"Worcester-class cruiser? This one can be found!"

Yang Fan raised his eyebrows, and he naturally knew the whole story of this strongest artillery air defense cruiser in the United States that was about to emerge but was born at the wrong time.

This matter starts in 1940. When senior U.S. Navy officials saw the actual combat records of the Royal Navy in Europe, they began to think about equip the U.S. fleet with a special heavy firepower air defense cruiser that can provide air protection for the entire fleet under large-scale air strikes.

Especially in 1941, the Royal Navy suffered heavy losses in the Battle of Crete.

Under the large-scale German air strike, three cruisers, six destroyers of the Royal Navy were sunk, two battleships and one aircraft carrier were severely damaged, which once again shows how fragile warships lacking effective air defense firepower are under large-scale air strikes.

So in this case, the new American fleet air defense cruiser plan was launched urgently,

By July 1943, the design plan for the 6-inch gun air defense cruiser was submitted, and the first four orders were approved by Congress to include in the budget.

The Worcester class adopts the flat deck type commonly used by the US Navy, with a length of 202 meters, a width of 21.5 meters, a draft of 7.9 meters, a displacement of 14,700 tons, a maximum speed of 33 knots, a range of 14,816 kilometers, and a capacity of 1,470 people.

Although the displacement is only higher than that of the Desmoine-class heavy cruiser, it exceeds all cruisers in the world, including the Baltimore-class heavy cruiser, but it is still called a light cruiser because it is only equipped with 6-inch (152 mm) guns.

Weapon system equipped:

Main gun: 12 mk16 type 47 times caliber 152 mm high-level dual-purpose guns.

This is the world's first 6-inch double turret in the true sense. The turret's slewing and the pitch speed of the artillery can achieve air defense purposes.

The biggest feature of this turret is that it is equipped with a dual-purpose ammunition lifting mechanism, which can realize automatic loading at any angle, which is particularly conducive to air defense operations.

The auxiliary firepower is 24 3-inch 50-diameter rapid-fire guns, of which 22 are dual-mounted, and there are 16 20mm Olikon machine guns.

It is equipped with 6-inch guns with 4 MK37 commanders, which can take into account the functions of anti-aircraft and peaceful shooting.

Its supporting target detector is mk12 search radar, with effective detection distances to air and seas of 41 kilometers and 37 kilometers, and the distance azimuth error is 8 meters and 3 secret positions.

With the current technical level, the accuracy is extremely high, so mk37 is considered to be the best shooting control device during World War II.

It is equipped with a 4-seater MK56 commander with a 3-inch gun, which can deal with multiple incoming targets.

The two aircraft catapults were not selected to be installed between the front and rear bridges, but were placed at the stern. There was also a hangar equipped with a lift under the deck, which could carry 4 seaplanes.

In order to deal with the air threat, the Worcester-class heavy firepower air defense cruiser has very strong horizontal protection. The main armor belt outside the side boiler cabin is 127 mm thick, about 115 meters in length and 2.9 meters wide; after 1.5 meters in depth underwater, the thickness is reduced to 76 mm.

The Worcester-class cruiser was the last full-barrel light cruiser of the US Navy, but because the war ended, even the last bus did not catch up, only two of them were built.

Moreover, with the end of an era and the rapid development of missile technology, these two heavy firepower air defense cruisers have very limited uses after the war.

In his short service life, he basically did nothing, and he could only describe his tragic historical destiny as "born at the wrong time".

Fortunately, when he arrived at Yang Fan, he was a few years ahead of schedule. According to the production and manufacturing progress given by the system, Yang Fan could have successfully launched the first Worcester-class heavy firepower air defense cruiser around August 1944.

Although it may be only one year before the end of World War II, and with the advent of the missile era, traditional artillery warships have no value anymore, but for Yang Fan, this strongest artillery air defense cruiser is still very fragrant.

Because its maximum speed reaches 33 knots, it can be accompanied by high-speed battleships and aircraft carriers to perform formation combat missions, and will definitely play a huge role in the last year.

In addition, introducing the production line of the cruiser from the system can greatly improve your ship manufacturing and design capabilities, and obtain a lot of new military technologies, which will greatly promote the future development of naval military technology.

And even if you produce up to four or five Worcester-class cruisers, it should be stopped, but this production line can be upgraded and rebuilt other types of ships, or directly converted to civilians.

So from any perspective, Yang Fan will not suffer any losses. After all, his system is still very protective and it is impossible to cheat and maliciously waste Yang Fan's financial resources.

"The entire production line has a wealth of 3 billion points. It takes 6 months to build the production line and the ship production cycle is 6 months? Well, although it is a bit expensive and the time is a bit long, it is indeed worth the money and must be done!"

After reading the parameters and information provided by the system, Yang Fan finally decided to immediately introduce the strongest artillery air defense cruiser production line. Anyway, he is not short of money now, so he can spend money to buy experience and technology.

After making up his mind, Yang Fan had no reason to slap in his mind. He immediately called his father-in-law Wu Rongbang, Secretary-General Liu Chengchang and others to arrange for the site selection and construction of the cruiser yard.

"What? Can we build our own cruisers right away? And it's an air defense heavy firepower cruiser that is more powerful than heavy cruisers?"

"Wow, you are so awesome! You can get such an advanced production line!"

"That's great, there's never too much good stuff!"

"Yes, with these advanced ship manufacturing technologies, we can take another big step forward!"

After listening to Yang Fan's explanation, Wu Rongbang, Liu Chengchang and others were all excited and excited.

In fact, what they didn't know was that Yang Fan could even build a battleship production line now, but that thing not only cost as much as 5 billion wealth points, but also the subsequent financial and material resources will be even greater.

But the battleships are outdated in the current era, so there is no need for Yang Fan to waste money and make such big guys.

Conversely, this latest Worcester-class cruiser not only comes in handy, but also many new technologies in it are very useful. Compared with battleships, its cost-effectiveness is many times higher.

"Hehe, our navy can finally have big guys who can make a move!"

At this time, the deputy commander of the Navy, Cang Junquan scratched his head, smiled honestly, and showed an extremely happy and proud smile on his face.
Chapter completed!