According to the second phase of the development plan of the Imperial Navy, the Empire needs to build a large number of cutting-edge warships, and it can even be said that it is a new sharp force in an all-round way.

Because among the so many warships in service in the Imperial Navy, there are only three warships that can keep up with the pace of the naval powers.

They are the Pingbo armored ship with a standard displacement of 6,500 tons, the 2,500-ton Luo Hai dome cruiser, and the Luo Hai's sister ship, the Luo An dome cruiser.

At the end of August, the Dome cruiser Roan had just completed sea trials after outfitting and was officially delivered to the Navy.

Except for these three cutting-edge warships, the rest are basically unusable.

If it weren't for the fact that the family is weak and needs to maintain a certain fleet size, maintain maritime security, and train officers and men, the navy would have thought about decommissioning other old warships that are unusable.

Anyway, it's useless to keep it, and the old battleship is very expensive to use, and it will have to be repaired in three days......

But in reality, these old warships cannot be decommissioned in one go, for example, the nine old armored ships existing in the Imperial Navy are no longer completely suitable for the needs of modern naval warfare, either the tonnage is too small, or they are too old, and they have no potential for upgrading and modification.

Among these nine old armored ships, the 10,000-ton ironclad ship of the Endless Sea will be directly decommissioned and scrapped, and the four armored ships that are only equally old and have little upgrade and modification value will be transferred to the Third Fleet as reserve training ships.

The remaining four armored ships, all of which are less than ten years old, with a tonnage of between 2,000 and 5,000 tons, although the speed is relatively slow, and the hull design is also an old-style design, but it can still be used, so the Navy is ready to divide these four armored ships into coastal defense armored ships, but it is estimated that they will be decommissioned in a few years.

Of the remaining 20 or so warships of various types without armor protection, there are only six unprotected cruisers of one or two thousand tons that can barely be used, and the rest are scum.

In other words, among the ships in service, there is only one armored ship, four coastal defense armored ships, two dome cruisers, and six unprotected cruisers.

However, the ships under construction are not bad.

The Imperial Navy has two 8,000-ton capital battleships under construction, namely the Unification and the Luohe; a Luohai-class dome cruiser Guang'an; two full-fledged dome cruisers Ansu and Nanfeng; Three unprotected cruisers with steel-hulled hulls.

Counting those in service and under construction, the Navy expects to start construction of at least six capital battleships, eight large or small cruisers, and four medium-tonnage coastal defense armored ships in the next few years.

Now that we have a plan to expand our fleet, it is naturally necessary to make certain adjustments to the current fleet establishment, especially to clarify the division of tasks between ocean-going operations and coastal and inland river operations.

After Lin Ziran approved the adjustment plan of the navy, the imperial navy continued to retain the three fleets, but the mission attributes of the three fleets would be adjusted.

The First Fleet and the Second Fleet are both ocean-going combat fleets, with the First Fleet responsible for operations on the east coast, the Second Fleet for operations on the west coast, and the Third Fleet for reserve and training fleets.

Under the three major fleets, a sub-fleet will be set up to be responsible for specific operational affairs, and under the sub-fleet, a fixed battlefleet and a cruiser fleet will be under its jurisdiction.

In addition to the three major fleets, four coastal local fleets will also be set up to be responsible for coastal patrols and inland river combat missions, including the reorganization of the Luohe Fleet's First Coastal Defense Fleet, which will be responsible for coastal patrols in Ningyu Prefecture, Nanhai Prefecture, and the southern part of Dongding Prefecture, as well as operational affairs on the Luo River and Baiquan River.

The Second Coastal Defense Fleet, which was reorganized from the Jinghe Fleet, was responsible for coastal patrols on the northern coast of Dongdingju and the southern coast of Jingzhou, as well as operational affairs on the Jinghe River.

The Third Coastal Defense Fleet was newly established to be responsible for coastal patrols in northern Jingzhou, Gaoqing Prefecture, and Ningwu Prefecture, as well as operational affairs on the Bei'an River.

The Fourth Coastal Defense Fleet was newly established to be responsible for coastal patrols in Zhongluo Prefecture and Northwest Prefecture on the west coast, as well as operational affairs on the Xisong River.

After taking the northern states, the navy also prepared to set up an inner lake fleet in the two major lakes in the north, namely Xiyu Lake and Dongbei Lake.

The above-mentioned coastal defense fleets also have a number of sub-fleets, and the sub-fleets have a fixed number of artillery fleets and patrol fleets under their jurisdiction.

As for the three major fleets and the four coastal defense fleets that have been set up now, the warships arranged are different according to the nature of the tasks.

For example, the First Fleet has almost concentrated most of the ocean-going warships of the current empire.

After determining the target for fleet expansion and adjusting the fleet establishment, the Navy's Ship Administration Department quickly came up with a number of new-type warship designs, the focus of which was the new-type main battleship.

In order to catch up with the first-class naval powers, the tonnage of the new capital battleships can no longer be limited to seven or eight thousand tons, but must have 10,000 tons.

In the words of the head of the Imperial Navy, Duan Hongxiao, the battleships did not have tens of thousands of tons in these years, and they were embarrassed to go out to greet others!

But this is just Duan Hongxiao's statement.

What about the 10,000-ton battleship, this thing is technically complex and expensive, and if it wants to maintain advanced performance, then it is a complete gold-eating beast, even if a major country wants to build and maintain such a large-scale 10,000-ton battlefleet, it is not enough.

Therefore, although the newly built capital ships of many countries in contemporary times will have one or two battleships of tens of thousands of tons, the number is very small, and more of them are some capital ships of seven or eight thousand tons.

The Imperial Navy's current armored ship Pingbo and the battleships Unification and Luohe under construction are all capital ships of this class.

The tonnage of coastal defense armored ships is even smaller, generally only about three or four thousand tons.

However, the Krull Kingdom is an exception, their newly built capital ship, the 10,000-ton battleship, has just been completed and put into service, and the battleship Andrey, which caused a sensation in the navies of various countries as soon as it was unveiled, has a standard displacement of 11,000 tons.

Of course, the Krull Kingdom also has a large number of eight or nine thousand ton battleships, but those were all built before, and many of the older eight or nine thousand ton battleships have become second-class battleships in the Krull Kingdom Navy.

The Krull Kingdom will not even build a special shore defense ironclad, but directly use some old large-tonnage battleships as shore defense ironclad ships.

In fact, this is the difference between the global navy and the regional navy, and the difference in strength is huge.

If the Imperial Navy wants to expand its navy, it is natural to go to the Krull Kingdom, the number one contemporary naval power, and the Krull Kingdom Navy will build 10,000-ton battleships, and the Imperial Navy will also build 10,000-ton battleships.

Therefore, the tonnage of the new battleship must be 10,000 tons, equipped with at least four rear-loading rifled main guns with a 300-millimeter long barrel, have an all-waterline protective armor belt, the armor strength must keep up with the mainstream level, and the speed must not be less than 14 knots.

Such design requirements are very demanding for the contemporary Daheng Empire.

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