New Ming Empire mixed in America

Li Mingqi was very satisfied with the maiden voyage of the new warship, because the improved steam turbine was used as the main power, the speed reached about 25 knots, and the cruising speed was 15 to 18 knots.

To be honest, this speed is comparable to the standard speed of dreadnoughts during World War I, but it cannot be compared like this.

Because these new warships of the Xinming Empire still belong to the category of ironclad ships, although the hulls are designed with an outer steel hull, a wooden board in the middle, and a layer of thin steel plates inlaid on the inside.

But generally speaking, it is similar to the current hull structure of the Warrior. The bottom of the ship is still made of wood, with just an extra layer of thin steel plates.

The ship is 101 meters long, 21 meters wide, and has a draft of 8 meters. Because it has more space than the previous design to facilitate coal loading, the displacement after full load reaches 10,600 tons, barely squeezing into the 10,000-ton ranks.

The displacement is small and the body is slender, coupled with the advanced steam turbine, the speed is so high.

If operated at full capacity at this speed, it can already catch up with the clipper ship, which ensures that the warship can effectively deal with the enemy's fast sailing ship.

Li Mingqi's plan is that when the dreadnought era comes, this new type of warship can also be used as a frigate.

Most of the Xinming Empire's investment was invested in battleships, so Li Mingqi attached great importance to the fact that such battleships could be used after they became obsolete in the future, so as to achieve the purpose of maximizing utilization.

The 365mm armored belt located on the hull can be said to be difficult to penetrate with current artillery performance.

The length of the four main guns has increased a lot due to the redesigned gun caliber.

The previous 305mm breech-loaded gun with a diameter of 25 times was replaced by a 406mm breech-loaded gun, which is much longer than before.

The armor of the command tower has also been further strengthened, with a thickness of 508 mm to ensure the basic safety of these imperial naval talents.

The rapid-fire cannons and large-caliber rotating machine guns on the side of the ship are important sources of force in close combat.

The communication antenna is installed on the top of the steel mast, with a complete set of rigging and sails. Together with the steam turbine, it ensures that the warship can cruise around the world at a speed of 18 knots. (Coaling at the port is required)

There are two 125mm secondary guns on the bow and stern of the ship. In addition, a steel ramming angle was added to the bow to ensure that the warship can fight its way through the siege.

Because there was no concept of environmental protection in this era, there was a conveyor belt in the boiler room dedicated to dumping cinders into the sea.

Of course, the medical cabin is also a must-have configuration, and the ammunition compartment is also equipped with a conveyor belt leading directly to the turret.

However, although this appears to be much more advanced, it also takes up a lot of space, which is why the new warships are taller.

Li Mingqi could imagine that after defeating Dai Ying's fleet, the whole world would definitely develop their own new warships based on the Xin Ming Empire warships.

And now those warships that have been launched or are being built have directly become outdated warships.

So whoever makes more now will suffer greater losses in the future.

The foreign navies that had the honor to see new warships for the first time were the four Tsarist Russian warships that escorted the immigrant fleet.

"Captain, you see, those Eastern fleets have started what they call 'exercises' again."

The first mate lazily leaned against the bow of the ship and smoked, and out of the corner of his eye saw the Royal Fleet dispatching.

"It's useless to continue practicing. I heard that the fleet with the British has been setting off for two months. When they arrive, these Eastern warships will definitely be sent to the bottom of the sea to feed the fish."

The captain held his cigar in his mouth and said disdainfully, and now most of the crew on his battleship have begun to smoke the foreign trade version of the Xin Ming Empire's cigarettes.

But to the captain, who had always looked down on Easterners, those soldiers simply surrendered and abandoned their own traditions.

Although Oriental cigarettes are cheap and plentiful, they are no match for cigars in terms of taste and appearance. I really don’t know why they are so popular among those soldiers.

Forgive the captain for ignoring the price of cigars. After all, there are no ordinary soldiers in his social circle.

In his opinion, the price of cigars is not expensive at all, it is only half a month's salary of those soldiers. Of course, this is the price of one cigar.

"Before the British fleet arrives, let these Easterners see more of the warships they once owned. After all, they will never be seen again in the future. It's so pitiful." Gu

The captain exhaled a long line of smoke, but after waiting for a while, he didn't hear the first mate's compliment, which made him a little unhappy.

Turning around, I saw the first mate holding up the binoculars with a ghostly expression.

"What are you doing? What's there to see in those Eastern warships?"

The captain muttered dissatisfiedly, then he couldn't hold it back and opened the telescope and looked over.

This glance made him freeze on the spot.

What did he see?

He saw two behemoths appearing in his telescope!

The hull, which was more than a hundred meters long, was slightly longer than his battleship, although it seemed that the other side had fewer naval guns.

But it can be seen from the opponent's large artillery caliber that it is powerful.

"What is that? How the hell do these Easterners have such warships?"

He finally understood why the first mate had that expression just now, because he felt that his expression might not look good now either.

"I think I can already imagine Daiying's expression when he saw this kind of warship from the East."

The first mate put down the binoculars and muttered something.

Because of their actions, the armored gunboats patrolling San Francisco began to cruise where they docked.

However, it was Li Mingqi's intention that they could see the new warships. Since they could not compete with Tsarist Russia in a short time, they could only use this method to show off their muscles.

"I really don't know how many of these warships there are in the East. I think we should set off back to the Far East and report this matter to the Minister of the Navy. We should change our attitude towards the East... towards the Xinming Empire."

The captain also put down his telescope, took out the cigar from his mouth, and said to the first mate:

"Give me one of your cigarettes, I should try this Oriental specialty..."

Not only the people on this Tsarist Russian warship saw the dispatch of the royal fleet, but the other three warships also saw it.

From this moment on, all Tsarist Russian soldiers who had seen the new warships restrained their arrogance as soldiers of a world power.

Although this type of ironclad ship has not yet demonstrated its power, based on the rich experience of these people in maritime combat, it is not difficult to see that the artillery on their warships will hardly cause any damage to this type of iron can.

The proud shells had proven to be ineffective against ironclads during the Crimean War.

On the other hand, although they are also steam-hybrid battleships, their hulls are still wooden hulls, with some iron sheets added at most.

Because it mainly relies on the side guns, no too thick iron plates were installed on the hull, otherwise the lower gun windows would not be able to be opened.

"Haha, so happy!"

After entering the alerted open sea, Song He led the fleet towards the target ship's position at full speed.

It was a British warship towed back from Victoria Freeport.

This battleship was repaired in the dock, so it escaped the naval battle that caused the Victoria Freeport to change ownership.

But now it still cannot escape the fate of being sunk.

PS: I broke my promise. I was notified today to go to the main factory to return my work clothes. Sorry, I was deducted more than 100 yuan in depreciation fees from my work clothes!!!

I’m convinced!!! This doesn’t include the time and fare I wasted by taking the light rail. (┯_┯)