I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 277 Golden Finger

The Russian Empire has a tradition of establishing a river fleet. As early as 1863, the Russian Empire used ships to modify a number of gunboats to form the Warsaw Fleet.

In 1886, the Russian Empire transferred three torpedo boats from the Baltic Fleet to form the Dnieper Fleet.

The Treaty of Aihun signed in 1858 stipulated that the upper and middle reaches of the Amur River were classified as the boundary river between the Qing Dynasty and Russia, and the lower reaches below Khabarovsk were all Russian inland rivers and belonged to the Amur Governorate.

Although the home port of the Siberian Fleet is in Vladivostok, it cannot be expected to stay in Nagasaki all year round.

Therefore, it becomes possible to form an inland fleet on the Amur River.

George did not need money from the empire, he only needed the empire's consent. George paid for the money to build the Amur River Fleet himself.

Said to be a fleet, there are actually only two patrol gunboats.

It is impossible for George to use destroyers and cruisers as soon as he comes up. He will definitely be targeted by the Imperial Navy and sooner or later become the wedding dress for the Siberian Fleet.

The patrol gunboat is only equipped with a 75mm rapid-fire gun and 2 machine guns. It has a total length of 38.5 meters, a width of 4.5 meters, a draft of 1.9 meters, a displacement of 76 tons, a maximum speed of 20 knots, and a range of 1000 nautical miles.

Not to mention the Baltic Fleet and the Black Sea Fleet, even the Siberian Fleet might not look down on such a small ship.

George has now learned to be prudent. Since these are two real river patrol boats, they are not even prepared to use armor. They are purely wooden boats.

As soon as the plan came out, not to mention George, even Nicholas felt a little shabby and took the initiative to ask George if he would need to support George with two torpedo boats from the Black Sea Fleet.

George doesn't want it.

There are no residents on the other side of the Amur River, let alone Qing Empire garrison. Naval cannons and machine guns can at least scare people, but torpedoes are completely useless.

Shameless or not, it doesn't matter to George.

The important thing is that with the name Amur River Fleet, George can logically increase the number of ships.

More importantly, with the experience of building these two patrol boats, the Vladivostok Shipyard can try to build more powerful warships next.

Although the Japanese Navy is very ambitious, its latest protected cruiser "Akitsusu" was designed by a British shipyard and was built by Japan's Yokosuka Naval Shipyard in March this year.

"Akitsusu" has a displacement of 3100 tons, a length of 91.7 meters, a width of 13.14 meters, a draft of 5.32 meters, and a deck armor thickness of 75 mm.

Even the Japanese have begun to try to build their own warships, so why does George have any reason to slack off?

Nothing to say, just make it!

This summer, another batch of steel equipment arrived in Vladivostok. Amur's annual steel production has now reached 20 tons, and the Russian Empire's overall annual steel production has officially exceeded one million.

This "million" should be enclosed in quotation marks.

Amul's 20 is a real 20.

Russia's so-called breakthrough of "one million", the real output is only about 80 tons.

From these 80 tons, we have to subtract 20 from Amur and about half of the pig iron.

While building forts and forming a river fleet, George did not ignore Vladivostok's advantageous projects.

Vladivostok's dominant projects are automobiles and aircraft.

The Vladivostok Automobile Plant is now able to produce armored RVs.

Remove the large sofa and coffee table from the armored RV and install a heavy machine gun, and the armored RV can become a real armored vehicle.

However, when George called both Karpov and Kuklev to describe the concept of armored vehicles to them, they met with opposition from Karpov and Kuklev.

"Duke, if the armor is strengthened, the weight of the car body will reach a level that the engine cannot bear. By then we will only have a lump of iron that cannot be moved at all."

Kuklev never thought about converting the armored RV into a weapon.

The armored RV produced by the Vladivostok Automobile Factory has protective capabilities against various bombs crudely made by assassins. It is very different from military weapons in terms of power.

According to George's requirements, armored vehicles must be used on the battlefield. In this case, the requirements for protection will be greatly increased, which is simply impossible with the current technical level.

"If we reduce the size, reduce the manpower, retain only one driver and one machine gunner, and only strengthen the armor of key parts, and there is no requirement for speed, won't it be possible?"

George didn't think it was that difficult.

This is an armored vehicle, not a tank. It only needs to strengthen the frontal armor. With the current level of technology, a tank cannot be built, but can't even an armored vehicle be built?

Armored vehicles appeared much earlier than George imagined.

In 1855, J. Cohen of the United Kingdom installed a machine gun and armor on the chassis of a steam tractor to create a wheeled armored vehicle and obtained a patent. This was the world's earliest armored vehicle.

The Vladivostok Automobile Factory already has experience in producing armored vehicles. It is technically possible to modify armored vehicles into smaller and more protective armored vehicles.

"Duke, if we only consider defense to mitigate attacks, then we might as well try to build an armored train first."

Karpov's head is much better than Kuklev's.

The biggest technical difficulty of armored vehicles is power.

If it is an armored train, there is no power problem.

With armored trains, there is no need to build forts around Vladivostok, only building railways around Vladivostok is enough.

Armored trains are usually kept in warehouses and driven out when needed, mainly for surprise.

"If it is an armored train, then there will be no problem." Kuklev fully agreed.

That's a happy decision.

The concept of train guns originated in 1850.

In the 1860s, the Russian Empire had a similar concept.

But train guns really appeared during the American Civil War.

Compared to the armored trains, the aircraft's progress was less smooth.

In April this year, Alexander Fedorovich Mozaisky, the father of the Russian Imperial Aircraft, passed away, and the nascent aviation industry lost its founder.

After Mozhaisky's death, Kuklev became the leader of aircraft development in Vladivostok.

Compared with the booming automobile industry, airplanes have not brought any profits to Vladivostok. Governments have not yet realized the true value of airplanes. Rich people have not tried to buy airplanes because of their poor safety. As a toy.

When a car stalls on the road, it will most likely end up lying on the ground.

If the plane stalls in mid-air, the consequences will be catastrophic.

After Mozajsky came to Vladivostok, he focused on solving the problem of aircraft safety.

In the field of aero-engines, Mozhajsky was powerless, so Mozhajsky focused on the structure of the aircraft.

In 1801, Sir George Kelly of England studied the flight principles of kites and birds, and trial-produced a glider in 1809.

In 1851, the first real glider flew into the sky without being towed, and Kelly's groom had the honor of being the first person to fly a glider into the sky.

Compared with airplanes, the safety of gliders can be better guaranteed. Even if power is lost, the glider can return to the ground safely.

So after Mozhajsky came to Vladivostok, he shifted his research direction to powered gliders.

"Our aircraft can now fly continuously in the air for half an hour, with a flight distance of more than 30 kilometers. The most critical issue now is that we don't know what the aircraft can be used for -"

Kuklev was at a loss about the future and did not realize the prospects of airplanes at all.

"Can an airplane carry something weighing about 50 kilograms and fly?"

George was all too clear about the airplane's role.

"That's definitely no problem."

"Great, what if it's a 50-kilogram bomb?"

George's vision opened new territory for Kuklev.

Mozhayski's purpose in researching airplanes is simple: to make humans fly.

But no one knows what the use of flying is.

Since aerial bombs do not require power, all the weight can be used for the warhead. The power of a 50-kg bomb is approximately equivalent to a 155 mm caliber howitzer.

The 155mm howitzer shell has a charge of only about 7 kilograms.

At this level, you can completely ignore the damage caused by shrapnel and rely only on shock waves to cause enough damage.

So what if the charge is increased to 40 kilograms?

The latest warships nowadays only have an armored deck added, and the interior is still a wooden structure.

What if the bomb is replaced by an incendiary bomb?

"We need to open up our thinking. One engine is not powerful enough and its performance is not stable enough. We can increase the number of engines, such as four. Will it be able to carry more bombs?"

George continued to add more money on this basis.

Mozhayski has already solved the problem of whether or not, and continuing to develop on this basis will be much less difficult than Mozhayski.

Compared with Mozhaisky, Kuklev has a better foundation, more mature technology, greater support, and stronger golden fingers——

If this doesn't make a difference, then Kuklev might as well buy a piece of tofu and kill him.

"I know what to do!"

Kuklev was ecstatic that he finally had a new direction.

Compared with the development of technology, George pays more attention to the infrastructure construction of Vladivostok.

After five years of hard work, the first batch of five-year primary school students in Vladivostok are about to graduate. Those with outstanding grades will be promoted to middle schools to continue their studies.

Those with less-than-excellent grades will go directly to vocational and technical schools to learn professional skills.

With the in-depth expansion of Vladivostok's industry, Vladivostok's demand for technical talents is increasing.

Compared with Siberian University, the first batch of vocational and technical schools in Vladivostok have been established and can welcome students.

Vocational and technical schools in Vladivostok include three categories: education, medical, and industry.

In education and health care, one trains teachers, and the other trains nurses and caregivers. They are both quick courses with low requirements and can be graduated in two years.

There are many types of industries, such as lathes, fitters, millers, and boring workers. The difficulty is gradually increasing. Vehicle driving and machine maintenance are also equally important. The demand for electricians in Vladivostok will explode in the future. In a sense, Vladivostok is the most important place for electricians. The demand for professional and technical personnel is more urgent than that of college students.

(End of this chapter)