Alien Arms Empire

 Chapter 325 325 Shipbuilding

 Datang Group has been improving its shipbuilding technology recently. The most extensive manufacturing technology innovation they are currently experimenting with is a new technology called welding.

 A steel battleship is made of steel. There are only two ways to join steel, one is welding and the other is riveting.

 Riveting is a relatively primitive and very cumbersome connection method, but it also has its own advantages. The advantage is that it is old enough. A technology that is old enough means that it is mature and reliable.

The Bunas-class battleship that Tang Mo first built actually used a large number of riveted structures, but then he began to experiment with welded structures on the Wolf-class battleship.

 Although welding is a very advanced manufacturing technology, the biggest problem with new technology is that it takes time to train new workers, and it also takes time to digest.

 There is no other way. Even Datang Group can only train its welding workers step by step so that they can master this skill as soon as possible.

At the same time, it also takes time to prepare the gas required for welding, so Datang Group has only recently reluctantly started to use new welding technology to build civilian ships.

 With the advent of new technology, so-called civilian ships, or simply steel steam-powered transport ships, began to be mass-produced at a faster rate.

Generally speaking, this new warship uses the freewheel design of the World War II era, but has simplified some special equipment to make it more suitable for current technological manufacturing capabilities.

 After all, even in the Datang Group, the technical level of workers was still around 1910, far from the level of 1940 when technology was mature.

 It is not impossible to barely make things that were around 1940, but it requires a large number of highly sophisticated talents, which cannot be mass-produced, and the gain outweighs the loss.

Of course, because the drawings were copied directly, most of the technical parameters are also based on free wheels, and they are basically the same appearance.

What this kind of ship needs is practicality, rapid mass production, standardization and homogeneity, and no performance or aesthetics at all.

 The displacement of the empty ship is 7,000 tons, the total length of the ship is 135 meters, the width is an uneven width of 17.3 meters, and the draft is about 8.5 meters.

This size is already larger than a battleship. The battleships Tang Mo designed before did not have this width at all, nor did they have this level of displacement.

 In order to obtain as much supplies as possible anywhere, the propulsion system adopts the most traditional, and currently most used, coal power.

 The entire ship is equipped with three steam engines, which together drive a propeller, with a total output of 2,000 horsepower.

Despite this, the speed of this kind of ship is still a weakness. Its speed is actually only a mere 20 kilometers per hour!

That's right, this speed is about 10 knots. Compared with the Wolf-class cruiser made by Tang Mo, its speed is really too slow.

And it only has very few wires, even the telegraph machine is an optional product, and most of the cabins in the entire hull have no electric lighting.

This large transport ship has a endurance of up to 20,000 kilometers and can sail to almost any port in the Endless Sea with a single replenishment. This is also a very practical performance and can make shipping more efficient and faster.

 Unlike during World War II, when anti-aircraft guns and deck guns had to be installed on the hull to deal with Nazi German submarines and aircraft, this kind of ship does not need to be equipped with any weapons at all.

 So weapons are also optional - a 75mm naval gun can be installed on each side of the ship, which is more than enough to deal with pirates and even the navies of other countries.

 Because the load was reduced elsewhere and artillery was eliminated, the ultimate load of this transport ship was increased to 10,000 tons, and it was able to carry about 6,000 tons of cargo.

Almost the same as the Freewheel, this kind of ship can load 250 new trucks produced by Datang Group at one time, or 400 T-type cars. The cargo of these cars weighs about 2,500-3,000 tons.

After loading these vehicles, it can also transport another 1,000 tons of ammunition and 500 tons of light weapons: including light G1 heavy machine guns, 5,000 K3 rifles, 200 mortars, and about 80 75mm field howitzers.

Then, it can also transport 500-1,000 tons of food supplies at the same time - this is almost all the weapons and equipment that the two standard infantry regiments of the Datang Group's security forces need to equip.

Of course, if a certain item of cargo is loaded separately, this kind of ship can also load a lot. If it only transports T-shaped cars, it can load 2,840 vehicles at a time. If it transports all bullets at a time, it can transport 230 million standard rounds effortlessly. K3 rifle bullets.

These ships are very simple, but very huge. They are larger than all previous sea ships, and they can transport an astonishing amount of supplies at one time.

 So, in order to allow these cargo ships to go out to sea with full loads, Datang Group will increase the production capacity of all products so that it can support the increasingly large maritime transport capacity.

Such a ship has a transport capacity comparable to that of an entire fleet of sailing ships in the past. This is a subversion, a complete subversion of the past maritime transportation methods!

This kind of ship uses a set of 2000 horsepower reciprocating steam engines as power. Although the speed cannot be significantly faster than that of a sailboat, it is still much faster than the sailboats of the past. Although these ice city-level designs are outdated, they are very reliable. They make extensive use of mature technology and omit where necessary.

  In any case, the crew of this era were semi-slaves who were accustomed to living a hard life. They were already used to living in a dark cabin. Being able to have a porthole for more than a dozen people could already be described as happiness.

 They don’t need too sophisticated food or refrigeration equipment. Their food is not eaten by pigs in the 21st century. Their salary is lower than the basic salary of a newly graduated insurance salesman.

 So these people will not clamor for electric lights and other messy welfare benefits. It is already a blessing for them to have a dormitory and sleep on a stable iron frame bed.

  Compared with preparing a better working environment for them, giving them a salary increase is what makes them more ecstatic. Working on this ship, at least they don't have to worry about pirate attacks. This extra security already makes them grateful.

  After all, the speed of most pirate sailboats in the world is only about 12 kilometers per hour. It is basically impossible to catch up with a ship of 20 kilometers per hour.

Even if they can catch up with these Datang Group's version of free ships, giant ships with a displacement of more than 7,000 tons, they can easily smash into the sailboats blocking the way, and then drive away without any psychological burden.

This kind of ship only has lights in the cargo hold, captain's cabin and bridge, and gas lights are used in other places for temporary emergency.

 The welded keel ensures the reliability of the hull, and some less important parts are largely replaced with wood, which greatly reduces the cost of building this type of ship.

 In order to facilitate manufacturing and maintenance, the ship's accommodation area, bridge, and engine are concentrated in the middle of the ship, and a long channel is used to connect the engine shaft and propeller.

In order to reduce costs, the newly developed engine is not equipped with this kind of freighter. It still uses a slightly bulky and old steam engine, which allows it to be replenished in most ports. At the same time, mature technology also has a high probability of eliminating the need for mechanical Fault.

Of course, Datang Group will not admit that the purpose of using steam engines is to clear inventory and revitalize Beiling's steam engine manufacturing factory, so that Beiling's investment can gain more or less profits from upgrading and transformation.

Datang Group will not admit that the latest engine production capacity is seriously insufficient and the failure rate is also high, so it is not yet able to replace technologically mature steam engines.

 In order to adapt to the immature shipbuilding method, Tang Mo changed and optimized the design to make the ship faster and cheaper to build.

All unnecessary partitions have been cancelled, and there is almost no anti-sink design. The only purpose of this is to increase the construction speed and save precious steel resources.

The first Liberty Ship of the Datang Group was built in 91 days. This is still a record of shipbuilding time when a large number of skilled craftsmen worked hard to get it out.

 But then, the construction speed of this kind of ship was increased to 68 days to build one! This speed is simply astonishing, because even in the ancient sailing age, the time required to build a battleship greatly exceeded this record.

At that time, the wood needed for a warship needed to be dried for several years, and it often took more than a year to build a warship.

 This is also why there is a saying that ten years for an army and a hundred years for a navy. The century-old navy here not only includes the training and accumulation of talents, but also includes the navy’s ridiculous shipbuilding speed.

 In fact, today, when Datang Group is about to end the 11-nation war, there are already five Liberty Ships sailing on the sea. And next, this magical merchant ship will be launched at a rate of one every nine days.

Soon, Datang Group will be able to build a fleet with a speed of more than 20 kilometers per hour and can transport tens of thousands of tons of products at a time, allowing them to sail on the endless sea that used to represent isolation and prohibition.

For the entire world, this speed of shipbuilding is undoubtedly a miracle. It has turned the Endless Sea from a natural chasm into a transportation hub and a hot throat.

When these transport ships carried a large amount of supplies to Rewind Port, the fragile logistics of the lobby group's fleet lying outside the Tarun Kingdom was completely guaranteed.

Although there are no professional offshore supply ships, it is still possible to transport some fruits and vegetables and replenish some coal using small boats.

In fact, the cannonballs carried by a battleship to attack a port are really sufficient and there is no need to replenish them.

 Furthermore, Bernard received the order, and it seemed that there was no need to carry out large-scale shelling.

 (End of this chapter)