Although it is dreadnought, in fact, this kind of dreadnought is not really afraid of anything. If you encounter fireboat tactics, even if you are covered with iron sheets, the wooden ship is easy to catch fire. So, "dreadnought" is really just not afraid of shelling.

If you really want to make this kind of battleship invincible, you have to equip the battleship with super-powerful guns. For example, the 68-pound Pexan. This short-barreled super heavy cannon can be described as the end of the era of wooden boats. Because of the Peksan cannon, the world naval war entered the era of ironclad ships.

But in this era, it is extremely difficult to build an ironclad ship. Not to mention anything else, stainless steel that resists seawater corrosion will not be made in other countries. Therefore, as long as you build a Peksan cannon, you can monopolize the entire ocean.

Marin remembered that the British Navy's flagship, the Victory, had two 68-pounder short-barreled heavy guns. These two guns, as long as they are accurate, can solve a French battleship.

That's a battleship of its class! The thickness of the side side is not generally firm, at least several times thicker than the thickness of the side line of warships of other countries in this era. If it is used to deal with the two or three hundred ton boats that are the mainstream of Europe in this era, it is estimated that one cannon will be one......

However, this heavy cannon, even if it is short-barreled, is very difficult to cast. The casting of heavy artillery is not finished by pouring molten iron into the mold. It is also necessary to take into account that there can be no trachoma on the cannon body, as long as there is an unreasonable structure, the cannon is wasted. So, it takes a lot of experimentation from the craftsmen. Once this kind of heavy artillery comes out, with the "Dreadnought-class" thousand-ton battleship, it will be invincible. Of course, the quantity should be enough. If the number is small, it will be difficult to achieve sufficient results......

A sailboat is a sailboat after all, and even if Marin has stainless steel technology, it is difficult to transform a ship into an ironclad ship. Because, if the ship is too heavy, the sails will not be able to move. Therefore, Marin only dared to let his subordinates cover the exterior of the wooden ship with iron sheets, and at most the sides with steel plates. Then, there was no other action. Otherwise, there is too much steel, and the ship will have to climb on the sea.

Even a little bit of iron sheet and steel plate can affect the speed of the ship. For example, according to the original design of the "Constitution", the ship should be able to reach a speed of 13 knots. However, due to the drag of the weight of the armor, the speed was reduced to 12 knots. Although it was still faster than the 10 knots of an ordinary Galen ship, it was slowed down after all.

Historically, ironclad ships appeared only in the mid-19th century, and in addition to the reasons for steel technology, power was also an important factor. Without the power of a large marine steam engine, don't try to build a real ironclad. Otherwise, the weight, driven by the sail, can only climb on the surface of the sea......

It should be pointed out that in addition to building a dreadnought, the New York shipyard also launched a conversion package for a 500-ton warship - the sides were covered with iron sheets, plus upgraded masts and sails......

The side side is covered with iron sheet, that is, the side of the "Hoffman-class" 500-ton warship is covered with stainless steel iron sheet to enhance the anti-strike ability of the side side.

Upgrading the mast and sails requires something special – sisal......

Originally, because the "Hoffman-class" battleships used cables and canvas made of flax fibers. So, the sails can't be made too big and too high. Otherwise, the sails will easily break when the wind pulls them.

Therefore, the previous "Hoffman-class" battleships, due to the insufficient sail area, had a speed similar to that of ordinary Galen ships, up to 10 knots.

And now it is different, because Cuba began to mass-produce sisal. With enough sisal fibre, the shipyard's department responsible for sail design and manufacturing can produce larger sails.

This kind of sail is mainly made of sisal fibers, which has a strong tensile resistance. Therefore, it can also be built very large, and it is not afraid of the tearing of the sea breeze. Then, it can also bring more thrust to the boat.

This is the secret of the later "Constitution" being able to break through the upper limit of 10 knots of the Galen ship, because the later "Constitution" was modified to directly use the strong nylon rope to make the sail, which can make the sail surface very large and make full use of the wind power.

Marlin does not have nylon rope, but naturally grown sisal fibers for greater strength. In later generations, the only disadvantage of sisal fiber compared with nylon rope was probably the higher cost. And in terms of performance, sisal wins. So much so that in the 21st century, many marine cables still use sisal rope. The only advantage of nylon is probably that it is low.

In other words, with enough sisal fibers, the North Sea Kingdom can now get high-strength canvas. Even, the sail does not need to be made entirely of sisal fibers, only the main structure needs to be woven with sisal fibers. Then, fill the middle with flax fibers......

With this technology, the ships of the North Sea Kingdom will be able to make the masts higher in the future. Then, make the canvas bigger to absorb the wind and propel the boat to a higher speed. Don't raise it too much, like the "Constitution" by two or three sections, it will be enough.

……

After passing Marin's acceptance and receiving the name, Captain Hobbit returned to New York with his men in a dreadnought. At the same time, he also brought an order to "build 20 more such warships."

Of course, the New York shipyard was only responsible for shipbuilding. The stainless steel sheets and plates of the ship's armor had to be produced at the steel mill in Krumhein. After all, so far, the American colonies did not have their own steel base.

Cape Breton Island has Sydney coal mines, but no iron mines. Iron ore in North America is mainly in the western Great Lakes region. In other words, Marin would need to send troops to occupy the whole of Pennsylvania, and even westward, after arriving in Michigan, before he could find the world-famous iron-rich mines.

The Appalachian Mountains in western Pennsylvania are rich in coal resources, and Pittsburgh, the steel center of the United States, developed into a steel center because it is located at the western foot of the Appalachian Mountains, close to coal mines, and convenient for transporting iron ore from Michigan.

But whether it is to occupy the Pittsburgh area of western Pennsylvania or to hit the iron ore region of Michigan, it is still far away. Therefore, at present, the steel of the North Sea countries mainly relies on bituminous coal transported by ships from the Ruhr area, processed into coke, and then imported laterite iron ore from Luxembourg to process into steel......

It's just that the Habsburgs, the poor ghost family, have mortgaged all the iron ore in Luxembourg to Marin in exchange for three batches of loans of up to 900,000 gold coins, accounting for the absolute majority of the lending business of the Bank of Siena. Moreover, judging by the emperor's meaning, it seems that he does not want to repay the money, and intends to directly use the mortgage of the Luxembourg iron mining area to offset the loan......

Don't be surprised that the Habsburgs were so poor in their time. Because of Marin's intervention, Charles V was unable to get his hands on the Spanish Empire, which owned the gold and silver mines in the Americas, so the Habsburgs are still the poor family.

Not to mention the iron mines, the gold and silver mines on the Austrian side were mortgaged by the Habsburgs. Among them, the Tyrolean silver mine, the largest silver mine in Europe, was mortgaged to the Fugger family......

Marin did not care, and planned to formally negotiate with the emperor after a while to offset part of the loan with the ownership of the laterite iron mining area in southern Luxembourg. Of course, it is impossible to offset all 900,000 gold coins. Because, that iron ore is not worth that much......

It's not that this iron ore with reserves of hundreds of millions of tons is not worth so much money, but because even if there are hundreds of millions of tons of iron ore, there are very few parts that can be developed without the help of modern machinery. The amount that can be exploited and utilized each year is very limited. So, its value is greatly reduced.

Therefore, Marin intends to transfer this iron ore at a discount of three or four hundred thousand gold coins, along with the territorial ownership of the red soil region in southern Luxembourg, to his own name. In this way, the steel industry of Beihai Country will not have to be controlled by others in the future.

Don't look at the total amount of hundreds of millions of tons of iron ore in Luxembourg, but that is compared with later generations. In this era, the demand for steel was very low. Even the Ming Empire, which has the largest steel output, has an annual steel output of only tens of thousands of tons. What's more, the iron production in Europe at this time was much lower than that of the Ming Dynasty. Luxembourg's laterite iron mine is enough for Marin for many years......