Three novel-shaped warships are quietly moored at the Chengshan Port Pier.
Completely different from the traditional square-headed, high-sided and wide-bodied large Fu ships, the forecastle and poop of these three ships have been significantly lowered, especially the forecastle, which is almost completely retracted into the narrow-at-top and wide-at-the-bottom hull.
This is the new type of warship built by Jiangnan Shipyard based on the galleon.
The winter before last, in the "hunting operation" launched by the garrison task force, two large Portuguese sailing ships were successfully captured - the carrack "Duke of Goa" and the galleon "Oriental Beauty". Mr. Zhao was overjoyed and immediately brought the Oriental Beauty, which represented the future trend, back to Chongming Island and ordered the shipyard to use all its strength and dismantle and replicate it at all costs.
With the unremitting efforts of Yang Fan and others, and with almost unlimited human, financial and material support, they finally reverse-engineered a full-scale ship model last spring. Then they spent more than half a year to simultaneously build these three half-size new warships.
Although it was said to be half the size, it was obviously larger than the thousand-ton Dafu ship parked not far away, and was only slightly smaller than the ten-thousand-ton Wuwei ship.
Oh yes, now the Coast Guard has switched to a new unit of measurement, which uses the tons of water displaced by the ship to indicate the size of the ship. For example, the displacement of a 1,000-ton Dafu ship is 333 tons. The displacement of a 1,000-ton Wuwei ship is 500 tons.
These three new warships were all 400 tons, similar in size to the light galleon that the Portuguese deployed in the Battle of Futian Bay a few years ago.
Although the three ships have the same tonnage and identical hulls, their sails are different.
One ship was a complete imitation of a Western square sail; one ship used a Chinese-style sail; and the other ship combined the two types of sailing equipment - mainly a Chinese-style hard sail, but a Western-style square sail was installed at the top of each mast.
These are naturally the three combinations of sailing equipment that Yang Fan came up with in order to test the advantages and disadvantages of Chinese and Western sailing equipment.
The three ships were completed last winter, and then stayed in the dock for a full 100 days before being launched in the spring. However, they still belong to Jiangnan Shipyard. According to the regulations formulated by Mr. Zhao, they must conduct offshore trials, ocean trials, and test weapons, sails, cables and other systems under different sea conditions. Only after there are no problems can they be delivered to the Coast Guard and officially put into service.
The three ships came to Jeonra Island for ocean trials and equipment testing. The group attached great importance to this, and even Zhao Hao came from the capital to participate in the test. Yang Fan and Zhao Shizhen naturally did not dare to neglect it, and they came to Chengshan Port with the ship.
~~
Zhao Hao arrived last night. He went up the mountain and stayed at the police academy at Sunrise Peak. Last year, he went to Beijing early and missed the launching ceremony. This was the first time he saw the three sisters he had brought into the world with his own eyes.
But to be honest, perhaps because his expectations were too high, he felt a little disappointed after seeing the real ship.
These three ships are beautifully shaped and well made, but where are the gun ports on the ships? Why is there only a single gun deck?
Double-layer artillery is the way to go! Is there any technical difficulty that cannot be overcome and cannot be built?
"How many guns can be installed on this ship?" he asked Yang Fan calmly.
"Twenty-four doors, two at the bow, four at the stern, and nine on each side." Yang Fan replied hurriedly.
"Not much." Wang Rulong curled his lips and said, "It has two fewer guns than the Zhenwo Ship."
The Zhenwo was the Wanhu Wuwei ship with the hull number 101. In the "Punishment Operation against Japan" two years ago, each ship had made more or less military achievements, and most of them were awarded the right to name it.
As the flagship, the 101st ship did not participate in the battle at first, but in the final Battle of Kanmon Strait, it served as the vanguard and rushed into the Mori navy, making the first contribution to the final victory. The ship also won the right to name because of this battle, and the officers and soldiers on the ship named it "Zhenwo"!
"General Wang, don't be impatient. This is a half-size ship for testing." Yang Fan knew what Mr. Zhao was thinking about, so he patiently explained, "In fact, these three ships are all double-deck, but the side of the 400-ton warship is much shorter than that of the 800-ton one. It's no problem to add a layer of artillery in the cabin, but the position of the gun port is too low, and it's easy for seawater to flood in."
"Is that so..." Wang Rulong then fell silent.
Zhao Hao was also relieved. He thought, yes, if we follow the classification standards of British warships in later generations, this size would not even be enough for the lowest level 6 ship. And the 6th level ship is a single-layer gun deck warship, so it is natural that these three ships do not have double-layer guns.
"The original Oriental Beauty has a displacement of 800 tons, so there is no such problem. We have calculated that a ship of at least 600 tons is needed to install a double deck and increase the number of guns to more than 40." Yang Fan saw that the excitement of the young master had faded a lot. Fearing that it would affect the weight of himself and the shipyard in Zhao Hao's heart, he hurriedly said: "Our shipyard has begun to prepare materials for the 666-ton ship. If there is no problem with this trial voyage, you can see our double-deck gun battleship at this time next year."
"Alas, year after year, my beard has turned white from waiting." Wang Rulong sighed depressedly and spoke out Zhao Hao's real thoughts.
Young Master Zhao naturally couldn't let Yang Fan and the others down, so he quickly adjusted his mentality and laughed happily, "This is a good thing. You have to eat your food one bite at a time. You can't eat hot tofu in a hurry. Besides, a double-deck artillery battleship can be built in three years, which is much faster than I expected."
"The main reason is that we have no experience in building large ships, let alone this kind of Western ship. It doesn't mean that we can just scale it up and be done with it. There are huge differences. We can only explore little by little. If we take big steps, we will get hurt." Yang Fan coughed lightly and said, "Besides, I... don't recommend building a ship over 700 tons on Chongming Island."
"Why?" Wang Rulong and others asked in confusion.
"How old is Feng Zhou..." Yang Fan's words made them all shut up.
This is no longer the era of Zheng He when large ships of 2,000 to 3,000 tons were common. The imperial court built a ship to enthrone the King of Ryukyu and to show its power. It was only 2,500 tons, or about 750 tons. This was already the largest ship in the Ming Dynasty.
Jiangnan Shipyard is located on Chongming Island. Although it is separated from the mainland by a river, the confidentiality is relatively good. But it is definitely not far away. Moreover, the Yangtze River estuary has become a golden waterway. Every day, there are many ships coming and going. If people see that the ship being built is bigger than the Fengzhou, even if it is just about the same size, it will attract countless gossips...
This kind of thing can be big or small. It doesn't matter if no one wants to make trouble. But once someone dislikes Zhao Hao and wants to deal with him, this is the best excuse.
Yang Fan was still an official of the imperial court, so he was politically sensitive.
Well, actually, after he arrived at the garrison area and saw the tens of thousands of elite coast guards and hundreds of warships, he was almost scared to death...
"It's no big deal, it's nothing more than building a few more ships." Seeing the generals' regretful faces, Zhao Hao waved his hand and said, "In the short term, we are fighting at home, without the pressure of logistics, and we can win by numbers. Besides, Europe is just starting to play with galleons now, and a ship of more than 600 tons is enough to fight them."
In fact, he didn't say anything more, that is, when conditions are ripe in the future, we can build another shipyard in the Tamra Garrison District. No one will care if we build a 1,000-ton or even 2,000-ton ship here.
Of course, that’s all in the past.
~~
In addition, due to the tight schedule and insufficient materials, only the key structures such as the keel and ribs of these three ships were made of hardwood. The rest of the parts were made of ordinary pine and fir, so the strength was definitely not as good as the all-oak galleon, and the service life was only about 20 years.
Although there were many unsatisfactory aspects, when Master Zhao boarded the ship for a visit, he was delighted to find that these three warships had actually made a qualitative leap.
For example, because the interior of the hull uses a straight deck and there is no bulkhead to support the structure, a large number of ribs are used, almost one after another. These ribs are all made of hardwood and can provide good defense for the warship.
Moreover, the strengthening of the hull structure also helps to equip a large number of artillery on board without having to worry about the recoil of the artillery salvos, which will shake the hull apart. So as long as the size is appropriate, double-layer artillery can be installed.
In addition, there is actually a watertight compartment under the lower deck, which greatly improves the survivability of the warship, which is an advantage that Western ships do not have.
When visiting the artillery on the weather deck, Zhao Shizhen, who never disappoints anyone, also gave Zhao Hao a big surprise.
When he lifted the rainproof cloth wrapped around the cannon, everyone immediately discovered that this cannon was unusual.
First of all, the vent at the rear of the barrel is actually covered with a wooden cover, which looks mysterious.
Secondly, there is an iron screw structure on the gun carriage under the gun body.
Zhao Hao knew at a glance that this was used to adjust the elevation of the artillery. He walked forward with great interest, grasped the iron handle next to the screw, and wanted to turn it to see the effect of the adjustment.
Who knew that when I tried hard, it didn't move at all...
Young Master Zhao resisted the urge to add another hand, and released his hand, saying, "It's time to add oil."
"The gun body is too heavy. It takes two people to turn it." Zhao Shizhen also served Zhao Hao. How could he not know his uncle's problem of being too concerned about face?
Wang Rulong, who was standing by, also grasped the handle curiously, and with one hand he turned it, and it started to spin...
Zhao Shizhen immediately added: "Of course, this does not include the natural supernatural powers of General Wang."
"It's quite tight. I used a lot of force." Wang Rulong also tried to make amends without changing his expression. He looked rough, but how could he be a real rough man who could achieve his position?
So Ma Yinglong also stepped forward, and the two of them turned the screw steadily together, and they saw that the tail of the gun slowly rose up, and the muzzle naturally dropped.
Amidst cheers, the two men spun in the opposite direction, and the muzzle of the gun rose as expected.
Although it is a bit difficult for ordinary gunners to operate, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, because being able to adjust the elevation angle is so important. Especially when attacking the other side, it can greatly improve the hit rate at range.
P.S. Oh my god, because of the epidemic, the kindergarten is also on holiday. There are two monsters at home... I have only finished one chapter so far. If I write another chapter, I will have to go to bed at 3 o'clock... I have set the alarm clock and will get up early tomorrow to write. Don't worry, I will definitely update three chapters tomorrow, and I won't go to bed if I don't finish it.