinery Plant will produce "Young Tiger" medium tanks with an annual output of 45 units. Except for the two armored divisions mentioned above, all the rest will enter the strategic reserve. The library is archived.

  Today, the number of light and heavy tanks sealed in the strategic reserve has reached close to 200, and the number is still increasing steadily by more than 150 each year.

  The main reason for maintaining slow production is to maintain the manufacturer’s production lines and technical capabilities, and to maintain the supply chain of supporting manufacturers.

The production of a tank has never been the business of a certain manufacturer, but is related to hundreds of supporting manufacturers and thousands of parts. Even an alloy bolt must meet the requirements of the design standard, otherwise it will be dropped at any time during the battle. Chain, this is not a lie.

  On the other hand, it is to increase inventory in case of emergency.

  These land warfare steel monsters are produced and entered into the strategic reserve. What adds is the empire's heritage, which is just a little bit of accumulation.

  Navy

  After the main battleships have been put into service one after another, the 6500-ton general-purpose cruiser is being constructed step by step, basically increasing steadily at a rate of 3 to 4 ships launched each year, forming a strong front-line battle lineup.

Next step

  After several rounds of revisions, the Admiralty’s “Ocean General Destroyer Plan” was finalized and placed on Li Fushou’s desk, awaiting approval.

  Early Seagull Type I, Type II and Type II modified destroyers, the long one has reached 22 years, and the short one has 15 years, basically entering the middle and late stages of service life.

Especially the seagull-type destroyers that participated in the first East Indies War, experienced artillery fire, high-intensity battles and cruises during the war, with great strength and structural damage to varying degrees, which was specifically manifested in steel cracks. In terms of steel plate wave-like folds and structural deformation, 13 warships have been retired from service.

  In the next ten years, these early high-speed frigates will be retired one after another to complete their historical mission.

  Now the Royal Navy needs a high-speed destroyer that can accompany a large fleet in ocean operations, requiring strong endurance, adapting to the harsh ocean conditions, high speed, with a certain amount of firepower, and limited armor.

   also requires low price and good equipment, can be adapted to **** fishing, patrol the borders and territories, support large fleet operations and other performances, so it is called "Ocean General Destroyer."

  Li Fushou, after reading the secret package of the Russian Far East armament, put it aside, not caring too much.

  The authority of this information belongs to the top-secret level. The Chief of Staff of the War Department, General Wei Chi Shouzhuo, Deputy Chief of General Staff Mo Rufeng, General Liu Shan, Lieutenant General Nan Huaiyu, and Lieutenant General Huo Xiaohu all have the review authority.

  The Royal Guard is Commander General Li Shuanzhu, and Deputy Commander Lieutenant General Duan Qirui has review authority.

  If necessary, the military will naturally respond.

Freed from the daily tedious military and political affairs, Li Fushou is now much more relaxed. He only needs to pay attention to the major policies and policies. He works almost half a day and rests for half a day every day.

  Every season, you will take your wife and family on vacation, and you can enjoy a good life by traveling among the mountains and forests.

  He found the "Ocean General Destroyer Plan" submitted by the Admiralty, and read it again.

  The design of this type of destroyer has a displacement of 3,200 tons, a length of 87 meters, a maximum speed of 32 knots, and a full load displacement of 3,530 tons. It has reached the standards of foreign light cruisers and the rhythm of standard small ships.

  Due to the increased displacement, the ship’s endurance can reach a high level of 6,500 nautical miles. It uses two rotted three-expansion vertical steam engines to reduce costs, and double-shaft propulsion, reaching a maximum speed of 32 knots per hour.

  The key to this is the use of eight new heavy oil boilers to squeeze the old equipment to a higher power output, which can last for 3.2 hours.

From this limit value, it can be seen that the 16,000-ton Metropolis-class battleship that cost a lot of money can maintain a maximum speed of 22 knots for more than 10 hours. It is because the steam turbine built with a lot of money has advanced power performance and a high upper limit. Through further technical improvements, there can be even more outstanding performance.

For cost considerations, the general-purpose destroyer uses two old-fashioned three-expansion steam engines as the main power. The dual-axis propulsion has reached high speed. This was originally used for ironclad and cruiser-level power. Because of the old technology, the upper limit is not high, and it can only be passed The heavy oil boiler is pressed for a short time, and the limit lasts for a maximum of 3.2 hours.

  If it takes longer, the high-pressure steam pipeline will explode, and the heavy oil boiler will explode into scrap iron. The consequences will be disastrous.

  But this is a compromise for the cost, and it must be done.

  The main armament of the ocean-going general-purpose destroyer is three dual-mounted 152mm naval guns, a total of six, arranged in two bows, in a camel-back layout, and one stern.

  This double-mounted 152mm main gun is also mature equipment. The biggest highlight is its fierce firepower, affordable price and easy accessibility, and it can be equipped on a large scale.

  This class of ship is also equipped with ten 95mm "Miss Australia" artillery, ten 40mm rapid-fire guns and four torpedo tubes, with 307 personnel.

  The biggest advantage of this type of ocean-going destroyer is the low cost of purchase, each with a budget of 770,000 Jinyang, or 385,000 pounds.

  Due to the rapid development of technology in today's world, the use of new technology and equipment has greatly increased. Compared with 20 years ago, the cost of buying ships has also risen. This is a general trend.

  In order to increase the armor defense capabilities of this class of destroyers, Krupp super-hard carburized alloy steel technology is used to protect the main guns and conning towers. This is an investment that cannot be saved.

Compared with the advanced level of warships in the world today, the German "Victoria Louise" class cruiser is very representative. There are 5 ships in this class. The "Victoria Louise" is the first ship and entered the German Hellmann in 1897. It was built by the shipyard and entered service in 1899.

  Follow-up "Herta", "Fairya", "Vineta" and "Lufthansa", respectively, entered service in the German High Seas Fleet from 1899 to 1901.

The ship of this class has a displacement of 5,060 tons, a length of 110 meters, a speed of 19 knots, and a armament of 2 210 mm main guns, one front and one rear, 8 150 mm guns, 10 88 mm rapid-fire guns, 10 machine guns and three torpedoes. The launch tube has a crew of 477 people, and the construction price is equivalent to 567 thousand pounds (in German mark conversion).

  Compare the latter

  Ocean-going general-purpose destroyers are far inferior in firepower and defense, but their speed and endurance are far superior to the latter, and they have natural advantages in occupying positions.

   You know, this is the opponent of the Ocean Empire’s 4600-ton Brave-class cruiser and the 6,500-ton ocean-going general cruiser.

   If it is against a German destroyer with a displacement of only a few hundred tons, it is a complete crush, and there is no suspense about winning or losing.

  From the perspective of cost performance, the Navy’s new ocean-going general-purpose destroyer is indeed good, with relatively low procurement costs and high cost performance.

  The so-called low procurement costs are also relatively speaking. In the development of the navy, it is necessary to invest heavily. Giant ships are dyingly expensive, and small ships are not cheap. Really cheap is almost impossible.

  “Craving for the Great and Seeking the Ocean” is the label of the Admiralty. The original 4000-ton cruiser plan was changed into a 6500-ton ocean-going general cruiser after several drafts.

  After several drafts of the original 2000-ton destroyer plan, it became a 3,500-ton ocean-going general-purpose destroyer.

  Li Fushou’s careful thought of the Admiralty was like a palm pattern. Considering the vast territory of the empire, small ships were indeed incapable of long-term cruising missions and combat missions, so he turned one eye and closed one eye.

  The empire is now prosperous, and there is no shortage of these money.

  (End of this chapter)