The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 566 The Navy Must Have Its Own Characteristics

Chapter 566 The Navy Must Have Its Own Characteristics

"If you can meet my requirements, I can agree to your purchase of two battleships with a displacement of about 10,000 tons."

"In short, no matter whether it is German, British, or American, we will buy from whichever country can best meet our requirements. We only want the best."

A 10,000-ton battleship, and the best one! Teng Yuzao's words immediately excited everyone in the meeting room. Many people even ignored etiquette and began to talk excitedly.

The most excited people were naturally the two naval leaders Ye Zugui and Sa Zhenbing. Ye Zugui, whose face turned red with excitement, stood up first and saluted Teng Yuzhao before speaking.

"The Marshal is not only well-educated, but also has a comprehensive knowledge of both ancient and modern times. He is also the best in the East and the West. He even knows the development of Western navies very well, which makes us ashamed."

Sa Zhenbing, who stood up later, also said with great emotion, "Tong Hou is right. The Marshal commanded the army and defeated the coalition forces of the great powers. If the Marshal had commanded the Beiyang Fleet during the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, he would have led us to win the Battle of the Yellow Sea. How could there be the shame of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, and how could Taiwan be occupied by the Japanese devils!"

Ye Zugui, whose courtesy name was Tonghou.

When mentioning the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 and Taiwan, Teng Yuzao's face couldn't help but darken, and he spoke through gritted teeth.

"Taiwan must be recovered, but to recover Taiwan we need to fight across the sea. Without a strong navy, we cannot do it. It depends on when you two can build our navy into the strongest navy in Asia."

"Yes, if we have naval support, we can just go over to one town and drive the Taiwanese devils into the sea." Li Xianze said excitedly.

Teng Yuzao looked at his generals who were eager to try, motioned Ye Zugui and Sa Zhenbing to sit down, then put away his smile and said.

"I think you all underestimated the enemy. This battle not only woke up the Western powers who always thought they were the best in the world, but also woke up the Japanese, according to the information I received."

"Britain, France, Germany, the United States, Russia and the Japanese have all begun to study the tactical characteristics of our vanguard army in previous battles. They are not only looking for our shortcomings so that they can counter them in a targeted manner in the future, but they are also studying and learning from our strengths and advantages."

"Especially the Japanese. They not only set up a special department called the East Asia Office in their Army General Staff to collect and study our Vanguard Army."

"They even set up a special brigade modeled after the vanguard army. This brigade was organized according to our vanguard army in terms of organization and weapons, and then used this brigade to conduct exercises against other Japanese brigades. So we must not take it lightly and must not underestimate the enemy."

Teng Yuzhao's words calmed down all the generals.

Seeing this, Teng Yuzhao did not take the opportunity to cheer these people up, but looked at Ye Zugui and Sa Zhenbing. He still wanted to continue the topic about the navy, and there were many things he had not finished talking about.

"Regarding the battleships we just mentioned, do you have any other suggestions?"

Ye Zugui said hesitantly, "Marshal, our new ship cannot be equipped with only large-caliber naval guns. Should we also equip it with some small-caliber naval guns? After all, according to the Marshal's requirements, there are still many places on the deck."

Teng Yuzao nodded, "Of course we need it. I just mentioned large-caliber naval guns. Small-caliber rapid-fire guns are also necessary. They are necessary to deal with small and fast targets such as torpedo boats."

"Just don't deploy too many. Two twin-mounted 40mm rapid-fire cannons on each side will do."

Sa Zhenbing also smiled and said to Teng Yuzao, "Although I don't know much about the development of the navies of the Western powers today, I will still work hard to learn according to the Marshal's instructions."

"But I know that the Japanese devils definitely don't have the battleships of over 10,000 tons that the Marshal mentioned. If we are equipped with such giant ships, we can at least be invincible in naval battles."

"However, only two of these main battleships are still a bit too few. If we can have four, it will be enough to ensure the capture of Taiwan. With six, our Beiyang Navy can reach the main island of Japan."

Sa Zhenbing's words made Teng Yuzao smile bitterly.

"Ding Ming is right. Two ships are indeed a bit too few."

Ding Ming is the pen name of Sa Zhenbing.

When Sa Zhenbing heard that Teng Yuzao also thought that two ships were a bit too few, he couldn't help but feel overjoyed. But then he was poured cold water on by Teng Yuzao's next words.

Teng Yuzao spread his hands on the sofa and said, "The Dingyuan and Zhenyuan ships were launched 20 years ago. They have a displacement of 7,700 tons. Including the price of the guns, they cost more than 1.7 million taels. At the time, the exchange rate between silver and British pounds was 4:1, which was equivalent to 450,000 British pounds. But now more than 20 years have passed, and silver has depreciated. The current exchange rate has become 6:1."

"You know, twenty years ago, the German shipbuilding technology was not recognized by the world. In order to build their reputation, the Germans sold it to Li Zhongtang at a very favorable price. At that time, even looking at the whole world, it was the most cost-effective. I even think that this was the only time that Li Zhongtang took advantage of the great powers."

"Even if we were to buy the same ironclad ships as Dingyuan and Zhenyuan, and assuming the Germans still give us a huge discount, according to the current exchange rate, we would still need to spend 2.7 million per ship."

"Considering that our new ship not only has a larger displacement but also has very high performance requirements, especially it needs to be fully armored, the cost will likely reach four million taels of silver per ship."

"If we add in the cost of training the ship's maintenance personnel, initial ammunition purchases, and the purchase of large-caliber shell manufacturing equipment, it would probably cost at least 10 million silver coins."

Teng Yuzao sighed and said, "We are still too weak. As far as I know, the British are now planning to build a giant ship with a displacement of more than 18,000 tons and a speed of more than 20 knots. It is estimated that its cost is likely to exceed 12 million taels of silver!"

"And we can't just buy these two warships, we also need to buy other ships. Buying two is the best we can do now."

"It is said that it takes ten years to build an army and a hundred years to build a navy. This saying still makes sense. If we want to build a strong navy in a short period of time, it will cost an astronomical amount of money, not only to train personnel but also to purchase new ships."

Considering that these people may not understand the term "astronomical figures", Teng Yuzao added.

"Without an investment of more than 10 billion or 20 billion silver, don't even think about building the world's most powerful navy."

The price mentioned by Teng Yuzao made everyone gasp. Sa Zhenbing and Ye Zugui were stunned for a long time and felt a little discouraged.

Two billion taels of silver could easily add another one or two million new troops.

Teng Yuzao laughed and said to the two men, "Don't be discouraged. We need to take one step at a time. Our naval construction cannot be completed overnight, but I will still pay you what you owe." "Although I can only give you two battleship-class ships for now, other types of warships will still be added."

Teng Yuzao's words gave Ye Zugui and Sa Zhenbing hope again. They pricked up their ears and waited nervously for Teng Yuzao's next words.

"You should have understood what I mean by now. Our new navy is to be built into a fleet with high speed and high firing rate. This is the overall idea. And I also insist that the development of the world's navy is changing in the direction I mentioned."

"Of course, the great powers will continue to work hard to increase the armor protection of their warships for a long time, and they will continue to improve the quality of armor steel, but we can't compare with these great powers, so we abandon the idea of ​​absolute protection and focus on using new high-strength armor steel to provide only necessary protection."

"According to this idea, we do not need battlecruisers in the absolute sense. In addition to maintaining appropriate battleships, we must vigorously develop new concept warships such as destroyers."

Ye Zugui and Sa Zhenbing knew about warships such as destroyers.

Before the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, so-called destroyers had already appeared. With the advent of the white-headed torpedo, small-tonnage ships were already enough to threaten battleships with huge warships and large artillery.

Especially more than 20 years ago, the British first built the first torpedo boat "Lightning", which quickly made torpedo boats popular among the great powers.

This speedboat has a displacement of only about 30 tons, is equipped with 40- mm small artillery and torpedo tubes, and has an extremely fast speed. It is capable of breaking through artillery blockade and rushing to close range to launch torpedoes at battleships and cruisers, which can threaten the survival of giant ships.

In order to counter this torpedo boat, the British developed another type of warship which they called the torpedo boat destroyer, or destroyer for short.

This type of warship is much smaller than a cruiser, and its gun firepower is extremely weak, but it is fast enough to prevent and attack enemy torpedo boats and protect its own main fleet.

It was precisely because of knowing about this so-called destroyer that Ye Zugui and Sa Zhenbing were greatly disappointed.

Before Ye Zugui could say anything hesitantly, Sa Zhenbing spoke impatiently.

"Marshal, this small ship of only one or two hundred tons can only deal with torpedo boats, and it poses almost no threat to armored battleships and armored cruisers."

"It is said that the largest guns they have on board can only be equipped with a few 155mm caliber guns. Hitting large armored ships is just a tickle."

"What's more, the several 4,000-5,000-ton warships we have now are enough to drive away the enemy's torpedo boats with gunfire and protect our large ships from attacks by enemy torpedo boats."

"It's really not cost-effective for us to spend money to purchase such small-tonnage warships."

Sa Zhenbing was right. Early destroyers were quite a bit out of place, generally with a displacement of only one or two hundred tons.

The first true destroyer was actually launched eight years ago. It was the British Royal Navy destroyer "Hawkeye".

The Hawker has a displacement of only 275 tons. It is equipped with 1 76mm medium gun, 3 47mm rapid-fire guns, 3 torpedo tubes, and a speed of 27 knots.

Although its tonnage and firepower are far smaller than those of a cruiser, it is enough to crush small torpedo boats. Its speed of 27 knots is fully capable of catching up with enemy torpedo boats and easily destroying them with artillery.

At the same time, this type of destroyer, despite its weak gunfire, is able to launch torpedo attacks on large enemy warships at high speed, thus replacing the mission of torpedo boats.

Once destroyers appeared, torpedo boats were immediately reduced to trash arms that could be slaughtered at will, and were completely suppressed and gradually faded out of the stage. Destroyers gradually became a standing arm of the fleets of various countries.

"Also, we can build small ships like this ourselves. Dagu Shipyard can do it. There's no need to spend money to buy them from foreigners."

The Dagu Shipyard mentioned by Sa Zhenbing was a shipyard independent of the Tianjin Machinery Bureau.

Although Tianjin Machinery Bureau had certain shipbuilding capabilities before the construction of Dagu Shipyard, with the expansion of the Beiyang Navy fleet, the original dock of Tianjin Machinery Bureau could no longer meet the needs of ship repair and shipbuilding. Therefore, in the sixth year of Guangxu, Dagu Shipyard began to be built.

The Dagu Shipyard took five years to build. It not only had six docks, but also a blacksmith shop, a boiler factory, a foundry, and a mold factory. It also added a steam hammer and a steam shear. Starting from the 16th year of the Guangxu period, the Dagu Shipyard even began to produce guns, cannons, mines and other military weapons.

By the 90th year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu, Dagu Shipyard had imitated more than German mm breech-loading guns, and the rifles produced were called Dagu-made.

Today, Dagu Shipyard has become a comprehensive military base for ship repair, shipbuilding, and production of guns and munitions. It is the earliest and largest modern ship repair and construction factory in northern China. It can not only build torpedo boats, but also warships of less than 3,000 tons.

Teng Yuzao didn't care about Sa Zhenbing's questioning, but continued to speak with a smile.

"Ding Ming, don't be impatient. Just listen to what I have to say."

"You're right. If it's just for dealing with torpedo boats, there's really no need for this so-called destroyer. But if this warship has a displacement of about 6000 tons, is equipped with two mm twin-mounted naval guns, four mm twin-mounted secondary guns, and has a speed of over knots, it can also launch torpedoes."

"What do you think of such a warship?"

Without waiting for the surprised Sa Zhenbing to answer, Ye Zugui said happily.

"Marshal, I understand what you mean. You mean that our destroyers are smaller in displacement than the heavy cruisers of the great powers, and are about the same as ordinary light cruisers. Their firepower is also basically the same as that of light cruisers, but their speed is much faster than that of cruisers, and even faster than ordinary torpedo boats."

"In this way, our destroyer can not only have the function of a cruiser, but also effectively resist the attack of torpedo boats, right?"

Teng Yuzao smiled and nodded, "Yes, that's what you said. We still need to maintain a high speed."

"Since we have limited money, the warships of this new Beiyang Fleet must be streamlined and efficient. In addition to having sufficient attack capabilities, they must also have high speeds and be able to quickly leave the battlefield when necessary, leaving the enemy helpless."

(End of this chapter)

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