"On the surface, the ro-ro ship is not very difficult. There is a living warehouse in the front, an engine room under the stern, and the remaining part is a cargo warehouse formed by a multi-layered fully connected deck. The entrance and exit are designed in the form of a springboard on the side of the ship or on the side of the ship. The stern is convenient for ships to enter the cabin through the springboard. The overall ship is relatively fat and looks similar to an amphibious assault ship..."

When Zhao Ling said this, she suddenly stopped. She already understood why Brother Tao had no concerns and agreed directly.

This kind of ship is for hiding troops from the people!

In the past few years, although the strength of the navy has been developing rapidly, in the eyes of the outside world, Dongfang's naval strength is still insufficient, especially the lack of amphibious landing capabilities. For Dongfang, if it wants to complete that sacred mission, it is impossible not to have this ability. No way.

Although the Navy has begun to order 075, the quantity is not large. Compared with the huge transportation demand, it is still far behind.

Therefore, the famous RAND think tank has been denying the East's landing warfare transportation capabilities, thinking that the East does not have such combat capabilities at all. In fact, their understanding has a big problem.

They only considered military equipment and did not see that with the development of the shipbuilding industry in the East, there is also a large amount of civilian equipment, especially those ro-ro ships.

RoRo ships are used to carry cars, but of course they can also carry tanks and armored vehicles! An ordinary 10,000-ton ro-ro ship can carry dozens of tanks and armored vehicles to meet the transportation needs of an armored brigade, and there are many ro-ro ships of this level in the East! Not to mention anything else, the Bohai Ferry Company alone has 17 ro-ro ships with a total tonnage of 460,000 tons. Even if one ship can only carry 50 tanks and armored vehicles, that is nearly a thousand pieces of equipment!

If it is really needed, as long as there is a safe dock opposite, civilian roll-on/roll-off ships can sail over. It is no problem to deliver thousands of equipment there at one time. How much equipment can be transported back and forth for a week?

 The existing 071s, 072s, etc. in Dongfang are not large in number and cannot meet the needs, but these are all for front station. As long as the front is open, the rolling fleet from behind will come!

Needless to say, even now, even in the 1980s, when the British fought that naval battle, they also used a large number of merchant ships, including ro-ro ships, to transport a large amount of weapons and equipment, which provided a huge contribution to the victory of the war. of assistance.

“Brother Tao, we already have 10,000- to 20,000-ton ro-ro ships in China. Do we still need to produce 40,000-ton ro-ro ships?” Zhao Ling continued to ask.

 Ro-Ro ships are necessary, but are large Ro-Ro ships necessary?

Qin Tao nodded: "It's necessary. This level of ro-ro ship is no longer just a ro-ro ship. The bottom can be equipped with tanks, armored vehicles, logistics supplies, and various personnel and equipment. The top... can also be made into a full-scale ro-ro ship. It’s flat and can be used for many purposes.”

If it is a ro-ro ship for both passengers and cargo, the top is more similar to a passenger ship, with several layers of cabins for passengers. The bottom is a place to park vehicles, so people can drive over, park their cars, and enjoy the scenery along the way. Scenery, drive again when you reach your destination.

However, ro-ro ships of tens of thousands of tons will definitely not be used for both passenger and cargo, and there will not be so many passengers. Many of these ro-ro ships are ordered by automobile manufacturers, and the produced cars will be shipped to their destinations, especially those that cross the border. For ocean transportation, for example, if cars produced in Germany are shipped to the United States for sale, this type of roll-on-roll-off ship must be used, and there are not many passengers on board.

 If you want to build a passenger cabin, then at most you can build a few layers in the stern part, or only one layer in the bow is enough.

 What about the rest?

 The remaining uppermost deck is flat!

Isn’t this straight deck an excellent landing platform for aircraft?

Forget about conventional take-off and landing, let alone electromagnetic catapult. There is no ski jump on the deck, but vertical take-off and landing fighter jets can be used!

During the Falklands War, the British Navy did not have many aircraft carriers on hand. However, they modified a large number of civilian ships to transport their Sea Harrier fighter jets or helicopters. When needed, a circle of containers was placed outside with sea carriers inside. Harrier can take off and land skillfully!

Eastern countries already have vertical take-off and landing fighter jets like the J-31A. Although they are currently used on islands, in the future amphibious assault ships will definitely need to be equipped, and large ro-ro ships can also be used!

Vertical take-off and landing fighter jets do not have a big impact on the deck. When designing a ro-ro ship, as long as the deck level is improved, it can be converted to military use in the future.

Even if the J-31A cannot be used, the drone can be used.

The East already has a large number of drones and an entire industrial chain. Even civilian drones can be strapped with bombs and launched into the sky when needed. Looking at the battlefields of later generations, this kind of thing is not uncommon. The upper deck of the ro-ro ship can easily take off and land drones, which plays a good supporting role.

"The area of ​​the top deck of a ro-ro ship of 10,000 to 20,000 tons is not large enough, making it inconvenient to take off and land aircraft. When it develops to 40,000 tons, it will be very convenient to take off and land aircraft and drones. In normal times, it is economically developed. A good helper. When needed, it can transform into a mothership at any time, carrying vertical take-off and landing fighter jets, helicopters and drones, and tanks and armored vehicles underneath." Qin Tao said: "So, we need a new 40,000-ton RoRo ship, if our brother units don’t have the capability, then let’s do it!”

The Mingzhou Group has not built ro-ro ships yet, but other brother units have. This time, foreign customers came to them and did not go to other shipyards. There is obviously a reason.

"Other brother units felt that the tonnage was too large and difficult to build. Moreover, if there was an accident, the ship owner would claim compensation, so they did not dare to undertake it. The ship owner found us. Of course, there is another situation. , there may be pitfalls here.”

Taking shipbuilding orders from abroad is not necessarily a good thing. Take a look at South Pickle Country's Line Dairy Heavy Industry. Isn't it just because it couldn't build the ship after receiving the order, and then suffered a huge loss? Now that the entire Line Dai Heavy Industry has been acquired by an American company, the South Kimchi Country no longer has a large shipyard of its own.

 This time, the order was not from domestic, but from Norway. Instead of choosing a European shipyard, they came to the East and Mingzhou Group. Are there any problems?

Qin Tao smiled: "What other pitfalls can there be? We won't sign harsh compensation clauses like Line Dai Heavy Industry. They came to us just because Europe can't build this kind of ship. Let's go to Huating and let's go together Meet European customers.”

 Is Europe strong?

It used to be really strong, but now, Europe has declined. It has declined to the point where many ship types dare not touch it. They don't have the technology!

At present, all the ro-ro ships in the world are 10,000 to 20,000 tons. This is the first time for a 40,000-ton ro-ro ship. Europeans do not have this technology, and they dare not touch it for fear of danger. The former 100,000-ton ro-ro ship This is what happened to the first-class bulk carriers. After they were built, they broke off in the ocean. However, the bulk carriers built by Mingzhou Group have been running smoothly. Mingzhou Group is the most advanced shipbuilding company in the world. Of course, it also wants to build the world's most advanced shipbuilding companies. Advanced ship type!

These 40,000 tons are actually not that big. In later generations, the island nation's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries also built a 75,000-ton ro-ro ship for the Wilson Company, with a load capacity of up to 43,000 tons. This company is also Norwegian.

Now, they just want to go to the East to purchase a suitable ro-ro ship. At this time, they can develop a ro-ro ship of this level. The country will definitely need it. By then, a batch of them will be produced for civilian use. When the military needs it, consider it as a contribution to the army.

With this idea in mind, Qin Tao and Zhao Ling stayed in the capital for one night and headed to Huating the next day. The Norwegian shipowner was still waiting in Huating.

Cong Ju worked hard at the Huating Second Shipyard, leading the shipyard to grow and develop. She would not trouble Qin Tao to come over for ordinary matters. She was still a little embarrassed to see Qin Tao this time. However, there were guests around. She couldn't appear apologetic either.

"Mr. Qin, let me introduce to you, this is Mr. Andreas, the person in charge of the Revelino Group." Cong Ju introduced everyone in fluent English: "Mr. Andreas, this is Mr. Andreas. Mr. Qin of our group."

The Revelino Group is a company specializing in international freight. It was established in Norway in 1927 by Refuleno, who was thirty years old at the time. At that time, he saw the demand for oil transportation and established a company to transport oil. Now, With the development of the times, the company's main business has changed from oil to liquefied natural gas and other cargo transportation.

By 2006, the group will separate into two independent entities: Leno Shipping and Leno LNG, which are still together. Since we want to transport LNG, we inevitably need to deal with Dongfang. They originally came to order LNG ships, but this was their third order. After coming to Cong Ju, they suddenly mentioned that they wanted to order 8500CEU, which is A roll-on/roll-off ship capable of transporting 8,500 cars, but after asking shipyards all over the world, no shipyard dared to accept it, so they asked Cong Ju if they could build it here, but Cong Ju couldn’t commit immediately. , so I reported to Mr. Qin.

Now, Mr. Qin is here, and Andreas is very excited. He has a premonition that there will be new gains from this meeting.

"Mr. Andreas, it's a pleasure to meet you." Qin Tao said: "We noticed that in your shipping business, you mainly operate ro-ro ships, and you also order larger ships. Are you interested in this? Is the market very promising? As far as I know, ro-ro ships are not necessarily needed to transport cars, containers can also be used."

  If you buy a foreign car, you can see the 4S store opening the container and driving the car out. Compared with the ro-ro ship that can only transport cars, containers seem to be more common.

Not to mention cars, even a large truck can be dismantled into several parts, stuffed into containers, and then reassembled at the destination.

 How big is this market? Does the customer require exclusive use of their vessel?

"Yes, the world is developing, the economy is recovering, and there is a huge demand for cars around the world. We know that there will be no single car market in any country. Our European cars will be sold to the United States, and American cars will also be sold. It will be sold to Europe. Our ships are fully loaded back and forth. We have felt that the existing shipping capacity is insufficient, so we need larger ro-ro ships." Andreas said: "We believe that if we can build The transportation efficiency of the 8500ECU ro-ro ship will be further improved. However, this kind of ship is too difficult. Each deck needs to be empty, and there cannot be pillars inside. Many shipyards feel that increasing the displacement will make it more fragile, which may It will threaten the safety of navigation. We know that Mingzhou Shipyard is good at building ships that others cannot build. The 100,000-ton bulk carrier you built is an example. We hope you can help us build such ships."

The cabins of ordinary cargo ships are all equipped with partitions. Even if it is a huge oil tanker, partitions can be used to strengthen the ship. However, this is not possible for ro-ro ships. If the cabins are separated inside, it will cause serious waste of space and reduce The transportation volume of automobiles must be carried out to the end!

This requirement is very similar to the hangar of an aircraft carrier. Therefore, although others cannot build it, Mingzhou Group has no problem building such a big thing!

"With this kind of carrying capacity, plus the weight of the ship itself, the full load displacement will reach 40,000 tons, which is very similar to our 075. Therefore, if you want to order, we will modify the 075 hull to meet the requirements Loading requirements.”

 Don’t say anything else, just move out the 40,000-ton 075!

“Ahem.” Andreas was startled: “Mr. Qin, we don’t need an aircraft carrier or an amphibious assault ship, and if the cost is too high, we may not be able to afford it.”

Qin Tao smiled: "Of course it will not reach the construction cost of an aircraft carrier. I just said that according to the design of 075, many internal standards are still civilian ship standards. We will reasonably control the cost. Let me introduce the general plan first."

The hull below is actually the same as the 075. When it comes to the top, the hull also expands and the cross-section becomes a rectangle, which naturally maximizes the load capacity. The top becomes a rectangular box, like It's an extra-large pencil case.

This ship type looks weird, but it is the only way to meet the loading demand.

"From bottom to top, we designed a total of fourteen decks, which can provide a total of more than 70,000 square meters of deck space for loading various vehicles. These decks are all connected, just like the hangar of an aircraft carrier. The main issue is strength. Solve it through the transverse deck." Although the time is short, Mingzhou Group has already produced a preliminary design plan, which fully reflects their expertise in this field.

 They are all a single deck with no columns. How to solve the strength problem? Will it collapse if the cars are loaded layer by layer?

of course not! There are many tricks in this. Why didn’t the aircraft carrier’s hangar collapse? Just use the design of an aircraft carrier hangar.

Although there is no support longitudinally, there is support laterally. As long as it is fixed to the side of the ship and relies on high-strength steel plates, it can be supported.

Only shipyards that build aircraft carriers dare to do this.

 Andreas nodded, very satisfied with this design. He didn't know the strength, but everything inside was straight through without any pillars. This was the most important thing.

"Among them, the five decks in the middle are movable." Qin Tao continued: "They are made to lift and move up and down. In this way, the ro-ro ship can not only load cars, but also trucks. It can even load yachts or large agricultural equipment when needed, increasing the diversity of your transported goods."

With more layers, the height of each layer is limited. If you want to install a car, two meters is enough. Even if you want to install some tall and powerful off-road vehicles, it can still be two meters, up to two meters. Five, however, this height is not enough for loading trucks.

 What should I do if I want to install it on other vehicles?

 The answer is that the deck can move up and down!

 This is a brand new design! This design improves transportation flexibility and allows them to take on more transportation business!

The reason why they are on the middle floors is, of course, because the bridges built between the ro-ro ship and the wharf are on the middle floors. They are at the same height, making it easy for vehicles to enter and exit. Cars can be loaded up and down. The middle floors are installed last and the height can be changed. It is no problem to install large items, especially the layer where the bridge is built, and finally install those super high items.

 “Can such a large deck be moved? How is it possible?”

"This is equivalent to a large aircraft carrier elevator." Qin Tao said: "We have this technology."

Qin Tao has been repeatedly instilling this truth: To build a ro-ro ship of this level requires aircraft carrier technology. The direct access deck below is the hangar of the aircraft carrier, and the elevator is also the technology used by the aircraft carrier.

An aircraft carrier needs an elevator so that it can complete the transfer of aircraft on and off. Moreover, similar to the super aircraft carriers in the United States, one elevator can accommodate two aircraft at the same time. Even two big bugs weigh more than fifty tons. If there are two Tomcats, , more than sixty tons properly, plus its own weight and various redundancies, the aircraft carrier elevator needs to have a take-off and landing capacity of one hundred tons, so that it is safe enough.

The aircraft carrier’s elevators are like this. What about other elevators?

Moving the whole deck up and down is equivalent to multiple lifts moving at the same time. Of course, you cannot put cars in when moving. You have to move it without load. That is to move the entire deck, which weighs about 500 tons. It's about the same as five aircraft carrier lifts, so it's not difficult. Moreover, Dongfang also has the world's strongest cranes, so it's not easy to do this.

Qin Tao doesn’t think it’s that difficult. Later generations of super ro-ro ships also have this design. Now that he has come up with it, it is the first of its kind. This is what Mingzhou Group wants!

"Mr. Qin, it turns out that we found the wrong builder. If we can design it like this, we will have more types of goods to transport. Your design is great!" Andreas was very excited.

“Well, let’s move on to other aspects. Regarding the engine, what engine do you plan to use?”

 (End of this chapter)