1850 American Gold Tycoon

Chapter 528 The Age of Ironclad Ships

General Liang's development of rifles and machine guns was very successful.

In the end, Liang Yao followed the American weapon naming convention and named General Liang's rifle General Liang's M1857 rifle. He also asked the Sacramento Arsenal to eliminate the problems with the prototype gun and launch a derivative model with a shorter barrel for convenience. Used by cavalry when riding.

Hand-cranked machine gun Since the US military did not have similar weapons before, Liang Yao named the hand-cranked machine gun more casually. Because its rate of fire is as fast as lightning and its power is like thunder. In order to welcome the coming 1960s, Liang Yao named it Named Thunder M60 machine gun.

Both weapons have already received overseas orders before they have been put into mass production.

Liang Shaoqiong ordered 2,000 General Liang M1857 rifles and 400,000 rounds of ammunition on the spot to arm his direct troops.

The order totals $60,000.

In addition, Liang Shaoqiong also ordered 50 Thunder M60 machine guns and 100,000 rounds of ammunition, intending to try something new. The order totaled US$44,700.

Liang Yao himself also ordered 10,000 General Liang rifles to refit the active Western Brigade and arm the mercenary troops of Umbrella Company.

As for machine guns, his current plan is to decentralize the equipment to company-level troops to increase the firepower of grassroots troops. Of course, he also plans to purchase some machine guns for Umbrella's mercenary troops.

There are some things that are more suitable to be handled by mercenaries than by regular troops.

Although the Western Brigade is now no different from his private soldiers, after all, the Western Brigade is still nominally an army of the federal government and can easily be involved in diplomatic issues.

After Liang Shaoqiong and Liang Yao's uncle and nephew placed an order, Sartre himself also placed an order for a batch of General Liang's rifles to equip his manor guards, but the quantity was not large, only 200. The bulk of the order comes from their uncle and nephew.

After receiving two such large orders, Sartre, as the director of the arsenal, also fell into the trouble of happiness.

At present, General Liang's rifles have not yet completed the construction of the production line. The daily output is only two or three pieces. It will take time to build a new production line. Sutter asked Liang Yao whose order should be completed first.

Liang Yao thought for a while and asked Sartre to complete Liang Shaoqiong's order first.

First, if nothing unexpected happens, Britain and France will officially declare war on the Qing Dynasty in less than two months, in May 1857.

The Yue Yong's battlefields are basically in coastal areas, unlike the Hunan Army, which basically fights in inland provinces along the Yangtze River. Once the war breaks out, the British and French coalition forces will definitely regard Yue Yong as the biggest threat. At that time, Guangdong Yong will inevitably have a head-on military conflict with the British and French coalition forces.

Liang Yao also happened to take this opportunity to observe the actual combat performance of General Liang's rifle, and by the way, he used the hands of Yue Yong to bleed the British and French manpower pools.

Secondly, for a brand-new weapon, the earlier the production batch is, the more problems it will have.

Liang Yao also had the idea of ​​using Liang Shaoqiong as a guinea pig.

The Army's weapons development has achieved a historic breakthrough.

The development of naval warships has also achieved fruitful and gratifying results.

Since the launch of the Bold-class battleship in December 1853, the San Francisco Shipyard, a leader in the American shipbuilding industry, has fallen into silence and has not produced new products.

This once made counterparts in the east doubt the R\u0026D and manufacturing capabilities of the San Francisco Shipyard.

Factory director Jeremiah ignored the doubts from the outside world and did not publicly respond to them.

He knew the best response was to come up with a completely new product and shut up his peers.

After four years of hard work, the San Francisco Shipyard finally unveiled their new product, the Pioneer, as a tribute to California's 7th birthday on April 1, 1857, the day of statehood.

Hearing that a new ship was launched in California, Shen Baozhen deliberately postponed his return to Fujian in order to see the so-called new warship.

On April 1, 1857, the Bay of San Francisco was illuminated by a faint golden halo in the evening, a breeze blew by, and golden ripples appeared on the calm sea.

Crowds holding high the American Stars and Stripes and the California Bear Flag spontaneously gathered on the pier, looking forward to the ironclads depicted in newspapers.

The salty sea breeze blowing ashore from time to time arouses people's excitement.

There are only two countries in the world that can build steam warships of more than 4,000 tons, one is called England and the other is called France.

It is rumored that the tonnage of the warship launched on the Founding Day will exceed 4,000 tons, and it will adopt a brand-new design, which is completely different from previous warships.

If this giant ship with a displacement of more than 4,000 tons succeeds in its initial voyage, the United States will become the third country after Britain and France to independently design and manufacture ocean-going steam warships of more than 4,000 tons.

The United States will also become the first country after Europe to have the ability to manufacture this large steam warship.

How proud this would be.

In this era, Europe was the center of the world, and Europeans looked at Americans with the same disdain, contempt and disdain as a glamorous city dweller looks at a rustic country bumpkin.

A huge black beast was lying quietly in the dock of the San Francisco Shipyard. The hull wrapped in black armor plates shimmered with cold light reflected in the sea water.

"Set sail! Let's go!"

Following Liang Yao's order, the bugler blew the sailing horn, followed by the harsh whistle of the steam engine.

The winch rattled, this was the sound of the anchor chain being retracted, and a thick, tough rope was tightened and fixed with the concerted efforts of the sailors.

The gate of the dock was opened, and the Pioneer class slowly escaped from the embrace of the dock. Her huge body gradually slid into the sea, and the microwaves beat on the side, splashing crystal waves.

The water droplets hitting the side of the ship slid down the iron armor on the side of the ship's side, making a crisp sound, like the sound of nature.

This sound was obviously noise, but Liang Yao felt more and more comfortable the more he listened to it.

When Shen Baozhen saw an ironclad ship for the first time, he was like a country boy who had never seen the world. He ran around on the ship, looking here and there, wanting to imprint every detail of the ship in his mind.

This is a real battleship!

The designers of the Vanguard class proudly introduced this unprecedented steam battleship to the world.

Vanguard class ironclad ship.

It is 71 meters long and 15 meters wide.

Displacement: 4600 tons.

Power: a two-cylinder horizontal reciprocating connecting rod steam engine, a complete sail system, the sail adopts a three-masted sail structure, and the flue can be semi-retracted and retracted into the ship.

Maximum speed: up to 8 knots without using sails.

Endurance: 4,800 nautical miles/8 knots. With full coal at Pearl Harbor, it can reach Nagasaki, Matsumae (Hakodate), and even Shanghai.

Armament: The main armament is four 152mm (6-inch) 32-caliber Sacramento guns on the central axis. The guns are located in an armored turret on the central axis, which can be designed in different directions by rotating. The turret armor is 100mm.

The secondary guns are 24 100mm (4-inch) Sacramento guns arranged on both sides of the hull, 12 on each side. The secondary guns are installed on a 75mm protective armored rotating platform, which can rotate 120°.

Armor: The armor belt is made of multiple layers of iron plates stacked with a total thickness of approximately 108 mm. Armor plates are installed horizontally and cover below the waterline of the ship to provide protection for parts below the horizontal line.

It can withstand solid shells fired by the mainstream naval guns of the Royal Navy (68-pound guns) at a distance of 480 meters.

Full ship personnel: 450 people.

The vanguard-level armor shone with metallic luster in the setting sun, like an invincible medieval knight wearing plate armor.

The two escorting ships have a displacement of about 1,500 tons. The later model of the Bold class is already the largest warship that the San Francisco Shipyard could build before.

At this time, the two bold-class ships looked very petite and cute against the vanguard class.

The bow of the Pioneer class is engraved with a lady looking up ahead. This is Mazu, the Goddess of the Sea, believed by sea people in Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong and other places.

"It's Mazu! Empress Mazu!"

At Jinshan Bay Pier, a sharp-eyed child pointed at the brand new bow and shouted excitedly.

"This ship is so big!"

"He is really wearing a suit of iron armor, an armored ship! It is truly worthy of its name!"

"It's simply a fort that can move on the sea!"

"Fort? It's a fortress!"

"If I can see this ship in this life, I will die without regrets!"

Immigrants to California are mainly immigrants from Guangdong, Fujian and Zhejiang from the five opening ports. There are many believers in Mazu. After seeing the figure of Mazu's bow, many believers knelt down to worship their luggage and pray for blessings. Some people even went to buy incense and prepared to burn incense to worship.

"Fire the gun!"

Liang Yao looked at the waves of people on the pier and ordered a salute to be fired in celebration.

The gunners on the vanguard class had proud smiles on their faces and fired a salute.

Sven's eyes filled with excitement. Since the Umbrella Company set foot in Southeast Asia, the British East India Company's provocations have become more frequent.

The British East India Company relied on its strong maritime power and owned a large number of large armed merchant ships and warships with a displacement of more than 3,000 tons, and frequently launched attacks.

Although his Umbrella fleet faced provocations from the East India Company and even the Royal Navy warships, they upheld the spirit of a bright sword and did not flinch.

But courage cannot make up for the huge gap in strength. Umbrella Company and the British East India Company clashed on the sea, and Umbrella Company was the loser most of the time.

Today I also have a big ship, how can I not make people feel proud?

Sven remembered the scene when the Governor of British Columbia passed by the coast of California when he was on his way to take office. At that time, they did not have a few decent ships. They unexpectedly encountered the British Governor's fleet at sea, and the other party actually ordered the ship to ram directly.

Damn it, if there had been these 4,000-ton armored ships back then, even ten of them wouldn't have dared to hit them! If you dare to bump into him, he will be smashed to pieces!

"Jeremiah, I want you to apologize. I used to always urge you to build a big ship, but you stayed behind closed doors. I thought you couldn't build it and avoided me. I didn't expect you to hold back such a big ship." Sven stroked the fort. Putting on the dark armor plate, he was excited and incoherent.

"This is an ironclad. Okay, okay, what a beautiful ship."

"Jeremiah, you haven't told me the cost yet." Liang Yao recalled Jeremiah's introduction to the Pioneer class just now. Jeremiah seemed to have overlooked a very important issue, that is, the cost of the Pioneer class.

"$250,000 a boat." Jeremiah said with a smile, "How about that, cheap?"

Liang Yao couldn't believe his ears for a time: "It costs 250,000 US dollars per ship. Did I hear that right? The first Bold was priced at 370,000 US dollars."

"At that time, there were very few skilled shipbuilders in California and their wages were extremely high. Moreover, materials such as steam engines and steel were very scarce at that time," Jeremiah laughed.

"California is now one of the shipbuilding centers in the United States. The cost of shipbuilding is no longer the same as it was when the state was founded. Now, building the latest model of the Bold class can be done for US$90,000."

This is also the reason. Not to mention the United States, shipbuilding technology in Europe has also advanced by leaps and bounds in recent years, especially in the years before and after the Crimean War. With the maturity of steamship manufacturing technology, the cost of manufacturing steamships has been greatly reduced.

In the past two years, Britain and France have also invested their money in steam battleships. Britain and France have rarely continued to build outdated sail battleships.

Liang Yao vaguely remembered that he had spent 2.14 million francs (US$410,000) to buy a 2,000-ton cruiser Roland from General Tromeland, commander of the French Pacific Fleet, just for show.

The Roland is a steam-hulled cruiser produced by France at its Lorient shipyard in 1845. The Roland was at the world's advanced level when it first left the factory. In just 12 years, the steam-hulled cruiser seems a bit outdated.

Before the Audacity entered service, the Roland branch existed as the flagship.

After acquiring the Audacity, the Roland soon took a back seat. Although the San Francisco Shipyard subsequently renovated it and installed advanced Sacramento guns to enhance its vitality, the Roland had already lost its position as a capital ship. .

The 19th century was truly an era of rapid change.

"You told me at the beginning that this was the price to bid farewell to the Navy Department's order." Liang Yao said with emotion.

"Now even if the Admiralty wants to buy it, I won't sell it."

"How many ships do you want to order, sir?" Jeremiah asked expectantly.

"It depends on how many skilled sailors Si Wen can provide." Liang Yao looked at Si Wen.

He just borrowed $7 million from the Dixie Guys in the South, and he currently has plenty of cash flow on hand.

Furthermore, unlike 1853, he now had tangible overseas rights and interests that needed to be safeguarded by powerful maritime power.

Hawaii, Borneo, the Qing Dynasty, and Japan want to protect their rights and interests in these areas without a powerful fleet.

Liang Yao was still willing to spend money on this.

It's just that a Pioneer-class ironclad ship requires 450 crew members. Liang Yao doesn't know how many qualified crew members Siwen can provide.

"8 ships! Give me some time! I can train more excellent sailors!" Sven said hurriedly.

"Then we will build 8 ships first. Can the shipyard handle such a large order? How long will it take to deliver?" Liang Yao is now a little worried about the production capacity of the San Francisco Shipyard.

"Yes!" Jeremiah said confidently. He was afraid of missing out on this super order, which was worth US$2 million.

"We can guarantee the delivery of 2 to 3 ships before Christmas next year, and the rest can be guaranteed to be delivered before 1860."

Jeremiah is already considering outsourcing some of the Bold class orders to other shipyards, led by Los Angeles Shipbuilding.

The shipbuilding industry in California is now quite developed, with three or four large shipyards capable of manufacturing thousand-ton steamships.

"Then build 8 ships first." Liang Yao said to Jeremiah earnestly.

"I am very happy that the shipyard has achieved such great achievements today, but I hope you will not be complacent and rest on your laurels. Keep up your efforts and build bigger ships.

My expectation for the San Francisco Shipyard is to be the strongest shipyard in the world, not California, not the biggest shipyard in the United States, okay? "

"Yes! Your Excellency!" Jeremiah replied forcefully.

"The British and the French have richer shipbuilding heritage and technical reserves than we do, especially the British. They will never be willing to lag behind others in shipbuilding. I think it won't be long before they will build bigger and even bigger ships than us." An ironclad ship exceeding 10,000 tons." Liang Yao looked into the distance with his deep eyes.

"There is still a long way to go to catch up with the Premier League."

The next thirty years will belong to the era of ironclad ships.

Although he was the first to build an ironclad ship, if he stopped there, the lead he had finally spent a lot of money to build would be quickly lost.

On January 1, 1857, Stanislas Dupuy de, the founder of the French ironclad, was appointed director of shipbuilding, responsible for all shipbuilding work of the French Navy.

On December 26, 1859, France's first ironclad ship, the Glorious, was launched and delivered for use. The Glorious-class ironclad frigate is a 5,500-ton ironclad.

The French built three ships in one go, the prototype ship Glorious, and the subsequently built Invincible and Normandy. All three ships were built and delivered before 1862.

As for the British, it was even more terrifying. The British's first ironclad ship, the Warrior, started construction at the Thames Iron Works shipyard on May 25, 1859, and was launched on December 29, 1860.

The displacement of the British's first ironclad ship reached an astonishing 9,137 tons, which was beyond the reach of all countries.

The Warrior-class ship, the Black Prince, started construction at Glasgow Napier Dockyard on October 12, 1859, and was launched on February 27, 1861.

HMS Warrior and HMS Black Prince ushered in the era of ironclads in the Royal Navy of the British Empire.

Many commanders of the Beiyang Fleet, such as Lin Taizeng, Ye Zugui and others, served as interns on the Black Prince.

The advent of the Pioneer-class ironclad made Californians proud. For the first time, they ushered in a new era.

For the British and French, their moods are more complex.

There was shock, disbelief, and even more vigilance.

Gibson, the president of the San Francisco Bank branch of Barings Bank, was one of the first British people to come to California. At this time, he was standing on the pier of the San Francisco port looking at the armed to the teeth on the surface of Jinshan Bay. The steel behemoth.

There is no doubt that this unheard-of ironclad ship is very advanced even in the Royal Navy's fleet.

At present, the Royal Navy does not have a corresponding warship.

This is the first time in the two hundred years since the British Empire's navy dominated the world's oceans that it has encountered such a situation.

This gave Gibson, an Englishman, a deep sense of frustration.

Damn it, these rednecks in America can actually build a ship that they haven't even built yet.

Gibson thought again that when he set foot on this land, it was still desolate and had a primitive and natural beauty.

In just the past seven years, San Francisco has become a bustling metropolis with a population of more than 500,000.

Even in the UK, a city with this size of population can be comparable to other large cities except London.

The population sizes of major British cities such as Liverpool, Manchester, and Birmingham are similar to those of San Francisco, at around 500,000 to 600,000.

It’s just that the population growth of Liverpool, Manchester, and Birmingham has slowed down very slowly, while the population of San Francisco continues to grow at a terrifying rate.

It may only be a matter of time before San Francisco surpasses cities like Liverpool.

Gibson glanced at the dock at his feet. In 1850, San Francisco had only a small dock that was difficult for even a thousand-ton sailing ship to dock.

Now the dock in San Francisco can already berth cargo ships of more than 10,000 tons, whether it is a steam cargo ship or a sail cargo ship.

And there is more than one such marina in San Francisco.

Gibson had never seen another city that could grow as fast as San Francisco. Oh, no, Gibson had seen this city. Not only had he seen it, he had been there himself.

This city that's growing faster than San Francisco is called Los Angeles, oh shit, it's a fucking city in California.

"These country bumpkins are really impressive." Gibson asked the old French guy Le Goff beside him.

"What do you think? My old man."

Le Goff is the president of the São Francisco branch of the Banque de France. Seven years ago, he came to this golden place almost at the same time as Gibson.

France is building ironclads, and as the upper class elite of France and the noble white flag of Paris, Le Goff knows the news.

At Christmas time, he drank with his old friend, General Tromelin of the French Pacific Fleet.

As Parisian elites living overseas, they have a lot in common and can talk about almost anything.

Tromolan once told him that the French Admiralty is developing a new era steam battleship with extremely high armor coverage and strong protection that can withstand British 68-pound naval guns from close range bombardment.

When this kind of battleship comes out, the French Navy will have the strength to compete with the British Navy.

Presumably the new era steam battleship that Tromolan mentioned was the ironclad ship in front of him.

The French had not yet built the ship, but these old Americans built it first.

If Tromelan was not at the Sarawak headquarters of the French Pacific Fleet at this time, but stood with him on the dock in San Francisco to watch this black steel behemoth, I wonder what Tromelan would think?

Le Goff didn't know when the French ironclads would be launched, but he knew that the British would soon start their ironclad plan. The British would never allow other countries in the world to have more advanced warships than them.

Sea power is the lifeblood of the British.

He also knew that there would soon be a second and third ironclad ship launched here.

A new round of maritime arms race has begun with the deafening whistle of the Pioneer class.

"It's not Californians who are impressive," LeGoff quipped.

"Gipson, it's you, the British gentleman, who never looked at them seriously."

"We should take a good look at you French people." Gibson counterattacked.

"But you French people haven't come up with anything that scares us. The Californians here have come up with something. It's only been seven years. This is really a scary place."

"It's not this place that's scary." Legoff looked solemn.

"It's the people here that are scary, especially the general, our business partner."