SFS Chapter 465: 3 Battleships: Unsinkable Sea Monsters
Chapter 465: 3 Battleships: Unsinkable Sea Monsters
Yamato-class battleship
In fact, the flagship of the South China Sea Fleet, the command ship Jiaolong, was based on the Blue Ridge amphibious command ship, which was built on February 67, 2, launched on January 27, 1969, and commissioned on November 1, 4. It is also the largest command ship designed since World War II. In the Blue Star world where Su Zhengyang lived in his previous life, the Blue Ridge amphibious command ship had always been the flagship and command ship of the US Seventh Fleet. Its technological level was about half a century higher than that of the world Su Zhengyang traveled to.
The emergence of the "Blue Ridge" enabled the US Navy to have a large-scale maritime command and control center with complete functions and advanced performance for the first time, thus completely solving the command problem of large-scale maritime joint operations technically.
Shortly after the Blue Ridge entered service, another sister ship, the Mount Whitney, also joined the U.S. Navy and became the flagship of the Atlantic Fleet. From then on, the flagships of the two major fleets of the U.S. Navy were all Blue Ridge-class command ships.
Over the past 25 years, the Blue Ridge can be seen in every ocean in the world and in every major deployment of the US Navy. However, what is puzzling is that the appearance of the Blue Ridge did not cause the navies around the world to follow suit like other new ships, and the US Navy has not yet determined the construction plan for the next generation of amphibious command ships. To this day, the Blue Ridge and Mount Whitney are still sailing alone in the world's two oceans. It can be said that there is no precedent and no successor.
Today, the USS Blue Ridge amphibious command ship will regain its glory in this world and in the navy under Su Zhengyang's command.
After visiting the Jiaolong, Su Zhengyang, under the leadership of Mountbatten, boarded one of the main battleships of the South China Sea Fleet, whose prototype was Fuso's Yamato-class battleship.
The Yamato-class battleships have a length-to-width ratio of 6.76:1, which provides a stable platform for main gun firing and minimizes the area covered by heavy armor; the upper bow is significantly tilted forward and flared outward, and the thin waist inside the front deck is concave and curved, similar to the Iowa-class battleships of the US Navy. The bulbous bow and the good linear design of the hull make the hull have excellent drag reduction performance, and the main engine power of 15 horsepower can make the speed exceed 27 knots;
The Yamato-class bridge is a tower bridge with Fuso characteristics, up to 45 meters high. Behind the bridge is a single chimney, which accommodates the flues leading to the boilers. The chimney is tilted as far back as possible away from the bridge to avoid exhaust smoke affecting the bridge's operation. Under the stern open deck is a hangar for carrier-based aircraft and a tunnel-shaped boat hangar on the side of the ship for small boats. The Yamato-class battleship is famous for its 9 460mm caliber giant main guns, which are the largest caliber battleship main guns today. The gun body weighs 165 tons, the main gun shell weighs 1460 kilograms, and the rotating part of the triple main gun turret weighs about 2700 tons, which is equivalent to the displacement of large destroyers at the time.
Two main turrets are arranged on the front deck in a back-to-back manner before the bridge, and one main turret is arranged at the rear of the ship. The four triple-mounted 4mm secondary guns were removed during the modification of the top-level heavy cruiser. The secondary turrets adjacent to the main turrets have weak defense capabilities, and the ammunition depot is too close. Once hit, the damage is likely to affect the main gun ammunition depot, so special protective measures were later strengthened for this reason.
The Yamato-class battleships place great emphasis on protection and are currently the most heavily armored battleships. According to design requirements, the ship's defensive armor can withstand hits from its own 460mm caliber artillery at a distance of 2-3 meters; the total thickness of the two layers of horizontal armor exceeds 25 centimeters, which can withstand attacks from 800 kg aerial bombs; 38 cm thick honeycomb armor is used at the chimney opening on the deck; the underwater protection capability is designed to withstand an explosion equivalent of 400 kg of TNT, and the armor protection of key parts is comprehensive.
The Yamato-class battleship is truly the largest, most powerful main gun and most heavily armored battleship in history, and is known as the world's number one battleship.
Looking at the steel behemoth in front of him, the steel fortress rampant on the sea, Su Zhengyang felt a sense of pride in his heart. You know, Fuso, which is currently known as the number one naval force in Asia, only has two Yamato battleships, named Yamato and Musashi respectively. But now the Chinese Navy has a total of ten ships, and the South China Sea Fleet alone has three, which were renamed Chengfeng, Zhulang and Huanyu respectively, and used as the main battleships of the first, second and third squadrons of the South China Sea Fleet.
After visiting the Yamato-class battleship, Su Zhengyang boarded the USS Vimeo and the famous USS Iowa respectively.
Compared to other battleships, Bismarck was wider due to the depth of the Kiel Canal, allowing it to sail stably in the rough North Atlantic. Its larger fuel capacity also allowed it to participate in long-distance operations such as those in the Pacific.
The main guns are twin-mounted 8-gun 47-caliber 380mm SK/C-34 guns. The maximum rate of fire of the main guns is very high, with a minimum elevation rate of 3 rounds/minute and a maximum elevation rate of 2.3 rounds/minute, reaching the highest level of battleships of the same period (including French battleships loaded at any angle). Among the main guns of battleships built after World War I, it is in the middle, weaker than the Yamato, Iowa and Veneto classes, and roughly equivalent to the Richelieu class, South Dakota class, and Nelson class, but stronger than the King George V class.
The main turrets are symmetrically arranged in a back-to-back layout, with two turrets arranged in front and behind the bridge. The range is not less than the 45-caliber 16-inch main guns of the Nelson class, and the performance was very advanced at the time. The main gun armor-piercing shells use "high initial velocity light shells", which have great power in medium and short combat distances, but the speed retention performance at long distances is correspondingly reduced, and its low trajectory is not conducive to long-range artillery combat.
However, its armor protection follows the old design mode of "Incremental Armor Scheme" (called "comprehensive protection"), which results in its armor thickness being much lower than the 355MM of the Nelson class. It has the largest protection scale among battleships of the same period, and its main armored fortress side walls cover 70% of the waterline length and 56% of the side height. At the same time, the total weight of armor reaches the largest proportion among battleships of the same period, accounting for 38.2% of the standard displacement. In addition, while achieving a large protection scale, the ship relies on the space compensation provided by the large protection scale, arranging the main horizontal armor on the third deck, allowing it to overlap with the main side armor on the trajectory at the same time, which greatly strengthens the protection of the key parts of the hull, surpassing other battleships built during the same period.
Its TDS (Torpedo Defense System) was designed to withstand an underwater blast of 250 kg of TNT, but it can actually withstand 300 kg of hexanite high explosives.
The Iowa is 270.4 meters long, 33 meters wide, 10 meters deep, and 262.1 meters long at the waterline.
Power 8 boilers 4 steam turbines Main engine design power 212,000 horsepower 4 shafts and twin rudders
Speed 35 knots Fuel load 8,765 tons Endurance nautical miles/14 knots nautical miles/17 knots
武备9门三联装406毫米/50倍口径主炮10门双联装127毫米/38倍径高平两用炮40毫米高射炮60-80门20毫米高射炮50-60门水上飞机3架弹射器2具
装甲水线312毫米内倾19度横向287毫米上甲板37毫米、装甲甲板121-147毫米炮塔正面495毫米顶部184毫米侧面229毫米背面241毫米炮座439毫米司令塔正面445毫米顶部184毫米。装甲总重吨舰体结构总重吨。
The designed crew strength is 1851 people (including 91 officers and 1760 soldiers)
In general, although the Viscount and Iowa-class battleships are not as terrifying as the Yamato-class, with their armor thickness and displacement reaching an extremely astonishing level, they are also sufficient to be used as the main battleships of the navies of world-class countries. The South China Sea Fleet has six Viscount and Iowa battleships each, with two in each squadron, to be used as auxiliary ships of the fleet's main battleships.