Just after finishing the negotiations with the British representative, Xu Jie was just sitting at the table to make up for lunch, which was already three hours late, when Yang Yonglin and Ding Zhuangqian walked in.

"Didn't you say that you should discuss it with the head of the detachment first? It's only been a day before you got results? Please, I've been negotiating with the British for 4 hours, let me finish the meal first, okay? Xu Jie said a little depressed.

"You eat yours, we prepare ours." Immediately, Yan Boxun didn't care whether Xu Jie agreed or not, and began to hang drawings on the wall with Yang Yonglin. While hanging back, he said: "Boss Xu, we only talked half of it last time, we just finished talking about the battleship, now let's talk about this armored cruiser." ”

"Actually, this new battleship is no longer a purely armored cruiser. Your friend commissioned Count Leo to equip these ships with the main guns of battleships, as well as a new type of power pack. It will surpass all known armored cruisers. We call it the Armored Cruiser Killer! ”

"Judging from actual combat, it was not the outdated battleships of the Russians that really caused us big trouble, but the large number of armored cruisers and armored cruiser collar ships. So I think it's necessary for us to make a special class of super battleships dedicated to hunting armored cruisers, you can call it super cruisers, firepower and speed will be overwhelming, but in terms of defense, it will be dominated by guns below 10 inches. Heavy on attack and light on protection. Yang Yonglin added on the side.

"Let's call it a battlecruiser. With the firepower of a battleship and the speed of a cruiser. Specialized patrol killer! Xu Jie said after taking a bite of food.

"This name is good, Boss Xu, you are too talented." Yan Boxun clapped his hands and said.

"yes. It can be used as a reliable avant-garde for the fleet, and at the same time it can hunt down cruisers that carry out the mission of breaking diplomatic relations! If necessary, you can also go to the battle line to fight a decisive battle to supplement the shortage of capital ships. Yang Yonglin nodded and said.

"Uh, ahem." Xu Jie almost didn't squirt out a mouthful of soy milk after hearing Yang Yonglin's last sentence. The words of the battlecruiser on the battle line. The result can only be described as quite tragic, in history, in the Battle of Jutland, the British battlecruisers were lit one after another, not to mention, even in the case of German battlecruisers with relatively good defense, their level of protection is still quite far behind that of German battleships of the same class. If it weren't for the problems with the British shells, the vast majority of German battlecruisers would never have survived the blows of the Grand Fleet!

For example, the Moltke-class battleships, their so-called 11-inch class main equipment only has a narrow layer at the waterline. THE GERMAN BATTLESHIP KAISER OF THE SAME PERIOD WAS A 350MM MAIN MOUNT BELT MORE THAN 3 METERS HIGH, MOLTKE ACTUALLY MAINLY RELIED ON THE UPPER 8 INCHES TO 9 INCHES OF ARMOR TO RESIST SHELLS, WHILE THE KAISER WAS USED TO DEFEND AGAINST 350MM MAIN LOAD. Except for the main load. The Caesar-class dome armor is also thicker than the Moltke-class, and the layout is more reasonable. As for artillery protection. The front of the 300 is also dominated by the front of the Moltke 230MM.

WHEN IT CAME TO THE DFFLINGER-CLASS BATTLECRUISERS, THE 300MM MAIN HEIGHT OF THE GERMAN BATTLE CRUISERS WAS FINALLY OKAY, BUT THE BAVARIA-CLASS MAIN HEIGHT HAD REACHED 3.8 METERS. And the firepower is 8 doors 15 inches to 8 doors 12 inches! The protection is still relatively watery, and the difference in firepower is even higher than that of heaven and earth. Even more tragic. The tonnage of the Deflinger is even larger. More expensive! If De Fllinger and Bavaria were to attack, in addition to escaping, the ending must have been quite tragic!

Therefore, the role of the battle patrol is too single, and there are too many performances that are sacrificed in pursuit of high speed! At a time when the development of large-caliber guns was slow, the battle cruiser could still use the firepower and ultra-high speed of a battleship, and then please the low penetration of the less successful armor-piercing shells. When a vote of 14-inch and 15-inch naval guns and hardened cap armor-piercing shells came into play, the weakness of the battle patrol's protection and firepower was exposed!

Of course, all this is in the case of similar tonnage and cost. If a 40,000-ton Hood is made like the British Empire, the tonnage accumulation effect will still be there. However, even so, it still can't beat Bavaria, which is much earlier than it, and the tonnage of the latter is only 28,000 tons! As for comparing it with the "bigseven" of the same period (the American Maryland, the British Nelson and the Japanese Nagato-3 battleships with 16-inch guns), it would be even more thrown two streets away!

"The battle line depends on the situation, as a patrol killer, let's do our job first." Yang Yonglin's idea is a bit dangerous! didn't care about continuing to eat, Xu Jie put down his chopsticks and walked up.

"At present, there are three main battle patrol schemes, the first is a 16,000-ton battle patrol scheme with six 12-inch guns, using new steam turbines and boilers, and reaching a speed of 23 knots. The main armor belt is 9-inch armor, using a long bow structure, and there are two subspecies under this scheme, one is the bow carries the layout of the main gun, so that the tonnage will rise, and the other is to place the two main guns in the stern, and the last turret lowers the deck, so that the weight saved can make the main installation 1 inch thicker! Yan Boxun said.

"The second plan is to use a knapsack turret at the end and from the end, with a total of 4 8 main guns, the main armor belt of 9 to 10 inches, a speed of 23 knots, and a tonnage of about 19,000 tons. This scheme has the best firepower, but at the same time, it is also the most expensive. The third layout is a diamond-shaped layout, compared with a 10-gun battleship, it reduces a piggyback turret and weakens the protection, and the tonnage is between 17,000 and 10,008, which can exert the firepower of 8 guns within a certain range. The cost is in the middle. Yang Yonglin handed over the remaining two plans.

"One thing that needs to be made clear, that is, the battle line on the battlecruiser must be absolutely cautious! If you don't get it right, you're going to die! Xu Jie wiped the soy milk on the side of his mouth and said.

"At present, it seems that the 9-inch armor is basically immune to the Russians' 12-inch main gun attack at normal engagement distances, so if our armor can be kept at a thickness of 9 inches to 10 inches, it is enough to resist the Russians' attacks." Yang Yonglin said.

"HOWEVER, OUR MAIN GUN AND NEW ARMOR-PIERCING SHELLS CAN ALREADY PENETRATE MORE THAN 10 INCHES OF ARMOR AT A DISTANCE OF 5KM. To look at the problem from the perspective of development, the French are working hard to develop a 12-inch 50L main gun, and in 5 years, the combat power of the Russians will definitely increase, so we must make a margin. Xu Jie paused and continued.

"The generals and staff officers are always ready for the last war, and I don't want the Beiyang Navy to be like this to be in charge of the fleet. Battlecruisers were an indispensable force. But it's not the amount of power that decides! Xu Jie said solemnly.

"The Battle Patrol can be used to break up the enemy, it can be used against the opponent's avant-garde and to seize advantageous formations, but try to avoid engaging battleships on the battle line. Even the so-called surface data, there was an unbridgeable gap between battlecruisers and battleships on issues such as the layout of the compartments and the height of the armor belt! Xu Jie looked at Yang Yonglin, who was slightly unconvinced, and said.

"That's true, in terms of the main armor belt, the new battle cruiser is generally half a meter or more lower than the battleship, and because it has to install more boilers and a heavier power system, the hull must be stretched very long, the aspect ratio is very large, and in the case of equal tonnage, the depth of underwater protection is indeed not as good as that of a battleship of tonnage. The gap in the face of 10-inch guns may not be much, but if you want to meet 12-inch 45L or 50L, the main height is not enough, so you can only use armor to defend against these heavy guns. The results are not encouraging. Yan Boxun interjected.

"More importantly, our budget is limited, and it is impossible to increase the capital ship uncontrollably. The cost of a battlecruiser is about 3 percent higher than that of a battleship. And the actual decisive battle capability is limited, so we must be cautious. In addition to the capital ships, we also have a large number of auxiliary warships to add. Our lightning strike and anti-lightning strike capabilities are too poor relative to the attack power of our capital ships. This shortcoming must be strengthened! Xu Jie thought for a while and said.

"Yes, lightning strikes are a bit worse. Moreover, the role of torpedoes as a weapon is somewhat underestimated, and if it weren't for luck and the Guiyuan, we might have lost a battleship! Yang Yonglin nodded and said.

"But I'm worried that what if the Russians come back next time and fight the armored cruisers to break the engagement? If France were to get involved in a war between China and Russia, once Cam Ranh Bay was opened to the Russians, our shipping lanes in the South China Sea would be finished! We must guard against the Russians. Yang Yonglin said worriedly.

"No, when I was in Europe, although France and Russia were allied, it was mainly against the Germans, and in this war, wasn't France strictly neutral? When I went to France, the French wanted to sell their boilers and turbines through me. But the Netherlands next to it makes people feel quite unhappy. I feel that the most hostile to us in Europe is the Netherlands! Yan Boxun frowned.

"The French should not be fighting in the Far East, after all, their main enemy is Germany." Xu Jie shook his head and said. However, the reaction of the Netherlands is unexpected. We are gradually hollowing out their colonies, and it is not normal that they do not hate us! ”

Since that "gunboat diplomacy", the Chinese finally no longer have to live under the double oppression of the Dutch and the local natives. With the security, the Indonesian Chinese began to gradually expand their power in all aspects, and the Chinese businessmen, who already occupied a considerable share of the local economic system, began to gradually control the economic lifeline of the entire colony! And this was only the beginning, and a large number of Chinese merchants began to return to their homeland with large sums of money to participate in modern industry and other commercial activities. And this inevitably led to a massive outflow of funds from the Dutch colony, which was terrible for the only remaining colony of the Netherlands!

Yesterday's subscriptions actually hit an all-time low of 265——! The author's heart is so cool——! (To be continued.) )