kingnovel Chapter 479 Our own 037 Yellow Water Battleship
Chapter 479 Our own 037 Yellow Water Battleship
The conference room was filled with a faint smell of cigars and a strong aroma of coffee.
Inside the newly built large conference room of the Yangon Shipyard, the sea breeze, carrying a salty smell, rushed in through the open windows.
Zhang Chi sat at the head of the large conference table, staring intently ahead.
The core personnel of the shipyard sat around, the atmosphere was tense and full of anticipation.
Captain You Hongxuan, commander of the Navy's First Fleet and a former veteran of the Nationalist Navy's electric and torpedo department, was now neatly spreading out a large, carefully drawn blueprint on the blackboard facing Zhang Chi, against the wall of the conference room.
As the drawing unfolded, three views of a ship with smooth lines and a sense of power appeared before everyone.
It is as slender, elegant and powerful as a traditional destroyer, with a compact superstructure and numerous gun positions, exuding a fierce aura of "don't mess with me".
Zhang Chi's eyes were instantly attracted by the drawings.
This is exactly the concept he proposed based on the Type 037 escort ship, a "yellow water battleship" remembered by later generations, and combined with current technical conditions. It has now been actually designed.
The ship in the drawing is more majestic and powerful than the 400-ton boat in history.
"Commander-in-Chief, colleagues." You Hongxuan's voice carried the clarity unique to naval officers and a hint of imperceptible excitement.
"This is the core requirement put forward by you, the Commander-in-Chief, which was formulated by our Yangon Naval Design Bureau - 'faster and more powerful'.
We have fully integrated existing technologies with our accustomed Eagle weapon systems to design a new type of main offshore escort/anti-submarine ship. Our internal code name is the 'Sea Wolf' class."
Zhang Chi looked at the familiar yet unfamiliar outline on the drawing and felt excited.
The name of the 037 Huangshui battleship is well-known in later generations. Which military fan in China does not know it?
历史上的037以400吨的“小身板”，靠着类似战列舰全武器中轴线布局，外加两座双联装66式57毫米舰炮和两座双联装61式25毫米舰炮的狂暴火力。
It also has a speed of 30 knots, which makes the opponents tremble in fear in the near sea. It even beat the Annan monkey navy in the Paracel Islands, and won the reputation of "Yellow Water Battleship".
The "Sea Wolf" in front of us is obviously bigger and stronger.
"Good, that looks exciting." Zhang Chi praised, leaning forward slightly. "Tell me about the specific parameters and firepower configuration. Let me hear how sharp our 'wolf cub''s' teeth are."
You Hongxuan picked up the pointer and pointed to the core of the blueprint:
“首先，吨位我们放大到了标准排水量620吨！比我们海军目前主要使用的PC-451猎潜艇（374吨）和SC-497武装快艇（98吨）都要大上不少。
Larger tonnage means better airworthiness, longer endurance and more ample weapon-carrying platforms."
He then pointed to the middle of the ship:
"For the power system, we use four newly introduced GM 16-278A high-speed diesel engines."
Each engine outputs 2500 horsepower, and with four engines connected in parallel, the total power is 1,000 horsepower. Combined with the ship's optimized design by our Italian colleagues, including a more tapered bow and a more optimized aspect ratio, we expect its top speed to easily exceed 32 knots (about 59 km/h).
At an economical speed of 14 knots, the vessel has a range of 2200 nautical miles (4074 kilometers). This is sufficient to cover the entire coastal area of the Andaman Sea and the Strait of Malacca. If departing from Chittagong, it can control the entire Bay of Bengal. From Yangon, it can sail all the way to Darwin, the land of the Kangaroos, without refueling.
Hearing the number 32, several Italian designers looked at each other and showed confident smiles on their faces.
One of the chief designers, a gray-haired man named Federico Rossi, added in his heavily accented Ansa language:
"General, the hull lines are our proudest feature. In the model tank, it flows like a dolphin.
600 tons of horsepower, 32 knots?
I'm betting we can hit 33 knots on sea trials, to be conservative."
He gave You Hongxuan a provocative look, which caused a good-natured laugh.
You Hongxuan shrugged helplessly: "Mr. Rossi is a speed freak. I trust his professional judgment. However, we will have to wait until the boat is actually built to know everything."
"Firepower, that's the key." You Hongxuan slammed his pointer hard on the weapon deployment area, his voice suddenly rising with a fierce intensity, "You asked for 'more powerful surface firepower', and we have absolutely achieved it.
This fully implements your concept of 'central axis layout and maximum firepower projection.'"
On the drawing, there is a conspicuous gun position at the bow and stern of the ship.
"The bow gun emplacement A is equipped with a Hawk Mk.22 76mm/50 caliber dual-purpose rapid-fire gun. This type of gun has been used by our navy for a long time. It has a high rate of fire and a straight trajectory, making it effective against lightly armored surface targets and low-flying aircraft."
"The Y-position at the stern of the ship also houses a Mk.22 76mm gun. It provides comprehensive coverage from front to back."
Then, the pointer point on the drawing was slightly behind the front and rear 76 turrets and slightly lower on both sides of the superstructure.
"Battery emplacement B (behind the bow 76mm gun) and battery emplacement X (forward of the stern 76mm gun) each house a twin-mounted Bofors 40mm/L60 anti-aircraft gun. They weave a medium- and short-range anti-aircraft fire network, shredding any aircraft or small boats that dare approach."
It wasn't over yet, the pointer continued to point to locations such as the sides of the bridge and behind the chimney.
"There is an Oerlikon FF twin 20mm anti-aircraft gun on each wing of the bridge."
"On either side of the chimney, there's another twin 20mm Oerlikon mount."
"In addition, three M2HB 12.7mm twin-mounted machine gun turrets have been placed on each side of the ship's hull, making good use of the gaps amidships. These are used to sweep close-range floating mines, frogmen, or... uh... crazy people attempting to board the ship."
You Hongxuan finished speaking in one breath, and there was a sound of gasps in the conference room.
This firepower density, placed on a small ship of more than 600 tons, is simply insane.
比PC-451的1门76+6门20mm和SC-497的1门40mm+3门20mm强了不止一个档次。
张弛觉得，就算比起历史上400吨的037（2门双57+2门双25+4座5联火箭），在火炮射速、防空能力和持续火力上也丝毫不弱，甚至更强。
Although the engineers and designers present were also partially involved in the design work, they still gasped when they heard You Hongxuan list all the firepower configurations.
"This...this is simply a hedgehog floating on the sea! No, it's a porcupine!" A young Chinese engineer couldn't help but exclaimed.
Zhang Chi also nodded with satisfaction. This was the offshore overlord he wanted.
"What about anti-submarine capabilities? As an anti-submarine frigate, it needs both ears and fists."
"Of course." You Hongxuan pointed to the area below the bulbous bow on the blueprint, "A dual-mode active/passive sonar is installed here. Its detection range and accuracy are the best we can currently achieve.
In terms of anti-submarine weapons: the stern is equipped with two K-gun depth charge launchers, each with 12 rounds, and two depth charge release rails. At the same time..."
He pointed to the sides of the ship amidships and said, "We have also reserved space to install two sets of Hedgehog launchers."
"Very good." Zhang Chi's eyes turned to the towering mast on the blueprint again. "Where are the eyes and brain?"
"The electronic system is our biggest breakthrough." You Hongxuan's voice was filled with pride. "On the top of the mainmast, there is the latest 'Sea Eye' HH-3 sea search radar, whose detection range far exceeds those outdated ones.
Below, the 'Skynet' HK-3 air defense radar can detect incoming enemy aircraft 200km in advance.
The most important thing is this..."
The pointer pointed at a relatively complex radar dome on top of the bridge:
"The 'Claw' A-1 surface-to-air fire control radar, combined with our latest electronic fire control director, can ensure that the 76mm naval gun fires wherever it is pointed!"
Zhang Chi became interested: "How effective is this 'claw'? Has it been tested in actual combat?"
You Hongxuan showed a confident smile on his face:
"That is exactly what I want to report. The Talon system has been extensively tested and used in combat on our Brooklyn-class light cruisers and several destroyers.
After adjusting the firing tables for the Hawk's 152mm, 127mm, and 76mm naval guns, the firing data from the combined fire control radar and electronic fire control director was...very...very impressive."