Chapter 9 Joint Shipbuilding
On April 27, Adriana and some of the staff boarded the new passenger ship of United Shipping and left the Port of New York. This is the first generation of products in the so-called transatlantic standard ship construction of United Shipping, referred to as the United Ship or Standard Ship. The biggest feature of this generation of products is versatility. Passenger ships and cargo ships use the same hull, keel, bottom warehouse, engine and boiler, and even the appearance data and dimensions are basically the same. The only difference is the function difference.
If a time traveler arrives, it can be seen that the United Ship and the historical American Liberty Ship and Victory Ship use similar construction ideas based on standardized construction modules. At the same time, a large number of prefabricated components can be stored. The shipyard directly uses these prefabricated components for installation, which is convenient for rapid construction in special periods.
The entire United Ship has a displacement of 15,000 tons and uses steam turbine oil-fired boilers as power. Now Italy has the largest oil resources in Europe, so it can naturally build as much as possible. The maximum speed is 18 knots (actually 18.6 knots), and the maximum endurance is 14,000 nautical miles when fully loaded with cargo at 12 knots. This requirement actually exceeds that of most cargo ships. The maximum speed of passenger ships and cargo ships of this era generally does not exceed 15 knots. Don’t underestimate the extra 3 knots, which will cost a lot of money. Many people think that it is a waste and a waste of time to make joint shipping 18 knots. But who can know that this is a necessary routine that Contini is going to change to escort aircraft carriers at a critical moment?
Since it is an Atlantic freighter, it will naturally have no problem entering the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Therefore, the endurance requirement for the United Ship is that it can depart from Italy, pass through the Mediterranean Sea, cross the Suez Strait, and arrive at the Italian Concession in Tianjin, China without refueling. In fact, both the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone and the United Terminal have supporting facilities for refueling. The reason why it is emphasized that it is shipped directly without refueling is obviously to avoid something. The only explanation is that the goods on the freighter
A total of 4 such standard freighters have been ordered, which will complement the standard tankers, but the number of ships built in the short term is not large, and they are scattered in multiple shipyards. It is not that Contini does not need large-scale construction, but the timing is not yet ripe. Only when the crisis breaks out, large-scale construction orders will become the life-saving straw for the shipyard.
However, compared with the Liberty and Victory ships, which were built quickly and in a cycle of only 10-12 months, the Union ship was much slower. It took 20 months to build one ship despite all efforts. This was considered an unprecedented breakthrough in the Italian shipbuilding industry. Contini was so depressed that he could only continue to endure it and demanded that the construction time of the next batch be compressed to 18 months while ensuring quality. This made people feel ashamed, but who dared to disobey the president's wishes?
Now the United Group controls half of Italy's large shipyards and can influence the other half through naval orders. Either you go to a small shipyard and wait for death. If you still want to stay in a large shipyard, you can't avoid the clutches of the president. The president will not make things difficult for ordinary employees. On the contrary, all employees hope that the United Group can manage their enterprises, which not only means a steady stream of orders, but also means generous remuneration and good welfare benefits. However, those senior managers and senior designers who think they have some status and ability are very uncomfortable. They either do what the president says or get out. It is useless to make it clear that the routine of throwing a tantrum is actually means that there is no third way to go, which is quite like "officials can't make a living".
The reason for this high pressure is that Contini has a clear understanding of the problems of the Italian shipbuilding industry: first-class design, second-class materials, and third-class speed. Among the major powers, Italy's speed in building warships is relatively slow. Rather than saying that the country's strength is insufficient and the finances are insufficient, it is better to say that there is a problem with the Italian industrial system and management norms. Small-scale construction is too individual and style-oriented, and the usual construction is superficial and inefficient, resulting in a slow speed. Therefore, he had to work hard on management and operating efficiency. The simplest way was to break up and reorganize, and let German workers, German designers and engineers enter the site.
The most common method is that Germans supervise and manage the Italian section, and Italians supervise and manage the German section. After the German Vulcan Shipyard was incorporated into the United Shipyard, such cross-exchanges became more frequent, and the Italians' operating efficiency and seriousness could be improved. Facts have proved that it is not that the Italians cannot improve efficiency, but that the management was too loose before. Now with the German comparator, it is easy to produce results.
In addition to management regulations, technical regulations are also being adjusted. There are many institutional reasons for the large number of Italian models. On the one hand, there are many Italian shipyards and they are not large in scale. Everyone is fighting on their own and cannot reach a consensus; on the other hand, everyone has designers who are racking their brains to make something unusual to show their abilities, so that there are all kinds of strange designs. If they are done well, they are of course beautiful, and if they are not done well, they are just large guinea pigs. Only Italians in the world like to be so unconventional and pursue a sense of design. Contini has always thought that this approach is fucked up. Fashion must be played like this. Those things must be changed every season. How can you make money without designing? But airplanes, warships and tanks are meant to be used for many years, and no one can stand seeing them being constantly tossed around like this.
Of course, technology is also a reflection of strength. Italy is subject to insufficient industrial strength. For example, there are not many companies that can undertake the production of naval guns and armor. Everyone is waiting for rice to come to the pot, and one module will drag down the entire module. Contini had no choice but to once again use the capabilities of the United Group to find breakthroughs and effective supporting facilities for Italy: For example, United Steel cooperated with Germany's Krupp and made progress in the field of carburized armor steel while expanding production. Krupp was actually not very good at this. I wanted to give it, but the problem was that I couldn’t get it if I didn’t give it to other orders. Besides, carburized armor is no longer a top technology, so I finally gave it. Another example was giving an order to Ansaldo Company, asking them to use 381mm. It is also possible to develop 406mm naval guns based on naval guns.
When Ansaldo's representative said that the Navy currently had no such development plan and asked confusedly where it would be used, Contini was so angry that he slapped the table and lectured the representative for half an hour. The core meaning was " The navy can't be built without me? Even my words are useless, who do you want to listen to?" The next day, the representative who dared to slap the president was sent home to retire, and Ansaldo Company was very happy. Xingdi took over the development task and asked for an advance of 1 million US dollars in R&D funds. Contini directly gave 1.2 million US dollars with a stroke of a pen and said coldly: "Before 1935, I want to see the 406mm naval gun successfully and successfully Make no less than 20 barrels! In addition, the research and development process must be kept secret. I don’t want people to know that I am tinkering with this thing. If it gets out, someone will lose their head..."
So now everyone is both fond of and worried about United Group's orders: they like it because the profits from the orders are very generous, but they are worried because of the high technical difficulty and the tight time schedule. But the bosses only have money in their eyes, so they will naturally take advantage of them.
Beginning in 1928, the United Group used its financial strength and market appeal to launch a new round of mergers and reorganizations: United Shipbuilding swallowed up 14 shipyards, large and small, within 7 months, and their workers were , designers and engineers were all reunited and gathered together. In addition, the United Group also controls 4 of the five largest shipyards in Italy through shareholding or even holding shares, especially now that they are relatively close to the United Shipyard. , the Great United Shipyard, which is responsible for the construction of the Ida special cruise ship, has been fully controlled by the United Group. The large and small United Shipyards are now officially merged into the Super United Shipyard. To use a witty word to describe it, the beautiful North Adriatic Sea is located in United Shipbuilding. In arms.
The biggest benefit of this kind of integration is that it can get rid of those messy models and ship design specifications, and it can also effectively clean up the chaotic Italian merchant fleet. At first, everyone thought that the president just couldn't stop taking care of shipping. Who knew he was Playing a big game of chess?
The newly integrated joint shipyard already has the ability and technical strength to build 50,000-ton ships, and the entire set of facilities can be solved within the system. Contini is not satisfied with this, and has also ordered the expansion of two shipyards, preparing to expand the shipbuilding capacity in one fell swoop. Pushing the scale to 100,000 tons, the Navy Ministry also said that it could not understand such a crazy move, but the president had plenty of money, so he could spend it as he pleased, and the Navy Ministry had no control over the United Group and had never lacked funds for shipbuilding. In another two months, the first Caracciolo-class ship will be completely completed, the second ship has been launched and is being outfitted, and the third ship has also been put on the agenda and is ready to lay the keel. The United Group readily allocated the funds. Half of the down payment was paid. As for the other two Trent-class (United Group Guard Ships) and four Zara-class heavy cruisers, they are currently under construction frantically. The entire Italian Navy is racing and racing at an unprecedented speed.
Because Contini said that he would sponsor 4 more ships of the Zara class, and they are the so-called joint type (displacement of 12,500 metric tons), which of course exceeds the provisions of the "Washington Naval Arms Treaty", but the reported number is 10,100 tons, which is in perfect compliance with the provisions of the treaty. In fact, everyone is exceeding it. No one should laugh at anyone. It’s just that Italy is very brave. It has 12,500 tons and dares to quote 10,100 tons. Anyway, it has not been built yet and no one has seen it.
The Navy was initially worried about its status and combat effectiveness after the large-scale sales of battleships and cruisers, but now it seems that everything is under control: by 1934, the Navy will have four 35,000-ton Caracciolo classes (actual 3.58 10,000 tons), the core size of the two 22,700-ton Andrea Doria-class battleships, and the overall number is controlled within the scale of 185,000 tons. As for the two warships of the Count of Cavour class, the Italian Navy is also preparing to sell them at the right time, and this right time is not difficult to sell naval warships. Three months ago, a shocking change occurred in the Far East... [Next section Sensitive content, please wait for the author’s public account push in the evening]