Chapter 1363 The Age of Big Guns and Big Ships (First update, please subscribe)
“Buzz, buzz…”
Accompanied by a low roar, everyone looked up at the sky, and saw dozens of ships in an inverted "V" formation slowly passing through the air.
"The airship unit of the Navy's floating force is currently passing through the airspace above the review area."
The magnetic voice of the male announcer came out of the radio at the right time.
"Father, it's an airship!"
Zhu Youlin, the crown prince of the empire, is a typical airship fan. He has been fascinated by airships since he was a child.
Even now that he's become a father, nothing has changed. He still gets crazy when he sees an airship.
But the era of airships is over!
Sighing in his heart, Emperor Zhu looked up at the sky. There were nine airships passing over the imperial ship. They all had the same cigar-shaped appearance, and they all had wide tail rudders. The streamlined semi-buried main cabins were perfectly integrated with the airships, and they seemed to be a little bigger.
"Minister Shen, these airships seem to be different from the ones in the past. They seem to have sharp edges and corners."
Zhu Youlin turned his head and asked.
"Your Highness, this is the Empire's latest hard-shell airship. Its internal structure is made entirely of hard aluminum. It is faster, larger, and has a longer range."
Nine years ago, as the United States and France simultaneously "invented" the electrolytic aluminum process, the Empire also deciphered the electrolytic aluminum process. Although the Empire lost a major source of income, the industrialized production of electrolytic aluminum also benefited many industries. Rigid airships finally made a fundamental breakthrough. Aluminum beams replaced wooden beams, making airships larger and stronger.
"This is Zeppelin..."
Emperor Zhu said to himself, "But are there still Zeppelin airships in this world?"
Before the airship force disappeared from people's sight, a cruiser column consisting of six armored cruisers came over cutting through the waves, with billowing smoke spewing out of the tall and dense chimneys. Its hull was equipped with battleship-level 305mm main guns - this was also a first for the Empire.
"Your Majesty, the two ships coming in front are the "Shinto" class armored cruisers. Although they are still called armored cruisers, they are actually equivalent to second-class battleships of various countries. They have four 305mm twin main guns that are enough to fight against warships... Unlike the "Hiroshima" class armored cruisers built by the Empire before, this ship has cancelled the side guns and is equipped with six twin 120mm secondary guns. Its structure is reasonable and simple..."
In fact, the naval construction of the empire has always been influenced by Emperor Zhu. Perhaps this is the case of "what the superior likes, the subordinates will be even more like it", from the early days of shrinking battleships to build secondary armored cruisers, to the present, the empire is also the same. However, the current Imperial Navy Ship Administration is more handy when designing armored cruisers.
Just like the New German class, although its displacement is only 20,000 tons, it has achieved a perfect combination of protection, firepower and speed. It is called a cruiser, but its armor is even thicker than that of the Dreadnought class, and its speed is as high as 29 knots. Because of this, it won the favor of the Imperial Navy as soon as it came out. Not only did it issue an order for six ships, but it also issued an intention order for four improved models.
In fact, the reason why the Empire attaches importance to the speed of warships is, to put it bluntly, because the vast colonies need fast cruisers to protect them, which not only require speed but also strong protection - because they may be caught in a situation of fighting alone. Of course, they also need strong firepower because they may face enemy battleships.
Special needs stimulated the emergence of special warships. While European and American countries were building second-class dreadnoughts, the Empire built faster armored cruisers with advanced steam turbines and high-pressure boiler technology.
However, its appearance did not cause a shock to the outside world. After all, the Shinde class has been in service for two years. In the past two years, four ships have been in service. As the empire's cutting-edge warship, in the past two years, it has not only cruised the empire's waters, but also visited various countries. It has long been known to the world.
"Look, that's..."
Suddenly, someone in the VIP seats screamed in surprise, and everyone's eyes turned to the review column coming from behind the cruiser fleet.
Through the telescope, people were finally able to clearly see the battleship - the first thing that came into people's sight was not just the battleship, but the "pagoda" on top of the battleship. A multi-layered "pagoda" on top of the battleship came into people's sight. The towering masts were stacked up to dozens of meters high.
"What is this? Is it a 'Christmas tree'?"
When the naval attachés of various countries were surprised and ridiculed, they did not know that what they witnessed was actually a naval technological revolution. Although the accuracy and effective range of artillery have been greatly improved with the emergence of the Invincible, due to the limitations of sighting equipment and artillery techniques, the navies of various countries in the world have never thought of being able to engage in artillery battles at a distance of 20 to 30 kilometers.
For this reason, the battleships of various countries do not need to measure distance and aim at such a long distance, they only need to install an observation post on the top of the mast.
However, in the past few years, with the advancement of observation and aiming and artillery, the Imperial Navy proposed a new tactic of long-range artillery warfare. In order to conduct long-range artillery warfare, warships not only need to detect the enemy earlier, but also need to stand higher due to the curvature of the earth, and observe and aim there. Therefore, the firepower command units responsible for aiming, observing the landing point, and commanding artillery, horse archery, etc. must move up. Therefore, the Imperial Navy not only made modifications around the mast, but also designed a corresponding integrated mast tower.
The integrated tower mast looks extremely spectacular and quite shocking. But what really shocks people is not just the towering tower mast.
Instead, in front of the tower-style mast, there are two twin-mounted turrets arranged in a stepped manner. On the surface, it seems to be no different from an ordinary dreadnought, but when comparing the size of the ship, the naval attachés of various countries - these first-class naval intelligence officers, immediately felt a sense of suffocation!
The huge muzzle, thick gun barrel, wide hull and tower-like front superstructure are perfectly combined.
At this time, the announcer's voice on the radio also became passionate:
"What is coming now is the Imperial Navy's latest "Dynasty Class" battleship. The lead ship is the "Daqin" battleship, which has a displacement of 33,000 tons and is equipped with 8 380mm naval guns. It is currently undergoing sea trials..."
It doesn’t matter whether it is undergoing sea trials or not, what matters is that it is a real cannon and a huge ship!
Once upon a time, when the dreadnought appeared, people were surprised and amazed by it. To a certain extent, they even thought that it was the pinnacle of human mechanics, but who would have thought that their cognition would be overturned once again.
The destructive aesthetics brought by the big ships and cannons were displayed nakedly, directly and without reservation. Without any disguise or politeness, it was like a grenade explosion, directly impacting everyone.
It even exudes a kind of magic that strangles people's breathing, strangles people's thinking, makes people unable to breathe or think. In such a visual impact, a word echoes in their minds.
"380 millimeters! 380 millimeters..."
This moment is either heaven or hell.
None of it matters, what matters is the caliber.
It is the tonnage that matters!
The important thing is...they are the most powerful warships in the world.
In such a visual impact, people seemed to ignore the two large cranes between the two large chimneys. They didn't know that there was a launch platform for seaplanes. They didn't know that a new maritime revolution had begun silently. At this time, all of them were immersed in the impact brought by the cannons and huge ships.
The old group is down, so I created a new book club group: 739209015. Everyone is welcome to join and discuss and deduce the plot together.
(End of this chapter)
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