Chapter 4: The Helena class protected cruisers
December 25, 1888. Christmas in the West was originally a time for rest. However, at De Ruyter's countryside villa, a genius designer and a genius plagiarist were busy as can be. The reason was that the Italian Navy wanted to re-equip a batch of new protected cruisers (historically, around 1890, the Italian Navy built about 7 new protected cruisers), while the ABC powers in South America were also preparing to expand their navies on a large scale (historically, Argentina bought 4 armored cruisers from Y!). In this world, nothing can be done without money. With this principle in mind, Xu Jie and De Ruyter were working hard to perfect the design of this protected cruiser, specifically the compartmentalization and drawing of the plans, which would have to be left to De Ruyter to do. Although Xu Jie was a transmigrator from the navy, he wasn't a regular ship designer, let alone a 19th-century ship designer. It was absolutely impossible for him to complete the entire set of drawings on his own. Fortunately, De Ruyter had a solid foundation, while Xu Jie excelled at design thinking and naval warfare knowledge, so their collaboration was quite perfect.
"Xu, look at this, can't we strengthen this firepower a bit?" Delegated Rio said with a frown as he looked at the drawings.
"If the cost is relaxed a bit and the airworthiness is lowered a bit, it's still okay." Xu Jie said disapprovingly. To be honest, Xu Jie thought that the main firepower of 10 6-inch guns was already sufficient, and any more would be a bit like a small boat trying to counter big cannons.
"If possible, I think we should put an 8-inch gun at both the bow and stern of the ship." The delegate from Rio pondered for a moment.
"This stability will definitely be affected, but it's not a big problem if the sea conditions are good." Xu Jie smiled to himself. The Italian Navy had a habit of piling as many weapons as possible on the smallest ships since before the dreadnought era. Of course, they didn't have the kind of accidents that happened later in history. But their enthusiasm for firepower was absolutely admirable. For example, the Varese-class, a 7,240-ton battleship, was equipped with 1 x 10-inch gun, 2 x 8-inch guns, 14 x 6-inch guns, 10 x 76mm guns, and 6 x 47mm guns!! This was a 7,240-ton battleship that dared to compete with the firepower of a British 14,000-ton armored cruiser!! And its protection wasn't bad either, with a 5-inch Krupp armor covering the lower deck and middle deck. Of course, its navigability was a bit poor, and the living environment was probably quite tragic. And the mastermind behind all this was none other than the Rio who stood in front of Xu Jie!!
"In fact, I think that if we were to fight in the Mediterranean or the Yellow Sea of your country, a bit of instability wouldn't be a problem." Delegato Rio said indomitably.
Xu Jie remained silent
"Xu, we can increase the tonnage a bit more, or reduce the coal load a bit." The delegate from Rio muttered inexorably.
"It seems that if we don't make some concessions today, Mr. Rio is not going to give up. But let's put it this way. Having one 8-inch gun at the bow and stern of a 4,500-ton ship isn't excessive. Isn't that what the Qing dynasty bought later, the Hai Tian? As for seaworthiness... hmm, being inferior in close combat is just that. What's the best ship for close combat? Being able to fight and withstand, with sufficient speed, is the key. Let's put seaworthiness aside for now..." Xu Jie thought to himself. "Alright, let's replace the 6-inch gun at the bow with an 8-inch one." After a fierce battle of wills, Xu Jie reluctantly nodded his head.
"Look, conservatively estimated, after replacing the 8-inch guns, the tonnage will be close to 4,500 tons. In that case, isn't the rated power of 12,000 horsepower insufficient again? Or should we increase the power output a bit more?" Delegato Rio said as he calculated.
"I reckon that if you were to design this ship, the final cost would be over 5 million tons and the construction cost would be close to ￡350,000." Xu Jie said with a dark face, gritting his teeth.
"It should be about right. If it's 2 8-inch guns, 8 6-inch guns, 14,000 horsepower, and 4,500 tons of displacement, ￡350,000 is still a reasonable price." said Rio Kojima with a serious look on his face.
"It's all over, the efforts of the past two days have been in vain." Xu Jie covered his head with his hand, looking heartbroken.
"In fact, we should think about the customers. If possible, it's best to take a basic ship type and come up with multiple sub-plans, so that customers have more room for choice and our chances of winning the bid will be higher. Some customers don't care about money, maybe they just want a better ship, spending a few million pounds more is no big deal for them. And you should know, not all customers have experts like us as their think tank (this situation really exists, even in the era of dreadnoughts, the British-built dreadnoughts for Chile only had 229MM main guns. Can this be called a battleship?). When they order warships, they care more about weapons, protection and speed, and don't care about seaworthiness and living conditions." Delegado Río, who has been fighting for the Androsa shipyard for many years, began to educate Xu Jie.
"Multiple plans? Are you talking about creating a family of protected cruisers? The basic ship data is similar, but with some changes in individual data?" Xu Jie's eyes lit up. Indeed worthy of being a master. To be able to think of modularization at this age.
"Uh-huh, I guess that's about it. What do you think?" Rio nodded in agreement.
"Not a bad idea, but we need to nail down the basics first, such as tonnage, propulsion and the ship's basic layout. As for armaments and protection, we should leave some room for adjustments." Xu Jie said. (Historically, there have been many armored cruisers that were modified from their original designs. For example, Chile's Esmeralda was based on the Naniwa-class cruiser. Xu Jie and his team had simply prepared several plans in advance.)
After a 4-hour long negotiation, with endless bickering, shouting and compromise. After tearing up countless sheets of paper, breaking several pencils. Plus smashing 2 teacups and a tray later. The two finally reached an agreement. This new type of protected cruiser has a basic tonnage of 4300 tons. Length 112 meters, beam 14 meters, draft 5.6 meters. Basic firepower is 10 x 6-inch guns, with one at the bow and stern, and eight on the sides. 3-pounder guns are also equipped with 10 doors. The protection remains unchanged, with a 50mm upper deck, 120mm sides, and a fine subdivision of compartments design. The power plant is a vertical triple-expansion steam engine. Total power output is 13,000 horsepower, with forced ventilation at 17,000 horsepower. Speed is 22 knots. Normal coal capacity is 350 tons, with a maximum of 700 tons. Users can change certain armaments and power plants according to their needs and budget. The bow and stern turrets have enough space to be replaced with single 8-inch guns or twin 6-inch guns. If you really don't have the money, okay, just replace the side 6-inch guns with 4.7-inch ones. As for protection, you can choose between fine subdivision of compartments design and large compartment design. The armor thickness can also be adjusted within certain limits. If you really have the money but nowhere to spend it, the power plant can also be changed. Prices range from ￡250,000 to ￡350,000!! Finally, the two parties also reached an additional agreement: any design data for this ship cannot be used for warships manufactured in Japan or purchased by other countries on behalf of Japan!! Violators will have to pay a compensation of ￡300,000 to both parties!!
As for the name, the two finally decided to name it after its location. The series of protected cruisers that would be quietly admired by countless experts and military enthusiasts in later generations was born out of the bickering between the two. As for this name, Italy and the later Huaxia Republic had a long-standing dispute over it. The Italians believed that this class of warship was indeed designed and produced by them, and perfected by Italian people, so it was only natural to call it **. However, some experts in Huaxia insisted that after reviewing numerous documents, the prototype of this warship was proposed by Premier Xu Jie. The concept of a series of ships and the diversification of weapons were also finalized by Xu Jie. Therefore, it should be named after him in Chinese. Of course, the outcome of this dispute was that the Italians called it ** class, while the Huaxia people called it the Guiyuan class. As for other countries? They could call it whatever they wanted. However, for the two individuals at the time, their four-hour exchange was undoubtedly a victorious exchange, a united exchange, and a great exchange. This exchange, known as the "First Christmas Meeting", ultimately laid the foundation for their cooperation and marked the first step in Xu Jie's journey to change history.
