Australian Storm 1876

  Chapter 165 Seagull II frigate

  In the Lingxiao Pavilion

  The candlelight flickers and the sandalwood wraps around.

  Li Fushou's somewhat tired shoulders paced back and forth in the Nuang Pavilion. After six years of development, a large number of talents have emerged in all aspects of the Red River Valley, especially in the economic field, and they have fully demonstrated the Chinese people's expertise in doing business.

  Related matters can be handed over to your subordinates as much as possible. As long as you control the general direction and do not go wrong, in accordance with the strong inertia of the economic development of the Red River Valley, the future glory can be expected.

  Nowadays, the most important thing in Li Fushou's heart is the question of Shangri-La's future direction.

  This kind of thing is useless to the subordinates, and they can't get in.

  Related situation

  Li Fushou had already formed a detailed report when he was on Shangri-La Island. It was delivered to the European leader Zheng Canghai by an ocean freighter to Europe. Zheng Canghai personally went to the residence of Lord Victor and presented the documents in person.

  This comes and goes, if there is no delay, it will take two and a half to three months on the road.

  Regardless of success or failure, there will be news at the end of May.

It is impossible for Fu Shou to pin all his hopes on Lord Victor. He is only one of the 28 dukes of the British Empire. Prepare with two hands.

  While waiting for London to hear back, on the other hand, they are ready to hit the dog stick.

Today’s Netherlands belongs to the embarrassing situation of Europe’s second-tier power slipping into a third-tier power, not to mention the European powers such as Britain, Germany, France, Russia, Italy, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire, even with the second-tier European powers such as Spain, Norway, Finland, and Poland. Compared with the powerful countries, the Netherlands does not have the upper hand.

  No other reason, just because of the small population!

  The population of the Netherlands is about the same as that of Australia. In 1870, it was 3.65 million. After 10 years, it will be at most 3.8 million, which is unlikely to be higher.

For more than ten years, the Dutch have not been idle. There have been constant colonial wars. In South Africa, they are fighting with the British. In Mozambique, they have to fight with the French, almost one after the other. The population growth rate is extremely slow. .

  Speaking of which; the bad boat still has three-inch nails

  The newly emerging forces of the Red River Valley alone wrestle with the Dutch East Indies colonizers, to say something that is not optimistic, the prospects are worrying!

  This is the most powerful enemy that Red River Valley has encountered so far.

  Li Fushou’s time to intervene on Shangri-La Island is very wonderful. The South African war is in the ascendant, and the British Empire has suffered successive defeats on the battlefield. Downing Street can easily raise a wave of public opinion that hates the Dutch.

  In this kind of public opinion environment, a British colony of Queensland, the Earl of Queensland, claimed to have discovered and occupied the Shangri-La Islands. This is a tradition that has continued in the age of arrogant sailing, and it is easy to get the sympathy and support of the people.

The problem is

  Even with the support of London, will the Royal British Navy's fleet in the Far East have substantive measures, such as sending a small fleet to Shangri-La Island to declare sovereignty?

  How fast will the action be?

  Even if London is determined to safeguard the interests of the Earl of Queensland, the Far East Fleet’s slow actions and delays will complicate the Shangri-La issue.

  Last spring

  The action of the Royal Far East Fleet in Calcutta to encircle and suppress the Spanish pirates was nothing but an anticlimax, and it made Li Fushou's heart cold for the most part.

  The East Indies are the heart and soul of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Once things are made public, think about it with your toes, the Dutch will attack as quickly as possible, creating a chaotic situation where you have me in you and you in me.

  This is not a situation that Li Fushou wants to see. He sighed and felt the heavy pressure in his heart.

   Come to the table and sit down

  Li Fushou picked up a budget proposal. This is a budget proposal for the Queensland Coast Guard to purchase eight additional Seagull-class frigates. If funding starts in the second quarter of 1881, it is expected to be completed before the end of the year.

  A batch of 4 ships, the construction period is about 5 months.

  Hongshan Shipyard will be able to deliver the first batch of four additional Seagull-1 frigates from August to September, and the second batch of four ships of the same type can be delivered by the end of the year.

  Then by the end of 1881, the Coast Guard will have 16 seagull cruise ships, just to cope with the current complex situation.

  Li Fushou signed his opinion on the budget proposal, which will be passed by Parliament in the near future, and will be submitted to Governor Frank for signature and implementation.

  In the annex to the bill, there are content about increasing Coast Guard personnel, training and mission allowances, which will be passed in the state assembly.

  Li Fushou opened another document casually, and the design of the Seagull II frigate was written impressively on the document.

  This is after he arrived on Shangri-La Island, he learned from the pain, and commissioned Sir Joe Neville, a famous British ship design expert, to fully improve the design of an ocean-going frigate based on the basic design of the "Seagull".

  In terms of design language, compared with the rigorous and pragmatic of the Germans, this type of ship reflects the majestic side of British ship design experts and has a very deep foundation.

  The designed displacement of the Seagull II is 1,770 tons, which is an increase of 84.3% compared to the 960 tons of the prototype, and 570 tons more than the 1,200 tons required by Li Fushou.

  Sir Joe Neville proudly declared on the design manuscript;

  His outstanding design cannot be changed, cannot be disputed, and no objections are accepted, and the final payment of the design fee of 2,000 pounds must be paid exactly.

  The ship design master is so arrogant. The new Royal Navy's "Indomitable" iron-clad battleship was written by Sir Joe Neville.

  The design of the Seagull II frigate from Australia was commissioned by Sir Joe Neville in his spare time. Almost all overturned the original design, completely ignoring the employer’s rigid tonnage requirements, and wantonly showing his talent.

  The bow of the Seagull II frigate has changed the original sharp-shaped design to become rounded and plump, similar in shape to the pocket version of the battleship “Indomitable” bow.

  Sir Joe Neville stated in the design manuscript like this;

The pointed bow design is suitable for shallow coastal waters and has a certain effect on increasing the speed. However, the rich experience of the British Royal Navy shows that the plump bow is more suitable for sailing in the stormy waves of the Atlantic Ocean. It has a good wave suppression effect and suppresses The bow is on the waves, and the effect of restraining the roll is obvious.

  Moreover, the plump bow can effectively expand the deck area, which is very important for the output of firepower of a warship.

  Li Fushou deeply agrees with this paragraph. He has personally experienced the pain of the ship's strong rolling, and the waves are undulating vertically. In addition, the strong rolling is almost life-saving, and the seasickness and vomiting are so dim...

  The most important thing is that the Seagull II has the latest fin stabilizer design.

  This is the latest design and research result of the British Empire, and it is also used on the armored battleship Indomitable. This alone is worth the price.

The   Seagull II has a design displacement of 1770 tons, a main dimension of 103 meters long, 10.8 meters wide, a draft of 3.2 meters, a design capacity of 68 people, a speed of 21 knots, and a range of 5,800 kilometers.

  Power uses 4 latest reciprocating steam engines, single-axis drive.

  Main weaponry; two German-made 239mm main guns at the bow of the ship are arranged in a piggyback style, four 120mm secondary guns on both sides of the hull, equipped with 8 steam torpedo tubes, and the firepower is more fierce.

   Overall evaluation

  Due to the use of 4 expensive reciprocating steam engines as the main power, Li Fushou’s most important ship speed can still be maintained at 21 knots, at the cost of a substantial increase in the cost of the Seagull II frigate.

  The frigate generally only considers firepower and speed, and does not consider protection. In the face of 200-ton torpedo boat fire, it can also severely damage the frigate. It is meaningless to blindly strengthen the protection.

  Compared with the basic seagull, the firepower of the Seagull II has almost tripled, the range has been extended by 62%, the ocean navigation performance has greatly increased, and the cost is much more expensive.

The cost of the   Seagull II is 102,000 pounds, the design tonnage has increased by 84.3%, and the cost has soared by one and a half times.

  Good things are good, but they are too expensive!

  Li Fushou fiercely pinched the tooth flower seeds. This thing is not expensive in general, but very expensive.

  Because Hongshan Shipyard cannot produce it, at least there is no production technology for fin stabilizers. It must be produced at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, which has a strong British shipbuilding capacity, and the technology is not transferred.

  British guys are just such a dick, it makes you itch with hatred but nothing can be done.

  The Seagull II is definitely not available for discussion in the Queensland State Assembly. It must be a bomb.

   can make Li Fushou, the wealthiest farmer in Australia, feel expensive. It is conceivable how unreliable this thing is in the eyes of the white parliamentarians of Queensland.

  From the immediate perspective, Australia has no real threats, and there is no need for such expensive big toys.

  Now the news is still blocked

  Even if it spreads, it will not help. The Lord of Queensland occupied Shangri-La Island. It was his own business. Why should Queensland pay the bill? And it's so expensive.

  Four Seagull Type II frigates can be built at this price, which is enough to build an 8000-ton steam ironclad battleship in the UK. According to the standards of the Royal Navy of the British Empire, it is a second-class battleship, and its power and deterrence are different.

  This situation is like a group of children, how can it not be more powerful than a strong youth.

  Li Fushou had to pay for it by himself. He pondered for a long time, hesitated between 2 and 4, and finally placed an order for 4 ships.

  Throwing down the pen, Li Fushou's face twitched with distress.

  Building a navy is really a golden beast!

  This 410,000 pounds was spent, and the subsequent ship operation and maintenance, artillery shell supply and training, and personnel maintenance expenses will be continuously spent, and it will not be less than 40,000 to 50,000 pounds per year.

  The premise is; no high-intensity war will occur.

  The money can be used to build half of the Sydney Bay iron bridge, and Port Moresby can be built into a town of 100,000 people to meet all infrastructure needs.

  Spending out with such a big pen, Li Fushou was heartbroken, and the landlord’s house had no surplus!

  The advantage is that the design of the Seagull II is very advanced. This destroyer can be used for 40 years or more. From this perspective, the cost performance is quite high.

  The frigate is different from the iron-clad battleship that is fighting for hegemony at sea. It can't be weak at all, it can only become the fat to be delivered to the door.

  Cruise ships generally perform low-heat small-scale conflicts and war missions. They are used to patrol the sea and territories, maintain public order, and fight against piracy, smuggling and other crimes. They require low cost, reliable performance, and can be deployed in large numbers.

  Seagull II has a speed of 21 knots, even if it is used for 20 years, it will not lag behind. It has dealt with the immediate crisis, and it is really not necessary to sell it!

  From this perspective, Li Fushou feels much better.

  (End of this chapter)