Daming 1805

Chapter 458 The New Visiting Fleet Arrives in France

When Zhu Jingyuan arrived in Nanjing, the visiting fleet of the Ming Navy also arrived in France.

Two [-]-ton battleships, four [-]-ton battleships, and one [-]-ton aircraft carrier.

In this way, seven capital ships and twelve [-]-ton cruisers parked in the French Le Havre naval port together.

The number of new capital ships in this fleet is more than the number of new capital ships currently built in France.

The purpose of this fleet to Taixi is not just to participate in the review of Louis XVII's coronation as Louis XVII.

Instead, after a lapse of six years, he came to Thailand and Western countries again for "friendly visits".

Louis XVII's ship review, how many ships will participate in it, will be discussed with the French side, depending on the needs of Charles himself.

It is likely that only one or two ships will be arranged to pass.

Compared with six years ago, the size of Daming's visiting fleet has expanded again.

Not only have two [-]-ton super battleships been added, but also a [-]-ton aircraft carrier.

The succession of the new king of France, although far inferior to the succession of the Ming emperor, is still a very important event in the world.

At the end of last year, the 65-year-old Huang Yue retired with the title of Zhengyipin Dazong Earl, and was additionally awarded the title of Earl.

The 53-year-old Shen Fu, after ten years of staying in the position of Minister of Honglu Temple, was finally promoted to Zongbo of Congyipin, taking over all the original positions of Huang Yue, in charge of all cultural and foreign affairs.

As the representative of the Ming court, Shen Fu arrived in France on a visiting fleet together with Niu Jian, Zhu Jingyuan's personal representative.

The arrival of the fleet in France caused a great sensation both official and private.

First of all, the scale is too large. Both the scale of a single ship and the scale of the fleet are unprecedented.

Then there is the special relationship between the two countries. When Shire was about to be crowned, Da Ming arranged for such a fleet to participate. The meaning of this expression could not be clearer, this is absolute support.

From the royal family to the nobles, from the owners of manufacturers to the middle class, and ordinary people who pay a little attention to international relations and the military, they all feel that their country has received enough attention and feel very honored.

Non-governmental newspapers had reported the relevant news long ago, and those who had the opportunity to come over these days all came to watch near the pier.

Fleets from other countries participating in the review also arrived in France one after another in the past two days.

Most countries have arranged for a battleship to come, and some are not the most cutting-edge battleships.

Compared with the two, Ming's fleet is even more exaggerated.

A total of nineteen huge warships from the Ming Dynasty sailed into the Le Havre pier in France one by one, and when they docked in the pier and harbor in turn, it would arouse bursts of cheers from time to time.

Journalists from major newspapers in France, Thailand and Western countries, of course, would not miss this rare opportunity, took the time to find a good angle and position, and took a lot of photos and videos.

The film technology invented by Zhu Jingyuan has now been spread in major countries of the world.

The French, who already had a special relationship with Daming, were the fastest learners.

Around the entire port of Le Havre, there is a lively ocean.

The French King Louis XVI and his wife, as well as the Crown Prince Charles, his wife and children, who are about to hold a coronation ceremony, also brought the main French nobles and officials to greet and visit the interior of the military port.

The French king and the crown prince's family, round status, can also be ranked first in this world.

Coupled with Zhu Jingyuan's special relationship, they are more valued by Ming officials than ordinary Taixi kings and crown princes.

Shen Fu, the representative of the Ming court, and Niu Jian, Zhu Jingyuan's personal representative, came out of the cabin together and received the French king and his wife and the Crown Prince Charles' family.

The two took them aboard the flagship Huguang battleship and visited the battleship's deck facilities and main cabins.

At the location of the reduction gear set in the core engine room, Louis XVI looked at the huge mechanical structure composed of large gears in front of him, and couldn't help but admire sincerely:
"This... this huge battleship made of machinery is simply art!

"The huge and mighty body, the complex and precise structure, this is really fascinating!"

Louis XVI may become a technical geek in later generations...

Charles also carefully looked at the surrounding mechanical structure, and asked some curious questions from time to time:

"What is the output power of the power system of the battleship Huguang? What is the power density of the entire power system? And what is the maximum speed of this battleship? Can you disclose it?"

Niu Jian did not make any cover up on this issue, and directly and clearly told Charles the specific data:

"The design power of the power system is 20 horsepower, the power density is 32 horsepower per ton, and the design maximum speed is [-] knots."

French officials, including Charles, who paid attention to and understood the research and construction process of warship technology, were taken aback after hearing these three data, and then they all had obvious doubts.

The crowd began to discuss in low voices.

"Fifty horsepower per ton! My God!"

"Our capital ship's power system can barely achieve [-] horsepower per ton!"

"This is the power system of a battleship, not a cruiser. Can this power density really be realized? Is it really okay?"

"Da Ming's technological level is far superior to ours, of course it can achieve this power density, and it can still maintain safety."

"The point is, a 32-ton warship with a speed of [-] knots is really terrifying!"

"This speed can catch up with many cruisers..."

"No, unless the weather is calm, most cruisers claiming to be above 33 knots will not be able to catch up with her."

"Yes, the larger the tonnage of the warship, the more stable the speed, and the stronger the ability to deal with severe weather and sea conditions."

"After the storm in the North Sea rises, it's not bad for a cruiser to run to twenty knots, but a battleship can continue to run for thirty knots."

"So in the case of wind and waves, let alone cruisers, even the latest destroyers that claim to be 35 knots can't outrun the battleships that only have [-] knots in name..."

"Wait, I have a question, 20 horsepower, 32 tons of displacement, how to achieve a speed of [-] knots?"

"On the other side, according to our calculations, our 15-ton battleship needs 32 horsepower to run to 19 knots, more than 32 horsepower to run to 23 knots, and at least [-] horsepower to run [-] tons to [-] knots. horsepower……"

"So... Daming's underwater hull design is even better? Can it reduce resistance?"

"The shape of Daming's hull is indeed different from ours, but you can't see it underwater..."

When the latter people discussed this point, Charles went to ask Niu Jian out of nowhere:

"Mr. Niu, how did Ming make a 20-ton ship run to 32 knots with [-] horsepower?"

Niu Jian said with a smile:
"His Royal Highness can actually observe the shape of Daming's ship. No matter the bow, stern or bottom, they are different from traditional warships, and they all have special drag-reducing designs.

"However, how to reduce it can be regarded as a national military secret, so even if it is the relationship between His Royal Highness Prince Dashi and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, there is no way to tell you directly.

"We can only say that His Highness can arrange French technicians to use their brains on drag reduction design and pay more attention to the latest research trends in fluid dynamics.

"As long as you are willing to work hard, you should be able to reduce the power demand of tens of thousands of horsepower through linear design."

After hearing this, Charles nodded gratefully:
"Thank you, Mr. Niu, for reminding me, and thanks to my best friend for letting me know..."

A group of people visited the cabin and came out of the battleship cabin again.

Standing on the deck of the Huguang, Charles subconsciously looked at another battleship next door—the aircraft carrier Zhenhai.

Daming drove the official version of the [-]-ton aircraft carrier he built to France.

The [-]-ton new battleship is of course shocking, but this is within the range that everyone can understand.

With the technical support of Daming, the countries of Thailand and the West have built a batch of [-]-ton high-speed battleships in the past few years.

Therefore, they can understand that if they obtain higher-level steel and other related industries' production technology, and enlarge it on the basis of the existing [-]-ton battleship, they can obtain a relatively reasonable design of a [-]-ton or larger battleship.

This is essentially a combination of faster turbines, larger artillery, and thicker armor. Compared with traditional battleships, cutting-edge high-speed battleships have not completely changed.

As for the aircraft carrier, it is completely different. Now all countries in Europe and America are groping how to build it.

All of them have never been built before.

Daming has not provided any public reference samples before.

With the signing of the Europa Naval Treaty, the definition of an aircraft carrier was clarified.

In the following three years and eight months, all countries in Thailand and the West tried to build a number of aircraft carriers one after another.

In the design of new warships at this stage, Ming's craftsmen participated in the whole process, and most of the new warships of the Thai and Western countries had part of the technology provided by Daming.

So Daming knows exactly what this batch of Taixi warships are like.

For this latest batch of aircraft carriers, Zhu Jingyuan and the craftsmen of Daming regard "each with its own characteristics".

Some countries are seriously lacking in experience, have no accumulation in related fields, and Ming Dynasty does not provide direct help, so the ships they build are more taken for granted.

The most basic situation is that the rear deck or front deck of the original cruiser is removed, and half of the flight deck is laid.

The more bizarre situation is that all the main guns are removed, but the chimney is continued to be placed in the middle of the hull, and two decks are laid on the front and back of the chimney.

In a slightly better situation, a deck is laid in the middle of the hull, and the smoke exhaust port is placed behind the hull.

A better situation is the design that puts the chimney on the middle side, but some are on the left and some are on the right.

There are also chimneys that are completely down and bent downwards, spraying smoke towards the sea when they run.

The aircraft carrier designs of these countries can only be regarded as experimental explorations, and they are all used to accumulate design experience.

The best situation is the design of England, France and Spain.

Compared with other countries, these three countries have actually completed the first stage of transformation and exploration design.

In addition, the three countries have relatively mature naval systems, as well as experienced naval generals and engineers.

The design of the new aircraft carrier after the signing of the Navy Treaty is already a formal design completely targeting the aircraft carrier.

Therefore, compared to the work of other countries, the new aircraft carrier of the Three Kingdoms is already close to the design of Daming in the eyes of Daming craftsmen.

Both have a fully-through deck, and an upward chimney located on the middle side of the deck, which is higher than the deck as a whole.

These two design points are very simple to say, but they are actually the most basic design of a typical aircraft carrier in the propeller era.

After these two points are confirmed, subsequent design updates can be regarded as supplements and adjustments in details.

Correspondingly, Daming's aircraft carrier can also be pulled out and directly shown to the Taixi people.

When Charles and the relevant French officials involved in the research and design of the aircraft carrier saw Daming's aircraft carrier, they all knew that they had gone the right way.

The navies of the current Thai and Western countries have formed a certain degree of blind obedience. As long as what they do is similar to what Daming did, then it must be right.

If it is different from Daming's, then there is probably something wrong.

Even if it may be very reasonable in principle, it will be repeatedly questioned by relevant or unwilling personnel in the country.

The French hadn't seen Ming's aircraft carrier before, so they were not very confident about their own aircraft carrier design.

Daming is now bringing the aircraft carrier over. For the French, it is like checking the answer after an exam and finding that the important question that he was not sure about was answered correctly.

Xia Ertong was also thankful in his heart that he almost misunderstood the suggestion of his best friend at the beginning, thinking that the smaller the aircraft carrier, the better.

Fortunately, I realized it later based on the reaction of the British.

Now it seems that Daming's point of view is that the aircraft carrier is not very important, but he also thinks that she is very useful.

The fleet that is now visiting Taixi, this combination of six battleships and one large aircraft carrier, is obviously the most reasonable use of aircraft carriers that Ming has explored.

According to the estimates of the French navy generals, as long as an aircraft carrier is added to the battleship formation, the fleet can achieve almost twice the combat effect of the number.

The reconnaissance capability of an aircraft carrier exceeds that of two complete avant-garde reconnaissance fleets.

But at the same time, the officials and craftsmen of Charles and the French Navy were also full of admiration.

Daming's aircraft carrier is too big...

It is a full circle larger than the aircraft carrier designed and built by itself.

Charles looked at the deck of the aircraft carrier not far away, and finally couldn't help asking Niu Jian about her situation:
"This is the aircraft carrier officially built by Daming! She looks as huge as this [-]-ton battleship!
"Her tonnage, speed, aircraft carrying capacity, such approximate parameters, can you tell us?"

Usually Daming would not refuse such questions, so it was only natural for Charles to ask them.

Niu Jian knows that this kind of question can be answered, so he introduced it very straightforwardly:

"A carrier does not have the armor of a battleship, and its draft will be shallower than that of a battleship.

"So looking at this aircraft carrier, which is as big as a [-]-ton battleship, its full-load displacement is actually [-] tons.

"The power of the power system is 16 shaft horsepower, and the maximum speed is 32 knots.

"It can carry up to a total of [-] aircraft of various types, and the more efficient carrying number is about [-].

"These eighty aircraft are enough to provide reconnaissance and cover missions for this battleship formation.

"If His Highness the Crown Prince is really interested, we can go directly to this aircraft carrier Zhenhai to visit..."

After hearing this, Charles couldn't help admiring and said:
"[-] tons! This is already one-third larger than the aircraft carriers of all countries in the West...

"The speed of 32 knots is also faster than our aircraft carrier at most [-] knots.

"There are still a hundred Ming's planes...

"We may have to take out two aircraft carriers to achieve the effect of this one aircraft carrier.

"In this way, if we want to achieve the same goal, we will spend more resources, money and manpower than Daming.

"The quasi-restriction on the aircraft carrier's tonnage of up to [-] tons stipulated in the naval treaty is very unreasonable...

"Is this the so-called cost trap for medium-sized ships?"

When Niu Jian heard these words, he immediately smiled and comforted him:
"His Royal Highness, there is no need to be upset. Although the unit construction cost of a warship is indeed the more cost-effective when the gross tonnage is larger, the design of the warship is definitely not the bigger the better.

"Our Prince said on the issue of ship tonnage that the tonnage of a warship should be as small as possible while achieving the design goals.

"If France doesn't target Ming Dynasty, why should it design new warships according to Ming's warship specifications?

"Two [-]-ton aircraft carriers must cost more than one [-]-ton aircraft carrier.

"These two aircraft carriers form a fleet, and it is indeed possible that they will not have much advantage against a [-]-ton aircraft carrier.

"But the biggest advantage of having two aircraft carriers is that they have 'two ships' and they can do two jobs.

"You can arrange one to be in Mozhou, and the other to go to Canada.

"A [-]-ton carrier would not be able to do that.

"The situation of Daming is different from that of France, the more reasonable choice for Daming may not be reasonable for France.

"Navy construction should be carried out according to its own situation and needs, instead of putting aside all actual conditions and pursuing cost performance alone.

"Otherwise, we shouldn't be building cruisers and demand, just building battleships with the lowest unit cost.

"Does the Crown Prince think this is the case?"

Charles nodded slowly after hearing this:
"It is indeed the case, the French Navy does not need to confront the Ming Navy, nor does it need to pursue excessively high single-ship combat capabilities.

"We should find a way to achieve France's actual combat needs at a lower cost.

"Thank you Mr. Niu for reminding me, I almost fell into a misunderstanding again..."

Niu Jian quickly smiled and said modestly:
"Your Highness the Crown Prince, you are welcome, this is the logic that has been learned from the side of His Highness the Prince for a long time.

"Your Highness the Crown Prince wants to thank you, or you should directly thank our Highness Prince Dashi..."

Charles also nodded with a smile and said:
"I will write to my best friend again... I really want to see him again, but unfortunately, after becoming a king, there will be no chance..."

(End of this chapter)