It wasn't just Scrooge who took a fancy to the big cake of building warships, but Vanderbilt, the king of railroads, also set his sights on it. Vanderbilt is the hegemon of the transportation industry and also has a strong strength in shipbuilding. And because he had been running the railroad for many years, they had a very good skill in the traditional reciprocating steam engine. The steamships they built took a large share of the inland river routes. Of course, the situation on the sea routes was not the same as on the river waterways, where the British had a clear advantage in market share due to their superiority in shipbuilding technology. However, everyone knows that the hypothetical enemy of the US Navy's shipbuilding plan is the British, so naturally it is not the turn of the British to share the profits in this deal. In fact, since its creation, the number one imaginary enemy of the U.S. Navy has always been the Royal Navy. However, to deal with this promising opponent, the U.S. Navy must first conquer Capitol Hill, a super-high mountain that is almost more difficult to conquer than the world's tallest mountain, Mount Everest.

Compared to the Army, which is reduced to less than one-tenth of its original size after every war, the Navy is in a better situation, and it will not be forced to lose weight by Congress from time to time, but that's all they can get.

Fortunately, thanks to the Spaniards and the British, both the White House and Capitol Hill are unusual, planning to strengthen the navy, such an opportunity must be seized, but the navy is immediately faced with a problem, that is, even the navy itself does not know what the navy should become.

Generally speaking, the world boss always has a myriad of brain-dead fans, and this is no exception at all times. For example, in later generations, the harmless little white rabbit is recognized as the biggest brain-dead fan of the bald eagle, especially in the development of the navy and air force, the new toys made are basically more Wang Fan Er than the other.

This principle was also present in the 19th century. At this time in the U.S. Navy, it is also a brain-dead fan of the Niuniu Navy. What, to strengthen the Navy, I don't know how? That's not simple, just follow the appearance of the Niu Niu Navy. For the latecomers, copycat successes have always been the most college approach. This time, however, it was difficult for them to decide exactly how to copy.

Because this was the time when the navy shifted from sails to steam power, and wooden warships turned to steel warships, even the British Royal Navy itself was very confused about the future direction, and the British themselves were arguing about what warships should look like in the new era. For example, on the question of how the fleet should deal with the enemy, some people insist that it should rely on the battle line to deal with the enemy as in the traditional way, while others feel that with the iron armor that is difficult to break down based on the experience of the Battle of Lisa, the new warships should be equipped with ramming angles, facing the enemy head-on, and if necessary, they can rush up and use the ramming angles to solve the battle. It was by virtue of this wedge-shaped assault tactic that the Austrian navy defeated the Italian navy in the Battle of Lissa. Well, based on this experience, even the Royal Navy equipped its warships with the ancient ramming horns.

In the era of battle lines, warships faced the enemy with broadside sides, so the guns had to be installed on both sides to facilitate firepower. The experience of the Battle of Lisa tells us that in the era of ironclad ships, if the tactics of horizontal charge were adopted, it was necessary to face the enemy with the bow, so the arrangement of the position of the guns should also adapt to the characteristics of the era when the bow faced the enemy. Well, to put it more simply, the guns of the ironclad - at least the main guns, must be able to fire directly ahead at the same time. For example, in the original historical First Sino-Japanese War, the main guns of the "Dingyuan" and "Zhenyuan" first-class ironclad ships imported by the Beiyang Naval Division from Germany were arranged at a certain angle in the amidships, and the main gun firepower could only be exerted at the same time when facing the enemy.

Of course, that battle also proved that in the era when artillery also developed rapidly, the horizontal line tactics of ironclad ships were not reliable, and the Beiyang Naval Division, which adopted horizontal line tactics, was bent on replicating the victory of the Battle of Lisa, but was defeated by the Japanese fleet, which had more rapid-fire guns and adopted column tactics. The Battle of Lissa is not so easy to replicate, and what is especially difficult is that even if you do a good job, you still need a crucial condition, which is that the opposite team is Italian.

Now, as soon as the U.S. Navy proposed to build a warship, Vanderbilt's shipyard immediately came up with a set of design plans, and it can be seen that he had been prepared for a long time, and the preliminary plans he came up with looked very similar to those things that the British were working on.

"You can see that Mr. Vanderbilt has been prepared. Mr. Scrooge, Mr. Vanderbilt is more experienced in shipbuilding than you, are you sure to beat him? ”

"Morgan, don't forget it, the navy doesn't want ships, it takes weapons. And I'm a lot better at making weapons than Vanderbilt. Moreover, I prepared before him, and the prototype ship was built. Scrooge smiled, as a reborn, with a steam turbine and a tube cannon in his hand, coupled with an understanding of the tactics of later generations, if it was not as good as the design plan in Vanderbilt's hand, which was actually a detour, then it was better to buy a piece of tofu and die. However, it seems that in the United States in this era, it is really not easy to find tofu.

"A prototype ship has been built?" Morgan was taken aback, "You have invested a lot, if you don't choose, you will lose a lot." ”

"If you don't choose it, it can be of other use." Scrooge smiled, "For example, sell it to you at a high price." ”

"You've built another pit man's yacht?" Morgan reacted immediately.

"How can you cheat people?" Scrooge said, "My reputation has always been very good, don't slander me." This ship is intended to be a warship, well, a warship is a platform for cannon shooting, so stability is very important. So you don't have to worry, this boat doesn't rock as easily as the one you use now. It was perfect to take a yacht. ”

"And how big is it, and how fast can it run?" Morgan asked.

"Now she is not equipped with weapons and armor, so the displacement is a little smaller, and she can run a little faster, well, the current displacement is about more than 3,000 tons, and she can run up to 25 knots, and after installing these, according to our calculations, the displacement will rise to more than 4,000 tons, and the speed should be 19 to 20 knots. This is already faster than any existing combat ship. I'll take you to see the goods when you're free? ”

"Well, I'm looking forward to it." Morgan said, and after a while, he suddenly asked again, "Scrooge, can that thing of yours be faster, preferably as fast as this one is." ”

……

A few days later, Scrooge and Morgan's United Shipbuilding Company also came up with its own design, and one of the people sent by the Navy to review it was Mahan.

"Welcome, Mr. Mahan." As soon as Mahan got out of the carriage, Scrooge greeted him.

"Mr. MacDonald, I really can't afford to greet you personally." Mahan said with a smile. Mahan was born in 1840, not much older than Scrooge, and in the original history, this later famous naval strategist and author of "Treatise on Sea Power" was only a mid-ranking officer at this time (in fact, Mahan's highest military rank was only colonel). Although he graduated from the Annapolis Naval School with a good second place, he was supposed to be a small man at this time. However, in this time and space, Scrooge deliberately developed him, not only providing him with a lot of channels to publish various articles, but even through guò letters, some views from later generations and even from Mahan himself were vaguely inspired to him, and as a result, in this time and space. This young man has grown up much faster in theory than in the original time and space, and now he is already well-known in the navy.

"It's nothing, we're friends." Scrooge said with a smile, "Moreover, this design of ours is also derived from the new tactics that we discussed with us." ”

Scrooge said as he led Mahan and the other naval officers into an exhibition hall.

In this exhibition hall there is a large-scale model of a warship. This is a warship with a very strange shape. First of all, there is no such thing as a ramming angle at the bow of this warship, and its bow is obviously drifting outward, which is particularly beautiful.

"What's the benefit of such a bow?" An officer asked.

"The bow of the ship that drifts out is not easy to go up the waves, and it has a better appearance when the sea conditions are high." A technician explained.

"How can you sink an enemy ship without ramming angles?" Someone asked, apparently this man was also a man who had been deeply influenced by the experience of the Battle of Lisa.

"There is no need for ramming, because we have cannons that can fire shells that can penetrate armor and explode inside enemy ships. The advantage in firepower combined with the advantage in speed means that our warships do not need to play any close-range ramming games with enemy warships. "Do you remember the ideal warship that Mr. Mahan mentioned in the newspaper last week?" Well, an ideal warship with a high rate of fire, a large range, and a high speed and a long range. ”

"Think about it, guys." Scrooge continued to boast about the warship, "What a nightmare it is for an enemy ship to encounter such a warship." Did you notice the long barrel on the model? Thanks to MacDonald's unique body-tube self-tightening technology, it can be made very light, yet able to withstand greater chamber pressure. This also allowed the shells it fired to lightly pierce the armor of the seemingly impregnable ironclads of the British. Moreover, it is faster than the British, and can always take the initiative to control the distance between zhì and the enemy ship. At a distance where we can penetrate the British, their artillery is not enough to tickle us, they want to get close and desperately? But we're faster, and they can't be relied upon. They want to escape? But they can't get away with the same problem. What's more, the guns of the British ironclad ships have a lot of dead ends, such as the side and rear directions, and there is almost no decent firepower, while our warships are much faster than them, so they can easily occupy such an advantageous position, and attack them from the broadside direction with the front and rear main guns arranged on our central axis. This is an epoch-making warship, and once launched, he can even turn all existing warships in the entire British Navy into scrap metal! ”