“Your Majesty, this is the first warship of the Chinese Empire equipped with a steam turbine—the Jingtao. According to the warship classification that the Empire recently introduced, this warship should be classified as a battleship.”
At the foot of Bishacheng, Zhang Liang was introducing a behemoth moored in the military port to Xiao Ming. Unlike the ordinary ironclad warships the Empire had built in previous years, this warship had a displacement of 35,000 tons and was equipped with three triple 406mm main cannons. According to the Chinese Empire’s standard that a battleship’s main cannon caliber should be greater than 203mm and no more than 406mm, this warship could be said to be a giant among battleships.
Looking at the 216-meter-long Jingtao, Xiao Ming showed a satisfied expression. Time passed quickly. After the war in Europe came to an end and the Vienna Convention Organization was perfectly established, two years had passed in a hurry. In these two years, Xiao Ming had focused his main energy on building the Empire’s deep-sea bat capabilities.
And just as Tang Wenjie said, half a year after the Vienna Convention Organization was established, Spain, Portugal, Prussia, France, Britain, and Tsarist Russia announced the formation of the St. Petersburg Convention Organization in St. Petersburg, and they were strategically opposed to the Chinese Empire. Faced with the St. Petersburg Convention Organization, which consisted of the six major powers of Europe and had a population of over 100 million, Xiao Ming was helpless for a while. After all, the last European war had already challenged the Empire’s deep-sea transportation capabilities. Therefore, if a world war were to really break out, even if the Empire had an advantage in weapons, it would probably not be able to make up for the numerical disadvantage.
It was because of this factor that he demanded that the member countries of the Convention Organization keep a low profile in these two years and mainly strengthen their trade relations to promote economic development. The Chinese Empire, on the other hand, used this period of peace to step up its weapon innovation. According to his requirements, if the Chinese Empire wanted to cross the ocean and fight a full-scale war in Europe, its military level would have to be at least close to that of the beginning of World War II. This Jingtao battleship was proof that the Chinese Empire’s military industry was advancing toward this goal.
“This is what a big cannon and a giant ship should feel like. Let’s go up and take a look.”
Xiao Ming said to Zhang Liang. A large number of naval generals were following him, and they were all waiting for such a battleship to be equipped in the fleet as soon as possible. After boarding the warship, Xiao Ming, under Zhang Liang’s introduction, visited the internal structure of the battleship one by one. In addition to using a steam turbine, the warship’s cannons also used an automatic loading technology, with a special conveyor that transported shells directly from the ammunition room to the breech. The reason for this method of transportation was that the main cannon of the battleship had a large caliber, which meant that the shells would also be very heavy. If they were loaded manually, the efficiency would be very low. So he included this conveying structure in his design drawings. In this way, the battleship’s main cannons would be able to fire a second shot in a shorter time.
“This battleship is really big.” Liu Chen’s mouth almost watered. He said, “Your Majesty, as long as the Pacific Fleet has one such battleship, it will be enough to wipe out a European fleet.”
The other generals all echoed his words. pared to the ironclad warships that were only about 90 meters long, this monster, which had doubled in length, armor thickness, and firepower, could be called the overlord of the seas.
Xiao Ming showed a smile. He said, “You are all so unpromising. This Jingtao battleship is nothing. The Chinese Empire navy has even more magnificent plans.”
Liu Chen was surprised and delighted upon hearing this. “I hope Your Majesty will enlighten me.”
Now, Xiao Ming no longer kept them in suspense. He said, “To defeat the St. Petersburg Convention Organization, fighting on land alone is not enough. So for these years, I have been planning the Chinese Empire air force. Now the Empire’s major aircraft manufacturing centers have produced a lot of excellent bombers, but what we lack is a platform to send the bombers to Europe. This platform is an aircraft carrier, something that is even more important than a battleship.”
“Aircraft carrier?” Liu Chen showed a look of longing. He could already imagine a huge warship carrying bombers sailing on the ocean.
Xiao Ming nodded. He turned and looked at the Chinese Empire’s naval generals. Most of these generals were young naval generals, with only a few familiar faces. These young naval generals had all graduated from the regular naval academy and were very proficient in the construction of modern navies. They would be the future of the Chinese Empire navy.
“That’s right, an aircraft carrier. It is a large surface warship whose main bat method is to use air power to eliminate the enemy’s warships. Of course, this bat method is a bit of an overkill against the European navies. For now, these warships will mainly serve as a platform for transporting aircraft.” Xiao Ming explained to everyone.
Liu Chen nodded. In the past two years, the Empire had suddenly kept a low profile, and the Convention Organization had also kept a low profile. The purpose was to save up their strength so that they could destroy the St. Petersburg Convention Organization with one blow. After all, the standoff between the two convention organizations would eventually lead to a conflict. And based on the mon defense feature of the Convention Organization, no matter who fired the first shot, the other countries would be drawn into the war. So, in his opinion, a full-scale war in Europe was almost inevitable. St. Petersburg would not sit idly by as the Empire gradually took control of the right to speak in Europe, and the Empire would not tolerate the St. Petersburg Convention Organization being stronger and peting with the Empire for colonies all over the world.
In the blueprint described by Xiao Ming, the hearts of the generals were filled with endless anticipation. Bishacheng was just one of the points where the Chinese Empire built warships. The Chinese Empire now controlled all the large shipyards in the country. In their opinion, since the Jingtao had been launched, it meant that other shipyards would also have similar battleships being launched. As the generals thought, through these years of construction, the Chinese Empire had already owned thirty-six shipyards that could build large surface warships. The Bishacheng shipyard was just one of them, responsible for the construction of only one battleship, but this did not mean that the Bishacheng shipyard only had this much capability. In fact, in addition to the battleship, the Bishacheng shipyard was also building deep-sea transport ships, large supply ships, and sea repair ships, some of which were for mercial use and some for civilian use.
The situation in the other shipyards was similar. According to Zhang Liang, after the Jingtao was launched, the Empire would have forty-seven more warships launched in succession. These forty-seven warships included nine battleships and thirty-eight cruisers. As for the aircraft carrier plan he mentioned, Zhang Liang was still in the planning stages. The technology for an aircraft carrier that could carry monoplanes was not much higher than that of a warship. As long as the industrial capability was met, they could try to build one. During World War II, the United States produced 26 large aircraft carriers, 9 light aircraft carriers, 115 escort aircraft carriers, 10 battleships, 48 cruisers, 349 destroyers, 498 frigates, 203 submarines, tens of thousands of various landing craft, and tens of millions of tons of civilian ships. The Chinese Empire’s current industrial capability was not as good as that, but it was still at about 20 to 30 percent of that level, which was more than enough for the current world.
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