In November of the 30th year of Chengshun, on the Central Pacific Ocean, a passenger ship sprayed white mist, with all four masts of the sails spread out, the waterline was black, the superstructure was white, and the chimney and masts were painted orange, and it was riding the wind and waves. , heading towards the east.
This is the luxury liner Shenghua owned by Jiangnan Shipping Company. It is performing its twelfth trans-Pacific flight mission since it was put into service.
In the white superstructure, in the cockpit at the front, seven or eight staff members wearing blue crew uniforms were controlling the huge passenger ship at high speed.
In the boiler room at the bottom of the shipyard, a group of shirtless and muscular men are constantly putting coal into the boiler combustion chamber. The fine coal put into the boiler burns and emits blazing heat. The heat is transferred to the water pipes, allowing the water pipes to The water boils and produces high-temperature and high-pressure steam.
High-temperature and high-pressure steam enters the cylinder of the steam engine through the pipe, pushing the huge piston to reciprocate.
When the piston reciprocates, it drives the huge steel spindle to rotate. The rotating main shaft drives a propeller with a diameter of several meters at the rear of the ship to rotate, constantly pushing the sea back. The huge Shenghua uses reverse thrust to continuously move forward.
In the cockpit, Fang Xian, wearing the captain's uniform, looked through the glass in front of the cockpit at the endless sea ahead!
Although there were some rough waves on the sea surface at this time, they were not very big. For the huge Pacific Ocean, it was considered calm.
But even so, he did not relax. Instead, he asked the lookout at the top of the main mast to continue to pay close attention to the situation in the surrounding waters.
This is not to worry about enemies, land, icebergs, etc. It is purely to guard against the weather in the surrounding sea areas.
When sailing on the sea these days, the biggest enemy is always the changeable and complex weather on the sea. Once you encounter a storm, it will be very troublesome.
Although it seemed calm at this time, the sky was overcast with no sunlight, and the air seemed a bit dull. This was a typical sign of an approaching storm.
Fang Xian was a little worried about a big storm! Even a large ship like the Shenghua is nothing more than a small boat on the vast sea. When encountering wind and waves, it can avoid it whenever possible.
After repeatedly looking at the navigation chart and asking experienced crew members, Fang Xian finally gave the order to turn 40 degrees to the north.
After many people observed the weather and the weather in the surrounding sea areas, they concluded that the center of the storm might be ahead, so it was necessary to avoid it in advance.
\bThe Shenghua began to turn to avoid the storm, but Fang Xian still did not relax. Instead, he continued to pay close attention to the weather changes, especially asking several crew members with rich experience in sea weather changes to pay close attention to the weather changes.
Compared with the crew members who were working nervously in the cockpit, the passengers on the Shenghua were as usual. Some were walking on the deck, some were watching movies in the small theater on the ship, and some were dining in the restaurant on the ship. .
————The Shenghua, as a new generation of ocean liner put into operation by Jiangnan Shipping Company only three years ago, is extremely representative.
Since the 20th year of Chengshun, the overseas immigration of the Great Chu Empire has been increasing year by year, the amount of trade has also been increasing year by year, and the demand for ocean shipping has increased year by year.
This allowed many shipping companies in the Dachu Empire to see opportunities for development and growth, and they invested in large-tonnage ocean liners or cargo ships to increase their investment in ocean transportation business.
The tonnage of ocean-going merchant ships is getting larger and larger. Let’s not talk about cargo ships for now. We will only talk about passenger ships for now. The ocean liners of major shipping companies, Chengshun twenty years ago, had a full load capacity of no more than 1,000 tons, and they were all purely wooden sailboats.
Twenty years after Chengshun, steam engines began to enter the field of ocean liners, and steam-engine-sail hybrid passenger ships began to appear.
This type of boat is sometimes also called a motor sailing boat. At the same time, steel technology has further matured and been applied in the shipbuilding industry. The full load tonnage of ocean liner has gradually increased from more than 1,000 tons to more than 2,000 tons, more than 3,000 tons, then to 4,000 to 5,000 tons, and now it has reached 10,000 tons. direction development.
It was against this background that Shenghua was invested and built. The ship was built by Luohua Shipyard and is the first Shenghua-class passenger ship under Jiangnan Shipping Company. There are currently five ships of the same class, each operating on the Pacific route or the Indian Ocean route.
The ship has a registered tonnage of 2,800 tons and a fully loaded tonnage of 4,600 tons. It is an iron-ribbed wooden hull ship with first-class, second-class and third-class cabins. It can carry 1,200 passengers at the same time and a large number of passengers. goods.
The ship is equipped with a reciprocating steam engine from Tianjin Machinery Company, with a maximum power of 1,500 horsepower, single-shaft single-propeller propulsion, and four towering masts. The steam engine and sail power together can provide the ship with maximum power. Fourteen knots of speed.
However, the biggest feature of the ship is not that it is big, nor is it simply luxurious, or that it is an ocean liner.
There are so many ocean-going ships that they are not worth mentioning. Speaking of large, there are many passenger ships with a full load of more than 5,000 tons in the contemporary era. In the past two years, other shipping companies have also put into service some large-tonnage passenger ships of 7,000 to 8,000 tons.
In terms of relative tonnage, the Shenghua class that was put into use three years ago is no longer the largest. It can only be said that it is still in the first echelon.
When it comes to luxury, it's not really... Donghai Shipping Company previously invested in the construction of a truly luxury liner, the Dongil, to carry out flights on domestic coastal routes.
With a full load displacement of more than 5,000 tons, the number of passengers is only over 300. The decoration is extremely luxurious, and the services are top-notch. Of course, the ticket price is also extremely high... So their operation failed and they suffered a lot of losses. .
Now it has returned to the shipyard for renovation, preparing to transform those flashy luxury cabins into cheap and ordinary third-class cabins.
In the contemporary Da Chu Empire ocean liner market, pure high-end passenger transport business cannot support the operation of large-tonnage ocean liner.
Basically every shipping company that tried it suffered. However, this is not the case for the Shenghua-class passenger ships developed by Jiangnan Shipping Company. Their cabin layout is a traditional subdivision system.
In addition to luxurious first-class cabins, there are also affordable second-class cabins, and even third-class cabins that can carry a large number of low-end passengers. At the same time, there is a large-capacity cargo warehouse at the bottom... They divided the cabins into first-, second-, and third-class cabins. At the same time, a large number of warehouses are set up to well balance the needs and affordability of high-end passengers, mid-range passengers and low-end passengers.
At the same time, it also balances the problem of empty ships when returning from overseas territories. In fact, most of the Chu State's ocean passengers these days are immigrants from the mainland to overseas. They are basically one-way tickets, and they will not come back if they go there. kind!
As a result, the number of tourists returning to the mainland from overseas is very small, only some business people and people visiting relatives.
In order to solve the problem of empty cargo on the return trip, Shenghua-class passenger ships have set up large-capacity cargo warehouses. When these cargo warehouses run from the mainland to overseas routes, they carry passengers' needs such as water and food, as well as gifts, mail, and some cargo. .
But when they come back, they carry a large amount of overseas specialty goods in the cargo yard, such as grain, cotton, timber, etc. from North America. This can help the shipping company make up for part of the losses caused by the scarcity of return passenger traffic.
These days, when ocean liners return, they either make a profit or not lose too much! As for the real source of profit, the real profit lies in the passengers from the mainland to overseas ports. For this reason, the passenger transportation business of Jiangnan Shipping Company, well, and even other shipping companies is almost the same.
This is also the situation where the shipping business in the Da Chu Empire has first, second and third class cabins. Third class is generally designed to serve immigrants going overseas. The fares are affordable. Of course, the service is not great, but it can carry a large number of people. It wins by quantity. It is also very profitable when it is full.
Second-class and first-class cabins gain higher added value by improving living space and service levels.
In this way, it has been recognized by different passenger groups. In addition, the overall service level is good, the large-tonnage ships are safe, the shipping is comfortable, and the speed is fast. At the same time, the overall fares also have a competitive advantage. All these have contributed to the successful operation of Shenghua-class passenger ships. Foundation.
This class of ship received great recognition from passengers after it was first put into operation. When the first ship Shenghua performed the Nanyang route for the first time, it was fully booked.
When the No. 3 ship Shenghua started its Pacific route last year, it was also full of passengers. The same goes for this trip to North America, with all tickets sold out.
The successful construction and successful operation of the Shenghua also meant that the ocean liners of the Chu Empire had basically reached the level of being fully loaded with 5,000 tons.
Moreover, a passenger ship of this level is very cost-effective. Twenty-seven years after Chengshun, the shipping companies in the Chu Empire tended to build merchant ships between 4,000 tons and 5,000 tons and put them into service one after another.
At present, commercial ships of this tonnage are relatively mature technically, and the price per ton is not expensive. The greater transportation capacity brought by larger ship tonnage can also reduce the transportation cost per ton.
Therefore, it is very cost-effective and is welcomed by various shipping companies. The reduction in shipbuilding costs was mainly due to the fact that the Chu Empire continued to build cruisers and battleships of more than 2,000 tons after twenty years of Chengshun.
These large-tonnage warship orders have allowed supporting companies such as shipyards, steam engine manufacturers, steel companies, and heavy equipment companies to improve various supporting facilities.
Nowadays, major shipyards, such as Songjiang Naval Shipyard, Guangzhou Shipyard, Lishi Shipyard, and Luohua Shipyard, have sufficient 5,000-ton dry docks, gantry cranes and other large shipbuilding equipment.
Steam engine manufacturers can also provide large steam engines that drive ships with a load of four to five thousand tons, and the cost is not very high, such as the three major steam engine manufacturers.
Steel companies can also supply sufficient shipbuilding materials in large quantities and cheaply, such as several major domestic steel companies.
Some heavy machinery processing companies, such as Zhenjiang Heavy Machinery Company, can also provide sufficient and relatively cheap large steel parts, such as hull load-bearing parts, propellers, drive shafts, etc.
The combination of these has also caused the per-ton cost of large-tonnage all-steel or iron-ribbed wooden-hull merchant ships to continue to decline.
Only twenty-seven years after Chengshun, the shipbuilding industry began to provide the shipping industry with commercial ships with a full load of between 4,000 tons and 5,000 tons.
As for large-tonnage ships between 5,000 tons and 10,000 tons, there are still many problems at present, resulting in high cost and low cost performance.
Major shipping companies basically only order one or two ships for use as flagships, but the main transportation force is still merchant ships with a full load of between 4,000 tons and 5,000 tons.
As for the merchant ships with a full load of more than 10,000 tons, there is currently only one luxury passenger ship Jiangnan owned by Jiangnan Shipping Company, and the ship is still under construction. Because of the complex technology and difficulty in construction, and it is positioned as a luxury passenger ship, the outfitting will be completed later. Installation, especially decoration, will be very time-consuming and other factors. The most optimistic estimate is that it will not be put into use until two years later.
Therefore, the current large-tonnage ocean-going merchant ships built by the Chu Empire, which has been in power for 30 years, are basically the mainstream with a full load of 5,000 tons. There are relatively few ships with a full load of more than 5,000 tons, and there is only one ship with a load of more than 10,000 tons. .
\bThe same is true for cargo ships, and the same is true for passenger ships. As for the merchant ships in operation, the average tonnage is even lower, and there are still a lot of ocean-going ships carrying two to three thousand tons.
Jiangnan Shipping Company, as the leading shipping company in the country, currently has only twelve passenger ships and cargo ships with a full load displacement of 4,000 to 5,000 tons, three of which are coal ships... In the domestic shipping business, coal transportation is a large part , is the competitive focus of major shipping companies.
As for the more ocean-going merchant ships, many of them have a registered tonnage of several hundred tons to more than a thousand tons, and a full load of between one, two thousand to three thousand tons.
Overall, the shipping industry of the Da Chu Empire was in a period of rapid development. At the same time, because of the rapid development speed and short time span, the shipping company had a large number of ships with seemingly large technological gaps at the same time.
For example, there are many pure sailing ships in Jiangnan Shipping Company. Motor sailing ships have not completely replaced pure sailing ships.
At the same time, there are still many wooden-hulled ships, and even some newly built ships have many pure wooden ships.
For the time being, all-steel ships have not fully unified the shipbuilding industry. They are only widely used in large-tonnage ships. However, wooden hulls are still widely used in small-tonnage ships. This is because iron rust prevention is difficult and costly. Small and medium-sized ships that do not need armor protection, especially civilian ships, are not as simple and trouble-free as using wooden-hulled ships.
This is a comprehensive result of technology and cost. This is true even in the field of warships. Today's new warships in the Chu Empire, that is, the new generation of battleships, use all-steel hulls. Others, including cruisers of more than 2,000 tons, are still using wooden hulls.
The main reason is that the price of steel is still a bit expensive, and the quality of iron is not good. The processing cost of large steel parts is also high. Large-area iron plates for ship hulls are difficult to produce and the price is also expensive.
Then the anti-rust problem of steel ships is very difficult to deal with. Until now, the Da Chu Empire Navy has not been able to solve the rust problem of steel hulls well. It can only be solved through technical mitigation and frequent maintenance.
However, its construction and maintenance costs are still relatively high. If the military can accept it, it does not mean that civilian shipping companies can also accept it.
Therefore, the current mainstream of merchant ships is still mainly iron-ribbed wooden hull ships. However, the 10,000-ton Jiangnan passenger ship under construction is an exception. Jiangnan Shipping Company does not care too much about the cost, only the performance.
What they need is a top-notch flagship that can completely overwhelm the flagships of other domestic shipping companies!
A little more expensive is acceptable, but some other merchant ships built by Jiangnan Shipping Company still use iron-ribbed wooden hulls...
