Daming 1805

Chapter 158 Design Finalization of Battleships and Aircraft Carriers

Zhu Jingyuan also smiled amidst the laughter, and after the scene returned to silence, he looked at the other three semi-finished drawings:

"The battleship is so determined, let's talk about the aircraft carrier..."

The craftsmen immediately cheered up again, ready to listen to Zhu Jingyuan's direct analysis.

In the design of battleships, craftsmen still have some original experience that can be used for reference.

But in terms of aircraft carrier design, it's all air-to-air.

Not even sure what counts as radical and what counts as conservative.

Only Zhu Jingyuan's ideas and ideas are very clear.

Regarding the aircraft carrier design in three directions, most craftsmen have their own judgments, but they all want to hear Zhu Jingyuan's interpretation.

Zhu Jingyuan flipped through several huge blueprints, and looked at the differences between the three designs again.

"Scheme No. [-], floating box-type open hangar, equipped with a large in-string elevator.

"The hangar and runway are not part of the hull and are not subject to forces.

"The hangar is like a container, placed directly above the hull, and a layer of boards is laid on top of the box, which is the flight runway.

"This structure is the shortcoming of this design.

"The hangar and flight deck do not participate in the support of the hull, they may shake and even need to leave deformation joints.

"The actual top deck of the hull itself is actually the floor below the hangar.

"The hull also needs additional weight reinforcements.

"But that's also her strength.

"The hangar is not a support structure for the hull, so the scale can be expanded as large as possible, and there is no need to leave too many support structures around.

"The hangar can be opened relatively freely.

“The lift can be made large enough that large roll-up doors can be used on both sides of the hangar, allowing the hangar to be fully open at any time.

"Most aircraft can be warmed up in a hangar."

Plan No. [-] is almost the expansion of the historical Essex-class aircraft carrier, and then increased the flight deck armor.

Or the Midway Island with a full load displacement reduced to [-] tons.

Zhu Jingyuan muttered a few words very casually. Seeing that the craftsmen didn't intend to ask questions, he took out the second overview drawing:

"Plan No. [-], a built-in double-layer enclosed hangar, equipped with a medium-sized elevator inside the string.

"The hangar and the flight deck are part of the hull and are subjected to forces.

"The hangar frame and the flight deck are both involved in the support and fixation of the hull structure, and the actual top deck of the hull is the flight deck.

"The characteristics of Plan No. [-] are just the opposite of Plan No. [-].

"This design can save the weight of the hull structure. According to our previous calculations, it can reduce about [-] tons.

"Under the same tonnage, the ship of the second plan will be stronger, and the overall defense level will of course be higher.

"But it's also her weakness.

"Since the hangar is used as a support structure for the hull, it cannot be opened or disassembled at will.

"The size of the hangar is therefore limited, and the size of the lift is also limited, and only limited-scale exhaust outlets can only be specially set up.

"Only some aircraft can be warmed up in the hangar."

Plan II is similar to the original design of the historic British Audacious-class aircraft carrier.

The craftsmen themselves basically understood the difference between the two plans, so they thought about how Zhu Jingyuan would choose in the end and how to persuade the craftsmen.

Then, Zhu Jingyuan dug out the last blueprint:
"Plan No. [-], with a built-in single-story enclosed large hangar and a large elevator on the side.

"Compared with the No. [-] plan, the double-deck low hangar is changed to a single-deck large hangar, and the in-string lift is changed to a side lift.

"According to our current concept, when the aircraft enters and leaves the hangar, it will not affect the deck scheduling and take-off and landing.

"Therefore, the deck dispatching efficiency of Plan [-] should be the highest.

"At the same time, the size of the aircraft used can exceed the size of the lift.

"The key to the combat capability of an aircraft carrier depends on the aircraft, and the aircraft will definitely continue to be upgraded in the future.

"The future of Plan [-] can operate larger aircraft, and the upgrade potential should be better."

What Zhu Jingyuan said seemed to make sense, and the craftsmen nodded their heads, realizing the special features of Plan No. [-].

No. [-] has the strongest structure, and the other parameters seem to be medium-up, while also having more potential.

But for Zhu Jingyuan himself, this is actually shooting the arrow first and then drawing the target.

This No. [-] design scheme, except for the lack of angled decks and catapults, is a typical structure of a modern aircraft carrier.

As long as it is manufactured at a normal quality level, it can last for at least 30 years, and even 50 years.

After the super aircraft carrier comes out, it can still be used as an anti-submarine and training light aircraft carrier after transformation, until its own mechanical structure can no longer support it.

The historic Essex-class USS Lexington was in service from 1943 until it was retired in 1991, a total of 48 years.

Zhu Jingyuan led the craftsmen to design the No. 50 aircraft carrier plan, which has a much better foundation than the Essex class, and it will definitely be no problem for [-] years.

Zhu Jingyuan paused for a while after talking about Plan No. [-], and finally analyzed the situation of the three plans as a whole:

"These three aircraft carrier plans have basically the same full-load displacement, all of which are [-] tons.

"Both used armored flight decks.

"Because the defense structure of an aircraft carrier is completely different from that of a battleship, the main threat will definitely come from aircraft of the same type.

"In order to defend against weapons coming from the air, it is very necessary to lay armor on the flight deck.

"Overall, look at the advantages and disadvantages of the three options.

"Scheme No. [-] has the lowest defense, because it needs to spend extra weight to maintain the hull structure.

"Predictive dispatch is the most efficient, because the aircraft can be prepared in advance in the hangar, adjusted and sent to the deck to take off directly.

"Plan No. [-] has the largest carrying capacity because it has two medium-sized hangars with the largest hangar capacity.

"Forecast dispatch is the least efficient, double-deck hangars and small elevators make the process of aircraft mobilization and preparation more cumbersome.

"Plan No. [-] has the best defense, the strongest structure, the best navigation performance, and the most complete main hull structure.

"Predicted sortie efficiency is above average, because her lift is off deck and there is more significant future potential to tap.

"If everyone doesn't have any special ideas, I think it's better to choose number three."

The target aircraft carrier formally designed by Ming craftsmen starts at [-] tons when fully loaded.

This directly exceeds the typical capital fleet carrier of the World War II era.

Whether to lay armor on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier is a very iconic option in World War II aircraft carriers.

If there are no other restrictions, of course, the thicker the better.

In the actual design, a series of issues such as the size of the aircraft carrier itself, the weight of the hull structure and armor, and the center of gravity must be considered.

In general, the larger the tonnage and size of the aircraft carrier, the more cost-effective it is to lay flight deck armor.

It is worth laying the nodes of the armored flight deck, almost at the level of thirty thousand tons.

Therefore, Zhu Jingyuan's [-]-ton aircraft carriers all use armored flight decks. Not using armored flight decks is a waste of tonnage.

According to the non-standard folk definition of future generations, these three schemes are all armored aircraft carriers.

In the various naval countries at that time, there was no concept of "armored aircraft carrier" and no classification of ship types.

Regardless of whether the flight deck armor is laid or not, they are called fleet aircraft carriers, main aircraft carriers, and so on.

Other main fleet aircraft carriers only have no armor on the flight deck, and the deck under the hangar and the sides of the hull usually have some armor.

Compared with the later name of armored aircraft carrier, these aircraft carriers are collectively referred to as protective aircraft carriers.

A truly unarmored aircraft carrier is an escort aircraft carrier converted from the lowest-level merchant ship, and the tonnage may only be a few thousand.

At the same time, whether or not to lay flight deck armor has no direct and obvious impact on the carrier's aircraft capacity and combat capability.

There is no situation where an "armored aircraft carrier" is definitely weaker than a conventional aircraft carrier.

This misunderstanding may be caused by the "balance settings" of some games.

According to the experience of the Americans on the Midway Island class, when the number of aircraft carried by an aircraft carrier exceeds one hundred, the scheduling efficiency will plummet.

An aircraft carrier of [-] tons is enough to operate a hundred typical aircraft of the World War II era.

If it were not for the use of larger-scale carrier-based aircraft, the [-]-ton aircraft carrier would have been the ideal design for World War II.

An ordinary aircraft carrier with a larger tonnage using the same aircraft will not have a stronger combat capability than a [-]-ton armored aircraft carrier.

Ordinary craftsmen may still hesitate about the three options, but Zhu Jingyuan has already made a choice when explaining the design ideas to the craftsmen.

Faced with an aircraft carrier that is still full of World War II characteristics, of course it is necessary to choose the most modern plan No. [-].

Regarding Zhu Jingyuan's choice, most of the craftsmen silently nodded in agreement.

But there are also a few craftsmen who have their own understanding.

A middle-aged craftsman in his 40s couldn't help asking:

"Your Highness, if you judge the overall advantages and disadvantages of each plan in this way, you can of course choose the third plan.

"But the problem is that the dispatch efficiency of the aircraft, this parameter, and its weight in aircraft carrier operations directly affect the value of the No. [-] plan.

"We currently have no way to confirm the specific range of this weight, but obviously it will be relatively high.

"Compared to potential and future, dispatch phase rate may be the most important data at present."

Zhu Jingyuan nodded lightly and said:

"I understand that the aircraft carrier Dinghai, which is already under construction in China, adopts a design similar to the No. [-] plan.

"In the future, we can use this aircraft carrier for actual verification, and adjust the parameters to simulate after obtaining the data.

"If it is shown that mobility really matters, those differences in mobility can outweigh all other advantages.

"Then our follow-up aircraft carrier construction may come up with the No. [-] plan.

"In matters where the data cannot be accurately judged, my decision is to temporarily adopt the third plan."

The middle-aged craftsman thought for a while, and finally cupped his hands slightly and said:

"Follow Your Highness's arrangement..."

Zhu Jingyuan nodded slightly, and announced quite solemnly:
"Now that the design plans for the battleship and aircraft carrier have been finalized, I would like to ask you all to work hard one last time to draw out the final drawings.

"The follow-up battleship team can start to pre-develop a [-]-ton battleship, and the aircraft carrier team can pre-develop a [-]-ton aircraft carrier.

"These two tasks are not definite formal tasks, so there is no deadline requirement, it can be said to be a long-term task in the next few years.

"After this negotiation is over, I will go to the Great Food Country, so I need to part with you temporarily. I will say goodbye to you in advance today."

The craftsmen listened to the previous instructions, nodded seriously and were eager to try.

Hearing the last sentence, everyone was shocked again.

Many people suddenly realized that Zhu Jingyuan was actually a feudal lord, theoretically he had his own feudal kingdom.

Theoretically, Zhu Jingyuan could go to the feudal clan, and then live in the kingdom of food.

Wang Lai, head of the Naval Department, asked subconsciously:
"Your Highness, are you going to the Great Food Kingdom... just to have a look, or do you want to prepare to leave? Where and how long are you going to stay?"

The craftsmen were quite worried about Zhu Jingyuan.

After more than half a year of running-in, the craftsmen have already trusted Zhu Jingyuan very much.

The many ideas and ideas put forward by Zhu Jingyuan deeply impressed the craftsmen.

Flying Machine Designs, Flying Machine Weapon Designs, Weighted Shell Designs, Surface Hardened Hooded AP Shell Designs, New Armor Recipes and all Battleship Design Ideas.

These things all show that Zhu Jingyuan is an absolute genius in weaponry engineering.

Under the guidance of Zhu Jingyuan, the development speed of related projects is as fast as flying.

It would be too wasteful for such a genius prince to become a feudal prince in Dashi.

After hearing this, Zhu Jingyuan smiled and said:
"Whether we go to Jiufan depends on the follow-up situation, and it is still uncertain.

"However, even if I'm a fan, I won't stop getting involved in various new inventions and designs.

"Now telegrams have been sent all over the world, if you have any questions in the future, you can also send me a telegram directly.

"Actually, when I went to the Great Food Country, I also had a lot of ideas that I wanted to realize.

"In a few years, you should see something shocking and new, and I'll have to apply for a lot of patents.

"Okay, that's it for today, everyone continue to work hard, I will go back first."

Under the blank and reluctant eyes of the craftsmen, Zhu Jingyuan took Guan Tianpei back to the palace where he lived.

Walking in the big courtyard where he lived for half a year, he took a look inside when he passed the courtyard where the servants lived.

Sister An Xiaona and Luo Feiya both went to school, and some washed clothes were hanging in the yard.

Sister An Xiaona did the laundry by herself, and Luo Feiya also learned it.

In addition to the Daming-style clothing, there are also a few years of Thai-Western style girls' skirts, which should belong to Luo Feiya.

Looking at these things, Zhu Jingyuan thought of the typical ladies' skirts, plaid pleated skirts and uniforms of various styles in later generations.

Zhu Jingyuan once again realized that he can design not only "capitalist" suits, but also women's suits and college suits.

In this way, there are both men's and women's clothing, so you can try them on the Taixi market.

Taking it a step further, I can use the great influence of the Ming royal family to set up a luxury clothing and jewelry brand in Taixi.

Use Daming's traditional fashion and these novel modern clothing to open up sales as high-profile products.

Cut the wool of Western elites, the bourgeoisie, and the middle class.

It can even stimulate the tearing between Minghua elements and Western national elements in their society.

There are also modern styles of high heels, which are clearly not high enough for this era.

This thing will affect physical development. In this era, both men and women wear it, and it may have unexpected effects.

Zhu Jingyuan's idea was perfected again, and then he considered the situation of the Great Cannibal Kingdom, which is the territory of the Great Cannibal, and there may not be anyone who understands Western and Western clothing.

So Zhu Jingyuan found the butler and asked him to go to the outer city of Huangzhuang in Xiyangjiao to find tailors, cobblers, and shoemakers who knew Western clothes.

Let them make the clothes they imagined first to see the effect.

(End of this chapter)