If you want to spread the cost of research and development as much as possible, you must mass-produce any kind of weapon. This is also the reason why once a weapon and equipment is successfully developed, a lot of it will be produced after mass production. Even if it is a naval warship, at least two warships of the same class will be built. Only in this way can we reduce costs as much as possible.

The D-class aircraft carrier is mass-produced and used as the main weapon of the Imperial Navy in future wars, in order to reduce the cost of construction and share the cost of research and development as much as possible. In future wars, military spending will be very terrifying. The lower the cost, the more aircraft carriers can be built, ensuring that the Imperial Navy will be more powerful in the future.

Emperor Wu Haoxuan told Marshal Sa Zhenbing that after the construction of the E-class aircraft carrier and the F-class aircraft carrier was completed, the construction of the D-class aircraft carrier could begin. And, as soon as the D-class aircraft carrier is built, eight will be built at once. Ensuring that the Imperial Navy was able to receive eight aircraft carriers in the Yellow Emperor Era in 4640 AD further increased the power of the Imperial Navy.

"Your Majesty, according to the previous arrangement, we will go to the shipyard tomorrow to visit the 'Three Emperor-class' battleships that are being refitted. Tomorrow afternoon, we will go to sea to watch the live-fire training of the refitted 'Five Emperor-class' battleships. Admiral Sa Zhenbing said.

"Hmm." Wu Haoxuan nodded. As the pace of war approached, the warships of the Imperial Navy began to be modernized one after another. The 'Five Emperor-class' battleships were the first to complete the refit, and then it was the turn of the 'Three Emperor-class' battleships. Then there were the 'Zhonghua-class' battleships, the 'Longxing-class' battleships and the 'Longfei-class' battlecruisers. Those battleships of the South Ocean Fleet, which captured the British Navy, will also be refitted.

This modification, on the one hand, is to strengthen the anti-aircraft capability of the battleship, replacing some secondary guns with 120-mm high-level dual-purpose guns, 88-mm anti-aircraft guns, and adding more 40-mm anti-aircraft guns, 20-mm anti-aircraft guns and 12.7-mm anti-aircraft machine guns. In order to facilitate future naval battles, these warships can have more powerful air defense capabilities.

All warships of the Imperial Navy, from battleships, heavy cruisers, light cruisers to destroyers, were to strengthen their air defense. In order to be able to resist the attack of the enemy's carrier-based aircraft in future naval battles. At the same time, it can also act as a bodyguard for the aircraft carrier and protect the aircraft carrier's air defense.

In addition, these warships will be equipped with radars, including air search radars and sea search radars. It was even necessary to install gun-sighting radars for these warships. After naval warfare has entered the era dominated by aircraft carriers and carrier-based aircraft, it is very necessary to detect the enemy in advance and win more warning time for your own side. Therefore, it is very important to equip warships with radars. The Reich has been heavily invested in radar. Three years ago, the Reich had already developed an anti-aircraft radar that could be used in real combat. He also began to build a network of air defense systems on the borders of the Empire to ensure that enemy planes could not slip into the Empire's airspace silently and odorlessly. It's just that the radars used by the Air Force and Air Defense Forces are very large and can only be deployed on the ground. The radar used on warships must be miniaturized. After continuous research, the Empire finally made a breakthrough in this area and began to deploy these radars on the warships of the Navy.

The next day, Emperor Wu Haoxuan went to the shipyard to inspect the 'Three Emperor-class' battleships that were being refitted. The anti-aircraft fire of the Three Emperors-class battleships has already been refitted. The original 16 155 mm secondary guns have been replaced by 120 mm high-level dual-purpose guns. The 88-mm rapid-fire guns were all replaced with anti-aircraft guns. In addition, eight 40-mm anti-aircraft guns and 10 20-mm anti-aircraft guns were installed on the fore and aft decks and on the sides. 12.7 mm anti-aircraft machine guns, and as many as 20 units. This makes the 'Three Emperors-class' battleship completely like a hedgehog when firing in the air. It is enough to form a dense network of anti-aircraft fire. Then if the enemy carrier-based aircraft tried to attack beyond these anti-aircraft fire, they would be fatally hit. In this way, these capital ships of the Imperial Navy will not only continue to have the ability to fight independently, but will also be able to join the aircraft carrier fleet to fight at a critical time and provide more powerful anti-aircraft firepower for the aircraft carrier.

"Your Majesty, the radars currently being installed for the Imperial Navy's 'Three Emperor-class' battleships are the 'Hawkeye' 2 anti-air search radar. This radar, weighing 2.5 tons, has a detection distance of 150 kilometers for large groups and 100 kilometers for single aircraft. It can provide air defense early warning for the fleet very well. The person in charge of the shipyard introduced Wu Haoxuan.

Wu Haoxuan nodded, the performance of this air search radar is not bad, and it has almost reached the performance of the American radar in the middle of World War II. In this way, the Imperial Navy can have a greater advantage in future naval battles. At the current speed of carrier-based aircraft, it is possible to win at least twenty minutes of early warning time for the fleet. During this time, the fleet can only take off thirty or forty fighter planes to meet the enemy, thus supporting a safe air defense network for the fleet.

"In addition to this air search radar, there is also a 'Lookout' 2 sea search radar. This type of sea search radar weighs 1.5 tons and has a detection distance of 41 kilometers for large warships and 30 kilometers for small warships. The head of the shipyard continued.

"Well, how effective is it when used at night?" Wu Haoxuan asked.

"Your Majesty, the reliability of the radar is very good, and at night, it can still play its best performance."

"What about directing artillery attacks on the sea?" Wu Haoxuan asked. He hoped that the radar of the Imperial Navy would be able to achieve this function. In this way, even at night, you can accurately hit the target. When there is no radar guidance, when fighting at night, the hit rate of artillery fire cannot be guaranteed at all. The distance of engagement is often limited to less than ten kilometers. If there is a radar guide, then at night, the engagement distance can still be extended to 20 kilometers. This provides an opportunity for these capital ships to continue to exert their residual heat. Even, it is not impossible to use battleships to sneak attack aircraft carriers. After all, at night, carrier-based aircraft on aircraft carriers cannot take off. Once approached by a battleship or even a heavy cruiser, it would be a disaster. The main guns of a battleship, with only one shot, were enough to inflict heavy damage on an aircraft carrier. Once the flight deck is attacked, the aircraft carrier becomes a living target.

"Your Majesty, although the current artillery sighting radar is not high enough in Shanghai, it is enough to command the capital ships of the Imperial Navy to hit the target at a distance of twenty kilometers. If we wait until the next radar is developed, this distance can be further improved. ”

"Hmm." Wu Haoxuan nodded with satisfaction.

"What about the specific conversion plans?" Wu Haoxuan asked. The current empire is rich and rich. There are enough financial resources to retrofit these ships.

"Your Majesty, we first planned to refit battleships and battlecruisers. After that, all the heavy cruisers were refitted. After the heavy cruisers, it was the turn of the light cruisers. As for the destroyer, there is still a dispute within the Navy about this. On the one hand, radar is very expensive to build. If you want to install radar for every destroyer, it will cost a lot of money. On the other hand, there is no need for this. At the time of fleet operations, destroyers were often in the fittings. There are already capital ships or aircraft carriers in the fleet that have radars on them. It would be a bit wasteful to install radar on the destroyer. Marshal Sa Zhenbing said.

Wu Haoxuan nodded: "Your worries are not unreasonable. However, if you can, you should install radar on all destroyers as well. It is necessary to install not only anti-air search radars, but also sea search radars and gun-sighting radars. In this way, the destroyer can also fight alone. For example, to go out of the fleet to provide intelligence gathering for the fleet, or to launch attacks on incoming enemy carrier-based aircraft at night. ”

Although, carrier-based aircraft that take off and land at night, the Imperial Navy is still developing. So far, it has been difficult. However, this does not mean that this aspect can be ignored. The Imperial Navy had to prepare for future naval battles.

"Yes, Your Majesty." Marshal Sa Zhenbing nodded. Since Wu Haoxuan intends to install radar on all warships, of course he will not object.

In the afternoon, Emperor Wu Haoxuan watched the shooting training of the refitted 'Five Emperor-class' battleships. Under the guidance of the radar, the accuracy of their hits at a distance of twenty kilometers has been greatly improved. If it's in a night battle, they'll be able to play even more.

Wu Haoxuan was very satisfied with the Imperial Navy's current refit plan. By the time the war broke out, almost all the warships of the Imperial Navy had been refitted, and they would enter the war with a reborn appearance. This will give the Imperial Navy a greater advantage in future wars.

In addition to the modification of these warships, the Imperial Navy was also providing special 'sword guards' for aircraft carrier captains, that is, large anti-aircraft cruisers. The Imperial Navy planned to have one to two large anti-aircraft cruisers on the side of each aircraft carrier. In this way, the safety of the aircraft carrier can be further guaranteed. The air defense capability faced by the aircraft carriers of the Imperial Navy will also rise sharply. With aircraft carriers with strong attack power, coupled with large air defense cruisers with strong air defense capabilities, the aircraft carrier formation of the Imperial Navy can really be regarded as complete. (To be continued.) )