Empire Conquest-Chapter 932 - 135: Super Carrier_2

Fortunately, there is no need for a complete redesign.

Critically, the Chief Engineer of the Imperial Navy Ship Design Institute is still Zhao Yu.

In fact, the "Xue Yuanzheng" class was Zhao Yu’s last project.

To commence work promptly, Zhao Yu proposed a clever approach: complete the Super Carrier’s design in three phases, based on the "Chen Bingxun" class.

The first phase involves a simple enlargement process, initially increasing the tonnage.

In fact, this is also the easiest part.

The foundation of the "Chen Bingxun" class is already good, with a full load displacement of over 80,000 tons, and flight deck dimensions sufficient for operating 40-ton class ship-borne aircraft. The Imperial Navy Air Force wouldn’t seek larger ship-borne aircraft in the short term, so there’s no need for major surgery on the flight deck.

In this way, the length of the hull was basically determined.

The specific layout also didn’t require major changes; the second batch of the "Chen Bingxun" class already made adjustments to the flight deck layout, achieving perfection.

As for increasing the tonnage, it essentially involves widening the hull and deepening the draft to expand the usable internal space and improve the cabin structure. The key is to utilize the enlarged hull for installing a more powerful propulsion system and expanding the ammunition depot and fuel tanks.

In summary, while maintaining the same number of carried aircraft, the additional 20,000 tons address the performance shortcomings of the "Chen Bingxun" class.

Consequently, it took less than 9 months for the Imperial Navy Ship Design Institute to complete the design work.

Subsequently, the deliberative bodies approved the construction contract for the first batch of 3 ships.

In New Calendar year 128, April, the keel of the "Xue Yuanzheng" was laid at the Puzhou Shipyard.

The second phase involves improving the initial design to resolve existing issues.

Since the "Chen Bingxun" class design was already quite perfect, especially with no major issues in the overall shape, the second phase of design work did not make significant changes to the "Xue Yuanzheng" class exterior, mainly focusing on minor internal adjustments.

If anything, it mainly targeted various subsystems, especially the propulsion system.

The first batch of 3 "Xue Yuanzheng" class ships had a standard displacement close to 80,000 tons, and a full load displacement just over 100,000 tons. The set of four steam turbines provided only 300,000 horsepower, an improvement of merely 20,000 horsepower over the "Chen Bingxun" class, which was far from powerful.

Additionally, the hull of the "Xue Yuanzheng" class was wider, with a deeper draft, resulting in significantly greater sailing resistance than the "Chen Bingxun" class.

Though the "Xue Yuanzheng" class employed more advanced steam catapults that consumed less steam and had a lower negative impact during combat sailing.

For instance, the "Xue Yuanzheng" class could launch ship-borne aircraft at a rate of one every 2 minutes and maintain a speed of 30 knots for 4 hours, or launch two aircraft per minute, ensuring the speed wouldn’t drop below 30 knots for at least 1 hour. In these scenarios, the "Chen Bingxun" class could maintain speeds over 30 knots for only 2 hours and half an hour, respectively.

Yet, relatively speaking, this power system was still inadequate.

The "Xue Yuanzheng" class had a design speed of only 31 knots, just 0.5 knots above the Navy’s request of 30.5 knots, far less than the "Chen Bingxun" class’s 35 knots, and even slower than the opponent, as Newland Navy’s "Newland" class could reach a maximum speed of 33 knots.

Though, this speed was still sufficient.

With more powerful catapults, as long as the deck wind speed reached 27 knots, the "Xue Yuanzheng" class could launch 40-ton class ship-borne attack aircraft.

In addition, this propulsion system was very mature, with extremely high reliability.

Thanks to 40% more heavy oil than the "Chen Bingxun" class, the "Xue Yuanzheng" class could sail approximately 5,000 nautical miles at 30 knots, or 11,000 nautical miles at 22 knots. Reducing the speed to 16 knots would achieve a remarkable 20,000 nautical miles.

Yet, the Imperial Navy was evidently not content.

Thus, the most significant improvement in the second batch of "Xue Yuanzheng" class was enhancing the propulsion system, increasing the output power to 350,000 horsepower.

Ultimately achieving 360,000 horsepower!

As a result, the design maximum speed for the second batch of 3 ships exceeded 33 knots, with a light load state potentially reaching 35 knots!

Additionally, there were some detailed improvements, mostly in electronic equipment.

It was only after completing the second phase design that Zhao Yu officially retired.

Fortunately, the engineers at the Ship Design Institute did not disappoint him.

Strictly speaking, the third batch of "Xue Yuanzheng" class, built according to the third phase design plan, was the truly complete version, the final state.

Compared to the first two batches, the third batch of "Xue Yuanzheng" class was essentially a brand-new design.

Key to this was having sufficient time.

On the hull, the third batch of "Xue Yuanzheng" class was the first to employ "Low Alloy High Strength Steel," which was cheaper, easier to process, and had superior overall performance.

Just this reduced construction time by one-tenth and improved overall protective performance by nearly 30%, while maintaining constant tonnage. Thanks to higher structural strength, the third batch of "Xue Yuanzheng" class had a design service life of 50 years.

However, the main improvements were still in electronic equipment.

The lead ship of the third batch, Ship No. 7, the "Sage Tang," would become the world’s first carrier equipped with AESA, or Active Phased Array Radar.