On the cruiser Busan, Rear Admiral Peng Zhixing stands on the command bridge.

At this time, the battleship under his feet was slowly leaving the port driven by the steam engine and the two steam engine tugs next to it.

At this time, there were hundreds of warships of various navies gathered in the Hong Kong Naval Base. Such a large number of warships gathered in the harbor, causing the harbor of this originally huge naval base to be extremely crowded. Without the assistance of steam engines and tugboats, it could only rely on

It would be very troublesome to get in and out of the port with sail power.

It is convenient to enter and leave the port, which is also a major role of steam engine power in early motor sailing ships.

The cruiser Busan is equipped with a large vertical two-cylinder steam unit produced by Guangzhou Machinery Company. The maximum power can reach 1,500 horsepower. It uses single-shaft propulsion. Although the power of its steam unit is higher than that of the 4,000-horsepower unit next door.

The more than 2,000 horsepower on the multi-ton first-class battleship Suzhou is slightly different.

But in terms of horsepower per ton, it far exceeds the first-class battleship Suzhou.

Coupled with the cruiser's unique large aspect ratio, arrow-shaped bow and other designs, the Busan cruiser can achieve considerable speeds under pure steam engine power.

If the aircraft and sails are used together, the speed can even be further increased.

In terms of single-wheel speed, the cruiser Busan and its three half-sister ships are the fastest warships in the navy of the Dachu Empire today.

During previous sea trials, the maximum speed could reach 18 knots when the wind was smooth and the sails were used together.

Of course, this maximum speed has no practical value, because when a warship sails on a daily basis, it is rarely possible to obtain smooth sailing conditions, and it is even less possible to increase the steam engine to its maximum power.

Even during daily navigation, the warships of the Dachu Empire Navy basically did not use steam engines and only relied on sails to save coal...

During navigation, the steam engines on battleships are generally only used when rushing or when a battle breaks out. They are used to increase the speed of the battleship and avoid the influence of wind direction.

If the steam engine is turned on directly during ordinary navigation, the coal will be used up soon... Without coal, the steam unit will become a decoration.

Rear Admiral Peng Zhixing watched his many warships gradually leave the port and enter the predetermined route. He immediately ordered each ship to raise its main sail and use the majesty on the sea to sail slowly. After sailing for some distance,

He directly ordered the steam engines to be shut down to save coal.

At this time, the cruiser Busan had already left the naval base for some distance, and there were three half-sister ships with similar displacements nearby, namely the other three Toongju-class cruisers, Toongju, Yingkou, and Dengzhou.

.

To the left and right of the four Toyoshu-class cruisers, there are two formations of eight frigates, which belong to this advance fleet.

These four Toyoshu-class cruisers and eight frigates will form a separate forward fleet, with Rear Admiral Peng Zhixing as the commander of the fleet.

The eight frigates in the formation are also the most advanced frigates in the Chu Empire Navy: Longchuan-class frigates.

This class of ship is the latest generation of large frigates in the Da Chu Empire Navy, and it is also the first large frigate specially designed for fleet ocean operations.

The designed full-load displacement reaches more than 860 tons. It is equipped with a steam unit and has a large area of ​​sail equipment. Its maneuverability is quite good.

At the same time, the hull design pays more attention to the seaworthiness of the ocean. Not only does it have a faster speed, but the living space for personnel is also far greater than that of previous small-tonnage frigates. Compared with the previous frigates of five to six hundred tons, it is more suitable for ocean operations.

Of course, limited by the hull tonnage and for higher speed, the rolling of this frigate is still relatively poor, and it will be bumpy when encountering bad weather and wind and waves at sea... But there is no way to do it, Xiao

This is true for ships of all sizes on the sea.

At the same time, the ship's firepower is not high compared to its tonnage of more than 800 tons. It is only equipped with twenty-eight naval guns, but the caliber of the naval guns is relatively large, and it is equipped with all 130 mm.

Naval gun.

The main reason is that the tactical positioning of this kind of frigate in the fleet is not to fight the enemy's capital ships, but to be used for various auxiliary tasks such as reconnaissance, communication, and rescue.

To put it bluntly, he is just a handyman!

The classification of various warships in the Da Chu Empire Navy has never been distinguished by tonnage or firepower, but by combat use.

The type of ship responsible for fleet decisive battles is the battleship.

In the decisive battle of the fleet, it is the cruiser that uses speed to seize advantageous positions and provides fire support for the battleship fleet. In addition, it is also the cruiser that is responsible for ocean cruising, escort, colonial deterrence and other tasks in daily life.

During the decisive battle of the fleet, the frigate is responsible for tasks such as chores, reconnaissance, and search and rescue of people who fell into the water. In daily life, the frigate will also perform ocean cruising, escort, colonial deterrence and other tasks under the leadership of the cruiser.

According to the positioning, even the cruiser Busan has a tonnage of more than 2,000 tons, which is larger than a large number of third-class battleships, but it is still just a cruiser.

The same is true for the Longchuan-class frigates. Even though their tonnage is larger than a large number of previous second-class cruisers, they are still just frigates.

This time for the expedition to India, the navy brought out a lot of new guys.

The battleships include the cutting-edge Suzhou, the cruisers include the Toongshu class, and there is even a test ship Pusan ​​with a front-mounted rifled gun.

Even if it is a frigate used for miscellaneous purposes, there are also the latest Longchuan-class frigates...

What's interesting is that this kind of frigate is already the most powerful frigate in the history of the Da Chu Empire's navy. However, the navy's senior officials are still not satisfied with this kind of frigate and are planning to upgrade and modify this kind of frigate. The purpose of the modification is

Further zoom in on the hull...

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Those in the Navy believe that the hull of more than 800 tons is still too small, has poor ocean seaworthiness, and lacks firepower. It is more reliable to expand the tonnage to more than 1,000 tons.

When Luo Zhixue learned that the Navy wanted to expand the tonnage of frigates to more than a thousand tons, he rolled his eyes.

To put it bluntly, those in the Navy just want bigger and more warships...and when they do this, they often ignore, or deliberately ignore, the true strategic positioning of frigates.

This thing... is just a handyman. It is used daily to maintain the establishment, train officers and soldiers, highlight the presence of the Chu Empire's navy in the vast sea areas, and bully the natives who do not have an ocean-going navy.

What we need is more and cheaper, not how powerful the performance is.

While the front leg is building frigates of more than a thousand tons, the rear leg of the Navy may have to build small frigates and patrol ships of several hundred tons in order to maintain its scale...

Moreover, this enlarged frigate of more than a thousand tons is not the ordinary cruiser currently being built by the navy. The tonnage and firepower are responsible for the navy's needs for future frigates...

】

Therefore, in Luo Zhixue's view, the Navy's expansion of frigates is just a matter of taking off its pants and farting. If you have the money, you can just build a few more cruisers.

However, although Luo Zhixue was speechless about the Navy's move, he did not dissuade him... Anyway, the overall development path of the Navy is good, and the Navy's military expenditure is also limited. With so much money, they can do whatever they like.

Toss.

Therefore, the Navy wanted to enlarge the frigates and reduced the order number of Longchuan-class frigates from more than 30 to 24. Luo Zhixue did not care about them.

In terms of military construction, as long as the general direction is correct, Luo Zhixue generally will not interfere too much with the thoughts of military generals.

Anyway, the army and navy of the Dachu Empire are now strong enough, and they have the capital to let them mess around. Whether it is a frigate or a cruiser, using the steam engine as a big killer can be invincible to the warships of those indigenous countries.

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After Rear Admiral Peng Zhixing led the forward formation to leave the waters of the Hong Kong Naval Base, it didn't take long for him to receive a semaphore order from the battleship Suzhou behind him.

The order required him to lead the forward formation, that is, the four Toyoshu-class cruisers and eight Ryukawa-class frigates, to provide early warning to the fleet, expel possible merchant ships, and prevent civilian ships from intruding into the huge fleet at the rear.

According to the order, Rear Admiral Peng Zhixing ordered the forward fleet to use the wind to sail at full speed, and the ships were spread out at certain intervals to form a fan-shaped search area with a total width of about 40 nautical miles, providing space for the many battleships in the rear and a larger number of transports.

The fleets provide early warning, interception and expulsion.

Avoid any potential enemy ships or civilian ships from interfering with the large fleet at the rear.

You know, the fleet at the rear is quite large.

In addition to more than 40 ocean-going warships, there are also more than 50 various auxiliary ships of the navy, including troop transports, hospital ships, general supply ships, coal supply ships, communication ships and other auxiliary ships.

In addition to the ships directly under the Navy, there are nearly a hundred merchant ships directly belonging to the Western Armed Trading Company, including more than 40 armed merchant ships.

All ships combined exceed two hundred!

Such a huge fleet carries more than 20,000 army or Guards soldiers, as well as a large number of navy sailors and marines, as well as a huge number of various weapons and ammunition, canned food and other military supplies.

There are even several ships specially carrying cement and steel bars, which are used for the subsequent construction of a series of military facilities on the island of Ceylon, especially the coastal defense forts.

In fact, this huge fleet was just the first batch of large-scale fleets distributed by the Chu Empire to the Indian region.

Prior to this, several fleets of varying sizes had actually been organized, loaded with various supplies. For example, a new heavy howitzer from a heavy siege artillery regiment of the Army had been shipped to Singapore in advance.

In the future, the Chu Empire will continue to organize a large number of transport ships from the mainland to continuously transport materials to Singapore, and then transfer them to the Indian Peninsula through Singapore.

On the surface, the entire cross-sea combat operation only had more than 50,000 ground combat troops, but in fact there were hundreds of various types of ships directly involved in this operation.

This does not include indirect participation.

Of course, although the number of ships seems to be large...thousands of ships are scary, the actual transportation volume is not large, and it is far less than the scale of maritime transportation in later generations.

Because most of these transport ships have a carrying capacity of hundreds of tons, and there are relatively few with a carrying capacity of more than a thousand tons. There are only a few navy supply ships and a few very large armed merchant ships of the Western Trading Company.

Moreover, navigation in these ships still relies heavily on sails, and most transport ships do not even have auxiliary steam engines, which means that their sailing speed is slow, and it takes several months to go back and forth at a time.

The Dachu Empire seems to have mobilized a large number of ships this time, but the number of people and materials transported would only be a matter of a few large cargo ships in the 21st century.

The current weakness of sea transportation capabilities has greatly restricted the Chu Empire's navy's overseas troop projection capabilities.

As for the lack of strong transportation capabilities, just reduce the number of troops and send hundreds or at most thousands of people to fight like the Europeans... The Chu Empire cannot do such a thing. This is inconsistent with the war philosophy of the Chu people.<

/p>

The war philosophy of the Dachu Empire is to use more troops, more artillery, and more shells to drown the opponent... But it has never been a hobby to play with the enemy evenly matched, or even to have one's own forces at a disadvantage.

Even if the opponent is just a group of European irregulars who are still playing with matchlocks, the Dachu Empire still strictly follows its own war philosophy: sending 50,000 troops in one go and enough combat weapons to sustain more than 50,000 troops in high-intensity combat for more than half a year.

Upper Indian Peninsula.

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Just when India's Third Task Force was dispatched from the mainland, the First Task Force on the Indian Peninsula had already begun preliminary preparations. Their warships were dressed as Western trading companies and were escorting merchant ships.
To be continued...