Chapter 8: Strong Navy Means Strong Nation
Having money, power, and influence, no matter in which era, allows one to enjoy a relatively comfortable life, especially during the Republic of China period,
So when Zhou Wenhua experienced having money and realized all the things he could do, he felt deeply touched.
So after he finished discussing with General Manager Yang Junsheng, and signed the shareholding contract, cooperation contract, and internship project contract,
he also received the other party’s warm hospitality again before leaving.
And he got into the car, continuing towards Jiangnan Shipyard,
There, through his father’s relationship and Butler Liu Xing’s appointment, he was able to visit the current Chief Engineer of Jiangnan Shipyard Ye Zaifu,
as well as visit his father’s friend Chen Ziting, who served as an engineer at Jiangnan Shipyard and held some concurrent military positions.
“Is this the feeling of having money, power, and influence?”
“If I didn’t have my father’s relationship and the Zhou Family’s background, I’m afraid I couldn’t even enter their front gate!”
“The current Jiangnan Shipyard has already been taken over by the Navy Department!”
“It already belongs to the military background!”
“Ordinary people probably can’t enter!”
Sitting in the car, Zhou Wenhua couldn’t help but sigh about the various states of life in reality.
At the same time,
he was also very grateful that after his transmigration and rebirth, he was born into a wealthy family,
His starting point had already surpassed most people.
However, his thoughts quickly shifted to the materials needed for the shipyard.
What are the materials for shipbuilding?
There is carbon steel, titanium alloy, cast iron, marine steel, non-ferrous metal, aluminum alloy, brass, fiberglass, insulating materials, glass steel, and its alloys, as well as marine steel sections, steel plates, and other marine metal materials like steel.
When Zhou Wenhua brought up shipbuilding materials in his mind,
A large pile of shipbuilding materials appeared in his mind, including those from later generations that used fiberglass, foam, and cork mixed materials,
But overall, the most common main material for shipbuilding is still steel.
Especially steel plates used for cruise ships and high-strength steel.
Every ship that can float safely and reliably on the sea surface needs good steel to manufacture the hull.
Different hulls and different ship types use completely different steel,
Even the submarine hull uses top-quality steel, which needs to undergo strict processing and manufacturing.
The deck steel used for aircraft carriers has even higher requirements,
Because aircraft carriers not only need to resist salt and moisture, but also handle the impact force of carrier-based aircraft taking off and landing, as well as safety hazards from severe weather like storms on the sea surface, and other issues.
So steel is the foundation for shipbuilding and the most critical issue that needs to be solved.
The problem is that with the current domestic steel manufacturing technology during the Republic of China period, it is completely impossible to manufacture large quantities of warships, airplanes, and submarines like those foreign countries or the Japanese Army.
So after thinking about steel technology,
Zhou Wenhua also planned to find a way to learn the steel manufacturing technology well, and also have the ability to protect his technology so it wouldn’t be taken by other major families, the military, or the Japanese Army.
Marine steel refers to steel used for manufacturing the hull structures of ocean-going ships and inland river ships, usually high-quality carbon steel and high-quality low-alloy steel.
So Zhou Wenhua can also research both kinds of shipbuilding materials at the same time,
Including the manufacturing technology and mining technology of aluminum alloy, which is more expensive and better than steel for shipbuilding, which also needs to be learned.
Especially now during the Republic of China period, aluminum is also very scarce,
As for the fiberglass used in shipbuilding in later generations, if there is a way to learn it, it can also be considered.
While Zhou Wenhua was thinking about various shipbuilding materials,
Jiangnan Shipyard,
Current Chief Engineer of Jiangnan Shipyard Ye Zaifu and Engineer Chen Ziting were also busy inspecting and maintaining the second warship ‘Yong Sui’ warship and the ‘Xian Ning’ warship,
Although the Xian Ning warship has a displacement of only over 410 tons, smaller than the “Jiang Yuan” class gunboats equipped by the navy at the time, it is about the same size as the Yangtze River gunboats designed and used by the Japanese Navy at the time.
Even in appearance, it is very similar to the main warships.
This is also the new type of Yangtze River gunboat depicted by Chief Engineer Ye Zaifu to the Nanjing government, and renamed Xian Ning, meaning “peace in all directions”.
This also reflects the mindset at the time, whether it was the government represented by the Chairman in Nanjing, or all sectors of the navy, eagerly hoping for peace for the National Revolutionary Army and to enter an era of peaceful development as soon as possible.
As for the second warship ‘Yong Sui’ warship, on April 20, 1930, when the Chairman hurried to the middle reaches of the Yangtze River for a western inspection tour, he used this warship, which had been personally christened with champagne by the Chairman’s wife Madam Song, as his flagship for this western tour, opening the history of heads of state using flagships for external inspections.
While Chief Engineer Ye Zaifu and Engineer Chen Ziting were busy directing shipyard employees to carry out various maintenance work on the warships,
Navy Admiral Yang Shuzhuang, who initiated the great wave of navy construction in the Nanjing government era, was also accompanied by Second Fleet Commander Chen Shaokuan, First Fleet Commander Chen Jiliang, and National Revolutionary Army Training Fleet Commander Li Jingxi, and came to watch this warship maintenance project.
Because for them, being able to witness these warships self-manufactured by their Navy Department was the happiest thing, so they paid special attention to the maintenance and repair process of the ‘Xian Ning’ and ‘Yong Sui’ warships.
So whenever they had time, they would come to watch, and also see if there was anything that needed their assistance to handle.
As Fujian-based navy, these people had finally endured to the end. Escaping the previous friction and conflicting situations with other navy factions,
And after relying on the Chairman, they achieved many battle achievements, thereby gaining the Chairman’s great trust, and were specially appointed as Military Commission members,
It was also because of this that they were able to have money and opportunity to once again open the prelude to domestic navy development.
Especially in 1928, at the thirty-second meeting of the National Government Commission, after Commander Yang Shuzhuang submitted a proposal named《 Rectification of Navy Methods》,
The golden age of navy construction during the Republic of China period also officially slowly opened its curtain.
“Now we already have warships like Xian Ning, Yong Sui, Yi Xian, Min Sheng, and Min Quan. We can say that the era wave of our great navy construction has gradually stepped onto the right track!”
Looking at the warship maintenance in front of him, Second Fleet Commander Chen Shaokuan sighed first.
For them in the past, having domestically manufactured warships was simply a dream, and they were even squeezed by various factions, not even knowing how to sustain their Fujian-based fleet,
Although in the end they formed their own Marine Corps, captured Xiamen to stabilize their income sources and sustain the fleet.
But wanting to manufacture the warships they desired was absolutely something they wouldn’t dare to dream of.
But now they suddenly had multiple self-manufactured warships, so as high-level members of the Navy Department, they particularly sighed that these were hard-won,
“Now although we can manufacture the warships we want ourselves, it is far from enough to protect our sea areas. At least we are still far from my desired proposal of 10 shallow-water gunboats for the Yangtze River, 3 cruisers for the open sea, 4 destroyers, 2 submarines, 1 aircraft carrier, 2 minelayers, and other navy great construction development proposals!”
“Not to mention comparing with the Japanese Army’s aircraft carrier fleet and the foreigners’ fleets!”
“Strong Navy, then Strong Nation!”
“We still have a long way to go!”
“Beware of arrogance and impatience!”
But regarding Second Fleet Commander Chen Shaokuan’s sigh, Commander Yang Shuzhuang shook his head and retorted.
“Yes! Commander!”
Second Fleet Commander Chen Shaokuan responded embarrassedly.
He also felt that he had been a bit too complacent just now,
Actually getting secretly happy just because their own Jiangnan Shipyard could self-manufacture a few warships,
And ignoring the Japanese Army’s navy construction and the powerful industrial production capabilities of those foreign countries’ navies, which were many times stronger than their own shipyard,
He had really been happy too early.
