Expedition to Europe

"Ningbei" is the "Kirishima" of the former Japanese Combined Fleet. It is a battleship with a displacement of 32,000 tons. On paper, it is more powerful than most battleships of the existing British Royal Navy.

The "corps-class" battleship being built by the Lan Fang Navy is a behemoth with a displacement of 35,000 tons and a main gun caliber of 406 mm.

According to the shipbuilding plan formulated by the Lan Fang Navy, the first "corps-class" battleship was built in France, and the following three were built in Lan Fang. The keel of the first ship was laid last year and it is expected to be launched next year and delivered to the Lan Fang Navy that year.

In the Cam Ranh Bay leased by Lan Fang in France, the keels of two "corps-class" battleships have begun to be laid, and the construction progress will be much faster than that of the first ship.

At the beginning of the design, the "corps-class" battleship was not actually prepared to be built. This was just a cover thrown by Qin Zhiyuan to deceive the British and American navies. Qin Zhiyuan wanted to build an aircraft carrier, and battleships were not within the scope of Qin Zhiyuan's plan.

Plans can never catch up with changes. The commissioning of the "Vladivostok" and "Lan Fang" stimulated the ambition of the Lan Fang Navy. At the strong request of the Lan Fang Navy, at least two "corps-class" battleships must be completed, so that Lan Fang can have six cutting-edge battleships, enough to dominate the East Asian waters.

Except for a "corps-class" battleship being built in France, only one of the two warships that began to lay the keel in Cam Ranh Bay belongs to the "corps-class", and the other belongs to the first aircraft carrier of the Lan Fang Navy.

After the war against Japan, torpedo planes fully demonstrated their value, and the value of aircraft carriers also rose accordingly. Aircraft truly had the ability to sink battleships, which prompted Lan Fang to speed up the research on the need for real aircraft carriers.

In fact, the current aircraft carriers are not real aircraft carriers, including the aircraft carriers currently owned by Lan Fang, all of which are converted from cargo ships. These converted aircraft carriers are not only slow, but also weakly armored. They basically have no survivability in the face of battleships' cannons. At the same time, due to the unreasonable design at the beginning, aircraft carriers cannot carry too many fighters. An aircraft carrier can carry at most 30 or 40 fighters, which cannot meet the various complex tactical needs such as air, ship, and ground. Therefore, the current aircraft carriers cannot match battleships. Although all countries have recognized the value of aircraft carriers, they do not think that aircraft carriers can replace the value of battleships.

Qin Zhiyuan wants to achieve this goal. If all countries develop battleships and ignore aircraft carriers, it is exactly what Qin Zhiyuan wants.

With Qin Zhiyuan, a master of model aircraft, Lan Fang's naval ship development did not take a detour. The aircraft carrier built by Lan Fang is designed based on the "Yorktown-class" aircraft carrier built by the United States before World War II. The aircraft carrier designed by Qin Zhiyuan has a displacement of 25,000 tons, a speed of 30 knots, and can carry up to 75 fighters. According to Qin Zhiyuan's plan, the aircraft carried on the aircraft carrier should include fighters, dive bombers and torpedo planes. The number of these three types of aircraft is 25, 35, and 15 respectively, which can maximize the combat effectiveness of the aircraft carrier, more than double the combat effectiveness of the existing aircraft carrier, and fully meet the various needs of the Lan Fang Navy.

Qin Zhiyuan is still ambitious. In Qin Zhiyuan's plan, this type of aircraft carrier, which is determined to be "mountain-class", is planned to be built for six ships. After it is fully built, Lan Fang's two major fleets will have three ships each, and together with the battleships and existing aircraft carriers, they will dominate the entire East Asian waters.

It is still a bit modest to say that they dominate the East Asian waters. If it is fully built, the Lan Fang Navy will have the ability to dominate the entire Pacific Ocean. At that time, even the Americans will not dare to provoke a war with Lan Fang in the Pacific region.

Of course, if you want to dominate the Pacific, battleships and aircraft carriers are not enough. While Lan Fang is launching battleship and aircraft carrier projects, it is also studying more advanced submarines and destroyers. In Qin Zhiyuan's plan, there is no place for cruisers. Large destroyers will replace cruisers and be responsible for the task of breaking commerce in naval battles. Submarines are special forces. They are more responsible for special tasks such as blocking ports. When the two armies are really facing each other, there are not many times when submarines can be used.

According to Qin Zhiyuan's plan, within five years, Lan Fang will have six battleships, 12 aircraft carriers, hundreds of destroyers of varying tonnage and hundreds of submarines. At that time, Lan Fang will have the strength to fight against the US Pacific Fleet and the British Far East Fleet in the Pacific Ocean.

Of course, this is on the premise that Britain and the United States do not strengthen their naval strength.

Considering that Lan Fang had been established for less than ten years, this speed was already very good.

No, not good, it was very good.

While Lan Fang was formulating a huge shipbuilding plan, the British were not idle. Although the British did not know how many warships Lan Fang would build and how powerful the warships would be, the frequent keel laying by Lan Fang still made the British sleepless.

The foundation of Britain's founding is the navy, so in terms of the navy, the British have never fallen behind. In response to the rise of the Lan Fang navy, the British have a response plan.

Although Lan Fang's construction of warships was not a provocation to the British, the British still felt threatened. Even though the relationship between Lan Fang and Britain is very good now, Britain still regards Lan Fang as a potential enemy. Therefore, the response plan formulated by the British Admiralty is that if Lan Fang builds a battleship, Britain will build two battleships of the same level, and it must maintain its naval advantage on a global scale.

For this reason, the British have already determined the N3-class battleships they are about to launch. The battleship drawings have been formed and they are waiting to place an order with the naval shipyard.

It is estimated that the British hope will be dashed. If the British Admiralty wants to complete their shipbuilding plan, they will have to spend nearly three times the money of Lan Fang. Whether the British Treasury can afford this money is still a question mark.

Don't think that Lan Fang's economic situation is very good, and the economic situation of Britain will be the same. These are two different things.

After the World War, Qin Zhiyuan's various overt and covert investments have established a business empire around the world. Oil, automobiles, penicillin, nylon, etc., no matter which one, are gold-eating monsters. These companies alone can provide Qin Zhiyuan with billions of funds every year. Moreover, after the war against Japan, Qin Zhiyuan is equivalent to plundering the Japanese accumulation of hundreds of years since the Meiji Restoration, which is enough to make Lan Fang full.

So Qin Zhiyuan is also quite generous when spending money. He doesn't blink an eye when he plans to build a huge shipbuilding plan. He builds it as soon as he says.

At the same time, Qin Zhiyuan understood the difficulties encountered by the British. Of course, in front of Lloyd George, Qin Zhiyuan would definitely not expose it. Qin Zhiyuan hoped that Britain would fall into the vicious circle of "arms race" with Lan Fang.

"Don't envy us, look at your fleet. Even if you don't build any warships in the next ten years, the Lan Fang Navy can't catch up with your current scale." Qin Zhiyuan said this to flatter, definitely flatter.

"How is it possible? Those are all old guys, different from your warships - speaking of it, the comparison between the British and Lan Fang navies is like the comparison between an old man like me and your Majesty." Lloyd George found a very suitable metaphor.

Lloyd George is already sixty years old this year, while Qin Zhiyuan is not yet thirty years old. This metaphor is indeed very appropriate.

Not counting the battleships that the British are preparing to build, the British Navy now has 23 battleships. Although only the "Hood" can catch up with the "Vladivostok" and "Lan Fang" in terms of individual tonnage, the total tonnage is more than five times that of the Lan Fang Navy, which is indeed powerful.

The original text is in the six # 9 @book/bar!

Of course, just as Lloyd George said, the British battleships are indeed numerous, but they are not superior in terms of age. These British battleships were basically built before the World War. The "Hood" that was newly commissioned last month is the newest battleship, but there is only one.

"Experience, in terms of experience, there is still a big gap between the Lan Fang Navy and the British Navy, so this time, I hope that there will be further exchanges between our two navies, which is beneficial to both of our countries." Qin Zhiyuan inadvertently pointed out the greatest pride of the British.

As I said, compared with weapons, people play a more critical role in war.

Compared with the British Navy, under the same number of conditions, the Lan Fang Navy may have a certain advantage in weapons, but if the quality of soldiers is compared, the Lan Fang Navy is far behind.

Britain is a traditional maritime power, and its navy has a tradition of hundreds of years, which can be regarded as powerful worldwide. The Lan Fang Navy was established less than two years ago. Although it has the most powerful battleships in the world, it has no actual combat experience. The Lan Fang Navy's aviation unit performed well in the war against Japan, but the naval battleships have not been tested in actual combat, so how much combat effectiveness the Lan Fang Navy can exert on the "Lan Fang" and "Vladivostok" is still a big question mark.

Just as Qin Zhiyuan said, the Lan Fang Navy knows its shortcomings and is trying its best to make up for them. Learning from the British and drawing on their experience is the best way at present.

The Lan Fang Navy does not think it is shameful to learn from others. Since the establishment of the Lan Fang Navy, the Lan Fang Navy has learned from the French and Germans. From the French, the Lan Fang Navy understood what the navy really meant, and then from the Germans, the Lan Fang Navy learned discipline and team awareness. Now it is the turn of the British. To be honest, Qin Zhiyuan is still looking forward to what the Lan Fang Navy can learn from the British.

"This issue - we need to think about it in the long run, think about it in the long run." Lloyd George looked embarrassed and did not respond directly to Qin Zhiyuan's words.

It seems that Lloyd George cannot make decisions for the navy, and he is really frustrated as the prime minister.