After Li Chiqi left, Wen Desi quickly convened a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Executive Committee. Everyone looked at each other in confusion over the concerns raised by Li Chiqi - it was really hard to talk about this matter. [Read full text] No one has the guts to guarantee such a thing.
"What do you think? Let's discuss it," Wen Desi said. "Should we postpone the trip for a few weeks and dock the ship for refitting? Or should we just leave like this?"
"That will take at least another month!" Wang Luobin has also made a ship model, and he is very clear about the performance of the ship. Adding power, whether it is a propeller or a paddle wheel, involves structural modifications, and a series of processes need to be explored. Under control, it is still optimistic to say that it will take one month.
"I don't know much about ships," Ma Qianzhu first came to the "push hand" before continuing to express his opinion, "To be more prudent, I naturally modified the motive to go out. At least my personal safety is insured. After all, the time traveler is our first priority. Wealth. Otherwise, increase the firepower on the ship, 56 and a half, one per person, and install a few more cannons."
Wen Desi thought that Ma Qianzhu was also a simple solution. More than a dozen 56-and-a-half guns fired together, with a firepower density comparable to that of a machine gun.
"Semi-automatic rifles are good, but the Zhenhai's crew can only be about thirty people at most. Unless everyone is a sharpshooter, they will still die if they are surrounded by seven or eight boats." Chen Haiyang expressed concern, "We must ensure that everyone is a sharpshooter." To shoot outside the range of the enemy's artillery, the 56 and a half must fire from 4oo meters away. To hit the target at this distance requires considerable training. Most of the people who went this time were technical personnel, so I was quite worried. .”
"Rockets!" Li Yunxing proposed his own solution. "The rockets we tested have achieved initial success. The effective range can reach more than 6oo meters. It only requires a simple launcher-"
"It's meaningless," Chen Haiyang disagreed. "Those rockets and rockets are pretty much the same when bombarding surface targets on the shore. Hitting point targets on the sea is basically like setting off fireworks."
After much discussion, no one could come up with a solid plan on how to increase the Zhenhai's firepower without fail.
"We are all stupid!" Lin Chuanqing, the captain of Zhenhai, slapped his head and shouted, "What is the power of the ship that boarded Yingzhou?"
"Diesel propeller engine!" Wang Luobin thought about it. The so-called paddle motor is an outboard motor, which is standard equipment on motor and sailboats. This is a modification that does not require too many hands and feet. The two diesel propeller engines can be installed directly on the stern of the ship. Providing 5o horsepower is a breeze. And there is no need to enter the dock again, the modification work is completed directly on the waterline.
"It consumes diesel fuel." Ma Qianzhu felt sad for the industrial blood.
"How about changing it to a gas machine?"
"Forget it, don't bother with this in a place with a big butt on the ship. You all gave me carbon monoxide poisoning before the enemy came. There is no hyperbaric oxygen chamber here." Ma Qianzhu snorted, this was considered to be no choice. chosen.
"Actually, it doesn't use much diesel." Lin Chuanqing said, "It's just a hybrid. I usually use the sail, and when I need to escape from a war, I use the diesel engine. If I'm lucky, I might not be able to use it."
The next day, some of the supplies on the ship were unloaded, and crews from the mechanical department climbed on board to install two 17-power diesel propeller engines. During the installation process, they discovered a new problem: the Zhenhai has a displacement of 170 tons, and the waterline is much higher than the 70-ton Dengyingzhou, so the propellers cannot enter the water.
Fortunately, this problem will not trouble mechanical enthusiasts. Since the length is not enough, we will lengthen it for you. However, someone soon discovered that the result of simply lengthening the transmission rod was that the vibration was greatly increased, and the intensity was not good.
"How about opening two portholes at the stern below the deck to install the propeller, then the length will be appropriate." Someone suggested.
"It's possible, but you have to move the hull." Wen Desi looked at it for a long time, "We have to avoid the ribs of the ship, so we can only make holes in the shell plate."
After the portholes were opened, the two propeller engines were installed on special iron fixed frames, which were firmly fixed on the bottom deck of the ship. Because the portholes were too close to the waterline, they were prone to splashing water when traveling at high altitudes, and the machines had long-term It is also easy to be damaged when exposed to seawater environment, so the propeller machine adopts a retractable propeller, which can be lowered when in use and retracted to close the portholes when not in use.
After testing, when driving with a propeller, the speed can easily reach 8 knots in a windless environment. However, when the sea conditions are moderate and the portholes are opened and the water is splashed when driving, a water pump must be used to continuously pump out water. For this reason, the machinery factory temporarily produced a set of sealed window guards for use when driving, trying to block the gaps around the machine when the portholes are open. The water intrusion phenomenon still existed in the second test, but it was within the acceptable range.
The entire modification and testing was completed within two days. The unloaded cargo and supplies were reloaded on the ship. This time, several hundred liters of diesel were added, enough for escape if necessary. Some additional modern guns were provided to the expedition members.
The fleet departed from Bopu and their route was to go west, circling the entire Hainan Island to get a general understanding of the island's coastal terrain and properties.
This is the first time for most travelers to go out to sea on such a small boat. No matter how much Wen Desi implemented the principle of comfort, he could not compare with the modern ships of the original time and space. Not long after the Zhenhai went to sea, some people began to get seasick. Half a day later, almost all the sailors were seasick, and the bulwarks were crowded with sailors rushing to hand over rations to the sea. In the end, they couldn't spit out anything. They were exhausted and were helped back to their bunks by sailors and soldiers to sigh. Only those in the special reconnaissance team and the navy have already adapted due to long-term training.
"You're vomiting on the side! Yes, I'm talking about you! Pull the rope, there's no way you can be saved if you fall!" Lin Chuanqing scolded a guy who was vomiting. He was personally steering the ship on the stern. The Zhenhai uses a Western-style steering wheel operation, using gears and wire ropes for transmission. The rudder is very light and sensitive to operate. For safety reasons, the Zhenhai uses a double backup system. In addition to the main steering wheel on the poop platform, there is also a spare rudder inside the poop to prevent the ship from being unable to operate if one fails.
Looking here, Mond was actually standing on the railing of the poop with a gloomy face, looking like he was about to die. There was also a sextant clutched in his hand.
"Are you also a student of navigation?" Lin Chuanqing said disdainfully.
"When we were doing internships, we rode on ships of thousands of tons -" Mond retorted, "How did I know that one day I would come on a small ship like this."
Lin Chuanqing said: "Hahaha, you just lack exercise at sea. You see, other girls are better than you."
"It's hard to compare-" Mond was about to continue, but ran to vomit again.
Sea conditions of this level are certainly nothing to Li Huamei. After boarding the Zhenhai, she originally expected to see new things that would surprise her - just like she felt when she boarded the "holy ship" that day. But when she got on the ship, she saw that except for the new arrangement of the front and rear gun emplacements, the whole ship was no different from the European-style brig she had seen, except that the accommodation was more comfortable. As for the two delicate little cannons, in her opinion, it was better not to use them. The most shells fired were 6-pounders, and the number was small. After all, the Hangzhou still had 14 guns, large and small.
She doesn't know why the Australians want the fleet to sail around Hainan Island. Hainan Island is quite familiar to maritime merchants and pirates, especially the harbors along the coast. Almost all of them can be temporarily anchored to avoid the wind, make repairs, and replenish fresh water. But that's all what this island means. Basically no one is interested in the resources on the island - neither silk nor porcelain is produced, and there are no goods that the maritime merchants are interested in. It's too poor, too few people, and there's nothing to sell. Australians are so interested in it. Why?
She raised her eyes and looked at the man steering the ship, with a Chinese character face and a gray head. Wearing a tight-fitting little jacket with blue and white horizontal stripes - people here often wear this kind of little jacket, which is almost completely close to the body, has no collar, and has very short sleeves. He stood very firmly on the poop, with a nonchalant look on his face, a real eadg.
"What is this?" She discovered the fan-like instrument in Mond's hand.
"Sextant." Mond was already dazzled by seasickness.
"Sextant?" Li Huamei knew intuitively that this was an astronomical measuring instrument. But she had never seen it before.
Mond was so dizzy that he could not speak. He simply pushed the instrument into her hand and went to vomit on his own.
Lin Chuanqing stabilized the tiller and said, "This is an instrument for measuring latitude."
"Really?" Li Huamei took it in her hand and looked at it curiously, "It's like a quadrant?"
"Haha, I don't understand what a quadrant is." Lin Chuanqing smiled, "I've never played with it. The thing you're talking about is probably the ancestor of the sextant, right?"
Li Huamei was puzzled: "Ancestor?"
Only then did Lin Chuanqing realize the slip of the tongue and said vaguely: "This is definitely better than your quadrant."
It is now the early 17th century. Navigators like Li Huamei usually use the quadrant used by the British navigator John Davis at the end of the 16th century to measure the latitude of the earth during navigation. The quadrant or "rod projector" is rarely seen now, but it was the greatest navigational invention of the 16th and 17th centuries. How it works is simple. Rather than trying to see the sun, as was required when using an astrolabe or a simple quadrant, the navigator made use of the shadow cast by the stick on the scale, the position of the end of the shadow indicating the altitude of the sun, so that latitude could be calculated. Navigators achieve best results when using the Davis Quadrant in calm seas and when the deck is stable. Because its measurement is simple and accurate, the calculation of latitude has advanced from just degrees to being accurate to minutes. It soon replaced the old astrolabe, star board and other instruments. ! ~!
