Chapter 1011 Founding Celebration (Eleven)
This port area, which is across a river mouth from the Victory Port Naval Base, has two comprehensive docks and about ten trestles. There are currently at least two hundred ships docked here. Zhang Jinbao contacted the boss of this ship who was a local and got the inside information about the military parade relatively early. He occupied a good and unobstructed position on the dock a few days in advance. Although the price was not cheap, looking at other ships, even People climbed up the mast, and Zhang Jinbao felt that his money was well spent.
The boss of the ship led Zhang Jinbao and his party to the bow deck, pointed to the east coast and said: "Here, look over there. The warships participating in the military parade in the afternoon are parked there."
Zhang Jinbao squinted and looked around. There was indeed the official viewing platform across the harbor, only a few miles away. The military ships participating in the military parade were moored on the east bank of the Tiandu River estuary. At a glance, large and small There are at least twenty boats. Zhang Jinbao was still calm, but several students immediately shouted excitedly when they saw the warships. Although they had seen military warships when they were in Danzhou, they were almost all "exploration-class" ships with smaller tonnage. Warships, this was the first time I saw a fully manned fleet.
Zhang Jinbao saw the boat boss looking at his students with a smile. He knew that most people regarded his group as rural nouveau riche who had never seen the world. He quickly stopped the students and paid for the rest of the position. The payment was made.
After collecting the money, the boss of the ship said: "There is food and drink on my ship. If you need it, just go to the back cabin to buy it."
Zhang Jinbao nodded in agreement, thinking that business in Sanya was prosperous, and even this fishing boatman was so good at doing business. The rumors were indeed true. However, the cost of chartering this boat has already made him feel painful once, and he has no intention of spending money on this boat again.
After waiting for about an hour, two blue fireworks were fired from the naval base pier on the east coast. The people immediately started making noises, knowing that the naval parade was about to begin.
The Navy assembled most of the military ships stationed on Hainan Island for this parade, and equipped two "Dignity-class" steam sail warships as the flagship of the formation. The number of ships in the entire fleet being reviewed exceeded forty, covering almost all All specifications of the Navy's existing combat ships. The fleet under review was personally commanded by Navy Commander Wang Tom, and the standards were quite high.
When the fleet left the Tiandu River mouth and slowly headed south, the people watching in the West Bank port area suddenly burst into cheers. Almost all of these warships are produced at the Victory Port Shipyard, and the shipyard currently employs more than 3,000 people. Counting the family members of the employees and some supporting raw material suppliers, at least 10,000 people in Sanya rely on the shipbuilding industry to make a living. Coupled with the family members of the navy, the mass base can be said to be very deep. I will feel particularly proud and proud when I see this fleet appear.
"Haihan's fleet...has been changed to a double flagship now?" Van Diemen looked at the slowly approaching fleet in the distance and muttered to himself with some confusion.
"Perhaps this is just a temporary fleet put together for the sake of a military parade." Su Keyi was very optimistic about this: "Your Majesty Governor, look at their ship establishment, it should also exceed the number of ships we know."
According to the normal establishment, Haihan's fleet consists of a majestic-class flagship, at least four exploration-class and eight expedition-class warships, two light reconnaissance ships, six to eight comprehensive supply ships, one to two troop transport, and an ambulance and repair ship. But the number of ships in the fleet we are seeing clearly exceeds the normal level of the Haihan fleet.
Van Diemen nodded and said: "I heard that there is also a formation called a task force in the Haihan Navy, which is to mix two or more fleets together. Perhaps what we are seeing now is such a fleet. A special fleet.”
The task force is not a product of the aircraft carrier era. In fact, the Zheng He fleet that sailed to the Western Ocean during the most powerful period of the Ming Dynasty was an unprecedented maritime task force. At that time, Zheng He's fleet consisted of more than 200 ocean-going ships of different models and purposes, with more than 20,000 personnel. It was large enough to wipe out small countries in Southeast Asia in one fell swoop. The scale of Haihan's fleet is naturally not comparable to that of Zheng He's fleet, but its actual combat power is already very powerful, and this has been proven in several actual battles. Without considering supplies, these two majestic-class flagships on the sea alone are enough to run rampant in the South China Sea.
For some countries that have had experience in sea battles with Haihan, the sense of oppression brought by this fleet is very strong. The existence of a sea-killing weapon like the Majesty-class is simply an unsolvable problem for these countries. exist. A warship of the same tonnage could probably be built somewhere on the other side of the earth, but it would not have the same level of firepower output and high speed, and its overall performance would still not be comparable to that of the Haihan warship.
For those countries that saw the true appearance of Haihan's regular fleet for the first time, the visual impact of this scene was too strong. The water combat vessels of most countries in the Far East are still at the equipment level of the cold weapon era, and are far inferior to the almost abandoned navy of the Ming Dynasty. Such a well-organized fleet is even unthinkable. Envy, jealousy, hatred, all kinds of emotions are there, but the most important thing at the moment is to find an opportunity to ask Haihan about the prices of these ships. Envoys from some countries heard that Annan had equipped many warships of the same model, and some immediately went to Zheng Zha for confirmation.
Annan has indeed installed a batch of Haihan-made warships in his own navy, but they are all export models with the smallest tonnage. Their combat effectiveness can only be said to be better than the previous ones, and the cost is not cheap at all. One ship costs In the past, it cost more to build three or four ships yourself, and the artillery and ammunition had to be purchased separately. It took Annan four to five years to barely scrape together a fleet made entirely of Hainan, but it was still far from the requirements to control Annan's coastline.
The speed of building the fleet is so slow. On the one hand, Haihan consciously controls the supply of warships for Annan. On the other hand, it is also because the ship price is too high. It is difficult for Annan to afford the large scale with his limited military budget. of navy. Fortunately, regardless of whether Annan wants it or not, at least he still has Haihan as a military ally. The Haihan navy stationed on the Annan coastline is still in charge of most of Annan's maritime patrol affairs. Perhaps in the future, after Annan's naval establishment is improved, patrol affairs will be slowly handed over, but the military base deployed by Haihan in Annan will probably remain. The fleet sailed slowly on the sea about 100 meters away from the pier's viewing platform. During this period, the crew members gathered on the port side and lined up in neat lines to salute in the direction of the viewing platform. Shanghai military personnel on the shore also stood up collectively and returned the military salute to the sea.
It took about twenty minutes for the fleet to sail past the viewing platform from beginning to end. However, the guests saw that Haihan and others were sitting still. They knew that the military parade might not be over yet, so they all sat obediently and waited for the show to begin. .
Compared with the morning parade, the navy has a great advantage in that the venue is more open. The entire Victory Port has been closed to navigation, leaving the space in the harbor for the fleet to perform. Naturally, Wang Tom will make full use of this condition to demonstrate well. Let’s talk about the power of the navy.
As the ship's trumpet sounded, gray-white smoke quickly rose from the chimneys of the two majesty-class flagships. This was the effect of water vapor mixed with soot. Immediately afterwards, the water surface surged at the stern, and the two flagships were visible to the naked eye. The speed was slowly increasing, and soon he broke out of the fleet and rushed to the front. Such a sight made the guests on the viewing platform who saw a steam battleship for the first time open their mouths in surprise, because they had never seen a battleship speed up in such a way in a short period of time.
The two flagships turned westward at the mouth of the bay very briskly, drew an arc along the western shore of Port Victory, and then turned back eastward. Other ships chose a smaller turning radius and completed the 180-degree sea turn almost simultaneously with the two flagships. Although it may not seem like anything special, knowledgeable sailors know how difficult it is for so many ships to turn simultaneously at sea. If you are a soldier who has served at sea, you will understand better than ordinary people the important role of this ability to turn in seizing a favorable position in a sea battle.
On the pier on the west bank of the harbor, the people who originally thought they could only watch from a distance cheered excitedly when they saw the warship sailing along the coast. Zhang Jinbao and his students thought that the fleet would end when it passed the viewing platform from north to south. They were planning to leave when they saw the fleet making a wide circle on the sea and heading in their direction. Everyone suddenly became excited again, but the boss of the boat changed color when he saw this, and quickly told everyone to hold on to the side of the boat, so as not to lose their footing when the next wave comes.
The two flagships passed quickly less than a hundred meters away from the coastline. The water split by the bows formed waves and rushed to the shore one after another. The boat Zhang Jinbao and others were traveling on was a fishing boat with a displacement of only about ten tons. When the waves came, it suddenly swayed from side to side. If the boss of the boat hadn't told them in advance to grab something to stabilize their bodies, they might have been knocked down. several.
The students were shouting and staring at the two huge battleships with excitement on their faces. From this distance, the dark gun windows on the side of the ship can be seen clearly, and the crew on the deck can also be seen busy operating the sail ropes to correct the course under the command of the boatswain. The speed of the two ships was so fast that everyone was stunned for a moment before the two ships passed by, more than twice as fast as when they passed the east coast viewing platform just now.
This high-speed performance along the coastline of Port Victory not only shocked the spectators, but also the guests from all over the world who were seated at the viewing platform were even more stunned. It was the first time for most of them to see this kind of large ship that could emit smoke, and they were deeply impressed by its flexible steering and extremely high speed. They had heard that the Haihan Navy was invincible in battle. There are still some doubts, but after witnessing Haihan's fleet with their own eyes, most people will feel that it is indeed worthy of its name. Probably no warship from any country can stop this high-speed gunboat.
In fact, let alone these foreigners, even the Haihan travelers who are also sitting in the auditorium, as long as they are not related to the fields of military industry, shipbuilding, and military, most of them have never really seen their own navy at close range during wartime. It's in such a good state that there are a lot of people cheering for it while watching it.
In this era, the people who understand the importance of sea power most clearly are this group of time-travelers from several centuries later. Haihan built its country on the sea, and the control of sea territory was the most important, and the means to achieve Haihan's strategic goal were the armed sailing ships seen in front of them. Although these ships still look very primitive and backward in the eyes of time travelers, they are already black technology that is beyond this era, and they are extremely difficult to build and the cost is very high.
In the eyes of travelers, these ships are not just piles of wood floating on the sea, but piles of quantifiable real money. In order to build a sailing fleet to guard various places, Haihan spent as much as one million on building warships every year, and the more advanced the model, the higher the cost of shipbuilding. For example, the Majesty-class warship, which was outfitted before the celebration this time, adopted many new structures and materials, and its construction cost was one-third higher than that of ships of the same type in the past. The extra part would be more than enough to build an exploration-class warship, which shows how expensive it is.
The high military budget will become a focus of debate among all parties at special seminars every year, and the navy's military spending rises almost every year, causing the most controversy. But every time they fight to the end, the opposition almost always chooses to compromise, because this is the actual situation. Haihan's ever-expanding territory must have enough naval fleets to guard it, otherwise it will be difficult to ensure the safety of overseas colonies and major trade routes.
Although there will be arguments about this for several days every year, the navy's budget will eventually be satisfied. After all, although military expenditures are high, the market and labor value brought by the increase in the control area are also very considerable, which is enough to make up for Haihan's military losses. field expenditures.
After the naval review fleet made a full circle in the bay, it slowly headed south and sailed out of the harbor. Wang Tom didn't want to waste such a rare opportunity to gather, so he planned to take advantage of this opportunity to pull the fleet to the open sea for some training. After all, the harbor area is too small, so you can play with skills, but if you want to practice fleet tactics, you still have to go to a wider sea. However, the training content after this was not public, and the guests who attended the ceremony were not able to see it.
"Everyone, today's military parade has come to an end. Next, we will have a grand dinner. Guests are invited to exit in turn under the guidance of the staff. There will also be a fireworks show in the evening, and we will also organize a viewing... "With the sound coming from the loudspeaker, the military parade during the celebration finally came to an end. The unfinished guests were still excitedly exchanging their impressions and discussing various topics about the Haihan Naval Fleet.
(End of chapter)