1850 American Gold Tycoon

Chapter 376 Boldness

December 1853, Tingtao Garden in San Francisco, California.

It's almost Christmas in the West.

At the state Legislature at the end of the year, Liang Yao proposed a bill to classify Christmas, Spring Festival, and Statehood Day on April 1 as statutory holidays in California, which was quickly passed.

At the same time, Liang Yao also urged the Ministry of Finance to publish the financial report for 1853 as soon as possible, and the Bureau of Statistics to publish the coal production, steel production, pig iron production, Los Angeles crude oil production and kerosene production as soon as possible, as well as the most important population data.

After the meeting, Liang Yao returned to Tingtao Garden through the festive streets.

Carnegie walked out of the telegraph room and handed Liang Yao a letter from Shanghai and a telegram from New York.

The letter sent from Shanghai was sent to him by Liang Shaoqiong, and Liang Yao could feel Liang Shaoqiong's joy in the letter.

Liang Shaoqiong was more ambitious than he thought. With the great victory in Yangzhou, Guangdong Yong had proved himself and became one of the few usable military forces in the Qing Dynasty.

The telegram sent from New York was about the Battle of Sinop, which was a naval battle between the Russian Empire's Black Sea Fleet and the Turkish Squadron in the Sinop Bay for control of the Black Sea.

It was also the last showdown between sailing battleships in human history, and it was the final curtain call performance of sailing battleships.

There is no doubt that the winner of this war was the Russian Empire. After this battle, Russia gained control of the sea before British and French warships entered the Black Sea.

At this time, Russia was also building steam warships, but Nicholas I misjudged the form and believed that Britain would stand on this side and become an ally rather than an enemy of the Russian Empire.

As a result, after the Russian Empire declared war on Türkiye, Britain immediately declared an embargo on Russia.

The materials embargoed by the UK against Russia include Russian steam engines specially customized for cutting-edge steamships.

This resulted in the inability to continue building steam ships in Russia. Throughout the war, they could only continue to use wooden sailing warships that were generationally different from those of Britain and France for combat.

Of course, the Battle of Sinop is known as the Sinop Massacre on the British and French sides.

This is the preparation for Britain and France to send troops to Crimea.

Since Britain and France will soon directly send troops to join the war, next year, that is, in 1854, Liang Yao can start to solve the problem of purchasing land in Mexico.

However, before solving the problem of land purchase in Mexico, Liang Yao first needs to solve the problem of plantations on East Borneo Island. After all, Britain and France were only preparing to send troops to the Near East at this time, and had not actually sent troops directly to the Near East.

"Boss, the hidden ship in the shipyard has been installed with the latest Sacramento rapid-fire cannon provided by the Sacramento Arsenal. The ribbon will be cut at 9 o'clock tomorrow morning. Your Excellency Jeremiah asked me to ask you if you will attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony and name the new ship?" Kanai Ask Liang Yao for instructions.

The Sacramento Rapid-Fire Cannon is the Armstrong Cannon developed and improved through reverse engineering by the Sacramento Arsenal. Its official name is the Sacramento Cannon, but due to its amazing rate of fire, many people also like to call it the Sacramento Rapid-Fire Cannon.

"Go, I'll go in person." Liang Yao said.

This is the first warship with ocean-going capabilities that was shot and built by technicians at the San Francisco Shipyard under his instruction. It has a milestone significance for the shipbuilding industry in California. How can he not refuse?

He has high expectations for this type of warship and has been waiting for this day for a long time.

If this ship is seaworthy, then he will not only have four warships that can compete with the Dutch East India Company in the waters of Southeast Asia, but more importantly, the San Francisco Shipyard will have the ability to build warships independently. From now on, Liang Yao will no longer have to spend money to buy warships from other countries.

At 8 o'clock in the morning the next day, Liang Yao arrived at the San Francisco Shipyard early. The modified hidden steamer had been launched and parked quietly on the calm sea outside the shipyard.

"This is a very bold masterpiece. This ship has not yet been named. Since you are here, please give this ship a name."

Jeremiah, the director of the San Francisco Shipyard and the shipbuilding expert responsible for the design and construction of this concealed ship, saw Liang Yao coming and stepped forward to greet Liang Yao.

Jeremiah was originally an American shipbuilding businessman. He came to San Francisco with Vanderbilt in 1850 for a business investigation.

Then he and Liang Yao founded the San Francisco Shipyard, a dual-use shipyard that manufactured both civilian and military ships.

San Francisco Shipyard is jointly held by two people, but Liang Yao holds the majority of the shares. 50% of the shares of San Francisco Shipyard are held by Liang Yao, 26% of the shares are held by Jeremiah, and the remaining The shares are held by others.

"Since this is a very bold masterpiece, let's call it the Bold." Liang Yao looked at the thousand-ton warship with his hands behind his back and admired, "It's so beautiful."

Although various countries had installed steam warships in the mid-19th century, the warships and passenger ships of this period basically retained sails and used hybrid steam and wind hybrid power to sail.

The British were the first to abandon sails. Because Britain had ports all over the world, British warships did not have to worry about replenishing coal. They could abandon sails and use steam as power to drive warships.

In addition, the British steam turbines are more advanced and reliable, and have better quality coal. This is the reason why the British dare to give up their sails.

In a compromise with reality, the Daring still retained its sails as emergency power.

Although Liang Yao currently owns three overseas ports: Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, Nagasaki Port in Japan, and Xiangshan Port in Guangdong, which can supplement coal burning, and Liang Yao's main area of ​​activity also revolves around the sea areas and routes near these ports.

However, when the prototype of the Bold was seaworthy for the first time, an accident occurred in which the propeller hit a rock and was damaged, causing it to lose power and become unable to move.

In addition, other steamships have had accidents where large waves directly rolled into the chimney, seawater immersed the boiler, and even directly broke the chimney.

Therefore, after towing the Bold back to the port, Jeremiah and others redesigned and manufactured a new propeller, and then honestly reinstalled the sails on the Bold as a backup power.

After all, the Bold is not a big ship. Once it encounters strong waves at sea, there is still a relatively high probability that seawater will be drawn into the chimney and immerse the boiler.

The Bold is 65 meters long, 50 meters wide, and has a draft of 15 meters. After reinstalling sails and weapons, the standard displacement has exceeded 1,000 tons and reached 1,080 tons. The ship has a crew of 120 people.

The ship's power system consists of two reciprocating steam main engines, four circular coal-fired boilers, and single-shaft propulsion.

Without the use of sails, the maximum speed can reach 15 knots, the endurance is 4,400 nautical miles/8 knots, the standard coal load in the coal bunker is 220 tons, and the maximum coal load is 280 tons.

The main weapons are two 205mm (about 8 inches) 26-caliber Sacramento guns on the central axis of the ship, one at the bow and one at the stern.

The two main guns are fixed on a rotating platform with 25mm armor. The rotating platform can rotate 360°, with a maximum shooting elevation of 13°. The shell weighs 48kg and has a range of up to 3400m.

Secondary armament was the 100 mm (4 in) Sacramento cannon located on the sides of the ship.

The 100mm secondary gun is also mounted on a rotating platform with 10mm protective armor. The rotating platform can rotate 135°. There are eight secondary guns in total, four on each side.

In an era when side-gun battleships were still popular, such a weapon layout design was undoubtedly very bold.

It was only after the Sacramento cannon was successfully copied that Liang Yao dared to do this.

Although there are fewer guns on the battleship, the Sacramento gun has an extremely fast rate of fire and high accuracy, which can completely make up for the lack of number of naval guns.

The naval gun is arranged on a rotating platform and can be fired directly by rotating the rotating platform when the ship is not maneuvering.

These advantages are not available in shipside gun battleships. The main feature of the shipside gun layout is that the naval guns are arranged laterally on the gunports on the freeboard walls on both sides of the ship or on the open deck, with the muzzles pointing in line with the The longitudinal direction of the battleship is vertical.

Therefore, if you want to shoot accurately, the ship must be maneuvered to a certain position so that the ship's naval gun can have a shooting angle.

The battleships of the sail era had the most classic shipside gun layout, and this design was used in the era of sail and steam hybrid battleships.

The disadvantage of this design is obvious, that is, the lack of firepower in the bow and stern.

After all, the bow and stern of the ship are limited by the small space and cannot place multiple artillery pieces.

Therefore, how to solve the insufficient firepower of the bow and stern has always been a big problem for designers.

The Roland that Liang Yao bought from Tromelan was a side-gun battleship. The Frenchman's way of solving this problem was simple and extreme. Since there can't be many guns installed on the bow and stern, I will install one. The door is big.

Therefore, the Roland was equipped with a 10-inch gun on the bow and an 8-inch gun on the stern.

In general, apart from the smaller tonnage and the fact that it is not an ironclad ship but a wooden shell clad with cast iron, Liang Yao is very satisfied with the other parameters of the Bold.

The maximum range can also meet the requirements from Pearl Harbor, Hawaii to Nagasaki, Japan, and there is also a sail used as auxiliary power.

With the powerful weapon of the Sacramento Cannon, the combat effectiveness of this battleship has been directly upgraded to a higher level.

As for ironclad ships, let’s slowly explore the next ship type. The shipbuilding industry needs accumulation, and one bite cannot make you fat.

America's advanced shipbuilding technology has basically been used this time.

"This naval gun layout is indeed bold." Fremont, who arrived belatedly, said.

He was from the Army Engineering Corps, and Fremont didn't know much about Navy warships.

He was amazed by this unique naval gun layout.

Fremont went to the Sacramento Arsenal to play with the Sacramento Cannon, and he spoke highly of the Sacramento Cannon.

Considered to be the most advanced artillery in the world, its rate of fire, accuracy and even range are unparalleled.

The Bold is equipped with Sacramento guns, not ordinary artillery, so Fremont does not think that having too few guns will be the shortcoming of the Bold.

"How much did it cost?" Liang Yao asked Jeremiah the cost of the ship.

"Including weapons systems, 370,000 US dollars, a price to bid farewell to the order from the U.S. Navy." Jeremiah spread his hands and said.

The cost of US$370,000 is indeed very high. You must know that the two-thousand-ton cruiser Roland that Liang Yao obtained from the French only cost 2.14 million francs, equivalent to US$410,000.

At this cost, it is impossible to even consider an order from the Admiralty.

The U.S. Congress is so stupid that it will not spend huge sums of money to purchase warships unless a war breaks out or it is humiliated by foreign countries.

For example, during the Civil War, both the North and the South built and purchased large quantities of warships. The naval forces on both sides once reached more than 50,000 men, with 700 warships and 60 small river ironclads. Becoming the second largest navy in the world after the British Navy, of course, this is the combined naval power of the North and the South.

However, after the Civil War ended in 1865, the federal government's finances were depleted, and the United States, which was in debt, began to tighten its belt and start large-scale disarmament in order to save expenses. It carried out all-round strategic contraction and invested the saved financial resources in In the process of post-war reconstruction.

The period from 1865 to 1885 was a period of strategic contraction for the United States, and it was also a period of endurance for the American military.

Take the Navy for example.

In 1880, there were only 48 warships left in the U.S. Navy, most of which were antiques left over from the Civil War. The condition of the ships was worrying, and the number of active personnel in the Navy was only more than 6,000.

During the Ten Years' War in Cuba (1868-1878), in order to overthrow Spain's rule over Cuba, the United States and Britain secretly funded Cuban uprisings and sent Cuban Americans back to Cuba to participate in the uprising, hoping to establish a pro-American Cuban government. Picture it.

The matter was eventually discovered by the Spanish colonial government, which was also very tough and executed the Americans, British and Cuban Americans involved in the matter in the name of pirates.

Britain launched gunboat diplomacy in response, forcing Spain to pay compensation and apologize, and to send back the British who had not yet been executed. The Spanish were frightened by the British's powerful ships and cannons, and they complied honestly.

But when it was America's turn, the Spanish authorities not only refused to apologize, but also reprimanded the American ambassador. Even the compensation was careless and delayed again and again. This made the United States feel extremely humiliated.

Of course, being humiliated by Spain is not the most humiliating thing. After all, although Spain has been in decline for hundreds of years, it is still the last great power.

The greatest humiliation for the United States came from the Panama Crisis of 1885.

After the Panama crisis, the United States sent the wooden-hulled cruiser "Shenandoah" to interfere in Panama's internal affairs. The Chilean authorities were deeply disturbed and sent the Chilean Navy's dome-clad cruiser "Esmeralda" to Panama to prevent the United States from interfering. Panamanian interior.

The Esmeralda is an enlarged version of the Beiyang Navy's Chao Yong. This battleship was bought by Japan during the Sino-Japanese War and was renamed the Izumi. It was compared to the Beiyang Navy's Zhiyuan, a ship with a displacement of less than 3,000 tons of dome-armored cruiser.

As soon as the Esmeralda arrived in Panama, the U.S. Navy, knowing that it was outmatched, immediately withdrew its country with its tail between its legs in dejection. The Navy's move caused an uproar in the United States.

In the past, it was okay to be humiliated by Spain, but now a small South American country dares to humiliate the mighty United States.

This was unacceptable to the arrogant Americans who believed that America belonged to Americans during the Monroe era. The entire United States strongly demanded the rearmament of its armaments, at least the rearmament of its navy.

Thereafter, the U.S. Navy carried out a naval renaissance movement in the 1880s and 1890s under the leadership of then Secretary of the Navy Hunter.

And at the end of the 19th century, he took revenge on Spain and provoked the Spanish-American War.

But it doesn't matter. Liang Yao's target customer is himself, not the U.S. Navy. He wishes the Navy didn't want his warships.

Now the Admiralty wants to buy it or not, and in the future I will not sell it to you even if you ask me to sell it to you.