Chapter 267: Sanctions from the Great Powers Are Also Opportunities (Second Update, Please Subscribe)
The shipyard located in Zuowan has become a large factory with more than 10,000 employees after several expansions. In the autumn rain, the shipyard is still as busy as before.
The drizzle hit the workers' hats weakly. Although it was raining, the craftsmen in the Nanhua Shipyard were still busy. The red rivets were tossed in the air like meteors. The riveters standing on the scaffolding grabbed the rivets in mid-air with pliers, inserted them into the nail holes in the steel plates and hammered the rivets. In the double hull, the young apprentices used their shoulders to support the wooden plugs to ensure that the rivets were fixed. The process of building a double hull was similar to that of the Great Eastern. A large number of young apprentices were needed. They were small and could work in the mezzanine.
Child labor is the most common phenomenon in this era. This is nothing strange. Liang Mingwei, wearing a rubberized raincoat, stood under the awning beside the dock, looking at the drawings and talking to the supervisors from time to time.
At this point, the ship had already taken shape - it was a real steel-hulled ship.
"The armor belt at the waterline is made of two-inch full steel armor, which has the same resistance as 2.5-inch iron armor, and the inner steel shell is 0.5 inches. With such thick steel armor, only the British A-style rifled heavy artillery can pose a threat to it..."
There was an immediate discussion in the awning.
"This money is not wasted!"
“It’s worth it!”
The reason why everyone made such a discussion was because this ship was indeed very expensive. The budget for the hull alone was more than 150,000 yuan. If the steam engine and naval guns were added, the price would directly exceed 200,000 yuan.
"It's a bit expensive, but it's all worth it. However, you have to remember that the launch time must be consistent with the schedule. The Coast Guard has been waiting for this warship."
Liang Mingwei's voice sounded a little anxious, and his tone was colder than the rain.
The ship under construction is an ironclad gunboat purchased by the Coast Guard. In fact, it is designed based on the mosquito gunboat, but it has a larger tonnage, a single mast and a single chimney, the mast is behind the chimney, the main gun is at the bow, and there is a ram below the waterline... You can see the shadow of the "mosquito gunboat" everywhere.
According to the view of later generations, it can be called a "coastal defense ironclad ship" or a "small ironclad ship". What is the purpose of building such a small ironclad ship?
Of course it is to strengthen South China’s maritime power, but there is another more important reason - exercise!
By building armored ships, we can accumulate shipbuilding experience and train a team that can build ironclad ships. In fact, the development of industry is like fighting monsters, which is to constantly upgrade, first fight small monsters, and then fight big bosses.
What is the ultimate goal?
Of course, it is to build a real ironclad ship, the kind that weighs 10,000 tons!
But at the moment, being able to build such a 1,400-ton ironclad ship can be regarded as a leap forward for Nanhua's shipbuilding industry.
After giving a few more instructions to the engineers, Liang Mingwei turned to look at the officer next to him. He was wearing a white naval officer's uniform with his straight collar buttoned tightly. The officer's eyes were fixed on the warship.
"According to the design idea of facing the enemy with the bow, we focus on firepower in the bow direction. The main guns include two 254mm Krupp breech-loading steel cannons in front and behind, and a 30mm six-barrel rapid-fire machine gun to defend against small boats. At the same time, we added two 400mm torpedo tubes to enhance combat effectiveness..."
There was a hint of pride in his words as Liang Mingwei emphasized.
"Although its tonnage is small, its firepower is very strong. It has two 26-caliber 254mm main guns. Each gun has 100 rounds of ammunition, a maximum elevation angle of 10 degrees, a maximum depression angle of 3 degrees, and an effective range of 8,000 meters. It can penetrate 350mm steel plates at a distance of 3,000 meters. Although the exposed turrets have no armor, it has a good field of view and a large firing range. I dare say that there is no more powerful warship in the whole of South America than it."
After thinking about it, Liang Mingwei added.
"The cannon of the Tianlong class is 20 times longer than the barrel, and the barrel is too short. Although there are two more guns, but... that's it. Commander Gu, I dare say that the future will definitely be the era of this kind of ironclad ship, and now we are also designing more powerful warships."
While Liang Mingwei was introducing it, Gu Jingran just looked at the warship expressionlessly and then muttered to himself.
"As long as you can build it, the garrison will definitely purchase it. You should have heard that our contract to purchase warships in the UK has been frozen by the British..."
The contract freeze meant that the garrison could no longer purchase warships from the UK. In this situation, Nanhua’s shipyard seemed to be their only option.
"What? Frozen?"
Liang Mingwei had never heard of it. As an engineer, he rarely paid attention to these things. Nothing was more important than shipbuilding.
But in a flash, he was secretly delighted. This was definitely a good thing for the shipyard. After all, in terms of shipbuilding technology, the current Nanhua Shipyard was definitely not as good as the British. Under this premise, the Coast Guard would definitely be more willing to buy British warships, even if it cost a little more money.
After all, quality comes first.
But now that the British have frozen the contract, it means that for the Coast Guard, Nanhua Shipyard has become their only option.
This is a great thing!
Of course, even if he was secretly happy in his heart, he would not show it, but spoke in a puzzled tone.
"What's going on?"
"What else could it be? It's because of Chile. The British are asking us to explain our actions in Chile and even asking us to withdraw our troops."
With a cold smile, Gu Jingran said,
"Those foreigners just want us to withdraw our troops without paying any attention to the treaty we signed with Chile. Since we have a treaty, why should we withdraw? That's why the British want to freeze the contract to force us to make concessions and withdraw our troops from Chile."
The so-called freezing of the contract is actually the last bargaining chip of the British. In addition, they have one more option left, which is to use force.
They thought that this would make Nanhua surrender, but they were definitely wrong. At least for Zhu Xianhai, he would never succumb to such pressure.
Others would not give in. In many cases, pressure is also motivation! The British's arrogance became the driving force for Nanhua to develop itself.
Staring at the warship whose hull was about to be completed in the dock, Gu Jingran narrowed his eyes slightly.
"So, the garrison means that no matter what, they will support you in building this warship. After it is built, we will go to the sea for sea trials and target practice, and then use this to prove to the British that they want to strangle us... Don't even think about it! This is just the beginning, and we will definitely purchase more warships in the future."
Gu Ranran's words made Liang Mingwei's heart surge. What made him surge was definitely not because of these words to save face, but because he saw a chance, a chance.
It is not only an opportunity for Nanhua Shipyard, but also an opportunity for him personally.
He nodded repeatedly and said.
"So that's how it is. We need to hurry up..."
"time!"
Gu Jingran said.
"The most important thing now is time. The British diplomatic protest has only just begun. Who knows what they will do next? Our two "Tianlong-class" ships are now in Valparaiso, Chile. South China has no naval power at all. If the British intervene, then we can only rely on shore artillery!"
Fortunately, Nanhua's coastal defense artillery is still strong enough to never passively take a beating. It can even guarantee to teach a profound lesson to any enemy invading from the sea. However, this situation of having a sea but no defense is definitely not what the garrison wants to see.
What they need are warships, battleships that can fight against the British warships of tens of thousands of tons.
Perhaps in the past they looked down on this little ship carrying a 10-inch gun, but at the moment they really had no better choice than this ship.
Whether out of helplessness or to stimulate the development of Nanhua Shipyard, purchasing domestically-produced warships has become the only option at present.
Staring at the workers in the dock, Liang Mingwei thought for a while and said.
"Well, I have an idea, maybe I can try it!"
"What is the solution?"
Gu Jingran asked with some surprise.
"Work the night shift. If we can bring the electric lights from Suzaku Street here, the workers can be divided into two-day shifts and work day and night. I can at least shorten the construction period by half. If everything goes well, we can put it into operation within a month. But the electric lights..."
Before he could finish, Gu Jingran spoke.
"I'll find a way to turn on the lights. Please quickly transfer some workers and see if we can catch up with the deadline!"
(End of this chapter)
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