Nanyang Storm 1864

Britain hoped that the Great Chu Empire's navy would step in and annihilate the Russian Pacific Second Fleet.

When Emperor Zheng Guohui of the Great Chu Empire heard this request, he was filled with astonishment. This was just too outrageous!

It feels like you're sitting at the edge of a boxing ring, enjoying the show, when suddenly the referee in the ring beckons and says something;

"This young man is quite good. He seems to have extraordinary potential. The great responsibility of saving peace and stability in Northeast Asia is entrusted to you. Come up on stage and give a performance."

Damn, could this be any more ridiculous?

Seeing His Majesty the Emperor scrutinizing him with a questioning gaze, the newly appointed Prime Minister Lee Kyung-hoi's heart skipped a beat, and he stepped in to explain;

"Your Majesty

Your humble servants also found it absurd, after learning that it was a formal request made in a diplomatic email from Lord Campbell, the British Foreign Secretary.

This matter is of great importance, and I dare not act on my own initiative; therefore, I have come to the palace specifically to request an imperial decree for a decision.

Something unusual must be going on.

Emperor Zheng Guohui of the Great Chu Empire raised an eyebrow and asked in a cold voice, "Oh, what is the Navy Ministry's opinion?"

"Your Majesty, the Imperial Navy will unconditionally obey Your Majesty's decree. Wherever the Imperial Banner points, all will be reduced to dust."

"Yes, they haven't been blinded by greed yet. This isn't our war. Let them fight. The Empire can just watch the show," Emperor Zheng Guohui of Great Chu said decisively, leaving no room for negotiation.

Prime Minister Lee Kyung Hoi bowed and said, "Your humble servant obeys the decree."

Subsequently, Prime Minister Lee Keng Hoi reported on the newly approved "Royal Navy Ten-Year Force Enhancement Plan," which will allocate a large special fund starting in 1905, with the aim of replacing outdated naval combat equipment and maintaining the navy's position among the world's top naval powers.

This so-called "top" concept means the top three.

The first project to be unveiled was the "Count of Cavite" class heavy cruiser plan. Given the rapid advancements in new naval technologies, the original 14000-ton construction plan was completely scrapped.

the reason is simple

The leading naval powers in Europe and America, including Britain, Germany, and the United States, have doubled the displacement of their planned new class of battleships, such as the Dreadnought-class battleships, Lion-class battlecruisers, and Blücher heavy cruisers, in order to meet the demands of modern naval warfare.

News from secret British channels
The latest design for the British Lion-class battlecruisers has a displacement of over 2 tons, most likely between 24000 and 25000 tons, with a full-load displacement approaching 3 tons.

This tremendous change is due to the rapid development of steam turbine power for ships, which is capable of propelling nearly 3-ton giant ships at speeds exceeding 26 knots across the sea.

The technology for the new 13.5-inch Mk-V main gun (i.e., 343mm) is already mature and it is highly likely to be installed on the new warships of the Royal Navy, which will change the face of future naval warfare.

The Mk-V main gun has a larger caliber, more powerful firepower, and naturally greater destructive capability.

This type of naval gun is 15.43 meters long, weighs 76 tons, has a shell weight of 567 kilograms, and a barrel life of 300 to 350 full-charge firings. Its technical level is quite good.

At a 20-degree elevation angle, the maximum range of an armor-piercing shell is 23.8 kilometers, with a firing rate of 2 rounds per minute. However, in actual combat, the fastest time to fire two shells is 1 minute and 20 seconds.

This means that the density of firepower delivered by warships increases dramatically per unit of time, and the probability of a hit also increases accordingly. This is a rigorous mathematical problem.

Faced with new challenges to the world's oceans, the Royal Navy of the Great Chu Empire must make corresponding changes.

The first priority is to increase the warship's defensive capabilities, because the 13.5-inch main gun has a stronger armor-piercing capability and a greater penetration depth, requiring thicker ballistic steel armor for protection.

Faced with the Mk-V naval guns, battleships and heavy cruisers became utterly vulnerable.

The 343mm, 45-caliber guns were capable of easily tearing through an eight-inch thick bulletproof armor belt, posing a deadly threat to modern battleships, including the Manila-class battleships.

The Manila-class battleships had armor up to seven to eight inches thick on important gun emplacements, conning towers, and ammunition magazines, capable of withstanding frontal bombardment from 305mm heavy guns.

Unfortunately, this indicator is outdated.

Faced with the British-made Mk-V twin-mounted main gun, the main warships equipped by the world's naval powers today can have their originally thick armor easily torn apart, becoming vulnerable.

What are the solutions?
It's simply a matter of adding flour if there's too much water, and adding water if there's too much flour.

The simplest way is to upgrade the ballistic armor of the main battleships and heavy cruisers from the original seven to eight inches to twelve or even 13 inches, and the technical level of the ballistic steel plates also needs to be improved.

In this way

It can withstand frontal bombardment from the British-made Mk-V twin-mounted main gun, meeting the severe demands of today's global naval equipment competition.

Taking the Manila-class battleships as an example, their technology was at the world's top level at the end of the 19th century, on par with the main warships of major European and American naval powers.

Unfortunately, it's all in the past.

The Manila-class battleships had an average main armor belt thickness of seven to eight inches of armor steel, and their weight ranged from 5600 to 6700 tons, depending on the model.

If upgraded to 12 inches, the weight of the bulletproof armor belt alone would exceed 9500 tons, and the corresponding warship would need to be longer, wider, and taller, significantly increasing its displacement.

In addition, the British-made Mk-V twin-mounted main guns are incredibly heavy, with each turret weighing 76 tons. It is an indisputable fact that the corresponding ammunition magazine feeding mechanism and the strength of the gun mount must be improved.

The technological explosion at the beginning of the 20th century influenced the variables of naval warfare in the world in multiple dimensions.

Today, the spies of the Great Chu Empire lurking in Europe, especially in Britain, are doing their utmost to find out the specific technical specifications of the new "Lion" class battlecruiser, rather than relying on the vague information revealed so far.

As a world naval power and maritime transport power, the Great Chu Empire's steam turbine technology also developed by leaps and bounds, ranking among the world's top ranks and not inferior to the top level of Britain and Germany.

The Great Chu Empire's unique camel-back twin-mounted main gun layout, coupled with its own advanced 13.5-inch twin-mounted main gun, has already been test-fired at the Davao Naval Range.

Therefore, it is only natural to completely overturn the original blueprint for the construction of the "Count of Cavite" class heavy cruisers.

The Royal Admiralty presented two response plans: Plan A and Plan B.

Option A includes four new "Count of Cavite" class heavy cruisers, with a designed displacement of over 26600 tons, equipped with four new twin-mounted 13.5-inch main guns, and a designed speed of 26 knots.

Option B is a significantly increased version. The new "Count of Cavite" class heavy cruisers in the plan are still one type of four ships, with a design displacement of more than 32000 tons, equipped with four new twin-mounted 13.5-inch main guns, and a design speed of 23.5 knots.

The heavy cruiser construction plan, which was originally scrapped, has now been completely altered. The original plan to build 12 heavy cruisers has been reduced to four of one type, but the cost per ship has increased dramatically, more than doubling.

The construction of the main battleships was completely halted. Two "Coconut City"-class battleships were built, but they were already outdated as soon as they were launched, and construction has been completely stopped.

The world is developing so fast that it's almost overwhelming.

After hearing the report, Emperor Zheng Guohui of the Great Chu Dynasty remained silent with a solemn expression, indicating that he wanted to let the bullets fly for a while and not rush things.

We can't let the British plan to build new ships deter us. Compared to the massive existing fleet of the British Royal Navy, it's easier for the Great Chu Empire to turn around.

Moreover, the Great Chu Empire has ample financial resources; isn't this just a naval arms race?

Just spend the money, who's afraid of who?

The time was the end of March 1905.
The Russian Royal Pacific Second Squadron, having traveled thousands of miles from the Baltic Sea to the East Asian theater, was now sailing on the vast Indian Ocean.

After resupplying in North Nosh, Vice Admiral Rozhestvensky, commander of the Russian fleet, led the Second Pacific Fleet to the Far East, embarking on an extremely long transoceanic voyage.

The Indian Ocean has a hot climate, and Germany and France had no colonies in the Indian Ocean to supply them, so they could only rely on the supply ships in the Russian fleet to maintain the operation of the entire fleet.

The Russian Second Pacific Fleet in the Indian Ocean set a world record for the first time in a voyage by conducting ship-to-ship refueling, and the refueling was done with solid coal instead of liquid diesel.

Warships moored together on the vast ocean resupply amidst the waves and troughs.

Russian soldiers stripped naked, wearing only a pair of shorts, and stood on the coal pile, vigorously wielding shovels to scoop coal onto the conveyor belt. They were so tired that their tongues were sticking out.

A single coal supply of over a thousand tons caused 61 Tsarist Russian soldiers to suffer from heatstroke and faint.

The entire fleet was covered in coal dust, from top to bottom. Except for their eyes and teeth, which were white, the rest of them were completely covered in coal stains. Needless to say, the hardships they endured were immense.

The Russian Second Pacific Fleet replenished its supplies at ports in France and Germany along the way, and the two countries provided assistance to the best of their ability.

Russia leased up to 70 coal carriers from the German shipping company Hamburg-America for resupply along the way.
Germany and France allowed Russian ships to dock at ports in their overseas colonies. Of course, this inevitably drew protests from countries such as Britain, Japan, and the United States, but these were not major issues.

France and Germany would tacitly agree to do anything that would make the British uncomfortable.

After leaving its home port in the Baltic Sea, the Russian fleet arrived at the Spanish port of Vigo on November 1, 1904, for resupply.

5 days later
On November 6, 1904, the Russian fleet docked at Tangier, a port in French North Africa, for resupply.

After departing from Tangier, and sailing for more than 10 days, Lieutenant General Rozhestvensky's main Russian fleet docked in Dhaka, a French territory.

On December 1, 1904, the main fleet of the Tsarist Russian fleet docked at Lüderitz, a port in German West Africa, and six days later arrived at Mossamez, a port in South Africa.

At this time, bad news came from the Far East that Lushun had fallen.

Re-departing on December 16, 1904, the main fleet of the Russian Second Pacific Fleet arrived at Ludrid. Vice Admiral Rozhestvensky had already learned that the Russian ships in Port Arthur had all disappeared.

The morale of the fleet was severely affected from top to bottom, and from this point onward, there was a sudden increase in self-harm among the officers and men of the Tsarist Russian fleet.

In the second year

On January 13, 1905, Vice Admiral Rozhestvensky and Rear Admiral Fokshan led the Third Pacific Squadron, which met in the German East African colony of Gargonia and had a good rest.

At this time, even worse news arrived: Lushun had been captured by the Japanese army.

This led to a disagreement among the fleet's upper echelons. Fleet Commander Vice Admiral Rozhestvensky wanted to set sail immediately for the Far East to engage in a decisive battle as soon as possible, before the Japanese fleet could recover its strength after the blockade of Port Arthur.

When Rear Admiral Folkhill's Third Pacific Fleet passed through the Mediterranean, many of its older ships suffered serious malfunctions and would require at least a month of repairs before they could continue their voyage.

Therefore, they disagreed with setting sail immediately, and a heated argument ensued.

In the end, it was Tsar Nicholas II who ordered Lieutenant General Rozhestvensky to stay for more than a month and wait for the Third Pacific Fleet to reinforce the Far East.

Anyway, along the way, one troublesome thing after another arose.

This is not surprising. Under the will of Tsar Nicholas II, the Russian fleet was hastily embarked on an ultra-long transoceanic voyage, and neither the officers and men nor the fleet itself were adequately prepared.

It would be strange if problems didn't arise under such circumstances.

Half a month later
The main force of the Russian fleet finally arrived at Cam Ranh Bay, under the jurisdiction of the French Saigon Governor-General's Office, on April 14, 1905, exactly six months after setting sail.

The message sent back by the State of Chu through secret channels showed

The soldiers of the Russian fleet on their long voyage all looked like beggars, and the entire fleet emitted a strong, sour stench from a distance, which was almost nauseating.

Whether it was a new or old warship of Tsarist Russia, the decks were a mess of black soot, and even the crew's quarters were covered with coal dust, making them look like a group of refugees.

Let's not even talk about that speechless scene.

In order to cross the vast Indian Ocean, the Russian fleet overcame the greatest difficulty of having no supply ports along the way.

Coal was piled up in every available space on the warships, including the area around the main gun armor belt, the crew quarters, and every other usable space.

These miserable officers and men of the Tsarist Russian fleet had to live on coal piles; how could they possibly have a good life?
It is said that when the Russian soldiers saw the fresh fruits and vegetables supplied by the locals, their eyes lit up with envy.

The Russian fleet will rest and reorganize in Cam Ranh Bay for more than a month, thoroughly cleaning the warships, adjusting the power machinery, inspecting the boiler pipes and the various caliber guns on board, replenishing ammunition, and so on, in preparation for the upcoming fierce naval battle.

Now that the guests have arrived, the Fusang Combined Fleet, as the host, is not idle either. Admiral Togo Heihachiro leads the fleet to set sail in preparation for this unprecedented naval battle.

The Royal Navy of the Great Chu Empire, on the other hand, obediently acted as spectators, dispatching three cruisers to continuously patrol the areas surrounding the Soya Strait, Tsugaru Strait, and the Fusang Sea, where naval battles might break out, behaving as dutiful bystanders.

Such opportunities to witness a naval battle up close are rare, so we must cherish them!

Britain, Germany, the United States, and France also dispatched observation ships, forming a naval observation group patrolling the Channel; none wanted to miss this opportune moment. (End of Chapter)