Volume 3: Confrontation! The Run of Civilization Chapter 462: Entering the Iron Age (Part 2)
After the No. 1 ship left the stage, what caught the eyes of everyone on the shore was a brand new ironclad ship that was painted dark black and looked extremely slender. It had no paddle wheel and no sails. Its appearance completely overturned the daily perception of "ship" by everyone present except Zhu Youdong.
The sketch of the ship's appearance was drawn by Zhu Youdong, but it was Zhu Youxiao who made it concrete. At this moment, the chief designer of the second ship was sitting on the ship and giving orders.
"What is the current speed of my ship?"
"Six."
"Has any abnormality been found in the power room?"
“Not yet!”
"Okay, increase the pressure and increase the speed to ten knots."
"Yes, sir!"
The second ship designed and supervised by Zhu Youxiao under the guidance of Zhu Youdong was 115 meters long, 11 meters wide, with a standard displacement of 1,850 tons and a full load displacement of 2,300 tons.
This was a real, pure ironclad ship, at least for the Ming Dynasty at that time: unlike the No. 1 ship which was made of wood wrapped in iron armor, this warship was made entirely of steel from the keel to the deck to the hull.
Due to the lag in electromagnetic research, the Ming Dynasty at that time still had a long way to go before electrification. Therefore, the cannons on the No. 2 ship at this moment could not have any electric rotating turrets. However, as a time traveler, Zhu Youdong certainly knew that rotating turrets were the right way, so he made a suggestion: Can they be rotated manually?
This is certainly possible, but when it comes to actual implementation, the gears and levers used in a manually rotating turret have extremely high requirements for their meshing accuracy and material wear resistance.
However, the Ming Dynasty was lucky in that they had a gifted engineer, and this talented engineer, because of his "assistance", unconditionally obeyed the lunatic Zhu Youdong.
Zhu Youxiao did not yell like other designers that it was impossible to do Zhu Youdong's many requirements and ideas that were beyond the times, saying that the emperor was forcing others to do things. Instead, he honestly organized people to tackle the problem. Although Zhu Youdong still had quite a few requirements that were not met, at least in terms of the rotating turret, Zhu Youxiao still made it.
Because of the successful development of the rotating turret, the 150mm main gun on the second ship no longer needs to be equipped on both sides at the same time. According to the standards of the later era of giant ships and cannons, the deck of the second ship is equipped with three twin rotating turrets, two in front and one in the back, for a total of six main guns.
As for the 105mm secondary guns, four were placed on each side of the hull.
In addition to the fourteen guns on the deck, the command tower, two huge chimneys, and observation masts were placed on the hull, which was more than a hundred meters long. As for the "holes" under the deck for placing cannons like those on traditional sailing warships, there was none.
Such a warship that completely subverted the common sense of ordinary people did not receive the same unanimous cheers as the No. 1 warship when it appeared. On the contrary, for a moment, all the elites of the Ming Dynasty on the shore were a little absent-minded, which made the shore seem much quieter.
On the three-meter-high ship tower, Zhu Youxiao looked at the reactions of the people on the shore from afar through the glass. Zhu Youxiao twitched his lips, then shouted into the copper tube: "What's the current speed?"
"Nine sections!"
"Is the boiler at full pressure?"
"Your Highness, the pressure gauge shows that it is only at 70%!"
"Keep increasing the pressure to 90%!"
"Yes, sir!"
At the command, the craftsmen in the boiler room began to work harder to deliver coal to the combustion chamber below the boiler. As the two huge boilers output steam more violently, the two linked steam turbines rotated faster and faster, and through more and more complex linkage devices, the two propellers at the stern under the sea surface also rotated faster and faster!
Finally, the second ship reached a speed of twelve knots, and its pointed bow created even bigger waves.
After receiving the report that "the ship's speed has reached twelve knots", Zhu Youxiao did not ask for further acceleration: although the ship had reached a maximum speed of 13.5 knots during the secret trial voyage a few nights ago, doing so was very risky - this situation did not allow for risk.
"Maintain the current speed. Has the target ship been spotted?"
"The target ship has been found. It is located at seven o'clock southwest of our ship, two thousand meters away."
"Okay, adjust the course and fire after approaching one thousand meters."
"Yes, sir!"
As the No. 2 ship rapidly approached the target, under the command of the ship's gunnery chief, the ship's three twin-mounted main guns began to slowly turn direction.
At this point, the people on the viewing platform on the shore put down their telescopes and began to exclaim.
"This, this cannon can actually turn on the spot?"
"This is incredible! I was just wondering if it was a waste to have six cannons this big that can only shoot at the enemies in front and behind. It turns out there are mechanisms here !"
"Tsk tsk, this is incredible. In this way, the number of guns on our ships can be reduced by at least 30 to 40 percent in the future. The extra tonnage can be used to load coal, water, and shells, which will be much more convenient!"
Everyone on the shore began to praise the warship, but Zhu Youdong frowned again .
According to basic physics theory, the smaller the length-to-width ratio of a warship, the faster it will naturally be (catamarans and trimarans are another matter). Therefore, even though steam turbines are advanced steam engines, they are far less mature than steam paddle wheels that are made by directly pushing levers. Zhu Youdong expected that the second ship would outrun the first ship.
However, it only exceeded this much, which made Zhu Youdong not very satisfied.
You know, the smaller the aspect ratio, the faster the ship will be. But the stability of the ship will also be worse! Such a ship will sail to the ocean in the future, how can it be stable?
As he was thinking, even louder cheers rang in his ears: After three rounds of shelling, the No. 2 ship successfully hit the target ship in the fourth round.
At this point, the sea trials of the two ironclad ships were successfully completed.
After Zhu Youxiao landed, he and Bi Maokang, Li Guozhu, Yan Siqi and others who had disembarked earlier were quickly received by Zhu Youdong, cabinet elders and ministers of various ministries.
"Hahaha, today's sea trial was generally successful. Thank you all for your hard work! Grand Tutor, Grand Marshal, the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of War should not be stingy with the rewards." After setting the tone for the meeting and everyone felt relaxed, Zhu Youdong said loudly: "Guozhu, Zhenquan, you are the ones who will drive ironclad ships across the ocean in the future. Tell me, which ship do you like better?"
"Uh..." Faced with the emperor's question, the two naval admirals were immediately caught in a dilemma.
Let's talk about Ship No. 1, right? But Ship No. 2 is obviously faster, and it doesn't need the help of sails. And the power device that propels the ship forward is probably placed underwater, judging by the large amount of waves rising from the stern. This can effectively reduce the probability of the power device being damaged in battle. Not to mention that Ship No. 2 also has a rotating turret, and the entire ship is made of steel - whether it is attacking or defending, it is far superior!
However, although Bi Maokang was the chief designer of the No. 1 ship, he also spent a lot of effort on it. It's like a child that he has cultivated with countless efforts, but he is going to abandon him just because he has gone out for a run?
The two were struggling and unable to speak. Instead, Bi Maokang, the general manager of Tianjin Binhai Shipyard, stood up and said, "Your Majesty, all superiors. After today's sea trial, there is no doubt that the design concept of the second ship is the future of ironclad ships."
After saying this, he turned around and bowed to Zhu Youxiao: "Your Highness Prince Lai is extremely talented, and I am sincerely convinced."
"Hahaha~" Zhu Youdong breathed a sigh of relief when the chief designer took the initiative to give in.
"Well, Mr. Bi's office."
"I am here."
"What is the current production capacity of traditional sailing warships at our Binhai Factory?"
"According to the Emperor's order, the Binhai Factory is now able to complete one 1,500-ton Beizhili-class ship and three 600-ton Jinling-class ships every year."
"What about the Changsha Shipyard?"
"Well, I am not responsible for the affairs there. But I think Changsha's production capacity is higher than ours. Of course, it is not much higher, at most one more Jinling-class ship."
"Hmm..." After a pause, Zhu Youdong said, "My opinion on today's trial voyage is as follows."
"Your Majesty, please give us your instructions."
“First, the future development direction of our Ming ironclad ships will be based on the second ship.
Secondly, the second ship, I give it the name Fengyang. In the coming days, the Navy, the shipyard, and Fangshan will send personnel to board the ship to test the durability of the hull, corrosion resistance, deep-sea seaworthiness, and maintenance of the engine after long-term use. This time is tentatively set at two years, and we will observe and modify it while using it. After two years, Fengyang will probably be completely finalized. Before that, the two major shipyards should try their best to use existing materials to continue to assemble traditional sailing warships, and no longer purchase new materials. "
"Your Highness obeys your order."
"My Lords, after the widespread promotion of steam engines, the era of ironclad ships will soon arrive. I hope that you can speed up your learning and understanding of new things so that you can better adapt to this magnificent era."
"Your Majesty's instructions are followed by us, and we are willing to follow you to overcome all difficulties in this world!"
