Chapter 1746 You may not be able to buy it if you want to

Whether to buy or build weapons and equipment is a long-term difficult decision for many countries in the South China Sea region. Especially for large-scale equipment like warships, although all countries have certain shipbuilding capabilities, no one can deny that they are related to Haihan.

There is a huge gap in the navy's ship combat performance. If possible, who doesn't want to have a powerful maritime fleet?

For a long time in the past, Haihan has been unwilling to sell combat ships to foreign countries. Such a decision is naturally reasonable, and all countries can only covet it. However, since Haihan lifted the ban, it seems that all countries have

Instead of considering the question of whether to buy or build, we spent all our money to order warships from Haihan. Even if there was only the smallest tonnage exploration-class warship on the sale list, it would be enough to make all countries flock to it.

The reason for this situation is that, in addition to the outstanding performance of the Haihan warship itself, another important reason is that the shipyard responsible for building the warship has limited production capacity. The number of export warships that can be delivered every year is not as much as you can buy.

, large orders may even be delayed until two or three years before delivery. In this situation where supply exceeds demand, countries will naturally rush to buy in order to occupy a leading position in the arms race in the South China Sea region.

—Even if you don’t have the chance to sit on the top spot, you can at least strive for a position below one country and above all other countries.

Such an environment has not only caused the Haihan warship to be in short supply in the international arms market, but also caused its price to rise all the way. From the seller's pricing in the first few years to the current buyer's bidding, buyers from various countries have

For the more than ten or twenty warships produced by Haihan every year, we almost have to fight for them.

Faced with such a hot market, Haihan Military Industry has to accept foreign orders in order to make profits, so it has to allocate part of the dock slips and shipbuilding technicians to complete the tasks, which will inevitably affect Haihan Navy's order delivery and daily maintenance. The former Shengli Port Shipbuilding

After several upgrades and expansions, the factory was renamed Sanya Shipyard and more shipyards were built. However, even so, it was still unable to fully meet the production requirements of Haihan Ordnance Industry.

Therefore, Haihan Ordnance Industry also built shipyards in Hong Kong, Guangdong, Magong Port in Penghu, Dinghai Port in Zhoushan, and Jinlan Port in Annan, and gradually relaxed restrictions on building standard warships overseas. In this way,

To a certain extent, it alleviates the ship repair and maintenance needs of the navy's fleet stationed abroad, and small-tonnage combat ships can be built in various places and supplemented to the fleet stationed nearby. Of course, the expedition-class and majestic ships equipped with steam propulsion power with higher technical content

Class warships, currently only Sanya Shipyard can build them.

However, in order to facilitate technical control, the export-oriented warships for export are still concentrated in Sanya for construction. Therefore, the annual warship export ordering activities are still arranged to be held in Sanya.

"Actually, regarding combat ships, even if we don't do any sales promotion activities, everyone here will still be very proactive in paying for orders. On behalf of Haihan Ordnance and Sanya Shipyard, I would like to thank you all for many years.

Thank you for your continued patronage.”

Bai Kesi bowed slightly to pay tribute, and then got to the point: "But in line with the attitude of being responsible to the buyers, we still invited experts to introduce the situation to you today."

The man who came on stage next was not very good-looking, he looked to be in his fifties or sixties. There were even many people in the audience who didn't know him at all, and they were whispering to each other to find out about this man's identity.

Li Xi didn't know this person either. After asking the Ministry of Foreign Affairs staff nearby, he found out that this person was Zhang Tiangui, the chief engineer of Sanya Shipyard. Li Xi knew nothing about Zhang Tiangui's deeds, but his official title seemed to be quite high.

, and Bai Kesi called him an expert, presumably because he has relatively special attainments in the field of shipbuilding.

In fact, anyone who has bought a warship from Haihan or has had the experience of visiting the Sanya Shipyard will basically recognize this person who is called "Chief Engineer Zhang" by senior officials of Haihan.

He is the on-site technical person in charge of Haihan shipbuilding. All Haihan warships exported to foreign countries must be inspected by him at the shipyard before they can be delivered to buyers.

Maritime-related matters, including port construction, shipping and shipbuilding, were in the early days of Sun Changmi and Yue Zhiyun. However, although the professional knowledge of these two people could defeat the navigators of their time, if they were to

In terms of actual hands-on ability, it is still not as good as a senior technician working on the front line of shipbuilding. Haihan was lucky enough to get Zhang Tiangui's help soon after crossing over. It was the complete shipbuilding technology brought by this person that allowed Haihan to

The shipbuilding industry started smoothly and surpassed other countries in the South China Sea region in a short period of time.

Zhang Tiangui and his five sons all work in Haihan official institutions. This kind of situation where all the men in the family are working as officials is also rare in Haihan. Today's Zhang Tiangui is no longer the down-and-out shipwright he used to be. If he were to

If you were to rank the new upstarts from Haihan who had been promoted from naturalized status to the upper echelon, Zhang Tiangui would definitely be at the top.

It is precisely because of this situation that Haihan officials have no doubt about Zhang Tiangui's loyalty and have always had deep trust in him. For matters such as new ship design, Sun Changmi and Yue Zhiyun will also bring Zhang Tiangui for meetings.

Discussing the technical details of ship design. Zhang Tiangui also came into contact with a lot of professional knowledge that transcended the times. He had long regarded the senior officials of Haihan who could build large iron ships as gods, and now he can be taught these top-secret knowledge by his superiors.

, which further strengthened Zhang Tiangui’s determination to serve Haihan.

However, as a technocrat, Zhang Tiangui does not appear in public very often. Only when the superiors arrange for foreign dignitaries to visit the shipyard, he will come out to receive them and act as a professional commentator during the visit. Outside Sanya

In this place, not many people have heard of the name of the person in charge of Sanya Shipyard.

Today, Bai Kesi arranged for Zhang Tiangui to explain this year's warship sales arrangements to representatives from various countries. On the one hand, it was out of respect for Zhang Tiangui, and on the other hand, he really needed a knowledgeable professional to answer the buyers' questions immediately on the spot.

Zhang Tiangui made three main points. First, the total number of warships delivered by Haihanneng before the end of this year will not exceed 20, and the actual delivery date of this order may extend to the middle of next year. Second,

This time, the warships purchased by buyers can enjoy more customized content, such as the number of cannons equipped on the ship, cabin layout, hull protection reinforcement, etc. Third, the technical upgrades of warships this year mainly focus on the suitability of the ships.

Navigation and ease of use of rigging.

Zhang Tiangui's explanation was almost free of nonsense and exaggeration, and it came to an end quickly. However, the audience did not intend to let him go. When Zhang Tiangui announced that he could start asking questions, Annan's Zheng Zha was the first to speak: "Then

According to what Chief Zhang said, the ships that can be delivered this year may have been purchased last year, and the ships purchased this time may not be built until next year. Am I right to understand this?"

Zhang Tiangui nodded and said: "That's right. We took the initiative to announce this situation. We hope that you will consider whether your actual needs are urgent before placing orders, and don't come to the shipyard every day to rush for the delivery of the ship."

Zheng Zha said: "Then the rules from previous years can still be expedited, right?"

"Of course." Zhang Tiangui responded: "The expedited fee is 20%, priority will be given to construction and delivery."

Everyone in the audience who heard these words knew very well that this was also a disguised way for the Haihan people to increase prices. If you want to get a boat urgently, then just dig into your pocket and add more money, otherwise just wait.

Don't be dissatisfied with the long queue time. Haihan can only deliver about twenty ships every year. You don't want to buy from others, but you are waiting to buy it with money.

However, Zheng Zha, who asked this question, did not actually choose to add money. He just wanted to create an atmosphere for Haihan to support him. The shipyard built by Annanguo near the Tushan Peninsula has been in operation for two or three years and has spent a lot of money.

After receiving the technology transfer from Haihan, Annan can also build small-tonnage exploration-class warships. However, due to the limitations of his country's shipbuilding technology and shipyard scale, he can only build about four to six such warships every year.

, and the cost even exceeds the cost of buying it directly from Haihan.

For the Annan Kingdom, which is determined to follow Haihan in building a powerful navy, such a shipbuilding speed is obviously unable to meet the needs of the ruler, so Annan Kingdom will still place an order with Haihan every year to purchase several warships to speed up its own warships.

The speed of navy formation.

Another big buyer, Fujian Xu, also understood this and immediately expressed that he would consider placing an order at a higher price in exchange for a relatively short delivery time. However, the actual situation in Fujian is similar to Annan, and Haihan also transferred the exploration class to it.

Based on the drawings and construction technology of warships, the shipyards in Zhangquan and Zhangzhou can build warships of this level by themselves. Fujianese now generally give priority to expedition-class warships with larger tonnage when buying ships from Haihan.

.

As soon as these two companies expressed their opinions, others ignored that the performance upgrade of the warships launched this time did not seem obvious, and focused on how to shorten the shipbuilding cycle and allow the Haihan people to deliver their orders earlier.

It took a while before the Portuguese raised a technical question: If the number of artillery deployed on the ship is to be further increased, will it affect the seaworthiness of the ship?

Zhang Tiangui's answer was also very straightforward: "The most suitable number is definitely the original design of our shipyard. This is the result of repeated calculations and demonstrations by the leaders. However, considering the actual needs of some countries, we will provide it."

Customized project. If you want to add artillery to the exploration-class warship, the center of gravity of the ship and the load-bearing capacity of the deck will need to be recalculated. As for the actual impact on seaworthiness, I am afraid that we will have to wait until the ship is launched before we can have a definite answer.

.”

In fact, shipyards in Annan and Fujian have already been conducting private experiments on modifications similar to what Zhang Tiangui mentioned. The naval guns sold by Haihan with the ships are also versions with reduced performance. Buyers know this very well, and they cannot equip them if they are unable to do so.

If the Haihan Navy has the same type of artillery, if you want to shorten the combat power gap with the Haihan Navy, you can only equip the ship with stronger firepower. Or use artillery with a larger caliber and a longer range to serve as a naval gun.

The alternative is to deploy more artillery on the ship.

However, their tests were not very successful. After more powerful artillery was put on board, it often exceeded the carrying capacity of the exploration-class warship, causing damage to the hull that was difficult to repair in combat conditions. And deploying more cannons would often exceed the carrying capacity of the exploration-class warship.

With artillery, the problem mentioned by Zhang Tiangui will arise. The center of gravity of the entire ship needs to be readjusted. Otherwise, when encountering collective firing on one side during war, the warship may capsize to the other side.

Without Haihan's participation in this kind of experiment, it would be difficult to obtain rough results through calculations before implementation. Even if Haihan knew that they were making these changes in private, they would pretend not to know and let them hit the wall. This warship

If modification was so easy, then Haihan would not easily sell out its exploration-level manufacturing technology.

Zhang Tiangui was quite opposed to the transfer of shipbuilding technology at first, but Sun Changmi and Yue Zhiyun told him that transferring some outdated and backward technologies would not allow these buyers to catch up with Shanghai Han in the shipbuilding field, but would instead make them more reliable.

Tied to Haihan's military industry system, because they will soon discover that this thing is not as easy as copying one example and inferring other cases. Buying exploration-level manufacturing technology does not mean that they can build more advanced exploration-level warships.

But when the fleets of these buyers are all Haihan-style warships as the main force, their tactics and organization can only follow the mature model of Haihan. When these ships face upgrades in the future, they will still inevitably have to ask for Haihan warships.

Come to Han, because only Haihan can provide them with a reliable upgrade plan.

Although Zhang Tiangui doesn't quite understand why the chiefs are so certain about the future situation, based on past experience, the chiefs' predictions of the development of the situation have always been correct, so Zhang Tiangui is not worried about any recurrences in the future. This time, the rollout begins

After the official customization, Zhang Tiangui expected that the biggest buyers in the past would definitely be interested in it. However, this kind of upgrade service is expensive. Even if it is just given a modification plan and the other party carries out the modification themselves, it is not a one-stop service.

It's a small amount.

Although only the Portuguese raised this question at the scene, when Zhang Tiangui answered this question, the Fujian and Annan families listened particularly attentively.

Although Li Xi didn't know much about shipbuilding technology, he listened carefully to Zhang Tiangui's explanation. On his way south, he basically saw several of Haihan's main warships, and then went to Manila with the army to witness the sea with his own eyes.

The terrifying strength of the Han fleet. It's just that the North Korean treasury is tight. Even if he wants to buy it, the country simply can't spend so much money to buy a large number of Haihan warships. It can only be a spectator and learn as much as possible first.

Check out the doorway to buy warships.
Chapter completed!