Nanming: I can build wonders

Chapter 217 Daming's First Steamship (Please Subscribe!)

When Lu Fan was working hard to build a new city and Zhu Kezang was exporting frantically, a big event happened in the New Ming Empire that changed the future maritime structure.

In mid-April of the second year of Shenwu, a huge ship was secretly launched in the dock of Anping Armory.

In order to better build ships, the armory has opened up many docks, and many docks have relocated nearby residents to ensure complete secrecy.

Now it has become the largest naval scientific research base of the New Ming Empire, a testing ground for all new ships, and has the highest level of science and technology in the Naval Research Institute of the New Han Empire.

On the wide pier inside the armory, Zhu Kezang and Fu Guangdian, the ace designer of ordnance of the Royal Navy of Ming Dynasty, participated in the launching ceremony of a mysterious large ship.

Fu Guangdian is a craftsman from the Manila Shipyard in Luzon, and participated in the project of the Forever Victory.

When he was in the Luzon shipyard, he was already well-known. With the addition of the shipbuilder in the Anping Armory, his ability improved by leaps and bounds, so he participated in this mysterious project.

This mysterious big ship is the first steel-hulled ship built in the history of the New Ming Empire.

It is made of steel from the keel, ribs to the hull. With the support of these strong materials, the displacement of the big ship has exceeded 240 tons in one fell swoop, reaching a terrifying [-] tons.

This is a milestone progress. After all, the largest warship in Europe today is only in the early [-] to [-] tons.

Even Daming's Eternal Victory is only over 3000 tons.

"Qinshe, the iron-clad ship is too shocking!" How could Chen Yonghua, the prime minister of Ming Dynasty, be absent from the research and development site of such a secret weapon.

"Father-in-law, this is just the beginning!" Zhu Kezang said proudly, he did not expect that these Ming craftsmen really researched it after he made a fuss at the celebration banquet of the Anping Armory.

This steamship is not a battleship, its aspect ratio is shorter, and it is equipped with five tall masts for wind propulsion, but its main power is indeed the four propulsion paddle wheels of the front two and the rear two.

Yes, this is a steam-powered paddle steamer, and it is also the first self-powered ship in the world that can not rely on wind power, which can be described as an epoch-making progress.

Looking at this huge ship, Zhu Kezang and the shipwrights involved in making the steamship were very excited.

The only fly in the ointment is that they failed to realize the propeller propulsion method proposed by Zhu Kezang.

These shipbuilders are all top experts in the shipbuilding field of Ming Dynasty. Of course, they know that Zhu Kezang's propulsion method using propellers is more advanced. The way the paddle wheels are designed.

In order to achieve a water seal, you have to engage in rubber.

In order to make the paddle wheel more efficient, Fu Guangdian placed the wheel shaft at the waterline, so that the part of the paddle wheel immersed in the water is larger, but it will also cause the problem of water entering the bearing position.

Fu Guangdian's method is to build a immersion chamber, so that the bearings and large gears are immersed in seawater, and the power of the steam engine is connected through the upper end of the gears above the water level.

Since the upper end of the gear and the upper end of the immersion compartment are far away from the waterline, there will be no problem of water ingress.

Originally, Fu Guangdian wanted to apply this immersion tank technology to the propeller, but after the experiment, it was found that this technology was not suitable for the propeller.

The weight of the immersion tank is too large. If all of them are arranged at the stern, it will cause the ship to be light at the front and heavy at the rear and unstable.

Only by using the paddle wheels can the two sides of the immersion chamber be evenly arranged without the problem of the center of gravity.

But this is also an expedient measure, because Fu Guangdian knows very well that the bearings and gears are too corroded by long-term immersion in seawater, and this method may still cause water to enter during high sea conditions.

Although there are many flaws, this is the world's first steamship, and no one has any experience, so everyone can only cross the river by feeling the stones.

In order to test the ability of these shipwrights, Zhu Kezang did not waste points to exchange for the blueprint of the steamship. Although it is not perfect, the first steamship independently designed and built can achieve this effect, which has exceeded Zhu Kezang's expectations up.

Moreover, this system still has its merits. The two paddle wheels installed on each side share a set of power equipment, driven by twelve square boilers and two double-cylinder horizontal steam engines, which can propel the ship by Traveling forward at a speed of 11 knots, if all sails are turned on to assist navigation, the tailwind can reach a high speed of 14 knots.

In this era, 14 knots is already a veritable high speed, because the top speed of today's sailing battleships cannot exceed 9 knots.

What is even more astonishing is that this ship can still carry more than [-] tons of cargo while maintaining its speed, which is simply invincible in this era.

"Let's sail."

Zhu Kezang, Chen Yonghua and others boarded the deck and nodded slightly to the captain.

As the order was issued, the boiler, which was always running on a low fire, began to add coal, and the fiery flame heated the demineralized water in the small water-tube boiler, forming more and more steam.

The continuous accumulation of steam drives the pistons of the cylinders, so that the power of the steam engine continues to increase. It is not until the connecting rods of the two steam engines start to move powerfully and continuously, and when the reciprocating wheels rotate rapidly, the mechanic moves the switch, and the steam engine passes through the gear and the light. The wheels are connected together.

With the help of the buffer device, the paddle wheel began to rotate at a slow speed, and the paddles on the wheel disc swiped the sea water, pushing the big boat forward slowly.

Fu Guangdian, the designer of the steamboat, expressed joy: "It took two quarters of an hour from starting to sailing, which was much better than everyone expected."

"Very well, for a 3000-ton sailing warship like the Eternal Victory, it takes at least an hour to handle the sailing rigging." Zhu Kezang laughed, and it was obvious that he was very satisfied.

"Of course this is due to the steam engine invented by the emperor. It is simply amazing."

Fu Guangdian couldn't help sighing that since the steam engine was developed, it has played a huge role in mines, trains, water power supply, etc. Now it is finally going to be used on sea ships, and the Ming Dynasty has really ushered in the age of steam.

In order to test the performance of the steam engine on the ship, the captain did not open the sails, but simply used two steam engines as power to drive the paddle wheel forward.

After the steamer sailed out of the port, it bypassed the dense islands and headed towards the South China Sea.

Until it left the reef area, it gradually began to accelerate its advancing speed.

The paddle wheel pushed the waves to surge, and the big ship became faster and faster, and soon there were waves at the bow waterline, and the speed of the whole ship exceeded 12 knots!
"It's really good. The future of steamships is promising. You don't need to look at the wind direction when you go out to sea!" Zhu Kezang laughed, looking at this steel-hulled ship, he really couldn't put it down.

"Your Majesty, I have a problem to report to you." Fu Guangdian said, "The steam ironclad ship has a deep draft, and some ports may not be usable."

"Small thing!"

(End of this chapter)