One hundred and ninety-seven sections of shipbuilding jihua

Xiao Zishan and Fang Fei discussed, thinking that it was already the end of November, and there were still many things to do after the fleet returned, including the "calculation and correction" that President Wen repeatedly advocated all day long, and the whole process would take at least half a month. It also had to transport infrastructure materials and necessary munitions to the 852 base in Hong Kong to ensure that the Hong Kong detachment could withstand all enemy counteroffensives on the ground.

With this in mind, Xiao Zishan thought it would be better to postpone the annual meeting until the end of December - to celebrate it with the Gregorian New Year of 1631.

"You know, after the trade blockade for more than half a year, many materials are out of stock, and it is just this month to slow down first, so that the materials are abundant, and it is convenient to hold the annual meeting."

Therefore, the annual meeting finally decided to be held around December 26 - according to the observation of the Gaoshan Ridge Meteorological Observatory in the past three years, the minimum temperature in winter is about 9~10 degrees Celsius, which generally occurs in mid-January. The average temperature in late December is 17 or 18 degrees Celsius, and sometimes around 21 degrees Celsius.

Within the Executive Committee, intensive consultations are underway at this time on the results of the Pearl River Operation, follow-up issues, and next year's strategic plan. Liu Xiang's disappearance from the Pearl River Estuary surprised the Executive Committee - he didn't expect that this big shopkeeper who had confronted Zheng Zhilong to Zuihou would so simply abandon his traditional territory to avoid the war. The Executive Committee was very worried about this, fearing that Liu Xiang would choose the right time to launch a large-scale counteroffensive against the base in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong base is still in the initial stage, but whether it is a detachment or a garrison, Liliang is very weak. Large-scale reinforcement is urgently needed.

The reinforcements from Lingao not only include artillery, soldiers and construction materials, but also require a large number of skilled construction workers to carry out the infrastructure for the opening of Hong Kong next year. Wharves, trestles, warehouses, shops. On a daily basis, Skade struggled to secure supplies and deadweight tonnes for Hong Kong at the Executive Committee meetings – most of the supplies needed by Hong Kong still had to be shipped from Lingao by ship, except for some of the supplies that could be procured from Guangdong nearby.

The more than 700-kilometer navigation route from Lingao to Hong Kong has put the construction of a large-scale ship group and convoy system on the agenda. In the past, purely civilian shipping companies such as Gao Guang Shipping Company were no longer able to play a cover role, and Liu Xiang and Zheng Zhilong could launch indiscriminate attacks on all ships on this route at any time.

On Hainan Island, in addition to Qiongshan, the northern counties have fallen into the hands of the Australian Song Dynasty one after another, but the subsequent circulation of a large number of people and materials needed for the construction of political power in each county requires a large amount of maritime capacity. However, the demand for materials and manpower for the development of Sanya is still endless, which makes the capacity of ships tight. In addition to the interruption of foreign trade and the abundant capacity of ships in the months of anti-encirclement and suppression, the entire maritime capacity has been in high demand since the Chengmai victory, so much so that in October, the allocation of offshore deadweight tonnage that was not subject to any restrictions was also assigned to the overall management of the Planning Institute.

Capacity is tight, and it has become increasingly difficult to rely on the Navy's mid-xiǎo ships for cargo shipments. Frequent voyages to the sea made the working conditions of ships and sailors worse, and the average began to rise.

The expansion of the fleet became a consensus of the Executive Committee, but throughout 1630, due to the war and the development of Sanya, the investment of the Treasury in infrastructure, army and navy, and armament facilities accounted for more than half of the annual budget. And the overhead of direct use in shipbuilding is almost zero. Lingao's shipping industry is almost entirely supported by the repair and renovation of old vessels. Although in terms of size, Lingao's fleet is also considerable, with 126 ships of the old style sailing ships of the tmasted/100-ton class and 92 dhows of 30~70 tons.

These vessels were all under the control of the Navy, some of which were converted for use as fishing vessels, some of which were equipped with guns and typewriters of varying numbers to become professional combat spy boats, and some of which were equipped with a small number of guns and were used exclusively for various maritime chores, including transport, patrol and fishing. The naming is also very simple, just simply use the port of registration + use + number. Such as: "Linte", "Linyu", "Linyun" and so on.

21 ships with a deadweight of 200~500 tons -- large sailing ships such as "Qionghai Coal" -- were given independent names -- were used as special transport ships, especially grain carriers to Vietnam and material transport ships to Sanya and Hong Kong, all of which were borne by these "large ships". These ships were also lightly armed, and there was room for expansion and could be used in battle if necessary.

In addition to these navy-controlled vessels, there used to be two other ships on the Guangzhou-Leizhou-Lingao route, which were controlled by the Ministry of Colonization and Trade and managed by the Guangzhou and Leizhou stations, respectively. There are 12 three-masted Daifuku ships in Gaoguang Shipping Company, named after the way of "Guang + Tiangan" and "Gao + Earth Branch", these ships opened regular routes for passengers and cargo hún between Guangzhou and Lingao, and the business was very prosperous before the second anti-encirclement and suppression, and before the start of the second anti-encirclement and suppression operation, some ships fled to Lingao, and some were seized and confiscated by the government. Business has not yet resumed.

As for the ships of Hai'an Shipbuilding, all of them were coastal salt ships with a relatively large tonnage, which were originally mainly used to transport Leizhou sugar to Guangzhou and other places for sale, and in addition to transporting sugar, they also transported Leizhou's coal, timber and agricultural products to Lingao for short-distance sea transportation in normal times.

Although most of the ships are managed and used by the Navy, the distribution of deadweight tonnage in terms of transportation is actually controlled by the Planning Institute. In the transportation office of the Planning Institute, there are special stowage drawings and tables that record the logistics of various goods when Jīng arrives in Xiǎo.

After the Navy carried out the Battle of the Pearl River Estuary, a large number of ships were transferred to serve as warships and transport ships, which made the shipping capacity of Lingao more and more scarce. The presence of two squadrons of spy captains in Hong Kong has further reduced the capacity of the already overburdened naval fleet.

Their self-propelled deck barge is very impressive in terms of capacity, but the ship can operate in coastal areas with better sea conditions, and its power system is a diesel engine, which has consumed a lot of diesel after several missions to Sanya. As the only modern vessel capable of transporting oversized, overweight, and oversized cargo, the Planning Institute could not make up its mind to continue its regular cargo missions.

This grim situation made the motion of emergency shipbuilding once again put forward at the working meeting of the Executive Committee. Shipbuilding should not only meet the needs of transportation, but also be used to expand the navy's combat vessels, and Chen Haiyang clearly pointed out at the meeting that the existing armed spy ships are too much in tonnage, limiting the number and caliber of artillery installed. In particular, the 24-pounder Caron gun installed on some spy boats, Chen Haiyang believes that this type of xiǎo type short shè range artillery is of little significance.

"The effective range of the 24-pounder Caron gun is only 100~200 meters, if it encounters a Western warship, it will suffer a loss, and if it encounters a fleet of great pirates such as Liu Xiang, if a cannon fire cannot destroy the enemy's ships and immediately complete the loading, it will be drowned in the broadside battle." Chen Haiyang mentioned that in the battles of Humén and Guangdong Inland River, the squadron of spy boats equipped with Caron guns had to wait for the cannon squadron to destroy the firepower from a long distance before joining the battle in order to avoid being damaged by the Ming army's Hongyi artillery at close range.

"It was only in the Battle of Lantau that the Caron Artillery Squadron played to its strong advantage in destroying the xìng pirates who were very weak in firepower and not superior in numbers. In the long run, the Caron Artillery Squadron can only be used as a patrol or escort. ”

In addition, most of the spy boats in the spy boat squadron are of a skewed tonnage, making it difficult to carry out sustained operations - some of the ships are poorly built, and none of these ships are covered with copper at the bottom, and the attachment of chisel insects and marine life has become so severe that Chen Haiyang estimates that about a third of the ships must be maintained immediately.

"If we continue to use spy ships for heavy transport and escort tasks, we will soon be faced with the embarrassing situation of having more than half of our ships maintained by the first half of 1631." Chen Haiyang warned, "Shipbuilding, especially the construction of large-tonnage ships that can be used for a long time, is imminent!" ”

"It is not appropriate for us to have a situation where transport ships and warships are not separated. On the surface, it seems to be a comprehensive utilization, but in fact, whether it is the transformation of ships or the distribution, they are all different. "The Minister of Military Orders of the Navy Ming Qiu spoke.

The Australian and Song Dynasty Navy really remodeled or built according to the warships, only two brigs of Zhenhai and Fu bō and iron-ribbed wood-hulled derab patrol boats, but their tonnage did not exceed 200 tons, and they were ships that could not be re-xiǎo, and the Navy Military Command Department concluded in the wargame exercise on the map that if the four 8154 cruisers were not dispatched, the Australian and Song Dynasty Navy would only be able to maintain absolute superiority in a battle on a xiǎo scale. Once encountering a large sea shili like Liu Xiang or Zheng Zhilong, who can use hundreds of large ships at any time, it will be difficult for the navy to ensure its chances of victory.

The Navy wanted to acquire a number of large warships with large tonnage, sails or steam. In terms of armament, speed and endurance, it must be at least the level of a cruiser of the early 19th century.

The Zuihou Navy made a request: at least in the 1630 fiscal year, the construction of 2 1,000-ton three-masted sail cruisers was started with additional appropriations, and in the 1631 fiscal year, the construction of 6~10 500-ton armed auxiliary vessels was started.

"Obviously, this is a bit rushed." Ma Qianzhuo waited for Chen Haiyang to finish his speech before he said slowly, "Large warships, of course, are very useful. However, even if we don't talk about whether our Jishu capabilities and material reserves are enough to build this 19th-century level cruiser, the construction period of this thousand-ton ship will take at least 1 year, right? He said as he looked back at the next stretch.

"A three-hundred-ton wooden ship, if there are enough materials and enough manpower, it will take about six months to build a surprise ship." "But now that we are able to build iron-ribbed ships, the construction period can be further shortened. Three to four months. ”

"Obviously, what we need to build now is not such a big ship – because we are ships that can be put into service in a short period of time, let's say two or three months." "Because the existing naval vessels will face major repair and maintenance problems within half a year, the construction of ships that will not be put into service until a year later will only cause a gap in the navy," Ma said. ”

This is a clear opposition to the Navy's proposal to build a ship. For a while, the conference room of the Executive Committee was a little cold. Chen Haiyang wanted to refute it, but Ma Qianzhuo's words were reasonable and well-founded, and they were confirmed by the Ministry of Industry.

Wu De said: "It is too late to build large warships, and I think it is better to fundamentally solve the problem of transportation capacity first." ”

Fundamentally, the navy has too many tasks and too many transportation tasks, so that the ships do not have enough time for maintenance. Oude suggested that a fleet of specialized transport vessels be built in surprise to replace the special service boats now in use, freeing them from heavy transport tasks.

"I don't know how to build ships, but we can refer to the concept of the Americans to build a free wheel, and standardize the design and construction of a number of armed transport ships. At this stage, in order to build quickly, the tonnage of the ship is limited to 300~500 tons, and sail power is used. "Of course, there is room for retrofitting for the installation of steam engines in the future. ”

"If you want to install a steam engine, you can first install a more xiǎo type, and a 50-horsepower one is enough." "As an auxiliary power for the cào sail." Having a steam engine power to assist the cào sail will greatly reduce the cào sail capacity for the sailor, and it can also save a lot of manpower. ”

Zhan Wuya said: "If you use the iron rib wood shell structure, it can be completed in about four months. ”

Ma Qianzhuo said: "It's still a little slower, and it's best to be able to put it into use within two or three months." ”

"My other proposal is to build barges," said Ude. ”

Wu De said that he conducted a survey of the transportation situation and found that a large part of the capacity was taken up by coastal transportation near the sea, including short-distance bulk transportation such as salt transportation from Mayuan to Bopu. Although a formation system is adopted, each ship actually sails independently with sails.

Wu De proposed that the relatively mature steam boats on Jishu be used as tugboats, and a number of unpowered barges should be quickly built to undertake coastal transportation tasks.

"All-steel barges can carry more than 1,000 tons." "We don't have so much steel, so we don't even need a deck to build barges with iron bones and wooden hulls." The capacity is about 200 tons each, and there are 10 barges in one formation. ”

"In that case, the steam ship will not be able to tow it." Wen Desi said.

"Then build a tugboat for a steam engine!" "We can now build our own 500-horsepower steam engines, and it shouldn't be a problem to build or retrofit a couple of tugboats for offshore use." ”

It was felt that this option was feasible. The construction of a 500-horsepower steam engine is already a relatively skilled job for the mechanical department, and as for the tugboat itself, if the requirements for sea conditions are not high, the construction of a xiǎo tug is not very difficult, and the construction period is about one month.

As for the question of expanding the combat power raised by the navy, Wen Desi proposed that the stranded Project 854 could be restarted, and the large ship, which was originally intended to be the first ironclad ship of the Empire, had already completed the laying of the keel and the installation of ribs before it was forced to dismount due to too much steel. Since then, Project 854 has been like the skeleton of a prehistoric dinosaur on the slipway of the shipyard.

To tell the truth, even with the keel and ribs, the momentum of this ship has shocked countless natives. They couldn't figure out how these huge iron bones could be made, or how they could be assembled and combined by human power.

The dismount of 854 has a lot to do with the insufficient use of steel materials. And more importantly, there were very few qualified riveters at that time. Zhou Billy took a few apprentices, and the manufacture of boilers was quite reluctant, and it was almost impossible to rivet the hull on a large scale, both in terms of process difficulty and labor quantity.

Although Wen Desi was hesitant about the disappearance of the 854 project, after all, shipbuilding does not only rely on drawings, and the level of workers and processing capacity are also an important part, so he had to acquiesce to this reality.

Now Billy Zhou's disciples and grandchildren have accumulated a lot of experience after making the Mojia series of boilers known as "bomb boilers" on a large scale - although they do not dare to use them to rivet such huge hulls, they have a considerable grasp of some hull parts and marine boilers.

According to the level of the workers, Wen Deji proposed a new 854 reform plan.

The so-called 854 reform plan is based on the use of the 854 project that has already been completed. There were no changes to the shape and construction of the ship, but the construction process was simplified on the jishu, and the original all-iron-hulled ship was changed to an iron-boned wood-hulled ship. Wooden hulls are easier to maintain than iron hulled ships. There is no need to rely on the unreliable riveting process of indigenous workers. The demand for steel has also dropped significantly.

The official model name of the 854 was changed to the 1630 class iron-ribbed wood-hulled flying shear first steam-assisted powered sail cruiser, with a design index of 1160 tons, a length of 70 meters, a width of 9.9 meters, and a draft of 6.25 meters. A 200 hp steam engine was installed, with a speed of eight knots (using steam power) and sixteen knots (sail power), and a crew of 109 people. Fullrigged layout. The steam engine not only provided the power to sail, but also the power of the sails, which greatly saved the number of sailors.

This type of ship is modeled after the steam-sail hún combined cruiser of the 1860s. A battleship of this tonnage was classified as a third-class cruiser in the US Navy at that time. As a sabotage ship, it was widely used in the American Civil War, and its footprints were all over the oceans.