My Italy

The roar of steam, the sound of metal cutting and the hammering of air hammers are the main sounds that make up a shipyard. In every busy shipyard, a variety of sounds are mixed together every day, making it unique.

Of course, for the employees of the Venice Naval Shipyard, they are already accustomed to the sounds inside the shipyard every day. It would be hard to get used to it without these noisy sounds.

However, for the Venice Naval Shipyard, the various banging sounds every day are a sign of the busyness of the shipyard. Without so many orders for military and civilian ships, it would be impossible to support thousands of shipyard workers.

However, the difference between the various shipyards of the Venice Naval Shipyard and ordinary shipyards is that many of the ships under construction in the Venice Naval Shipyard shipyard are military ships, while ordinary shipyards only have civilian ships.

And even for civilian ships, the technological content of the Venice Shipyard is higher than that of ordinary shipyards.

Dock No. 5 is the most mysterious and strictly governed dock in the Venice Shipyard. The dock is directly guarded by soldiers, and everyone entering and exiting needs to clock in and register. It is also one of the few large shipyards covered by buildings in the Venice Naval Shipyard. The dock is 230 meters long and 35 meters wide, and can build large ships with a displacement of more than 40,000 tons.

In the dock, a group of the most skilled workers at the Venice Shipyard were busy working on a tall warship.

This battleship is taller and more different than the previous battleships built by the Venice Shipyard. Yes, this is the latest type of battleship of the Italian Navy. According to the practice of naming the first ship the Count of Cavour, this class is called the Cavour-class battleship.

Among them, the Venice Naval Shipyard built its first ship, the Cavour. The ship is 191 meters long, 28.9 meters wide, and has an estimated maximum draft of 9.3 meters. The design standard displacement is 24,000 tons, and the full load displacement is 27,500 tons.

Equipped with 16 oil-fired boilers and two steam turbines, the main engine has a maximum output power of 42,000 horsepower and 4 axles; the maximum speed is 23.5 knots and the maximum cruising range is 5,100 nautical miles and 14 knots.

In addition, the biggest feature of the Cavour class is that it is equipped with eight new main guns of 350 mm and 45 times the caliber. This main gun is also the result of joint research by the three countries. Although the development time is a bit long, it is worth the money. The main gun's loading time is about 30 seconds (2 rounds/minute), its recoil is converted into a mass of 75,300kg, and its range is 28,000 meters at an elevation angle of 25°.

The elevation angle of the gun is -4°~25°

Horizontal firing range -140°/+140° (bow) -135°/+135° (stern) turret rotation speed 6°/s.

The capped armor-piercing projectile weighs 647kg, and the high-explosive projectile weighs 635kg.

The experimental penetration data of the gun is 598 mm at a distance of 5,000 meters.

8000 meters 510 mm,

10000 meters 456 mm,

13000 meters 391 mm,

15000 meters 351 mm,

The main gun data is already very good in this era, and it is worthy of being the main gun of the new warship selected by the Three Kingdoms.

The eight main guns are mounted in twin turrets. The interior of the turret is designed to be compartmentalized. The fighting room at the front is divided into three independent parts by two anti-fragment and fireproof armored longitudinal partitions. The command room in the tail cabin is separated from the fighting room by a transverse partition, which improves the efficiency of the turret. The overall vitality of the turret

In addition to the main gun, the designer also added 10 150 mm/50 times caliber secondary guns and 22 76 mm caliber guns to the Cavour class.

In addition to its powerful power and good firepower, the Cavour class also has good protection.

Its main armor belt is 4.3 meters high, the middle part of the ship reaches 330 mm, and extends to 152 mm at the bow and stern of the ship.

In addition to the main armor belt, the front of the turret is 330 mm and the top is 200 mm. The front of the command tower is 330 mm, and the horizontal armor is 152-102 mm. The total weight of the armor is 8,545 tons.

It can be said that the Cavour class currently under construction is one of the most outstanding warships under construction in various countries. Of course, excellent battleships naturally have excellent construction costs. According to documents from the Ministry of the Navy, the cost of each of the two Cavour-class battleships currently under construction is as high as 49.7 million lire.

With such a high cost, the Italian Navy only dared to build three ships.

Since it is the new big treasure of the Navy, people from the Navy will naturally come to check it out from time to time.

Today, the Venice Shipyard welcomed a new group of visitors.

"Your Excellency, Admiral, our shipyard has completed 70% of the work on the hull. It is expected that it will take another 5-7 months before the ship can be launched into the water."

Director Matthias Horn, who is the head of the shipyard, personally introduced the progress to the visiting Admiral Yagier.

After listening to Factory Director Renhorn's introduction, Admiral Yagir looked at the workers busy around the ship and spoke. "Very good. I am very satisfied with the construction progress of your factory. I hope you can complete the construction of the ship with quality and quantity. I think you also know the importance of this ship to our navy. The first ship, the Cavour, I will The king is invited to come and witness its launching ceremony in person.”

Facing Admiral Yagir's words, the people at the Venice Shipyard burst into laughter. It was a very honorable thing for the king to come to watch the launching ceremony.

"Thank you very much, Admiral, for your support, but I would like to ask, is the No. 4 ship really no longer being built?"

What's going on?

It turns out that there are four Cavour-class battleships in the navy's plan. The first ship, Count Cavour, and the fourth ship, Andrea Doria, were built by the Venetian shipyard. The second ship, Giulio Caesar, was built by the Venetian shipyard. The USS Cayo Duilio was built by the Ansa Shipyard, and the third ship, the Cayo Duilio, was built by the Orlando Shipyard.

But wasn't this an accident? The Messina earthquake caused huge losses. The Italian finances needed to spend a lot of money for disaster relief, and the funds allocated to the navy were reduced. After careful consideration, the Navy had no choice but to cancel the construction of the fourth ship Andrea Doria.

Having said that, if it were another shipyard, faced with the Navy's cancellation of orders, they would not dare to ask directly like this. Who makes the Venice Naval Shipyard the true son of the navy, and the closest kind (the shipyard with the best technology), so it has the confidence to say such a thing.

Facing Factory Director Horn's question, Admiral Yagil shook his head and answered. "Horn, there is nothing we can do about the fourth ship Doria. The reduction in shipbuilding funds leaves our navy with nothing to do."

Facing Admiral Yagir's answer, everyone at the Venice Shipyard showed disappointed expressions.

At this time, an accompanying officer argued. "In fact, it is not just the construction of the No. 4 ship that has been cancelled, but also two Piedmont-class cruisers, seven destroyers, and some special ships. Even the Milan-class battle cruiser that we were planning to start building next year. We can only continue to postpone it.”

From these words, we can see how much effort the Navy has put into the reconstruction of the Messina earthquake. With so many warships canceled and postponed, one can imagine how much of the navy's funding has been cut.

One more thing to say here is that after the construction of the three Taranto-class battle cruisers, in view of the fact that the battle cruisers were still not enough, the Italian Navy designed another Milan-class battle cruiser. This new battle cruiser has a total length of 200 meters, a width of 28.5 meters, and an estimated draft of 8.7 meters. The estimated standard displacement is 24,100 tons and the full load displacement is 28,000 tons.

Power plant: 24 oil-fired boilers, 2 steam turbines, maximum power of 69,000 horsepower, 4 shafts, 4 propellers, twin rudders, maximum speed of 27 knots. The endurance is 4800 nautical miles and 14 knots.

In terms of firepower, the new Milan-class battle cruiser is stronger than the Taranto-class. It is equipped with eight 350 mm/45-caliber main guns (four twin turrets adopt the standard layout of two in the front and two in the back). In addition It is also equipped with 10 150mm/50 times caliber secondary guns and 20 76mm caliber guns.

In addition to having faster speed and stronger firepower than the Taranto class, Milan also has certain improvements in equipment. Its armor belt is up to 260 mm, and the compartment armor is 70 mm; the deck armor is up to 81 mm thick, and the turret front armor is 285 mm, the maximum armor of the gun mount is 260 mm; the maximum armor of the command tower is 280 mm.

Overall, this Milan-class battle cruiser is even better than the Taranto.

The navy has made such great sacrifices for the people affected by the earthquake, and the army has no chance to escape. For this reason, the Army will reduce the formation of two divisions every year starting from this year. In addition, various military equipment and materials such as artillery, machine guns, and rifles purchased by the Army have been more or less reduced.

For this reason, General Simeone also scratched his scalp for this.

In a sense, the Messina earthquake slowed down Italy's armaments. But what can be done about this? We can’t ignore the people of the kingdom, right?