Daming Crazy Emperor

Chapter 312 Ironclad Battleship
The Xuanwu Shield has just been completed, and it is finally possible to build an iron-clad battleship.

Wang Zheng excitedly summoned a group of disciples to station in the Wubei City Shipyard again, and then, there was no more.

More than ten days passed, and there was no news from the shipyard.

What is going on here?
Early this morning, after the morning pilgrimage, Taichang couldn't bear it anymore.

What's going on with Wang Zheng? Why didn't he make a sound after he ran to the shipyard?
It is definitely not possible to recruit him back now, he can only bring a group of guards to the shipyard to find out.

In the drawing room of the shipyard, Wang Zheng and his disciples looked exhausted and haggard.

There was already a pile of blueprints piled up in a mess in the middle of the big table, but everyone was still staring at the white paper in front of them, frowning in thought.

Taichang walked in and took a look, he couldn't help asking curiously: "Liangfu, what are you doing?"

Wang Zheng looked up tiredly, and said with a dejected expression, "Your Majesty, this iron-clad battleship is not easy to build!"

What's going on here?
When Taichang saw Wang Zheng's dark eye circles, he couldn't help being startled.

He quickly relieved: "You don't need to be so anxious, I didn't say that it must be made within a few months, you can think about it slowly!"

But Wang Zheng couldn't help but shook his head and sighed: "Your Majesty, I have considered all the ship-shaped ministers, and none of them can be completely immune to artillery bombardment!"

impossible?

Taichang was puzzled and said: "Didn't we try it with the Spike warship, and the effect is very good!"

Wang Zheng pulled out a blueprint and said helplessly, "Your Majesty, we fired shells from the side at the beginning, and there seemed to be no problem at all, but if the shells fell from the front, the back, or even a slightly oblique direction, the problem would be It’s too big, the bow, stern, deck, chimney, several gun positions, and even the inside of the ship’s side can’t be protected!”

When Taichang heard the words, he looked down and understood instantly.

There are many places in the existing ship types where it is not possible to install basalt armor or it is not easy to install basalt armor.

For example, the deck, if the deck is covered with basalt armor, it will be a problem for sailors and soldiers to walk on it.

Another example is the inner side of the ship, because the outer side is full of basalt armor, and the inner side is not even easy to open the holes for the screws. How to install it?
There are also the position of the main gun at the bow, the position of the steering wheel at the stern, including various gun positions, these places are all open, and there is no place to install the basalt armor.

In short, all existing ship types have defects, and it is impossible to achieve all-round protection.

When they tested it, they did only try to bombard it from the side. From this angle, the shells could hardly hit the deck, and there seemed to be no problems in other places.

If the shell hits from the front, the back, or even a slightly oblique angle, then the problem will be serious.

The bow, stern, deck, chimney, several gun positions, the inside of the ship's side, etc., many places may be hit.

Can you ask the enemy to attack you from only two sides?

This is impossible!
What Wang Zheng said is indeed correct. The existing ship types have loopholes, and there is no way to achieve comprehensive protection.

If it can't achieve comprehensive protection, this ironclad battleship will take off its pants and fart, which is superfluous.

You must know that it is not easy to cover a battleship with basalt armor. The manpower spent on manufacturing and assembling the basalt armor alone is estimated to be able to catch up with the manpower required to manufacture a battleship before, and it also consumes a large amount of iron plates.

What's the point if there are loopholes everywhere after putting on the iron armor?

Why not save this effort and build a few more warships!

Is this armored battleship the wrong direction?
Taichang even doubted whether there was something wrong with the idea of ​​building an iron-clad warship.

In fact, building ironclad warships is not a wrong direction.

However, his idea was a bit too advanced, because the first iron-clad warship in history only appeared in the middle and late nineteenth century.

In other words, his idea was more than 300 years ahead of schedule.

In the mid-to-late nineteenth century, the industrial level of European countries was not well developed, and the iron-clad warships produced naturally had no problems.

At this moment, Daming's industrial level is basically still in its infancy, and there are too many shortcomings.

For example, the steel industry is the biggest shortcoming.

At this moment, the Ming Dynasty couldn't handle even an inch-thick iron plate. In history, ironclad warships built by European countries used a large number of steel structures. The gap in this respect is not ordinary.

So, what to do?

Could it be that ironclad battleships are no longer built!

Taichang stared at the various boats on the table for a while, and suddenly a crazy idea popped up in his mind.

Since all ship types are not suitable, then design a new ship type!

For example, it is integrated from top to bottom, and there is no exposed ship shape anywhere.

The whole ship is covered with iron armor, so there are no loopholes in defense, right?
Thinking of this, he couldn't help picking up a brush and brushing on the white paper in front of Wang Zheng to paint.

Soon, a brand new ship type appeared in front of Wang Zheng.

Wang Zheng was dumbfounded when he saw it.

What is the emperor painting?
No matter how he looks at it, he feels like a shuttle!

What Taichang painted was indeed a shuttle, or in other words, what he painted was a shuttle-shaped warship.

This kind of warship is almost the same above the water surface and below the water surface, and looks like a symmetrical shuttle!
To be honest, Wang Zheng has never seen this type of ship, nor has it appeared in history, nor has it appeared in later generations.

He couldn't help asking: "Your Majesty, is this a ship you painted?"

Aren't you talking nonsense?

Of course I drew a boat!

Taichang explained helplessly: "This is a ship, or an iron-clad battleship. The top of this battleship is a three-story gun tower. The entire gun tower covers all the decks, and no deck is exposed. The main gun at the bow is directly installed in the cabin. Inside, we also wrapped the cockpit with a structure like a herringbone eaves. In this way, the entire battleship is covered with black iron armor, and there are no defensive loopholes at all."

Can this work?
Wang Zheng couldn't help but asked: "Your Majesty, we've wrapped up the driver's cab, wouldn't the people who sailed the boat not be able to see the outside?"

Are you kidding me?
Taichang shook his head again and again and said: "I don't mean everything is tight. What we protect is shells, not flies and mosquitoes. We can make rows of holes in the gaps between the top layer of basalt armor, as long as they are all around. It’s full of holes, so you can’t see the outside as well.”

This can be tried.

Wang Zheng thought for a while and asked again: "What about the telescope? If the hole is not as big as the telescope, the telescope will not be able to scan the outside."

Uh, this.

Taichang thought for a while, and then suddenly said: "The shells fall from above, we can make some basalt armor into hinge windows that can be turned upwards, as long as the hinge windows are opened and propped up with something, our telescope It’s not the same as being able to scan the outside.”

Well, it seems that you can try this.

Wang Zheng thought about it again, and then asked, "What about the cannon gate?"

Isn't this simple?

Without hesitation, Taichang said: "We can make a larger hinge window, the kind where several pieces of basalt armor are lifted up together. Anyway, as long as the cannon can be pushed out, there is no need to stick to the style of the cannon door. You know, Now the level of Daming has far surpassed that of the barbarians in Europe, you have to be more confident and try new structures boldly."

Well, try it, try it, try it now!
Hearing this, Wang Zheng couldn't help but enthusiastically said: "Your Majesty, I understand, I will give it a try."

After all, he picked up a pen and paper and began to draw.

This time Taichang didn't leave right away, because this was a brand new warship, a kind of iron-clad warship that had never appeared before.

After all, there has never been a ship type that completely wraps the entire ship before.

His idea is no longer a ship, but a submarine!

During the design process of this new type of ship that has never appeared before, it is not known whether there will be any problems.

And no matter how powerful Wang Zheng is, there is still a certain gap with him in terms of knowledge alone.

Wang Zheng may not be able to figure out many problems, but he only needs to think about some similar things in later generations, and he can often find solutions quickly.

So, he can't go yet.

He had to stay and help, lest Wang Zheng suddenly get stuck again.

As for the affairs of the court, it is nothing serious at the moment anyway, building iron-clad warships is the biggest matter of Ming Dynasty today.

Moreover, Prince Jian Guo is also used to being a prisoner, he only needs to send someone back to inform him.

(End of this chapter)