.

On the sea fifty nautical miles north of Indonesia, a huge fleet is busy preparing. The 8 aircraft carriers of the United States, 4 aircraft carriers gathered together to form a huge exclamation mark on the sea.

The ring at the tail of the exclamation mark is the coalition aircraft carrier formation. The twelve aircraft carriers form a perfect ring, which looks extremely beautiful.

The USS Lexington, York City, Hornets and Bumblebee are both old-fashioned aircraft carriers with low tonnage, while the Essex, York City, and Franklin are new aircraft carriers.

Although the United States achieved the final victory in the US-Japan War, although the number of aircraft carriers participated in the naval battles, the Americans sent letters to each other, although the number of aircraft carriers was an absolute disadvantage compared to the battleships, they were almost equal in terms of results. Considering the cost difference between the two, battleships were far from comparable to aircraft carriers.

This led to a radical change in the navy's shipbuilding idea. Overnight, aircraft carriers became the main ship like battleships. At this time, Americans felt deeply that the insufficient number of aircraft carriers and the outdated and outdated carrier-based aircraft. The Starton, York City, Hornet and Bumblebee, these old goods from ten years ago were no longer suitable for modern warfare.

Under such circumstances, the U.S. Congress and the government made a decision to accelerate the construction of aircraft carriers: 21915 will provide 3,1916 for 4 angstroms to meet the urgent needs of the war. Roosevelt also proposed a plan to quickly convert the Cleveland-class cruiser into a light aircraft carrier, and vigorously transform and build a number of escort aircraft carriers.

As early as 1906 when York City class started service, the situation showed that these aircraft carriers with standard displacement of 19900 could no longer meet the requirements. At that time, the size, weight and performance of the new carrier-based aircraft in China were being designed to require the Navy to build larger, more efficient and better deck protection aircraft carriers.

In the early 1910s, when designing the Essex-class aircraft carrier, its standard displacement was c0 tons. However, the U.S. Navy put forward a series of requirements for this class of ships that made designers deeply troubled, including: 1. A larger flight deck to allow an additional carrier-based aircraft squadron; 2. Aviation gasoline reserves are 17.8 gallons); 3. Increase the thickness of the armored column: increase to 101.6 mm along the waterline, and the main bulkhead to 76.2 mm. 4. The power of the propulsion system increased to 15 axle horsepower to meet the design requirements of 30 knots; 5. Increase the area of ​​the hangar deck to store more aircraft components and engines; e.

Obviously, these requirements cannot be achieved in a ship with a standard displacement of only 20,000 tons. The design of the Essex class (CV-9) is based on the York City class and has undergone 6 improvements by 1913. The volume is 27,500 tons. The ship's long and previous aircraft carrier lands have elevators in the middle. There is also a vertically disassembled elevator on the left side of the deck, so that the mothership can pass through the Panama Canal.

The interception system has 9 interception cables at the stern of the ship, and there are no 6 on the head, which can block 5.4 tons of carrier-based aircraft. The protection of the Essex-class aircraft carrier has also been improved. This mainly includes: the hull is divided into more watertight chambers. This structure makes the class of ships resistant to sinking. The ship varies from ship to ship. However, due to the limited national strength, this aircraft carrier has only 2 ships so far.

The Essex class has also implemented highly standardized aspects such as steel and steel plates, ship equipment, machinery and weapons. The production of anti-aircraft weapons is almost entirely concentrated on the manufacture of 127mm guns, the "Bofors 40mm gun and the "Elicon" 20m gun. The construction cycle has been greatly shortened, and several ships were completed and put into service in just 14-16 months.

The standard drainage of this class aircraft carrier is 27200~::265.79 meters, the flight deck length is 262.13; the ship width is 28 meters, the flight deck width is 29.26 meters; the average draft is 7.01 meters. Propulsion device: 4 gear-driven turbines. 8 boilers, 4 axes, 15 axes horsepower, and a speed of 32.7 knots. The fuel load is 6300, and the endurance is 15,000 miles and 15 knots.

The ship was equipped with 12 127mm high-level dual-purpose guns to deal with long-distance targets. When the first batch of Essex-class aircraft carriers were built, each ship was equipped with 8 four-unit 40-meter Bofos guns, with a total of 46 single-barrel 20mm "Elicon" | The 40-mm "Botyn" anti-aircraft guns on the ground increased to 68.20 millimeter.55.

The initial aviation brigade was composed of the following squadrons: 2 fighter squadrons (36), 1 reconnaissance bomber squadron (18); 1 dive bomber squadron (18), 1 torpedo squadron (18), and 1 pseudo-dive bomber for liaison missions, a total of 91 aircraft; there were 9 backups (3 each of fighters, dive bombers and torpedoes).

With the development and widespread application of radar, the demand for reconnaissance aircraft was decreasing. Therefore, by 1914, among the reconnaissance bomber squadrons and dive bombers, the vacancies of the original 12 reconnaissance bombers were replaced by fighters, and the total number was still 91.

By the summer of 1915, the typical Essex-class aviation [_.] included: 1 fighter squadron (36-37), 1 fighter-bomber squadron (36-37), 1 dive [and 1 torpedo squadron (15), a total of 103 aircraft.

In the early days of World War II, the ammunition load on the ground of each Essex-class aircraft carrier was: an average of 800 ammunition per 40mm gun. Each 20-meter gun had a reserve of 4,076 rounds, and a total of 47 tons of ammunition. In order to set the weight of carrier-based aircraft, 50% of the land. Later, in order to increase the freeboard and stability of the aircraft carrier, the US Shipbuilding Administration strictly stipulated that the ammunition load on the ground of each Essex-class aircraft carrier was 500 rounds per 40mm gun and 1,420 rounds per 20mm gun.

During the war, with the pilot

The increasing number of personnel and gunners has squeezed the Essex-class mothership. By 1915, its standard staffing posts totaled 3,442 more than the number of people planned by the U.S. Shipbuilding Bureau, including 382 officers and soldiers.

British aircraft carriers are roughly similar, but the British attach much less importance to aircraft carriers than Americans. From the arrangement of the fleet, we can see that the most prominent ones of the "Brave", "Glory" and "Ark Royal" are the "Furious". As the first aircraft carrier in the UK, the destination is more to destroy shipyards, rather than to charge.

At the front of the exclamation mark, there are majestic and tall battleships, and the huge main guns show their majesty. They are the protagonists of this era. Before that, they defeated the Chinese Pacific Fleet, and the thirty-four battleships sent several dreadnoughts into the sea without much effort, but were injured by several super dreadnoughts during the pursuit.

There are twelve American battleships, Tennessee, California, New Mexico, Mississippi, Idaho, Colorado, Maryland, West Virginia, South Dakota, Indiana, Massachusetts, and Alabama.

However, only the seven battleships behind the Colorado can be regarded as super-dreadnoughts. The first five can only be regarded as dreadnoughts.

Specific parameters for Colorado, Maryland, West Virginia

Displacement: 32600, main size: 624 feet x 97 ft 4 inches x 31 ft 4 inches;

Weapons: 816-inch 45-caliber guns, 14 5-inch 51-caliber guns, 50-caliber anti-aircraft guns, 221-inch torpedo tubes;

Armor thickness: 13.5 inches in part, 18 inches in turret, 3.5 inches in deck, 16 inches in bridge;

Power unit: 28,900 horsepower, four propellers;

Maximum speed: 21 knots, crew

South Dakota, Indiana, Massachusetts, Alabama

Displacement: Standard 35 (~: (7.3, 32.9 meters, draft: 10.

Power: 8 boilers, 4 duplex reduction gear transmission turbines, main engine output power: 130c force.

Design speed: full speed of 27 knots; endurance: 17,000 nautical miles/15,6,400 miles/

Military equipment: 9 triple-mounted 406mm/45 caliber main gun; 20 dual-mounted 127mm high-level dual-purpose gun 40mm anti-aircraft gun 40-70.20-meter anti-aircraft gun 35-

Armor: 307 mm waterline; 457 meters front of the turret, 229 mm side, 439 mm top, 406 mm gun; 121-147 mm armor deck.

Crew: Design and preparation

British battleships are much more impressive, and almost all of the most elite battleships gather here

King George V, Prince of Wales, Duke of York, Anson, and Five

Designed displacement: 35000, full load displacement 44650-45360~:

Size: 227 meters in total length, 225.5 meters in waterline; 31.4 in total width; maximum draft of 10.8

The host power is 110,000.29 knots, battery life: 15,000 miles/

Military equipment: 10 14-inch/45-caliber main guns (two quad-mounted turrets and one double-caliber turret), 16 133 meters/50-caliber high-level 52-4840 mm and 20 mm anti-aircraft guns.

Armor: Armor belt on the side (maximum) 15.4 inches, turret (front) 16 inches, gun seat 16 inches, command tower 15 inches, deck 7 inches

Crew: 1530-

Nelson, Rodney, Noble, Prince George, Victory, Jupiter, Hanney Dial, Mars, Caesar, and Ten Vitality

Displacement: Standard displacement 33950~:c00~:

Scale: 216.5 meters in total length, 212 meters in waterline; 32 meters in total width; maximum draft

Main unit: 8 oil-fired boiler, 2 steam turbines, 45,000 horsepower

Maximum speed: 23 knots; endurance: 7000 miles/16 knots, 5500 seas:

Military equipment: 9 triple-mounted 16-inch/45-caliber main guns; 6 double-mounted 6-inch/50-caliber secondary guns; 6 4.7-inch guns; 840-meter guns (1938 equipped with 1640-mm anti-aircraft guns, 60 20-mm anti-aircraft guns were installed during the war); 620-mm torpedo tubes.

Armor: Waterline armor belt 14.1-13 inches; compartment (front) 8-12 inches. (rear) 10-4 inches; turret (front) 14 inches. (side) 12 inches) i: 6.3 inches

Crew: 1314-

Queen Elizabeth, Warrior, Malaya

Normal displacement: 2915033020, normal displacement after modification: 32468

Size (length/width/drain): 196.9 meters/27.4 meters (changed 51.7 meters)/9.2 meters.

Power: 24 boilers (8 units after modification), main engine power 75,000 force (modified force), 25, endurance: 80 miles/12.

Armed with equipment: 8 dual-mounted 15-inch/42-caliber main gun, 126-inch/45-caliber secondary gun, x76-mm gun, 533-meter torpedo launch 4. The secondary gun was removed during the 37-year modification. 10 joint high-level cannons, plus 40-mm and 20-meter anti-aircraft cannons.

Armor: side armor belt (maximum) 13 inches, turret (front) 13 inches, command tower 1 inches, main deck 2.5-5 inches. Total armor weight

Crew:
Chapter completed!