Chapter 679: 679 Naval Arms Race
Chapter 679679Naval Arms Race
The new round of arms race started from the moment the Mirage State signed a peace treaty with the Tang State. After purchasing the Tang State's battleship technology, many countries began to build their own battleships.
The Ice Empire built the Everwinter-class battleship. They increased the displacement on the basis of the dreadnought, raising the displacement to 30,000 tons in one go, which was larger than the Tang Army's dreadnought.
This newly designed battleship uses an updated power system with greater output power, ensuring the battleship's speed.
At the same time, the armor of the battleship itself is also thicker, the battleship's defense is also higher, and the battleship's artillery is also more powerful.
The 305 mm caliber main gun was obviously not enough to excite customers, so the 350 mm caliber immediately became the first choice for the Everwinter-class battleship.
All new technologies are purchased from Datang Group, including artillery barrel technology, chamber pressure data, etc...
However, the new battleship did completely crush the Tang Dynasty's Dongwan-class battleship in terms of performance, and even the speed was slightly higher.
There are a total of 5 turrets arranged in the front and rear of the entire battleship, using the most advanced central axis arrangement method, which is more advanced than the turret arrangement of the Dongwan-class battleship used by the Tang Army.
As soon as the construction of this class of battleships started, the whole world took action. Countries with coastlines and ports began to build their own battleships one after another.
Because once the battleship came out, it became the ultimate weapon for naval victory. The cruisers and destroyers that were born before were just minions that couldn't play in high-end games.
So the Lions Empire immediately started construction of the Bunas-class battleship, with a displacement of 32,000 tons. It also used the Datang Group's 350mm caliber naval gun with higher pressure, longer range, and more accuracy.
The new Bunas-class battleship's firepower configuration adopts the same five-turret design as the Ice Empire's Everwinter-class battleship, with the same main gun caliber. The difference is that the Bunas-class battleship has a larger tonnage and more cabins. , the armor is thicker.
After all, there is a slight late-mover advantage, so from the time of design, the Bunas-class battleship has tried to surpass the Yongdong-class battleship in all performance indicators.
In fact, the Bunas class has also achieved this. It has better sinking resistance, higher defense, and similar speed. It can be said that the overall performance is slightly better than the Everwinter class battleship.
The Dorne Navy directly purchased two Dongwan-class battleships. At the same time, it also hired designers from the Datang Group to design Dorne's own battleships.
Because they are willing to spend a lot of money, Dorne's battleships even have the first hint of cross-class meaning-their battleships can already be classified as second-generation battleships.
Dorn's battleships used 380 mm caliber main guns, sacrificing the number of main guns in exchange for a substantial increase in the caliber of the main guns.
The entire battleship is equipped with 4 turrets, adopting the classic layout of two at the front and two at the back. It is equipped with a total of 8 main guns. Simply looking at the caliber of the guns, it has crushed all previous battleships.
The design of the battleship is basically copied from the Bavaria class, and some of its performances are close to those of the battleships of the World War II era.
Its tonnage is close to 35,000 tons, its armor is super thick and its design is exquisite. It can definitely be regarded as a sea fortress.
Dorne began construction of two such battleships, named Neverwinter class battleships - the three countries unanimously chose to name their new generation battleships after port cities, and coincidentally, these three were all previously owned by the Tang Dynasty The group's port city.
Chu State has also started building a new type of battleship. This shipbuilding plan has a little bit of the Great China Empire.
Chu State, which has never paid much attention to coastal defense, built three large battleships in one go. They basically copied the design of the Tang Army's Dongwan class and conservatively chose a 305 mm caliber main gun.
What is interesting is that Chu State is different from other countries and has chosen another path of shallow water gunboats: their new battleship has a tonnage of only 18,000 tons, which is a circle smaller than the Tang Army’s Dongwan-class battleship.
Due to the reduced tonnage, Chu's battleships redesigned the turret layout, also adopted a more efficient centerline layout, and reduced the turrets to 4.
Cyric was not idle either. They also built five battleships in one go. They copied Datang Group's gun-casting technology and set their own battleship main guns to a relatively mature 350 mm caliber.
Compared to the Dornish Navy which adopted a radical 380mm main gun, Cyric was relatively conservative in the selection of main guns, but they definitely invested a lot in other aspects.
Cyric's battleship has a displacement of an astonishing 33,000 tons. It is also a behemoth. Countless steel has been piled up to build its ultra-high defense. Cyric, who has obtained an excellent power system, is not stingy in the battleship's design. Sufficiently thick armor is installed on the sides.
The Mirage Kingdom was not idle either. Although they were completely bankrupt, in order to protect their coastline and the lifeline they depended on for survival, they still gritted their teeth and mobilized the whole country to build their own new battleships.
In fact, they did not have a dock to build such a huge warship, so they had to order dock equipment from Cyric and Datang Group at the same time, and built two qualified docks at their own Great South Bay port.
The construction of shipyards seriously delayed the construction of battleships by the Mirage Navy, so they referred to battleships from other countries and then modified the technical parameters of some of their own battleships. The Mirage Kingdom, which had suffered from inferior equipment performance in the Battle of the North Sea, was determined not to fall twice in the same place this time.
They chose a bizarre 410 mm caliber for their battleship, and gritted their teeth and expanded the caliber of their battleship by another 30 mm.
In order to make their battleships more effective, they also installed five main gun turrets on their battleships, making the entire battleship extremely long.
Finally, in order to install the power system and pile up enough armor, the tonnage of Mirage's battleship seriously exceeded the standard, reaching an astonishing 40,000 tons!
I heard that many designers participated in the design of the hull of this type of warship, and some even anonymously consulted designers from the Datang Group. Of course, consulting fees are not cheap.
The Nanla Empire also designed and built its own battleships with the help of the Datang Group. Almost all countries with coastlines around the world have joined the battleship construction team.
The Poplar Kingdom also started building its own battleships, and the Pinewood Kingdom was not far behind in building their own battleships.
However, due to limited national power, both countries chose a similar design idea to Chu: their battleships were smaller in tonnage, closer to the concept of shallow-water gunboats.
Compared with the destroyers and cruisers built by previous countries, so many brand-new battleships are equipped with various types of anti-aircraft gun weapons.
In order to deal with threats from the air, almost all warships are undergoing crazy modifications, and the content of the modifications is "installation of new anti-aircraft weapons."
Tang Jun’s aircraft left a deep impression on navies around the world. Expensive battleships must have air defense capabilities. This has become a basic consensus among navies around the world.
Because there is no need to consider volume or transportation, the overall performance of anti-aircraft guns installed on battleships is much more advanced.
Many countries have followed the anti-aircraft guns launched by Datang Group and installed special sights for their mass-produced anti-aircraft guns, which also increased the rate of fire.
Installing these artillery pieces on battleships, cruisers, and destroyers has become something that navies of various countries have recently devoted themselves to.
Battleships are too expensive, and every one of them is a thorn in my side. If they sink easily, it will be really heartbreaking. If you can improve some air defense capabilities, you must improve them. You can't let soldiers go on the deck and shoot in the air with rifles. ?
So these countries’ battleships, or all battleships, have a large number of anti-aircraft guns installed. This can be regarded as an early popularization of technology.
These anti-aircraft guns have different calibers and complex technologies. Some come from Cyric and some come from each country's own research and development. The good and the bad are mixed and very confusing.
Why did so many countries suddenly start building battleships? In fact, they have a plan.
These countries feel that in the short term, they will not be able to compete with Tang, which has absolute technological superiority, in terms of air force. Since there is no way to gain an advantage, we must think of other ways to defeat Tang.
Then they remembered the embarrassment of the Tang naval fleet being constrained from going north to participate in the war during the Tang-Qi War.
As a result, these countries felt that they had found Tang's weakness: as long as they cut off the shipping between Longdao and Linshui, it seemed that Tang's industry could be paralyzed.
The fragile maritime transportation line between Linshui and Longgang seems to be the lifeblood of the Tang Dynasty. As long as this transportation line is cut off, no matter how strong the Tang State's air force and army are, they will face the dilemma of having no fuel available.
From the perspective of these countries, developing a navy, strangling Tang Mo’s sea transportation lines, and avoiding Tang Mo’s air force seems to be the best solution to defeat the Tang State.
Although the investment was not small, the effect was also outstanding, so all countries began to build their own battleships, preparing to overwhelm the Tang fleet at sea.
At present, the number of battleships in service in various countries is 5 in Tang Dynasty, and none in other countries. However, two years later, the Tang Kingdom had only ten battleships at most, but at that time, the total number of battleships from other countries on the Endless Sea was about 35...
According to the plan, the number of battleships in each country at that time was: 6 Mirage, 5 Ice Empire, 2 Poplar Kingdom, 2 Pine Kingdom, 4 Lions Empire, 7 Dorne Empire, Goblins (Ciri) Ke) 5 ships and Chu State 4 ships.
The Tang Navy seems to be unable to cope with the collective challenges of so many countries on its own.
(End of this chapter)