Chapter 477 The Future of the Royal Navy

The design of the Combat Class destroyer was controversial from the outset, beginning with the ship’s armament.

Initially it was planned to be armed with 119mm guns and a small number of minesweepers, but when the final plans were being drawn up the Admiralty decided that all ships would be armed with 114mm guns and fitted with sufficient minesweepers.

The 114mm gun was mounted in a closed turret, which may be the norm in modern times, but in World War II, when observation equipment was not as advanced, this design made the gunner blind.

This may have been a problem during the war, but it was no longer a disadvantage in peacetime, and Alan Wilson didn’t believe that Newfoundland fishermen were going to go after other fishermen in the dark.

Despite the variety of guns on board, the Royal Navy’s admirals still felt that the guns didn’t have enough firepower.

This is also not a problem, against a fleet may be insufficient, against poaching fishing boats, the lack of firepower is not a problem at all, warships on board the living environment is also very harsh, but equipped with a smaller crew on the line.

The original three hundred crew, handed over to Newfoundland after half of the equipment, living environment above the problem is solved. In the final analysis, the shortcomings of wartime are not really shortcomings in peacetime.

Now there are at least five fighter destroyers that can be taken off at any time, and Allen Wilson, who got approval from Norman Brooke, went straight to discuss with the Newfoundland representative.

As for the blowing point, Allen Wilson said that the biggest advantage of this destroyer is beautiful, with Hankey and Boris two people arrived at the shipyard, Allen Wilson’s mouth gushing, “What a beautiful ship ah, very consistent with the image of Newfoundland, in fact, how the combat power is a small matter, the key is to comply with the temperament of heaven on earth in Newfoundland. The key is to match Newfoundland’s paradise on earth.”

“Combat” class destroyers are generous and beautiful, is the Royal Navy’s first ships equipped with stabilizer fins, sailing is very stable, almost no vibration, and has good maneuverability, withstand the sea winds and waves.

Talking about what data, what caliber that is secondary, and even whether there is no combat capability is not important.

Newfoundland, as a British Crown Dependency, is certainly protected by the Royal Navy, and as for the two close neighbors, Canada and the United States, not to mention that there is no need for conflict, and even if there is, it is not something that can be solved by the performance of warships.

Talk about appearance on the line, although there is a saying that a beautiful fighter is a good fighter, but the meaning is the same, like the Nelson class battleships look awkward, the combat class destroyers are no worse.

Sure enough, Hanji and Boris saw the sealed combat class destroyer, on Alan Wilson’s mouth of the beautiful very recognized, in this era of warships, combat class destroyers are really beautiful.

Of course, the two do not know Allen Wilson’s boast is not genuine, he has been used to the stealth destroyer layout of the latter. In this era of eye-catching layout, in his eyes is also the general goods.

But that didn’t stop him from being a sincere salesman, he wanted the five destroyers to be taken away in a hurry, now that the Royal Navy was in the aftermath of being choked in wartime, it was almost impossible for these destroyers to appear among the Royal Navy’s sequences as long as they were sealed up now, and it would be better to sell them rather than that.

“Officer Allen, I wonder how much these destroyers cost.” Boris was very interested, leapt to ask, Boris was once a soldier, only did not mix much fame, now still have some nostalgia for the military life.

“Newfoundland is a royal territory, we certainly can’t burden Newfoundland’s finances like we do with other countries.”

Alan Wilson pondered for a moment and said, “Let’s put it this way, one hundred thousand pounds per destroyer, weapons all included, five hundred thousand pounds will be five destroyers to drive away, in other people this price is completely impossible. Only Newfoundland has a special position among the British Empire can be this price.”

Despite the grandiose statement, there was no loss of money, at least not in the cost of the hull. Britain, as an old naval power, has a shipbuilding industry second to none in Europe and a huge pool of skilled workers.

To put it bluntly, one of the main reasons Britain was able to adopt the two-power standard in the first place was because the cost of building ships was lower than other countries, including the United States.

The cost of a British battleship was equivalent to that of a US heavy cruiser, and if you take two destroyers of the same size in 1938, a British destroyer was only one-fifth the size of a US destroyer.

This is partly because there is a mature shipbuilding industry, the other side, Alan Wilson believes that the original era of the United States has begun to use money to pile up combat power.

Benson class destroyer a six and a half million dollars, the United States those shipyards also dare to offer, the United States federal government also dare to allocate, we must know that the same level of British destroyers, when the cost of construction will not be more than two hundred thousand pounds, even if it is in accordance with the exchange rate of one to four, is less than one million dollars.

This can be imagined, the United States on the books of the huge military expenditure, in the end can not take out the same quality of things. From the beginning of World War II, all kinds of American weapons began to break selling price records to appear.

The Cold War was all about the opaque military spending of the Soviet Union, and the twenty-first century is all about the opaque military spending of China. When you look at it this way, the U.S. military spending has been embezzled in more ways than one.

Alan Wilson today personally compared the price of the destroyers of the two countries, only to realize that there is really a problem with the U.S. military spending. I just don’t know if it’s as serious as it is in later times.

For the same price, Newfoundland can only buy one warship from the United States. In British hands it could buy five!

Allen Wilson’s statement made Hankey and Boris two people very happy, half a million pounds can take five destroyers, this absolutely proves the Allen chief’s mouth said, the native land valued the status of Newfoundland’s royal territory.

It was almost as if they wanted to take Allen Wilson’s hand to express their gratitude, “This price is too much to take care of Newfoundland, Officer Allen is so grateful.”

“It’s nothing, we are all family, I am still the administrator of Newfoundland.” Allen Wilson nodded smilingly, and in his heart he still couldn’t help but sigh, it’s better to say that it’s the United States that makes any weapon ridiculously expensive.

It would seem that the military spending on the books of the United States in the twenty-first century, as a result of which it could not take out many incoming weapons could be explained.

Even Cold War military spending may have been watered down. Perhaps the opacity of the Soviet Union’s military expenditures was created by the Americans to appease the citizens at home and to hide the fact that there was a problem with their own military expenditures.

After visiting the five destroyers to be installed in Newfoundland, Alan Wilson put forward his own suggestion, “Considering the geographical location of Newfoundland and the status of the Crown’s territory, it is better not to mean the fleet as a name. Just call it the Royal Newfoundland Coast Guard, and try not to open fire on fishing boats of unknown nationality, which undermines Newfoundland’s position in the financial industry. No one wants a place that attracts money by its tax rates to be always in danger.”

Perhaps getting the warships at a low price pleased the two men, and they both recognized Alan Wilson’s words, and Hankey said directly, “We’ve come to buy the warships, and we’re only threatening to deter some of the unscrupulous fishing boats, mainly deterring, not weakening Newfoundland’s unique financial position.”

“That’s good, that’s reassuring. At least it’s a warship, it’s much sturdier than a fishing boat, and it’s really easier to explain by ramming it than firing a gun.” Alan Wilson said with a relaxed look on his face, “Of course we still have to firmly maintain the fishing resources, which is Newfoundland’s top priority.”

Hankey and Boris both nodded their heads in recognition, “Chief Allen still thinks of us all the time even though he has left Newfoundland, very moving for the citizens of Newfoundland.”

“Helping Newfoundland is something I should do, it doesn’t need any special reason.” Alan Wilson smiled lightly, indicating that he was considered a we for Newfoundland.

With regard to the communication between the High Commissioners of Newfoundland and Malaya, and with regard to the use of Chinese laborers, the Administrator, who had not yet left office, was also obliged to be present, but was only an observer, and did not express an opinion.

After some scavenging among the British warships, Alan Wilson became interested in some of the current Royal Navy information, such as the angled deck.

The concept of the angled deck was born in the winter of 1944, and the inventor was also a British naval officer by the name of Dennis Campbell. Dennis Campbell.

World War II aircraft carriers use a straight deck, if the aircraft failed to land can be rushed into the middle of the deck blocking net, but not the jet fighters, jet fighters are not only heavy and expensive, once you miss the blocking cable, you have to pull up again to fly again.

So far, though, no aircraft carrier in any country today has an angled deck layout.

“The Malta-class carriers haven’t been built yet, so I don’t know if it’s too late to add the angled deck.” Alan Wilson rested his chin on one hand, knowing that he was in no position to interfere with the blueprints for the construction of an aircraft carrier.

But the fact that he had a father-in-law with a previous record, Admiral Mountbatten who was serving in the Mediterranean Fleet, Mountbatten’s Mountbatten Powder, the propulsion of the Ice Carrier proposal, and so on, showed that this father-in-law of his was definitely not lacking in the courage to make suggestions.

The only pitfall was that all of Mountbatten’s previous suggestions had proved to be bullshit, so if the beveled deck suggestion was put forward through Mountbatten’s mouth, would it instead be met with alarm by the bigwigs in the Royal Navy, leading to its eventual non-adoption?

“Alan? What are you thinking?” Gerard Edward, who was having a good conversation with the two Newfoundlanders, couldn’t help but ask when he saw Allen Wilson’s rare silence.

This was not the Allen Wilson he knew, when did he become so silent? Gerard Edward did not know that Allen Wilson envisioned the future of the Royal Navy.