The Charles de Gaulle is the pride of the French Navy and is the only nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in the world besides the U.S. Navy. However, because its displacement is not very large, its actual combat capabilities are not strong.

Of course, this is also embarrassing for the French. After all, the Charles de Gaulle was born in an era of tight budgets. The French have thought of many ways to save money. The use of nuclear submarine reactors for nuclear power is one of them. Facts have proved that they not only failed to save money

, but also left many flaws.

The Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier was completed and officially delivered to the Navy in 2001. The entire construction cost was 2 billion. In comparison, the US 100,000-ton Nimitz-class super aircraft carrier only cost 3.2 billion US dollars.

This is just an aircraft carrier, there are also a large number of carrier-based aircraft waiting for the French Navy to equip them, which is another huge sum of money.

In comparison, the aircraft carriers built by Dongfang are much cheaper. The price of an aircraft carrier with the same displacement built for customers is less than half of that of a French aircraft carrier. Coupled with carrier-based aircraft, the overall package price is even more shockingly cheap.

I can believe that, especially, customers don’t have to spend money. With that kind of package plan, they can get warships without spending money.

The French want to invite Easterners to visit the Charles de Gaulle. This news spread quickly throughout the world. Many people are curious, what is the intention of the French in doing this? Do the French want to ask the Easterners for advice?

The two sides have competed in many markets before, but now France is clearly at a disadvantage.

They sent out invitations, but the Orientals did not come immediately. Instead, they delayed the invitation until the Oriental Lunar New Year had passed. During this period, the French did not know how they felt.

On February 4, 2001, the beginning of spring, on this day, Qin Tao and his party arrived in France, and their special plane landed directly at the airport in the city of Brest.

The name Brest can easily make people think of Brest Fortress, but the French city of Brest is thousands of miles away from the Brest Fortress. It is located in the western part of the Brittany Peninsula in western France.

To the south is the famous Bay of Brest. Because of these excellent conditions, it became a French military port and an important base for the French navy in the 17th century, and shipyards were built.

Today, Brest is still one of the two most important military ports in France. Even the French Triumph-class nuclear submarine is docked here. Of course, there is also a commercial port here. Over the centuries, it has also carried a strong

With its Celtic cultural architecture and overlooking the city from the plane, you will feel the charming atmosphere here.

Zhao Ling had not been out for a long time, and now standing on the land of Brest, she felt that everything was very fresh.

Brest Shipyard was very enthusiastic about the arrival of Qin Tao and his party. They greeted him directly at the airport, and they were all old acquaintances. Cadina walked up and shook hands with Qin Tao cordially: "Mr. Qin, welcome to Brest

.”

"I'm honored to be back here again. I think of the last time I came here. Although it was ten years ago, it seems like just yesterday, the city here was still as beautiful as before."

There is not much construction in Europe, so the cities will not change for decades. The vehicles in Europe are mainly hatchbacks. This is because the roads in their cities used to be carried by horse-drawn carriages, and the cars were too big and inconvenient.

"Yes, we also miss her very much. We established a deep friendship with Qin back then." Kaidina continued to look at the people around Qin Tao: "Is this your wife? You are so beautiful."

With that said, Cadina planned to take Zhao Ling's hand and kiss it as a courtesy.

Qin Tao quickly stopped him: "Mr. Cadina, let me introduce to you the people I brought this time. They are all elites of our Mingzhou Group. They heard that they were going to visit the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier, so they came with them.

"

Did you bring someone else with you?

Kaidina looked over and found that during the short exchange, more than 20 people had come down from behind. No, there were more than 30 people!

His brows suddenly wrinkled.

"Don't worry, we will stay in the hotel by ourselves and you won't need to entertain us," Qin Tao said.

Is this a matter of hospitality expenses? Is it appropriate for so many of you to come to visit the aircraft carrier we are about to deliver to the Navy?

"Why, Mr. Cadena, do you seem to mind their coming?"

Of course I mind, but this sentence was never uttered. He hesitated for a long time and finally said: "Welcome to them, Mr. Qin, can you introduce them to me one by one?"

"Of course, come on, this is Yang Dawei, the designer of our Mingzhou Group Design Department. Many warships are made by him."

Cadina's eyes lit up: "Your warship designer? Has Mr. Yang ever designed an aircraft carrier?"

Of course not, the aircraft carrier is the task of the Second Design Office, but Yang Dawei cannot say no at this time.

"Of course, our Mingzhou Group has built so many aircraft carriers, and he is also responsible for it." Qin Tao said, intending to continue the introduction. Who would have thought that Kaidina was interested in Yang Dawei and continued to ask: "So, you

You must have also designed a comprehensive power system for the entire ship?"

"This is the responsibility of other designers. As you know, a warship is composed of multiple parts and requires many designers to work together." Qin Tao said.

"So among the people coming this time, are there designers of 40-megawatt gas turbines?"

Qin Tao seemed to have realized something: "Of course there is. Does your aircraft carrier No. 2 want to purchase our gas turbines?"

When it comes to gas turbine technology, Britain and the United States are very good, but France is not good at it. Just look at the aero engines. The French Mirage 2000 fighter uses a single rotor. Although the Rafale uses a dual-rotor M88, it is said to be the mapping of the F404.

imitations.

They also have no technical reserves for gas turbines. Now that the construction of the Charles de Gaulle is completed, it has been confirmed that nuclear power is a pitfall. What about their No. 2 ship?

Historically, only one Charles de Gaulle was built, but this does not mean that the French do not want to build a second one.

The French Navy originally had two aircraft carriers, the Clemenceau and the Foch. According to the original arrangement of the French, the Charles de Gaulle was scheduled to enter service in 1996 to replace the Clemenceau, and the second ship used Richelieu.

Bishop Richelieu's name was planned to start construction in 1992 and enter service in 2004 to replace the aircraft carrier Foch. However, the Bishop Richelieu was never built because the Charles de Gaulle was seriously over budget and overdue.

What next? What do they do?

It must still be built. After all, it is really not possible to have only one aircraft carrier. If the aircraft carrier is overhauled or even the crew comes back from sea to repair, they will have no aircraft carrier available. Two aircraft carriers can be used interchangeably, but one aircraft carrier will definitely not work.

However, after being deceived by the Charles de Gaulle, the French Navy also knew that it could no longer mandate nuclear power. Conventional power was also good. In 2000, they changed the No. 2 ship to a conventional power solution.

Routine is routine, what to use next? Boiler or gas turbine?

Like the United States, after they built the two Clemenceau-class aircraft carriers, they never built naval boilers again. Over the years, the boiler industry chain has long been broken, and the companies that once built boilers have also closed down.

, they simply had no way to find a suitable company to produce boilers.

Moreover, boilers are too backward. Seeing that ship power around the world is transitioning to gas turbines, of course they also hope to use advanced gas turbines!

So, what type of gas turbine is used?

The most common gas turbine in the world is the LM2500. After upgrading, the power is increased. The Americans do use this gas turbine on the 40,000-ton amphibious assault ship. However, the amphibious assault ship has a low speed after all, and it only needs to exceed 20 knots.

But the aircraft carrier is not good enough. Their Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier only has 267 knots, so it already feels stretched and inconvenient in every aspect.

So, they need a forty megawatt gas turbine!

At this time, after hearing Qin Tao's words, Duquesne was a little embarrassed. It was embarrassing for the always arrogant French to say that they needed gas turbines from the East. However, this was indeed one of their ideas, which made him

He hesitated, a little embarrassed to say it.

Seeing his expression, Qin Tao understood: "I'm sorry, I'm overthinking it. Even if you want to purchase, you must purchase it from the UK. Our eastern technology is backward, how can you possibly be interested in it?"

When Qin Tao said this, Duquesne became even more embarrassed. Philip on the side said: "Mr. Qin, the British only brag. They say they want to build a 40-megawatt gas turbine, but they don't have three to five years to build it.

It definitely can’t be done by tinkering, and your gas turbine has completed the ignition test, so we are very interested in your gas turbine. Of course, the price of your gas turbine must also be cheap..."

When he said this, Philip felt that he seemed to have said too much. They were interested in Dongfang's gas turbines not only because Dongfang's development progress was more advanced, but also because it was cheaper!

The Charles de Gaulle cost too much, and they had long felt that they could no longer afford it. Their second ship planned to use conventional power, and they had already begun to search for a suitable power system around the world. After going around, they suddenly discovered that,

Dongfang’s gas turbines are actually the most suitable for them!

This kind of gas turbine has already been put into use. There is no need to wait for a long research and development process. The price of this kind of gas turbine is also cheap. Even if you purchase two units, the price is cheaper than one gas turbine in the UK!

Qin Tao nodded: "We are very happy that you are interested in our gas turbines. In fact, if you hand over all the construction of the aircraft carrier to us, the price will be cheaper. How much does your Charles de Gaulle cost? It cost twenty

Billion dollars, right? If we were to build it, with a gas turbine and a catapult, we would only need one billion dollars."

One billion dollars, a medium-sized aircraft carrier!

Qin Tao threw out a big bait. He knew that the French would definitely not let Ang build it by himself. After all, how could the proud Gauls give up their own shipyard? Such a large order for aircraft carriers is not only for the navy

It provides advanced equipment and can also provide a large number of jobs in the country. Even if it is more expensive, it must be built by its own shipyard.

But since Qin Tao has opened his mouth, he has to keep talking. It’s not bad to disgust the French.

"The displacement of your Charles de Gaulle is limited to 40,000 tons because the size of your shipyard's dock is too small. Although the deck area is half larger than that of the Clemenceau class, the dimensions below are almost the same.

, causing your aircraft carrier to be top-heavy, and you have to use an anti-roll system. If you leave it to us to build it, you can make the bottom bigger, and the aircraft carrier can still be stable without the anti-roll system. "

The deck area of ​​the Clemenceau-class aircraft carrier is 8,000 square meters. When it comes to the Charles de Gaulle, the area reaches more than 12,000 square meters. Coupled with the Hawkeye early warning aircraft, the French claim that the combat effectiveness of the Charles de Gaulle is Clermont.

Three or four times the shuttle level.

But in fact, the dimensions of their lower parts are the same. After all, the dock of the Brest Shipyard is just that big. Because the lower part is smaller and the upper part is larger, the French specially designed an anti-rolling system. There are a lot of small cars in the cabin.

When the ship shakes, it moves in the opposite direction to increase the stability of the ship. This device was originally used by destroyers of several thousand tons. It is no longer used by 10,000-ton warships. However, the French use it on 40,000-ton aircraft carriers.

Yes, of course because their own aircraft carrier is defective.

If these were made by Mingzhou Group, this situation would never happen.

However, in front of the person in charge of the Brest Shipyard, saying that he helped build it was a bit inappropriate. For a moment, Cadina and others were speechless.

"You still want to arrange a catapult for us?" Philip opened his eyes wide. He is from the navy, so of course he doesn't care about the interests of the shipyard, but more about the performance of the aircraft carrier.

France does not have the ability to develop catapults, so on the Charles de Gaulle, they purchased C-13 catapults from the United States, and they were severely ripped off by the Americans. The construction cost was 2 billion, a large part of which was purchased from abroad.

cost of.

"Of course." Qin Tao nodded: "We have mature steam catapults, which can be installed by you. The performance is no worse than C-13."

Steam catapult?

Disappointment flashed in everyone's eyes. They thought the Orientals would install electromagnetic catapults for them, but they didn't expect it to be an old device like a steam catapult.

"With a gas turbine, how can we use a steam catapult without steam?" Philip couldn't help but ask.

"Specially burn the boiler, so that when ejecting the aircraft, you don't have to worry about the speed decreasing. Everyone can perform their duties. Everyone, are we talking too much here? We will visit your aircraft carrier and compare it with the Charles de Gaulle.
To be continued...