1850 American Gold Baron

Chapter 204 Paddle Steamers and Hidden Steamships (4K)

"Propeller driven ship?"

Jeremiah fell into deep thought, and then said after pondering for a moment.

"Propeller-driven boats have many advantages over paddle-wheel boats. The structure of the paddle wheel is heavy and complex, and its ability to withstand wind and waves is poor.

The structure of the propeller is relatively simple, and the simpler the structure sometimes means the more reliable it is, and propeller boats also have great advantages over paddle steamers in terms of wind and wave resistance and even speed."

"Since propeller-driven ships have so many advantages, why doesn't the Polar Star use propeller drive?" Liang Yao continued to ask.

"Did you encounter any technical problems?"

As one of America's top shipbuilding experts, Jeremiah's understanding of paddle steamers and concealed steamers is quite correct.

"You are the second person to ask me this question. Before that, I had a debate with experts from the Brooklyn Navy Yard on this issue, and Commodore Perry also asked me this question."

Jeremiah looked at the huge paddle wheels on both sides of the Polaris and said.

"In order to arrange the paddle wheels on both sides, the paddle steamer made a compromise on the height of the drive shaft. The drive shaft of the beam steam engine is arranged relatively high, so the freeboard of the ship is also relatively high.

The propellers of concealed steamships are all underwater, and the drive shaft can be arranged lower. The horizontal reciprocating steam engine used with the drive shaft can also be arranged lower, lowering the center of gravity of the ship and improving the stability of the ship during operation.

.

And if it is a warship, the power system arranged below the waterline is less likely to be damaged by local shells.

Commodore Perry liked that the freeboard of the concealed ship was lower than that of the paddle wheel, and the propeller hidden under the water was safer than the huge paddle wheel exposed on the water. Without the paddle wheels on both sides, more doors could be installed.

Cannons increase the firepower of warships.

Of course, concealed steamships are also more maneuverable and are more suitable as warships than paddle steamers."

Liang Yao of the U.S. Navy has learned a lot about the Navy. Under the auspices of Perry and Navy Department officials with strategic vision, the U.S. Navy's vaporization rate has been greatly improved.

However, the U.S. Navy's method of increasing the steamization rate is also very crude, that is, by equipping a large number of small steamships of five to six hundred tons, or even one to two hundred tons, to increase the navy's steamization rate.

The U.S. Navy only has a limited number of steamships over 1,000 tons.

Therefore, although the vaporization rate of the U.S. Navy has increased, and the data on paper looks very good, in fact, the U.S.'s ocean combat capabilities have not been greatly improved.

Large ships still rely on sailing battleships to support the scene, and even the sails of steam ships have not been cancelled. Sails are still retained on steam battleships as a backup plan.

In fact, there is nothing to criticize about this. Early steamships were not stable. Even the steam battleships of the British Royal Navy retained sails as alternative power to avoid being unable to move on the water after the power system was damaged.

Becoming a living target for the enemy.

This is true for warships, and even more so for civilian ships. Many of the steamships Liang Yao saw in the New York port also retained sails and drove a hybrid power mode of steam power and sail power.

However, among the merchant ships traveling between various countries in New York Port, many merchant ships flying the British Union Jack have canceled their sails and completely use steam power to drive the ships, including hidden steamships.

This also shows from the side that the British steam engine technology and level are quite mature and they are very confident in their steam engines.

"The problem is the steam engine?" Liang Yao guessed the reason.

"Yes." Jeremiah nodded and said.

"I have tried to build small hidden ships. Although I have made some breakthroughs, there are still many problems that have not been solved. For example, my horizontal reciprocating engine has insufficient power and can only drive a small ship of two to three hundred tons.

And I think the layout of the hidden ship has more advantages in building ocean-going ships. I am not willing to just build small ships.

The British are now able to build hidden steamships with a tonnage comparable to the Polaris, and their technology is more mature than that of the United States.

The British Royal Navy is replacing a large number of concealed ships and rifled guns, and the French are not far behind the British in this regard.

In terms of ships, we in the United States have a first-mover advantage over the United Kingdom. We built the first steamship and the first concealed steamer, and also poached many shipbuilding talents from Europe.

And now we are being overtaken by Britain and France in shipbuilding, so American shipbuilders should reflect on this."

The launch of Liang Yao's Pioneer greatly narrowed the gap between the United States and traditional powers such as Britain and France in terms of train shipping. However, shipbuilders like them failed to narrow the gap with Britain and France in shipbuilding. This made Jeremiah

Feel a little guilty.

"According to my understanding, if you want to create an advanced concealed ship, you not only need to solve the problem of insufficient power of the steam engine, but also making a marine propeller is a technology. For example, the propeller's pitch, rotation angle, and materials are all very delicate issues.

." Liang Yao thought for a while and said.

"It seems that you have done your homework before asking me these questions. These are also the difficulties in making propeller ships."

Jeremiah was pleased that Liang Yao asked such a professional question. Liang Yao had such a serious spirit of seeking knowledge and a thoughtful mind.

"I am not an expert in marine propellers. Regarding the technical issues of marine propellers, you can ask Ericson and Clover for advice after you get ashore. They are two experts in this field and have the most patented propeller technologies.

If you want to build a concealed ship as quickly as possible, the patented technology of these two experts cannot be bypassed."

It is reasonable for the technical team he led to be able to produce an epoch-making train locomotive like the Pioneer.

Jeremiah already knew that Liang Yao was about to take over Vanderbilt's shipyard. Liang Yao learned so many technical details of hidden ships from him. He guessed that Liang Yao would directly try to build hidden ships after taking over Vanderbilt's shipyard.

ship.

Liang Yao thanked Jeremiah, took out the notepad he carried with him from his pocket, and wrote down the names of Erikson and Claver on the notepad.

In the next two days, everyone on the ship fell into a carnival, celebrating and enjoying themselves. No one realized that danger was quietly approaching them.

On the night of the third day, there was a heavy downpour in the sky, and dense clouds shrouded the sky above the Polaris.

Vanderbilt made the fatal mistake of not only drinking himself, but also allowing the crew of the Polar Star to drink.

He will pay the price for his complacency.

Because the weather was very bad, the drunken helmsman did not notice that the Polaris had deviated from its course and was heading towards a reef area.

What's worse is that the captain of the Polaris didn't notice this fatal problem.

Suddenly, the Polaris shook violently as if it had hit something.

The violent shaking startled the revelers on the ship, and also caused Vanderbilt to wake up suddenly.

Vanderbilt took three steps and two steps at a time. On the swaying Polaris, his steps were still very vigorous, and he arrived at the cockpit as if he was walking on flat ground.

"Why are there rocks ahead? Has the ship deviated from its course?"

Liang Yao didn't drink much. After he felt the violent shaking of the ship, he immediately came to the cockpit to see what happened.

After seeing clearly the situation in front of the ship, Liang Yao's nerves suddenly became tense.

I saw the waters in front of the Polaris, with ferocious rocks exposed under the rough waves.

This is only the exposed reef that can be seen by the naked eye. Who knows how many more reefs are invisible under the water.

"My God."

Vanderbilt, who had always been calm and composed, couldn't help but be shocked when he saw this scene. He tried his best to wake up and calm down his mind.

Vanderbilt did not bother scolding the crew on duty at this time. He took over the helm of the ship and said to the shocked passengers while steering.

"Gentlemen, this is God's test for the Polar Star. It is a rare life experience to experience such an exciting voyage through the reef area. Now I will lead you through the reef area!"

As he spoke, Vanderbilt calmly steered the ship through the rocky waters.

Fortunately, Vanderbilt had traveled through this area many times in his early years, and he knew this area well.

The materials used in the Polar Star were also very solid. Although it hit rocks three times during the period, fortunately, the hull of the Polar Star was hard enough to withstand these three impacts.

What is more uncomfortable is that as a 2,500-ton paddle steamer, the Polaris is relatively bulky and has poor maneuverability.

Even Vanderbilt's driving skills were proficient and he knew enough about this reef area.

However, the slow-moving Polaris still inevitably hit the rocks. The only thing Vanderbilt could do was to avoid the rocks as much as possible. If he couldn't avoid it, he would control the speed and angle of the impact and reduce the intensity of the impact.

.

The crew and passengers on the ship could only pray to God, praying that the Polar Star could leave the reef area as soon as possible and return to its scheduled safe route.

In the end, God favored them. Although the Polar Star was badly bruised by the collision with the rocks, it still safely sailed away from the reef area.

It's just that the Polaris' paddlewheel has been severely damaged. Even if the steam turbine's horsepower is fully turned on, the paddlewheel flapping feebly on the sea cannot provide much power for the Polaris. The Polaris can only move at a turtle speed of about 3 knots.

Sailing on the sea.

Fortunately, the weather improved the next day, and Polaris met up with the Navy fleet returning to Baltimore Naval Base.

This fleet provided them with help, and several battleships worked together to tow the Polaris back to Baltimore.

It's just that the dry dock at Baltimore Naval Port is not open to civilian ships.

Liang Yao found out that the person in charge of the Baltimore Naval Port was Perry, so he sent a telegram asking Perry to allow the Polaris to use the Navy's dry dock at the Baltimore Military Port for repairs.

Perry agreed to Liang Yao's request, but they had to pay a usage fee of US$2,000 for the use of the Navy's dry dock.

The money was of course provided by Vanderbilt. US$2,000 was not a large fee for him. Vanderbilt readily agreed to this request and paid the US$2,000 usage fee on the spot.

.

Vanderbilt inspected the Polaris with great distress. Fortunately, except for the paddle wheel wing which was seriously damaged and needed to be replaced, other parts of the Polaris were not seriously damaged and had not been damaged to the point of breaking the muscles and bones.

As long as there are enough manpower, it can be repaired quickly.

Hearing that members of the Qing Dynasty's mission to the United States were also on board the Polaris, Perry did not dare to neglect and rushed to the Baltimore military port as soon as possible to confirm the status of the members of the Qing Dynasty's mission.

After learning that there were no casualties among the Qing envoys visiting the United States, and only a few envoys were frightened, Perry breathed a sigh of relief and reported the news to Fillmore via telegram.

president.

But Perry couldn't help but lectured Vanderbilt, blaming Vanderbilt for not rashly taking members of the Qing Dynasty's mission to the United States on a voyage.

Baltimore is the closest and most important large naval base to Washington, the capital of the United States.

Baltimore is to the United States what Port Arthur and Weihaiwei are to the Qing Dynasty.

After the Second War of Independence, the United States learned its lesson and spent huge sums of money to expand the Baltimore Military Port to ensure the security of its capital, Washington.

In the Baltimore military port, there are five large ships of over 1,000 tons parked. These ships are the main battleships of the U.S. Navy. Perry's ship, the USS Mississippi, is also among them.

In addition to five large ships of over 1,000 tons, there are also several small ships ranging from four to five hundred tons to seven or eight hundred tons in the port.

The U.S. Navy is well-trained, at least the U.S. Navy in Baltimore Naval Port is like this.

The sailors wearing straw hats to protect themselves from the sun looked curiously at the Polaris that had just been towed into the Baltimore Naval Port. However, they were quickly reprimanded by the officers and returned to their respective posts honestly.

Those who scrubbed the deck continued to rub the deck with stones, those who cleaned the guns continued to clean the guns, those who replaced the sails continued to replace the sails, and those who inspected the steam turbine continued to inspect the steam turbine. Everyone performed their duties.

Everything in the military port was very orderly. Even the sailors who were not on duty and on shore leave with their collars open did not cause trouble in the port.

Perry is in charge of the Baltimore Naval Port. It is expected that Perry is very good at running the military and can make these sailors and naval officers obedient.

At this time, the U.S. Navy had not yet expanded its force. Although it was small in size, it was superior in quality and they were all professional soldiers.

These U.S. Navy soldiers and officers in the Baltimore Naval Port must be the cream of the U.S. Navy.

Due to the small size of the navy and the small number of people, the uniforms of the American navy before the Civil War were still very exquisite. Even ordinary soldiers could wear well-sewn dark blue sailor uniforms, beautiful dark blue trousers, and a pair of leather shoes.

.

The uniforms of naval officers above petty officers are the same as those of ordinary sailors, except that there are golden piping at the seam of the trousers. The thicker the piping, the higher the military rank.

This is just their casual clothes. Liang Yao heard that ordinary navy officers wear expensive tuxedos as military uniforms.

This alone is enough to make his colleagues in the Army envious.

(End of chapter)