Chapter 369 Ambition of a Powerful Battleship (Second update, please subscribe)
The news of victory came quickly. Almost on the same day that the South China army captured Buenos Aires, the news reached South China.
"Extra, Extra, the government troops conquered Buenos Aires, Sarnto fled to Uruguay..."
"Extra, Extra, the government troops have won a great victory!"
Even in the design room of the shipyard, Ruanda could still hear the cries of newsboys outside the window. Those newsboys who used their extracurricular time to sell newspapers seemed extremely excited.
After all, the newspaper boys are the ones who have the strongest sense of belonging to Nanhua. Although they were not born here, most of them grew up here. That is why they are even more excited about the victory.
This excitement is more because they regard themselves as Nanhua people from the bottom of their hearts. As part of Nanhua, they will naturally be excited about Nanhua's victory and proud of Nanhua's victory.
"The government troops have won a great victory!"
Ruanda was stunned for a moment, even a little absent-minded, and then he talked to himself.
"Why so fast?"
As he spoke, he looked at the warship blueprint he was drawing on the table, and his tone sounded a little lost.
Last year, Luanda returned from studying in the UK and joined the Nanhua Shipyard. He has participated in the construction of many ships and is designing a new type of warship. He originally hoped to take advantage of the special situation of war to make the warship he designed win the favor of the navy, but he never expected that the war would end so quickly.
"The war is over. Will this warship still be accepted by the navy?"
While talking to himself, Luanda looked out the window. The sounds of forging iron beams and hammering rivets in the shipyard were like a concerto, echoing in the shipyard. In the dock, workers on the scaffolding next to several huge ships were busy like ants, swinging hammers and hammering rivets. The fiery red rivets were tossed in the air, drawing streaks of light.
The six giant ships being built there are all 10,000-ton ships. Four of them are ore carriers with a displacement of more than 10,000 tons, and the other two are 10,000-ton immigration ships. Although their specifications are far inferior to the "Great Eastern", the 10,000-ton ships are an unprecedented breakthrough for the South China shipbuilding industry. Even now, there are only a few countries in the world that have built such huge merchant ships. Of course, the warships of countries such as Britain, France and Italy have long exceeded the 10,000-ton mark.
"With the experience of building 10,000-ton merchant ships, our shipbuilding technology will have a breakthrough, and then we can build warships with larger tonnage, from 5,000 tons to 10,000 tons, and then to 20,000 tons?"
Once again, Cao Anda thought of what Liang Mingwei, the shipyard's chief ship engineer, had said to them, that building these giant ships was just for training and to accumulate shipbuilding technology.
Of course, it is not just for practice. Take the 10,000-ton ore carrier as an example. Compared with ordinary bulk ships, the advantage of an ore carrier is that it can be loaded and unloaded quickly, and it can withstand rough operations when transporting goods such as coal and ore. Its bottom tank steel plate is thicker and can withstand chain shovel loading and unloading of goods.
Ore transport ships are merchant ships that South China urgently needs because it now needs to import hundreds of thousands of tons of high-quality coal every year. Ruanda heard about this when he first arrived at the shipyard. The reason why South China imported high-quality coking coal from the Cape Town Colony was because it was limited by the tonnage of the ships, the transportation volume was limited, and the cost was relatively high.
Otherwise, coal can be transported from Alaska, where there are large coal mines. However, due to distance limitations, large-tonnage coal transport ships are required to reduce transportation costs.
As for the 10,000-ton immigration ship, its importance is self-evident. Nanhua needs Tangshan's human resources to enrich its own population. Although Nanhua has as many as 50 registered immigration ships, transporting hundreds of thousands of immigrants to Nanhua every year, even so, it still cannot meet Nanhua's population demand.
Building immigration ships with stronger transport capabilities has become an inevitable choice. These two immigration ships are just the beginning. Even in the design room led by the shipyard's chief engineer Li Weil, there are already immigration ships with a displacement that is not inferior to that of the Great Eastern.
Market demand stimulated Nanhua's shipbuilding capabilities, but in Luanda's opinion, this pace of progress was still a bit too slow. When he was studying in the UK, he had witnessed the size of the British Royal Navy and personally participated in the construction of a 10,000-ton giant battleship. Since then, he has had a desire in his heart - to build a battleship that can defend Nanhua.
After returning to South China, Ruanda has been studying the direction of future warships in his spare time. While drawing sketches of many warships, he is also trying to explore the boundaries of South China's shipbuilding industry, or the potential of South China's shipbuilding industry.
"In fact, Nanhua's shipbuilding technology is still very strong..."
Ruanda said to himself.
"We can take bigger steps and build bigger ships, just like Brunel built the Great Eastern."
Looking at the giant ship in the distance, although the home port of the "Great Eastern" has been changed from Nanhua to Linhai with the completion of the Pacific Railway, Ruanda can still remember his surprise when he first saw the giant ship. In his opinion, it was the "Great Eastern" that pushed the British shipbuilding industry to an unprecedented height.
And now?
"Will they be the Nan Hua's Great Eastern?"
Looking at the six giant ships under construction in the shipyard, although their tonnage is considerable and they will be completed next year, in Ruanda's opinion, it is difficult for them to become the driving force for the development of the shipbuilding industry like the "Great Eastern".
Back at the drawing table, Ruanda looked at the drawing on the table and talked to himself.
"You don't need to follow the rules. If you want to develop quickly, you have to break the rules!"
After making up his mind, Luanda pursed his lips, picked up the pen again and said.
"The Navy will definitely need larger ships..."
As if he had made up his mind, Luanda tore off the drawing, then narrowed his eyes and muttered to himself.
“What the Navy needs is their Great Eastern, just like the South China shipbuilding community.”
Although the war may be over now, he believed at the time that it was not truly over because expansion would lead to tensions in international relations.
This might even lead to a decision to expand the navy, which also means his warships.
No, it means the navy needs more powerful ships.
This was also his opportunity, his chance to sell a powerful warship to the Navy.
All he needed was to convince the navy with a more powerful warship!
(End of this chapter)
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