C3381 Return (1/2)
In November 1871, Xiao Letian rode on a Zhiyuan Warship s, bringing nine captive French battleship s to form a united fleet, returning from Britain to Asia.
Prussia didn't only repair a Zhiyuan Warship for Xiao Letian. Among the Maritime War in Eastern Frisia, there were a total of three Iron-armored Ship s that were sunk, and four cruisers that were heavily injured. The remaining French Fleet s, other than a small portion that were escaping, were captured by the Prussian Navy.
The captives' battleships would definitely not be returned to France. They had dragged some of them along with the Zhiyuan Warship to William military harbor, while the others had dragged them to the hamburger shipyard to begin maintenance and renovation.
In order to express their respect for the Chinese Navy, Germany gave Xiang Ying the greatest priority in the distribution of the captured warships.
You Chinese will pick these battleships first, and the rest will be German!
through the joint study of naval officers and engineers... When Xiang Ying wasn't by Xiao Letian's side, he spent most of his time between Wilhelm Military Port and hamburger's Shipyard.
From these chaotic French battleship models, Xiang Ying chose nine battleships, one of them was a battleship class one, the rest were fast cruisers!
It was not that Xiang Ying had a high performance, but those French battleships were useless. From the very beginning of the design, they had been completely different from the Zhiyuan Warship's line of thought.
A large number of French battleships were all set by the sail battleship. On both sides of the ship, there were small caliber s and a large number of naval gun. The design of the entire battleship was carried out according to the most old-fashioned ideas.
Only the Chinese would not want such a eliminated battleship, there was only the possibility of upgrading it, Xiang Ying stayed behind.
However, a cruiser was a good thing. Although there was a problem with the design, the cruiser's speed was fast enough. It could become the best fire brigade in the early days of the Chinese era when they were controlling East Asia.
In any case, Xiao Letian wasn't prepared to fight with the Western Powers in the next thirty to fifty years, especially when it came to naval battles.
Do the backward peoples of Asia need to be dealt with with by advanced ships of the Far Reaches? There was no need at all. These French iron-armored cruisers were already the Dragon King's masterwork weapons to the ignorant eyes of the Asians.
He didn't need a bull knife to kill a chicken, so a cruiser was for the best!
The nine warships, under the protection of the Zhiyuan Warship, started to sail back to Asia from the Mediterranean. Along with them were the 24 steam-driven cargo ships that were purchased by the Chinese, which could serve as supply ships for the time being.
After Asia, some of these ships would flood the Navy and some would be auctioned off to civilian shipping companies. This was a sure bet.
At the same time, there were also a few treasure ships following them. This kind of scale was nothing in front of the English and French.
But in the eyes of other European countries, it was already a very powerful military force!
When the fleet arrived at Strait of Gibraltar, Portugal and the Spanish navy looked at the modern army in panic, then looked at themselves, these hybrid battleships with sail still hung on them, and all of them lowered their heads in shame.
At the king's command, all the shoreline turrets of the Spanish coastline were wrapped in a vestment of respect for the Chinese fleet.
Xiao Letian laughed, he grabbed King Yi's wrist and excitedly shouted: ”Did you see that? My old brother, did you see that? This is the glory of winning a foreign battle! ”
”If you are a Chinese man, you have to fight foreign wars! ”Only by wrestling with the powerful countries of the world can you get the respect of others!”
”I took their Philippines. They didn't even dare to aim their cannons at us. This is the dignity of the victors!”