Empire Conquest

Chapter 543 - 539 Inevitable Choice

Interestingly, the Newland Navy initially decided to build the "Alas" class Large Cruisers, simply because the cost of the "Yihua" class was too expensive.

Strictly speaking, Large Cruisers had their own place within the Newland Navy and were irreplaceable.

After Nizi proposed the construction of sub-carrier fleet carriers, they needed a type of warship that was slightly smaller than a Fast Battleship but whose anti-aircraft combat power would not be significantly worse, to serve as bodyguards and armed attendants for the sub-carrier fleet carriers, enhancing their battlefield survivability.

Without a doubt, Large Cruisers were definitely not suitable.

Don’t forget that the sub-carrier fleet carriers proposed by Nizi were actually based on future Treaty Type Heavy Cruisers, with a standard displacement between 15,000 and 18,000 tons, their most notable feature being their low cost, which would allow for mass production during wartime.

Of course, they would certainly be able to withstand consumption.

Using more expensive Large Cruisers to provide cover for sub-carrier fleet carriers?

Aside from whether or not it was cost-effective, just considering the construction speed, Large Cruisers definitely could not keep pace with the sub-carrier fleet carriers.

That’s precisely why Nizi proposed, after canceling the planned construction of subsequent batches of "Alas" class ships, the expansion and acceleration of the "Baltimore" class construction in scale and speed, and the early start of construction work for the next class of Heavy Cruiser, the soon-to-be-completed "Oregon" class.

If time allowed, adjustments to the "Oregon" class design would also need to be made.

Mainly, it was about increasing the displacement to appropriately enhance combat performance.

To put it simply, only by expanding the displacement could one gain a more spacious deck area and arrange for more High-altitude Guns.

Of course, many other improvements were needed.

For instance, consideration needed to be given to installing medium-caliber High-altitude Guns.

The Liangxia Navy had already equipped some warships, especially the Long-range Cruisers dedicated to air defense, with 80mm High-altitude Guns, whose combat efficiency clearly surpassed the dual-purpose 130mm secondary guns, so the Newland Navy similarly had to consider mass production of the 3-inch, or more commonly referred to as 76mm High-altitude Guns, as soon as possible.

Clearly, this would require a wider deck.

Besides, there was also the consideration of adopting larger-caliber Main Guns.

Of course, Nizi also made it clear that anti-ship operations were a secondary requirement, with the primary focus being anti-aircraft capability and construction speed.

As for Naval guns between 8 inches and 12 inches, like the 10-inch guns, if they were available, they would be used; if not, they wouldn’t be insisted upon.

If there was not enough time to adjust the design, the design work for a new type of Heavy Cruiser would need to be started ahead of schedule.

In fact, related work had already begun.

This is temporarily named the "Des Moines" class Heavy Cruiser.

Because this type of warship had key parameters like displacement significantly exceeding those of Treaty Era Heavy Cruisers, yet not reaching the standard of Large Cruisers, it was also known as the "Enhanced Type Heavy Cruiser," hence it was under the name of Heavy Cruiser that the project funding was requested.

According to Nizi’s plan, after completion of the "Des Moines" class design work, this type of 18,000-ton Heavy Cruiser would replace all active service Heavy Cruisers.

Of course, it was also possible to further increase the tonnage of the "Des Moines" class during construction.

To say the least, Nizi was more inclined towards the latter option.

The reasoning was quite simple: equipped with 8-inch Naval guns, even the latest Mk16 type, they would not match the Liangxia Navy’s Large Cruisers, nor could they suppress the Liangxia Navy’s Heavy Cruisers; hence, their flexibility was very poor, presenting the problem of being too singular in purpose.

If equipped with 10-inch Naval guns, these problems would no longer exist.

Certainly, what Nizi wanted was still a type of Large Cruiser over 20,000 tons.

The tonnage of the new-type Heavy Cruiser was far less than that of the "Alas" class, and its combat power was also considerably weaker, which brought the advantage of being cheaper to construct.

If one could just increase the tonnage and replace the main guns, the construction cost could be controlled within 150% of the same type of heavy cruisers, thus becoming an affordable large battleship that was also practical to use.

In any case, it was definitely much cheaper than the "Alas" class.

In other words, this new-type battleship was essentially a budget version of the "Alas" class with reduced tonnage, smaller main gun caliber, and the flagship function withdrawn.

Nizi had gone around such a big circle also due to the current situation.

There were so many battleships to be built that there wasn’t any spare production capacity to construct large cruisers with limited use and high construction costs.

A year, or even two years later, would the issue of insufficient production capacity still exist?

The key was full-scale war mobilization.

Just as with the Liangxia Empire, after officially entering the war, the Newland Federation didn’t immediately engage in full-scale war mobilization but only mobilized in military and industrial fields.

Not to mention, the Newland Army was still expanding its troop strength through recruitment, and to this day, they hadn’t imposed conscription on citizens.

Of course, the number of new recruits had already been sufficient, eliminating the need for compulsory measures.

Economically, the Newland Federation still primarily operated a market economy, with almost all goods available for free trade. Only a very few resources and cutting-edge equipment for military use were rationed and controlled and strictly forbidden from market transactions, leaving the lives of the populace almost unaffected.

The reason for this was quite simple.

Under a state of full mobilization, both military personnel and civilians were under tremendous pressure, so the duration they could endure was definitely very limited.

As already mentioned, the maintenance time under a state of total war is around five years.

Furthermore, the larger a country’s size and the deeper its industrialization, the shorter the duration it can maintain a full mobilization state.

As for internal factors, it had a lot to do with the general education received by citizens in industrialized nations.

The most typical case was the protracted war between the Liangxia Empire and the Luosha Empire.

At that time, both sides had endured a total war of eight years, and not only did the Liangxia Empire ultimately achieve victory, but it also avoided serious civil unrest, because their industrial process was at an early stage with not a high enough level of industrialization, and the populace was more willing to endure all sorts of hardships for victory.

It could also be said that the populace was more willing to believe in propaganda and easier to rouse.

Toward the end, the Liangxia Empire, on the verge of capturing Leaf Castle, did not continue to advance westward, allowing the Luosha Empire a chance to breathe and ultimately had to sit down for armistice negotiations with the Luosha Empire. This also had a lot to do with the Liangxia’s degree of industrialization surpassing that of Luosha.

For the Empire’s military and citizenry at that time, calling for a ceasefire after achieving unprecedented victory was obviously a reasonable choice.

Put simply, in this great war, the Liangxia Empire and the Newland Federation, the side that engaged in full mobilization first, was more likely to be defeated.

However, the problem was that without engaging in full-scale mobilization, the Newland Federation was inevitably going to be defeated.

Based on previous analysis, maybe in less than two years, the Newland Federation would have to admit defeat after completely losing control over the East Ocean and facing threats on the home front. Worse yet, by this time next year, it might have to consider how to exit this war gracefully.

This was the issue Nizi was emphasizing.

From the Navy’s perspective, the only choice to complete all battleships according to plan was to immediately proceed with full-scale war mobilization, to improve the efficiency of munitions production through rationing, and to increase military investments, allowing shipyards access to more resources.

Of course, this also meant that the Newland Federation would be the first to enter the sprint phase.