The Rise of the European Emperor

Although it is said to be fearless, in fact, this kind of dreadnought ship is not really afraid of anything. If you encounter the fire boat tactics, even if it is covered with iron, the wooden boat is easy to catch fire. Therefore, "fearless" is actually just not afraid of shelling.

If you really want to make this kind of battleship invincible, you have to equip the battleship with super powerful artillery. For example, the Pexan gun of the 68-pound class. This short-barrel super heavy gun can be said to be the terminator of the era of wooden ships. Because of the Pexan cannon, world naval warfare has entered the age of ironclad ships.

But in this era, it is extremely difficult to build an ironclad ship. Among other things, stainless steel that resists seawater corrosion is not made in other countries. Therefore, as long as the Pexan cannon is built, the entire ocean can be monopolized.

Marin remembered that there were two 68-pound short-barreled heavy guns on the British Navy flagship Victory in later generations. As long as these two guns are aimed correctly, two guns can solve a French battleship.

That's a battleship of the same class! The thickness of the side is not generally strong, at least several times thicker than that of warships from other countries in this era. If it is used to deal with the two to three hundred ton boats that are mainstream in Europe in this era, it is estimated that one shot will be fired...

However, such a heavy cannon, even with a short barrel, is very difficult to cast. The casting of heavy artillery is not just pouring molten iron into the mold. It is also necessary to consider that there must be no trachoma on the body of the gun. As long as there is an unreasonable structure, the gun will be useless. Therefore, this requires craftsmen to try a lot. Once this kind of heavy artillery is produced, it will be invincible when paired with the "Dreadnought-class" thousand-ton battleship. Of course, the quantity should be enough. If the number is small, it will be difficult to obtain enough results...

A sailboat is a sailboat after all, even if Marin has stainless steel technology, it is difficult to transform the ship into an ironclad ship. Because if the ship is too heavy, the sails will not be able to carry it. Therefore, Marin only dared to let his men cover the exterior of the wooden boat with iron sheets, and at most the sides were covered with steel plates. Then, there is no other action. Otherwise, there will be too much steel, and the ship will snail crawl on the sea.

Even if it is covered with a little iron sheet and steel plate, it will affect the speed of the ship. For example, according to the original design of the "Constitution", the speed of the ship should be able to reach 13 knots. However, due to the drag of the armor weight, the speed was reduced to 12 knots. Although it was still faster than the 10 knots of an ordinary Galen ship, it was dragged down after all.

Historically, ironclad ships only appeared in the mid-19th century. In addition to steel technology, power is also an important factor. Without the power provided by large marine steam engines, it is impossible to build a real ironclad ship. Otherwise, the weight, driven by the sails, can only snail crawl on the sea...

It should be pointed out that, in addition to building dreadnoughts this time, the New York Shipyard also launched a modification package for a 500-ton warship - the sides are covered with iron sheets, plus upgraded masts and sails...

The side skin is easy to understand, that is, the side of the "Hoffmann-class" 500-ton warship is covered with stainless steel to enhance the side's anti-strike capability.

while upgrading masts and sails,

Then you need to use something special - sisal fiber...

Originally, because the "Hoffmann-class" warships used cables and canvases made of flax fibers. Therefore, the sail cannot be made too large or too high. Otherwise, the sails will be easily damaged by the wind.

Therefore, the previous "Hoffmann-class" warships had insufficient sail area, and their speed was similar to that of ordinary Galen ships, with a maximum speed of 10 knots.

But now it is different, because Cuba has started mass production of sisal. With enough sisal fiber, the department in charge of designing and manufacturing the sails at the shipyard can make larger sails.

This kind of sail is mainly made of sisal fiber, which has extremely strong tensile capacity. Therefore, it can also be made very large, not afraid of the tearing of the sea breeze. Then, it can also bring more thrust to the ship.

This is the secret of the "Constitution" of the later generations being able to break through the 10-knot speed limit of the Galen ship, because after the "Constitution" of the later generations was refitted, the sails were directly made of nylon ropes with strong tension, and the sail surface could be made Big enough to take full advantage of the wind.

Marin does not have nylon ropes, but sisal fibers grown naturally have higher strength. In later generations, compared with nylon rope, the only disadvantage of sisal fiber is probably the higher cost. And when it comes to performance, sisal wins out. So much so that in the 21st century, many marine cables still use sisal rope. The only advantage of nylon is probably its low cost.

In other words, with enough sisal fibers, Beihai can now obtain high-strength canvas. Even, the sail does not need to use sisal fiber entirely, but only needs to weave the main structure with sisal fiber. Then, just fill the center with flax fiber...

With this technology, the ships of the North Sea State will be able to make their masts higher in the future. Then, the canvas is also made larger, so that it can fully absorb the wind and propel the boat to obtain a higher speed. Don't increase too much, just like the "Constitution" to increase two or three knots, it is enough.

...

After passing Marin's acceptance and being named, Captain Hobbit led his men to drive the dreadnought back to New York. At the same time, he also brought an order to "manufacture 20 more such warships".

Of course, the New York shipyard is only responsible for building ships. The stainless steel sheets and steel plates for marine armor have to be produced by the steel factory in Krumhorn. After all, so far, the American colonies have not had their own steel base.

Cape Breton Island has Sydney coal mines, but no iron mines. The iron mines in North America are mainly in the west of the Great Lakes region. In other words, Marin needs to send troops to occupy the entire Pennsylvania, and even go west to reach Michigan before he can find the world-famous rich iron ore.

The Appalachian Mountains in western Pennsylvania are rich in coal resources. Pittsburgh, the steel center of the United States in later generations, is located at the western foot of the Appalachian Mountains, next to coal mines, and it is convenient to transport iron from Michigan. After the ore came over, it developed into a steel center.

But whether it is to occupy the Pittsburgh area in western Pennsylvania, or to hit the iron mining area in Michigan, it is still far away. Therefore, at present, the steel in the North Sea country mainly relies on the bituminous coal shipped from the Ruhr area to be processed into coke, and then imported laterite iron ore from Luxembourg to be processed into steel...

It's just that the Habsburg family of the poor ghost family has mortgaged all the iron mines in Luxembourg to Marin in exchange for three batches of loans of up to 900,000 gold coins, which account for the absolute majority of the Siena Bank's lending business. Moreover, judging from the emperor's intentions, it seems that he does not want to pay back the money, and plans to directly use the mortgage of the Luxembourg iron mining area to offset the loan...

Don't be surprised, the Habsburg family was so poor in this era. Because of Marin's intervention, Charles V failed to obtain the Spanish Empire, which owned the American gold and silver mines. Therefore, the Habsburg family is still a poor family.

Not to mention iron mines, the gold and silver mines in Austria have all been mortgaged by the Habsburg family. Among them, the Tyrol silver mine, the largest silver mine in Europe, was mortgaged to the Fugger family...

Marin didn't care about it, and planned to formally negotiate with the emperor after a while to use the ownership of the laterite iron mining area in southern Luxembourg to offset part of the loan. Of course, it is impossible to offset all 900,000 gold coins. Because, that iron mine is not worth that much...

It's not that this iron ore with hundreds of millions of tons of reserves is not worth so much money, but because, even if there are hundreds of millions of tons of iron ore, there is very little that can be developed without the help of modern machinery. The part that can be mined and utilized every year is very limited. Therefore, its value is greatly reduced.

Therefore, Marin intends to convert the iron mine to three to four hundred thousand gold coins, and transfer the territorial ownership of the red soil area in southern Luxembourg to his own name. In this way, the iron and steel industry in Beihai will not be controlled by others in the future.

Regardless of the fact that the total amount of iron ore in Luxembourg is not many hundreds of millions of tons, but that is compared with later generations. In this day and age, the demand for steel is very, very low. Even the Ming Empire, which had the largest steel output, had an annual steel output of only tens of thousands of tons. What's more, the iron production in Europe at this time is far lower than that of Daming. The lateritic iron mine in Luxembourg is enough for Marin to use for many years...