Chapter 465: Ships

A large depot and distribution center for supplies could be set up in Foshan Town. He mused, taking advantage of its geographical location, he could both procure large quantities of military supplies—rice, miscellaneous grains, livestock, fruits, cloth…—and conveniently distribute the supplies.

His mind raced. Part of the procured materials could be processed directly in Foshan, while another part could be transported to Hong Kong for processing. The purchased unhusked rice could be milled into brown rice for storage at the depot’s grain and fodder factory, and then milled again into polished rice before being issued to the troops. According to the nutritional theories proposed by Chen Sigen, the Fubo Army no longer ate brown rice. The reason was that brown rice required more time to cook, wasting fuel, and it was difficult to digest, requiring more chewing to be fully absorbed. On the battlefield, there was obviously not much time for cooking and eating.

Besides grain, vegetables could also be procured and processed locally in Foshan, into dried and pickled vegetables to supply the troops—if the transport time did not exceed 72 hours, fresh vegetables could be transported directly to the front lines.

As for meat, poultry, eggs, and even candy, Hong Huangnan had ideas for manufacturing them using local raw materials. Especially for meat, with a fast and convenient water supply system, he could even dispense with cured and preserved foods. He could use his expertise in cuisine to create some dishes with a longer shelf life to supply the soldiers at the front.

After drawing the schematic diagram, Hong Huangnan returned to his desk. The “five-watch chicken” pot was already emitting an enticing aroma. He took a sip of the tea his secretary had brought him and opened the newly delivered folder. Inside were the line drawings of several new types of riverboats designed and built by the Senate’s shipbuilding industry for the Guangdong campaign.

Guangdong itself did not lack riverboats. On the river from Guangzhou to the Pearl River estuary alone, there were at least three or four thousand various types of river and river-sea hybrid boats permanently moored. Excluding small boats like fishing boats and flower boats, most could be used to carry cargo and people. Although the cargo capacity was not large, the draft of the boats was shallow enough to meet the needs of navigating the main and branch streams of the East, West, and North Rivers. There were also many local coastal merchant ships, and requisitioning them would not be much trouble.

However, Hong Huangnan was not very satisfied with these boats. Not only were they all sailboats, but their cargo holds were also not well-suited for the various standard packing cases widely used by the Joint Logistics Department. Although it was necessary to use these boats for transport in large numbers for the time being, a dedicated fleet of transport ships still needed to be established.

In Hong Huangnan’s consideration, these specialized boats should not only be motorized but also have a certain degree of protection, especially against arson attacks from the riverbanks. This was a lesson learned from experience: during the Pearl River Estuary Raid, the Marine Corps widely used various captured wooden boats, and the loss of boats in combat was mainly caused by the enemy’s incendiary weapons. Therefore, these boats were not considered to have sails.

He initially focused his attention on the existing naval vessels, especially the motorized three-oared boats. These small boats had a shallow draft and were equipped with small steam engines, making them ideal shallow-water vessels. In addition, the Type 621 paddle-wheel tugboat was also a very suitable riverboat. Intelligence personnel reported that the Type 621 could navigate to Wuzhou without difficulty, and could even go further upstream, all the way to Nanning.

Using Type 621 tugboats to tow barges could transport large quantities of materials and personnel. The “waterborne supply column” in Hong Huangnan’s mind was roughly based on this. But this was not enough.

For the main channels of the three rivers, the Type 621 “supply column” could generally pass without obstruction, but in some upstream sections and many tributaries, the Type 621 was too large. Therefore, “small steam launches” with even shallower drafts were needed for transport and towing work. Such small steam launches were still active on many rivers in China until the 1980s.

Besides transport vessels, to ensure the safety of navigation and suppress water bandits, and to provide fire support for landing forces during combat and deter coastal villages, small river gunboats were also necessary.

These requirements were mixed together and became a project for the various Senators in the shipyard. Given Shi Jiantao’s initiative, he was put in charge of the project. As for the designer, it was naturally Zhong Ziheng, the only chief designer of the “Central Ship Design Institute.”

After coordination between the Military Affairs General Directorate and the Planning Commission, the design work for the ships was carried out in Lingao, while the construction of the entire ship was arranged in Hong Kong. The engines, artillery, and other components were naturally still shipped from Lingao.

The first page of the line drawings that Hong Huangnan opened was the Type 621 “Inland.” The so-called “inland” meant it was specifically for use on inland rivers. This was a minor modification of the original Type 621 by Zhong Ziheng. The main changes were the replacement with a smaller engine to save cabin space and the reduction of the coal bunker’s capacity. The paddle wheels were changed to a stern wheel to adapt to shallower river channels.

However, the Type 621 itself was designed based on deep-draft channels like the coastal and Pearl River waterways, and its hull lines had not been specifically optimized for shallow draft. Although measures such as installing a smaller engine had reduced the ship’s draft, its navigable range was still relatively limited. Hong Huangnan looked at the specifications. It could probably navigate unimpeded only on the West River, all the way to Wuzhou without any pressure.

The next line drawing was of an iron-framed, wood-hulled river gunboat. According to the 500-ton dividing line, its standard displacement of 260 tons could only be considered a boat.

This was a river gunboat “carefully designed” by Zhong Ziheng, specifically based on the river gunboats that the great powers had sailed on the Yangtze River in the 1920s and 1930s. Because these gunboats had the dual requirements of “riot control” and “deterrence,” they were often equipped with large-caliber cannons and a considerable number of light rapid-fire weapons. Their speed was faster than the wooden boats on the river. Due to the need to pass through the Three Gorges into the interior of Sichuan during the dry season, their draft was generally very shallow.

This technical requirement coincided with the General Staff’s operational plans for the rivers in Guangdong. Therefore, this river gunboat, codenamed 798, was designed by Zhong Ziheng to meet this requirement. Its main dimensions were a length of 54.86 meters, a beam of 8.0 meters, and a draft of 0.79 meters. It was equipped with two reciprocating 500-horsepower steam engines and two coal-fired boilers. Its crew complement was 56, and it could carry a platoon of troops if necessary. The Type 798 had no consideration for seaworthiness and adopted the shallow-draft riverboat hull form with a very low freeboard. Due to the limited hull space, the Type 798 shared a common feature of such river gunboats: a long and large superstructure. Coupled with the tall twin funnels and the huge 130mm muzzle-loading rifled cannon in its casemate, the entire ship looked top-heavy.

However, thanks to this design, it could navigate most of the channels of the East, West, and North Rivers and a considerable number of their tributaries. With its “majestic” hull and “giant cannon,” its appearance on any stretch of the river would surely be a powerful deterrent to the local forces. If necessary, it could also be used to transport troops and supplies. Although the hull was iron-framed and wood-hulled, the main exposed compartments on the waterline were all fitted with hot-rolled thin steel plates as armor, making it completely immune to most of the Ming army’s firearms at close range, except for the Red Barbarian cannons.

Hong Huangnan was very satisfied with this river gunboat, but based on his experience with the Planning Commission’s stinginess, he was skeptical about how many dedicated Type 798 river gunboats the Planning Commission would ultimately agree to build. Of course, he personally was very supportive of this new weapon. Compared to the thousand-pound siege cannons that many Senators boasted about, a river gunboat anchored at the White Swan Pool was much more persuasive.

As if to contrast with the river gunboat, the next one was a small river gunboat that the Planning Commission would obviously love, based on the 25-ton river gunboat that the Japanese had widely used in China. This type of gunboat had almost unlimited navigability. During the War of Resistance, it could be seen everywhere from the small rivers of Jiangnan to the river channels of Guangdong. Needless to say, it was also used on the Yangtze River, and the People’s Liberation Army even used it to go to sea to support the liberation of near-shore islands. The remaining hulls were used as miscellaneous boats along the Yangtze River until the 1990s.

The problem was that this small boat used an internal combustion engine, an area where Lingao’s industrial capabilities were still relatively weak. The design plan was to use an enlarged and reverse-engineered 18-horsepower steam engine based on a compact 12-horsepower steam engine designed and manufactured by an American steam engine enthusiast brought by Li Di. Naturally, its speed and endurance were greatly affected. The boat’s specifications were a length of 18.1 meters, a beam of 3.5 meters, a full-load displacement of 30 tons, and it was armed with a naval version of the 70mm Type 32 battalion gun—which could also be used as an infantry gun with wheels attached.

“This gunboat is hideously ugly,” Hong Huangnan couldn’t help but comment.

But ugly as it was, it was a very useful little boat. The “waterborne supply column” did indeed need such flexible and cheap armed escorts.

Finally, there was the so-called Type 1024 small river steam launch. Obviously, the designer Zhong had not put much thought into it and had directly copied existing design materials. Except for changing the power to an 18-horsepower small steam engine and adding a coal bunker, it was no different from the “small steam launches” that had been active on China’s inland waterways throughout the 20th century. The Type 1024 adopted a conventional shallow-draft design with a flat bottom and low freeboard. Although it was unassuming and its performance was mediocre, it had strong navigational adaptability and was convenient and flexible to use. Hong Huangnan decided to use this type of boat as the joint logistics’ mobile transport force.

“This should be about right. It would be best to build a batch of each,” Hong Huangnan circled his name and put the document back in the file basket. He mentally estimated how many of each type of boat would be needed.

However, he was a little worried. It was already early autumn, and there were only a little over three months until the start of the offensive. He didn’t know how many of these new models of ships would be ready for use by then. He had no knowledge of the efficiency of the Hong Kong shipyard and had not received any progress reports.