Chapter 698: Don’t bother with the torpedo boat

Hiss~~~~~~
Following Gao Zhendong's words, the leader of the Defense Work Committee put himself in the shoes of the commander of the large ship and thought about all possible threats.

The more I think about it, the more confused I become, but one thing is certain - in this combat environment, the survival probability of a large ship is not much higher than that of a small boat.

The opponent can kill you with missiles.

In fact, his idea was a bit too lenient, as the opponent did not have the ability to do so for the time being.

Forget it, I don’t want to think about it anymore. Damn it, you should just come to the meeting.

There is no need to worry about this line being unplugged. It can be said that even if all the telephone lines in the Third Rolling Mill are unplugged, this line will not be affected.

But the leader could hear that Gao Zhendong had a lot to say.

He must have his own systematic considerations in this regard. Whether it is right or wrong is not the point, but he has definitely thought a lot about it.

The leader of the Defense Work Committee dared to guarantee that he had never seen anyone with so many tricks in his life, and it would be a pity not to listen to him.

Let everyone listen. After all, although Gao Zhendong's words are nutritious, they are often scary.

You can't scare me alone all the time, right? Come on, let's enjoy it together.
-

Sitting in the familiar meeting room of the Defense Work Committee, Gao Zhendong was still in a state of confusion. Didn't he agree not to attend the meeting? Why was he sitting here again?
Forget it, forget it. Since it has happened, I might as well make the best of it. Besides, today's matter is really important to him.

If you ask any military fan in the 21st century whether he can participate in deciding what warships to build in the 60s, do you think he will go?
Many of them were Gao Zhendong's acquaintances, and they did not find it strange at all to see him.

Even the comrades from the Naval Equipment Bureau, although not as familiar with Gao Zhendong as those comrades running on the ground and flying in the sky, at least they knew that the core of the solid anti-ship missile that they took advantage of the Air Equipment Bureau last time was the work of this young expert.

Now the equipment research is progressing smoothly, and they are still deeply impressed by this comrade who planned the missile's indicators and parameters extremely carefully from the beginning.

As for the electric reconnaissance ship, that idea was reached by comrades from the Ship Research Institute when they were communicating with Gao Zhendong. At that time, the Naval Equipment Bureau didn't know about it yet.

The meeting started quickly, and the leader of the Defense Work Committee set the tone at the beginning: "We will not make inquiries or decisions today. Everyone can say whatever they want, no matter how outrageous or unreasonable. We can speak openly and discuss, but do not question easily. Participants should be given full right to speak. I hope that this time, like the previous discussion on air force equipment, we will not be afraid of spending time to thoroughly explain the problem and provide rich theories and guiding opinions for the directional adjustment of naval equipment in recent years."

This is a very high standard statement. As for why he wanted to give this precaution, it was because he didn't know what would come out of Gao Zhendong's mouth. He might as well set the tone first. If one day is not enough for this meeting, then hold two days. What is said at the meeting may just be some wild ideas at first. Don't make a big deal out of it. Let people say everything.

Although some participants felt that the leader's words seemed to have a hidden meaning, they also felt that it might just be for the purpose of opening up channels for discussion and gathering ideas.

When Gao Zhendong heard this, he knew that his leader was paving a way for him, or in other words, was secretly plotting against him - I know you like to talk nonsense, so I'll set up the ladder for you first.

At the beginning of the meeting, with the reassurance from the leader of the Defense Working Committee, all kinds of weird things happened, and their imaginations were even more wild than those in a convertible.

After all, Gao Zhendong was not the only one attending the meeting, or in other words, theoretically, Gao Zhendong was not the protagonist of this meeting.

Gao Zhendong was also very happy to hear this. Not only did he have a very creative mind, he also thought that his comrades were no less creative than him.

However, some comrades' speeches were in line with his ideas.

For example, one comrade mentioned that the large ships should be built as originally planned, but it was suggested to build more small boats, but they should not be too small.

After hearing this, the leaders of the Defense Work Committee also became interested. This statement was similar to Gao Zhendong's idea.

He smiled and said, "Your statement is interesting. Why do we need to build more boats, but add a restriction that they can't be too small?"

The comrade said: "The endurance and living environment of a boat that is too small are very poor. Since there are unplanned indicators, it is better to build a bigger boat. It is true that we are defending near the coast, but the near coast cannot be too close. At least it should be able to fully meet the active attack within at least 300 to 400 kilometers, right?"

A comrade said: "The living environment is not a big problem, right? As long as there is room to live, it's fine. I think the soldiers can still hold on for ten days or eight days." This does not necessarily mean that this comrade does not care about the soldiers' health. It is probably because they were led by the Russians from the beginning and are relatively traditional. As we all know, the Russian navy, except for the "Shark" class nuclear submarines due to the explosion of the double hull, the living environment is relatively good. The smaller the boats and ships, the more livable the living environment is.

Basically, I just need to pile up weapons as much as possible, and let the people live in it as they can. It's okay to cram in whatever you want.

Hearing this, the comrade from the Naval Equipment Bureau frowned and said, "If it can be better, try to make it better. The main thing is that it may affect combat effectiveness."

The leader of the Defense Work Committee did not comment and turned to look at Gao Zhendong.

"Comrade Zhendong, tell me what you think?"

Gao Zhendong was not polite: "I personally agree with this comrade's opinion. Large ships need to be built, but not in large numbers. Boats should be built, but the main force cannot be small boats. It is best to be close to the size of the ships. Moreover, among the existing models in production and pre-research, all torpedo boats have been cancelled. There are three main types of boats: offshore gunboats, missile boats, and large escort boats."

If the classification is not very strict, generally speaking, ships over 500 tons are considered ships, and those below tons are considered boats.

In fact, this has nothing to do with the purpose of this additional indicator, but the Defense Work Committee and the Maritime Equipment Bureau obviously don't care about this matter. It's a rare occasion for everyone to get together, so it's okay to talk about something else.

The reason why Gao Zhendong said that all torpedo boats were cancelled was because at that time we not only had torpedo boats and were producing them, but we even started research on four-tube large torpedo boats in the mid-60s. Of course, the results were not very good, and it was not until the 4s that it matured, and by then it was too late.

Now that our anti-ship missiles have matured ahead of time, we don't need to build new torpedo boats. With the money, why not build something else? More importantly, the talent on them is the most valuable. Wouldn't it be much better for skilled crew members to operate missile boats than torpedo boats?

"Cancel the plan for torpedo boats? Will this have an impact on the navy's combat effectiveness? After all, torpedo boats are much cheaper than missile boats." Most comrades understood the reason for canceling the torpedo boats, but they still had some doubts about it.

The comrade from the Naval Equipment Bureau shook his head and said: "The boats may be cheaper, but the ammunition is not."

In fact, torpedoes are much more difficult to make than missiles, especially those used by submarines. There are probably dozens of countries in the world that can make missiles, but the number of countries that can make torpedoes can be counted on two hands.

Moreover, compared with ordinary tactical missiles, torpedoes are much more confidential.

Of course, the anti-ship direct-course mines used on the sea may be better, but these days, apart from other things, the caliber of the torpedoes, 450mm or 533mm, means that these things are destined to not be cheap.

Some comrades had a different idea: "In this way, we lack the means to kill the enemy's super-large ships with one strike."

In terms of power, ordinary anti-ship missiles are really no match for torpedoes, and this is determined by the principle. The anti-ship killing principle of torpedoes is different from that of missiles, and the amount of explosives is much larger.

Even the 500kg warhead of the Zhengxian-1 is far inferior to the torpedo in terms of anti-ship power.

Gao Zhendong smiled and said, "Anyway, the opponents we are mainly considering now do not have such large ships. And canceling torpedo boats does not mean canceling torpedoes. Large-caliber torpedoes must still be developed."

After such a mess, no one could come up with a clear idea. The chief engineer of the Defense Work Committee said, "Comrade Zhendong, please explain your ideas in a systematic way."

Gao Zhendong nodded: "Build fewer large ships and more small boats. This consideration is actually because of the direction of Danggui Island. In that direction, according to the development of existing anti-ship missiles, the survival probability of large warships in the strait will soon drop sharply. If this direction is the main consideration for a certain period of time, then the necessity of large warships is not high. Building large ships is mainly for considerations in a farther direction."

Some comrades disagreed: "The range of existing anti-ship missiles is only 40 kilometers. The radar on a large ship can be installed higher and see farther. Large ships also have better self-sustaining power. In any case, they are better than small boats, right?"

Gao Zhendong shook his head: "When I say the probability of survival is low, it's not because of sea-to-sea, but because of the threat from the air! War is not a game of chess, not a battle of soldiers against soldiers, generals against generals, air against air, sea against sea. It's not like that. We still have to consider the problem from the perspective of the entire system. The biggest problem with the strait is that it is very close to a large number of air force bases on both sides. The swarming aircraft will make all sea targets invisible. At this time, a large ship with a high single ship value will not be as useful in the strait as multiple small boats of the same price."

His words suddenly reminded the comrades that they still had the air force above them!
If ships are restricted by the curvature of the earth and can only circle around 40 kilometers without the support of long-range observation and guidance means, then ships in the air can stand high and see far, and have a longer range.

"But the enemy doesn't have air-launched anti-ship missiles now, right? We don't have them either! We still have to consider the problem based on the present."

Gao Zhendong smiled and said, "We will have them soon. There is no doubt about that. That is why I said that we don't need big ships in the strait. No matter whether the enemy has them or not, we don't need big ships to gain control of the sea in the strait."

(End of this chapter)