Chapter 554: The Ship That Breaks Apart by Itself
Why did the Americans build over 2,700 Liberty Ships back then? The fundamental reason was money! Back then, a Liberty Ship cost about $2 million, which is roughly equivalent to $40 million today. So, these ships were quite expensive.
While profitability was one reason, there was another crucial reason for building so many Liberty ships: these ships didn't last long. They could break in two even after launching, before reaching Britain. This wasn't an isolated incident; it was a common occurrence. Over half of the 2,751 Liberty ships had serious cracks, and many sank while still sailing. For example, the Lillian Gish, discovered by Xiao Peng on the seabed, showed no signs of attack, yet its hull was split in two. At its peak, the Americans sank 140 Liberty ships a month.
However, these shipwrecks did not affect the subsequent construction of the "Liberty Ships." After all, they were a symbol of the "American miracle." They simply blamed the Germans for the sinking of the ships and continued to demand money from the Chinese: "Look how brutal the fighting is on the front lines! We've sunk so many ships! Hurry up and donate money to support the country."
Hearing this, some people may doubt that the "Liberty Ships" built by the Americans are "shoddy projects". In fact, this is a bit unfair to the Americans. They are very serious in building the "Liberty Ships". All ships must be verified to be of guaranteed quality and quantity before they can be launched.
So why did the massive sinking of the Liberty Ships happen? The real reason is: scientific progress!
That’s right, scientific progress!
In 1885, the Russian Benardos discovered the carbon electrode arc, and two years later, the American scientist Thomson invented resistance welding. Since then, electric welding has begun to flourish. By the 1920s, the United States had developed an automatic arc welding machine, and ten years later it invented submerged arc welding.
Why were the Liberty Ships built so quickly? They didn't use traditional riveting techniques. Riveting, on the other hand, required specially trained craftsmen, and at the time, one-third of the labor cost of building a ship was spent on riveters. The Liberty Ships, on the other hand, used welding entirely. This saved significant manpower and resources and increased construction speed.
However, there is a serious problem during welding, that is, monatomic hydrogen will be generated, and monatomic hydrogen will penetrate into the metal to form hydrogen gas, which will destroy the metal structure and make the metal brittle.
Don't underestimate these hydrogen gases. They can accumulate to a high pressure of 187 times the surface air pressure. Under this pressure, metals will become very brittle and easy to crack. This phenomenon has a very vivid name called "hydrogen embrittlement". If they encounter high temperatures, these hydrogen gases will react with the carbon atoms in the steel, causing the steel to decarburize. This is now called hydrogen corrosion by scientists.
Scientists today understand this, but scientists back then didn't. Furthermore, metals in a hydrogen-embrittled state look no different from ordinary metals, raising no alarms for users. The most frightening thing is that, to this day, scientists haven't fully understood the mechanism of hydrogen embrittlement or when it occurs. Consequently, to this day, we still can't completely prevent the damage caused by hydrogen embrittlement.
People are not unaware of the dangers of "hydrogen embrittlement" and have invented a "low-hydrogen welding rod" specifically for welding high-strength steel. However, this still cannot completely avoid the formation of "hydrogen embrittlement" and can only reduce the chance of "hydrogen embrittlement".
In 2013, the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, built in the United States, became the most expensive public structure in California history and the widest bridge, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. However, just before the bridge opened to traffic, engineers discovered that 30 of the 96 safety bolts securing the concrete columns had failed, caused by hydrogen embrittlement. Had the engineers not carefully identified this and taken corrective measures, the bridge would likely have collapsed by now.
Now the development of "new energy" vehicles is in full swing, but all the so-called "water hydrogen engines" that can "turn water into hydrogen" are scams, because current scientists are simply unable to solve the reaction produced when hydrogen meets metal!
Furthermore, decomposing water into hydrogen requires external energy, such as electrolysis. But where does the electricity come from? If there's electricity available, why not just use it directly? Why would you even need to take off your pants and fart to decompose water to produce hydrogen?
It is said that these days there are 'too few fools and not enough scammers', but in China someone used this extremely despicable excuse to defraud 5 billion!
People would also say, "When we were kids, we thought it was incredible to see iron trees blossom and lights come on. Fields were originally plowed by oxen, and later by tractors. If people didn't even dare to think or act, how could there be technology? Technology is created through hard work, not just something that falls from the sky."
It sounded like every word made sense, but anyone who had been to high school knew there was something called 'conservation of energy', yet he didn't mention it a single word...
Still working on "water-to-hydrogen"? This "Freewheeler" is a bloody example! Without solving the "hydrogen embrittlement" problem, the "water-hydrogen engine" will always be just a fantasy!
It is impossible to salvage this "Liberty Ship". Its only value is that it can provide low-cost steel. In that case, the profit is too low and Xiao Peng has no interest at all.
But Fabian would definitely be happy if he took a picture of this ship to disgust the British.
After all, the "Liberty Ships" were mainly provided for the British to use. Imagine: World War II was in full swing, and the British tried their best to get support from the Americans. As a result, they worked hard to load the ship, and after circling around on the sea, they finally avoided the German submarines and were about to reach the British mainland, but puff, they sank!
This can really drive people crazy!
Xiao Peng recorded the locations of the shipwrecks found today. In fact, there are many more shipwrecks, but Xiao Peng has no interest in them. After all, they are all fishing boats, barges and the like.
Although Xiao Peng did not find a shipwreck that satisfied him, he found that it was really wise to let the great white shark help sink the ship in this sea area!
The sea here is not deep, averaging less than 120 meters, with shallow areas only a little over 40 meters. Most of these shipwrecks have become reefs, habitats for marine life. These marine creatures emit biowaves, which great white sharks rely on to find prey. Simply by looking for areas with high concentrations of these biowaves, they can typically locate shipwrecks.
This efficiency is terrible!
Xiao Peng had just closed his notebook after recording all the shipwrecks he had found today when he heard a knock on the door.
"What's wrong?" Xiao Peng put away the notebook and opened the cabin door: "Kaxin, what's going on?"
"Boss, can we talk?"
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