Chapter 300 Naval School (Second update, please subscribe)
Nanhua Bay is not very wide, being only about 20 kilometers long from east to west. The cliffs nearly 100 meters high on the coast completely block the bay from the mainland. There is only one entrance four kilometers wide for ships to enter and exit the bay.
This is one of the best natural harbors in the world. Even though the bay is not large, the left island in the center of Nanhua Bay divides the bay into two parts. The relatively wide left bay is a civilian port, exclusively for commercial ships to enter and exit, while the right bay is a military port for the Coast Guard.
The cliffs of Tianya Peninsula have closed the bay into an airtight inner lake, and the left island and the right island, namely Panshi Island, have completely closed the right bay into an independent harbor. As the home port of the Coast Guard, the main force of the First Fleet - four armored cruisers - are moored here all year round. Although the "Tianlong-class" cruisers ordered from Britain a few years ago were deployed in Shanxi as the main force of the Second Fleet, the First Fleet is equipped with two 1,600-ton "Fubo-class" and two 2,800-ton "Shanxi-class", which are all new armored cruisers built by Nanhua Shipyard. In addition to several thousand-ton gunboats, the current First Fleet is the most powerful maritime force in South America.
However, this kind of strength is only found in South America.
Liu Tiannian, an instructor at the Naval Academy, is very clear about this.
In the classroom of the Naval Academy on Panshi Island, Liu Tiannian took out a model and said to the cadets below the stage.
"Who can tell me its name?"
The cadets sitting in the audience raised their hands one after another.
"Li Mingwu."
Li Mingwu immediately stood up and answered.
"Report to the instructor, this is the British Royal Navy's ironclad ship Warrior!"
"What's his displacement?"
"9,284 tons!"
"So what year was he underwater?"
"1860."
After a brief question and answer session, Liu Tiannian motioned for the students to sit down, and then he said,
"In 1860... I went to study at the British Merchant Marine School in 1861, and four years later I served as an apprentice on the Black Prince of the same class. The displacement of these two warships of the same class exceeds 18,500 tons. So who can tell me what the total tonnage of our fleet is?..."
"More than 17,000 tons!"
"That is to say, the total tonnage of our ships is not as large as the two warships they launched ten years ago. What is the total tonnage of the British Royal Navy?"
Liu Tiannian continued.
"633,000 tons, including 57 armored ships, with a total tonnage of 398,000 tons. According to the shipbuilding plan of the British Royal Navy, their average annual growth rate is 3.3%. Basically, the tonnage of new armored ships commissioned each year is almost equivalent to the total tonnage of our navy!"
How powerful is the Royal Navy?
Before these numbers were stated one by one, no one could intuitively feel their strength, but after Liu Tiannian said these numbers, his expression became a little serious.
"What is the British government's goal for naval construction? It is to "make its navy strong enough to fight against the navies of two powerful countries"! That is, the British navy must be stronger than the navies of the second and third countries combined! This requires a lot of capital investment, and the British Parliament will debate the naval economic budget for the next year, but it can be passed smoothly. When I was studying in the UK, I found that "Parliament is in a hurry to expand the navy in the budget. If the authorities are a little slow in making decisions, they will be attacked by all parties." The reason for this is that the British people know that the fate of Britain lies in the ocean, and this kind of Britain is what we will face in the future!"
Although Liu Tiannian did not use the word "enemy" to describe Britain, the students still heard the meaning of his words, so one student asked.
"Instructor, are you saying that the Royal Navy will be our enemy in the future?"
The cadets were certainly a little confused about this, not only because the Royal Navy was too powerful, but more importantly, the Naval Academy had been infused with too many British elements since the day it was founded. The school used Royal Navy textbooks, and even the instructors were hired from the UK. Although the Naval Academy's academic system was the American four-year system, the teaching here was learned from the British.
However, it does not mean that there are no Chinese characteristics. In order to hone students' "will" and strengthen their ability to adapt to the environment, in addition to modern naval military courses, the Naval School conducts brutal physical training every day. There are Japanese instructors teaching swordsmanship and judo, and Chinese instructors teaching boxing. Sports such as football are even more indispensable. All of this is to train the cadets' physique and strengthen their will and beliefs.
But what is certain is that British naval education has a more profound influence here. Even until now, the vast majority of military instructors in naval schools are British Naval Reserve officers.
"Whether the Royal Navy is our enemy is not decided by us, but by the British. If one day, the Royal Navy warships appear in Nanhua and declare war on us, then who is our enemy?"
Need I ask?
It must be the UK!
"So, your graduation project today is... How to defeat the British Royal Navy!"
What!
Everyone's eyes suddenly opened wide!
What is the instructor saying?
How to Defeat the Royal Navy!
Just because we...
"Didn't you hear?"
"Listen, I heard it..."
"I didn't hear what you were saying! It sounded like a woman's voice, how could anyone hear clearly!"
The instructor's reprimand made all the students in the classroom shout in unison.
"Understood, instructor!"
"very good!"
Liu Tiannian nodded and said with satisfaction.
“Very spirited!”
…
While Liu Tiannian was arranging the final research topics for the graduating students, at the window of the fencing hall, Major Douglas, a British naval officer who had come to Nanhua nine years ago, was listening to the shouting in the fencing hall and looking at the students wearing armor and practicing sword skills, his expression looking quite serious.
"Captain, do you think there will still be boarding battles in modern naval warfare?"
"It's definitely not going to happen."
Rosen said, standing next to the major.
"So, I have never understood why they practice this kind of swordplay. It is said that it was requested by His Majesty, just like his request for the army, that officers and soldiers must practice bayonet skills. But at sea, is he planning to let his fleet engage in boarding battles? So, his fleet officers also have to practice swordplay?"
For Rosen, who had just arrived at the Naval Academy, it was difficult for him to understand this kind of teaching.
"They wasted a lot of time on unnecessary sword and boxing training, completely ignoring the fact that modern navies have long lost the possibility of engaging in boarding battles!"
"Rosen, my friend..."
Douglas shook his head.
"You don't understand, you don't understand them at all!"
(End of this chapter)
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