Section 198 Bobu Shipyard
Finally, the resumption of the 854 modification project was approved. The executive committee agreed to immediately start the construction of one 163o cruiser, four 500-horsepower steam tugs, 12 200-ton barges, and six sail-steam-hún hybrid-powered 500-ton ships. .
In addition, according to Wen Desi's suggestion: continue to mass-produce Type II spinnaker patrol boats. Convert a single mast into a double mast. At least 2 boats are launched every month.
This shipbuilding plan became the first great leap forward in Lingao's shipbuilding industry. Prior to this, Lingao's shipbuilding industry had only built light ships with a tonnage of around 200 tons. However, Bobu Shipyard has accumulated considerable shipbuilding experience through the large-scale construction of sloop/ketch patrol boats in the previous stage.
The Planning Institute has detailed plans for shipbuilding itself in its five-year plan. According to Ma Qianju and Wu De's ideas, large-scale shipbuilding will begin one year before the end of the first five-year plan. According to the timetable, in this year the fleet will fully occupy Hainan and expand its influence overseas.
Fortunately, the Planning Commission and later the Planning Institute still recognized that the shipbuilding industry was a long-term investment industry. Starting from the first year of the five-year plan, the construction of the Bobu Shipyard began. This shipyard has been greatly strengthened with the large number of shipbuilding workers and materials captured from Baitu Village. The shipyard started by modifying ships, and then successfully copied the "America", completing the first step in making its own Western-style sailing ship.
Due to the lack of large-scale keel materials, the shipyard began to unswervingly follow the path of iron bones after the launch of the "Zhenhai", a replica of the "America". Although there has been some controversy between these two technical routes as to whether to make the transition to an iron shell in one step or to use a wooden shell. During this period, there was also a move to build large-scale cement ships.
The final adoption of wooden-hulled ships was mainly due to the fact that the industrial base of the Crossing Group was still too weak. According to tests conducted by the Navy in the pool, the hull made of forged iron corrodes very quickly in seawater, and the chemical industry in Lingao has not yet been able to produce paint that can be used to protect the hull of the ship. In the 19th century, the solution was to cover the bottom of an iron-hulled ship with a layer of wooden planks, which was too labor-intensive. Although iron-hulled ships have many advantages in manufacturing and use that wooden-hulled ships cannot match, this unsolvable practical problem eventually made wooden hulls the mainstream of shipbuilding.
As for the cement ship, it has also been supported by many people. As a cheap water transport vehicle, cement ships do have their advantages. Its advantages are that the materials are cheap and easy to obtain, and they hardly require any specialized shipbuilding skills. Construction workers can build them with a little training and do not need to be complicated. Advanced ship material processing: Steel bars and steel wire mesh can easily create a skeleton. A few masons can pour cement and a ship can be completed in a few days.
The world's first cement ship was built in 1848 by the Frenchman J?1? Lambert. Early cement ships had small tonnage, simple technology and heavy weight. Generally only used for small tonnage cargo transportation on inland rivers. During the two world wars, due to the shortage of steel, there were two attempts to build reinforced concrete ships; China has built a large number of reinforced concrete ships and steel mesh cement ships since 1958, which are widely used as barges, inland rivers and Coastal small and medium-sized motorized cargo ships and inland river barges, agricultural ships and fishing boats, etc. China has millions of tons of cement ships, ranking first among all countries in the world. In the 1960s, the United States, Canada, Norway, New Zealand and other countries began to trial-produce steel mesh cement ships. Because cement ships have heavy weight, small cargo-carrying ratio, and excessive fuel consumption, their economic performance has never been up to standard, so they have not been used on a large scale. China once built a ship in the 1970s and completed its first cargo voyage. After that, the voyage ended forever and was abandoned on the shore.
However, according to the advocacy of the cement ship party led by Skade: cement ships are more resistant to collision than wooden ships. The seaworthiness is equivalent to that of a wooden ship and better than that of a steel-hulled ship. Repair is also easy. No rust, no rot, long life. It is the best emergency shipbuilding solution for time travellers.
Skade, the office director of the Department of Colonization and Trade, was so enthusiastic about cement ships that he spent his spare time constantly preaching how "great and honorable" cement ships were in the crossing business. Not only did he advocate the various benefits of cement ships at the working meetings of the Executive Committee, he also often went to the shipyard to talk about the technical issues of cement ships, confusing several indigenous technicians at the shipyard. The elders of the shipyards and the Navy were pestered to know what was going on with "building ships like houses." Li Di was so annoyed that he simply ordered the sentry to prevent Skade from entering the shipyard again. and declared cement ships "heresy."
Li Di hates cement ships-because cement ships do not match the glorious image of the navy. However, Skade did not give up and submitted two so-called standardized ships that he personally designed to the Planning Institute - to facilitate mass production. One is a 250-ton single-masted paddle-and-oar cement ship as a transition, and the other is an 800-ton two-masted steam cement ship.
Cement ship is a shallow draft horizontal bottom ship type. Use Chinese-style sails for sailing equipment to simplify maintenance and reduce manpower consumption.
In terms of firepower, one or two standard retractable rotary gun mounts are designed, and the barrel can be equipped with a 2o-6o pound smoothbore gun or a 7omm-13omm rifled gun. The small cement ship is pre-installed with 1 gun position, which is not used at ordinary times. The large cement ship is pre-installed with 3-4 gun positions, with only 1-2 mén guns installed at ordinary times. They are fully prepared in wartime.
Deck space is reserved on the ship, which can be used to install 12-20 pound guns and small rifled guns during wartime. Large ships can be equipped with 8-12mén light guns. The small boat can carry 4mén.
Skade enthusiastically showed the design drawings he drew to Wu De in the conference room, explaining the ideas for manufacturing and use.
"If we have a fleet of 100 ships and half of them are mobilized during the war, we can have 500 cannons and dozens of typewriters, which is more firepower than the British fleet during the Crow War. When we build a dozen or two When the time comes, we should first find an opportunity to hold a joint exercise publicly to shock the Guangzhou government and the Portuguese, and let them know that we can kill any city or fleet on the Pearl River with cargo ships!" Skade was foaming at the mouth, and Wu De was already gradually grew impatient. He was born in the navy and had no interest in cement ships, which were not even ships.
"...We first design and build the ship in Lingao, and then move the cast-in-place and final assembly parts to Xiangshan'ao, with Lingao providing raw materials. Once we control the coal mines in the Xijiang Basin, we can move the cement plant to Xiangshan'ao, Once we control the high-grade iron ore in Zhaoqing, we can build a steel plant, and then we can build iron ships..."
Wu De said: "I have never seen a cement ship floating on the sea." He planned to use this to directly shoot the cement ship. "Besides, I remember that cement ships are not collision-resistant, and they are equipped with artillery? Will the cannon be fired? Is the hull cracked? It's also anti-cannon! When I was a kid, I used to ride on the cement boat in my hometown a lot, and I was very afraid of collisions."
"Actually, we have made it." Skade quickly cited France and China as examples, both of which have built thousand-ton cement ships, which shows that this is not impossible. He went on to say that the construction period of wooden ships is too long. The wood for shipbuilding must be hardwood. After three to five years of natural drying, it will decay quickly. The copper-clad bottom of the ship does not have that much copper.
As for the issue of cannon firing and anti-cannon, the concrete shell should be more impact-resistant than wood. Wood has no lateral strength, and the steel bars are grid-like. If they are cracked, they can be repaired on site. The cannons at that time could not hit below the water line, and at most they were under the water. It doesn't matter if a layer of steel mesh is added to the line area to enhance the impact of the artillery. If there is a base under the gun base, steel pre-embedded bolts and thick wooden squares are used for shock isolation...
Wu De reluctantly listened to the theory of "theory of superiority of cement ships" that was combined from information he didn't know where to find and conjectures he collected, and then he said: "If cement ships are really so superior, why were they later eliminated? What’s up?”
"No matter how superior it is, it can't be better than a steel ship." Skade said, "But it is definitely better than a wooden ship."
However, it is not. Wu De consulted many veterans who were familiar with shipbuilding technology, and almost all of them came to the conclusion that "cement ships are not worth developing."
The impact resistance of cement ships is very poor, whether it is steel bars or barbed wire. The crack resistance of cement ships with barbed wire frames is slightly better than that of reinforced concrete ships, but it is not revolutionary - so the fact that barbed wire cement ships are more impact-resistant than wooden ships is untenable.
The large-scale use of barbed wire in cement ship manufacturing is mainly to reduce costs, not to improve performance. Cement ships have a problem of small usable volume and huge dead weight - this problem has almost no solution. Heavy weight means high fuel consumption and low cargo capacity. Therefore, cement ships are suitable for engineering ships and barges that have low self-weight requirements, fixed berths or less movement, or are a last resort substitute during periods of steel shortage.
In addition, the quantity of steel bars and cement cannot be compared with the relatively abundant forest resources in this time and space. The quality of the barbed wire and cement produced by Lingao Industry is still quite poor.
In the end, the Planning Institute shot down all initiatives to build cement ships and directly included cement ship technology as an "elimination project." .
Under the sunset in the first half of the 17th century, two people were sitting on a stone on the top of a small hill. The pistol hangs loosely by his side, and a plastic sheet is spread in front of him. On top of it are a box filled with several bottles of kvass, Lingao's latest beer, ice cubes, and a few pieces of beef.
Several plainclothes officers from the Political Security Bureau were watching the surroundings vigilantly, while a man was roasting a mutton dumpling and fish some distance away. At the foot of the mountain is a construction site, which covers an area that is not inferior to that of a modern shipyard in another time and space. Hulls of various sizes, to be repaired or under construction, are lined up along the river bank. From time to time, shining rails and rising steam can be seen. The steam crane makes a rattling sound when rotating and lifting, and from time to time there is a sharp whistle to remind workers to pay attention to safety.
Busy people wearing rattan hats of different colors. The only drawback is that although there is a certain distance, you can still smell some unpleasant smells. The smell of wood tar and coal tar never goes away, not to mention the steam engine boilers that spit out black smoke day and night.
The size of the shipyard far exceeds that of most industrial projects in Lingao. Since the first year of the five-year plan, the Planning Commission and the Planning Institute have launched expansion and technical renovation projects for the shipyard every year. A large-scale shipyard has been formed here. The mangroves in the Bobu estuary area have been cleared, and large areas of land in the estuary area belong to shipyards.
The shipyard has successively built new 1,000-ton dry docks, large steam cranes, and multiple 100-ton slipways. A large forging machine was also installed in the forging shop for Project 854 to forge keels, ship ribs and iron plates.
Other supporting workshops were also built: the Timber Consortium built a large wood fumigation kiln here to process shipbuilding wood. The "small" wood used in ship hulls can be processed in a drying kiln for about three days, which is equivalent to half a year of natural drying. As for the keel and rib materials, it can also be processed within half a month. However, since the implementation of the iron-frame wooden shell guidelines, the supply of aniseed has been relatively reduced. High-quality wood that can be used as keels and masts was rare on the southern coast of China at that time, and the price was also very expensive. .
The wood processing workshop using a complete set of large wood processing equipment made by Lingao Machinery Factory has just been completed. The equipment inside stunned even the indigenous shipyard mechanics who were used to seeing "Australian miracles". This huge workshop is used to process special plates for shipbuilding. From large pieces of wood that have been processed in fumigation kilns, using woodworking circular saws and gang saws driven by steam engines, it is possible to cut out in a few minutes a large amount of shipboard planks and masts that would take dozens of workers a day. The cuts are smooth and neat, with almost no waste. A few days later, they witnessed the inhuman and terrifying power of these machines. Half of an apprentice's body was accidentally cut off by a circular saw during operation - from the time he screamed to the time he was dismembered, only less than 10% of his body was injured. half a minute.
The Indian jute used to make ropes was shipped from Goa in ships by Li Huamei. The jute was mixed with local hemp in the rope workshop and processed into huge ropes by mechanical rope making machines - although the iron anchor chain was It is more convenient to use and corrosion-resistant. However, in order to save iron, the anchor chains of most small and medium-sized ships in Lingao still use hemp ropes, and these ropes are also used as sail cables.
A large number of tackles are needed on a sailing ship. The shipyard's dedicated tackle production workshop has five workers and uses simple pulleys for production: the annual output is 80,000 tackles - although the navy and shipyards cannot currently consume so many. The outer shell of the pulley is made of elm wood, and the hub and rotating shaft are made of the best special hardwoods such as rosewood and green oak.
The sail is made of Lingao's own canvas. The cotton yarn comes from India - Indian merchants, in accordance with the requirements of the Department of Colonial Trade, customize the cotton yarn of the required specifications from the handicraftsmen, and then transport it to Lingao in packages. It was spun into canvas in the textile factory in Lingao. Of course, the Ministry of Colonial Trade did not pass up the opportunity to purchase canvas directly.
The workshop where the sails are sewn is an iron shed covered with reed mats - some of the roof will be lost during the typhoon season, but it doesn't matter if the forged iron trusses are intact and can be repaired quickly. The workshop is as large as half a football field, and dozens of specially trained female workers use semi-mechanized pedal-operated sewing machines to sew sails. However, the sails were still threaded with ropes by the women sitting on the benches.
The layout and settings of the entire shipyard generally refer to the settings of British shipyards in the data. The shipyard employs over 800 workers. It is one of the largest large-scale enterprises in Lingao.
"What's the use of such a big shipyard if it doesn't destroy ships? Is it going to be used as a theme park?" Wen Desi smashed the glass marbles on the beer, tilted his neck and took a few sips, sighing with satisfaction.
"It finally tastes better than beer." Wen Desi said, "Although this is a typical rice beer, I just made do with it."
"Ma Du Gong is dogmatist..."
"He doesn't know anything about the navy." Wen Desi waved his hand, "He's even more of an outsider in shipbuilding. Humph, if Wu Kuangming hadn't told him that wood can be fumigated and dried, he would have thought that all wood must be dried naturally. Three years. This place, Lingao, will not get better after being dry for thirty years."
Chen Haiyang took a sip of beer. He was unwilling to comment on Ma Qianzhu's right and wrong. Changed the topic.
"Mr. Wen, what do you mean by suggesting building more patrol boats?"
"Divide the sea surface into many areas, use small and fast ships to patrol in separate areas, and use radio to notify nearby warships to solve the problem after discovering the enemy, and then use dedicated transport ships to send supplies and replacement personnel. This is our current resource. Inadequate countermeasures.”
"Wolves on the sea."
"Similar, but not exactly. Our goal is not to destroy the enemy as much as possible, but to absolutely control this ocean. When it comes to this, Liu Xiang and Zheng Zhilong will attack us sooner or later."
"It would be great if we could find Liu Xiang's lair and launch a Pearl Harbor-style surprise attack." Chen Haiyang said, "If we fight in the harbor, our advantage will not be reduced."
"So we need to build more light patrol boats. These boats are fast and flexible, and have decent endurance. They are good at doing reconnaissance." Wen Desi narrowed his eyes and looked at the shipyard, "Those people in the Executive Committee are short-sighted! You know it?" Staring at the few resources in front of us and figuring out how to allocate them in order to cover everything, we are still talking about whether the resources are enough - I wonder if there will be an opportunity for a windfall next year? How can I get this windfall without a ship, especially a big ship for a long voyage! "
"What kind of windfall opportunity?" Chen Haiyang became interested.
"You will know when the time comes." Wen Desi did not want to say more. He was still considering this proposal. Of course, there were more than one elders who had similar considerations to him, especially a group of people from the Great Library who were actively working on it. Find historical information. The success or failure of this operation is directly related to the navy's combat power, transportation capacity and endurance.
"When I think about it clearly, I will naturally discuss it with you." Wen Desi said, "Right now, it's not mature yet."
