"In the past, most of our marine steam engines were reciprocating propeller steam engines, which are still used by the 'Sprint Champion' class migrant transport ships that are still sailing on the ocean. Well, that's right, most Navy warships also use this kind of power plant, after all, it is derived from the early 'Popeye' series. On a small wharf on the shore of Xuefeng Lake, Sheng Dehong, who came here on horseback yesterday, was chatting happily with the deputy director in charge of safety and security of the factory.

The sun is good today, the air is fresh, and although the wind is a little strong, there is no problem in this leeward part under the eaves. Sheng Dehong and Deputy Director Xu of Xuefeng Lake Shipyard were drinking wine while looking at the ships on the lake that were blowing their whistles for sea trials, and their small days were also pleasant.

"But the ship's dynamics have been revolutionized?" Sheng Dehong shook the wine glass in his hand and asked.

"Of course, otherwise why would we be hiding here to experiment?" Deputy director Xu Guangzu is the son of Xu Xin, the former central tycoon, and now the deputy director of Xuefeng Lake Shipyard. After graduating from Bingtuanbao, he successively served as a technician of the factory, deputy chief of the process department, chief of the inspection section, deputy director of the workshop, director, deputy director of the factory, etc., which can be described as a step by step, and he can be regarded as a veteran in the key confidential unit of Xuefeng Lake Shipyard.

"The power of this ship, using the latest 'Seahorse' series of steam turbines, is not yet mature, but it represents the future." Xu Guangzu, deputy director of the factory, said in a somewhat proud tone: "Don't look at the power of this steam turbine called 'Seahorse-1', which is only more than 20 horsepower, but it can bring a speed of 7-8 knots to this small boat, which is very good." ”

In fact, as Xu Guangzu just said, they have gone through a lot of hardships, and Tieling Boiler Factory to develop the "Haima-1" steam turbine, although there are many problems, the power is also very small, but because of the high energy utilization efficiency and represents the future - the traditional piston steam engine, because it is a reciprocating piston cylinder, subject to the degree of wear and other reasons, the heat energy utilization efficiency is low, and there are many intermediate fault links, which is not as good as the rotary steam turbine that directly acts on the propeller thruster.

The people of the East Coast tried to research more efficient steam turbines many years ago, and for this reason they first made many experimental products on the shore, such as the 25-horsepower rotary steam turbine trial-produced by the Tieling Boiler Factory in 1670, which directly drove a propeller, and is said to have worked stably for a long time; In 1676, they moved the experimental base to the shore of Xuefeng Lake, and together with the staff of the Xuefeng Lake Shipyard and the Engineering Technology Research Institute, it took two years to develop a steam turbine with 120 horsepower.

The turbine was also tested on shore, and the results were not very satisfactory. Perhaps because of the inexperience of the East Coasters in this area, the 150-horsepower steam turbine did not rotate well enough to deliver the high-speed power that everyone imagined. Moreover, its reliability is not ideal, the core components are very easy to break, and it doesn't look like a material problem, but more of a design problem. That is, people on the East Coast know too little about steam turbines, and there are a lot of technical barriers, and it may not be a big problem to build a "toy" prototype steam turbine, but once you want to put it into practice, then there are countless problems to solve, because your standards obviously can't be as low as they used to be.

After the setback here, the East Coasters set their sights a little smaller, and continued to look back at the less powerful steam turbines, such as the 36-horsepower steam turbine that was being used on the ship in front of them. In order to move this small steam turbine onto the ship and dock with the propeller propulsion system, the Xuefeng Lake Plant did not know how many difficulties it overcame, which led to the current trial voyage of the ship in Xuefeng Lake.

The whistle blared loudly over the lake, and a column of black smoke rose from the back of the deck, but it didn't rise long before it was blown away by the wind. The waves on the lake were not small, but the test vessel was still sailing smoothly on the lake, sometimes in circles, sometimes speeding in a straight line, and it was very busy.

"Actually, we expected the ship to be able to reach speeds of more than 10 knots." Xu Guangzu looked at the sparkling lake and said in a slightly helpless tone: "But there are some problems with the propeller propulsion system, well, mainly in design, for example, we found that the propeller is likely to cause certain bubbles in the water, and it is difficult to solve." The presence of such bubbles will greatly reduce the thrust that the ship can obtain, which in turn will affect the sailing speed. Now, we undoubtedly need to solve this problem, but of course there are many other problems that need to be solved one by one. ”

"Nothing is perfect when it first comes out." Sheng Dehong comforted: "Think of your counterparts in the Old World, who are even struggling to get a stable and reliable steam engine, let alone carry it to the cabin, which is an impossible task for them. ”

In fact, the people of the East Coast have been using the steam engine for 50 years, and the Europeans have been studying this thing for a long time. With the help of this demonstration effect on the east coast, the monarchs and merchants of various European countries invested huge resources in the research of the steam engine - Watt and others, who were extremely hard to raise funds in history, did not know how envious they should be when they knew about it - but they were limited by the bottleneck of technology and materials, and so far they have only reluctantly applied the steam engine to some industrial fields that require a large amount of labor, and there are still a large number of hydraulic machinery in the private sector that have not been eliminated, and full popularization is far away.

Even in England, where steam engines are now being used most rapidly, hydraulic or wind power machinery is still the mainstream. That is, in some industrial and mining enterprises that need continuous production, the steam engine undertakes some tasks of pumping, lifting and crushing, especially in winter and spring when the river freezes and the hydraulic machinery is suspended.

The direction of the British's current research is how to make all kinds of steam engines better, faster, and cheaper, and to popularize them as much as possible throughout the country. Britain has abundant coal resources and a good industrial base, and the cost of maintaining a steam engine for a long time is not high, so widespread adoption is possible, depending on how advanced their steam engine technology is and how well customers recognize it.

They have not tried to move the steam engine to the ship, but they have not been able to reduce the weight and volume of the steam engine without the same power, let alone ensure its reliability, so they have not succeeded so far. At the same time, they also tried to import some marine steam engines from the east coast, but they were directly rejected, so they have not been able to build a steam-powered ship until now - of course, if they do it at any cost, they may not be able to carry the steam engine on board, but at their current level, after the ship is equipped with a steam propulsion system, there is basically no spare space, and the reliability must be very bad, so it is not so hard, because it is not necessary, and it is not economical.

Compared with the British, the application of steam engines in other countries is much slower. The loose northern part of Germany has always been a relatively developed area of commerce and handicrafts, and the total number of steam engines currently in use is not known to be fifty, which is pitifully few. The application situation of the Netherlands, Sweden, Courland, and France is similar to that of North Germany, maybe the Netherlands is more prominent, but the number of uses is also limited, after all, the country is relatively small, and the domestic industry is also squeezed very hard, and it is very good to be able to use dozens of units.

These countries, especially the Netherlands and France, have wanted to bring steam engines on ships for years, just like the English. Unlike providing convenience for industrial and agricultural production on the ground, the two maritime countries of Britain and the Netherlands were more interested in marine steam engines, after all, they had always been envious of the excellent maneuverability of the warships on the east coast equipped with steam propulsion systems, but they had been denied access to them for many years and had never been able to make a major breakthrough in this regard. There are even calls in England for parliamentary appropriation for the study of marine steam engines, which is not a bit of a private push, but with the loose political system of the United Kingdom, this is more difficult.

Sheng Dehong has worked in the State Intelligence Administration for many years, and he knows a lot about this kind of technical information about foreign countries, and when he compares it with the small boat that is swimming on the surface of Xuefeng Lake in front of him, he can't help but feel a lot of emotion, and he can only say: "The British and Dutch in the Old World have been trying to make a breakthrough in marine steam engines for many years, but they have never succeeded. If they knew, not only would we be making rapid progress in piston steam engines, but we would also have begun to develop and manufacture marine steam turbines. Well, it's better to describe them as shocked and desperate, the gap is too big. ”

"The gap isn't particularly obvious right now. When the ships we are currently using are largely retired and ships equipped with new high-horsepower steam propulsion systems become mainstream, it will be clear to the Dutch who the sea coachmen are. Xu Guangzu, deputy director of the factory, said with a smile: "Their outdated design concepts and backward shipbuilding technology should have been eliminated by history a long time ago." Looking back, the rise of a country that has been deeply cultivated for 50 years is not something they can stop. In another 10 or 20 years, things will be very different, and I'm pretty sure of that. ”

Sheng Dehong heard Xu Guangzu say this, and he couldn't help but feel a faint sense of pride in the depths of his heart. I think what a difficult scene it was when my fathers first landed on the East Coast Prairie! After they have been struggling for decades, the foundation of the country has been slowly consolidated, the system and system have begun to gradually stabilize and maintain, and the cultivation of talents has also achieved initial results, all of which shows that the foundation of the country on the east coast has been established, the climate has been established, and no one can shake its security, on the contrary, it may be the time for it to take the initiative to shake other countries - all this will undoubtedly fall on the second generation such as Sheng Dehong and Xu Guangzu. How to uphold the red flag handed down by their parents and plant it on every mountain is something they need to work hard for.

The foundation has been laid, it depends on whether the children and grandchildren have the courage and ability!

After a few hours of wandering around the surface of Xuefeng Lake, the boats returned to the dock, and the technicians who had been waiting for a long time immediately rushed up and began to inspect the steam turbine and its propulsion system in the engine room, and made detailed records. Every sea trial is a valuable experience, and the data obtained is also obtained by the country through a lot of manpower and material resources, which should not be neglected. You know, the current steam turbine can only sail in a semi-enclosed water body such as Xuefeng Lake, and in a few years it will be used on the fast communication ship used in the local coastal waters, and everyone is in a very urgent mood, and they want to apply it to a broader field as soon as possible, and all of this actually has to start from the basic bit by bit.

"Steam turbine propulsion systems can bring incredible high speeds to ships, but can we build ships that can withstand the high loads that come with such high speeds? In the next step, you are afraid that you will put some energy into the design and research of the new hull, right? Sheng Dehong also stood up and asked with a smile as he walked towards the dock.

Xu Guangzu understood what Sheng Dehong meant, but he just smiled and didn't say anything. Let's finish the two projects in front of us first, the iron ribbed wooden hulled ship and the marine steam turbine, these two projects have been around for a long time, and it is time to produce some results, otherwise how will they be viewed in the future? What do you think of this costly project team? You must know that the funding of the Science Spring project team is not so easy to get, and once the evaluation is low this time, it will be a fool's dream to get the full amount of scientific research funding next time.

The wind on the dock was a little strong, but it couldn't blow away the heat in everyone's hearts. Sheng Dehong stood silently on the periphery, watching the hot work scene on the boat, thinking about how their Syphilis Patient Statistics and Investigation Bureau should deploy manpower and monitor the whole process after the project became bigger in the future, so as to prevent key technologies from being lost abroad.

"While it's great enough for a technology to keep us alone for decades, it's enough to recoup all of our investment, but it's also good if we can continue to get ahead for another day, unless the country wants to transfer something that is a bit outdated for us." Sheng Dehong pondered in his heart: "In fact, if you really want to talk about it, those so-called outdated technologies are the focus of Europeans' coveting, and the high-tech bases in Black Mountain Township and Xuefeng Lake are to let the British and Dutch come in, and the income is very limited." Therefore, other places are the main battlefield of secrecy and espionage, and it is relatively easy here. But then again, why do I bother so much, just do my job, after all, Southern Patagonia is the area that belongs to me. ”