On the second day of inspection in Jinan, Luo Zhixue went to the suburbs to inspect and preside over the opening ceremony of the Jinan Yellow River Railway Bridge.
Standing on the shore and looking at the massive railway bridge in front of him, Luo Zhixue couldn't help but sigh: "This is the charm of industry!"
This is currently the first ultra-long bridge in the Chu Empire, with a total designed length of more than a thousand meters.
This Yellow River Railway Bridge is the most technically difficult and longest bridge built by the Chu Empire in the past ten years.
In order to build the bridge, the bridge engineers of the Chu Empire used many new technologies, such as the pneumatic caisson method to build the bridge piers.
This technology was first developed by the Navy for the construction of naval bases, and later began to be used in the construction of bridges, mainly various railway bridges.
At the same time, steel is also used on a large scale to build bridges, which makes the bridge's structural strength higher and allows for a larger single-hole span.
Of course, the cost is also higher!
But before that, wrought iron had been used on a large scale in the construction of bridges in the Dachu Empire, and a variety of bridge structures were designed and used, such as wrought iron chain suspension bridges, box-shaped wrought iron beam bridges, truss bridges, and so on.
Taking advantage of the opportunity to design and build various railway bridges, the bridge designers of the Chu Empire opened their minds and experimented with all kinds of messy designs and engineering techniques.
For example, wrought iron and steel are used as building materials, reinforced concrete is used on bridge piers, and the pneumatic caisson method is used to build bridge piers.
After massive experiments, the bridge construction technology of the Dachu Empire achieved huge breakthroughs in just a few years. After integrating many new technologies, the Jinan Yellow River Railway Bridge was built.
This is a railway bridge for trains, carriages and pedestrians. It is divided into two levels, one for trains and one for pedestrians and carriages.
In the 26th year of Chengshun, the design was finalized and construction officially started. After three years of construction, it was officially completed and opened to traffic.
In fact, the main project of this railway was completed two months ago, but the Jinan local government and the Railway Corporation, in order to show off in front of Luo Zhixue, have delayed it until now in the name of various finishing projects.
The purpose is to wait until Luo Zhixue inspects Jinan to inspect and hold the opening ceremony.
As Luo Zhixue simply walked around and looked at the bridge, and finally issued the official order to open to traffic, a train clad in red and decorated with colors slowly drove across the bridge's more than a thousand meters of railway steel. bridge.
After watching the train pass smoothly, Luo Zhixue smiled and said to the surrounding officials: "Very good. The completion of this bridge means that our country's bridge technology has broken through new limits. I hope that all of you will continue to work hard. Bring more bridges to me and the people of the empire!"
Luo Zhixue knows the significance of this bridge very well!
Therefore, the significance of the Jinan Railway Bridge is not only that it can connect the two sides of the Yellow River on the Central Plains Railway, but also lays a solid foundation for the bridge construction of the Dachu Empire and has been verified.
The subsequent Great Chu Empire was able to design and build similar steel bridges based on the experience of the Jinan Yellow River Bridge.
Then it continued to develop, and finally realized the wish to build a Yangtze River Bridge in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, to be precise, in Jinling City.
The bridge experts of the Chu Empire dreamed of building a bridge across the Yangtze River in Jinling City...
It is a pity that the bridge across the Yangtze River needs to be built in Jinling City because it needs to take into account the needs of shipping. At the same time, the Yangtze River here is very wide and the water is deep, which makes it extremely difficult. The corresponding technical level has not yet been reached.
Putting aside the ultimate goal of the Jinling Yangtze River Bridge, relying on the successful experience of the Jinan Railway Bridge, the Chu Empire can fully build the subsequent Han-Tian Yangtze River Bridge and connect the railway network in northern Chu with the railway networks in Han-Tianfu and southern Chu. stand up.
In addition, there are other railway bridges, such as the one in Zhengzhou. According to Luo Zhixue's plan, a railway will be built in North China along the east side of the Taihang Mountains to connect the Central Plains and the western part of the North China Plain.
In this case, a Yellow River Bridge will need to be built in Zhengzhou. The reason why it was chosen to be built in Zhengzhou instead of Luoyang.
That's because based on a series of previous inspections, bridge experts believe that it is easier to build a bridge in the Yellow River section in the Zhengzhou area.
If the North China West Line Railway and the Zhengzhou Railway Bridge can be successfully built, Zhengzhou will become a railway hub in the Central Plains region.
Its strategic position will become as important as Xuzhou, Jinan and other places.
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After inspecting and presiding over the opening ceremony of the Jinan Railway Bridge, Luo Zhixue inspected a major industrial zone in Jinan.
However, the local industrial development situation is not very good, and there are no special companies or products worthy of Luo Zhixue's attention.
Therefore, after reading it like a quick glance, Luo Zhixue ended his inspection in Jinan and then took the imperial special train to the east.
He is going to Qingdao Naval Base to take a look.
Qingdao Naval Base is not only an important military port for the Chu Empire in the northern coastal area, but also an important warship manufacturing base.
If nothing else, just the Qingdao Naval Shipyard is worth a visit for Luo Zhixue.
The imperial special train headed east along the Jeju Railway branch line and soon arrived at Jiaozhou Prefecture.
Jiaozhou Prefecture was previously under the jurisdiction of Laizhou Prefecture, and was later promoted to a provincial prefecture, and finally to Jiaozhou Prefecture.
It currently governs five counties: Gaomi, Jimo, Jiaoxian, Fushan, Lingshan and Qingdao District. The five counties and one district are under the jurisdiction of Qingdao District.
Other places are so-so, nothing worth seeing. What is really worth seeing is the Qingdao Naval Base and Qingdao Naval Shipyard.
Therefore, the imperial special train did not stop elsewhere, but went straight to Qingdao District.
Later, Luo Zhixue, accompanied by many local officials and naval generals, boarded the most advanced and largest battleship of the Chu Empire Navy: the first-class battleship Hantian.
The Hantian battleship, as the first battleship in the Chu Empire with a full load displacement exceeding 5,000 tons and reaching 5,500 tons, created countless histories.
However, due to the continuous advancement of technology during the construction process, the design was constantly changed, which caused the construction time of the Hantian battleship to last for many years, and the finally completed Hantian battleship was hugely different from the original design. There is a difference.
Especially the firepower.
At the beginning, front-loading smoothbore guns were used, but with the excellent performance of front-loading rifled guns in battle, the Navy wasted no time in replacing the artillery of a series of warships under construction with front-loading rifled guns. Shot.
However, although the artillery has changed, the firepower layout is still the same, and it is still the method of cannons beside the ship... After all, it is easy to change the artillery, but if you want to change the layout, you will need to perform major surgery on the hull.
At that time, the battleship Hantian was almost completed, and it was naturally impossible to undergo major surgery, so the layout of the ship's side guns continued.
And this was also the last battleship in the Chu Empire to adopt the shipside battery layout.
Luo Zhixue was in a good mood after boarding this battleship. Although this battleship still had a strong atmosphere of the era of sailing and wooden battleships, especially the layout of the artillery was the traditional shipside cannon layout.
But it still has huge symbolic significance, and its own combat effectiveness will also be huge.
Not to mention anything else, with its full tonnage of more than 5,000 tons, it would scare the natives to death if it were driven to Europe!
With a full load tonnage of more than 5,000 tons, this is the largest ship in human history. Not only warships, but even civilian ships are not this big for the time being.
The construction technology of such a large-tonnage ship is very difficult. For example, a large number of load-bearing parts cannot be made of wood, but wrought iron must be used.
Not to mention that there is a huge steam engine inside the hull of the ship with a full displacement of more than 5,000 tons.
This Hantian battleship seems to be not much different from the sail battleship in appearance, just larger, but in fact, from inside to out, it all represents the crystallization of the industrial technology of the Great Chu Empire.
And this ship also used wrought iron armor for the first time.
Although the wrought iron armor did not cover the entire ship and only covered near the waterline, it still has great historical significance.
This is a battleship that connects the past and the future and creates the future for the Chu Empire Navy.
Therefore, Luo Zhixue was very interested in the ship. During the inspection, he even went deep into the cabin to inspect... Then he saw a huge steam unit inside the cabin.
Luo Zhixue was shocked when he saw the huge steam engine and transmission structure... Even though the technical level of this thing was very inferior compared with later generations, he could still feel the shock of industrial products.
To reflect the shock of industry, there are two extremes: either extremely large or extremely small.
Regardless of whether it is large or small, once it reaches a certain limit, it has extremely high requirements for industrial capabilities.
The steam engine on the Hantian is too big to reach a certain limit. If nothing else, the huge cylinder alone is not so easy to process.
After a brief visit to the internal cabin of the Hantian, Luo Zhixue returned to the command cabin and held a brief meeting with a group of naval admirals, heads of companies in the shipbuilding and defense industry, and senior engineers.
He expressed his affirmation of the navigation industry and the national defense industry, and encouraged them to continue their efforts to make the next generation of new warships better and stronger.
After a brief meeting, Luo Zhixue arrived at the headquarters building of the Qingdao Naval Base and held a small meeting with the naval generals. They mainly talked casually about the navy's global strategic issues and listened to the navy's next development plan.
The Navy's 600-warship plan is currently underway, and after several adjustments, the Navy's development plan is different from previous years.
This difference is mainly due to the improvement in warship performance brought about by technological progress, which allows the navy to adjust its warship plans and strategic arrangements based on new warships.
Among them, the biggest change in the shipbuilding plan, and the one with the greatest significance, is the Yingtian battleship currently under construction.
This battleship was originally the second ship of the Hantian-class battleship, but its design was changed many times soon after construction started.
After many design changes, the Yingtian battleship is actually completely different from the Hantian battleship.
As for the power system, the ship is planned to use a combined steam engine.
The so-called combined steam engine simultaneously applies the two-expansion technology of Tianjin Machinery Company, the new water tube boiler technology of Guangzhou Machinery Company, and the ultra-high-pressure cylinder technology of Dangtu Machinery Company, and core components are provided by the above three manufacturers.
Designed and assembled by the United Steam Engine Works.
This combined steam engine was the result of the three major steam engine manufacturers, who were forced to compromise under the pressure of the Navy.
The Navy paid a considerable price to forcibly combine the advanced technologies of these three steam engine manufacturers to create a combined steam engine that directly surpasses all existing steam engines on the market in terms of performance.
The power is completely different, and so is the firepower.
Although the artillery uses front-loading rifled guns like the Hantian battleship, it uses a larger caliber 200 mm front-loading rifled gun as the main gun to increase the range and power. It is also equipped with a large number of 150 mm caliber guns. Secondary gun.
Because the main gun is heavier, in order to allow the gun to jump and move the muzzle, and also to increase the shooting range of the main gun, a layout in which the front and rear central axes are deployed, and the two main guns are deployed at the front and rear respectively.
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Of course, the turret used is not a turret, but an open-air rotating turret. There is a steel wall around the rotating platform to withstand the threat of potential large-caliber solid artillery shells from the enemy.
A large number of secondary guns are deployed on both sides.
The entire firepower layout seems to be very similar to the pre-dreadnought battleships of later generations at first glance, but it is actually not the same thing... because the Hantian battleship does not have a turret... there is just a rotating turret.
Its steel fence is not integrated with the rotating platform, but separate...
To put it bluntly, it is to build a gun mount that can rotate at a large angle, and then build a steel fence around the gun mount, which is completely different from the turrets of later generations.
And it is not a low-freeboard warship, but a typical high-freeboard warship, which is specially designed for ocean navigation operations.
At the same time, the Hantian battleship is different from the modern battleships familiar to later generations, which have thick armor... The armor of this thing is actually very thin. Behind the thin wrought iron armor, there is a layer of coal.
Because the design indicators are only used to resist the old-fashioned smoothbore cannons of the indigenous people, and the designed resistance distance is 500 meters.
The navy of the Dachu Empire has no plans to fight the enemy within a range of 500 meters. It is best to use the wind formation more than a few hundred meters or even a thousand meters away.
Therefore, if the level of protective armor of the battleship Hantian were placed in the mid-to-late 19th century in the original time and space, it would actually be the level of an unprotected cruiser, which is very poor.
However, even such a poor level of protection was adequate or even excessive in the eyes of the generals of the Da Chu Empire Navy.
Because the enemies of the Imperial Navy of the Chu Empire were not any other industrial power, they were just a group of indigenous people who couldn't even handle front-loading smoothbore cannons.
Most of the time, the design indicators of weapons and equipment follow the enemy's lead.
If the enemy has powerful artillery, he will naturally be more inclined to thicken the armor for shooting.
The enemy doesn't even have powerful artillery, but you still pile dozens of inches of wrought iron armor on the battleship... isn't that crazy!
Just get a few inches of wrought iron armor and add wood armor to make do. Wouldn't it be nice to use the limited tonnage and cost to increase firepower, carry more coal and fresh water to increase endurance, and expand living space?
This has also led to the fact that the protection level of a series of new warships designed and built by the Chu Empire in recent years is actually far inferior to those of the same warships in the original time and space.
It's not that it can't be done, but it's not necessary.
The Yingtian battleship is a typical product of this idea, focusing on firepower, endurance, seaworthiness and even personnel living space.
In terms of protection, it's just okay. In terms of speed, the top speed is not too fast, but the cruising speed is relatively fast.
According to the navy's plan, in the future the core fleet should be composed of multiple battleships of the same type as the Yingtian battleship, supplemented by a number of new cruisers and frigates to form a task force, and then engage in strategic decisive battles with the enemy fleet.
But Luo Zhixue doubts whether this kind of task force can be used...
Because looking around the world, there is no indigenous navy worthy of the Chu Empire Navy using the Yingtian battleship with a full load displacement of more than 6,000 tons.
A large amount of steam engine power, cruisers and even frigates with front-mounted rifled guns are actually enough to defeat the indigenous navies of various countries.
You have to know that the new frigates being built by the Dachu Empire Navy now have a displacement of thousands of tons... Cruisers generally have two to three thousand tons.
The so-called battleships in European countries generally only weighed more than a thousand tons. They still used old-fashioned smoothbore cannons and were powered by pure sails.
The warships of the Da Chu Empire Navy are fundamentally different in performance from the warships of the indigenous navies of various countries.
