Australian Storm 1876

  Chapter 123 Technical Cooperation

  After the visit, Li Fushou and his entourage were warmly received by the shipyard. After intensive discussions between the accompanying personnel and the shipyard, the two parties agreed to further deepen the cooperation intention and start projects.

  First of all, the German Horvatz Naval Shipyard will send 120 senior shipyard technicians to the Hongshan Shipyard to teach advanced shipbuilding technology, and to accept the technical backbone of the Australian Hongshan Shipyard for further training in Germany to form close technical cooperation.

  Related technology transfer and personnel costs will be paid by the Red River Valley, and the Horvatz Naval Shipyard will appropriately reduce or exempt them based on the long-term consideration of the friendship between the two parties.

  Secondly, the two sides jointly launched the "Coastal Fast Patrol Ship" project.

  This is a fast patrol ship project tailored for the Red River Valley in Australia. After gathering opinions from all parties and user needs, the main technical indicators of this class of ship have been set.

  The fast patrol ship is a wave-piercing hull design, with an aspect ratio of 7.6:1, a displacement of 960 tons, a capacity of 37 people, a design speed of 23 knots, a single-axis drive, and the latest reciprocating steam engine.

  The first German-made 239mm main gun, four Belgian 70mm secondary guns, and four Gatling hand-operated heavy machine guns, equipped with four steam torpedo tubes.

  It can be seen that this is a fast ship that is good at speed and takes into account firepower. Its performance indicators are quite advanced.

This class of ship is named the "Seagull" class patrol ship, which will be organized and designed by the Horvatz Shipyard, reviewed and approved by the Royal German Surveyors' Association, and will be constructed at the Redhill Shipyard in Australia after the Horvatz Shipyard exports related technologies. .

  It is estimated that 8 ships of this class will be built, each with a cost of 860,000 gold marks, or about 43,000 pounds, which is equivalent to the construction of a new 12,000-ton ocean freighter. The total project value is 6.88 million gold marks.

  Even local tyrants such as Li Fushou, not only take a breath of air-conditioning at such a high price, but are full of helplessness in their hearts.

  Nothing. Now the world naval equipment market is in such a price quotation. Small-displacement warships are expensive, and large-displacement armored battleships are expensive. It is not a money-burning game that ordinary people can afford.

  Take the German cutting-edge iron-clad battleship "Deutsch" as an example. It has a displacement of 8,939 tons and is mainly armed with 8 254mm guns. It is a cutting-edge battleship launched in September 1874. The cost is as high as 8.17 million German marks, which is about 398,000 pounds.

In order to reduce the purchase cost, the German Royal Navy had to pinch its nose and use the old horizontal single-expansion engine, which is the traditional power configuration described by Earl Horvatz, resulting in the ship's speed can only be maintained at 12.2 knots. Slightly lower than the level of British ships of the same period.

  But the problem is that the British Royal Navy’s simultaneous ship has a displacement of 12,000 tons, can reach an average speed of 13 knots, and has double the firepower of the "Deutsche", and its protection is also far beyond.

  Only from this point of view, leading Germany is not a star and a half.

The Royal Navy also paid a heavy price for this. The cost of ordering far exceeds that of the "Deutsche", due to the use of eight latest large-scale reciprocating steam engines, 24 new coal-fired boilers, and newly developed high-hardness carburizing armored steel. , The order cost is said to have reached a staggering height of 640,000 pounds.

   Advanced is synonymous with expensive, which is very obvious on the "Seagull" class offshore patrol ship.

  This is actually a first-class light high-speed destroyer. The cost is greatly increased because of the newly designed streamlined hull. At the same time, it uses two medium-sized reciprocating steam engines and other new technologies, resulting in high costs.

  Li Fushou has a forward-looking vision, until the armored battleship will be eliminated by the former Dreadnought-class battleship in more than 10 years, and it will be reduced to a lot of expensive and useless scrap iron, consuming a huge amount of resources in vain.

  The Royal Navy of the British Empire can afford to lose money, but the Red River Valley is not so capable. You can only pick up economical games first, and train a small and powerful team by the way.

  In this era when the concept of naval destroyers did not appear, the first to build an affordable and economical ship, named Haiou class offshore patrol ship.

  If the hull is enlarged, it is an out-and-out destroyer.

  In the late 19th century

  The mainstream of the world’s navy development is the "giant ship artillery". Iron-clad battleships dominate the oceans and cruisers are supplemented by them. They rely on larger tonnage ships, thicker armor, larger caliber guns, and longer-range guns to crush the enemy.

The advent of the steam torpedo changed the rules of engagement at sea. In the 1870s, Britain produced the first torpedo boat "Bliksem", and similar ships quickly became popular.

  The torpedo boat drains about 100 tons, is equipped with a 30-40mm small artillery and two torpedo tubes, and has a speed of about 20 knots. It can launch torpedoes at close range and threaten the survival of the giant ship.

The   Gull-class light patrol ship is a new type of ship developed for torpedo boats. It can shred torpedo boats with gunfire at a long distance. The speed is even better, and the combat effectiveness is all-round.

  As for dealing with armored battleships, just listen to this kind of good thing as a joke, but don’t take it seriously, you can be foolish.

  Large iron-clad battleships have slow speed, but thick armor, fierce firepower, and wide artillery coverage.

Equipped with a dozen or two main guns at every turn, known as the "sea hammer", when fighting at full strength, it is like a sea behemoth full of fire, pouring out dense and frightening large-caliber heavy artillery shells, stirring up large areas of the sea. It's like a pot of porridge.

  Not to mention the one shot that tears into pieces like a toy. Even the huge water pressure caused by the near-vector bomb can squeeze and deform small toys such as the Seagull-class light patrol ship, and even cause the hull to rupture and sink.

   So in the Battle of Tsushima more than two decades later, the destroyers of Fuso State fired torpedoes in a collective charge, which is known as the "Desperate Charge."

  The third major cooperation between the Red River Valley of Australia and the German Horvatz Naval Shipyard is that Hongshan Iron and Steel Plant provides marine steel plates that are 10% below the market price to offset related expenses.

  In other words

  Red River Valley and Horvatz Naval Shipyard is essentially a barter trade. One side exports technology and advanced products, and the other exports marine steel plates, and everyone gets what they need.

  Li Fushou is of course happy to see such a situation, because Hongshan Iron and Steel Plant’s marine steel plates have not yet opened the most profitable export market in Europe. This agreement can be described as an ice-breaking journey and is of great significance.

   is not only of great significance to Hongshan Iron and Steel Works, Hongshan Shipyard, but also of great significance to the United Shipping Company in the 19th century.

  Why do you say that?

In the transoceanic trade route from Australia to Europe, the bulk goods exported from Australia, whether it is wool or pure wool yarn, or high-quality coking coal, are typical lightweight materials. Even if they are pressed into large packages, 5,000-ton ships cannot carry them. The reason for the 5000 tons of cargo is that the cargo space is not enough, and the pile is too high, which affects the safety of ocean shipping.

  When the squally winds and waves on the sea came, even the cargo ship was blown over and sunk.

  As for milk candies, milk powder, canned and other agricultural products, firstly, the quantity is small, and secondly, they are just ordinary goods, which can not save space.

Ship steel plates are different. A dozen or so layers of steel plates are pressed on the bilge, and then a large bag of pure wool yarn or other cargo is loaded on it. It is safe and can be loaded with more cargo. When combined with transportation, it is pure profit, which greatly improves the shipping company. Benefits of ocean transportation.

  The marine steel plate exported by the Red River Valley not only opens the ice of the European market, but also reaps significant benefits from it by virtue of its resource advantages. Steel products have always been bulk products, winning by quantity.

  One ton of steel makes ten shillings more, and 10,000 tons of steel is 5,000 pounds, which can promote the production of more value in related industries.

  Parting

Count Howards held Li Fushou's hands tightly, hoping that Li Fushou would have the opportunity to visit the manor located on the outskirts of the city. The apple pie baked by Countess Holz is very famous, and the apples are also produced in her own apple orchard. Yes, it is absolutely fresh.

  Li Fushou politely declined the invitation of the other party and is about to leave Europe. He does have too much to do.

  Parting greetings

  Li Fushou learned from the other side that the German Royal Navy owed a huge amount of money to the Horvatz Naval Shipyard, which was as high as several million gold marks, which put the entire shipyard's operation into a difficult situation.

  The German Royal Navy intends to deal with a batch of steam iron-clad battleships to pay off the shipyard’s debts. The key lies in the fact that most people can’t afford it and can’t afford it. They are all gold swallowing beasts.

A large-caliber heavy artillery shell is worth hundreds of pounds at every turn, and two dozen cannons are fired at thousands of pounds. Personnel costs, coal costs, maintenance costs, daily operating costs, etc., are like a bleeding wound. A weaker country simply cannot support it.

  Germany is a traditional land power. The Royal Navy’s budget has always occupied a small part of its expenditures and has to plan carefully.

As a result, the poor Earl Horvatz had to be like a street vendor, recommending old iron-clad battleships used by the Royal Navy to people everywhere. In a few years, he did not sell one of them. Instead, he became a nobleman in Munich. Characters.

Li Fushou asked about the price quietly, and Earl Howards' eyes lit up and said; "Dear Sir, the "Konnis William", a big guy with a displacement of 10,933 tons, only needs 150,000 pounds. The cost of reconstruction is hundreds of thousands of pounds. It is an invincible battleship in the Indian Ocean. Other smaller battleships are worth 100,000 pounds, which is the price of two new patrol ships. As long as you are willing to take over the price, it is easy to negotiate."

"Hey..." Li Fushou laughed dryly and said to the hopeful Earl Horvatz; "There is definitely no such demand in the Red River Valley, but I can use my personal connections to help you ask if there are any eastern countries willing to do so. I hope I can help you."

   "Uh... well, I hope so." Earl Horvatz replied disappointedly. This kind of perfunctory language is generally to refuse politely and never see the result.

  (End of this chapter)