Struggle in Russia

Building ships with steel is taken for granted and easy in the eyes of later generations. But in the early nineteenth century, it was a huge undertaking, with countless difficulties to overcome.

For example, the navigation problem mentioned above, such as the rust problem mentioned by Li Xiao just now. The former can be overcome through the efforts of George Airy and others (it has not been completely solved, and must be constantly corrected during the voyage). And the latter had no solution at all in 1847.

The reason comes from two aspects. There was no usable anti-rust paint at that time, and there were great defects in shipbuilding raw materials.

Let me talk about the problem of anti-rust paint first. Don't think it's easy, it's just a matter of painting. But this actually involves all aspects of chemistry, and it cannot be done without sufficient chemical industry foundation. At least not in Russia.

For example, the anti-rust paint for ships of later generations that Li Xiao knows contains quite a few chemical components that do not exist in this era. Starting from scratch requires too much investment and requires a complete industrial chain, which is simply unrealistic.

What Li Xiao can get is some earlier anti-rust products, the performance is not so ideal, the price may be very touching, and...

"And this kind of paint is very toxic, not only for people who come into direct contact, but also for marine life..."

Li Xiao is not the Holy Mother of the Environment, but he doesn't want poisons to be rampant in the world, and he doesn't want those workers and soldiers exposed to this kind of anti-rust paint to struggle in pain for the rest of their lives. Must be reminded.

It's just that he seems to be a little bit overwhelmed, because neither Lazarev nor Bellingshausen cares at all. It's not that these two veterans are cold-blooded and ruthless, but that at that time there was no such awareness at all, and they didn't pay special attention to the environment or human nature. People paid attention to the effects and benefits.

Prolonging the life of a ship costing tens of thousands of pounds is more worthy of attention than the life of a person who cannot earn a thousand pounds for a lifetime.

In a sense, human life in this era is really worthless. Although Li Xiao didn't like this kind of concept, he couldn't make people of this era change immediately.

The material base determines the superstructure, just as the third world poor millet of later generations don't care about the bad impact on their homes caused by the development of highly polluting industries or the recycling of highly toxic waste from developed countries. When there is not enough to eat, people are more concerned about having enough to eat. It is so simple and realistic.

In fact, Li Xiao didn't really care about it, he just made his conscience feel better and made himself appear less cold-blooded and heartless. Because he knows that in this era of cannibalism, if you want to live better, you have to pay a price, just like the British Industrial Revolution made sheep cannibalize people,

If Russia, which is more backward, wants to develop, there must be various cannibalistic movements, and the primitive accumulation of capital is always extremely bloody and violent.

So Li Xiao quickly skipped this topic and continued to talk about technology: "If you want better rust prevention, the change of shipbuilding materials is also a very important aspect. As far as I know, today's iron ships are more Using wrought iron?"

Lazarev asked suspiciously, "Is there any question?"

Of course, there are problems. Everyone knows about wrought iron, that is, iron with a carbon content of less than 0.05%, can also be called pure iron. This stuff is soft, extensible and plastic. However, this thing is too soft, and it is not a good material for boat building.

For example, most of the earliest ironware manufactured by humans were made of wrought iron. For example, the iron swords of ancient Rome were generally wrought iron swords. To be honest, that thing is actually not very useful as a weapon. Because it is too soft, it may be deformed after a few cuts. It can be seen in ancient books that ancient Roman soldiers had to step on the sword body to straighten it after fighting with a wrought iron sword.

Similarly, when used in shipbuilding, wrought iron also has the problem of insufficient strength as a structural component, and it is easy to deform under the action of gravity and waves. Of course, the most important thing is that it is easy to rust.

According to the records of the Royal Navy, if a ship with a wrought iron hull is not properly maintained, its average lifespan will be very impressive, often turning into a pile of leaky scrap iron in less than ten years. So around 1847, criticizing iron-built ships was actually the mainstream in the UK, and even the British stopped building wrought-iron ships at one time because there were too many problems.

Li Xiao's meaning is very simple, that is to skip this stage and switch to steel shipbuilding. In essence, steel and iron only differ in carbon content, but their physical properties are vastly different. Steel is stronger and better suited for shipbuilding.

Of course, steel, especially ordinary carbon steel, also has serious corrosion problems, especially in high-salt and high-humidity marine environments, where corrosion is almost inevitable. Even in the 21st century, the problem of rust still exists and cannot be eradicated.

The reason why Li Xiao recommends steel is very simple, not only because it is the mainstream in the future, but also because the steel industry in Russia is desolate. Whether it is the first or the second industrial revolution, steel is always fundamental.

You can't make anything without enough steel, you can't build a railway skyscraper or a giant ship. Therefore, it is necessary to use the corrosion problem of iron-built ships to indirectly promote the development of the Russian steel industry.

"Steelmaking is imperative. Steel has too many advantages over wrought iron. In the future, all ships must be built with steel. This will make our warships stronger in defense, lighter in weight and more buoyant!"

Both Lazarev and Bellingshausen were stunned, because in their traditional thinking, isn't steel heavier than wood? How can a ship made of steel be lighter than a ship made of wood? Shouldn't it be the other way around?

Li Xiao patiently explained: "The density of steel is indeed higher than that of wood, and it is indeed heavier under the same volume. But steel is tougher than wood. Ships with the same displacement use steel as the structural material, because the steel structure is strong and can be used Less material to achieve the same structural strength as wood."

Li Xiao did not lie about this point. In fact, wooden boats generally have the problem of insufficient structural strength. The bigger the wooden boat, the more obvious this problem is. Because of the nature of the material itself, wood has to pay a heavier structural price.

For example, the British Royal Navy has found through research that wooden ships generally suffer from chronic diseases such as keel deformation and ship plank displacement. Especially if it has encountered stormy weather or has been in service for a long time, the whole ship will be seriously deformed, and it almost makes people want to hit the wall when it is repaired.

But iron-hulled ships hardly have this problem. According to research by the Royal Navy, iron-hulled ships can be 15% lighter than wooden ship structures, and have about 10% more buoyancy. Moreover, the hull will hardly undergo structural deformation due to its own weight, which is much superior to wooden boats...