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Chapter 1093 Unfinished Steam Ship

"The design stage of the 'Secret Class' steam iron-clad ship purchased by a western company from our No. [-] Shipbuilding Factory with huge sums of money has just ended, and this big box is full of design drawings of the 'Secret Class' steam iron-clad ship." Dalian No. [-] Shipbuilding Factory The director of the factory personally took Li Jinde to visit the shipyard. One of the iron boxes was filled with design drawings of secret-class steam iron-clad ships, detailing every component.

"Parts of many specifications need to be specially customized for metallurgical factories and machine tool factories. It will take some time for them to produce and inspect. After all, the secret class is the first warship envisaged for naval warfare. It is also necessary to consider protective armor and the placement of artillery and machine tools. The power problem. As you can see, the blueprints have just come out, and even ten times more manpower will not be able to complete the project this year." The factory manager then led Li Jinde and other directors of Western companies to the steamship dock of the No. [-] Shipbuilding Factory.

This dock with a side width of more than 150 meters is huge, and the steam cable laying ship Dongfang was born in this dock.Without the Dongfang steam cable laying ship with a full load displacement of [-] tons, it would be difficult to lay submarine cables across the Bohai Sea, Yellow Sea, and Sea of ​​Japan.

Li Jinde and other directors of Western companies looked down the dock and found that hundreds of workers and engineers were building the first steam warship.It was the first time for them to design a steam warship for military use. Compared with civilian ships, there were many more factors to consider, and they were more careful.If the steam warship sinks after being delivered to the Admiralty and Western companies, it is estimated that the No. [-] Shipyard will give up its title as the shipyard with the most advanced steamship manufacturing technology.

"This time our western company's fleet is going to the west, with the Fourth Fleet as the escort, so it must be safe. If we need a strong enemy or encounter a blockade by a powerful pirate in the future, it is estimated that we will need to dispatch such a behemoth."

Li Jinde has seen the design drawings of a medium-sized steam battleship of the secret class. The hull is 90 meters long, which is twice the length of a small and medium-sized sail battleship. He also plans to use an iron hull and equip a small amount of artillery armor to improve the artillery in naval battles. defense.And it is planned to configure diesel generators inside to provide lighting for the interior of the cabin and searchlights, and the ammunition depot will also be safer.

This is not just to build a steam ironclad ship, but to form a standard. In the future, if the Ministry of the Navy increases the purchase of secret-class steam ironclad ships, the first shipyard can mass-produce a batch of "secret-class" in a shorter time. Steam Ironclad.The research and development of the secret-class steam ironclad also provides technical reserves for the production of larger and heavier steam ironclads in the future.

"If there is a Fourth Fleet that can protect Western companies' merchant fleets to Europe, it is indeed possible. The Fourth Fleet has a seventy-gun battleship Shuhan, two fifty-gun Soochow, and Weiguo , other frigates have at least 24 artillery pieces. The performance of the artillery is purchased from the ordnance factory with mature technology, and it is already a force that cannot be underestimated in the Atlantic Ocean. No country will desperately plunder such a caravan. They also need to guard against other countries.” The director of the shipyard came from the Royal Shipyard of the Empire on which the Sun Never Sets, and he knew the situation in Europe like the back of his hand.

He knows that Britain and the Netherlands are now joining forces to fight against the status of Spain's old empire, but with the decline of Spain and the rise of the Netherlands Federation, Britain will soon compete with the Netherlands for world hegemony.After the Dutch were taken down, there was still France and Britain competing for hegemony.In short, European countries are fighting and fighting with each other, and they cannot achieve dominance. Therefore, they are full of confidence in a fleet of the Fourth Fleet to escort the merchant fleet of Western companies.

"It's a pity that our No. [-] Shipbuilding Factory stopped accepting warship orders from the Ministry of the Navy after it shifted its research and development focus to steam ships. We did not participate in the manufacture of sailing ships for the Fourth Fleet. They are Dalian No. [-], No. [-] and Jiangnan It was built by the nearby shipyard." The factory manager talked to them about some unknown things.

"It is very difficult to build a large ship, especially the steam ship required by the Ministry of the Navy. It takes so much manpower and material resources, and it takes such a long time. At present, the first factory is using all its resources After the research and manufacture of steamships, only two steamships, Yongchang and Dongfang, were built.” Li Jinde watched with great interest the workers in the dock riveting steel plates against the design drawings, and disputes and discussions occurred from time to time. Individuals are busy with this.

And it's not just the manpower you see in front of you. The workers who produce these steel and parts, and the engineers who study large marine steam engines are not here. The number of workers working on the first steam ironclad ship is amazing.

It is really commendable for the first shipyard to concentrate on the research of steamships in the era when most of the ships are still sailing ships.

"The workers in our shipyard will aim to create the most spectacular steamship in the world. Each new type of steamship has several more special technologies than the previous models. To be honest, because we will Almost all manpower is invested in the research and development of steamships, and the output is only one steam cable ship 'Orient'. Therefore, the income of engineers and workers in our shipyard may be lower than that of other shipyards. But we do not I don't feel lost, because we have built two steamships in succession, and a third steamship is under construction. Our first shipbuilding factory is famous for building steamships. After we have enough technical talents in the future, we can mass-produce steamships Ship. In the future, steamships will gradually eliminate sailboats, and the performance of steamships can continue to improve, while the performance of sailboats will be improved slowly. Not to mention relying on wind power, they are easy to catch fire and be destroyed by storms.” The factory director also commented on this. A group of merchants preached the benefits of steamships.

The directors of Western companies are wealthy businessmen. If they can be made aware of the benefits of steamships, the number of orders for steamships at the first shipyard will increase.Dalian's shipyard, as an official shipyard, is also assessed on the basis of production.

"Will the world be dominated by steamships in the future?" Many businessmen looked at each other in blank dismay. It was not difficult for them to feel the shock brought by steamships before.

"It's a pity that the current cost of steamships is too high, and sailing ships are the most practical." Said a sea merchant.

"Cost is indeed a big problem for our engineers. Our engineers are trying to reduce the high construction cost of steamships. Maybe you will see dozens of steamships appearing on the East China Sea in a few years. There must be The first people to eat crabs." The director of the shipyard is still encouraging these businessmen to build steamships.

(End of this chapter)