Chapter 1071: The aircraft carrier is gone (second update, two in one)
The essence of the world is to rely on strength to speak!
No matter how idealists try to hide it, they cannot change this basic operating rule of the world order.
Nanyang’s ability to take the initiative on the Egyptian and Hungarian issues relies on its strength.
But to a large extent, with the help of external forces, the Soviet Union did not dare to make the final push on the Hungarian issue. On the one hand, it was because of the strength of Nanyang, and on the other hand, it was afraid of being beaten by the United States and the United States. The British were adding insult to injury, so they finally gave in.
In Egypt, Nanyang basically cooperates. After all, Nanyang's maritime strength is still far inferior to that of Britain. During the crisis, British and French forces committed eight aircraft carriers and more than 200 warships.
In contrast, there are only two aircraft carriers in Nanyang - "Friendship" and "Katsugi". Although both have undergone modifications, the latter is limited by a hangar with a height of only 5 meters. It is difficult to accommodate new aircraft. Even the F1C can only barely accommodate it. This is also the reason why Nanyang did not introduce old aviation from the United Kingdom - the hangar is too short. For example, the "Revenge-class" is because the hangar height is only 4.3 meters high. After the war, the Royal Navy preferred to renovate the hangar area to make it smaller. The Victory, which has a lower engine capacity but a higher hangar, did not choose it.
In this case, Nanyang certainly would not choose the British aircraft carrier.
The "special military operation" launched in Egypt made everyone in Nanyang realize that aircraft carriers are an indispensable weapon for safeguarding overseas interests.
“For Nanyang, we have extensive maritime interests that need to be protected. Whether it is tens of billions of dollars of overseas trade or tens of billions of dollars of overseas investment every year, these need to be protected by the fleet. Without As for aircraft carriers, we can’t use naval guns to protect our overseas interests! And just two aircraft carriers cannot meet the mission needs of the navy.”
On the way to the official residence, Zou Tongjie observed Lin Zhiyuan's expression as he spoke. Seeing that he did not speak, he continued.
"If the Americans were willing to sell the Essex-class aircraft carrier, there would be as much trouble there as it is now, otherwise it would be directly transformed using the drawings of the Friendship. However, the United States has made it clear that it will not Will transfer another aircraft carrier to us!”
The transformation of the "Friendship" aircraft carrier was extremely successful. Its transformation was influenced by the design of the Forrest class. The main contents of its transformation include: open bow modification. To seal the bow, two steam catapults were added. A flight deck with an angle of 10.5 degrees was built, the arresting cables and interception nets were strengthened, the front lift was expanded, and the deck lighting was improved. The standard displacement of the "Friendship" is now 30,800 tons, and the full load displacement is 41,200 tons. The speed is 30 knots.
After completing the transformation of the "Friendship" aircraft carrier in Nanyang, the U.S. Navy also requested drawings, modified its aircraft carrier with reference to Nanyang's transformation plan, and imported steam catapults. But while learning from Nanyang's improvement plan, they refused to provide aircraft carriers to Nanyang.
“So, now we can only build our own aircraft carriers.”
Turning to look at the silent chief of staff, Zou Tongjie said in a stronger tone.
“After all, according to the maritime mission requirements in Nanyang, the future navy should have at least 3 aircraft carriers, and we only have one.”
In Zou Tongjie’s view, the displacement is only 20,000 tons.” "Katsuragi" can no longer meet the requirements of the times, and its future has been destined to be just an amphibious assault ship.
"I know, we need two ships, but..."
Turning to look at the commander, Lin Zhiyuan asked.
"Sir Zou, have you considered the funds? Do we have that much money to build an aircraft carrier?"
Faced with Lin Zhiyuan's rhetorical question, Zou Tongjie was silent for a moment and then said.
"Ignore this for now. In short, let's get the project done first...I will try my best to convince you when I get to the official residence later!"
After that, he closed his eyes. , tapping his right hand lightly on his knee from time to time, no matter what, let’s pass the plan first! As soon as the budget is passed, the ship starts construction. You can still invest more in the end!
He is not familiar with this kind of thing, but there are many Japanese consultants in the Navy, and there are many Japanese shipbuilding experts in the Ship Administration Department. They are not too familiar with this kind of thing. In war, In the past, the compressed shipbuilding budget was often used to "tempt" the government to agree to allocate funds for shipbuilding, but it started to increase the amount of money as it was being built. The government did not agree? Is it possible that more than half, or even 70%, of the warships built have been abandoned?
Obviously, that was impossible. In the end, the government could only hold its nose and admit it, and did everything possible to reduce other expenditures.
It’s just two aircraft carriers, it won’t be the same next time...
In fact, everyone will do this kind of thing in peacetime, not only Japan, but also the US imperialism, who built the "Enterprise" At that time, the Navy also lowered its quotation, directly saying that 300 million US dollars was enough. The final expenditure exceeded the quota by 50%, which almost blew up the gentlemen on Capitol Hill. This was also what Capitol Hill had to do for a long time. The reason for not approving nuclear-powered aircraft carriers is, at best, frightened by the cost of $450 million. At worst, it is fear that the Navy will play the game of getting on board first and paying later. Military expenditures are rising there. This is why many of the U.S. military's purchases were reduced as they were purchased, and expenditures were cut. The reason was that the quotations were low at the beginning, and later the military wanted to use the fait accompli to force Congress to recover the budget. , but the Congress refused to approve it and directly cut it with a big knife. However, this does not work well on warships. After all, you can't build half a warship and not build it at all, right? So later, the gentlemen in Washington learned to be smart and directly approved a few aircraft carriers. If the cost exceeded, they would directly reduce your number. In short, they tried their best to ensure that the overall expenditure did not increase.
Crying about poverty is a habit of the military, and low quoting is a military tradition. It is the same everywhere. Here in Nanyang, they are just elementary school students. The military and the government have not yet begun to fight for military expenses.
While Zou Tongjie was thinking this, the car had already driven into the official residence.
Soon, these two generals in white navy uniforms entered the study room of the official residence. Then Zou Tongjie, the commander of the navy, directly entered the topic and said:
"Your Excellency, according to the strategic interests of Nanyang Consider, we should keep an aircraft carrier in the Indian Ocean, based on Socotra Island, which can control both the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean, and at the same time deter the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, while an aircraft carrier based on Dongning, heading north To deter Russia, there is also an aircraft carrier stationed on the mainland to reinforce hot spots at any time. These three aircraft carriers should all be said to be large aircraft carriers. Well, the USS Friendship aircraft carrier is barely usable, but in addition, we still need to build two more. A 60,000-ton large aircraft carrier, that is..."
Emphasizing the importance of aircraft carriers from the strategic needs of Nanyang, pointing to the aircraft carrier model, Zou Tongjie's tone seemed a little excited.
"It is what we need - the nuclear reactor will give it an almost unlimited range, and we have now completed the basic design of the aircraft carrier's reactor, and there are no technical problems at all, as long as your Excellency If approved, construction can officially start around June next year. As for the economy..."
I have made up my mind to "tempt" you to agree, Zou Tongjie specifically explained. "The Navy's plan is to complete the construction of the first ship in four fiscal years. The construction costs are spread over four fiscal years, which is completely acceptable in terms of financial resources. Although the cost of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier is relatively high, its performance is Superior.”
Listening to Zou Tongjie’s explanation, Li Yian did not immediately refute him, but silently lit a cigar, took a few puffs, then walked back and forth in the study, and then stared at the model. , fell into deep thought.
Judging from the experience of another world, although the U.S. Navy completed the construction of the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier "Enterprise" in the future, it did not continue to build follow-up ships because the cost was too expensive. During the same period, the lower-cost Forrest-class aircraft carrier continued to be built, its cost was only a little more than half that of the "Enterprise".
Because the cost of the "Enterprise" was so astonishing, the United States once stopped building nuclear-powered aircraft carriers; therefore, the U.S. Navy later built three conventionally powered Kitty Hawk-class aircraft carriers.
The cost of an "Enterprise" is US$450 million, while a "Forrest-class" is not only US$173 to 225 million, even the Kitty Hawk class under construction is only US$260 million. In other words, in terms of pride, the money spent to build one "Enterprise" can almost build two "Forrest-class" ships!
The U.S. Navy, which has a lot of money, can't even afford it, let alone Nanyang?
Silent Li Yian walked in the office for a long time, then stood in front of Zou Tongjie, looked at his face carefully, as if looking at the window with his eyes, and asked:
"Tell me, how much does a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier cost?"
"This...according to the current budget, it is about 600 million yuan."
That is, not To $400 million!
How is this possible?
Thinking this in his mind, Li Yian turned his attention to Lin Zhiyuan, Chief of Naval Staff, and asked.
"What do you think about this problem?"
When His Excellency turned his eyes towards himself, Lin Zhiyuan could feel Zou Tongjie's eyes and stared at him, as if he was saying to him—— You must support me!
Facing their gazes, Lin Zhiyuan thought for a moment before speaking.
"Your Excellency, I think that, for now, our economy cannot support us in building aircraft carriers."
The sudden answer made Zou Tongjie dumbfounded. At this time, he heard Lin Zhiyuan say.
“After all, we need not just two aircraft carriers, but also more destroyers and other auxiliary warships. Our current destroyers are only 27 US-made destroyers, six Italian-made destroyers, and four There are two British-made destroyers and two Japanese-made destroyers. In terms of quantity, it seems to be a lot, but it is already stretched to maintain two aircraft carrier battle groups. In this case, building two more aircraft carriers will require at least Build 15 destroyers and a large number of auxiliary ships, and this expenditure will be no less than the expenditure of two aircraft carriers. Therefore, my suggestion is to build auxiliary ships including destroyers first. As for the construction of aircraft carriers, you can wait until a few years later. , At that time, Nanyang had more financial resources, and the navy's personnel and equipment could meet its needs. "
Although Lin Zhiyuan's analysis is very reasonable, Zou Tongjie said on the side.
"Chief of Staff Lin, haven't we already communicated about destroyers? We can seek help from the United Kingdom and the United States. The United Kingdom plans to retire many cruisers and destroyers this year, and the United States has also mothballed a large number of destroyers. 15 A destroyer can be easily solved.”
Even from the beginning, Zou Tongjie never considered the issue of destroyers. After all, the Nanyang Navy has long been accustomed to obtaining destroyers from the United States. After all, it has been in vain for so many years, and it is not short of a few destroyers. It is nothing more than whether the two sides can get destroyers again. Just do some negotiating.
“Furthermore, I have had simple communication with the U.S. Navy before, and they are willing to provide us with destroyers. After all, the Soviet Union is also expanding their navy now, and the United States needs to strengthen the maritime power of its allies, especially It is the Western Pacific region, and we are almost their only ally, so the U.S. Navy is very happy to see us expand our navy."
Faced with the commander's understatement, Lin Zhiyuan said.
"We can't always rely on second-hand foreign goods to protect our aircraft carriers! And we also need to have our own destroyers to cooperate with the aircraft carriers in combat."
After that, Lin Zhiyuan set his sights on Your Excellency, said:
"At the same time, in terms of protecting sea lines of communication, the biggest threat, apart from the Soviet Navy's submarine force, is the various attack aircraft and bombers shot down from shore-based airports.
Under the circumstances of limited economy, Using missile technology that has shown good development prospects to build a first-class air defense destroyer focusing on air defense, it can not only protect itself from air strikes, but also protect the safety of the aircraft carrier battle group and enhance the air defense capabilities of the aircraft carrier battle group. For Nanyang For the navy, it is undoubtedly a good choice. So my suggestion is to build a new guided missile destroyer immediately. "
" Guided missile destroyer!"
Li Yian was stunned and asked.
“Is the technology mature now?”
"Your Excellency, there are no technical problems. The naval technical department has not only tested new anti-ship missiles, but BMW has also completed the design of gas turbines. I think now is the time to build new guided missile destroyers!"
Listening to their conversation and looking at Your Excellency’s enthusiastic expression, Zou Tongjie had only one thought in his mind - my aircraft carrier is gone...
It’s not gone, but it’s temporarily flown away. Got it!
(End of this chapter)