.This cruiser that marked the entry of the Chinese Navy into a new era once had several names. It was named the "Republic" when it was planned and built. After the project was approved, it was renamed the "Zhonghua" and was renamed the "Admiral" when it started. It was not until Teng Yaohui became the commander of the naval force and formulated naval ship naval ship naming specifications that it was officially named the "Beijing". Therefore, the cruiser with the naval number x1 was also called the "Beijing" class.

Like the naming, the design and construction of the "Beijing" has also undergone many twists and turns.

As early as the year when the "Huangdi" was in service, the Navy proposed to build large air defense warships for the aircraft carrier combat group to replace the 052c class destroyer with slightly lacking air defense capabilities.

Initially, the Navy did not consider building cruisers, but focused on large destroyers.

In 2013, in the navy's shipbuilding plan submitted, there were large destroyers with temporary number 052d, with full load displacement exceeding 10,000 tons, equipped with 96 vertically launched HHQ-9 long-range air defense missiles and 32 vertically launched medium-range air defense missiles.

It was only during the review phase that the plan proved unfeasible.

If the tactical standards proposed by the Navy are followed, that is, the number of air defense missiles remains unchanged and four fire-controlled irradiation radars are installed, the full load displacement of the warship will require at least 13,000 tons.

Although the US Navy has developed the "Zumwalter" class destroyer, such a large displacement is still a problem.

If you don’t talk about anything else, the power system will be difficult to do.

If nuclear power is used, the displacement is relatively small and the use efficiency is not high. At that time, there was no suitable large-scale gas turbine, so only steam turbines could be used.

Obviously, the Navy will not accept this plan.

The reason is simple. The four "Modern" classes purchased from Russia have already suffered enough.

If there is no Second Korean War, the 052d project will either die in the womb or modify performance indicators, such as reducing combat standards and reducing ammunition carrying capacity.

As a result, the Second Korean War changed everything.

Although the Chinese Navy was very confused in the first two years after the war and even believed that the aircraft carrier had no value, let alone other large warships, after Huang Zhibo took over the General Staff, naval construction received high attention and equipment construction returned to normal track.

During this period, the Navy launched several large warship design and construction projects.

Among them are large air defense warships with the number x1.

However, in the initial stage, the Navy did not come up with specific performance indicators for air defense warships. The reason is very simple. In the new war environment, especially in the electromagnetic warfare environment, whether large warships that focus on long-range air defense can still play a role, even the US Navy cannot figure out whether they are still in the US.

If the long-range air defense system cannot withstand the test, then the fleet's air defense tactics must be reconsidered.

At this time, the electromagnetic confrontation technology made a major breakthrough, and the East China Sea War broke out, and the value of air defense warships was proven.

For a long time to come, long-range air defense systems will remain the most important air defense umbrella for the fleet.

In August 2019, the x1 project was officially launched.

Because very sufficient research was conducted in the early stage, the Navy issued a design task in 2017 and commissioned the Guangdong Shipyard and Qingdao Shipyard to design. At the end of that year, the Guangdong Shipyard came up with a design plan and was recognized by the Navy.

The construction work began immediately.

It is not a miracle to be able to complete the construction work within two years, because before that, the Guangdong Shipyard had already won the bid in 2017. Although the Navy only placed an order in November 2019, before that, the Guangdong Shipyard had completed construction preparations.

In addition, when building the "Beijing", the modular construction method was mainly adopted.

In order to balance the two major shipyards in the north and south, the sister ship "Beijing" "Shanghai" was arranged to be carried out at Qingdao Shipyard. The two shipyards were responsible for the manufacturing of different modules. The shipyards they were responsible for assembling various task modules.

Because the Navy needs to prove the value of large cruisers, the construction mission of the "Beijing" ranks first.

According to the navy's arrangement, the second batch of two ships will be placed only after the "Beijing" completes the naval test, so the "Beijing" must be put into service as soon as possible.

In this way, it is equivalent to two shipyards building a cruiser at the same time.

In terms of working hours, the "Beijing" is equivalent to the construction of a shipyard, which took three and a half years to complete the construction of the ship.

In this way, the construction cycle is not short.

As the first cruiser of the Chinese Navy, the "Beijing" has very high tactical indicators.

Driven by four 25 megawatt gas turbines, the maximum speed of the "Beijing" reaches 34 knots at a standard displacement of 11,500 tons, and even when it reaches a maximum displacement of 13,750 tons, the maximum speed can reach 30 knots. Driven in the alternating fuel-electricity mode, it can sail 7,500 nautical miles at 18 knots. If driven directly, it can sail 3,000 nautical miles at 30 knots.

In the weapon system, the Beijing USS Beijing takes a set of active/passive dual-mode phased array radar as the core, and cooperates with four fire-controlled irradiation radars to guide 32 air defense missiles at the same time, intercepting sixteen air targets in two batches, or guiding targets for 64 actively guided air defense missiles at the same time. In combination with the fire control system, eight eight-unit vertical launch systems are provided in front and rear. Under the standard combat mode, six long-range air defense missiles are provided in front and rear, one in each of four medium-range air defense missiles, one in each of long-range anti-ship missiles, or anti-submarine missiles, or ground-attack cruise missiles,

Therefore, it can carry 96 long-range air defense missiles and 64 medium-range air defense missiles at the same time. As an auxiliary system, there is also a 130 mm naval gun, which can be converted into a larger caliber naval gun if necessary. In terms of last-stage defense methods, there are a total of three sets of rapid-fire guns, and they can be converted into electromagnetic rapid-fire guns after they are put into service. The main anti-submarine equipment is two anti-submarine helicopters and vertically launched anti-submarine missiles, and the auxiliary anti-submarine means are two 324 mm triple torpedo tubes. In terms of electronic countermeasure system, in addition to the two jamming/bait launchers, there is also a set of tow-drop torpedo bait.

Judging from the weapon equipment, the "Beijing" far exceeds the "Ticandroga" level, and the tactical focus is very obvious.

Although the vertical launch system can be used for various naval ammunition, including cruise missiles with a range of 2,500 kilometers, most of the time, the "Beijing" is a typical air defense warship. Its main task is to provide cover for aircraft carriers and act as the air defense pillar of aircraft carrier combat groups. Only after obtaining absolute sea control and absolute air control will it be installed on cruise missiles to perform ground strike missions.

In a sense, the "Beijing" allowed the US Navy to speed up the design and construction of the CG-X project.

Such a powerful warship is naturally expensive.

Even when purchased by the Chinese Navy, the construction price of the "Beijing" was as high as 12 billion yuan, and the second ship "Shanghai" also reached 9.8 billion yuan.

Such a high price makes it difficult to build the Beijing one in large quantities.

To put it simply, a "Beijing" is equivalent to four 052c destroyers, and its combat effectiveness is definitely not as good as that of four destroyers.

As a result, on the day the "Beijing" was launched, the Navy failed to approve the construction contract for the second batch of two ships as planned.

Two months later, after the Guangdong Shipyard and Qingdao Shipyard made major concessions and promised to reduce the construction price of the second batch of two ships by 20%, the Navy approved the contract and placed the construction order for the second batch of two ships. No cruisers of this class have been built since then.

Of course, for the Chinese Navy, the "Beijing" class is definitely more than symbolic.

Before 2030, after the C1 and C2 aircraft carriers entered service, the Chinese Navy only needed four cruisers at most.

Without more aircraft carriers, there is no need to build more cruisers.

The launch ceremony of the "Beijing" was very grand. Not only did Teng Yaohui personally pull the curtain on the bow of the ship, but Huang Zhibo also took the time to rush over.

As the main person in charge of naval equipment construction, Mu Haoyang also went to the scene.

Because it is named after Beijing, the mayor of Beijing was also invited to go to the Guangzhou Shipyard to cut the ribbon for the 10,000-ton ship and presented it to the city emblem of Beijing.

It is so grand that it is nothing more than to show the strength of the Chinese Navy.

However, everyone knows that this warship will not be put into service at the earliest in 2024, and will be first incorporated into the "Huangdi" aircraft carrier battle group.

In the outside world's words, the launch of the "Beijing" suddenly heated up the naval arms race.

In less than a month, the Japanese Navy first announced that it would build a large air defense warship to enrich the aircraft carrier battle group before the Akagi was completed and put into service.

At the end of the year, the US Navy stated that the CG-X project would bear the first fruit in June 2022, and that the first ship, Long Beach, will be put into service before the end of 2024, and will be incorporated into the USS Ford aircraft carrier battle group, and then 32 will be built in batches.

Of course, this is not the end, it is the beginning.

After the "Beijing" was installed, the Navy first clarified the main engineering indicators of the x2 project and placed the control of cost first.

According to the requirements of the navy, the combat effectiveness of the x2 cruiser must reach 80% of the "Beijing" class, and the cost must be reduced by 40%. To put it more directly, the x2 cruiser must be a large warship that the navy can afford and use.

The tendering began at the end of December 2021.

At this time, the Navy had decided to purchase the second batch of two "Beijing" class ships.

Mu Haoyang is still responsible for equipment review, that is, for bidding. For this reason, he has to deal with the shipyard's research managers often, and often go to the shipyard for field inspections.

In early January 2022, after he returned from Qingdao Shipyard, Huang Zhibo gave him a big "red envelope".

With his outstanding performance during his service in the General Staff, Mu Haoyang was promoted to a major general before the age of 38. Although he was not the youngest major general, Zhou Yusheng was a major general at the age of 37, he was the most promising major general.
Chapter completed!