Chapter 3754
Chapter 3754
Chapter 3754
The Glorious-class warship, with a displacement of more than 4,000 tons, can be said to be the largest and most powerful sea giant of this era. Even the main flagship of the Hai Han Navy, the Majestic-class, can only be regarded as a small one in front of the Glorious-class, and the various mechanical equipment and weapon equipment on board are at least one generation behind.
Of course, the cost of developing the Glorious-class battleships is also incredibly high. The cost of building the first ship, Zhoushan, is several times higher than that of the Majestic-class. Even a wealthy region like the East China Sea cannot afford the cost of mass production, and currently can only carry out the construction plan in batches of single ships.
Since its commissioning, the Glorious class has become a highly anticipated next-generation battleship, but so far, it has not yet carried out a real combat mission. Its mission is more to serve as the flagship of the patrol fleet and demonstrate Hai Han's powerful military force to other countries.
This voyage to the Indian Ocean is the first time it has left the East China Sea. While passing through the South China Sea, the countries along the way were fortunate enough to witness this miraculous existence.
In particular, Portugal and the Netherlands, who have always been paying close attention to the development of Hai Han's navigation, have their main bases in the East located in the South China Sea. Naturally, they attached great importance to Zhoushan's visit and followed it all the way from Sanya.
However, the Strait of Malacca where the fleet passed was Portuguese territory, so the Dutch did not continue to follow on the last leg of the voyage, and it became an area exclusively for the Portuguese.
During the journey through the Strait of Malacca, there were at most a dozen Portuguese sailing ships operating on the periphery of the fleet, constantly monitoring and observing the Zhoushan.
If it were any other country, Shi Diwen would have already ordered the other party to be driven away. However, Portugal had already signed many cooperation agreements with Hai Han, and Shi Diwen also wanted to take this opportunity to intimidate the other party, so he deliberately allowed the Portuguese ships to move around nearby, allowing them to clearly observe the appearance of Hai Han's giant ship.
So the Portuguese started from Sing Island and followed until they could see the coast of Phuket before changing direction.
Shi Diwen certainly had no idea how big of a shock the Portuguese had suffered, but judging from their reaction as they followed him for thousands of miles, they were clearly quite wary of the existence of the Glory-class battleships.
After listening to his description, Qian Tiandun smiled and said, "I think what the Portuguese are most worried about now is not how many Glory-class ships we have built, but whether we will deploy the Glory-class ships to the Indian Ocean west of the Strait of Malacca."
"Once this monster enters the Indian Ocean, it will be difficult for any rival to rival it for at least 20 to 30 years. It will also inevitably shake Portugal's position in the region. They should be very unhappy to see such a scene."
Shi Diwen said: "Unfortunately, we cannot do this in the short term. The cost and construction period of such a large warship are far from comparable to the Majestic class. In addition, the combat personnel and mechanical equipment operators on the ship need to be retrained, and the period of forming combat effectiveness will be much longer than before."
Shi Diwen was not sure whether Qian Tiandun was testing his willingness to deploy the Zhoushan to the western front, or to order a warship of the same level from the Zhoushan Shipyard, so he answered cautiously and told the other party that this was not a goal that could be achieved in the short term.
As the flagship of the East China Sea Fleet, Zhoushan is certainly unlikely to be deployed in the Indian Ocean, which is so far away from the East China Sea. Moreover, Shi Diwen also needs this warship to appear more often in East Asia to attract more orders for the shipbuilding industry in the East China Sea region.
Even if Qian Tiandun had intended to order a new ship directly, considering the current order schedule, the Special Warfare Division would not be able to get a Glorious-class battleship in the next one or two years - unless the Executive Committee made special arrangements for this. Qian Tiandun's face showed a look of regret: "That's really a pity. If we can deploy a Glorious-class battleship in the Indian Ocean, I think many of the difficulties we are facing now will be resolved invisibly."
Shi Diwen understood exactly what he meant. Intimidation by force is sometimes far more effective than diplomatic means, especially for a large ship like the Glory-class battleship with great visual impact.
Almost everyone who saw this battleship for the first time was shocked by its huge size. Coupled with its powerful firepower and steam power system, it was a veritable sea monster.
If the special operations division can drive such a giant ship to visit the countries along the Indian Ocean coast, the effect will be self-evident, and it may even be more effective than promising all kinds of benefits to the other party.
After the brief military parade, Qian Tiandun took Shi Diwen and his party to visit the newly completed immigrant resettlement area.
Although these residences for accommodating immigrants are just rows of wooden shacks and may look somewhat shabby, considering the conditions in Phuket, it is already quite good to have a sheltered place for immigrants to settle down quickly.
What's more, the special operations division has tried its best to equip the immigrant resettlement area with supporting facilities such as clinics, bathhouses, canteens, etc., which may even be better than the place where the immigrants originally lived.
You have to know that some immigrants had lost everything before boarding the ship, and accepting Hai Han’s resettlement was their only way to survive. Now they can at least get basic food and accommodation here, which is enough for many people to stay with peace of mind.
Of course, these conditions were not provided to immigrants for free. Overseas colonies did not support idlers, not to mention that this was an area under the jurisdiction of the Special Warfare Division. Every immigrant who came here had to start working immediately according to the arrangements after settling down.
Whether it is the port construction site or the rubber and sugarcane plantations that are being developed, there are a large number of local jobs that need to be filled. It is no exaggeration to say that even if the number of immigrants transported this time is doubled, the special warfare division can assign a job to everyone in a short period of time.
What's more, in addition to Phuket, some of the immigrants may also be assigned to Hamban Port and two other newly opened ports on the west side of the Indian Ocean, where the labor gap is even greater than that in Phuket.
In Qian Tiandun's words, due to the severe shortage of manpower in the new port, women can only be used as men and men as animals at this stage. Only by filling in more labor can this situation be alleviated.
Under the organization and command of the special warfare division, the immigrants had a very smooth process from landing to moving in. After all, no one dared to act rashly in front of the soldiers with live ammunition, and they all followed the arrangements and moved into these sheds that had just been built a few days ago.
Qian Tiandun also specially ordered the slaughter of more than a dozen pigs, plus the newly caught fish today, to provide a feast for these immigrants who had finally arrived in Phuket, in order to welcome their arrival.