bookrandom Chapter 218 Visiting the New Flagship
Chapter 218 Visiting the New Flagship
I'm currently reading Chapter 218 of the novel "Visiting the New Flagship," completely absorbed in it.
The top of the island superstructure, the edge of the flight deck, the bow, the sides of the hull, and the bottom of the hull are now covered with a dense array of rotating turrets.
The massive number of close-in weapon systems (CIWS) forms an impenetrable network for the flagship. In conjunction with the flagship's intelligent skin radar, the CIWS work together to intercept high-speed electromagnetic projectiles.
Lorraine then issued several commands on the data panel, and all the ship's weapons retracted below the armor plates.
Then the three of them saw the flagship's armor plates begin to ripple like fish scales, with light shimmering between the gaps.
"What I'm about to show you is one of the reasons that has led to the extended construction time of the flagship—the active and passive composite electromagnetic reactive armor."
"Compared to traditional armor, electromagnetic reactive armor is 50% lighter."
"As a typical example of non-explosive reactive armor, its electrical energy density is superior to that of explosive reactive armor. It abandons the use of chemical explosions to intercept and interfere with incoming targets, and instead uses high-speed physical motion for defense."
"Because we do not have complete intelligence information on the enemy, I have given up on improving the flagship's mobility and instead focused on improving its active and passive defensive capabilities."
"The composite explosive armor consists of multiple layers of steel plates, a detection system, a computer control system, a capacitor bank, and steel plate launchers."
"Once the sensor detection system detects the incoming projectile, the computer control system issues an instruction to discharge the capacitor bank to the flat coil of the steel plate launcher, ejecting a high-energy steel plate to intercept the incoming projectile."
"Since the interceptor separates from the whole during the interception process, it will not damage the original structure. As long as it is not a one-hit kill, the flagship can maintain its defense capabilities by installing new steel plate interceptors."
"If the steel plate interceptor fails to stop the incoming projectile, then they will hit the two metal plates directly connected to the supercapacitor bank."
"When a projectile penetrates two steel plates, it is equivalent to closing a switch, connecting the capacitor circuit, and finally a large current pulse will pass through; when a projectile passes through a metal jet or an armor-piercing projectile, its penetration capability will be reduced."
Bai Jin, a special forces officer, and Lin Shu, a scientist, immediately saw the drawbacks of this suit of armor.
"Based on existing weapons, the energy storage and instantaneous discharge systems aren't a major problem, but how do you address their size, weight, and energy management?"
"Replenishing the steel plate interceptors is also a problem. You can't rely on external aircraft or robotic arms to replenish them, can you?"
Ouyang Nian jumped out with a proud look on his face and began to explain to the two of them another reason that had led to the extended construction time of the flagship: the pure hydrogen gas turbine system.
"This gas turbine belongs to the same system as existing conventional gas turbines, but due to its fuel issues, it cannot be directly equipped with existing waste heat recovery devices."
"The modified waste heat recovery device is directly connected to the hydrogen production equipment. The cooled water vaporizes into pure water and enters the hydrogen production equipment, while the decomposed hydrogen and pure oxygen will be used as combustion materials and enter the gas turbine again."
"In this way, without activating the anti-gravity unit, the flagship's conventional fuel consumption is close to zero, which can save a considerable amount of space and weight."
"Furthermore, through my research with Lorraine, this small anti-gravity unit even has the function of generating gravity, which can ensure that the flagship still has a normal gravity environment when it is floating."
Ouyang Nian then enlarged the holographic projection, revealing the mechanism hidden behind the electromagnetic reactive armor.
"Since the enemy's main weapon is electromagnetic weapon, in order to avoid localized armor damage caused by a large number of electromagnetic shells firing simultaneously, we have built facilities behind it that can replace electromagnetic armor and smart skin."
"When an electromagnetic armor piece is damaged, it will be ejected by the rear mechanism as a steel plate interceptor, and then a brand new electromagnetic armor piece will be transported here by the rear mechanism."
"Of course, this is not without its costs. It will take up a considerable amount of space on the ship, resulting in a decrease in ammunition and fuel reserves."
However, at this moment, Lorraine's data panel also received a notification from Cleveland: "[Secondary nanocore production completed]".
Lorraine looked up and beckoned the group to head to the lower hangar.
Taking the elevator they came in, the four of them quickly arrived at the hangar level.
Stepping out of the elevator, the four were greeted by an industrial component that was 4 meters tall.
Modern industrial components can now be used to directly produce complete 20-ton armored vehicles.
The group walked without stopping and soon arrived in front of a light gray wall, with a simple control panel on its left.
With a "whoosh," several vertical protrusions on the wall disappeared, revealing horizontal cracks.
The entire wall was then folded upwards, shrinking into a large steel bar 50 centimeters wide.
What appeared before them was a unique hangar space.
Wow!
Although Ouyang Nian also participated in the design, she did not expect the hangar space to be so stunning.
The entire hangar space is similar to a large capsule, measuring 72.4 meters in length, 18 meters in width, and 6 meters in height.
The interior walls are painted white with light blue light patterns, and there are sliding rails and three rings attached to the exterior walls of the cabin on both sides.
At this moment, a gray container measuring 5 meters long, 2.4 meters wide, and 2.4 meters high was placed in front of them.
"This is the secondary nanocore. After upgrading to level four, the flagship can start producing secondary nanocores. With full production capacity, a secondary nanocore can be produced in just 20 hours."
"Even if only 40% of the production capacity is used, a secondary nanocore can be produced in just 48 hours."
Just as the group was discussing the production status of the secondary nanocore, the white ring attached to the outer wall of the cabin began to work.
As blue light patterns appeared on the surface of the white rings, accompanied by a buzzing sound, the three rings began to move closer to the center along the track.
Then, beams of white light emanated from the rings. To Bai Jin and Lin Shu's surprise, as the three rings and the white light moved, a short and stubby aircraft gradually appeared before them.
"These three rings have many functions such as production, inspection, maintenance, and scanning. With the micron-level 3D spraying and printing technology they are equipped with, each ring can produce a 20-ton heavy helicopter within 2 hours."
"All the materials needed for its production are supplied by the industrial center, which has been upgraded to have nanoscale dismantling and recycling capabilities. The recycled materials can be processed in a furnace to obtain micron-level 3D spraying materials."
While waiting for the transport aircraft to be completed, Lorraine sent the aircraft's data to Platinum.
This transport aircraft is 28.2 meters long, 13.2 meters wide with its wings folded, and 4.54 meters high. It has a maximum speed of Mach 1.2 and a maximum altitude of 2.2 meters. (Preference for science fiction? Click p)
Because the aircraft extensively uses carbon fiber composite materials and lightweight alloys, its total weight is 21.3 tons, its maximum takeoff weight is 47.2 tons, and its maximum payload capacity is 23.2 tons.
Its maximum range reaches 6700 kilometers, and its combat radius is 2650 kilometers.
The fuselage is equipped with a 30mm rotary cannon, which can be replaced with a 50mm single-barrel rapid-fire cannon.
There are four hardpoints under the wings, which can carry long, medium and short-range air-to-air missiles, unguided rocket pods, anti-tank missiles or air-to-ground missiles.
The transport aircraft has a slot on the rear hatch that can be used to mount an electromagnetic machine gun or a sniper grenade launcher.
The transport aircraft features a longitudinal double-bubble cockpit design, which provides better visibility and also makes the fuselage more streamlined.
The interior space is 6 meters long, 3.92 meters wide, and 2.87 meters high. There are 10 fixed seats in the cabin, which can carry 10 soldiers wearing heavy powered armor.
Its interior space can accommodate a 6x6 High Mobility Warrior or 6 standard supply crates.
The aircraft has four main engines located in two compartments outside the fuselage, which run through the entire fuselage and are arranged symmetrically along the fuselage axis.
In addition, a total of six vertical nozzles are installed on the left and right sides of the fuselage, which can improve the vertical take-off and landing capability of the transport aircraft.
The entire fuselage of this transport aircraft is covered with thick armor, which can withstand direct fire from 20mm armor-piercing rounds.
After Bai Jin finished reviewing the data of the transport plane, the gray-black transport plane soon appeared in full before his eyes.
Once production was complete, the front of the hangar slowly opened, revealing a ramp leading directly to the aircraft deck.
Subsequently, three tracks leading directly to the aircraft deck were exposed on the hangar floor, which pushed the heavy transport plane onto the aircraft deck.
Instead of following the transport plane to the aircraft deck, the four people turned back to the industrial production area, took an elevator, passed through a huge airtight door, and stood on the aircraft deck.
Meanwhile, the transport plane had already parked on the tarmac in the middle of the deck, and its relatively short wings slowly unfolded.
When unfolded, the aircraft's wingspan reached 23 meters.
However, in order to showcase the aircraft's uniqueness, Lorraine did not take the three of them directly onto the transport plane.
When the four people stood next to the transport plane, the plane emitted a faint white light before disappearing from everyone's sight.
"Since this type of transport aircraft is mainly used to carry special teams, Ouyang Nian and I equipped it with an experimental optical stealth device."
"During flight, this optical stealth device can maintain its operation for 20 minutes. When it is docked on the ground, the stealth device can continue to operate for 4 hours."
That concludes the introduction of all combat-related features, both inside and outside the flagship.
After the transport plane was moored to the deck, the four men walked slowly towards the bow deck of the flagship, facing the sea breeze.
Looking down at the sea and feeling the flagship's increasing speed, Lorraine then revealed the flagship's various parameters.
[Floating Battleship]
[Ship length: 283.2 meters]
[Ship beam: 36.2 meters]
[Draft: 7 meters]
Deck length: 112 meters
Standard displacement: over 4 tons
Full load displacement: 48,000 tons
[Speed: 35 to 52 knots]
Cruising speed: 120 km/h
Maximum flight speed: 323 kilometers per hour
[Engine range: Unlimited]
Maximum battery life: 180 days
[Main units: Two 800 MW small nuclear fusion reactors and four 97 MW pure hydrogen heavy-duty gas turbines.]
[Surface Propulsion System: 4 variable-pitch propellers and 4 magnetohydrodynamic thrusters.]
[Airborne propulsion system: three large ion thrusters, two medium-sized ion thrusters, and eight steering thrusters.]
【武器系统：40门近距离防空系统、6门240毫米电磁轨道炮、两门380毫米电磁线圈炮、八具烟雾发生器、6套18联装干扰弹发射器。】
Electronic equipment: multi-band three-coordinate search radar, missile fire control radar, ground search system, fleet control system.
In addition to a 1300-square-meter hangar, the ship also has a 500-square-meter multi-functional maintenance room, four cargo holds with a total capacity of 1200 cubic meters, and several ammunition storage compartments.
The maintenance compartment is equipped with a simplified version of the ring system, which replaces the micron-level 3D printing device with a nano-level 3D printing coating device compared to the ring system in the hangar.
[With the multiple large robotic arms in the maintenance compartment, the inspection and maintenance of medium and smaller armored vehicles can be completed with ease.]
After reviewing the entire flagship's data, Platinum couldn't help but feel a bit puzzled. She had a feeling that the ship's potential hadn't been fully realized.
Upon hearing Bai Jin's question, Luo Lin and Ouyang Nian exchanged a glance, then shrugged, resolving Bai Jin's confusion.
"In addition to the information displayed on the data panel, there is a large launching port on each side of the maintenance room, which is intended to deploy elite troops to the ground without the warship landing."
"However, since the dedicated vehicle design is not yet complete, and the current deceleration system of the wolf-type mech is insufficient to support its parachute-free airdrop from an altitude of 10,000 meters, we have temporarily canceled this large drop port."
Listening to Lorraine's account, Platinum and Lin Shu became increasingly confused. After all, this only occupied a small part of the ship's space. Judging from the existing images, the maintenance room was located below the hangar, and there was still a large amount of space left in front of the hangar.
The remaining space is extremely vast; even a level four hydroponic farm only occupies 32% of this area.
"Don't rush."
Then Lorraine pulled out another design drawing.
At first glance, Bai Jin and Lin Shu found that the two flagships did not look very different.
However, based on the parameters marked on them, the two men discovered that the only similarity between the two flagships was their appearance.
"So, the remaining space at the front of the hangar is reserved for that 600mm axial gun?!"
"Yes, according to calculations, the length of this cannon is roughly between 30 and 40 meters. Even if the hull of the next flagship needs to be expanded, enough redundant space must be left for it in the initial design."