Yan Changwu first introduced his battle with the Dutch, the first battle line battle between the two sides, giving full play to the power of artillery!

Phineas Pate said: "The gun deck of the battleship (Ship of the Line, that is, the battleship on the battle line, in fact, the earliest source of the term 'battleship' is Yan Changwu, because he was the first to apply the battle line to fight, and Phineas followed his statement) The gun deck refers to the number of layers of the through deck equipped with artillery, excluding the open deck, which has at least two layers or more!" ”

"The three-gun deck battleship is powerful, but it is relatively bulky, and the ship travels, and when it is used on the battle line, it is easy to be slowed down."

Phineas Pate showed a model ship and noted:

"Three masts are adopted, namely the foremast, the mainmast and the trailmast, wherein the foremast and the mainmast are three-section masts, and the rear mast is two-section, and the bow has a first oblique mast, and the top of the first oblique mast has a small erected mast, and the top of the first oblique mast has a small erected mast to hang a small square sail, which is called the first oblique upper mast and the first oblique upper sail."

He pointed them out one by one, and then dismantled the model to show the deck structure, and said: "The bow tower has been abolished, and the length-to-width ratio of the ship has been 4:1 (previously 2.5:1)......"

This ship model is the "royal prince" of the third deck, Yan Changwu held it in his hand and couldn't put it down, Phineas Pate simply gave it to Yan Changwu.

The meeting was very pleasant, and Yan Changwu invited the British guests to get into a carriage and drive to Tainan, where they sat on the top floor of the Tainan Hotel on the waterfront and enjoyed the scenery and food (the food in the Overseer's Mansion was not as good as the Tainan Hotel).

I have to say that the food in the southeast province made the British guests smile, and Phineas Pate was extremely happy, and he gave a confidential lecture: "Before making a new warship, he first built a model of it, and made an exquisite model with construction details for review, so that he knew it by heart!" ”

"Again, use scale drawing, complete the format of the battleship on the drawing board first, and then make it."

"In the past, ships were made because of their small size and simple structure, and shipbuilders could build them based on experience, but it was impossible to build large ships!"

Yan Changwu was greatly appreciative, and immediately hired Phineas Pate as a teacher with a monthly salary of 1,000 taels of silver, and went to the Southeast Naval Academy to give lectures and design and command the construction of a third-class battleship!

……

Including Yan Changwu, there were a total of 33 students, including the best shipbuilding master in the southeast province and 20 young students, who followed the master to learn to make models and draw pictures.

Following the master's study, everyone saw that his craftsmanship was exquisite, like magic, and he quickly made one part after another, and then assembled it into a ship model, showing a very high level of attainment.

The cartographic scale is appropriate, and he can draw straight lines without a ruler!

He is confident and fully aware of the shipbuilding process.

At the same time, Phineas Pate arrived at the Kaohsiung shipyard and was very satisfied with the professionalism of the shipbuilding team, and when he saw the fir wood used to build the ship, he tried the wood, saying that it could be compared with oak.

Then he looked at all kinds of shipbuilding wood in the data room of the shipyard, found out several of them, and analyzed them one by one with Yan Changwu and others:

"This (camphor wood) ...... It is still good for making small and medium-sized boats, this kind of (Pontianak in Southeast Asia, that is, iron camphor wood) has quite good performance, and the best way to make boat boards here is this! ”

Yan Changwu saw that it was teak, and the master would really choose!

Teak from Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia (generally speaking) is a good wood for boatboards, and even better than oak for boatboards, it is hard, good resistance to water and fire, can resist sea insect corrosion, extremely corrosion resistance, good drying performance, good adhesive, paint, waxing performance.

Unfortunately, these Southeast Asian regions were the sphere of influence of the Dutch, and Yan Changwu could buy teak through some staunch patriots among the Dutch, but it was expensive.

Yan Changwu secretly decided that it was advisable to deal with the Dutch in Southeast Asia as soon as possible and take that area into his own!

"At present, if you want to make a third-class battleship, you can still use fir to make it!" Phineas noted.

……

In the Overseer's Mansion, Yan Changwu, Chen Xinji, Hong Sheng, and Chen Hebin only spent half an hour to make the decision to build four third-class battleships by investing 600,000 taels of silver!

The southeast province is armed with military powers, equipped with larger and stronger warships, as long as there is money, no one will have an opinion.

Previously, the British sold four battleships to the Southeast Province at a price of 200,000 taels of silver each, but the price contained profits, and the price of the self-made battleships of the Southeast Province must be reduced.

The first two ships, the funds come from the "dowry" of the Japanese country and the contribution of the Dutch, as the so-called silver of the East and the West is silver, contributing to my great southeast province!

The thought of the continuous production of battleships and the formation of a huge fleet makes everyone excited, and they can't help themselves.

……

Yan Changwu discussed the plan of building a ship with Phineas Pate and the Dutch Barents, and Phineas Pate thought that he could easily build a "Southeast-class" battleship that was sold to the southeast province, and it would not be a problem.

However, Yan Changwu's plan is to abandon the southeast-level water carving decoration, and at the same time reduce the stern, compared to Phineas Pate's plan, Yan's plan is wider, the draft is deeper, and it looks "fat".

The main thing he saw was that the British, in order to load more guns, always arranged the lower gun deck of the ship too close to the water, and when the hull shook or the sails were tilted by the wind, the guns mounted on the lower deck would be difficult to use.

At the expense of the biospace, he increased the gun position of the gun on the lowest deck accordingly, otherwise the bitter storm in the South China Sea would make the battle difficult!

Phineas Pate had reservations about this, because without the carving and painting of the hull, such a battleship would be too plain, and the battleship should be majestic.

"Master, you're right, but I don't have any money!" Yan Changwu spread his hands and said.

Phineas Pate expressed deep regret, only to see that he had drawn the outline diagram that Yan Changwu needed at once.

Three days later, he came up with the model!

It was the realization of Yan Changwu's ideals that made him overjoyed, and Phineas Pate shook his head and said, "It's extremely ugly! ”

He commented: "Fat and big, like a fat duck!" ”

However, he also admits that this is conducive to the lower center of gravity, and the streamlined hull makes it faster, the seaworthiness is good, and the use of watertight compartments makes him shine.

In less than a month, Phineas Pate drew the pattern of this class of battleship to Yan Changwu!

Its parameters are two direct gun decks, and a storage deck, plus the open deck and bilge, a total of five levels, the gun deck is 52 meters long, the middle width is 14 meters, which appears to be a bit fat, loaded with 70 guns, 24 pounds/26 guns (lower gun deck), 18 pounds/26 guns (upper gun deck), 9 pounds/18 guns (open deck).

Officially classified this type of battleship as "Nanhai class"!

With the drawings, he was able to build a battleship of this class after leaving the Southeast Province.

……

Postscript: Half a year later, Phineas Pate said goodbye and left the Southeast Mansion, and before leaving, Yan Changwu gave him a bonus, in addition to the 6,000 taels of silver he deserved, and also gave him a bonus of 5,000 taels of silver.

But Yan Changwu knew that this was not a technology that could be bought for 10,000 taels of silver!

Sail battleships, equivalent to aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines in later generations, are the country's most important weapons, and no amount of money can buy them.

Yan Changwu asked him why he was so kind to help the Southeast Mansion?

Phineas Pate replied, "I don't mean well, because I like to build ships!" ”

Maybe that's why he became a master of shipbuilding!