With excitement, Marin boarded the 1,000-ton warship that had just completed the test. The bottom of the warship was covered with anti-corrosion stainless steel sheet. Since the small chromite ore in Cuba was discovered, Marin has the conditions to make chromium-nickel alloy stainless steel sheets, replacing the previous nickel-steel sheets. The effect is naturally much better.
Of course, the stainless steel iron surface is painted with dark paint. Otherwise, the bright white appearance of the stainless steel is too silly.
In addition, the warship was covered with stainless steel sheets on the side and painted. In this way, the side was not afraid of the impact of iron ball shells.
Even the iron sheet on the side is thicker than the one on the bottom of the ship, and it is probably more appropriate to describe it as steel plates. Such protection is difficult for ordinary shells to break through. Unless it is a conical shell like later generations, it can be easier to break the protection of the side.
Moreover, this design is difficult to imitate. Because other countries do not have anti-corrosion steel plates available. If copper is replaced, it can achieve a certain effect. However, this cost...you should know that the price of copper in Europe was several times more expensive than that in the Ming Dynasty...
If it is really covered with bronze, ordinary European countries cannot equip several ships at all, how can they talk about maritime hegemony?
So, Marin relies on technology trees to bully other countries - we can do it, you can't!
If someone asks, Marin will tell him with a smile--this is tinplate! That is, it is made of tin-plated iron on the surface, so you can imitate it...
But the tinplate does not mention the cost issue. If there is a scratch, the tinplate will fall off and the whole piece of iron will soon be destroyed. Moreover, the tinplate is not so corrosion-resistant to seawater. Even when nailing nails, the exposed part of the holes of the nails can cause the entire piece of ironplate to rust...
From the appearance, this warship has no problem. Its appearance is simply an enlarged version of the 500-ton warship. In other words, it is a reduced version of the "Constitution".
Like the Constitution, this battleship only has a double-layer artillery deck. That is, the top-level open-air deck and the lower deck. However, according to Marin's requirements, the open-air deck was equipped with a rain sheddle on the artillery position to prevent the gunpowder from being damp. Then, the cannon was covered with steel plates to protect the gunners inside from being hit by enemy shells.
In order to resist the recoil torque, the heavy artillery on the ship was arranged on the lower deck, while the upper deck was arranged basically with 6-pound and 12-pound light artillery, with only four 18-pound Koufeilin long cannons, namely the Red Barbarian cannons.
These four red cannons are mainly used to bombard targets on the shore. The reason they are arranged on the upper deck is that if the cannon is set high, they can hit farther. After all, the shells are parabolas. The same iron ball, standing at a higher place and using the same force, will naturally be sent farther...
The reason why only 4 doors were arranged was because they were afraid that the recoil was too strong, which would cause the hull to tilt severely. However, some designers pointed out that four doors were arranged on a 500-ton warship before. The resistance of a thousand-ton warship to the recoil torque was stronger, and it could be increased to 8 doors...
This is the layout of the top open-air deck. Next, under the guidance of the crew on board, Marin entered the lower artillery deck...
"Hey, why isn't it a watertight compartment?" Marin saw the problem at a glance. Because the lower artillery deck was not the watertight compartment he imagined.
The watertight compartment divides the same floor into one room, and each space is closed and can be used as an independent ship. To put it more specifically, the watertight compartment is similar to bamboo, one by one. Each section of the bamboo is a sealed air tank that can float independently...
However, the lower artillery deck that Marin saw was a structure in which the entire layer was connected to each other, which was no different from before. So he turned his gaze of suspicion to the captain Hobbit standing next to him.
Hobbit came from the New York shipyard, so he naturally knew the details, he explained:
"Dagong, the watertight compartment is on the bottom floor, not on this floor..."
"Why?" Marin asked with a frown, he needed an explanation. Because, he had said before, he should try to use watertight compartments. Could it be that people in the New York shipyard regard their words as windy?
Hobbit quickly explained:
"Master Tilpit, the main designer, believes that using watertight compartments on the lower artillery deck will affect the interaction between gunners. You know, gunners need to walk back and forth, and also move powder barrels and shells. The most important thing is that it is not conducive to the artillery commander commanding the gunners. If they are separated into relatively closed rooms, the commander will not be able to direct the gunners to fire in a volley, and they have to notify the gunners one by one..."
This reason is very reasonable. In the era of side-side volleys, if the gunners were really separated in different rooms, it would be really not conducive to commanding the shooting. Later warships could use watertight partitions because later warships were all on the upper deck. Moreover, there was also a call system between the gunners on the ship, so there was no need to worry about the difficulty of sending orders.
In this era when commanding basically relies on yelling, it is indeed necessary to concentrate the gunners to yell and command. If they are really made into watertight compartments, they will be unable to play...
Marin nodded, agreeing with Hobbit's explanation.
Hobbit continued to explain:
"As for the watertight compartment, Master Tilpit believes that its main purpose is to prevent sinking. The sinking of the ship is mainly due to water leakage in the bottom compartment. As for the lower artillery deck, it is usually above the waterline and there is no need for watertight compartment. Therefore, you only need to design the watertight compartment in the bottom compartment part of the lower compartment..."
Then, Captain Hobbit took Marin and opened several people leading to the bottom cabin on the lower artillery deck, and took Marin along the stairs to enter the bottom cabin for a tour.
The bottom cabin that should have been integrated was divided into seven compartments because of the watertight compartment design. Each compartment has a closed cellar door design on the top. Once a compartment leaks, the soldiers on the lower artillery deck will first block it, then pump the water from the leaky compartment and discharge it through the gun door... As long as more than half of the compartment does not leak, the ship will generally not sink... If the loopholes in a compartment are really difficult to fill, but the ship cannot sink, you can also choose to seal the cellar door above that compartment. Then, the ship drags the injured body and insists on it to the nearby port that is deliberately repaired...
Usually, when nothing happened, the bottom cabin was usually used for cargo, and some bottom cabins were used for people, mainly for sailors to live in. However, because the bottom cabin was not sunny and was dark, the sailors generally did not go down until the rest time.
Moreover, the officers would not live in the bottom cabin where air was not very circulating, but in the rooms on the lower artillery deck...
Chapter completed!