Beiyang Dream

Chapter 38 The "Step-by-Step" Ship

A small conference room on the third floor of the Admiralty building in Leipzig.

Maps were pinned to the walls, and a row of warship models were displayed on the shelves. The largest one was placed in the very center, grayish-brown, with three smokestacks and three turrets at the fore, aft, and center.

Brandenburg-class.

The Germans' new toy has just been launched into the water.

Chang Desheng squinted at the turret in the middle and cursed inwardly: What idiot designed this turret layout?

There's a turret in the middle, completely blocking the firing arc in front and behind. And why are the barrels of the two cannons on that turret shorter than expected? How are we supposed to calibrate them?

Where is the German-style meticulousness we were promised?

The door opened.

Two people came in.

The leader was a German colonel, in his forties, with a thick beard so bushy it could hide a bird, yet it was neatly trimmed. Beneath the beard was a sharply defined face, quite handsome indeed.

The colonel glared at Chang Desheng and Guo Shigui as soon as he entered, then moved away without lingering for even half a second. He walked to the head seat and plopped down.

Okay.

Changde Shengxin said:

The way this German looked at people was just like those big clients in later generations who looked down on people... But the question is, in this "birthday ship" deal, who is the client?

"Committee Member Chang, Counselor Guo." The colonel's voice was a little deep. "I am Colonel Alfred von Tirpitz. This is my assistant, Captain Hasse."

"I've heard so much about you," Chang Desheng replied in German.

Guo Shigui quickly stood up, cupped his hands in greeting, and forced a smile onto his face.

Tirpitz didn't reply, but simply opened the folder and glanced at it. He leaned back and tapped his fingers on the table.

"As instructed by His Majesty the Emperor, the Ministry of the Navy has drafted a preliminary shipbuilding plan for your country."

The assistant pulled out several blueprints and spread them on the table. A boat was drawn on the blueprints.

"Standard displacement is between 8,500 and 9,200 tons." Tirpitz pointed to the blueprints. "Based on the Brandenburg-class design, but with some... adaptive simplifications."

Chang Desheng sneered inwardly.

Adaptive simplification.

Translated into plain language: A censored version.

"The cost was 2.8 million taels of silver," Tirpitz continued. "It possesses 70% of the fighting power of the Brandenburg-class ships. This is enough to help the Qing Navy maintain absolute superiority over the Japanese Navy for the next ten years."

He stopped, as if waiting for Chang Desheng to express his gratitude.

Chang Desheng remained silent, staring at the blueprints, his mind racing with calculations:

Tonnage: Reduced from 10,500 to 8,500, a reduction of 19.0476%... rounded up to 20%.

Cost: Brandenburg Class: 12 million marks, equivalent to 4 million taels. The scaled-down version: 2.8 million, a 30% price reduction.

Combat strength: Retain 70%...

On paper, things seem alright.

But Chang Desheng was a civil engineer, a drafter by training. He didn't look at the books; he looked at the structure, the system, and the hidden costs.

The main guns were reduced from three twin 280mm guns to two, decreasing the firepower density by one-third. The secondary guns were changed from 105mm to 150mm, increasing the caliber... but what about the rate of fire? The difference between a recoil-propelled gun and a barrel-propelled gun was like the generational leap from a matchlock musket to a flintlock musket.

How much was the armor reduced from 400mm? It's not written on the blueprints, but it will definitely be reduced. Otherwise, how could they have saved 2,000 tons of displacement?

The speed was reduced from 16.5 to 16 knots, which seems like only a difference of 0.5 knots, but the speed was slower with a 20% reduction in tonnage - how much of a castration did you have to do to the power system?

In short, Chang Desheng didn't think much of this monkey-style Brandenburg class.

"If neither of you has any objections," Tirpitz said, seeing that Chang Desheng remained silent and assuming he had been intimidated, his tone becoming more relaxed, "we can now discuss the letter of intent. Once we sign it, we can discuss the technical details and the construction schedule later."

The assistant pulled out a few more pages and pushed them over; they were a German-Chinese bilingual "Letter of Intent for the Purchase of Ironclad Warships".

Guo Shigui leaned close to Chang Desheng's ear and whispered in Tianjin dialect, "Zhenbang, what do you say? Should we sign or not? If we sign, we can discuss with the foreigners how to perform that 'birthday celebration' play..."

Chang Desheng barely moved his lips, replying in a low voice, "Sign it or not... these foreigners are taking advantage of us."

Guo Shigui was taken aback: "A sucker? I didn't see that coming!"

"Listen to me, you can't go wrong." Chang Desheng chuckled, his voice not loud, but loud enough for Tirpitz to hear.

Tirpitz frowned.

Chang Desheng looked up at Tirpitz and said in German, word by word, "Colonel, your 'Brandenburg-class simplified version' proposal does not meet our requirements."

There was a moment of silence in the conference room.

Tirpitz raised his eyebrows.

"Moreover," Chang Desheng continued calmly, "such a ship is not enough to help the Qing Navy maintain its advantage over the Japanese Navy."

"Oh?" Tirpitz leaned forward, elbows on the table, a smirk playing on his lips beneath his beard. "Is the Standing Committee member questioning Germany's shipbuilding capabilities?"

"Yes!" Chang Desheng nodded. "Your country's shipbuilding capabilities lag behind Britain's, especially in the field of recoil-operated rapid-fire guns, where the gap is significant."

Tirpitz's face darkened.

His assistant, Hasser, also frowned.

"The British have already put their 120mm recoil-propelled rapid-fire guns on the market," Chang Desheng said, ignoring them. "The 150mm version is also being tested and will be available by next year at the latest. Most of the Japanese Navy's ships were purchased from Britain. They will definitely equip themselves with a large number of rapid-fire guns."

He paused, then looked at Tirpitz: "The colonel should know better than I how far behind Britain is your country's Krupp in terms of recoil control technology."

Tirpitz did not speak.

It's clear that it hit a nerve.

Chang Desheng's time at the War Academy hadn't been wasted. He smoked cigars and coffee one after another, trying to get close to the German instructors and technical officers. Through this process, he learned a lot about the German military industry, especially its artillery.

Historically, it wasn't that Li Hongzhang was unwilling to spend money and therefore didn't buy Krupp rapid-fire cannons for the Beiyang Fleet.

Krupp really fell behind in the field of artillery control.

Armstrong's recoil-operated gun, with its hydraulic recoil mechanism and spring-loaded return mechanism, had a rate of fire several times faster than the stationary recoil-operated gun. Krupp, on the other hand, clung to the stationary recoil-operated gun, showing no interest in improvement, and simply used its "high accuracy and long service life" rhetoric to fool the "German enthusiasts" of the Beiyang Fleet.

As a result, in the Sino-Japanese War, the Japanese fleet's rapid-fire guns rained down like water; for every shot fired by the main guns of the Dingyuan and Zhenyuan, the enemy could fire five or six.

How can we fight this war?

Fortunately, Changde won't be a fan of De.

All that talk about German craftsmanship and Japanese lean manufacturing is utter nonsense. If you can't produce something real, don't try to fool people with sentimentality.

"Large-caliber naval guns and torpedoes are the decisive weapons in naval warfare," Tirpitz finally spoke, his tone firm. "Medium-caliber rapid-fire guns can't penetrate the armor of ironclad ships. And the British don't have large-caliber recoil-operated guns either."

"You're right," Chang Desheng nodded, "but that was in the North Sea, in the Atlantic Ocean. In the Far East, the situation is different."

He pointed to the blueprint: "In the Far East, only two warships can withstand 150mm rapid-fire guns—the Dingyuan and the Zhenyuan. The Japanese Navy currently has and is about to procure cruisers, or coastal defense ships without strong armor. 150mm rapid-fire guns are more than enough to inflict devastating damage on them."

Tirpitz frowned.

"Therefore," Chang Desheng continued, "we hope that the secondary armament of this new ship will be 150mm recoil-operated rapid-fire guns. The main guns…"

He paused, then looked at Tirpitz: "How about adopting your country's 240mm 35-caliber semi-rapid-fire gun, which was finalized in 1888?"

The meeting room became even quieter.

Tirpitz stared at Chang Desheng for a full five seconds.

"Mr. Commissioner," his tone was still firm, but less condescending, "your request... is not impossible to fulfill. But the price..."

He paused, as if calculating.

"The 150mm recoil-operated rapid-fire gun is still under development. To catch up with the outfitting schedule, it needs to be expedited, which increases costs. The 1888 semi-rapid-fire gun..." He shook his head, "It has never been used on ships. It lost out to the 280mm recoil-operated gun, so the Brandenburg-class ships are equipped with three twin 280mm main guns."

"My suggestion is," Tirpitz leaned forward, his tone now tinged with a sales pitch, "to install two twin 280mm main guns on the new ship, and use the proven 150mm recoilless guns for the secondary guns. This is more economical and technically safer and more reliable."

He held up two fingers.

"If we use the 150mm recoil-propelled rapid-fire gun and the 240mm semi-rapid-fire gun as you require, the total cost... will increase by at least 20%."

20%.

Chang Desheng quickly calculated in his mind.

280 million taels, up 20%, 336 million taels.

Goodness, this German is really bold.

But he didn't rush to bargain.

He simply shook his head, looked at Tirpitz, and gave the expression one would give a client looking at a supplier's quote.

"Colonel," he said, "your accounts... are incorrect."

Tirpitz paused, puzzled: "Something's not right?"

"This is how it should be accounted for." Chang Desheng leaned forward, lowered his voice, as if to reveal a secret, "It was our Qing Dynasty's Beiyang Fleet that bought one of your German... technology demonstrators."

Tirpitz frowned again.

"A technology demonstrator?" he repeated.

"Yes." Chang Desheng nodded. "On this ship, you can install the newly developed 150mm recoil-propelled rapid-fire gun, try the 240mm semi-rapid-fire gun which has never been used on a ship before, test the new three-turret layout along the center axis, and even try out... the not-so-mature Krupp armor steel."

He paused, looking into Tirpitz's eyes.

"Then, under the observation of your technical experts, this ship will be deployed in actual combat. In the Far East, facing the Japanese Navy." Chang Desheng's speech quickened. "Colonel, don't you want to know how these advanced technologies perform in actual use, especially in actual combat?"

Tirpitz did not speak.

But his expression turned serious.

Chang Desheng knew there was a chance.

He decided to add fuel to the fire.

"Colonel, you know better than I how fast naval technology is advancing these days." His voice lowered. "What was advanced a few years ago might be outdated now. Take the Zhenyuan and Dingyuan, for example. How impressive they were when they were launched! But look at them now!"

"I believe this new ship will be no exception. It can't be a truly mature and perfect product. It can only be a step... a stepping stone on the German Navy's path of progress."

"Before the German Navy possesses truly mature, mass-producible battleships," Chang Desheng continued, his tone increasingly resembling an assertion of self-evident truth, "many more classes of these 'step-up ships' will definitely need to be built. One or two ships per class, to verify the technology, identify problems, improve, and then build the next class. Step by step, small steps at a rapid pace, catching up with... Britain!"

He stopped and looked at Tirpitz.

"And if our Great Qing could purchase a portion of these 'stepped-ships' at a discounted price..." he chuckled, "wouldn't that be equivalent to us funding the verification of your new technologies and covering part of the R&D costs? Wouldn't your German Navy then be able to catch up with Britain step by step at a lower cost and faster speed?"

Tirpitz fell silent.

He stared at Chang Desheng for a long time.

Then, he suddenly laughed.

"Committee Member," he said, "you are...a very good accountant."

"Likewise," Chang Desheng laughed.

Once the accounts are clear, business will be easier.