Chapter 514 Wishful thinking?

Chapter 514 Wishful thinking?

Chapter 514 Wishful thinking?

Outside Zhanjiang Port is the vast South China Sea.

A 3,000-ton light cruiser painted white braved the wind and waves, rushed out of the port like flying, and headed towards the sea where the naval review was being held.

On the deck of the cruiser, the naval generals and reporters from various countries who were invited to attend the naval review were stunned and could no longer speak.

The reporters felt that it was fast, but they didn't know how fast.

The naval generals were all old sea dogs. Feeling the strong sea breeze blowing on their faces, they judged that the speed of the warship was definitely over 40 knots.

What does this mean? This is setting a new world record for warship speed.

At this speed, it would take ten days to reach London from Zhanjiang. Even if it stopped for rest, it would not take more than half a month, which is faster than an airship.

Damn, it takes most cargo ships half a year to go around the Cape of Good Hope to London, and three months to go through the Suez Canal.

The people of Daxia invited us to observe the naval review and maritime military exercises. Before it even started, the reviewing ship shocked us. It was definitely intentional.

The naval generals were no pushovers and had seen the latest gas turbine-powered destroyers and small cargo ships. Even the fastest test ship, the Turbineia, could only travel at 34.5 knots.

That's a 44-ton boat. It's small but powerful, so of course it can run fast. How do you manage to run 40 knots with a -ton boat?
Shao Quanzhong, the host of this naval review, and Liao Rong, who was half a step behind him, smiled at each other. This was exactly the effect they wanted.

The reason why Daxia holds a naval review is to intimidate the navies of various countries, including the British big brother.

The Daxia Fleet is no longer what it used to be. It dares to sell electricity and collect money from door to door. It has the confidence to make 100 million taels of silver.

When we were developing rapidly, we acted like a weakling, but now we need to take money from the powerful countries, we can no longer act like a weakling.

I sell electricity and make money. It is a reasonable, legal and legitimate business. I am not selling longevity cream or robbing. You should just be content.

As for why a 3,000-ton light cruiser can be so fast, just look at the name painted on the ship - "Lu Zhuang".

Luzhuang, Jiangyan District, Hailing City, Taizhou, is now a sacred place in Daxia, the birthplace of Marshal Shao, which is equivalent to - ahem, Fengyang, Fengyang in the Ming Dynasty. Don't think about other places.

The warship named Luzhuang was custom-made for Shao Quanzhong by the Zhenjiang Shipyard, which specializes in building cruisers. There is only one such ship in the world.

The Haiqi had been retired and became a training ship. When Shao Quanzhong chose a new ship, he did not choose a 10,000-ton battleship, but a 3,000-ton light cruiser, just for the sake of speed.

Currently, the main flagship of the Daxia Fleet is the HMS Dreadnought, which took three years to build before being launched. It is now the fourth year and it has only completed outfitting and is now ready for service.

According to Daxia's current processing level and industrial capacity, two years should be enough. It was only because new technology of gas turbines appeared halfway through the construction that major modifications were made, which greatly delayed the launch time.

There are restrictions on modifications, so the Dreadnought did not actually use all the new technologies. The most important power equipment now burns a mixture of coal and heavy oil.

It is to pour heavy oil into the coal to increase the combustion value.

The next batch of dreadnoughts on the slipway will simply burn heavy oil, and the sailing speed will be greatly increased.

What is heavy fuel oil? It is the crudest fuel oil made by refining petroleum. Why do warships use heavy fuel oil? It is cheap.

Both diesel and gasoline need to be refined, and the cost is rising exponentially. It is really unaffordable to produce dozens or even hundreds of ships at a time.

Currently, pure diesel engines are only used in submarines, as submarines are small and more fuel-efficient.

But Shao Quanzhong's ship is the face of the country, and there is only one of them, so the cost can be ignored. Therefore, the "Luzhuang" is currently the only large warship in the world that is purely diesel-powered.

Six diesel engines plus three Parsons gas turbine units have a total power of 52,000 horsepower, which can drive large ships of 10,000 tons. If installed on a mere 3,000-ton cruiser, wouldn't it be as fast as flying?
Of course, 40 knots is the maximum speed. The economic speed of Luzhuang is 30 knots, which is a speed that other warships cannot match at present.

In fact, the power configuration of diesel engine plus gas turbine is not outdated until the 21st century...

The Luzhuang slowly slowed down and soon arrived at the parade area.

The first item is the traditional naval review, in which the warships to be reviewed are lined up on the sea and the reviewing ship passes slowly.

The bigwigs of the Great Xia Navy and naval generals from various countries gathered on the side of the Luzhuang to watch the Great Xia fleet flex its muscles.

The fleets reviewed were divided into four parts: the South China Sea Fleet, the South Pacific Fleet, the North Pacific Fleet and the Main Fleet. These were all fleets directly under Daxia. The Beiyang Fleet, the Spanish Royal Fleet and the Lucia Mediterranean Fleet could actually be mobilized by Daxia, but they did not participate in this review.

The four fleets participating in the parade have different missions and different types of warships.

The goal of the South China Sea Fleet is to maintain local public order, suppress bandits and provide escort. It has only two thousand-ton destroyers as its main force, and the rest are frigates of three hundred to five hundred tons, and even smuggling boats of dozens of tons.

There are a total of forty ships, which may seem large in number, but have the smallest tonnage.

The South Pacific Fleet's goal is also to maintain surface law and order and escort merchant caravans, but the patrol area is vast, so the flagship is a 3,000-ton light cruiser, and the main battleships are all 1,000-ton destroyers, with a total of more than 30 ships.

The North Pacific Fleet is a coastal garrison fleet with no offensive strategic targets. It includes four 7,000-ton improved Saxony-class ironclad ships, ten 1,000-ton destroyers, ten 500-ton minelayers, and fifteen 300-ton coastal frigates.

The main fleet was much larger, with four 20,000-ton dreadnought-class battleships and four modified 15,000-ton Sovereign-class battleships on display.

Four 8,000-ton battlecruisers, four 6,000-ton heavy cruisers, eight 3,000-ton light cruisers, ten 1,000-ton destroyers, ten 700-ton light destroyers, a 10,000-ton tanker, a 10,000-ton supply ship, five 300-ton minesweepers, ten 300-ton torpedo boats, a 1,000-ton hospital ship, two 200-ton reconnaissance ships, a 5,000-ton military supply ship, a 1,000-ton repair ship, fifty diesel submarines, a 3,000-ton submarine supply ship, and twenty airships floating in the sky.

Shao Quanzhong himself was dazzled by these things and had no idea what they were for, which completely stopped him from intervening in the navy. However, the naval generals of various countries could still understand them.

However, they were greatly shocked by how professional and well-equipped Daxia's navy was.

Those auxiliary ships may not be needed, and many of them can be handled by the warships themselves. Now they are classified into categories. Obviously, nearly twenty years have passed, and the Daxia Fleet has accumulated enough naval experience.

When the generals saw the last two 10,000-ton aircraft carriers, their eyes were dazzled. What was that?

In order to make the generals understand, Daxia considerately pulled the planes out of the hangar and placed them on the deck of the aircraft carrier. After counting, Wow, there were twenty planes parked on one aircraft carrier.

The two ships carried two flying squadrons of aircraft. The deck of this thing was estimated to be two hundred meters long and flat, and it was obviously used for taking off and landing aircraft.

The sailors from all the ships came out and stood on the slope, saluted at a 45-degree angle when the reviewing ship passed by. After counting, the total tonnage of the fleet on review was over 235 tons, the number of ships reached , and the number of sailors exceeded .

All the invited naval commanders from various countries were silent. The number of warships and sailors exceeded the total of Britain and the United States. Is this the standard of the two superpowers that Liao Rong boasted before leaving?
Daxia is so fucking rich. Oh, too rich.

British Admiral Sir Alexander Milne said sourly, "There is no war now, and you are building such a powerful navy, which is a waste of people's money and a threat to world peace."

Maria behind him translated, but Shao Quanzhong ignored him, citing their unequal status.

Liao Rong responded with a smile, "We in Daxia have never invaded any country. We are a model for maintaining world peace."

"Besides, the cost of these warships is not as high as you estimated."

"Don't forget, we have 400 million people in Daxia, and our labor cost is one-fourth to one-fifth of that of most other powers. Therefore, we can build ships ourselves at a very low cost."

"You are welcome to buy ships from Daxia. It is definitely at least one-third cheaper than building them yourself. It is better to buy than to build."

The French representative Courbet, the German representative Alfred von Tirpitz, and even the Russian representative Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich all shook their heads.

Don't fool me, this is what we have been saying to others. It's better to buy than to make? It's OK in normal times, but if you don't sell to me during a real war, won't I be at a loss right away?
The real powers did not believe this kind of nonsense. George Dewey was very excited.

He is only a vice admiral now, and he came with the Navy Commander-in-Chief William Henry Hamlin. Dewey pulled the admiral's sleeve, "Let's go back and increase the shipbuilding efforts. We are already far behind. The Federation has no less money than Daxia."

But most small countries do not have the ability to build giant ships themselves, and they know that it is foolish to buy rather than build, so they have to purchase capital ships from abroad.

For example, the Bau Heavenly Kingdom Federation, Southern Slavia, Romania and even Türkiye, Cuba, Greece, Denmark and the Netherlands all have purchasing intentions.

The person sent by the Bau Heavenly Kingdom Federation was Wendron, an old subordinate of the King of England. The King of England did not have that much money, but he had to face the challenge of the British Empire, because there was a place called the Falkland Islands in the sea of ​​the Heavenly Kingdom Federation...

Therefore, Chen Yucheng was in urgent need of new weapons that could defeat battleships without having to buy expensive battleships, and Weng Derong immediately set his sights on aircraft carriers.

Weng Derong pointed at the Hermes and Fengxiang and said, "Marshal Liao, are those things useful? Do you want to sell them?"

Liao Rong smiled mysteriously, "You'll know whether it works or not in a moment, let's practice it and see."

Behind him, Sir Alexander Milne had a look of sneer on his face. He didn't believe that those flimsy planes could be of any use. That country bumpkin from South America was definitely wasting his time and dreaming.

(End of this chapter)