1855 United States Tycoon

The Scrooge family is not the only one who is interested in building the big cake of warships, but Vanderbilt, the king of railways, is also eyeing it. Vanderbilt is the overlord of the transportation industry and also has a strong strength in shipbuilding. And because he has been operating on the railway for many years, they have very good technology in the traditional reciprocating steam engine. The steamships they built accounted for a large share of the inland waterways. Of course, the situation of sea routes is different from that of inland rivers. There, the British have a clear advantage in market share because of their advantages in shipbuilding technology. However, everyone knows that the imaginary enemy targeted by the United States Navy’s shipbuilding plan is the British. Therefore, it is natural that this business will not be the turn of the British to divide the profit. In fact, since its establishment, the number one imaginary enemy of the United States Navy has always been the Royal Navy. Just to deal with this photographable opponent, the United States Navy must first conquer a super mountain that is almost harder to conquer than the world's tallest Mount Everest-Capitol Hill.

The guys in Congress have always used all means to deduct military expenditures. Compared with the army, which is reduced to less than one-tenth of the original after each battle, the navy’s situation is still better, and it will not. From time to time, the Congress is forced to lose weight, but that's all they can get.

Fortunately, thanks to the gifts of the Spaniards and the British, the White House and Capitol Hill are uncharacteristically planning to strengthen the navy. Of course, such an opportunity must be seized. However, the navy immediately faced a problem, that is, even the navy. I don't know what the navy should be.

Generally speaking, the world's boss always has countless fans, and this is no exception at any time. For example, in later generations, the harmless little white rabbits of humans and animals are recognized as the biggest fan of the bald eagle. Especially when developing the navy and air force, the new toys made are basically more powerful than each.

This principle also existed in the 19th century. At this time in the United States Navy, it was also a stubborn fan of the navy. What, to strengthen the navy, do not know how to strengthen? That's not easy, just follow the appearance of Niuniu Haijun. For latecomers, copycat winners have always been the highest school approach. However, this time, it was difficult for them to decide how to copy.

Because this is the time when the navy switched from sails to steam power, and there were wooden warships to steel warships. Even the Royal Navy itself was very confused about the future direction. The British themselves were very confused about what warships in the new era should look like. Also controversial. For example, on the issue of how the fleet should confront the enemy, some people insist that the battle line should be used to deal with the enemy in the traditional way. Others, based on the experience of the Lisa naval battle, feel that they have hard-to-break iron armor, and new warships should be equipped. Go up the collision angle, face the enemy head-on, and if necessary, you can rush up and use the collision angle to solve the battle. The Austrian Navy defeated the Italian Navy in one fell swoop in the Battle of Lisa by relying on the impact tactics of the wedge-shaped horizontal team facing the enemy. Well, according to this experience, even the Royal Navy has equipped own warships with ancient collision angles.Changes in tactics will naturally lead to changes in the design of warships. In the era of battle lines, warships use sides to face the enemy. Therefore, artillery must be installed on both sides to facilitate the use of firepower. The experience of the Lisa naval battle tells everyone that in the era of ironclad ships, if the tactics of the horizontal charge are adopted, the bow of the ship must be confronted with the enemy. Therefore, the arrangement of the artillery position must also be adapted to the characteristics of the era of the front of the enemy. Well, to put it more simply, the guns of the armored ships—at least the main guns—must be able to fire directly in front of them at the same time. Therefore, the installation methods of naval guns of that era tend to be particularly weird. For example, in the original history of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the Beiyang Navy imported the "Dingyuan" and "Zhenyuan" first- The main artillery of the level iron armored ship is arranged at a certain oblique angle in the midsection, and can only exert the firepower of the main artillery at the same time when facing the enemy.

Of course, that battle also proved that in the era of rapid development of artillery, the iron-clad line tactics were not reliable. The Beiyang navy who adopted the line tactics wanted to replicate the victory of the Lisa naval battle, but they were given more. With rapid-fire guns, the Japanese fleet using column tactics was defeated. The Lisa naval battle is not so easy to replicate. What is especially difficult is that even if you do everything well, you still need a key condition, that is, the opposite team is Italian.

Now, as soon as the United States Navy proposes to build a warship, Vanderbilt’s shipyard immediately came up with a set of design plans. It can be seen that he was also prepared for a long time, and the preliminary plan he came up with seemed to be the same as what the British were doing. Those things are very similar, um, they are all amidships turreted iron armored ships that are suitable for horizontal battles by absorbing the experience of the Lisa naval battle.

"It can be seen that Mr. Vanderbilt was well prepared. Scrooge, Mr. Vanderbilt is more experienced in shipbuilding than you. Are you sure to defeat him?"

"Morgan, don't forget that the Navy doesn't want ships, but weapons. And I am more at crafting weapons than Vanderbilt. Moreover, I prepared earlier than him. Sample ships have been built. "Scrooge smiled. As a rebirth, he still had big killers such as steam turbines and tube retreats in his hands, plus his understanding of the tactics of later generations, if he could not compare to Vanderbilt's hands. In fact, it was a detour design plan, so it's better to buy a piece of tofu and hit it to death. However, um, it seems that in this era of United States, it is really not easy to find tofu.

"A sample ship has been built?" Morgan was taken aback. "You have a lot of investment. If you don't get it, you will lose a lot."

"If it's not selected, it can be used for other purposes." Scrooge smiled, "For example, sell it to you at a high price."

"You built another horrible yacht?" Morgan reacted immediately.

"How could it be possible to cheat people?" Scrooge said, "My credibility has always been very good, don't slander me. This ship is intended to be a warship, um, a warship is a platform for cannon shooting, so stability is very important. . So you don’t have to worry, this boat is not as prone to sway as the one you use now. A yacht is very suitable."

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

"She hasn't installed weapons and armor yet, so she has a smaller displacement and can run faster. Well, the current displacement is about 3,000 tons, and it can run to 25 knots. After installing these, According to our calculations, the displacement will be ascending 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 will take you to see if I have time. goods?"

"Well, I'm looking forward to it." Morgan said, and after a while, he suddenly asked again, "Scrooge, can your thing be faster, it's better to be as fast as the current one."

...

A few days later, Scrooge and Morgan's joint shipbuilding company also proposed an own design plan. One of the navy personnel sent to review this plan was Mahan.

"Mr. Mahan, welcome." As soon as Mahan got off the carriage, Scrooge greeted him.

"Mr. MacDonald, you come to meet him personally. I really can't afford it." Mahan said with a smile. Ma Han was born in 1840, not much older than Scrooge. In the original history, this naval strategist who became famous all over the world and the author of "The Theory of Sea Power" was just a man at this time. A mid-rank officer, although he achieved second place when he graduated from the Annapolis Naval Academy, at this time, he should have been just a small person who was not very eye-catching. However, in this time and space, Scrooge deliberately developed him. Not only did he provide him with a lot of channels to publish various articles, but also through letters, some from later generations or even later Mahan's own view faintly inspired him, and as a result, in this time and space. This young man grew up in theory much faster than in the original time and space, and now he has a small reputation in the navy.

"Nothing, we are friends." Scrooge said with a smile, "and, our design is also derived from the new tactics discussed with us."

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

In this exhibition hall is a large-scale model of a warship. This is a very peculiar warship. First of all, there is no such thing as the current popular angle collision at the bow of this warship, and its bow is obviously drifting outwards, which is extraordinarily beautiful.

"What are the benefits of such a bow?" an officer asked.

"The drifting bow is not easy to get into the waves, and it performs better in high sea conditions." A technology personnel explained.

"Without the collision angle, how to sink the enemy ship?" Someone asked, apparently this person was also deeply affected by the experience of the Lisa naval battle.

"There is no need to hit corners, because we have cannons that can fire shells that can penetrate armor and explode inside enemy ships. The advantage in firepower coupled with the advantage in speed makes our warships no need to compete with enemy warships. What kind of close-range impact game to play.” Scrooge said triumphantly, “Do you remember the ideal warship that Mr. Mahan mentioned in the newspaper last week? Well, one with a high rate of fire and a long range. And an ideal warship with high speed and long range."

"Think about it, everyone." Scrooge continued to brag about the warship. "What kind of a nightmare an enemy ship is when it encounters such a warship. You have noticed the long guns on the model. Is it controlled? Because of the use of McDonald’s unique self-tightening technology, it can be made very light, but it can withstand greater pressure. This also allows the shells it fires to easily penetrate the current UK The human armor of those iron-clad ships that seem indestructible. And it has a faster speed than the British, and can always actively control the distance to the enemy ship. At the distance where we can penetrate the British, their guns give We don’t have enough tickles. They want to come close and desperately? But we are faster and they can’t rely on it. They want to escape? But they can’t get away with the same problem. Not to mention the British armored ships have artillery. Many blind spots, such as the side-to-back direction, have almost no decent firepower, and our warships are much faster than them, so we can easily occupy such an advantageous position, using our front and rear main guns arranged on the central axis. Attack them together from the side. This is an epoch-making warship. Once launched, he can even turn all the existing warships of the entire British Navy into scrap!"

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