Wild North America 1846

Chapter 188
Adhering to the concept of overtaking on curves, the construction of the Tang Kingdom's naval fleet in Li Cha's plan abandoned the time-consuming and labor-intensive sailing battleships, and directly stepped into the field of revolutionary steam ironclad ships.

Over the years
Along with the increasingly popular trans-North Pacific golden route, the development of trade, transportation and fishery, the shipbuilding industry of Datang Kingdom is in full swing. In addition to the three large shipyards (Changan, Los Angeles and Seattle) under the General Heavy Industry Holding Company, private shipbuilding enterprises are also mushrooming. Developed, showing the ascendant trend.

By the end of 1849, there were already five domestic shipyards capable of building 5000-ton immigrant ships, and dozens of ships of various types were under construction, involving freighters, immigrant ships, cruise ships, and other fields. It was the fastest-growing heavy industry.

Shipbuilding is difficult to say, but easy to say.

After more than 300 years of development of sailing warships since the age of great voyages, in the middle of the 19th century, the navies of the world's most powerful countries formed the USS Victory, Surprise, and Endeavor, the US Constitution, the French Lafayette, and the Spanish Navy. The heyday of sailing warships represented by giant ships such as the San Felipe and the Swedish Vasa.

These are famous ships that played an important role in the history of Western maritime colonization or participated in famous naval battles. The construction process is complicated, the wood consumption is huge, and the construction period is very long.

The ancient Ou Ming family of shipbuilding craftsmen, the craftsmanship has been passed down for tens of hundreds of years, the skills are constantly improving, the internal division is very detailed, and many categories have been formed.

The shipbuilding period can be as short as five or six years, and as long as ten years. Every sailing battleship is a national treasure built by a naval power with all its efforts, and its status is very important.

The most famous Royal Navy HMS Victory is the ship of General Nelson in the Battle of Trafalgar. It has a displacement of 3556 tons, a load of 2176 tons, a total length of 69.2 meters, a width of 15.8 meters, a draft of 8.8 meters, and a crew of 850 people. , equipped with 104 guns, belongs to the first-class battleship.

Although the ship has been decommissioned, as a witness to the glory of the Royal Navy of the British Empire, it has always been docked in the dry dock of the Portsmouth Naval Port Museum in the British mainland for future generations to admire.

Take the US Navy's largest sail frigate "Constitution" as an example. The construction of the ship consumed 1500 giant oak trees, with a displacement of 2200 tons, a total length of 62.2 meters, a width of 13.6 meters, a draft of 6.85 meters, a crew of 400 people, and 36 artillery pieces. , belonging to sail frigates.

Why does such a large tonnage only belong to sail frigates?

This is because the division of the era of sailing warships is based on the artillery deck and has nothing to do with the displacement.First-class sail battleships generally have three artillery decks, while frigates have only one or two.

In this area
The Tang Kingdom does not have a long history, nor does it have a detailed division of shipbuilding craftsmen. It is limited to repairs such as repairs and repairs. It is incapable, or almost impossible, to build a two to three thousand ton main sailing battleship.

The field of small ironclad ship construction is different. From a technical point of view, there is no problem in realizing a small ironclad patrol ship with a displacement of 500 tons.

Two medium-sized horizontal steam engines produced in the UK and a power system composed of six boilers can burst out 6 horsepower, which is enough to propel a small armored patrol ship with a displacement of more than 920 tons to a high speed of 550-16 knots.

This kind of speed is the short-term extreme speed of a two-masted schooner when the speed is good, but the armored patrol ship can maintain it for a long time.

Such a battleship is equipped with seven new types of artillery (note, it is planned to adopt the breech-loading artillery developed by Colter Arms Company, three on the left and right sides, and one on the bow), with enough firepower, it will become the most important weapon for the offshore patrol of the Datang Kingdom. main force.

in the seattle shipyard

Li Cha saw the experimental ironclad ship "Fen Yong" under construction. The ship has a displacement of 555 tons, plans to install 7 artillery pieces, a speed of 16.5 knots, and a crew of 64 people.

Now the keel of the ship has been laid, showing a general appearance. Since it is the first experimental steam ironclad ship, it is technically immature.

Li Cha saw a lot of problems during the inspection, so he had to wake up the ship designers from the perspective of a bystander, so that they could avoid detours as much as possible.

"When you designed the ship, did you take into account that the naval officers and soldiers are on long-term patrols, eating, clothing and sleeping on the ship. Why is it wrong? Reasonable division of the command module, living module, power module and weapon module? Instead of going here and there ? Is it hard to do that?"

"In ship design, the designer should try to bring in as much as possible. If you are the commander or a crew member of the ship, is the maintenance of the power cabin convenient and simple? Is the fuel coal available nearby? Is the design of the living cabin reasonable? Is the field of vision broad? These are all practical issues to be considered.”

"Let's just talk about this ship. As a warship, you must consider the issues of first aid on the battlefield and anti-sinkability after being hit by enemy firepower. The sail warship uses a multi-compartment design to enhance its anti-sinkability. Why is such a good design not reflected? come out?"

"There is also the design of the entire ship shape. The too sharp bow is indeed conducive to high speed, but it is not conducive to the setting of the bow main artillery, nor is it conducive to the drastic pitch and attitude control during navigation. It is equivalent to directly abolishing the bow artillery. Formidable power, which is better or worse, needs further verification and balance."

"Just think about it with your butt, is there any ship with such a slender bow in ancient and modern times?"

"Don't talk nonsense. The construction of this ship will stop now. Completely revise the design drawings, implement the requirements I said one by one, check and fill in the gaps, and try to complete the construction drawings before starting construction."

Seeing the design of the long and sharp bow, Li Cha couldn't help the urge to vomit. He possessed insights that others could not match in his past and present lives. He knew that even if this thing was built, it would definitely be a failure.

The designers of the Seattle shipyard and the senior executives of the shipyard were sprayed with red faces, sweating profusely, and panicked and knelt down to beg for mercy.

Li Cha walked away in a bad mood, and had serious doubts about whether they could do a good job in this groundbreaking ship design work.

under careful consideration

He can only resort to the method of military tenders, looking for magic weapons for excellent design solutions from Europe.

Li Cha's move is to bring together excellent European ship designers for his own use to make up for the gap in his country's technical capabilities. It can be called "borrowing chickens to lay eggs".

Soon after
The bidding document for the "Fenyong" class patrol ironclad ship was issued. The Datang Kingdom Navy required that the design displacement of this class ship be between 550 and 600 tons, suitable for sea conditions below Class 4, with a range of 1700 nautical miles. It has excellent seaworthiness and habitability, and meets long-term requirements. Coastal patrol cruising needs.

One, cancel the design of the sail and the side paddle wheel, and use the propeller power as the only active power.

Second, the power composition is driven by two medium-sized steam engines in the UK, equipped with 6 boilers and corresponding pipeline instruments, with a total of 900-950 horsepower.

2. The design of two transverse compartments and multiple longitudinal compartments can meet the anti-sinking requirements that the ship will not sink due to flooding of 3 to [-] adjacent compartments.

Fourth, the divisional design of power cabin, coal-fired cabin, living cabin, command cabin and weapon cabin is simple and clear, and is suitable for long-term sea life.

Fifth, the 74 officers and soldiers on board must ensure that each person has a bed, and the captain has a separate living space of no less than 1.5 x 1.8 meters, and try to make reasonable use of the space.

Sixth, the ship is equipped with a 30-pound naval bow main gun and six 12-pound broadside guns. It requires reasonable division of areas. In relatively harsh sea conditions, the ship can still maintain a stable hull and have better seaworthiness.

seven,……

There are as many as 17 stringent design requirements listed by the military, involving advanced indicators such as ship type, waterline, high speed, seaworthiness, multi-compartment partition design, etc. How to choose among them is a big problem.

High speed and airworthiness are contradictory requirements. The multi-compartment partition design conflicts seriously with the requirement that each person has a bed, and a balance needs to be found among them.

After reviewing it, Richard agreed to release this demanding military bid to Europe, but for the reward for the final successful bidder, the reward amount was increased from 2000 pounds to 5000 pounds, more than doubled.

The military naturally had its own calculations, and felt that the reward for the winning design proposal of 2000 pounds was not low.

Li Cha still pursued his usual style of doing things, either he didn't make a move, or if he did, he would be rude, direct and irresistible.

The reward of 5000 pounds for the winning design proposal is enough to make the top ship designers in Europe flock to it, give up the debate, bury their heads in the studio, and obediently present excellent design drawings with both hands.

The high design fee of 5000 pounds is not easy to get. Once selected by the military, the designer must come to Datang Kingdom to clarify the original intention and answer questions about the design ideas and overall considerations in the construction of the first ship.

For example, why did this plan be adopted for the overall ship shape, what are the advantages and disadvantages?How much living space can be increased?Is it more conducive to the multi-compartment anti-sinking design requirements?Can speed loss be made up for, etc.?
After this
Designers must also meet the requirements of the military, fine-tune and improve the overall design, and help the shipyard carry out subsequent construction work, mainly technical guidance.

After the ship is launched for sea trials, all design indicators can meet the satisfaction of the military, and the designer can get the final payment from the military.

The whole process can take as little as one or two years, and as long as it takes longer.

It is undeniable that intellectual property is worthless in this day and age.

The huge remuneration of 5000 pounds is enough to make the best ship designers in Britain, France, Holland and Prussia bow their heads and scramble to present the best designs.

Once it is adopted, it is a certainty to drag the family to the Tang Kingdom.

If Datang Kingdom provides generous treatment, such as arranging a generous professor employment contract at Caltech, then it is not impossible to settle in Datang Kingdom.

Whether Europeans or Americans, money will never be difficult, this is almost a certainty.

(End of this chapter)