Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 561

In the port of Smyrna, masts and oars are like forests and sails are covering the sun. A large number of ships from all over the world gather in this largest port in the world.Most of these ships are galleys or sloops of small tonnage, backward technology, and old style. The rare large ships are usually two-masted or three-masted galenic transport ships from the Netherlands or France, and occasionally some from Cargo ships in England selling woolens, but generally in small numbers.

However, in the port of Smyrna today (February 2), the most eye-catching thing is neither the Dutch merchant ships full of cargo, nor the French merchant ships that have taken over the offshore shipping business of the Ottoman Empire, but a ship that seems to have just arrived. Fleet returning from naval battle.The size of this fleet is huge. Judging from the number, there may be as many as 20 ships, all of which are large ships, and the smallest tonnage is more than 30 tons-this is not a small ship in the Mediterranean Sea.

In addition to these "small" ships, the most shocking ones are the four tall double-decker battleships.The number of gun ports on these battleships is so dense that people are immediately terrified when they see them.How many such powerful warships can there be in Europe?Even the Netherlands, the largest navigating country at this time, rarely had a naval ship with a tonnage of more than 300 tons during the Downs naval battle, let alone some other countries.France does not have one, England may or may not have one, and perhaps only the Dutch East India Company and Spain have very few such powerful ships.After all, the naval warfare theory that is popular in Europe today is not the theory of battle-line artillery warfare. Admirals of many countries still believe in the Spanish theory of jumping gangs, which leads to the fact that those powerful battleships do not receive enough attention.

Almost every ship in this fleet has some scars. The most serious transport ship seems to be barely able to sail here, and it is urgent to replace the damaged mast and hull.Under the command of several Ottoman pilot ships, the fleet ships slowly docked in a dedicated berthing area, where there is a large ship repair yard.After the ship docked, they began to unload the cargo first, and then drove into the shipyard for emergency repairs after unloading.

Especially for those battleships, key repairs were carried out. Many Ottoman ship repair technicians climbed onto the deck of the ship with tools, and then used the pulley crane on the ship to lift up many heavy ship boards for repairs. Make a replacement.The navy soldiers on the east coast supervised these Ottoman technicians to ensure that they would not wander around casually, and visited some key parts of the ship that were not visible to people.

The four battleships have been given priority care, and they will be arranged in the first batch for repairs.Because the officers of the East Coast Navy proposed that these four powerful warships will soon set sail again to perform missions in Bordeaux, France and the Baltic Sea. Therefore, it is necessary to complete the preparations before sailing as soon as possible, such as ship repair, maintenance, replenishment of water, coal and ammunition, etc.As for those transport ships and frigates, it is not very urgent.Because according to the plan, they will deliver the goods on the east coast one by one in various trading ports in the Ottoman Empire, and then bring back the materials that need to be purchased one by one, and then set off to return to the country.

All in all, they need to wait for the Kingdom of Spain's Flota Fleet and Gaia Anes Fleet to sail from Seville and Cadiz respectively before returning home, because at this time the main force of the Spanish Navy has already headed to America, and there is nothing wrong with it. People can come and stop them again.As for the sailing time of the Spanish Navy, this is the number one secret of the Kingdom of Spain, but it is usually in the spring and summer of each year.One batch departs from Seville in the spring, and another batch departs from Cadiz in the summer. After the two fleets have completed transactions in the Americas and collected taxes (silver), they will sail to Havana to meet. Return to Spain at the beginning of the second year.

Therefore, in this era when the Spanish Royal Navy suffered a devastating blow and its strength has not yet recovered, after the Spanish galleon set sail, there must be a lack of sufficient naval ships in its homeland.At this time, even if the east coast transport fleet blatantly passed through the Strait of Gibraltar, I believe the Spaniards would not be able to intercept it.

However, the merchant fleet can wait, but the four battleships with high speed and strong firepower cannot wait.The commander of the escort fleet, Lu Ming, will use the limited cabins of these four ships to load a batch of goods (mostly dyed cloth, calico and metal farm tools) to Bordeaux, and then head to the Baltic Sea after unloading the goods and paying off the previous year's payment. Riga, Danzig.At these two ports, they will unload the few remaining batches of cotton cloth or metal products, and then load a large number of immigrants (Livonians) and mercenaries (Poles) who have been waiting for a long time in the east coast trading post, The line returned to the Western Mediterranean and anchored in the Ottoman port of Tunisia.

Before that, the east coast transport fleet escorted by the remaining seven escort gunboats (the "Salmon" had been abandoned and sunk in the waters near the island of Malta) was already fully loaded with purchased supplies and immigrants (mainly Slavic female slaves) Been here for a while.After the confluence of the two fleets, the final maintenance and supplies will be carried out, and then they will set sail, using the sudden southerly wind and coastal currents to cross the Strait of Gibraltar, and then use the North Atlantic Gyre to pass through the North Atlantic and the Caribbean Sea. The east and northeast of Brazil return to the native port of Orient.

This time, there are also a large number of engineering and technical personnel accompanying the ship.There are a total of more than a hundred of them, all of whom are selected from the east coast with certain technical experience and are also politically qualified. A considerable proportion of them are engineering and technical graduates of the 35th class of Bingtuanbao.They will be distributed to the ports of Smyrna and Suez (participating in port expansion), Istanbul and Edirne (directing the construction of roads), and Kaffa (construction of railways in mining areas).These are all part of the commercial contract signed with the Ottoman Empire, that is, the east bank will provide some building materials and technical service personnel that Ottoman cannot produce, and Ottoman will provide ordinary labor and raw materials that can be produced by itself, and the two parties will work together in the Ottoman Empire. infrastructure construction.

In addition to the implementation of these infrastructure contracts, the transportation equipment procurement plan that the Ottoman Empire had already negotiated with Mo San was confirmed by both parties again, and then the fleet will bring the contract and deposit back to the east coast, and then organize major domestic manufacturers to carry out Production.This contract includes 450 heavy-duty road freight wagons ordered by the Ottoman Empire (two batches of [-] vehicles), [-] horse-drawn rail wagons, and [-] flute-shaped transport ships (cargo capacity [-] tons, of which the government ordered Ten ships, six private orders) and a large number of spare parts.

The total profit of these contracts is astonishing, and it can drive the rapid development of a large number of enterprises in the entire domestic industrial chain, not to mention the large number of spare parts procurement and maintenance services in the future.It is foreseeable that with the deepening of the economic cooperation between the East Bank and the Ottoman Empire, the domestic steel, machining and manufacturing, building material production, wood processing, shipbuilding and other industries on the East Bank will usher in a period of rapid expansion.After all, the businesses that Mo San brought in from the Ottoman Empire fit so well with the domestic industries on the east coast, and they were tailor-made for the east coast.Perhaps the only thing that can limit the booming industrial development on the East Coast today is the population.Therefore, it is imperative for the battleship formation to go to the Baltic Sea, because there are a large number of Livonian immigrants waiting there.

After the four battleships were hurriedly repaired, on March 3, after notifying the accompanying Ottoman Navy, the fleet commander Lu Ming ordered to set sail and head for the port of Bordeaux in France.This time they did not proceed from the waters of Messina, but headed westward from the sea of ​​Malta in the south of Sicily following the weak crosswind. The speed along the way was extremely fast, and they arrived in Algiers in the western Mediterranean on the evening of the 5th. port.

After a supply of fresh water in this port that is actually controlled by local warlords and only nominally belongs to the Ottoman Empire, the East Coast Navy battleship formation quietly set sail on the night of the 11th, left the port of Algiers, and headed for the Strait of Gibraltar. advance.Relying on the excellent maneuverability and high speed of the steamship, the Spanish ships cruising on both sides of the strait did not find or intercept the four powerful warships on the east coast in time.Instead, two of their galleys transporting wheat to Cadiz were captured and burned on the east coast, which should make the Spanish kingdom, which is currently in a state of famine, even worse.

On March 3, after overcoming unfavorable factors such as wind direction, ocean currents and avoiding possible Spanish warships, the battleship formation on the east coast arrived outside the port of Bordeaux.The French in the port were facing an enemy and refused to let these four powerful warships enter the port. As a last resort, the east coast commercial station in the city could only hire some near-shore barges to transport cotton cloth and goods, and it took two days to get it done. Finish.

On March 3, four battleships passed through the waters near the Netherlands and sank another battleship flying the Spanish flag.After the war, it was learned through interrogation of the prisoners that this was a brigantine battleship "Santa Ana" of the Spanish Southern Netherlands Fleet stationed in Dunkirk.After the East Coast Fleet sank the Spanish warship, it did not stop much, but moved forward at full speed, and arrived at the port of Riga on the Daugava River on April 25. They only conducted one round near Stettin, Sweden. Fan supply.

Four powerful warships caused a commotion in the harbor.The Swedish officials stationed here were at a loss and didn't know how to deal with it. Fortunately, Lu Ming quickly sent someone to communicate with the Swedes and paid a large amount of port entry fees. A port entry permit has been issued.

There is a shipyard and ship repair yard opened by the Dutch in the port to take advantage of the rich oak resources here.The four battleships on the east coast underwent some maintenance in this Dutch shipyard, and then began to load immigrants and money.There are more immigrants than expected, and it seems that life in Livonia under the Swedish rule is not very good.There were more than 4 immigrants in this group, both men and women. After loading, the warship on the east coast set sail again on April 10, heading for Tunisia.

(End of this chapter)