1850 American Gold Tycoon.

Chapter 204 Paddle Ships and Dark Ships (4K)

"A propeller-driven vessel?"

Jeremiah fell into deep thought, and then said after a moment of thought.

"Propeller-driven ships have many advantages over paddle steamers, which are heavy and complex in structure and poor in wind and wave resistance.

The structure of the propeller is relatively simple, and the simpler the structure sometimes means the more reliable, and the propeller ship has a great advantage over the paddle ship in terms of wind and wave resistance, and even in terms of speed. "

"Since propeller-driven ships have so many advantages, why doesn't Polaris use propeller drive?" Liang Yao continued to ask.

"Is there any technical problem?"

As one of the top shipbuilding experts in the United States, Jeremiah's understanding of paddle steamers and dark steamers is quite correct.

"You're the second person to ask me that question, after I debated it with experts at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and Commodore Admiral Perry asked me about it."

Jeremiah looked at the huge paddle wheels on both sides of the Polaris and said.

"The paddle steamer made a compromise on the height of the transmission shaft in order to arrange the paddle wheels on both sides. The position of the transmission shaft of the beam steam engine is relatively high, so the freeboard of the ship is also relatively high.

The propellers of dark ships are all underwater, the transmission shaft can be arranged lower, and the horizontal reciprocating steam engine used with the transmission shaft can also be arranged lower, which lowers the center of gravity of the ship and improves the stability of the ship when it is in motion. .

Moreover, if it is a warship, the power system arranged below the waterline is less likely to be damaged by local artillery shells.

Commodore Perry likes that the freeboard of the dark ship is lower than that of the paddle wheel, and the propeller hidden under the water is safer than the huge paddle wheel exposed on the water. There are no paddle wheels on both sides, and a few more doors can be installed Cannons to increase the firepower of warships.

Of course, the maneuverability of the dark steamer is also better, and it is more suitable for a warship than the paddle steamer. "

Liang Yao of the American Navy has learned specifically that under the auspices of Perry and the officials of the Navy Department with strategic vision, the vaporization rate of the American Navy has been greatly increased.

However, the U.S. Navy’s method of increasing the steaming rate is also very rude, that is, a large number of small steamships of five or six hundred tons, or even one or two hundred tons, are equipped to increase the navy’s steaming rate.

There are not many steamships of more than [-] tons in the US Navy.

Therefore, although the vaporization rate of the U.S. Navy has increased, and the data on paper is very good-looking, in fact, the U.S. ocean-going combat capability is not very refreshing.

The big ship still relies on the sail battleship to support the scene, even the sail of the steam ship has not been cancelled, and the sail is still kept on the steam battleship as a backup plan.

In fact, there is nothing to criticize at this point. The early steamships were not stable. Even the steamships of the British Royal Navy retained sails as an alternative power source to prevent the battleship from being unable to move on the water after the power system was damaged. become a living target for the enemy.

This is true for warships, and it is even more true for civilian ships. Many steamships that Liang Yao saw in New York Harbor also kept their sails, and only drove the hybrid power mode of steam power and sail power.

However, among the merchant ships traveling between various countries in New York Harbor, many merchant ships flying the Union Jack flag have canceled their sails and completely use steam power to drive ships, and there are many dark steamers among them.

This also shows from the side that the British steam engine technology and level are quite mature, and they are very confident in their own steam engine.

"The problem is the steam engine?" Liang Yao guessed the reason.

"Yes." Jeremiah nodded.

"I have tried to make a small dark steamer. Although I have made some breakthroughs, there are still many problems that have not been solved. For example, my horizontal reciprocating engine is not powerful enough to drive a small boat of two to three hundred tons.

And I think the layout of the dark steamer has more advantages in manufacturing ocean-going ships, and I am not willing to only build small ships.

The British are now able to manufacture dark steamers with a tonnage comparable to that of the Polaris, and their technology is more mature than that of the United States.

The British Royal Navy is refitting dark steamers and rifled guns in large numbers, and the French are not far behind the British in this regard.

In terms of ships, the United States has a first-mover advantage over the United Kingdom. It has manufactured the first steam ship and the first dark ship, and has also recruited a lot of shipbuilding talents from Europe.

But now we have been overtaken by Britain and France in shipbuilding, and American shipbuilders should reflect on this. "

The launch of Liang Yao's Pioneer has greatly narrowed the gap between the United States and traditional powers such as Britain and France in terms of train delivery, but their shipbuilders have not been able to narrow the gap with Britain and France in terms of shipbuilding. This makes Jeremiah Feel a little guilty.

"According to my understanding, in order to manufacture an advanced dark ship, not only need to solve the problem of insufficient power of the steam engine, but also a technology to manufacture marine propellers. For example, the pitch, rotation angle and materials of the propellers are all very delicate issues. " Liang Yao thought for a while and said.

"It seems that you did your homework before asking me these questions. These are also the difficulties in making propeller boats."

Jeremiah felt relieved that Liang Yao asked such a professional question. Liang Yao had such a serious spirit of seeking knowledge and a meticulous mind.

"I am not an expert in marine propellers. Regarding the technical issues of marine propellers, you can ask Eriksson and Clover for advice after you go ashore. They are experts in this field and have the most propeller patented technologies.

If you want to build dark steamships at the fastest speed, the patented technology of these two experts cannot be bypassed. "

It is also reasonable that the technical team he led was able to manufacture such an epoch-making locomotive as the Pioneer.

Jeremiah already knew that Liang Yao was about to take over Vanderbilt's shipyard. Liang Yao asked him for so many technical details of dark steamships. He guessed that after taking over Vanderbilt's shipyard, Liang Yao would directly try to build a dark ship. ship.

Liang Yao thanked Jeremiah, took out the notebook he carried with him from his pocket, and wrote down the names of Ericson and Clover in the notebook.

For the next two days, the people on the whole boat were in a carnival, celebrating and having fun, and no one realized that the danger was approaching them quietly.

On the night of the third day, there was a downpour of rain in the sky, and dense clouds shrouded the sky above the Polaris.

Vanderbilt made the fatal mistake of not only drinking himself, but allowing the crew on the Polaris to drink as well.

He will pay the price for his smugness.

Due to the very bad weather, the helmsman, who was drinking alone and drunk, did not notice that the Polaris had deviated from its course and was heading towards a reef area.

To make matters worse, the captain of the Polaris did not notice this fatal problem.

Suddenly, the Polaris shook violently as if it had hit something.

The violent shaking shocked the carnival people on board and woke Vanderbilt suddenly.

Vanderbilt took three steps and two steps in parallel. On the rickety Polaris, his steps were still very vigorous, and he came to the cockpit as if walking on flat ground.

"Why are there reefs ahead? Has the ship deviated from its course?"

Liang Yao didn't drink much. After feeling the violent shaking of the ship, he came to the cockpit immediately to check what happened.

After seeing clearly the situation ahead of the ship, Liang Yao's nerves suddenly tensed up.

I saw the waters in front of the Polaris, under the rough waves, revealing hideous reefs.

This is just naked sleep, the reefs that can be seen with the naked eye, who knows how many reefs are invisible under the water.

"my God."

Vanderbilt, who has always been calm and calm, couldn't help but turn pale when he saw this scene. He tried his best to wake himself up and calm down his mind.

At this time, Vanderbilt didn't bother to scold the crew on duty. He took over the rudder, and while steering, he said to the frightened passengers.

"Gentlemen, this is God's test for the Polaris. It is a rare life experience to experience such an exciting sailing through the reef area. Now I will lead you through the reef area!"

Said, Vanderbilt calmly steered the helm in the rocky waters.

Fortunately, Vanderbilt had traveled to this sea area many times in his early years, and he knew this sea area quite well.

The material used for the Polaris is also very solid. Although it touched the reef three times during the period, fortunately, the hull of the Polaris is hard enough to withstand the three impacts.

What is more uncomfortable is that, as a 2500-ton paddle steamer, the Polaris is cumbersome and has poor maneuverability.

Even Vanderbilt was skilled enough to drive and knew enough about the reef.

But the slow-moving Polaris still inevitably hit the reef. The only thing Vanderbilt can do is to avoid the reef as much as possible. If it is really impossible to dodge, control the speed and angle of hitting the reef to reduce the force of hitting the reef. .

The crew and passengers on the ship can only pray to God that the Polaris can leave the reef area as soon as possible and return to the scheduled safe route.

Finally, God favored them. Although the Polaris was scarred by the impact of the reef, it still safely sailed away from the reef area.

It's just that the paddle wheels of the Polaris have been severely damaged. Even if the steam turbines are fully powered and flapping the paddle wings feebly on the sea surface, they can't provide much power for the Polaris. Sailing on the sea.

Fortunately, the weather improved the next day, and the North Star met the Navy fleet returning to the Baltimore Naval Base.

The fleet came to their aid, and several ships joined forces to tow the Polaris back to Baltimore.

It's just that the dry dock at Naval Harbor in Baltimore is closed to civilian ships.

Liang Yao found out that the person in charge of the Baltimore Naval Port was Perry, so he sent a telegram requesting Perry to allow the Polaris to use the navy's dry dock in Baltimore Naval Port for maintenance.

Perry agreed to Liang Yao's request, but they had to pay $2000 for the use of the Navy's dry dock.

Of course, the money came from Vanderbilt, and $2000 was not too much for him. Vanderbilt readily agreed to this request and paid the $2000 fee on the spot. .

Vanderbilt inspected the Polaris very distressedly. Fortunately, except for the paddle wheel wings that were seriously damaged and needed to be replaced, the other parts of the Polaris were not seriously damaged, not to the point of breaking bones.
As long as there are enough people, it can be repaired soon.

Hearing that members of the Qing Dynasty's visiting mission to the United States were also on the Polaris, Perry did not dare to neglect, and rushed to the military port of Baltimore immediately to confirm the situation of the members of the Qing Dynasty's mission.

After learning that there were no casualties among the envoys of the Qing Dynasty's mission to the United States, except that a small number of envoys were frightened, Perry breathed a sigh of relief, and reported the news to Fillmore by telegram. president.

But Perry couldn't help but teach Vanderbilt a lesson, blaming Vanderbilt for not rashly taking members of the Qing Dynasty's mission to the United States to sail.

Baltimore is the closest and most important large naval base to Washington, the capital of the United States.

The significance of Baltimore to the United States is equivalent to that of Lushun and Weihaiwei to the Qing Dynasty.

After the Second War of Independence, the United States learned a lesson and spent huge sums of money to expand the Baltimore Naval Port in order to ensure the safety of the capital, Washington.

In the naval port of Baltimore, there are a total of 5 large ships of more than one thousand tons moored. These ships are the main battleships of the US Navy.Perry's ship, the Mississippi, was among them.

In addition to the five large ships above the thousand-ton class, there are also several small ships ranging from four to five hundred tons to seven to eight hundred tons in the port.

The American Navy is well trained, at least the American Navy in Baltimore Naval Harbor.

The sailors wearing straw hats to shade the sun looked curiously at the Polaris which had just been dragged into the Baltimore Naval Harbor, but they were quickly reprimanded by the officers and returned to their respective posts obediently.

Those who rubbed the deck continued to rub the deck with stones, those who cleaned the guns continued to clean the guns, those who replaced the sails continued to replace the sails, and those who overhauled the steam turbines continued to overhaul the steam turbines. Everyone performed their duties.

Everything in the military port was very orderly, and even the sailors who were not on duty and went ashore with their collars open did not make trouble in the port.

The Baltimore Naval Port is in charge of Perry. Presumably, Perry is very good at running the army and can make these sailors and naval officers obedient.

At this time, the U.S. Navy has not yet expanded its army. Although it is small in scale, it is superior in excellence and is all professional soldiers.

These American Navy soldiers and officers in the Baltimore Naval Port must be the cream of the American Navy.

Due to the small size of the navy and the small number of people, the clothing of the American Navy before the Civil War was still very delicate. Even ordinary soldiers could wear a well-sewn dark blue sailor uniform, beautiful dark blue trousers, and a pair of leather shoes on their feet. .

The uniforms of naval officers above non-commissioned officers are the same color as ordinary sailors, except that there are golden piping on the trouser seams. The thicker the piping, the higher the rank.

These are just their casual clothes. Liang Yao heard that ordinary officers of the navy all wear expensive tuxedos as their uniforms.

This alone is enough to make colleagues in the army envious.

(End of this chapter)