"According to the plan formulated by the Navy Department last time and the instructions of the commander, the Navy Department has revised the new round of plans and sent the relevant requirements to the American side. And a preliminary agreement was reached! Then Sa Zhenbing took out an official document and handed it to Chen Jingyun: "This is the preliminary plan for a new round of plans!" ”

Chen Jingyun took a look, there was not much content on it, only some approximate data, etc., and it did not directly make a three-year or five-year development plan like last time, with a large number of detailed and rich contents. The content this time is much simpler, but although it is simple, Chen Jingyun read it very carefully.

This new round of shipbuilding plans is still based on the naval cooperation plan between the two sides, that is, the amount of ships built is still less than 40 million yuan, and the warships built have made a new round of adjustments according to the previous plan and Chen Jingyun's intentions.

The plan made by the Navy Department is to purchase two first-class cruisers of the 10,000-ton class, with an estimated unit price of 8 million yuan; three 4,000-ton fast cruisers, with an estimated unit price of 3.5 million yuan; six 1,000-ton fast destroyers, with an estimated unit price of two million yuan;

This procurement plan is completely different from the procurement plan first proposed by the Navy Department. The first procurement plan proposed by the Navy Department was to build an armored cruiser fleet with one 10,000-ton armored cruiser and two 5,000-ton protective cruisers as the core, supplemented by several rapid reconnaissance cruisers and destroyers. But it was already the end of 1912, and the concepts of armored cruisers and protective cruisers had long since become obsolete, and in their place were upgraded battle cruisers of armored cruisers and high-speed cruiser combinations with focused protection and abandonment of large-caliber guns. A protective cruiser like the Haiqi, which is more than 4,000 tons equipped with two eight-inch guns and heavy armor, is no longer out of date.

In order to keep up with the world trend, and also to meet Chen Jingyun's request for a high-speed cruiser fleet proposed by the Navy Department, the Navy Department referred to the various ships in service and under construction in the United Kingdom, the United States and other countries, and then put forward a new plan for the shipbuilding plan.

First, the purchase of two high-speed cruisers armed with six eight-inch guns. And these two 10,000-ton cruisers, which are the core of the future fleet, must have a speed of more than 27 knots. This speed is the minimum requirement, mainly to avoid the pursuit of the enemy navy's battle cruisers, such as the King Kong-class battlecruisers that were originally being ordered from the British, and their speed has reached 27 knots. As the Chinese Navy and the US Pacific Fleet's biggest imaginary enemy and adversary, this cannot be ignored. However, under today's technical conditions, in order to meet the high speed of the 10,000-ton cruiser, the tonnage and space paid for this are also huge, and the corresponding armor and other aspects have to be compromised.

Originally, the plan was to adopt comprehensive protection for armored cruisers, but in order to maintain high speeds, they had to abandon the armor and adopt a similar focus protection as battlecruisers, and at the same time, in order to reduce the space of the power system and obtain higher speeds, the battleship adopted a power combination of oil-fired boilers and steam turbines. Both oil-fired boilers and steam turbines have now begun to be used in a small number of naval warships, although they have not yet been popularized on a large scale, but the United States has had similar plans before, but it has not been used on a large scale for the sake of prudence. Now that the Fuzhou Naval Department has put forward the harsh requirements for high speed, and at the same time has the idea of using this opportunity to test this power combination, the United States has proposed this power solution.

There has also been a great deal of change in naval artillery, and experts on the American side and Yu Wentao of the Fuzhou Naval Department and others have agreed that six eight-inch guns are already the minimum requirement. Otherwise, if a warship with a hull of tens of thousands of tons and a warship costing nearly 10 million yuan is only equipped with six-inch guns or two eight-inch guns, it will be a complete waste. Just ask, no matter how fast a battleship with tens of thousands of tons runs, but with a toothpick cannon, who can it fight, let alone against those battleships and battle cruisers, even the early armored cruisers may not be able to deal with it, so it is putting the cart before the horse.

Of course, the most important thing is that due to the abandonment of full armor protection, a large amount of tonnage is free, and this tonnage is allocated not only to the power system, but also to the naval gun system.

Therefore, it adopts the configuration of three twin seats, two in the front and one in the back, with four eight-inch guns in front and two eight-inch guns in the stern. For the secondary guns, eight single-mounted five-inch guns were selected.

Just looking at this firepower configuration, it is already far superior to the 10,000-ton warships of the same era.

In order to meet the above design requirements, the shipbuilding experts on the American side quickly came up with a detailed design plan: the total length of the battleship is 185 meters, the width of the ship is 18 meters, the draft is 6 meters, the armor is 75 mm on the side armor belt, 40 mm on the deck, 50 mm on the turret, 30 mm on the command tower, and the armor belt is arranged in the rest of the key parts. The power system is eight oil-fired boilers plus four Parsons steam turbines, four shafts and four propellers, with an estimated maximum speed of 27 knots, 2,000 tons of oil, and a range of 7,000 nautical miles at an economic speed of 16 knots. In terms of armament, there are three twin guns with a total of six eight-inch guns, eight single-mounted five-inch guns, and two triple 533-mm torpedo tubes. The rated crew is 400 people, and the standard displacement of the battleship is 10,000 tons, and the full load displacement can reach 11,000 tons.

This design can be said to be a completely miniature version of the battlecruiser, and the design concept is basically the same as that of the battlecruiser, that is, the armor is exchanged for high speed and firepower. This is also a good opportunity for the American side to explore the battlecruisers, after all, the US Navy has so far disregarded the battlecruisers, believing that they are basically impossible to play their due role under the blows of the battleships.

As a result of the new design, the cost has also increased from previous estimates, and the unit price has soared from 8 million yuan to 9 million yuan.

In addition to the core 10,000-ton heavy cruisers of these two fleets, there were three fast cruisers of the 4,000-ton class. Before World War I, the United States did not attach much importance to the construction and design of small ships, and was obsessed with the design and construction of capital ships, that is, battleships. Whether it was the previous 10,000-ton heavy cruiser or these thousands of tons of light cruisers, the United States did not have a good ship type and design to refer to, this time the American experts and the Fuzhou fleet still set their sights on the British Navy, and according to some data of some active and under construction cruisers in other countries as a reference, and finally came up with an initial design plan.

The total length is 135 meters, the width of the ship is 11 meters, the draft is 4 meters, the standard displacement is 4,000 tons, and the full load displacement can reach 4,500 tons. The power system also adopts the scheme of 10,000 tons of heavy cruise, that is, the combination of oil-fired boilers and steam turbines, the design maximum speed is 29 knots, and the range can reach 4,500 nautical miles at 16 knots. In terms of armament, two single-mounted six-inch guns were selected, one in the front and one in the front and one in the front, and the secondary guns were six four-inch guns, and two triple 533 torpedo tubes. Like the two 10,000-ton heavy cruisers, the tonnage of armor was sacrificed in order to meet the needs of high speed, and only key protection was adopted. Although this tonnage is similar to that of the Haiqi as a protective cruiser, the protection is much worse than the Haiqi, and even the firepower is far inferior, after all, the Haiqi is also equipped with two eight-inch guns, and the speed of the two is also very different, the Haiqi is only about 20 knots, and the 4,000-ton light cruiser in the design can run 29 knots.

In addition to two 10,000-ton heavy cruisers and three 4,000-ton light cruisers, there were six 1,000-ton destroyers. This is relatively simple, the United States directly enlarged the existing design, and came up with a total length of 100 meters, a width of 9 meters, a draft of 3 meters, and a standard displacement of 1,000 tons, in which the main gun uses two single-mounted four-inch guns, and the secondary gun uses four three-inch guns, as well as two triple 533 torpedo tubes. The design maximum speed is thirty knots.

According to the above plan, there are two 10,000-ton heavy cruisers, three 4,000-ton light cruisers, and six 1,000-ton destroyers. Create a high-speed cruiser formation with ocean-going combat capabilities. According to the strategic plan given by the US Navy advisers, the core task of such a fleet is to use its high speed to attack the small cruiser formations or merchant ships of the Navy in the open oceans, and to avoid the main fleet of the Navy as much as possible. Even if it encounters the main fleet of the navy, it can retreat at any time with high speed, and can even use high speed to carry out lightning strike operations in the night storm and waves, which is why there are as many as six destroyers purchased.

According to the optimistic estimate of the United States, such a Chinese high-speed cruiser fleet will be able to effectively contain part of the naval forces in the event of a war between the United States and the United States, thereby reducing the tremendous pressure on the US Navy and creating favorable conditions for a decisive battle between the main forces of the US Navy and the main forces of the United States.

Chen Jingyun is far less concerned about the navy than he is about the army, and he only has a general idea of how to rebuild the navy, that is, to move towards the path of the aircraft carrier formation. Anyway, in his opinion, before China builds aircraft carriers on a large scale, seizing the so-called sea supremacy is an empty word, and he must continue to live in the shadow of the so-called "navy." Before that, he set a simple goal for the navy, the first is to train, and the second is to use the existing resources to create a defense system. I don't want to be able to defeat the main force of the navy, but I want to be able to defend the coastal waters, and don't let me land in the hinterland of China's coast wherever I choose." For this point, Chen Jingyun also has a plan, and his plan is very simple, that is, an airplane. Even if aircraft carriers and the like can't be made for a while, land-based naval aviation can still play a big role.

As for the high-speed cruiser fleet that has been created now, one is that Chen Jingyun needs to use it to get closer to the Americans and cooperate, and the second is that he can also be used to maintain the foundation of China's ocean-going fleet, so as not to cut off the high-level talents of the navy.

As for the rest, he didn't have much of an opinion, and after looking at it carefully, Chen Jingyun said: "I think the plan is feasible, but it is not enough to form a fleet of high-speed cruisers, my country's coastline is so long, and the overall defense is not." I think the concept of lightning strike operations proposed in your plan is good, and you can talk to the United States to see if you can ask them to help design ships specially used for lightning strike operations, the tonnage can be smaller, a few hundred tons is enough, mainly used for port and coastal defense operations, using torpedoes as the main weapon, but the speed should be fast, the price should be cheap, and it must be able to be produced by our own shipyards. You will discuss the specific matters in the Navy Department again, and I will just give you a rough idea. ”

Sa Zhenbing is a veteran admiral, and when he heard it, he could tell that the type of ship Chen Jingyun said should be similar to the 400-ton torpedo hunting boat ordered from Germany, that is, the so-called small destroyer. These ships, which were only three or four hundred tons, used torpedoes as weapons and were mainly used for defensive operations along the coast.

So he immediately said: "I understand, and the Navy Department will come up with a plan to ask the commander to pass the purpose!" ”