The Rise of the European Emperor

In early September, two new warships were launched from the Emden shipyard. These two battleships are both 500-ton "Hoffman-class" battleships, using the battleship construction method of dense keel ribs and thickened broadsides. In addition, the ship is equipped with 40 12-pound iron guns, which are full of protection and attack power.

Moreover, because of the 4 to 1 aspect ratio, the speed of the warship reached 10 knots, which was higher than the 9 knots of the 250-class armed merchant ships.

It can be said that this "Hoffman-class" battleship, which is based on the later British Galen ships, has high protection, strong attack power, and is extremely fast...

In short, in this era, it is the most perfect warship...

After the first Hoffman-class warship was launched in October last year, Marin was satisfied, so he arranged for the Emden shipyard to start using high-temperature steam boxes and molds according to the previously recorded data, and began to mass-bend the warships. required boat ribs. The interior of the wood was completely soaked because it was washed by the high temperature steam for several hours. For this reason, these ship ribs need to be air-dried for several months before they can be used again.

Therefore, by the spring of the following year, these ship ribs can be used for shipbuilding. Coincidentally, Marin's caravan purchased two 30-meter-long main keel timbers from Eastern Europe, and the construction of two new warships began. By the end of August and the beginning of September, the two ships could finally be launched...

Marin came to inspect in person again, and felt good on board the ship. As a result, two warships were officially commissioned and were numbered as Hoffmann-class ships No. 2 and No. 3.

Sailors on board have no problem handling both full rigged sails on board (midships, fore and aft jibs, for downwind voyages) and full jibs (for headwind voyages). Because, the sailor school founded by Marin has trained a large number of young Frisian fishermen to become sailors. A battleship needs only 60 sailors to control the sails. Marin has trained two or three thousand sailors, which is completely enough.

Of course, the artillery on the ship is somewhat difficult to cultivate. Marin set up an artillery training camp on land to train artillery. However, firing guns on land and firing guns on ships are two completely different things.

To fire on land, if the artillery of the turret is used, there is no "reset" link at all, which is extremely simple. Because the stone foundation of the turret can completely absorb the recoil of the artillery, no matter how large the caliber of the artillery is.

However, it was different on the ship. The four-wheeled gun mount "designed" by Marin based on the pictures he had seen in later generations. Otherwise, if it is fixed on the hull, all the recoil will react to the hull, and once the broadside salvo is fired, it will easily cause the ship to capsize...

Moreover, the back of the four-wheeled gun mount was tied with a rope before firing. After the gun was fired, the four-wheeled gun carriage slammed backwards due to the recoil force, and even broke the rope. Of course, the breaking of the rope at this stage will also absorb a lot of work done by the reaction force. Then, tie a knot in the broken rope and continue to use...

The guns on the warship must have their muzzles protruding from the gun doors of the ship's side and the lower plywood. However, since it is a front-loaded gun, if the muzzle remains outside, it is impossible to load gunpowder and shells from the muzzle. Therefore, the retreat of the four-wheeled gun carriage can also allow the muzzle to return to the ship, which is convenient for the gunner to load gunpowder and shells.

Therefore, the retreat of the four-wheeled gun mount and the breaking of the rope are very useful in terms of reducing the impact of the recoil of the artillery on the ship, and in terms of convenient loading.

But after the receding four-wheel gun mounts are loaded, there is one more step - reset, which requires several gunners to restore the heavy naval guns to their original positions, and fasten the ropes behind the gun mounts...

Fortunately, the four-wheeled gun mount has wheels. Although it is not a round wheel (the round wheel is unstable and will run), it is a regular polygonal wheel (mainly to increase the resistance and prevent the gun mount from automatically retreating and sliding), but the push belt wheel It is also much easier than simply carrying a heavy gun body. If you lift the gun body, how heavy is it? But a 12-pounder cannon,

Because for safety, it is designed according to the barrel of an 18-pound gun, which weighs 2 tons. Even if 10 people lift it, it can't lift it. Because, a person has to lift 200 kilograms of weight, which is equivalent to 400 kilograms, which is really impossible for ordinary people...

After using the four-wheel gun mount, although it is not easy to push, but 5 gunners can do it. After all, that's on wheels...

In fact, in this era, artillery is still a barrel, the era of artillery to carry. Because there is no need for gun mounts, and light-weight Fran cannons are now popular on warships, many warships now have dozens of artillery guns. When the guns are fired, everyone just lifts the gun bodies of the light Fran cannons to the side of the ship and mounts them, and it's fine to squeeze a little.

It's just that these "thin" small-caliber guns have little power in naval battles and can only bully small boats. Encountered a large ship, it is difficult to have a victory. The Portuguese were able to defeat the combined Indian-Egyptian fleet in the "Battle of Diu" because most of the other ships were small boats. Many warships were simply troop transport boats, and many were simply recruited from fishermen. The small fishing boats... Therefore, the Portuguese cannons of Fran can make contributions...

At the current stage of "lifting the gun barrel", if a heavy gun is made, the sailors will not be able to lift it. Even if it was lifted with a sailor, it was too heavy, and no one had the strength to lift it a few times. Far inferior to the four-wheeled gun mount designed by Marin, it relies on pushing. Pushing saves more effort than lifting, and it can last for a long time...

Therefore, the four-wheel gun mount "invented" by Marin is actually ahead of the times and is very suitable for heavy artillery. It's no wonder that Marin clearly copied the gun mounts of those famous sailing warships in the 18th century. Is there any unreasonable reason?

In this day and age, other European countries, not to mention naval warships, are also on the ground in the form of people carrying guns. They are all marching in horse-drawn carriages with gun barrels, and when they arrive on the battlefield, people will lift the gun barrels off the carriage and bury them in front of the battle... Only the French invented the cannon lugs and began to use low-level four-wheeled frames to place the artillery, but There are many mounts behind Marin's three-pounder ...

In short, in the way of placement of artillery, Marin is already an era ahead of this era...

In order to allow the gunners to adapt to firing and aiming on the battleship, Marin ordered that the three ships should be trained to fire more and not be afraid of wasting ammunition. Moreover, Marin also intends to train more naval gunners. Therefore, he mobilized more gunners than needed from the artillery training camp, and boarded the ship to learn how to control the naval guns. Because, Marin intends to build more battleships...

In fact, Marin had prepared more ribs before. Emden Shipyard, which had previously bent the ribs needed to make 10 warships. However, the number of 30-meter-long main keels was insufficient, so only three battleships were built first. If the number of main keels is sufficient, building 10 will be no problem...

At present, it is probably aware of the prosperity of maritime trade. Now the royal families of many Western European countries regard the old oak trees higher than 20 meters as a strategic resource of the country. Marin is hard to come by, even if he wants to.

In fact, in inland Europe, there are many old oak trees as high as 20 to 30 meters. However, if it is too inland, such a large trunk may not be able to be transported to the sea smoothly...

After all, a tree trunk that is several tens of meters long weighs more than ten tons. Such a heavy thing must be transported as a whole and cannot be cut. How difficult is it?

Therefore, even if there is such a big tree in the inland mountainous area, it cannot be transported out. Even if shipped, the price is staggeringly high...

In this era, the keel required for shipbuilding. Those oak trees often grow on the seaside, which is convenient to pull to the seaside, or grow on the riverside that connects to the sea. In this way, after the old oak tree is felled, it can be floated on the river, down the river, and reach the sea...

As for those old oak trees hidden in the deep mountains, I'm sorry, but they can't be shipped out when they are found; the price is unaffordable when they are shipped out... And most of those old oak trees that grow by the seaside and big rivers have long been sold by those shipbuilders. The craftsmen of the factory found it and cut it down, it won't wait for you to find out...

Therefore, it was difficult for Marin to collect the main keel material with a length of 30 meters. Unlike the Americas, the Americas are almost undeveloped (the Indians have done little damage to nature), and there are many old oak trees tens of meters high by the seaside and rivers. Looking for a keel, Garland said that even though Cape Breton Island is dominated by taiga, there are still plenty of old oak trees over 30 meters long that are suitable for keels.

Just before Garland left Cape Breton Island and returned to East Friesland, he instructed the settlers to chop down a dozen trees 30 to 40 meters long (Note: Marin has previously promoted the use of meters, kilometers, kilograms, grams, Several hundred-year-old oak trees, such as mu and other new weights and measures), and organized everyone to carry them to the designated air-drying position with difficulty. Because of this, everyone was almost exhausted. After a year or two, however, Marin will add a dozen or so keels suitable for large boats.

The problem is that these old, freshly felled oaks have to dry for a year or two before they are suitable for boat building, and Marin has to wait...

However, while Marin was waiting anxiously, the boat that went to the Teutonic State to sell salt came back and brought back a surprise to Marin...

It turned out that Marin allowed old Sten Stuley to send young officers into Schwartz's leading new army to receive training and learn new tactics, which made old Sten Stuley very grateful.

In return, the old Sten Stuley, from the Swedish shipyard, found 5 huge oak logs with a length of 30 meters and gave them to Marin to be used as the main keel of the new warship.

These logs, which have been dried in Swedish shipyards for a long time, have reached the shipbuilding demand. Moreover, in fact, the Swedish shipyard does not intend to build four or five hundred-ton ships, but only intends to build the currently popular two- or three-hundred-ton ships. Therefore, these 5 logs were originally intended to be sawn a little shorter. Fortunately, old Sten Stuley found out in advance and gave it to Marin in return for Marin's support for him.

So, Marin sent a ship to the Baltic Sea region. When they returned, they went to Sweden to tie these 5 huge logs to the side of the ship, and took them back to East Frisian...

After getting these five huge oak logs, Marin immediately organized craftsmen to process them and make them into the main keel of the ship. With the ship's ribs and other materials that have been prepared for a long time, the new 5 warships can also be built at the same time. Until early next year, five new 500-ton "Hoffmann-class" warships will be launched. By that time, Marin, who has 8 large warships equipped with heavy artillery, can also be called a little overlord at sea...