1850 American Gold Tycoon

Chapter 686: The Terrifying Strength of the British

Integrating Texas has always been in Liang Yao’s plan, but everything has its priorities.

The most important thing right now is to concentrate resources to win the war against the Northern Federation. As long as Texas does not make radical moves to join the South or return to the North, Liang Yao has no intention of transforming Texas or forcing it to join the West.

"It would be best if Texas could maintain the status quo. If they don't want to maintain the status quo, then we will take back all the benefits we have given them." Liang Yao said in a deep voice.

“Since the Northern Federation implemented the Anaconda Plan, the ports of the southern coastal states have been blockaded and foreign trade has been almost cut off. They are lining up to sell their accumulated cotton, sugar, and tobacco.

So much for Texas. You have had contact with the French army and navy, as well as with Napoleon III himself. What have you gained from this contact?"

Texas is deeply tied to the West. Liang Yao has many ways to deal with Texas, and military means are only the last of them.

Liang Yao changed the subject from Texas to asking Sven questions about the French army and Napoleon III.

The external environment that the American Republic is now facing is very bad, and the London authorities have extended their hands to their gold mining companies in Australia.

After the defeat in the Crimean War, Tsarist Russia shifted the focus of territorial expansion to East Asia in line with the greedy idea of ​​making up for the West with the East. After swallowing up the Northeast region and Sakhalin Island outside the Qing Empire, Tsarist Russia is now sending troops to infiltrate Ezo Island in the name of exploration.

In view of this, unless the American Republic is willing to give up its vested interests in Australia and give up Ezo Island, it will be impossible to establish normal diplomatic relations with Britain and Russia.

As for other European powers, Austria was preoccupied with its own affairs, Germany had not yet been unified, and Prussia's diplomatic focus was still on Europe. Even if diplomatic relations were established with Prussia, Prussia would be unable to intervene in American affairs, and the help it could provide to the American Republic would be very limited.

Spain and the Netherlands are yesterday's news and have long been on the decline.

Among the European powers, France is the only one that is interested in American affairs and has the spare capacity to interfere in American affairs.

"The French army is strong, especially their warships. I am impressed. Their flagship, the Glory, is a real ironclad giant! It's a pity that we still can't build such a large ironclad ship.

If only Jeremiah had been in Veracruz at the time, he could have gone aboard the Glory and seen what was going on. Maybe he would have been able to figure out something."

When talking about this contact with the French army and the French emperor, the first thing Sven thought of was the French warships he saw in the port of Veracruz.

The first ironclad ship was built by Liang Yao with the efforts of the entire West Coast after he acquired Vanderbilt's shipyard. When their first ironclad ship, the HMS Julang, was launched, it amazed the world and attracted the attention of the two old powers, Britain and France.

However, they did not maintain this technological advantage for long. Just three or four years after the launch of their HMS Julang, France and Britain launched their own ironclad ships.

The ironclad ship launched by France was the Glorious that Sven witnessed in the port of Veracruz. So far, Britain has launched four ironclad ships, namely Warrior, Black Prince, Defence and Resistance.

Among them, the Warrior and the Black Prince also briefly stopped at the port of Veracruz with the British Expeditionary Force. Sven was fortunate enough to witness the true appearance of the Warrior and the Black Prince, the two largest warships in the world at that time.

If the Glory with a displacement of more than 5,600 tons gave Sven the feeling that their Atlantic Fleet could still fight against it with their Julang-class ironclad ships with a displacement of more than 4,000 tons.

The British's Warrior and Black Prince, two huge ships with a displacement of nearly 10,000 tons, gave Sven only a feeling of deep despair and powerlessness.

Over the years, Jinshan Shipyard has been committed to building ironclad ships with larger tonnage, faster speed and smoother navigation.

However, due to the limitations of its own design level and industrial strength, it has been unable to make any breakthroughs and can only make continuous improvements based on the J-class.

"Even if Jeremiah sees the trick, we may not be able to build it with our shipbuilding background and industrial level. Besides, the French are not so stupid as to show you their flagship without reservation." Liang Yao shook his head helplessly, and then asked with a tone of unwillingness to admit defeat.

"Are our ironclad ships really useless compared to the Frenchman's Glory?"

Jeremiah is the leading shipbuilding expert in North America and even in the entire Americas. The Julang-class ironclad ship is the work of Jeremiah and was designed by Jeremiah.

The fact that Jinshan Shipyard has failed to make any breakthroughs in recent years can be understood because they had already exhausted the entire American shipbuilding technology reserves when designing and building the Julang-class ironclad ships.

Let Jeremiah go on board the Glory and take a look. With Jeremiah's level, he will certainly be able to see some clues.

But being able to see the trick doesn't mean they can build it. To put it bluntly, even if the French sent the drawings of the Glory intact to the Jinshan Shipyard, with the level of the Jinshan Shipyard and the supporting industries in the west coast region, they may not be able to build the Glory.

Let’s not talk about anything else. Just the reciprocating steam engine on the Glory has a power of up to 2,700 horsepower. Looking around the entire West Coast region, no large steam engine manufacturer can build it.

The British and French were able to build ironclad ships of higher quality than the J-class in a short period of time based on the photos of the J-class. That was because Britain and France themselves had very strong shipbuilding foundations and industrial bases.

"Compared to our Julang-class, the Glory has a larger tonnage and a more stable hull when sailing, but their weapon systems are not as good as our Julang-class.

The artillery layout of the Glory is slightly outdated. The 36 164mm muzzle-loading smoothbore guns it is equipped with all adopt the traditional broadside gun layout, which has limited firing range and low loading efficiency.

Moreover, the French naval guns are not as good in range and accuracy as our Sacramento guns.

As Sven recalled what he had seen at the port of Veracruz, he pulled out the photos taken by Collins from his bag.

"I was also watching the British ship Warrior from a distance. The British ironclad ship seemed to have an all-iron hull. If that's true, then the technology used by our Julang-class and the French ship Glory is outdated."

Liang Yao looked at the photo that Sven handed over very seriously. In the photo, the hull of the Warrior was pitch black, and there was no trace of iron plates covering the wooden hull.

The Jorlang-class and Glory were essentially modified versions of traditional wooden battleships, with only wrought iron armor covering the wooden hull. The disadvantages of wooden hulls are obvious. They are prone to rot and insect damage after long-term use, and the maintenance cost is extremely high.

Liang Yao was also aware of the shortcomings of wooden hulls. The reason why he did not choose an all-iron hull when building the J-class was ultimately due to power limitations. He could not produce high-horsepower marine reciprocating steam engines, so he had to compromise.

"Is the Warrior fast?" Liang Yao asked with a frown.

"Fast. According to my observation, the Warrior's speed is at least 2 knots faster than the Glory-class." Sven had obviously done his homework and answered without hesitation.

"The tonnage of the Warrior is nearly twice that of the Glory, and her speed is about 2 knots faster than the Glory. This means that the steam engine on the Warrior has a power of 5,000 to 6,000 horsepower."

Even though he had been mentally prepared, Liang Yao was still shocked by the British's terrifying strength after a simple calculation.

It took him 11 years and the whole of America to replace the Julang-class with a domestically produced engine with a power of just over 2,100 horsepower, while the British could easily produce large marine steam engines with power two or three times that of theirs. Perhaps this is the foundation of the British Empire.

"If we want our navy to be able to fight back against the British in the next ten years, cooperation with the French and technological complementarity are the only options." Sven's face no longer had the playful smile of the past, and he said solemnly.

"I have discussed this with Jeremiah, and he agrees that we probably can't build a warship more advanced than the Julang class with our own capabilities."

Sven not only hoped to take advantage of Napoleon III's visit to the United States to facilitate the establishment of formal diplomatic relations between the two countries, but also hoped that the navies of the two countries could carry out in-depth cooperation to narrow the gap with the British Royal Navy so as not to be too passive.