The Navy's application for dry dock construction was quickly sent to the Executive Committee, recalling that a five-masted sand ship could have allowed them to fight to the death with the Ministry of Commerce, and the two captured sail warships were now absolutely fragrant, and all the eyes of everyone in the Navy were glued to these two battleships. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

Naturally, the two warships of the Navy were not refurbished as they were and put into use, and various modification plans have been put forward by the veterans of various departments, and many veterans with skills have even drawn a sketch of the modification plan they proposed. When these plans and plans were sent to Bu Zhongfu, who had served in the navy for many years, and Yang Junbo, who knew the modern navy well, these two people were stupid. That's too much, isn't it?

Yang Junbo sat in the office of the Navy while looking at the information with a wry smile, and when he looked up, he saw that Bu Zhongfu was also looking at him with a wry smile, and he couldn't help but shake his head and hold up a piece of information, "I'm speechless, look at this information, it says that these warships are going to be converted into clippers...... They didn't even know that the length-to-width ratio of these ships couldn't even reach four to one, so should we have to make them longer? ”

"What's a clipper?" Bu Zhongfu frowned, he was trained by the modern navy, and the Chinese navy does not have a tradition of sail warships, so he doesn't understand sail warships at all.

"The clipper is a kind of fast sailing ship made up by the Americans in the nineteenth century, because the hollow bow used is easy to raise its head in the waves, improve the stability of the course in the big waves, and reduce the bow resistance. The clipper boat is very fast because it is very elongated, with an aspect ratio greater than six to one, and the rear of the hull gradually narrows through a sloping horizontal line to a narrow, rounded stern. And there are three to four masts on it, the high mast can generally reach three-quarters of the length of the whole ship, and the sails are hung with cross sails, and you can also hang wing sails, and the transverse size of the sails far exceeds the width of the ship, which greatly improves the wind-bearing area. The speed of the voyage could reach fifteen or sixteen knots, and it was the fastest ship at sea before the advent of steam ships. ”

"Can't be modified?" Bu Zhongfu was a little moved, the Navy's Chunxiao was slow and leisurely, and every time he set sail in formation, he had to reduce the speed and then reduce it before he could take it, if there was a sailboat with a speed of about twelve knots now, it would be unbelievable.

"It can't be refitted," Yang Junbo shook his head firmly, "The freeboard of these two battleships is too high, and they have artillery decks, so they can't be modified at all, and they can't be converted into clippers, or the length of the ship will be extended, or the width of the ship will be reduced, neither of which can be realized." If we really refit the clipper, it would be better for us to rebuild one ourselves. He said as he raised the other document in his hand and handed it to Bu Zhongfu, "In comparison, this modification plan is more feasible." ”

Bu Zhongfu stood up and took this information with a suspicious face, opened it and took a look, "Add a paddle wheel?" He couldn't help but be stunned for a moment, he had seen the paddle wheel, before the propeller dominated the navy, the paddle wheel was the only choice for steam engine-driven ships. But can't we just install the propellers? ”

"I'm afraid not," the muscles on Yang Junbo's face twitched, "There are two problems, the first is that the sealing of the transmission shaft to the water cannot be solved, and the second is that the propeller also requires technology." ”

"What technology does a propeller need?" Bu Zhongfu was stunned for a moment, "Isn't it just a few blades put together?" ”

Yang Junbo immediately had a feeling of poetry with a deaf person. "No, no, the propeller is best to be cast at one time, the strength and corrosion resistance are much better, but the problem at this time is that the casting needs to make a mold first, we don't have it at hand, and the angle of the propeller is also required, there are veterans who are already designing the mold of the propeller, but even if they can come up with the mold, it may not be able to be used immediately, we still have to test it on the small boat first, and then we can get on the big ship. The experiment could be quite long, and the boats would have to be driven by paddle wheels and not retrofit until the propeller technology matured. ”

"What about the bright wheel?" Bu Zhongfu flipped through the information and looked at the pictures inside, a huge paddlewheel was drawn on the waterline of the battleship.

"Of course, the paddle wheel also has disadvantages, it only does work below the surface of the water, and only one-third of the position of the paddle wheel is generally under the waterline during the voyage, so two-thirds of the power is consumed. If it's a propeller, all the power is used to propel it. Yang Junbo paused as he spoke, "Actually, it would be good if there was a diesel engine or a gasoline engine, the heat loss of the steam engine is very large, generally speaking, only a few percent, especially the steam engine made by our two knives." ”

"Why don't you put the paddle wheel in the back?" Bu Zhongfu looked down at the drawings again and asked curiously.

Yang Junbo smiled and said, "It is naturally beneficial to install it in the back, but the problem is that if there is a fault in the back, you can only go into the dock for overhaul, and you can stop and repair it when it is installed on the side of the ship." If you install it in the back, you can only install a paddle wheel, and if it is damaged in battle, it will lose power. ”

"Isn't there a sail cable system?" Bu Zhongfu couldn't help but turn his head to look at the battleships that were still moored in the harbor, and at this time, only the bare masts of the two battleships remained, and the other parts were removed.

"You can't count on the sail cable system," Yang Junbo smiled, "If it is steam power and sail cable system at the same time, it will be quite troublesome, two sets of personnel are needed to control the ship, it is difficult for the person who controls the power to master the sail control skills, and it is difficult for the sail to learn how to control the power, and if there is an accident or something during the period, the ship is in danger of being paralyzed." ”

"But this is a sailboat...... Bu Zhongfu couldn't help but look at the battleship in the distance. But how do I remember that when the steam engine was first introduced, there were ships with sails and steam power at the same time? By the way, in Verne's book "Around the World in Eighty Days", who didn't buy a boat and burn all the furniture on it to drive the ship? It seems that even the mast has been cut down when we finally reach our destination. ”

"Seeing what you say, in fact, you can also consider that the number of guns will be reduced a lot after our modification, so that the sailors on the ship will not need so many, and it doesn't matter if it is two sets of personnel at that time."

"By the way, what are you going to do with the artillery?" Bu Zhongfu is quite concerned about the firepower of the navy.

"I think it's a good proposal, install ten spring cannons and twenty ship-based machine guns, so that you can accurately hit the enemy at a distance of seven or eight hundred meters."

"By the way, aren't the Medenor people the strongest sea power on this plane? Their naval guns should be considered the longest-range, right? Bu Zhongfu suddenly remembered something and hurriedly consulted.

"Yes," Yang Junbo nodded, "By the way, the military industry department dragged a few of their naval guns to the shooting range for a test shot, the direct aiming range is two hundred meters, and those that exceed two hundred meters will not hit anything, even if the gunners of the Medeno people are replaced." ”

"It's only two hundred meters?" Bu Zhongfu was stunned for a moment, he was a little surprised by this result, "So what is the maximum range of their artillery?" ”

"Maximum range?" Yang Junbo recalled slightly, "It seems to be 570 meters, and you have to maintain a fifteen-degree elevation angle to launch, and you can't expect to hit anything at all." ”

Bu Zhongfu laughed, "Then we can kill them all directly outside their range with spring cannons, and they can't even touch us, super safe." ”

"Then you forget that we also have machine guns, machine guns and spring cannons, which can definitely kill any enemy ship within 500 meters in an instant." Yang Junbo said as he stood up and put on his hat, "You can go to the conference room with me now, let's gather the officers of the Navy Headquarters for a meeting to discuss the ship refit plan, and later we will go to the executive committee to see the reply to the dry dock construction plan over there." ”

Planning Commission, Cheng Jun is now holding this dry dock construction application form and looking up and down, fidgeting like ants on a hot pot.

He knew how hungry the navy was for dry docks right now, and how much Vostochny needed a large fleet to defend the harbor at this time. Although the Medenor attack did not cause many casualties in the port of Vostochny, it destroyed almost half of the port area, and a sunken warship directly blocked the waterway in and out of the port, at this time the report of the port department requesting the allocation of resources to salvage the sunken ship was on his desk.

Chengjun's head is about to boil, salvage the sunken ship requires more than just manpower, the navy estimates that the ship can have a displacement of 3,600 tons, which is not something that can be lifted by opening a crane and stopping on the shore. It will take at least a few months to salvage the wreck. Although he was not worried about the food problem at this time, Dongfang Port was an industrial port, and the industrial zone was producing all kinds of "Chinese goods" non-stop 24 hours a day at this time, at this time the port of Zhancheng had been blocked, and the Dongfang Port, which was originally intended to occupy the status of the port of Zhancheng, was blocked by a ship near the inlet and outlet channel, and if these Chinese goods could not be shipped out by sea, they could be filled in the warehouse of Dongfang Port in a blink of an eye. Relying on the consumption level of An Yuncheng to eat so many goods, the consumption of raw materials and the full warehouse of finished products, the Oriental Port will only be left to stop working, then it will inevitably bring a series of social problems, and the silver and gold reserves of the Oriental Port at this time are not sufficient, these days their purchase of grain, not only spent a lot of silver, but also speculated the price of grain in the territory of An Yun, and due to the flow of a large amount of silver into the market, the entire market is inflationary, Nowadays, vendors from other places have begun to appear with various daily necessities running to Dongfang Port and An Yun City to buy silver. If the waterway can't be dredged as soon as possible, don't talk about the dry dock, and the port of the East will soon be dragged down by high prices.