As the saying goes, if there is a first time, there will be countless times.
The successful experience of the Nautilus instantly awakened the navy of the United States of America and made Napoleon interested in this new type of warship.
After John Adams received the letter from the South, he immediately asked the Washington Shipyards to operate at full capacity to produce the Nautilus's sister ship.
Limited by the power system of the Nautilus, the human propeller had too many disadvantages.
In the many subsequent sorties of the Nautilus submarine, the number of failures was far greater than the number of successes.
As a result, the United States of America adjusted its tactics.
Either rely on the intelligence system to allow the Nautilus to ambush on the channel in advance.
As long as an enemy ship passes by, the Nautilus can always find an opportunity to deliver a fatal blow to the enemy.
However, after many battles, the Royal Navy of the British Empire increased its combat readiness and became a navigation rule to stay away from unidentified floating objects.
After that, the Nautilus changed from squatting on the waterway to attacking the port at night.
The results are impressive.
The Nautilus sank 4 British Empire warships in one month, and Nemo was promoted to rear admiral because of his outstanding record.
Genius inventor Robert Fulton, after improving the design many times, fantasized about putting a steam engine on a submarine.
However, what is frustrating is that the operation of a steam engine not only requires a large amount of air, but also exhausts exhaust gases.
If you want to use coal-fired boilers to provide power inside a submarine, only the British Empire did this stupid thing during World War II.
During World War II, the K-class submarines of the British Empire used steam turbines. The several chimneys on the back of the submarine that emitted smoke and took in air were very conspicuous.
The K-class submarine is very fast on the surface, but if it wants to dive, it needs to go through a complicated mechanism to close the chimney, and it takes a full thirty minutes to start diving.
Whether it can surface after diving depends on the conscience of the shipyard.
According to the memories of survivors, there are never any small problems on K-class submarines, only big problems, super big problems and questions that cannot be answered after sinking.
Accidents such as fire, explosion, water leakage, oil leakage, hydraulic failure, boiler explosion, etc. can only be regarded as minor accidents.
Historically, none of the K-class submarines were sunk by the enemy. The reasons for their sinking were all due to accidents.
Genius inventor Robert Fulton obviously wanted to follow this old path.
Of course, at this point in time, it’s a new path.
However, the biggest problem came when Robert Fulton completed the early drawings.
Where can I get a reliable small steam turbine?
He thought of John Adams.
And John Adams thought of France and Ming Dynasty.
As we all know, the relationship between the British Empire and the Ming Dynasty was not good, and it was as close as a brother to France.
If you want to get the advanced "Tai Shang Laojun" steam engine from the Ming Dynasty, you have to get France together and find the Ming Dynasty!
Time enters July.
Zhu Zaiming, accompanied by a group of naval generals and officials from the Ministry of Rites, cut the ribbon at the Chongming Shipyard for the start of construction of the Admiral Shen Yulong-class battleship and the Daqing battleship.
That night, Zhu Zaiming was at the shipyard, discussing with the naval generals whether the Daqing needed to build a sister ship.
Urgent messages from Europe were transmitted from the newly built Daming telegraph station in Panama to Xinxiang via relay communication ships, and then back to Jinling and Chongming.
The content of the urgent message is very simple.
He briefly described the achievements of the Nautilus, and at the same time hoped that Ming Dynasty would sell the advanced "Tai Shang Lao Jun" small steam turbine.
The United States of America builds submarines.
The admirals looked at each other.
Zhu Zaiming was also stunned, and then he thought of those early submarines that were ridiculous.
"From the description in the telegram, the Nautilus should be a human-powered submarine.
Simply put, it is a sealed hull loaded with compressed air bladders that provide buoyancy. "
Through the descriptions of officials from the Ministry of Industry and the improvised simple drawings, everyone also came to know the Nautilus.
They are not those serious submarines built by Taishang Laojun.
The United States of America built the Nautilus, and everyone thought they also had a Supreme Being.
As naval generals, everyone has also seen the models of warships from the Ministry of Industry.
However, because the enemies faced by the Ming Navy were very weak and the pressure was not great, the need for submarines was not that urgent.
Now it seems.
Ming Dynasty can also build two ships for fun?
Shen Yulong took the lead in making suggestions and said: "Your Majesty, as the so-called century-old navy is, for the sake of the future, the submarine force needs to be established now."
Zhu Zaiming nodded and agreed.
Although the internal combustion engine is not yet mature, the key oil reserves are basically zero.
But it is also possible to build two submarines using steam turbines.
However, considering the failure rate of this type of submarine, actual combat is impossible.
Afterwards, everyone started discussing whether to sell the steam engine.
Everyone was surprisingly unanimous.
That's for sale.
The reason is also very simple. At present, steam engines in various countries are still very primitive, and Ming Dynasty's steam engines can sell for astronomical prices due to their advanced nature.
At the same time, in order to increase the difficulty of scientific research in various countries, several officials from the Ministry of Industry took out several drawings and spoke plausibly.
"Your Majesty, although these types of steam engines can be used, many advanced technical concepts have not been used. The fortress-class ship steam engines previously sold to France are an expansion of this type of drawings."
"Yes, Your Majesty, the export of such a large number of steam engines will inevitably greatly improve the science and technology of various countries.
Therefore, the early research proposal of the Ministry of Industry can be used as a model for foreign trade. "
Everyone talked to each other and finally decided on an early model.
At the end, Zhu Zaiming asked Xu Qi: "Old Xu, what is the current output of Chongming Hydrogen and Oxygen Gas Preparation Plant?"
The Chongming Hydrogen and Oxygen Gas Preparation Plant is actually a manufacturing plant prepared for Air Force logistics. It started production in April.
It uses steam turbine thermal power to generate electricity and produces hydrogen and oxygen by electrolyzing water.
Among them, hydrogen will be used as the raw material for future airship airbags.
Although hydrogen is very dangerous, Ming Dynasty currently does not have the ability to refine helium, so it can only resort to using hydrogen first.
Oxygen is different and has many uses.
Provided to hospitals for medical treatment and to chemical plants for compound manufacturing.
Now, oxygen has another use.
Serves as a source of oxygen for the crew after the submarine dives.
With oxygen, a submarine can stay underwater for a long time before surfacing.
Zhu Zaiming sold oxygen tanks as a bundle while selling steam engines, which Napoleon must have liked.
Since the number of submarines built in the first phase of the United States and France is quite large, the number of steam engines required is not a small number.
Therefore, Zhu Zaiming decided to provide steam engines to the two countries in installments.
This leaves more capacity for the five battleships under construction.
Two clippers left Chongming, carrying letters from Zhu Zaiming to John Adams and Napoleon.
At the same time, there is also a battleship model of the Qing Dynasty.
Zhu Zaiming is ready to sell the battleship.
The development of the Ming Dynasty requires a lot of resources, and the Qing, a warship that looks beautiful but is actually a powder keg, is very suitable for making money.
