Production of ironclads?

Zhu Jinglun had other ideas, he didn't think about it, after the American engineer suggested to him, he immediately discussed it with some other consultants, he only knew in his memory that it was inevitable for warships to change from wooden to steel, but what this process was, he hadn't studied, military history was too unpopular, and few people paid attention to it. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

The Swedish advisers also know that there is such a thing as an ironclad ship, but it is too cutting-edge, and the Swedes can't afford to play it, Britain and France have built it successively, but the ironclad ships built between the two countries are also very different, judging from the sketches they drew for Zhu Jinglun, the shape is quite strange, and there was not even the name of the ironclad ship in the first twenty years, and it was built as an ironclad battery in the Crimean War.

Just over two years ago, Britain's first ironclad ship, HMS Warrior, came out and looked a bit like a ship.

The Americans also built the first ironclad ship in the war, one in the north and the south, and the south was converted from the abandoned warships in the north, which was really miserable, directly covering the wooden steamship with an iron shell, while the warship in the north was more like a floating battery floating on the water.

Obviously, this is the era when ironclad ships have just appeared, and Zhu Jinglun is not interested in fighting for vanity such as the first place, because pioneering technology means paying huge costs and tuition, and he has no ability to play this.

In fact, in order to build the Monette ironclad ship, the Americans allocated 500,000 US dollars, which is equivalent to more than 300,000 taels of silver.

But after some weighing, Zhu Jinglun decided to build one.

The reason was a resume that was placed in front of him.

is the resume of this American inspector.

I don't know if I don't look at it, I was shocked when I saw it, this guy turned out to be an expert with a place in the history of world ships.

And also a Swede.

His name was John Eriksen, a native of Wermland, Sweden, born in 1803, and at the age of 13 he became a cadet in the Swedish Naval Mechanics. In 1820 he worked in the Army as a surveyor and mapping engineer. Apparently it was the Swedish army that trained him.

In 1826, he went to London, England to work as an engineer, and began to study various engineering design and planning work, including the use of propellers on ships, the improvement of cannons, and the use of hot air instead of steam to drive engines.

In 1829, a steam locomotive was built, and he was already involved in the invention of the train.

What really made him famous was that in 1836, based on the screw used by the Australian Russell, he invented the epoch-making propeller propeller, and obtained a propeller invention patent.

Only then did Zhu Jinglun know that this guy turned out to be the inventor of the modern marine propeller!

1837 Erikson designed and built the first practical ship propelled by propellers in London. This attracted the attention of the US government, and the US Navy immediately sent Captain Robert Stockton to England to invite Erikson to join the US Navy, to which Erikson readily agreed.

In 1839, he moved to New York, USA.

In 1844, the USS Princeton was designed and built for the U.S. Navy. The ship was the first ironclad steam warship to be equipped with a steam engine below the waterline of the hull and driven by a propeller.

He became an American citizen in 1848.

During the American Civil War, the USS Monnet, powered by steam propellers and equipped with rotating turrets, was built for the Northern Union Navy.

In addition, he invented technologies such as devices for extracting salt from seawater, ventilation fans, shipboard sounders, and the use of solar energy.

Apparently this is another inventor like Nobel!

Zhu Jinglun did not know that Erikson was named a creative naval engineer in the 19th century in naval history.

He was a little lamented that a small country like Sweden could produce so many talented people in this century.

The first is universal compulsory education, so that figures like Erikson and Nobel can receive at least the most basic education, so as to have a certain learning foundation, if an illiterate person, even if he has potential, it is estimated that he can only go to farming, and it may be related to the great era of the industrial revolution.

Sweden is located in Northern Europe, connected to the British sea, and because of the small country, small population, single production structure, it is impossible to produce all the materials alone, must adhere to free trade, so the exchange of technology and talents with the countries of Northwest Europe has never been interrupted, which allows them to always have access to the most advanced technology from the United Kingdom.

So even though their industrial revolution had just begun, they were not technologically backward countries. However, the narrow domestic market cannot provide a platform for talents from all walks of life to show their talents, so their technical talents can only continue to immigrate to other countries to find excuses, such as Nobel to go to Russia, Erickson to the United States.

According to historical statistics, Sweden began the Industrial Revolution in the 1850s, which was accompanied by mass immigration, and in half a century, they emigrated 1 million people to the United States, including countless talents like Erikson and Nobel.

After reading Erickson's resume, although his Swedish compatriots did not boast of his qualifications, Zhu Jinglun still saw his value at a glance and did not mention anything, just saying that he was dug into the United States by the US Navy Department to obtain it, which is enough to prove that he is a talent.

So after talking to him, Zhu Jinglun put forward a request, he also wanted to build an ironclad ship, but there was no suitable talent, if Erikson could stay and help build it, he was willing to build such a warship.

Erikson said that he is an inspector of the U.S. government, not only in China, but also to the United Kingdom, France to investigate, the object of the inspection is the ironclad ship, to see if the introduction of British and French ironclad technology, after all, the United States technology, is not the most advanced, in terms of shipbuilding, this era is still the first in the United Kingdom, France second, the United States is similar to Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, etc.

Zhu Jinglun immediately showed that he was very interested in the ironclad ship, and said to Erickson that he could find a way to communicate with the United States in his position in the United States, so that he could also perform his duties in Guangdong, and he believed that the US government was very willing to help their friends and build a naval force.

Erikson was not very satisfied with the first ironclad he built, according to the experience of the naval battle of the USS Virginia with the Southern Army, Erikson summed up a lot of experience, but the US government did not give him a chance to improve, because the ironclad ship was expensive, they are still in the war, the government intends to build wooden cruisers, the main purpose is to blockade the South, not a decisive battle with the Southern Navy, because the Southern Navy does not have a few warships at all, and one ironclad ship is enough.

Remembering this, Erikson will recommend the construction of ironclad ships to whoever he meets.

After some hesitation, Erikson decided to stay for the time being, and then contact the US government, and Zhu Jinglun also helped him contact Lincoln, asking the Americans to let Erikson work as an adviser in Guangdong for a period of time, saying that if the United States needed him, he could let him go at any time.

Zhu Jinglun remembered that after the American Civil War, the United States almost dismembered its own navy, because the government owed a large amount of debt, even the warships under construction were dismantled, and it should not be developing the navy for a long time, until Roosevelt came to power, Mahan put forward the theory of sea power, they did not rebuild their huge navy, only maintained a very small naval force.

That is to say, once the war is over, Erickson should have no chance in the United States, and at that time it is estimated that he will prefer to stay in Guangdong, stay for two years, have feelings, take his wife and children, and then naturalize him, he is a Chinese.

As soon as he thought that he had to dig up a talent, and he had to work so hard, Zhu Jinglun couldn't help but feel aggrieved, a small Sweden, more than 4 million people, all rich to export talents like Nobel and Erikson, and dignified China, alas, is really sad.

While waiting for the reply of the US government, he continued to inspect Zhu Jinglun's arsenal and put forward a lot of valuable suggestions, such as his suggestion to improve the cannon casting process, and introduce the hollow casting process and Dahlgren casting method invented by US Army Major Thomas Stin Rodman in 1860.

Rodman's hollow casting process, in the process of casting the cannon, in the process of casting the cannon core, the use of flowing water for cooling, so that the inside of the gun chamber is cooled and hardened first, and the outer layer of metal is cooled in turn, which not only makes the cast iron crystallization more uniform, but also in the process of cooling the outer metal, it constantly shrinks inward, and continues to pressurize the hardened inner layer, and after the cannon is cast, it naturally forms an inward prestress.

When the gunpowder in the chamber explodes, with this prestress, the pressure of part of the explosion on the chamber is canceled, and the result is the same chamber, the cannon made by this process can withstand greater explosion pressure, so it naturally has greater power and longer range.

But most importantly, thanks to the use of flow-controlled cooling, the cooling of the cannon is more even, and the possibility of brittleness is greatly reduced, and the Rodman casting process can cast larger caliber cannons.

The cannon cast by the Dahlgren casting method is a small front and large structure, which looks like a beer bottle, and the second half of the cannon is much thicker than the first half, because the breech is where the explosion is located, and the pressure is greater, so in the place where the pressure is large, increasing the wall thickness can effectively increase the performance of the cannon.

As a result of the combination of the two methods, the Dahlgren cannon and the Rodman smoothbore cannon could reach a caliber of 15 inches, that is, 381 mm, which was quite exaggerated and powerful, and was considered to be the best performing heavy artillery after the American Civil War.

Later generations recognized that during the American Civil War, the smoothbore cannon technology was brought to the extreme, which is the pinnacle of smoothbore guns, but unfortunately the smoothbore cannon technology has developed to the end, and the forged steel drilled cannon of the British is the future, and Krupp also uses cast steel to produce cannons, and cast iron is outdated.

But for the current Chinese army, this kind of cannon is still very advanced, so Zhu Jinglun is even more determined to keep this person.

Unfortunately, he discovered that the inventor Erickson and the inventor Nobel Sr. were good friends, and they often drank together after work. What Zhu Jinglun didn't know was that as early as in Russia, the old Nobel asked his son, who had invented gunpowder, to go to the Erickson factory in the United States for a period of internship.

Sweden is a small country after all, and as inventors, their circle is really small!

In order to retain this talent, Zhu Jinglun approached the old Nobel once and told him that if he could keep Erikson to work in Guangdong, Zhu Jinglun would be willing to provide him with an interest-free loan of 1 million taels to help him expand the factory. (To be continued.) )