1850 American Gold Tycoon

"Propeller-driven ship?"

Jeremiah fell into deep thought, and then said after pondering for a moment. Google search reading

“Propeller-driven boats have many advantages over paddle-wheel boats, which have a heavy and complex structure and poor resistance to wind and waves.

The structure of propellers is relatively simple. The simpler the structure, the more reliable it is sometimes. Moreover, propeller boats also have great advantages over paddle boats in terms of wind and wave resistance and even speed. "

"Since propeller-driven ships have so many advantages, why doesn't the Polar Star use propeller drive?" Liang Yao continued to ask.

"Did you encounter any technical problems?"

As one of America's top shipbuilding experts, Jeremiah's understanding of paddle steamers and concealed steamers is quite correct.

"You are the second person to ask me this question. Before that, I also debated this issue with experts from the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and Commodore Perry also asked me this question."

Jeremiah said while looking at the huge paddle wheels on both sides of the Polaris.

“In order to arrange the paddle wheels on both sides, the paddle steamer made a compromise in the height of the drive shaft. The drive shaft of the beam steam engine is arranged relatively high, so the freeboard of the ship is also relatively high.

The propellers of concealed ships are all underwater, and the transmission shaft can be arranged lower. The horizontal reciprocating steam engine used in conjunction with the transmission shaft can also be arranged lower, lowering the center of gravity of the ship and improving the stability of the ship during operation. .

And if it is a warship, the power system arranged below the waterline is less likely to be damaged by local shells.

Commodore Perry liked that the freeboard of the concealed ship was lower than that of the paddle wheel, and the propeller hidden under the water was safer than the huge paddle wheel exposed on the water. Without the paddle wheels on both sides, more doors could be installed. Cannons increase the firepower of warships.

Of course, concealed steamships are also more maneuverable and are more suitable as warships than paddle steamers. "

Liang Yao of the U.S. Navy has learned specifically that under the auspices of Perry and Navy Department officials with strategic vision, the vaporization rate of the U.S. Navy has been greatly improved.

However, the U.S. Navy's method of increasing the steamization rate is also very crude, that is, by equipping a large number of small steamships of five to six hundred tons, or even one to two hundred tons, to increase the navy's steamization rate.

The U.S. Navy does not have many steamships with over a thousand tons.

Therefore, although the vaporization rate of the U.S. Navy has increased, and the data on paper is very good, in fact, the U.S.'s ocean combat capabilities have not been much improved.

Large ships still rely on sail battleships to support their scenes. Even the sails of steam ships have not been cancelled. Sail sails are still retained on steam battleships as a backup plan.

In fact, there is nothing to criticize about this. Early steamships were not stable. Even the steam battleships of the British Royal Navy retained sails as alternative power to prevent the battleships from being immobilized on the water after the east-west system was damaged. Become a living target for the enemy.

This is true for warships, and even more so for civilian ships. Many of the steamships Liang Yao saw in the New York port also retained sails and drove a hybrid power mode of steam power and sail power.

However, among the merchant ships traveling between various countries in New York Port, many merchant ships flying the British Union Jack flag have canceled their sails and completely use steam power to drive the ships, including hidden steamships.

This also shows from the side that the British steam engine technology and level are quite mature and they are very confident in their steam engines.

"The problem is the steam engine?" Liang Yao guessed the reason.

"Yes." Jeremiah said, nodding.

"I have tried to build small hidden ships. Although I have made some breakthroughs, there are still many problems that have not been solved. For example, my horizontal reciprocating engine is not powerful enough and can only drive a small ship of two to three hundred tons.

And I think the layout of the concealed ship is more advantageous in making large ocean-going ships. I am not willing to just build small ships.

The British are now able to build hidden ships with a tonnage comparable to the Polaris, and the technology is more mature than that of the United States.

The British Royal Navy is replacing a large number of concealed ships and rifled guns, and the French are not far behind the British in this regard.

In terms of ships, we in the United States have a first-mover advantage over the United Kingdom. We built the first steamship and the first concealed steamship, and also poached many shipbuilding talents from Europe.

And now we are being overtaken by Britain and France in shipbuilding. American shipbuilders should reflect on this. "

The advent of Liang Yao's Pioneer greatly narrowed the gap between the United States and traditional powers such as Britain and France in terms of train shipping. However, shipbuilders like them failed to narrow the gap with Britain and France in shipbuilding. This made Jeremiah Feeling a little guilty.

"According to my understanding, if you want to create an advanced concealed ship, you not only need to solve the problem of insufficient steam engine power, but also making a marine propeller is a technology. For example, the propeller's pitch, rotation angle, and materials are all very delicate issues. ." Liang Yao thought for a while and said.

"It seems that you have done your homework before asking me these questions. These are also the difficulties in making propeller ships."

Jeremiah was pleased that Liang Yao asked such a professional question. Liang Yao had such a serious spirit of seeking knowledge and a thoughtful mind.

"I am not an expert in marine propellers. Regarding the technical issues of marine propellers, you can ask Ericson and Claver for advice after you get ashore. They are two experts in this field and have the most patented propeller technologies.

If you want to build a concealed ship as quickly as possible, the patented technology of these two experts cannot be bypassed. "

It is reasonable for the technical team he led to be able to produce an epoch-making locomotive like the Pioneer.

Jeremiah already knew that Liang Yao was about to take over Vanderbilt's shipyard. Liang Yao learned so many technical details of hidden ships from him. He guessed that Liang Yao would directly try to build hidden ships after taking over Vanderbilt's shipyard. ship.

Liang Yao thanked Jeremiah, took out the notepad he carried with him from his pocket, and wrote down the names of Erikson and Claver on the notepad.

For the next two days, everyone on the ship was in a state of carnival, celebrating and having fun, and no one realized that danger was quietly approaching them.

On the night of the third day, it rained heavily, and dense clouds enveloped the sky above the Polar Star.

Vanderbilt made the fatal mistake of not only drinking himself, but also allowing the crew of the Polar Star to drink.

He will pay the price for his complacency.

Because the weather was very bad, the drunk helmsman did not notice that the Polar Star had deviated from the course and was heading towards a reef area.

To make matters worse, the captain of the Polaris failed to notice this fatal problem.

Suddenly, the Polaris shook violently as if it had hit something.

The violent shaking startled the revelers on the ship, and also caused Vanderbilt to wake up suddenly.

Vanderbilt took three steps and two steps at a time. On the swaying Polaris, his steps were still very vigorous, and he came to the cockpit as if he was walking on flat ground.

"Why are there rocks ahead? Has the ship deviated from its course?"

Liang Yao didn't drink much. After he felt the violent shaking of the ship, he immediately came to the cockpit to see what happened.

After seeing clearly the situation in front of the ship, Liang Yao's nerves suddenly became tense.

In the waters in front of the Polar Star, there were ferocious rocks exposed under the rough waves.

This is only the exposed reef that can be seen by the naked eye. Who knows how many more reefs are invisible under the water.

"my God."

Vanderbilt, who had always been calm and composed, couldn't help but turn pale when he saw this scene. He tried his best to wake himself up and calm down his mind.

At this time, Vanderbilt did not bother scolding the crew on duty. He took over the helm of the ship and spoke to the shocked passengers while steering.

"Gentlemen, this is God's test for the Polar Star. It is a rare life experience to experience such an exciting voyage through the reef area. Now I will lead you through the reef area!"

As he spoke, Vanderbilt calmly took the helm and navigated the rocky waters.

Fortunately, Vanderbilt had traveled through this area many times in his early years, and he knew this area well.

The materials used by the Polar Star were also very solid. Although it touched rocks three times during the period, fortunately, the hull of the Polar Star was strong enough to withstand these three impacts.

What's more uncomfortable is that as a 2,500-ton paddle steamer, the Polaris is relatively bulky and has poor maneuverability.

Even Vanderbilt was a skilled driver and knew the reef well enough.

However, the slow-moving Polaris still inevitably hit the rocks. The only thing Vanderbilt could do was to avoid the rocks as much as possible. If he couldn't avoid it, he would control the speed and angle of the impact and reduce the intensity of the impact. .

The crew and passengers on the ship can only pray to God, praying that the Polaris can sail away from the reef area as soon as possible and return to the scheduled safe route.

Finally, God took care of them. Although the Polaris was badly bruised by the collision with the rocks, it still safely sailed away from the reef area.

It's just that the Polaris' paddlewheel has been severely damaged. Even if the steam turbine is fully powered, the paddlewheel flapping feebly on the sea cannot provide much power for the Polaris. The Polaris can only move at a turtle speed of about 3 knots. Sailing on the sea.

Fortunately, the weather improved the next day, and Polaris met up with the Navy fleet returning to Baltimore Naval Base.

This fleet came to their aid, and several battleships worked together to tow the Polaris back to Baltimore.

It's just that the dry dock at Baltimore Naval Port is not open to civilian ships.

Liang Yao found out that the person in charge of the Baltimore Military Port was Perry, so he sent a telegram asking Perry to allow the Polar Star to use the Navy's dry dock at the Baltimore Military Port for repairs.

Perry agreed to Liang Yao's request, but they had to pay a usage fee of US$2,000 for the use of the Navy's dry dock.

The money was of course provided by Vanderbilt. US$2,000 was not a large fee for him. Vanderbilt readily agreed to this request and paid the US$2,000 usage fee on the spot. .

Vanderbilt inspected the Polaris with great distress. Fortunately, except for the paddle wheel wing which was seriously damaged and needed to be replaced, the other parts of the Polaris were not seriously damaged and had not been damaged to the point of breaking the muscles and bones.

As long as there are enough manpower, it can be repaired quickly.

Hearing that members of the Qing Dynasty's mission to the United States were also on board the Polaris, Perry did not dare to neglect and rushed to the Baltimore military port as soon as possible to confirm the status of the members of the Qing Dynasty's mission.

After learning that there were no casualties among the Qing envoys visiting the United States, and only a few envoys were frightened, Perry breathed a sigh of relief and reported the news to Fillmore via telegram. president.

But Perry couldn't help but teach Vanderbilt a lesson, blaming Vanderbilt for not rashly taking members of the Qing Dynasty's mission to the United States on a voyage.

Baltimore is the most important large naval base from Washington, the capital of the United States.

Baltimore is to the United States what Port Arthur and Weihaiwei are to the Qing Dynasty.

After the Second War of Independence, the United States learned its lesson and spent huge sums of money to expand the Baltimore Military Port to ensure the security of its capital, Washington.

In the Baltimore military port, there are five large ships of more than 1,000 tons parked. These ships are the main battleships of the U.S. Navy. Perry's ship, the Mississippi, was among them.

In addition to five large ships of over 1,000 tons, there are also several small ships ranging from four to five hundred tons to seven or eight hundred tons in the port.

The U.S. Navy is well-trained, at least the U.S. Navy in the Baltimore Naval Port is like this.

The sailors wearing straw hats to protect themselves from the sun looked curiously at the Polaris that had just been towed into the Baltimore Naval Port. However, they were quickly reprimanded by the officers and returned to their respective posts honestly.

Those who rub the deck continue to rub the deck with stones, those who clean the naval guns continue to clean the naval guns, those who replace the sails continue to replace the sails, and those who inspect the steam turbine continue to inspect the steam turbine. Everyone performs their duties.

Everything in the military port was very orderly. Even the sailors who were not on duty and on shore leave with their collars open did not cause trouble in the port.

Perry is in charge of the Baltimore Naval Port. It is expected that Perry is very good at running the military and can make these sailors and naval officers obedient.

At this time, the U.S. Navy had not yet expanded its force. Although it was small, it was superior in quality and they were all professional soldiers.

These American naval soldiers and officers in the Baltimore Military Port must be the cream of the American Navy.

Due to the small size of the navy and the small number of people, the uniforms of the American navy before the Civil War were still very exquisite. Even ordinary soldiers could wear well-sewn dark blue sailor uniforms, beautiful dark blue trousers, and a pair of leather shoes. .

The uniforms of naval officers above petty officers are the same as those of ordinary sailors, except that there are golden piping at the seam of the trousers. The thicker the piping, the higher the military rank.

This was just their casual clothes. Liang Yao heard that ordinary navy officers wore expensive tuxedos as military uniforms.

This alone is enough to make colleagues in the Army envious.