Dalian Shipyard.
In the No. 1 and No. 2 docks lie two ships under construction.
At this time, the hulls have been completed and the final finishing work is being carried out.
According to the shipyard's records, it is a large icebreaker and polar scientific research vessel ordered by the Ministry of Agriculture of China.
However, from the appearance point of view, although it has a shallow draft and a wide hull, it does look like an icebreaker, but it is more slender than a normal icebreaker.
The Chinese explanation is that this is because it is part-time as a scientific research vessel and needs to increase space.
Well, this is all a cover.
The two ships are actually "fire support ships" of the Navy.
This kind of warship is nothing new.
It is actually the Chinese version of a "shallow water heavy gunship." or comes from this.
Since the "Monitor", this kind of cannon boat has been popular for a while, and the development trajectory of shallow water heavy gunboats of various meanings has continued to the present.
During World War I, it was the peak of the development of shallow-water heavy gunboats.
Similar battleships were everywhere around the world.
Not only did the great powers build such cheap toys, but even the small countries would get a few of them to pretend to be battleships.
Among them, Britain and the United States built the most and installed the largest guns, but Italy was the most creative.
Their shallow-water heavy gunships were modified with floating cranes and barges.
Of course, floating cranes and barges have no power, so the Italians specially designed With the addition of a simple steam engine, the speed is 23 knots, which is much simpler than British and American products.
Moreover, according to their own classification, they call it a "mobile battery".
Perhaps their own name is more accurate than the name of the shallow-water heavy gunship.
But this kind of thing is not enough for ocean voyages, even offshore.
Among the naval powers at the time, the only ones that did not engage in such a thing were China and Japan.
Japan did not engage in it because it was too poor, and China did not engage in it because of strategic incompatibility.
In the original development plan of the Chinese Navy, this kind of thing did not exist at all.
Wen Desi looked down upon this kind of heavy artillery boat that could only be used for offshore defense.
He felt that its cost performance was too low.
After all, large-caliber heavy artillery was also very expensive.
In the Chinese navy's strategy, offshore defense consists of a large number of torpedo boats, submarines and aircraft, as well as coastal defense fortress artillery groups.
The navy has conducted many exercises and deductions, and the results have shown that China's "air-submarine speed" approach is Yes, these things are enough for offshore defense.
There is no need to build any shallow water heavy gunships.
When the Washington Naval Treaty was signed, countries debated for a long time whether this kind of thing should be restricted.
Because China and Japan do not have such a thing, they strongly demand that it be included in the "capital ship type" and should enjoy the same restrictions.
Countries such as Britain, the United States, France, Austria, and Italy firmly disagree with this classification.
They believe that this is a defensive weapon and, like torpedo boats, should not be restricted.
Germany originally thought this kind of thing was dispensable and did not express its position.
Then I thought about it again, that's not right.
I still have a lot of old ships to dismantle.
The cannons on them are just used to build this kind of thing.
I agree.
I agree.
In the end, both sides gave in and classified this kind of ship into a separate category, namely "shallow water heavy gun ship".
It is stipulated that its standard displacement shall not exceed 10,000 tons, the caliber of the main gun shall not exceed 420 mm, the number of main guns shall not exceed 4, and the speed shall not exceed 20 knots, but the total tonnage is not limited.
In the view of the Chinese Navy at that time, as long as the tonnage and the number of main guns were limited, in an era when super-dreadnoughts had become popular, this highly biased thing could not even defeat the Dreadnought, and could only be used for offshore defense.
So it doesn't matter whether there are restrictions or not.
If foreign countries are willing to waste resources on manufacturing, then that's fine.
From the perspective of countries such as Britain, the United States, France, Austria, and Italy, they just want to keep what they already have and find a way out for the main guns on the old battleships that are about to be retired.
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Not long after the treaty was signed, China was glad that it did not insist on opposing it to the end and scrapping this kind of ship.
Because in several actual landing exercises after the war, the Chinese Navy discovered that the support effect and cost-effectiveness of large-caliber artillery are indeed quite good.
Although China now has aircraft and missiles, when it comes to continuous support capabilities and cost-effectiveness, they are far inferior.
Shore bombardment from large-caliber artillery.
After experiencing the test of war in World War I, all countries were more enthusiastic about turtle currents.
The great powers renovated or newly built many turtle shells at strategic locations on various coasts.
These new generation coastal defense turtles have stronger shells, more advanced designs, more and more concealed firepower points, more tricky angles, and focus on air defense.
It is difficult to take them all out in a few air strikes, so this is a platform that can provide continuous fire support. and.
In Wen Desi's global strategy, landing sites in the next world war will be all over the world.
If only battleships are used for shore bombardment, it will definitely not be enough, and it will not be cost-effective.
If heavy patrols are used for this job, not to mention the worrying power of their eight-inch artillery, which does little damage to the new turtle shells.
Even if the price/performance ratio is not high, the price of heavy patrols is not cheap.
Therefore, there is a need to develop a cheap fire support ship equipped with the main gun of a battleship.
As a result, the Chinese Navy used its imagination to find warships such as "shallow water heavy gunships" that were not originally included in its plans.
Moreover, China also produced many large-caliber naval guns back then, ranging from 240 mm to 390 mm.
There are so many.
There are also many turrets removed from the battleships due to the modification of larger-caliber main guns.
Just put these wastes to use.
In the ten years before World War I and during World War I, from 1910 to 1920, the heavy naval guns of various naval powers developed very rapidly, including 12-inch class, 13-inch class, 14-inch class, 15-inch class, 16-inch class, and even 18-inch class. level, it takes less than two years on average to reach a new level.
For example, in 1917, the British made a 40-fold 18-inch naval gun with a diameter of 457 mm.
The gun weighed 148 tons and fired 1.5-ton shells.
It's just that they felt that this gun was not perfect enough and was not used on newly built battleships.
By 1920, the unwilling British began to secretly design a 45-caliber 18-inch naval gun, which was announced to be 15-inch.
Of course, it's not just the British who are doing it.
China and the United States are also developing artillery of this level.
China is developing a 50-fold caliber 460 mm main gun.
As a result, the Washington Disarmament Treaty that arrived in 1921 ended the competition for giant naval guns among various countries.
It is precisely because the development of naval guns is so fast that many tubes made in the past have become obsolete before they can be put to use.
The same is true for the Chinese Navy, because at that time it had a bunch of second-hand pre-dreadnoughts and cruisers.
In order to ensure the consumption of high-intensity live ammunition training, it made a lot of 240, 280, 310 and 360 tubes before the war, and then within a few years, The equipment change has begun.
The Dreadnought and Patrol equipment have been dealt with, and the larger 390 and 420 have come out at the same time.
After the Washington Treaty, the remaining super heavy cruisers were also changed to 210 mm main guns.
China has also formulated a battleship modernization plan.
It is planned to upgrade the original 360mm main gun of the Fuxi class to a 420mm main gun.
Even the 390mm guns of the Sun Wu class and Li Jing class are ready to be upgraded.
As a result, there are still a lot of large pipes ranging from 240 mm to 390 mm in the Chinese Navy's warehouse.
And there are many replacement turrets.
Some of them were converted into coastal defense guns and fortress guns, but there were still a lot left.
These things are not cheap.
Even the old wealthy people in Europe and the United States are reluctant to scrap them directly.
The Chinese Navy, who is accustomed to thrifting, is naturally reluctant to part with them.
This is the time when waste can be utilized.
So they found two Fuchunjiang-class light cruisers that had expired and used them as test subjects.
The Fuchunjiang-class light cruiser is the first self-made cruiser in New China.
This is a 4,000-ton light cruiser, mainly used for domestic shipyards to practice.
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The design is not perfect, and the armor is extremely weak.
It is only stronger than streaking destroyers and frigates.
A total of 10 ships were built.
After World War I, this type of warship became obsolete and was gradually transferred to the second-line fleet.
After Mawei Shipyard reinforced the hull of the Fuchunjiang, the original main gun was removed, the front and rear bridges were moved to the middle, and a ship removed from the Qingcheng-class version 1.0 heavy cruiser was installed on the front deck.
Triple 240mm turret.
The Minjiang also underwent the same transformation at the Dalian Shipyard, but it was replaced with a twin-mounted 280mm turret removed from the Qingcheng-class version 2.0.
Of course, these turrets have been reduced in weight and most of their armor has been removed.
China's positioning of this kind of ship is different from other countries, so it is incorporated into the amphibious fleet rather than the coastal defense force.
The two ships were assigned to the Marine Corps.
After a try, the effect was great and everyone said it was good.
As a result, the Chinese Navy has an additional warship type "fire support ship".
However, if you just retrofit an old light cruiser, there are many limitations.
After all, the hulls of light cruisers are not specifically designed to carry large-caliber naval guns.
Their hulls are not strong enough.
Even if they are reinforced, the problem cannot be completely solved.
The two modified Fuchunjiang and Minjiang did not last long.
It was discovered that the ship body had metal fatigue.
Moreover, the light cruiser body is too slender and is not suitable as a stable firepower platform.
At that time, the Naval Equipment Bureau, after referring to the opinions of the troops and actual use effects, asked the design institute to redesign it.
Because of the different tactical positioning, China's "fire support ships" are still very different from the original shallow-water heavy gunships.
Because they have to accompany the amphibious fleet in operations, they must have ocean-going capabilities and even need to consider adapting to the Atlantic environment.
Therefore, their freeboard is high, equivalent to the freeboard height of a light cruiser, and they have a large buoyancy reserve.
There are bulging mine protection compartments on the outside of both sides, which not only increases the defense power, but also stabilizes the hull. effect.
The biggest difference is the firepower layout.
The main gun layout of the fire support ship is similar to that of the pre-dreadnought ship, with a main gun turret at the front and rear.
Well, they can actually be regarded as pre-dreadnoughts with weakened armor, but because of the advanced fire control system, their hit rate is definitely much higher than that of pre-dreadnoughts.
Therefore, although they are organized as amphibious forces, the naming rules do not follow the standards of amphibious ships.
They are not named after lakes.
Instead, they use the names of famous ancient generals.
This is similar to that of battleships.
It can be seen that in the subconscious mind of the navy's top brass, they still regard them as They were pretending to be battleships.
The Chinese Navy currently has two types of fire support ships.
One is the amphibious ship standard with the "Type 1308" identification code.
The navy's name is "Tiandan Class", which means that the weak can defeat the strong.
The standard displacement of the Tiandan class is 9,900 tons, the power system is the most economical diesel engine, and the maximum speed is 20 knots.
Of course, this is official data.
Whether you believe it or not, I believe it anyway.
In order to adapt to the bunch of turrets and main guns of different calibers, its main gun adopts a modular design, with three different main guns: triple 240 mm, triple or double 280 mm, and double 310 mm.
All can be installed.
Of course, due to treaty restrictions, the main guns cannot exceed four, so the ones installed now are all twin-mounted turrets.
It was originally a triple-mounted turret, and the middle pipe was also removed.
The triple turret only removes the middle pipe.
The ammunition supply system and servo mechanism are the same as the original triple turret.
When it is needed, the middle pipe can be installed immediately, so it is not troublesome.
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The other is the "Type 1309", which the navy named the "Wang Xuance class", which are the two "large icebreakers" currently being built at the Dalian Shipyard.
Because this level of fire support ship needs to be equipped with large pipes and equipped with two turrets of 360 and 390 level main guns, the displacement of 10,000 tons is not enough.
Therefore, the standard displacement of the "Wang Xuance-class" has reached 17,600 tons, which is so much more than the standard that it cannot be covered up no matter what, so it has to be used as a "large icebreaker and polar research vessel."
Anyway, as long as it is not equipped with a turret, it is a "large icebreaker and polar research vessel."
At this time, Chief Engineer Shan led Li Ang and the others to visit the first ship Wang Xuance.
He introduced to Li Ang: "Director Li, this is the main gun servo system and ammunition depot in the design.
Of course, before the expiration of the treaty, it will be a laboratory and supporting cold storage."
Li Ang looked around.
According to the real drawings, this should be the underdeck part of the main gun.
Now here is a very large cabin.
He couldn't help but asked curiously: "Can it really break the ice?"
"Of course," Chief Engineer Shan said with a smile, "its hull design is very strong and can easily break through ice layers less than half a meter thick."
As for why I didn’t use it to break ice in the future, couldn’t I use it as a scientific research vessel?
Chief Engineer Shan introduced: "The secondary artillery and anti-aircraft guns are now very ordinary cabins.
Once the treaty expires, it will only take up to three months to restore its original appearance."
Since there is no need for such a large fire support ship now, why should it be built now?
In fact, it's nothing, it's just one of the actions to stimulate domestic demand.
Although fire support ships are cheaper than heavy cruisers, the order for eighteen "Wang Xuance-class" ships is also quite a large order, and how much economic circulation can be created.
The Chinese Navy did not really regard this "naval holiday" as a holiday.
Wen Desi knew very well that the past ten years were nothing more than a preparation period for the next war.
Although many things cannot be done blatantly due to treaty restrictions, some marginalia can still be done.
The fire support ship is just one of them
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