"But Mr. Scrooge, do you speak of the truth of these things that stand the test?" One of the officers couldn't help but ask, because the picture Scrooge had painted for them was so beautiful that these people who had always been overwhelmed by the Royal Navy couldn't believe it.

"The artillery is already ready-made." "The semi-armor-piercing bullet has just been completed. In a moment we can go and see how well the shot works. As for the issue of speed, we also have a good example of this. Well, you know Mr. Morgan's yacht? ”

Morgan's speedboat is now famous throughout the United States and even the world, because it is the fastest yacht in the world, and among ships with a displacement of more than a thousand tons, no one can be faster than that. However, Scrooge used it as an example to convince the officers of the Navy. One colonel even frowned and said, "Of course we know about the ship, but the high speed of that ship is entirely achieved by a series of extreme designs." For example, the frighteningly large aspect ratio or something, although this brings amazing high speed to this boat, it also makes the stability and handling performance of this boat a mess. Our Navy has also studied this ship shape, and it has come to the conclusion that such a ship shape cannot be used as a warship at all. ”

"The aspect ratio of the ship we just saw is not particularly large." Scrooge replied, "And by reducing the swing fin, stability is also guaranteed." I know that the Navy has also studied the type of Mr. Morgan's yacht, but one thing, which you may not know, is that Mr. Morgan's boat can sail at maximum speed for more than ten hours straight. I think what that means, everyone should know. ”

Maintain top speed for ten hours straight? Such news almost stunned everyone. During this period, ships using reciprocating steam engines could reach speeds of about twenty knots at the fastest, but such speeds were difficult to maintain for a long time, usually lasting up to half an hour, and you had to reduce the speed. Otherwise, the steam engine may malfunction.

This is because there are too many moving parts such as cylinder pistons and crankshafts in reciprocating steam engines, which leads to a decrease in reliability. A basic principle of reliability is that the more moving parts, the less reliable they are. If the reliability of one moving part is 90 percent, then the reliability of your machine will drop to 81 percent if you have two different parts in your machine. In contrast, steam turbines have far fewer moving parts, so they are much more reliable and can run at maximum power for long periods of time. This is one of the key reasons why Scrooge chose steam turbines instead of reciprocating steam engines as a source of power in his drive to electrification.

In addition, because there are fewer moving parts, it is easier for the steam turbine to achieve higher air pressure, which not only makes the thermal efficiency higher, but also makes the overall volume of the steam engine smaller. On a warship, every inch of space is precious, and a steam turbine that takes up less space and is more reliable at the same power is obviously much better than a reciprocating steam engine.

"If you don't believe it, well, our shipyard has just built another high-speed yacht, and this ship is very close to our warship model in the line, and now this ship is being tested, if you are interested, you can go to the ship to see it together." Scrooge said enthusiastically.

……

A month later, Morgan and Scrooge's shipyard managed to secure an order from the Navy. They will build four ironclads with a displacement of three thousand tons and two larger, about five thousand tons, for the Navy.

It was also this month that a free Cuba, unable to attack because of the blockade, and the Spaniards, who were also unable to counterattack because of their losses and economic difficulties, reached a compromise, and the Spaniards recognized much of the autonomy of the Cubans, and the Cubans continued to pledge allegiance to the Kingdom of Spain and pay taxes. However, everyone knows that this is only a temporary compromise.

Thus passed 1867. By the end of the year, power plants had been built in the most important cities in the United States, and electrical appliances represented by electric lamps began to rapidly enter thousands of households, and at the same time, in many factories, electric motors began to replace old, often malfunctioning steam engines. A new revolution has begun to bear fruit.

The revolution also spread to Europe, where the Prussians were the first to keep up with the revolution, and by virtue of their special relationship with Scrooge, a large number of power plants began to appear in Prussia after paying considerable patent fees, and Prussian factories quickly replaced the steam engine with electric motors. The Prussians' industrial level began to advance in great strides, even beginning to surpass that of their most powerful neighbor, France.

The British also obtained the patent from Scrooge, but unlike the Prussians, their use of electricity was more focused on the aspects of life, and the obsolescence of the steam engine in their factories was much slower than in Prussia. Because Britain had vast colonies, he could monopolize trade with the colonies, and he could not afford to eliminate the old productive forces so quickly.

In Spain, when Queen Isabella II was in power, France had a huge influence in Spain, and now with the overthrow of the queen, the question of who will inherit the throne has become particularly sensitive. In the Cuban incident, Spain, which was in dire need of supplies and funds, did not receive enough help from France, and the French were not financially adequate. They turned to Prussia for help, and as a result, Prussia's influence over Spain grew day by day.

One of the characteristics of European royal families is that they will have marriage ties with each other, so that the kings of European countries are actually relatives, and when a king dies, you will find that there may be many foreigners who are actually ranked very high in the order of succession. Spain is the same, theoretically the queen's son should be the most inherited, but the queen is overthrown, those who overthrow the queen, who will rest assured that the queen's son will be the king? What if he settles accounts after the fall? Just like Charles II back then, Cromwell went to the grave and was pulled out by him to whip his body. Therefore, the Spanish government was eager to change the heir, and among the other heirs, Prince Leopold of the Hohenzollern family, who was a distant relative of the Prussian king, seemed to be a promising candidate, and the Spaniards were very optimistic about him. Prussia was also quietly in contact with the Spaniards, trying to dig into the corners of the French.