The Chinese started building more than 11 battleships at the same time, which frightened the Japanese who embarked on a militaristic path after the "5.15 Incident". Japanese Navy Minister Kanji Kato even clamored that it would be better to attack major cities in the Republic before the Chinese battleships were completed.
Shipyard, "Blow up the Chinese Navy on the slipway!"
However, this seems not to be easy to do.
The Republic's major shipyards were protected by heavily fortified batteries, and near-shore attacks seemed to make the Japanese fleet more vulnerable to Republic Navy land-based aircraft.
Japan's military leaders actually know very well that Japan's national strength is no longer enough to deal with the Republic of China. As the world's second largest economic power, the Republic of China's industrial capacity has surpassed Japan's by 10 times, although its navy currently seems to be stronger than the Japanese.
A little bit worse.
After the "Northeast Incident", affected by the international economic crisis, in order to maintain domestic employment, the Republic could only continue to expand the number of troops and the size of its production corps, and the focus of domestic industrial development shifted to the military industry.
Moreover, the president often bypasses the military committee and directly issues instructions for some naval and land equipment to the General Armament Department.
The most obvious example is that in early 1933, the construction plan for six "Jiangsu-class" heavy aviation battleships was approved without discussion. In addition, an order was issued to the General Armament, requiring the development of a main force weighing more than 35 tons by 1935.
tank.
In this regard, the president is increasingly appearing to be "arbitrary".
The speed of China's rise has exceeded the expectations of the Western powers. Due to small-scale military frictions with the British from time to time over competition for territory in Central Asia, countries such as Britain and France are now more inclined to help Japan to limit the development of Republican China.
The British wanted to drag the Americans into the water.
However, "isolationism" was prevalent in the United States at this time. In addition, Americans seemed more willing to knock the British Empire off the world's number one throne and share its colonial interests around the world.
Although the undercurrent is turbulent, at least it looks calm on the surface.
Lin Shuo is trying hard to maintain peace. According to his plan, the Republic should show its cards to the Japanese after Mustache turns Europe upside down.
Three months after Wei Zihao took office as commander of the 3rd Cruiser Fleet, in February 1937, the heavy cruiser "Li Jing" and the cruiser "Wuchang" were incorporated into his cruise fleet. The "Li Jing" was stuffed into Wei Zihao's fleet.
The 3rd Cruiser Fleet Command also has a professional engineering team of more than 120 people. These technicians will also conduct a comprehensive inspection of this large cruiser to evaluate whether the various performance indicators of this new warship meet the design requirements.
The total of more than 1,400 people is still a bit crowded for such a large battleship with a standard capacity of 1,100 people.
The "Li Jing" began its first ocean-going training three days after joining the 3rd Fleet.
Due to the rapid expansion of the Republic Navy, each ship lacked experienced officers and petty officers. If they wanted to quickly form combat effectiveness, they could only conduct arduous training.
With a long whistle, the cruiser formation "Li Jing", "Wuchang" and "Guilin" left Zhanjiang Port and sailed towards the vast South China Sea. Wei Zihao was accompanied by Chang Lin, the captain of the "Li Jing"
He kept patrolling the main cabins of the warship. On one side, there were officers who were familiar with various departments on the ship, and on the other hand, he asked the engineering staff to understand the status of the warship.
Chang Lin is thirty-two years old this year. He is a graduate of the third phase of the Fujian Maritime School. He is the kind of person who does not have excellent academic performance but is relatively lucky. During the "Northeast Incident" in 2031, he served as a destroyer commander.
Chang Lin led a destroyer and two frigates in a battle with the Japanese Navy's 5th Mine Squadron headed by the light cruiser Natori off the coast of Shengsi, and actually forced the Japanese fleet back.
After seeing the battle report, President Lin Shuo of the Republic gave instructions: Courage is commendable. The navy is an offensive army. As naval officers and soldiers, we must have the spirit of not being afraid of sacrifice and have the courage to defeat all powerful enemies.
So Chang Lin was like riding on a rocket, promoted two levels in a row within four years, from an unknown naval lieutenant commander to a captain of a battleship, becoming the first trainee in the third phase of Fuzhou Sea School to be promoted to a battleship captain.
You must know that there are still many seniors who are still "struggle" on the destroyer.
The engineering and technical personnel mainly monitor the power system and fire control system on this large warship. The "Yuefei-class" heavy cruiser uses three newly designed steam turbines with reduction devices. It can operate at overload speeds for up to 6 hours.
During the operation test, there were no problems such as abnormal turbine noise or overheating of the main shaft that appeared on the "Congling-class" battleship. After five years, China's metallurgical technology and machining technology have been significantly improved.
When the main engine of the "Li Jing" was overloaded, the warship actually ran a high speed of 35.2 knots.
On the fifth day of the voyage, the cruiser formation conducted a live-fire shooting in the waters near Xisha. The rumbling artillery fire on the sea really excited the sailors on the warship who had been engaged in boring gunnery training all day. "We don't usually conduct strict, large-scale
If you don't have live-fire training, don't expect the soldiers to hit the target on the battlefield!" This famous saying in the Army also applies to the Navy, although the price of a reduced-charge training bomb is equivalent to nearly a month's worth of a sailor's ammunition.
of allowances.
The effect of the salvo firing of the 12 152mm main guns on the "Wuchang" is actually far different from the salvo firing of the 10 10-inch main guns on the "Li Jing".
The firing command system installed on the "Li Jing" is the same as that of the "Congling-class" battleship. They are both equipped with a 7.5-meter optical rangefinder. Each main turret is also equipped with a 3.5-meter optical rangefinder. It is said that the naval department has
An electronic ranging system was developed, but for some reason it was not eventually installed on warships.
The Republican Navy can clearly see the imprint left by the Germans in the design of warships. The slightly outdated four-turret layout weakens the overall defense of the warship. The backward comprehensive protection concept also makes the armor thickness of key parts of the warship thicker than that of the same row.
The number of British and American warships is weaker. However, the Germans' excellent watertight compartment design and the large reserve buoyancy left during the design make the warships better resistant to sinking, and the higher freeboard also makes the warships have good seaworthiness.
sex.
The initial naval strategy of the Republican Navy was similar to that of the Germans, which was how to improve the survivability of warships when the number of ships was significantly less than that of the opponent. Just like the Germans faced the British Navy, the enemy the Republican Navy faced -
―The Japanese Navy is also a very powerful maritime force in the world.
The Treaty-class heavy cruiser built by the Japanese in the early 1930s was equipped with five twin 8-inch main gun turrets, while the "Nanchang-class" light cruiser built by the Republic of China Navy in the same period with a similar displacement only had four 6-inch main gun turrets.
, although its attack power is much worse than that of the Japanese, its survivability far exceeds that of the Japanese heavy cruiser.
Later, after the strength of the Republic Navy gradually caught up with the Japanese Navy, this habit was still retained.
Except for the 6 "Yue Fei-class" heavy cruisers designed as attack ships, the performance of the battleships of the Republic Navy is not particularly outstanding compared with the battleships of other countries during the same period, but they are also very distinctive, that is, balance, regardless of attack
The defense is not particularly bad, and there are no particularly obvious weaknesses.
At best, it is the heritage of the navy of a great power; at worst, it is the conservatism unique to mainland countries.
The ocean training of the 3rd Cruiser Fleet lasted until the end of May. During this period, it conducted 4 live-fire trainings and conducted a confrontation exercise with the 4th Cruiser Fleet that went to the Natuna base for a routine cruise. In the meantime, it was still in Natuna.
The Nangang of Na base has undergone simple maintenance and supplies.
On May 26, the fleet set off from Nangang and returned to the base. As planned, each ship will enter the dock for a routine maintenance, and the officers and soldiers on the warship will also get a rare vacation.