In the naming regulations of the Min dynasty, cruisers, destroyers, and frigates were named after counties as much as possible. Battleships were at least named after prefectures. As for the names of the provinces, Vézé privately prepared to use them for the naming of future aircraft carriers.
The Ministry of the Navy had different opinions on whether the two newest warships should be classified as battleships or cruisers. China had a habit of attaching great importance to its reputation. If the two warships with a displacement of 8800 tons could be called battleships, it would fill in the gap of battleships. Vézé was initially a little shaken, but after thinking about it carefully, who were they trying to fool? The Heavy Cruiser would honestly be called a Heavy Cruiser. If a name could change the truth, Vézé didn't care at all about calling the more than 4,000 tons cruisers battleships.
For this matter, Vézé even called the group of comrades who made the proposal over and seriously educated them. As a result, Vézé was not happy, and the group of colleagues were not happy either. Vézé just made a mental note of them and made some notes in the meeting minutes. From then on, he never talked about this matter again.
After a country's expansion, it needed to digest the results and nervously prepare for the war with the British. The goal was to start the peace after the war. When the peace period of digesting the spoils of war arrived, there would be sufficient time and conditions to appoint and dismiss personnel according to the performance at that time.
At this stage of turbulence, what Vézé needed to do now was to keep his mouth shut. Meaningless complaints and dissatisfaction would not help and would only lead to meaningless conflicts. Moreover, people would also change, and Vézé also looked forward to his comrades growing up. Just as China's shipbuilding industry continued to grow, people should also change.
Vézé never dared to give his real evaluation of the two heavy cruisers built by the Dalian shipyard. His real thought was "this is what a ship should be."
After two years of actual operation of the power plant, the 350 horsepower steam turbine had been tested. The subsequent upgrade could be taken slowly, and the marine model could already work effectively. Unlike the three-rise steam engine, which required careful consideration of all the components, the wheel blades of the steam turbine only had the problem of a slight expansion after being heated, and its structure was much simpler.
The steam pipe parts produced by the 7,000 ton hydraulic press had also greatly increased the diameter of the boiler pipes. The more than 4,000 ton cruiser had previously used eight boilers, but now it had been reduced to four. This fellow had saved a few hundred tons of weight. The heavy cruiser had three engines and six boilers, so it could easily reach 18 knots.
Carburizing armor made the physical thickness of the armor thinner and saved a lot of tonnage. There are a number of other technological applications that make heavy cruisers even more powerful. Vézé was most concerned about its seaworthiness. A large tonnage could achieve a high freeboard, and a high freeboard would have good seaworthiness. The Navy did not have a deep understanding of seaworthiness. They only knew that the cruiser was sailing in the Indian Ocean at the beginning of the year and encountered big waves. Waves of more than ten meters came crashing down, and dozens of tons of seawater smashed on the deck of the cruiser. At this time, because of the turbulence, the bow of the cruiser lifted up after descending. The two sides collided, and the hull material was not strong enough, and the ship immediately broke. Fortunately, the Navy often trained to deal with this problem. Everyone was flustered, but they were not helpless. In the end, the warship barely returned to the port.
High freeboard was much better in this regard. Even if a wave of more than ten meters came crashing down, only a few meters of water could actually splash on the deck. The domed structure of the deck, as well as the reinforced ribs in the front, greatly reduced the possibility of the bow being broken.
The two heavy cruisers were the Suiyuan and the Ningyuan. Two modified cruisers, the Dangyang and the Yuncheng, were sailing in formation in the Indian Ocean. The war between China and Britain in a few years was unlikely to be fought in the Pacific Ocean, let alone the Mediterranean Sea. The Indian Ocean was the most suitable battlefield. Although China had no plans to enter India, it did not intend to let go of Sri Lanka. It was necessary for the fleet to familiarize itself with the situation near Sri Lanka.
On August 12, when four British ironclads went straight to the China fleet, the China fleet from top to bottom felt that the British were risking their lives. For soldiers, this kind of judgment was very intuitive. For example, the thick smoke billowing out of the chimney of the British ships when the boilers were running, the direction of the British ships' cannons, and the personnel on the deck of the British navy. These individual details might not prove anything. Just like a battle between experts, the other party was likely to walk slowly. However, those details would make the experts feel that the other party was a threat. The details on the British ships all pointed in one direction, "convenient for battle."
The commander of the China fleet was the commander of the Fifth Fleet, Ding Ruchang. The North Sea Fleet had been changed to the Sixth Fleet, and the experienced personnel of the North Sea Fleet had also been assigned to other fleets. Ding Ruchang became the commander of the Fifth Fleet. According to a more reliable rumor, the future Fifth Fleet would be stationed in the Indian Ocean, so Ding Ruchang personally led the team to the Indian Ocean to gain experience. Before setting sail, they also considered the possibility of conflict with the British Fleet, and the Military Commission's opinion was to "act according to the situation."
So, while the fleet prepared for battle, they held a meeting. At this time, it was not too late to run, but Ding Ruchang did not want to run at all. He raised a question. "If we sink the British ships, what will the British do?"
"They will probably send a fleet to get back at us, right?" the political commissar replied.
"Do they have warships that can get back at us?" Ding Ruchang continued to ask.
This was indeed a thought-provoking question. If the British Royal Navy could not defeat the Chinese Navy, other than a desperate counterattack, the British Royal Navy would probably not take the initiative to send themselves to their deaths. Now, the British ships dared to rush over to challenge the Chinese Navy because in the previous naval battle, the Chinese Navy did not sink any British ships. Therefore, the ships that rushed over were the standard British ironclads, and the ones that were far away were the thin-skinned ironclads. As for the non-armored ships, there was not even a trace of them. This was enough to show that the British Navy had keen observation, serious thinking, and serious learning.
The final results of the discussion were soon out. According to the Military Commission's instruction to "act according to the situation," the fleet and the British Navy would go to war.
The British had a tradition of fighting whenever they encountered an enemy, and the Chinese Navy did not have the character to run away. After both sides made their decision, the naval battle soon began.
The four British ships were modified warships. They did not adopt a central layout, but a hexagonal layout. When facing the enemy head-on, they could use three main cannons, and when facing the enemy from the side, they could use four main cannons.
The Chinese Navy still followed the tradition of a central layout. The two heavy cruisers were equipped with five dual 250 guns and eight dual 120 guns. The two cruisers were equipped with four 150 guns. In terms of firepower alone, the overall firepower of the Chinese Navy was not inferior.
The artillery battle began at a distance of 20,000 meters. As soon as the cannons were fired, the Chinese Navy found that the British had used a reliable explosive fuse. This was because the cannonball hit the sea and exploded. This was the technology that China used to be the world's first electric fuse. The Chinese Navy also considered that the cannonball that did not explode after hitting the British ships would be copied by the British. Now, it seemed that this worry had undoubtedly become a reality. Moreover, the more stable flight trajectory of the British cannonball was enough to prove that their artillery technology had been greatly improved from copying.
Although the Chinese Navy often said that victory should not be based on the enemy's stagnation. Seeing the British's rapid progress, the Chinese Navy officers and soldiers were also very unhappy.
The Royal Navy was even more unhappy. The four ironclads had participated in the last naval battle, and the commander was very impressed by the Chinese Navy's artillery. After the warships were modified and equipped with new cannons, the British Navy felt that they already had the artillery power of the Chinese Navy. In terms of naval warfare and artillery experience, the British Navy was undoubtedly far better than the Chinese Navy. With a goal to learn from, it was inevitable that the British Navy would make rapid progress.
However, this time, as soon as the two sides clashed, the British Navy felt that the Chinese ships had changed to more powerful cannons. If both sides fired at the same time, the cannonballs fired by the Chinese ships would have exploded, but the cannonballs fired by the British ships would not be able to reach their destination. This meant that the Chinese Navy had used more powerful gunpowder. This fact could also be seen from the fire and smoke that came out of the cannons.
At this time, the fleets of both sides could only start fighting under certain technical conditions. The British Royal Navy tried to keep the distance between the two warships at a distance of 20,000 meters. They did not want to see a repeat of the last time when the Chinese cannons washed the deck.
However, the British Navy found that this time, the Chinese Navy did not try to get close, so they could use their advantage of fast firing. This time, the Chinese ships began to fire at an exaggerated high angle. The cannonballs flew in an arc for more than 20,000 meters, smashing towards the deck of the British ships.
This time, the commander of the British Fleet began to curse the British Admiralty in his heart. They did not even know the latest situation of the Chinese Navy, and yet they sent their brothers to die. The higher the angle of the shot, the larger the angle of the landing point would be. In previous naval battles, the firing angle was relatively flat, and most of the shots hit the side of the ship. The reason why the ironclads were created was because they used thick iron armor to protect the side of the ship. The protection of the deck was far less than the side of the ship.
However, the Chinese Navy seemed to have a mental illness, and their thinking was very broad. Now, they were using cannons to target the deck. In the three naval battles of the West Pacific, the British had paid a huge price to learn some of the cannon technology of Chinese. Therefore, the commander of the British Fleet knew very well that the accuracy of Chinese cannons was very high.
Before they could come up with a countermeasure, the ironclads, HMS Ravager was hit. A Chinese cannonball whizzed through the teak deck of HMS Ravager. The tungsten-steel reinforced 250mm armor-piercing bullet penetrated the teak deck, which was a few centimeters thick, and penetrated the iron plate, which was less than 50 millimeters thick, into the engine room of HMS Ravager. An unlucky boiler was hit by the armor-piercing bullet, and the air supply pipe was broken. Steam gushed out from the broken pipe, and the unlucky stoker was half-cooked.
This was just the beginning. Another two armor-piercing bullets hit the deck of HMS Ravager, and then into the engine room. The delayed fuse in the armor-piercing bullets detonated, and the engine room was a mess. The engine room of HMS Ravager was filled with hot steam, and the stokers who could not escape in time were cooked. Even the stokers who managed to escape were more or less scalded by the steam. The speed of HMS Ravager immediately slowed down.
On the 15th of August, an overseas telegram arrived in London. Four ironclads of the Indian Ocean Fleet engaged the Chinese Navy. One British Fleet ship suffered light damage, and two were heavily damaged. HMS Ravager first lost power, and the upper turret was bathed in blood. HMS Ravager refused to surrender, and was sunk by the Chinese Navy at close range. Most of the crew were captured.
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