Munitions Empire

To ensure the valuable naval aircraft carrier pilots trained by themselves, various naval carrier designers have come up with quite a few ideas.

History always has some astonishing similarities, such as when some countries thought that the chimneys and smoke on their aircraft carriers would block the pilots' view during takeoff and landing, so they designed collapsible chimneys.

When this intelligence first appeared on Emperor Tang Mo's desk of the Great Tang Empire, he nearly laughed out loud at the photos in front of him.

Li'ao beside him had no idea why Tang Mo was chuckling, he could only watch his emperor laugh uproariously at the pictures, without understanding the cause.

To be frank, Tang Mo didn't know whether this collapsible chimney design was useful, but it seemed unlucky to him.

Designing such a chimney is no different from naming a destroyer Snow Wind. Isn't it just like putting up a flag saying "unlucky fool"?

Moreover, some countries intentionally designed their aircraft carrier bridges separately on the left and right sides of the carrier deck, thinking that this would make it easier for the carrier to coordinate within its fleet.

And this design also comes from a certain country's naval combined fleet, which Tang Mo found both funny and bewildering upon seeing it.

Don't underestimate the peculiar ideas of those who live happily now and then, they can really catch on.

Besides, many countries have come up with interesting innovations in building carriers: many have installed main guns of about 200mm on carriers, granting them a certain level of "self-defense capability."

However, this capability seems a bit redundant, as these guns can't fire when carrier-based aircraft are taking off or landing.

Some countries even tried a double-deck aircraft carrier, using the lower deck for takeoff and the upper deck for landing planes...

It was later proven that such a segmented carrier deck was practically ineffective and wasted hangar space and height. Ultimately, this carrier was converted into a regular one, reminiscent of the missteps of the Akagi carrier.

Interestingly, after visiting the Great Tang Empire's aircraft carrier, the first-generation carriers designed and built by countries worldwide almost all adopted semi-open side structures.

This structure can lighten the carrier's tonnage and lower its center of gravity, with many benefits. Of course, it also has drawbacks such as poor anti-sinking ability and lower armor protection levels.

Another issue is that using such a structure in regions with high waves can affect the vessel's operation. However, most parts of the Endless Sea don't have severe waves, so using this design is not problematic.

Furthermore, due to the backward navigation systems of aircraft carriers, countries worldwide have been conservative in their choice of carrier-based aircraft. Some purchased the Stuka from the Great Tang Empire, while others opted for the slower Swordfish. Overall, everyone chose relatively outdated, slow-speed carrier-based aircraft.

Even in selecting fighter jets, they purchased single-seaters like the Zero, Sea Spitfire, Sea Hurricane, Corsair, and Wildcat, as well as the Hellcat, but these countries' navies insisted that single-seaters were unsuitable for solo combat missions at sea.

In tactical terms, navies worldwide believe that escort fighters executing patrol missions above the fleet are safe, as their fleet is right below them, allowing them to disregard navigation problems.

At this point, the fighter's performance becomes key to contesting air superiority, so fighters must be high-performance, fast single-seat versions.

During attacks, single-seat fighters escorting attack units are actually in a formation. They don't need navigators; they just need to follow the attack aircraft formation.

As for attack aircraft, navigators are essential. Over the vast ocean, having a co-pilot or even another bomber is advantageous for searching and flying.

No one knows who first put forward this idea, but it has a vast market within the navies of various countries. Therefore, models like the Stuka, 97 Torpedo Bomber, Dauntless, and even outdated Swordfish became the priority purchases for various air forces.

The navies without money use Zero fighters; those with money use the F-6F Hellcat; the cash-strapped use Swordfish; the affluent navy directly deploys 97 torpedo bombers...

In terms of carrier-based aircraft, countries worldwide have naturally been greatly influenced by the pioneer Great Tang Empire Navy, with more than half hoping to purchase general attack aircraft like the Stuka that can use both bombs and torpedoes, proving convenient and simple.

No one favors specialized aircraft, not wanting to separate torpedo bombers and dive bombers like the Lighthouse Country. But in reality, it is the Great Tang Empire that is the outlier, as in World War II, both sides in the Pacific theater were equipped with more than two types of attack aircraft.

Unfortunately, Tang Mo chose the less standard "German series" for carrier-based aircraft, turning San Dezi's helpless move into a timeless classic: what could be done, the competition's level was too poor, making the Stuka shine brightly as a carrier-based aircraft...

Thus, countries worldwide worshipped the idea of general carrier-based aircraft, all hoping to equip similar "good planes" like the Stuka that could load both torpedoes and bombs.

As for the Stuka's incredibly slow speed and unprofessional torpedo attacks, these shortcomings were selectively ignored by the commanders of navies worldwide.

In their eyes, flying slow equals safe takeoffs and landings, flying slow means precise attacks, flying slow means easy navigation... In short, there are surely reasons for flying slow.

They refuse to believe that the Great Tang Empire's choice was due to a technological fallback, nor do they believe the weaponry chosen by the Great Tang Empire is actually inferior.

The senior military officials worldwide, who have been educated by the Great Tang Empire's equipment all the way, believe that if the Great Tang Empire chooses something, it must be the right thing!

Due to the restrictions of carrier deck length and the limitations of carrier-based aircraft performance, countries believe the Great Tang Empire's jet fighters are impossible to be used on carriers.

That is to say, despite the absolute performance gap in land-based aircraft, the Great Tang Empire's most advanced fighters can't be accommodated on carriers.

This view is not groundless, partly because jet airliners, queued up for purchase by various airline companies, indeed have longer takeoff and landing distances than the Type 47 civil transport aircraft used in the past.

This explains well that as aircraft speeds increase, takeoff and landing distances will need to extend. Therefore, the Great Tang Empire can't have high-performance jet carrier-based aircraft take off and land on less than 300-meter runways.

Another reason causing misjudgment by weapon experts worldwide is the stealing of some design information regarding the 262 jet fighter from the Poplar Empire.

Although the information was neither comprehensive nor technologically complete, it somewhat highlighted certain issues: jet fighters do show decreases in takeoff performance while emphasizing speed.

The new airplane's takeoff distance notably surpassed that of propeller planes, making it impossible for jet fighters of the 262 category to complete operations on aircraft carriers.

After confirming this, navies worldwide were relieved, realizing their fleets could be on par with the Great Tang Empire in aircraft performance due to numerical advantage in fleet battle control of air supremacy!

Though the Great Tang Empire held an absolute advantage in "missiles," other countries had an advantage in the number of battleships and cruisers.

As long as they unite to stop the Great Tang Empire's cross-sea landing, the next war can be one of perilous victory, breaking the myth of the Great Tang Empire's invincibility!

No matter what, besides the Great Tang Empire preparing to launch three modern carriers at once, other countries are constructing their own aircraft carriers.

Moreover, their construction speed is not slow; one country even started building three carriers at once to expand its navy fleet. After all, carriers of this era all have wooden decks, and carrier-based aircraft didn't have overly exaggerated performance, so the technology standards weren't too high.

If the Great Tang Empire were to relax its export restrictions on specialty steel and offer some technical support, countries worldwide could still engage in an aircraft carrier shipbuilding spree.

Frankly, without considering differences in carrier-based aircraft performance, these countries' carrier capabilities aren't weak. After years of accumulation and competition, their shipbuilding industries have reached or exceeded pre-war standards of the British Empire.

In constructing battleships, cruisers, and World War II-level aircraft carriers, these countries have a bit of competence.

Except for the Ice Cold Empire and Poplar Empire, which haven't started carrier construction due to wars, other countries can have massive carrier fleets in the future.

If future additional carrier constructions are accounted for, the Great Tang Empire might not maintain a definitive advantage in carrier numbers.

Haven't you seen the Qin Country begin constructing its new domestic carriers under the Great Tang Empire engineers' guidance?

Haven't you seen the Qin Country, after merging the Shu Country, laying the first keel of its carrier at the shipyard in south Shu Country?

Even the former inland country, landlubber Qin Country, has started building its carrier, so how could other naval powers not construct their own aircraft carriers?

In conclusion, a new round of naval arms race initiated by the Great Tang Empire has quietly begun, making the Eastern Continent's shipyards extremely bustling.

Only a few countries luckily escaped this expensive arms race: the really penny-pinched Ice Cold Empire and Poplar Empire, along with the Suthers Empire which has no navy at all...