London. Port Thames.

After waiting here for ten days, Huo Guangzheng finally saw the Discovery ironclad that the British promised to sell to the Qin army.

In the sunlight, an iron armor shimmered with a cold light. Four thick cannon barrels poked out of the iron box in the center of the hull, which became the most eye-catching feature of the Explorer.

"Mr. Huo, this battleship is a service warship of the British Royal Navy, and it has just been six years." The British Admiralty officer who accompanied him, Hamilton introduced him proudly. "Mr. Designer needed to find a balance in several ways when building this battleship, and as you know, this is a time of change. The old sail warships have become a thing of the past, and the ironclad ships are the mainstream of the future sea. ”

"A good warship must have maximum heavy armor and heavy artillery, but the overall displacement should not be too large, so as to ensure the performance of the ship and minimize its own objectives; There is also the need for high speed, which must be a long and narrow hull, which is flexible but still needs a short and fat hull; In addition, the ship's side should be low, and the gun installation should be low, so that its shooting is more stable and the target is smaller, but the gun installation position is high to better exert firepower, especially in poor sea conditions; Finally, the guns had a wide range of fire, and the tall sail mast and a full set of sail rigging were the source of power for long cruises. ”

"This answer is the Central Armored Fort battleship, and as the name of this ship is, this is a new exploration."

Admiralty officials are boastful and extravagant. The Discovery was Britain's first small armoured ship and the first ironclad to feature a central armoured fort. In the center of the ship there was a box protected by armor, in the middle of which the main power and 4 100-pounder guns were placed for better protection and reduced tonnage.

But this was again an extremely unsuccessful expedition, the seaworthiness of the Discovery was so poor that the commander of the trial even considered him unfit for sailing, "probably the worst of all ships, both in terms of combat effectiveness, and in seaworthy conditions!" ”

So the Discovery is still in service with the Royal Navy. But it is undoubtedly far from welcome. When Huo Guangzheng found the British waving a check asking for the sale of ironclads, the Discovery became the first choice of the British Admiralty to sell Huo Guangzheng. Of course, Huo Guangzheng has a better choice - Courage.

The first ironclad battleship of the British, a big guy of more than nine thousand tons. The cost is 300,000 pounds, which is 1 million taels of silver in China. [Therefore, at this time, silver is still very valuable]

Length: 128 meters; Width: 17.8 meters, speed: 14.08 knots. It is equipped with four 203mm front-loading rifled guns, twenty-four 178mm front-loading rifled guns, and four 20-pounder breech guns. The firepower is incomparably strong.

But times and technology are moving too fast. The Warrior was only in service for three or four years, and it was left out in the cold after the commissioning of new ships such as the Minotaur and Achilles, which were larger in tonnage and more powerful. Four years ago, he was even more unlucky to collide with the battleship King Oak, and since then, he has been able to do errands such as towing floating docks. He retired last year.

Unfortunately, the British would rather the Warrior rot in their own port than sell it to China. This can undermine the stability of the situation in East Asia or not. Huo Guangzheng didn't know that there was such a ship.

The Exploration ironclad ship has a standard displacement of 1,743 tons, a full load of 1,900 tons, a total length of 59.4 meters, a width of 10.12 meters, and a draft of 3.96 meters (the maximum is 4.4 meters). Power: steam and sail hybrid, 1 horizontal reciprocating steam engine, 2 coal-fired boilers, output 1040 horsepower, single shaft and single propeller, maximum speed 10.3 knots, coal 130 tons.

The armament was four 100-pounder front-loading smoothbore guns, and Huo Guangzheng requested that it be changed to four Armstrong guns. The armor belt is 4.5 inches thick, the bulkhead is 4.5 inches, the crew: 150 people, and the price is 300,000 taels of silver.

Huo Guangzheng was very satisfied with the ships, although he was very interested in the larger warships docked next to the Discovery, but he knew that the Qin army's funds were simply not able to buy such a large ironclad ship. is the ship in front of him, and he has to negotiate the price with the British again.

Liu Xian wanted three ironclad gunboats. If one is only 300,000 taels of silver, then aren't the three ships 900,000 taels of silver? He had just spent 1.3 million taels in Germany. If he wants to buy it back at this price, Liu Xian's family will be hollowed out for him.

It's just that the Exploration-class ironclad ships, the British only built a total of two, even if they were all sold to the Qin army, it was not enough to make up the demand for three. And the British will not sell all the two exploration-class ironclad ships to the Qin army.

Explore, explore. This class of ironclad ships is what the British used to do it. All of them were sold, how did the British themselves observe the pros and cons of the design of this class of ironclad ships?

The next thing the British recommended for Huo Guangzheng was the Enterprising-class ironclad - a small wooden-hulled central gunned ironclad ship.

The standard displacement is 1,350 tons, the full load is 1,500 tons, the length is 54.9 meters, the width is 11 meters, the speed is 9.9 knots, and the draft is 2.6 meters (maximum 3.2 meters). Power: Steam, sail hybrid, 1 horizontal reciprocating steam engine, 1 coal-fired boiler, output 600 horsepower, single shaft and single prop, armament: two front-mounted rifled 100-pound guns, two front-mounted rifled 178mm guns [7 inches]. The reason why the speed is so slow is that the Enterprise was converted from the Circassian sloop ironclad sailing. Because of the cumbersomeness of the latter, the modification cannot increase the speed.

The asking price of the Englishman Enterprise was not expensive, only more than half of the Discovery - 160,000 taels of silver.

In the end, the British Admiralty recommended George for Huo Guangzheng in response to the third of the four words "ironclad gunboat" that Huo Guangzheng said at the beginning. Randal's mosquito boat – Randolph gunboats.

On December 4, 1867, the world's first mosquito boat, the Staunch, was born on the River Thames in the United Kingdom. To this day, this gunboat is still one of the most fashionable small warships in the world, and it is cheap, and in Hamilton's mouth, it has become the nemesis of large ironclad ships. Because the caliber of the gunfire of such a gunboat reached an astonishing 11 inches.

Huo Guangzheng couldn't be sure, so he had to send another telegram to Liu Xian to make a decision. As a master of 'talking on paper', Liu Xian is very aware of the inadvertent use of mosquito boats. The design of this small boat has a fatal flaw, it is not suitable for fighting at sea at all, and can only be defended near the sea. Of course, there is still a good point to be pointed out on the mosquito ship on the purely offshore defense. Because compared to land batteries, the boat can move flexibly on the surface of the water, and the cost is low, and the guns it carries can also give the ironclad a great deterrent.

Liu Xian called back to negate the mosquito boat, but affirmed the gunboat idea. The first two battleships Liu Xian decided to take it, it was very painful, and the gunboats were cheap, aren't they. He asked Huo Guangzheng to negotiate with the British, order two ironclad gunboats of up and down 300 tons, and ask for a negative rotating turret structure and equipped with Armstrong guns...... R1152