Rebirth of the 1980s: The Military Industry Empire

Old Pan was open to new things.

Old Pan's life had been almost entirely about reform and progress. When he accepted the appointment and began developing the 052 destroyer, he became even more acutely aware of this: to develop a modern destroyer, one had to embrace new things!

Therefore, he extensively studied Western warships, drawing on the strengths of many to complete the general design. But now, after hearing what Chief Engineer Qin had to say, he could immediately appreciate the benefits of this design.

The key question was whether the navy would accept it.

Old Pan looked at Old Liu: "My personal opinion is that we can adopt it. It expands the upper deck space and reduces radar reflections, making the appearance more streamlined. However, the navy is used to walking on the outside of the ship. We're changing it to the inside; we don't know if they'll adapt."

"Walking on the outside makes it easy to fall into the sea. If you can walk inside, of course, you won't walk outside," Old Liu said. "I think it's okay too. This can also reduce residue in nuclear, biological, and chemical warfare zones."

Although nuclear war had never broken out, the needs of nuclear warfare had to be considered. Warships needed NBC protection, so the whole ship had to be sealed off. Otherwise, everyone would have to wear gas masks, which would be too uncomfortable.

After passing through a contaminated area, the entire warship had to be cleaned, usually by rinsing with tap water. The less exposed on the outside, the easier it was to rinse.

"What do the rest of you think?" Old Liu continued to ask.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

In recent years, Qin Yang had become a legend. The solutions he proposed were bound to be forward-looking. As long as they did what he said, they couldn't go wrong!

Thus, this system was also discussed.

"Okay, next we'll talk about the propulsion system. Although Chief Engineer Qin suggested using the Spey engine, we haven't been able to develop it. Therefore, we plan to use the American-made LM2500 gas turbine. Chief Engineer Qin, do you have any objections?" Old Pan asked.

Qin Yang shook his head: "No objections. Buying it can broaden our horizons, but if we want to buy it and copy it, forget it. American equipment is too advanced. With our current strength, we can't copy it."

Historically, a total of five LM2500 gas turbines were imported. Four of them were used on two 052 destroyers, and the remaining one was used for surveying and copying. The subsequent facts were also clear: it simply couldn't be copied. Throughout the 1990s, the navy had no suitable power available until it obtained gas turbines from the Old Russians, and then it began to develop and progress.

Disassembling and surveying could, at most, copy the appearance. What were the materials? How was the process? These had to be explored. American technology was quite advanced, and they simply didn't have the ability. There was no need to be self-deprecating; that was just the reality.

"If we can't copy it, should we not import it?" someone asked.

"No, although we can't copy it, this is our opportunity to come into contact with the world's most advanced ship-borne power, and we can't miss it," Qin Yang said. "Of course, we have to import it. Before the Spey is mature, we can build two American-powered warships. This will also broaden our horizons and let us know what Western advanced gas turbines look like."

The LM2500 gas turbine was one of the few pieces of American equipment in the Eastern military. Although it could not be copied, it broadened horizons and accumulated experience for future gas turbine development, which was of great benefit.

"For auxiliary machinery, we plan to use two MTU12V1163TB83 diesel engines with a total power of 8,800 horsepower. During routine patrols, the diesel engines can be used. When high-speed navigation is required, the diesel engines are shut down, and the gas turbines are turned on."

Engines had always been the Eastern country's weak spot. Without relevant products of their own, purchasing them from abroad was not shameful. Qin Yang nodded; this set of power was quite reliable.

"This is CODAG, right? The warship clearly has two sets of power, but they can't be used together. It's a bit of a waste," a leader said at this time.

"Yes, the speed of the diesel engine is only one or two thousand RPM, and the speed of the gas turbine is twenty or thirty thousand RPM. We simply can't complete the combined operation and can only use them separately. This is also international practice."

Although gas turbines have high power, they also consume a lot of fuel, so they are only suitable for sprinting, that is, for use during high-speed navigation. Under normal circumstances, diesel engines are sufficient. This is also international practice: CODAG, alternating use of both, low-speed diesel engine, high-speed gas turbine.

However, one of them is inevitably idle, which is a bit of a waste.

"Chief Engineer Qin, do you have a solution?"

Finding Chief Engineer Qin when encountering problems was already everyone's consensus.

Using diesel engines and gas turbines together is CODLOG, which is not a simple technology. In later generations, only the Germans did it, inventing a complex gear mechanism to combine the two, just to save a gas turbine. In comparison, gas turbines are still more expensive.

There is also COGOG, which is two gas turbines, a small one for low speed and a large one for high speed, or both are the same, two for low speed and four for high speed, because they are all gas turbines, it is easy to connect them in parallel.

"Yes."

"What solution?"

"Generate electricity," Qin Yang said. "Whether it's a diesel engine or a gas turbine, they are all used to generate electricity, and then we connect the electricity generated in parallel to drive the motor at the stern."

The speeds are different, so they can't be connected in parallel, but if they generate electricity, it's easy.

"Isn't this like taking off your pants to fart?"

Originally, the engine could directly drive the propeller, but now, it's actually necessary to generate electricity first and then use an electric motor. The loss in the middle must be greater than the loss of gears.

However, after saying this, it felt wrong again.

"Chief Engineer Qin, I'm sorry, I'm not talking about you, I'm saying..."

Say what? Couldn't say it.

"It seems meaningless to do this now, but in the future, when our warships have a large number of electronic devices and the power consumption becomes larger and larger, this problem will become prominent," Qin Yang began to explain. "Now, the power supply on our warships is provided by a dedicated generator. If the required power is very strong, even as large as the power of the propulsion system, do we need another set of power devices?"

"Chief Engineer Qin, the power on the warship is just for lighting and ventilation, plus radar and so on. One generator is enough. How much can this use?"

"I'm talking about the future. For example, if the laser cannon matures, with a power of 10 megawatts, how much power supply do you think is needed? Electromagnetic cannons are also possible."

Everyone stopped talking because their brains simply couldn't keep up with Chief Engineer Qin.

"That's right. If we get to that point, it would be good to use all the power systems on the warship to generate electricity," Old Pan said. "This way, we can use it for propulsion when we need to propel, and we can fire electromagnetic cannons and laser cannons when we need to fire them. We can use it in the right place according to our needs."

"Okay, I'll continue to introduce. These devices drive the transmission shaft through a reduction gear and output it to the propeller at the stern. We plan to use a controllable pitch propeller."