The gate of the water village slowly rose, and the battleship entered the water village and sailed directly under the giant ship.

Fang Yuan and the others were on the 1,000 material fortune ship captured from the Zheng family, which was already the largest warship of the Zheng family, but compared to the ironclad giant ship in front of them, it was nothing at all, and the volume was only one-tenth of the size.

In appearance, the battleship was fifty zhang long, twelve zhang wide, and six zhang high.

The hull of the ship was covered with a layer of silvery-white iron armor, which shone brightly in the sunlight.

The previously planned hull ironclad was made of Daming's own steel, but according to the measurements of Shen Mao, the chief engineer of the ironclad giant ship, at the dock site, the weight of the giant ship had already exceeded the previous estimate.

The two serious problems that followed were that if the hull was fully covered with the iron armor of the Ming Dynasty, the space of the airtight cabin must be increased; The power required for the giant ship to move forward was estimated at three or four hundred sailors, but as soon as the real giant ship came out, the number of three hundred sailors was obviously insufficient, and four or five hundred sailors were necessary.

In other words, it was necessary to increase the space of the airtight cabin and the sailor's cabin at the same time, and the previously designed cabin of the hull was obviously far from sufficient, and the configuration of the cabin had to be rebuilt, either by reducing the number of cargo compartments, or by changing the four decks to three decks, reducing the number of guns on the giant ship, and freeing up space for the rebuilding of the cabins.

Whether it was reducing the cargo hold or reducing the number of artillery, Fang Yuan was unwilling, and the only way he could think of was to give up the use of Daming's copper and iron armor.

In the Ming Dynasty, the weight of wrought iron, pig iron, and crude steel was much higher than before the crossing, and the hardness, tensile strength, and yield strength were far inferior. In other words, steel in this era was bulky, not hard, and expensive.

Fang Yuan chose to use titanium alloy steel that is lighter, harder, and more cost-effective. The weight of the battleship built today is a quarter less than previously estimated, the number of sailors remains the same, and the ratio of sailors' cabins, airtight cabins, and cargo compartments remains the same.

Eight hundred gunners, four hundred sailors, and three hundred well-armed marines on the battleship were already lined up and waiting for the review of Supreme Commander Fang Yuan.

Fang Yuan and his party boarded the ship from the lowered wooden ladder, and only when they stood on the wide deck could they truly appreciate the enormity of the giant ship, which alone was about the size of a football field.

Because this giant ship is a wind-powered and manpower-powered setting, there are twelve large mast sails towering on the deck, each of which is between five and eight zhang high; The width of the mast sail is three to four zhang, and the sail is made using cotton silk purchased from Taobao. The coated cotton yarn is the strongest fabric, and the toughness is the same as that of steel wire, so that the strong sail can avoid being torn by hurricanes at sea.

Due to the huge size of the sail, it is difficult to raise it by manpower alone, so Fang Yuan specially installed five sets of pulley devices at the top, which greatly saved manpower, and five or six people could raise the sails.

The giant ship has four decks, using a compartment-type structure, each deck is divided into 40 artillery erection points, and a total of 320 large and medium-sized guns are erected on the four decks. Moreover, the artillery was erected in a sheltered compartment, which was not afraid of wind and rain at all.

There are also two artillery land-based platforms in the bow and stern, and each artillery road-based platform has 20 artillery erection points, which can bombard the battleship close to the giant ship in all directions without dead ends; There are also five artillery erection points in different directions for heavy artillery such as the Hongyi cannon.

The number of guns loaded on the entire giant ship has reached a staggering 380 guns, all of which are all kinds of medium fast guns suitable for naval warfare, and super-large, modified Hongyi cannons.

There is also a large rudder at the bow and at the stern.

Because of the direction of such a large warship, ordinary wooden rudders are easy to break. According to the dimensions provided by Shen Mao, Fang Yuan specially found merchants on Taobao to customize a rudder system mixed with special steel and wood. From the control rudder, to the rudder rod, to the rudder blade, all are made of a mixture of wood and special steel, which solves the problem of rudder robustness.

The diameter of the large operating rudder is at least half a zhang, and it requires the joint force of three to five helmsmen to pull it for use.

At the front and rear of the deck are the two ship towers located at the bow and stern.

The stern building is three stories high and is dedicated to commanding operations, holding military meetings, and resting places for high-ranking officers such as captains.

The bow building has only two floors, with a watchtower on the upper floor and two large sailors' cabins below. Each sailor's cabin is divided into two floors, each with four rows of left, middle, middle and right, with 40 rooms.

According to Fangyuan's humanized design, the floor height of each room is increased to nearly one zhang, two zhang long and two zhang wide. Only 8 people are accommodated in each room, which solves the problem of poor accommodation conditions for sailors, and such a large room only accommodates 8 people, which is at least larger than the accommodation area of the university dormitory.

Together with the bow and stern sailors' cabins, there were 180 to 200 rooms, which could carry a total of 1,500 sailors.

Further down from the sailor's cabin is the cargo hold through the floor, which is one foot high. The cargo layer is divided into two parts, front and rear. The front part is a warehouse for storing fresh water and food, which can be used to prepare enough fresh water and food for three months of continuous navigation; In the back is a warehouse for gunpowder and lead bullets, which is enough to fight at least two large naval battles if it is stacked.

Further down the cargo compartment is the closed cabin, which is three feet high, accounting for half of the height of the hull.

Wind power is required at sea, and manpower is required on inland rivers or windless coastal areas.

The oars of the giant ship had fifty giant oars, and each giant oar required at least eight people to start, and Fang Yuan installed a special steel pulley device in each paddle seat, and each one only needed four people to drive. In this way, the 400 sailors can be divided into two shifts and take turns paddling, which not only saves manpower, but also increases the endurance time.

The bottom plate of the giant ship is the most prone to breakage, and Fang Yuan used the design of two layers of titanium alloy sandwiched by a layer of three-inch wooden planks to strengthen the strength of the bottom plate.

Before the era of real ironclads, even the largest wooden warships could only sail on inland rivers or coastal waters, and could not go to sea. Because of the strong wind and waves at sea, the wooden hull cannot withstand the huge pressure and is easy to disintegrate in the stormy seas.

Fang Yuan's giant ship uses a large number of steel frames in the keel of the hull for reinforcement, but it is actually a mixed structure of steel and wood, and the fits are fixed with expanded steel rivets, and the solidity of the hull is far beyond that of ordinary warships. In addition, Fang Yuan made a lot of money, and applied at least three layers of epoxy resin glue and three layers of cyanide reinforcement paint on the entire inside and outside of the ship.

The reinforcement of this multi-layer mixed material is smashed with a sledgehammer, which is easy to smash, and can completely resist the wind and waves, as long as it does not forcibly cross the four oceans, there should be no risk of disintegration.

After inspecting the main structure of the entire ship, the group returned to the bow deck, and this magnificent giant ship was breathtaking. Princess Kunxing and the second daughter of Xiaoyuan were even more amazed.

After the review ceremony, it was time for the most exciting launching ceremony.

As the four hundred sailors took their places in the oars room and began to paddle with manpower, the huge ship, which had been sleeping in the dock for more than half a year, finally moved slowly, like a dragon on the sea, treading the waves.

Whether it was the people on the giant ship or the people watching on the river by boat, they all let out cheers and cheered for this historic moment!

Fang Yuan stood proudly on the deck of the bow of the ship alone, looking at the receding river, and some tears oozed from his eyes.

This ironclad giant ship actually greatly exceeded the budget, costing him at least two million taels of silver. But the result made him very satisfied, the giant ship can be said to be the ultimate in windpower, manpower-driven warships throughout the ages, absolutely unprecedented, unprecedented.

As long as the firepower and range of artillery do not fall behind, they can easily dominate the sea before the first half of the 19th century. At least for the next two hundred years, it will certainly be an invincible warship on the oceans.

Shen Mao approached and stood side by side with him and asked, "Governor Fang, this giant ship has not yet been named, it is up to you to decide!" ”

Fang Yuan pondered for a while, he originally wanted to name it 'Da Han', but then he rejected the idea and said slowly, "Call it 'Da Ming'!" ”