Steel Dynasty - Chapter 1049

[Chapter 1040 King Ironclad Ship]

Yue Yun on the King Ironclad Ship is observing the city of Relanja in front with a telescope.

The Dutch soldiers’ attack on the local garrison was now a hot topic in the country as newspapers spread. It was against this background that he received the order to attack all Dutch warships in Southeast Asia, and at the same time cooperate with the Southeast Military District to occupy Manila and Jagoda, which belong to the Netherlands. .

Liu Chen was also looking at the situation on the island. He put down his telescope and said, “Except for some buildings being destroyed by shells and explosions, there seems to be nothing different on the island.”

“Humph, the Dutch and Japanese are both unreliable, and now the fox’s tail is showing. “

Not bad, at least it can reduce the losses suffered by the empire. If the Dutch deceive more technology, the empire will suffer even more,” Yue Yun said lightly. He has always been deeply wary of foreigners. After all, the empire has suffered in recent years. Too much humiliation.

Liu Chen looked back at the twenty-three ironclads emitting black smoke behind him with a proud expression. The ironclads performed well in the Battle of Dengzhou. At that time, they almost galloped through the navy under the artillery fire of the Combined Fleet and defeated the warships of the Combined Fleet. There is no way to fight back.

Such excellent performance naturally allowed the shipyards to see the blueprint for the development of future warships. So within a year and a half, the empire’s shipyards worked at full capacity and combined with all shipyards in the country to build the first ironclad ship at the same time. Twenty-four ironclad ships of three tonnage classes.

For example, the armored ship Sovereign they are currently riding on is one of the top battleships among ironclads. Its total armor weight is 1,461 tons. The length of the armored fort is 45.5 meters. The armor on the waterline of the armored fort is 355 mm thick. The armor below the waterline is 304 mm thick. The main gun is exposed on the turret. The armor is 304mm thick, the gun cover is 15mm thick, and the command tower is 203mm thick. The total length is 95 meters, the width is 19.4 meters, and the draft is 6.53 meters. It uses a horizontal triple-expansion steam engine with a power of 6,000 horsepower, a speed of 14.5 knots, and can carry 700 tons of coal at a time. , it can last 3,500 nautical miles at a speed of 10 knots, has 8 boilers, has a displacement of 7,411 tons, and a full load displacement of 7,935 tons.

In addition, they were fortunate that the empire’s electricity had made great progress during the construction of ironclads, so this technology was also applied to ironclads.

Because of the availability of electricity, the Sovereign ironclad was equipped with searchlights produced by the Imperial Lighting Factory. The brightness of these searchlights was comparable to the light of eight thousand candles.

In terms of weapons, the King also adopts the most advanced breech-loaded artillery technology. It has four main guns of the Guards 305mm breech-loaded cannon. These four guns are divided into two double mounts on the left and right on the open-air turret, with a 150mm breech. There are 8 secondary guns, also of the exposed turret type, four at each end and 16 75mm sampan guns, which can be said to have sufficient firepower.

The most important thing is that the design of the ironclad turret completely subverts the previous sail warships. This means that the open-air turret has a rotatable turret base, which can shoot without blind spots while sailing.

Thinking of the data of the King, the armored ship, Liu Chen’s face flushed with excitement, but the King was, after all, the giant among the ironclads.

At present, the Imperial Navy is mainly composed of armored cruisers with a displacement of about 3,000 tons and 1,500 tons. Although these battleships cannot compare with the Sovereign in terms of firepower, they are enough to defeat European sailing battleships.

However, while these battleships are powerful, they are also expensive. It is said that the construction of the King’s armored ship cost two million gold dragons, and these warships totaled more than 30 million gold dragons, which was a huge expense.

At the pier of Relanzhe City, Liu Xinhong and Fang Hongming looked at the group of battleships slowly sailing into the harbor with bewildered expressions.

Although the name of the ironclads has spread to every corner of the empire, seeing such a huge group of ironclads with their own eyes still shocked them like never before.

Especially the armored ship with the words “King” written on its lead hull. Just take a look at this steel monster and you can imagine how powerful it is.

“Lao Fang, these armored ships are so awesome, I even want to be a navy.” Liu Xinhong’s mouth was watering.

Fang Hongming nodded numbly. The appearance of the long flat machine gun made him feel that there was no more powerful weapon in the world. Now he saw another miracle.

The two waited at the dock for a while, and when the battleship docked safely, the naval generals such as Yue Yun and Liu Chen stepped off the battleship.

“General Yue Yun.” Liu Xinhong and Fang Hongming performed a military salute at the same time. They received the fleet’s sailing plan before the warship arrived.

As before, as an important supply station on the way south, the city of Relanja is almost a must-stop place for warships heading south.

After giving a military salute, Yue Yun said, “It’s hard work again, you two. This time there is no need for coal. Fresh water, vegetables, and fruits are the same as before.”

“No problem, general.” Liu Xinhong said, and he immediately called the soldiers Go to the warehouse to transport supplies.

Yue Yun nodded with satisfaction, then he looked at the devastated battlefield traces with interest and said: “It seems that the battle that day was not easy.”

Fang Hongming said: “Indeed, the Dutch had a plan, and their equipment was Although the rifle is not as easy to load as the Chinese rifle, the difference in power is not very big, and it still poses a great threat to the soldiers.”

“Indeed, the airtightness of the muzzleloader rifle is still an advantage, Liu Chen, this attack. Manila and Yagota cannot take it lightly,” Yue Yun reminded.

Fang Hongming was deeply touched. He said: “The soldiers were used to fighting with barbarians, merchants, and Japanese countries. They did not consider the threats they faced when fighting. Therefore, the casualties were not small at the beginning. It was only later that they adapted. Don’t dare to charge recklessly again.”

Liu Chen looked serious. While the empire was developing in these years, the European countries were not idle either. And unlike the barbarians, these Western countries did not lose to the empire in their emphasis on science and their acceptance of new things. Very fast too.

According to the information they received from the Prussians, after Europe mastered the secret of tapered bullets, the old-fashioned lead bullets were being phased out in large numbers and new types of bullets were gradually used.

“Don’t worry, I have experienced the level of the British when I was in Singapore. They are indeed not at the same level as the Japanese and Korean soldiers. I will be cautious.”

Yue Yun showed a satisfied look and said; “This Just wait until this incident in Nanyang is over, and we will go and deal with the Japanese.”

“Take care of the Japanese?” Liu Xinhong asked strangely, “Didn’t the Japanese sign the surrender letter?”

“As the emperor said, the surrender document is just a piece of paper. The most important thing is the degree of execution. The current chaos in the Japanese country makes the emperor very unhappy. During this period, he has been playing hard to catch to see what trouble they can make. “

After saying this, Yue Yun suddenly stopped talking and said, “Don’t mention this anymore. Let’s rest here tonight and set sail tomorrow.”

(End of this chapter)