1855 United States Tycoon

After finalizing the basic principles of cooperation with Bismarck, Scrooge went to the University of Göttingen as usual to make a move. At the University of Göttingen, Scrooge is undoubtedly one of the most popular characters, because he always brings some new and interesting ideas every time he comes. According to some scientists, Scrooge was actually very inspired in pure theory, but he put more energy on technology rather than science. Otherwise, he might be able to achieve greater scientific results. success. As for another reason for welcoming him, it is more secular, that is, Scrooge never comes empty-handed every time, he always brings various donations or something. Although these donations are attached with some conditions, for example, the University of Göttingen must accept a certain number of exchange students from the University of Cleveland. But such conditions are not difficult for the University of Göttingen. Although at the academic level, the University of Cleveland is still better than many Göttingen, at least in mathematics. But in other subjects, especially in the academic level of engineering subjects, the University of Cleveland can definitely be regarded as one of the world's top universities. The only problem is that its history is a little shorter.

After signing a series of cooperation agreements with the University of Göttingen and the University of Berlin, Scrooge finally embarked on the road to return home. At this time, the first new warship built by him and Morgan for the Navy was officially launched.

This is the first fast cruiser built for the Navy by the Morgan McDonald Shipyard. By convention, when announcing the launch, the factory owner would ask a woman to smash a bottle of champagne on the ship, and then the ship would slide into the sea along the slide. This boat was no exception when it was launched. Morgan's wife Mimi played this role. After Morgan gave a speech on behalf of the shipyard, Mimi raised the champagne in her hand and threw it towards the bow of the fast cruiser. The champagne bottle smashed to pieces on the steel bow of the cruiser, and then the three thousand-ton cruiser began to follow the buttered slide, and its buttocks slid back toward the sea.

The stern of the cruiser hit the water, splashing a wave of snow, and the warship itself shook a bit, but obviously, the fins played a big role, and the ship soon returned to stability. However, successful launching does not mean that the ship is built. In fact, in order to avoid the impact of launching and damaging some important parts, many things have not had time to be installed on this ship. A tugboat towed it into a dock, where it will be loaded with the last parts-propellers and weapon systems. Only then can the sea test officially begin.

It took another few months to install these things, so it wasn't until April that the ship was officially built. On April 6, 1868, the cruiser named Cleveland was once again towed out of the dry dock by a tugboat and began her sea trial.

The navy, including the United States Navy and the Royal Navy, attaches great importance to the sea trials of this cruiser. Since the launch of the ship, the Royal Navy ships stationed in Bermuda have always been circling around the Morgan McDonald Shipyard. Obviously, they want to take this opportunity to see how the new warships of the United States Navy are.

There are indeed too many new things on this warship: a steam turbine, a backpack turret arranged on the central axis, a retreatable main gun with the same caliber, and a hardened steel armor on the surface. Some of the advantages of these things can be seen, and some can't be seen at a glance. The Royal Navy is most concerned about the speed and seaworthiness of this ship. In the eyes of the British, confronting them head-on is not afraid of any opponent.

The initial sea trial project of the cruiser "Cleveland" was just general sailing, testing rudder efficiency and cruising fuel consumption, as well as the state of the ship in general sea conditions. During the first one-week voyage, the British warship tried very hard to follow behind. "Cleveland" increased its cruising speed to 18 knots, so it didn't take long for the British guy's mast to sink below sea level-this speed had exceeded the British guy's limit.

However, the United States people didn't really want the British to see something, so when the second round of sea trials came, the high-speed cruiser simply appeared in the newspaper report. The newly established Wall Street Journal issued an exclusive report about the fast cruiser sailing from New York to the Port of Tampa in Florida at an average speed of 20 knots. And also accompanied by photos to illustrate.

"Amazingly high speed. What do you think of this ship?" Chancellor Benjamin Disraeli asked the naval officers in front of him. Although he was only the Chancellor of the Exchequer, because Prime Minister Derby's health was so bad that he could hardly govern him, Benjamin Disraeli became the de facto Prime Minister in the cabinet.

"Sir, the high speed of this ship is in our expectation." A navy general replied, "We have acquired the technology related to steam turbines. Moreover, in order to gain time, we also ordered from McDonald. A batch of marine steam turbines. Similar models will soon appear in our navy. And we are trying to build larger warships, including battleships with a displacement of more than 10,000 tons. So this kind of warship is not a threat to us. It's too big. But some of her other design features are very interesting. One of our young people came up with some interesting insights after studying the photos."

"Is this the boy you brought? Well, the boy is already a lieutenant colonel at such a young age. Lieutenant colonel, can you tell me your name?" Benjamin Disraeli asked.

"My name is John, John Abbasnot Fisher," the young lieutenant colonel replied.

"Lieutenant Colonel Fisher is an expert in artillery." The general said, "Many of the recent changes to the Royal Navy's "Shooting Model" are derived from his research."

"Very good!" Benjamin Disraeli said, "What do you see from the relevant information?"

"Your Excellency, this is a photo taken by our warship at close range." Lieutenant Colonel Fisher took out a photo from the file bag he held in his hand and put it on the table. There are these, but let’s just look at this picture. This is the three views of the Cleveland-class fast cruiser drawn by our technology personnel based on photos from different angles. Your Minister, look at this warship. The design of high freeboard is adopted, and the bow is obviously drifting outwards, which shows that they attach great importance to sailing performance. This ship should also perform well in higher sea conditions. All artillery are arranged on the central axis. There are two turrets in the front and one in the back. This is a very special arrangement, and your sir, please note that there is a base under the B turret, which makes it higher than the A turret, so that it faces the front In the case of the enemy, the A turret will not block the firing area of ​​the B turret. If the center of gravity is not too high, this is a very good design.

Your Excellency, you see, according to the artillery layout arranged in this way, the most suitable direction for exerting firepower is still the side. When firing to the side, the three turrets, a total of six main guns, can fire. This shows that the warship of the United States still intends to fight in a column..."

"Wait." Benjamin Disraeli asked. "Why are the United States still insisting on using column combat?"

"I think there may be several reasons for this. First of all, because the United States people feel that their warships are faster. When they seize positions, it is always easy to occupy a better position, and it is easier to seize a position in a column. Position and maintain their positional advantage. Secondly, they may be very confident in their artillery.” Lieutenant Colonel Fisher pointed to the artillery on the three-view and said, “Your Excellency, please look at these guns. They have some of these. Features: First of all, all guns are the same. On this warship, there is no so-called first-level main gun and second-level main gun. All guns are the same. In this way, when firing, All turrets can be fired according to almost the same parameters. The aiming efficiency of the artillery and the efficiency of the firepower will be higher than that of ordinary warships. Secondly, you see, the caliber of these artillery is quite limited, but the barrel is very long. According to the results of our judgment based on the picture, the barrel length of these artillery guns is about five meters. Now no one in the navies of any country uses a cannon with such a long barrel. Longer barrels can win longer shells. Acceleration time. The speed of the shells may be faster, and the faster shells have better penetration. The artillery of the United States is mostly designed to penetrate the armor of the enemy ship. If their artillery Can penetrate the opponent's armor, but it is difficult for the opponent to penetrate their armor, and they have a higher speed, so naturally there is no need to rely on corners to solve the problem. Then the column is naturally better than the horizontal team."

"Well, the analysis is good. Young man!" Benjamin Disraeli said, "but I still don't understand. Well, you see, the freeboard of this kind of warship is already very high, which is very easy to cause. The center of gravity is too high, resulting in poor stability when sailing. If such a problem occurs, the freeboard will be made so high, right? On the basis of the high freeboard, they also adopted a fully enclosed turret structure. This will definitely make the center of gravity higher, and then on this basis, the B turret is also padded, and with such a long barrel, plus the length-to-width ratio of this ship is larger than that of ordinary warships. In this way, how to ensure the stability of the ship? How to ensure that the whole ship will not be swayed after a shot?” It can be seen that although he is only the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Benjamin Disraeli is also quite good at the navy.

"Your Excellency, look at the artillery on these photos." Lieutenant Colonel Fisher was prepared for this question. "These artillery calibers are relatively small. We judge from the photos of these guns that the calibers of these guns should be It is about 4 inches or 5 inches. On our cruisers of comparable weight, the main guns used are all guns with a caliber of 8 to 9 inches, so our guns will naturally be much heavier."

"Such a small caliber, even if it penetrates the armor, its lethality is limited." Benjamin Disraeli asked. After all, at this time, the semi-armor-piercing projectile with explosives was far from appearing.

"As long as you can penetrate the opponent, but also make it impossible for the opponent to catch up, run away, and fight slowly, you can always defeat the enemy." Lieutenant Colonel Fisher replied.

"I can see that the patience of the United States people is really good. Young man, do you think the direction of the United States people is right?" Benjamin Disraeli asked.

"The idea of ​​the United States is very interesting. I think there are some places we can learn." Lieutenant Colonel Fisher said, "We will also have high-speed warships, so we can also use column operations, so our future ships should also The artillery is arranged on the central axis. As for whether to use small-caliber artillery with high muzzle velocity, I think it needs to be studied. It is best to have actual combat examples. It is still difficult to judge whether the United States’ approach is correct."

"If it weren’t for the transfer of technology, we agreed not to sell ships equipped with steam turbines to any other country. I would rather let the Spaniards equip them with horizontal ironclad ships with steam turbines, so that they and the United States would have Try it to see the result." Benjamin Disraeli said with a smile.

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