Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1969 New Development and New Opportunities ([-])

On December 1686, 12, Southern Patagonia ushered in the warmest period of the year.In the winter and spring, the weather that was once freezing and the westerly wind howled has suddenly become gentle, and the lakeside is decorated with green grass and colorful flowers for hundreds of miles.

Because of the completion of a stage of production tasks, Xuefeng Lake Shipyard has entered the annual maintenance season.Various problems accumulated in the first half year of production, such as the replacement of worn parts, the calibration of testing instruments, the cleaning of the dock, the transformation of the production line, etc., will be carried out at this time.Therefore, the arrival of the off-season does not mean that the employees of the Xuefeng Lake Shipyard have a holiday. On the contrary, they still need to go to the factory every day to complete various tasks assigned by their superiors. Overall, it is not very It's easy, and there are no allowances and bonuses during the peak production season, so it's even more difficult to say.

Of course, some people may say that the Xuefeng Lake Shipyard is a small factory located in an inland lake in the south. Even in the peak production season, there is no business, and the bonuses are really limited.In fact, this is not true!As the only shipbuilding enterprise specializing in iron-ribbed ships and steam turbines in the East Coast Republic of China, Xuefeng Lake Shipyard is under the control of Heishan Industrial Company (which owns Xuefeng Lake Shipyard, No. After the wholly-owned acquisition of Shore Company, which owns 20% of the shares), it has gained great convenience in terms of funds and policies. Every year, a large amount of funding falls. In addition to scientific research, there are naturally many benefits for employees.After all, many of them are rare talents who left their hometowns and came to this remote, cold, and dry Patagonia. If you don't improve their treatment, it would be too much!

The Xuefeng Lake Shipyard, which has ample scientific research funding, has indeed produced a lot of results in recent years.In addition to the "Haima-1" marine steam turbine system that has been sent to the desks of national leaders as a major breakthrough, their most important work is probably to improve the reliability of the propulsion system of all steam-powered ships on the east coast. A step, which seems to be more important than the former, belongs to the productivity that can be used immediately.

At present, the new steam propulsion system they have researched and produced has been installed on the [-]-ton communication ship "Dingjunshan" and has been running continuously for several months without any fatal failures - minor problems While unavoidable, the absence of the horrific failure that shut down the powertrain means it's clear to everyone.

According to the next step plan of Xuefeng Lake Shipyard, the "Dingjunshan" will be fully loaded with supplies and personnel to go to India and the Far East for trans-ocean voyage tests.Their factory seems to want to prove through this move that all-steam-powered ships are the direction of future development. Even if the technical conditions are not very mature at this stage, more attention and investment should be given to it, instead of just hiding it in the snow like before. For many years, many people's efforts have been wasted in vain.

Major users on the east coast, such as the Navy, South China Sea Shipping Company, East African Shipping Company, Caribbean Shipping Company, and Messenger Liner Company, expressed their appreciation for this brave behavior of Xuefeng Lake Shipyard.But they still want to continue to observe and see if the "Dingjunshan" equipped with a new power system will be like its predecessors ("Dayuhe", "Fuego", "Daxi") Earth, etc.) every now and then there would be some dire breakdown that would result in a complete loss of power on the ship.After all, sailors on ocean voyages put their heads on their waistbands to fight against violent winds, waves and ferocious pirates. The danger is already high. And the tragedies that caused some shipwrecks and deaths, isn't it very wronged?

Therefore, many users, including the Navy, will not take risks until they have been fully verified in a long period of time, in multiple sea conditions and complex weather, and come to a qualified conclusion, because it is unnecessary.The existing steam engine sailboats have double power, have a lot of maintenance, and have sailed almost everywhere. Facts have proved that they are extremely good and very qualified, so everyone is willing to order and use them on a large scale.In contrast, the safety record of all-steam-powered ships is not so good. They have a dark history of losing power several times, leading to various accidents (and sinking tragedies), so they have been hidden for many years until Xuefeng Lake Shipyard fully took over the secondary research and development of all-steam-powered ships.

Today, the all-steam-powered ship "Dingjunshan" produced by Xuefeng Lake Shipyard has achieved perfect success in the tests in the east coast offshore and inland rivers.But this is not enough, and the sea area with more complicated weather conditions and greater wind and waves is needed to do experiments.If it can withstand the test in these sea areas, then this new type of power system can be called qualified, and the project of Xuefeng Lake Shipyard can be completed.

Xu Guangzu, who has been promoted to the vice president of Heishan Industrial Company and the director of Xuefeng Lake Shipyard, reported to the head office (located in Xingnan County) a while ago. With the funds in place, the research and development of all-steam-powered ships can actually be called mature.The discontinuation of previous projects can only be attributed to the fact that users were too conservative and too careful, and the application of new technologies cannot be smooth sailing, but it can only be said that it is too much for an all-steam-powered ship to be beaten to death by them so that it has been frozen for many years.Fortunately, everything is over now, and Xu Guangzu is confident that he will promote this power system, which has cost a lot of research and development funds and the painstaking efforts of countless engineers and technicians. Impressed by its performance.

The company's executives are more interested in Xu Guangzu's remarks.Because the facts are obvious, once this steam propulsion system called "Popeye-15" is widely recognized by the industry, will the Xuefeng Lake Shipyard still receive orders?I believe anyone with a little common sense knows how much profit there is.The only thing to worry about is that the Xuefeng Lake factory is deep in the inland lake, and can only produce small and medium-sized boats, because no matter how big the boat is, it cannot enter the open sea through the Huangyang River and cannot be delivered to customers.From this point of view, they are afraid that they will cooperate with other factories in the future and use their docks to produce large ocean-going vessels. After all, this is the bulk of the profits.

If it is not possible, they can only specialize in the production of power systems, and then sell them to several large enterprises including Zhenhai Shipyard.Earning less means earning a little less, but it is also worry-free, and there is no need to support too many staff, which is not bad.

Another major achievement of Xuefeng Lake Shipyard is the "Haima-1" steam turbine power system initially launched a few years ago.Such systems have been considerably improved over the years, especially through the use of new materials and technologies.Xu Guangzu and others believe that this "Haima-1" type can boost the speed of normal small contact ships and cargo ships above 15 knots, and even 20 knots may not be impossible.

You know, this is not like a flat-bottomed boat with a shallow draft like the "Amur River"-class shallow-water gunboat, but a real normal ship with a draft of no less than two meters.This can run at a speed of more than ten or twenty knots, so it still has to fly!Of course, with the current strength of the hull of the wooden-hulled ship, it must not be able to support such a high speed for a long time.This kind of high speed has very high requirements on the structural strength of the hull, and iron ships must be able to withstand it. Otherwise, don't think about it, just play the "Popeye" series honestly, the steam turbine is too advanced.

But how difficult it is to build an iron ship!Let’s not talk about its huge consumption of steel, but the casting and rolling of iron and ship plates cannot be won by key metallurgical and manufacturing enterprises on the east coast such as Tieling Heavy Industry Consortium and Ping’an Coal and Steel Consortium.This requires them to design a new production line, especially the rolling line, to ensure that qualified marine plates can be rolled out.

In addition to these problems in the steel industry, if the ship plate is fixedly connected, it is also a big problem. Should it be riveted or welded?It seems that none of them can be handled by the people from the east coast in front of them, because this is another technology tree and a series of skill points. It requires a lot of money and a lot of manpower to tackle key problems. In short, everything is not easy.

To sum up, the current "Haima-1" steam turbine is the same as many technologies at hand of the East Coast Power Company. It can only be hidden in the "deep boudoir" as a technical reserve, and cannot be commercialized openly in public.In fact, there are many similar things in the hands of many large state-owned factories with good research and development capabilities, and many of them have applied for patents, but for various reasons, they can only be put on the shelf and continue to lie in the safe until they are remembered one day. , Then take it out again for modification, and then start commercial operation.

All-steam powered ships are a prime example.Now that this business has seen the dawn of success, the era of great popularity seems to be coming soon, which is a great benefit for Xuefeng Lake Shipyard and Black Mountain Industrial Company.Think about it, when the "Dingjunshan" set off from near the mouth of the La Plata River with its whistle, and then headed east all the way to Dayuan Harbor in the middle of the river, what a sensation it must have been!You know, this is a direct voyage, unlike traditional sailboats and motor sailboats, which need to sail south for a long distance to find the westerly wind and the eastward current, and then they can follow to reach southern Africa; The same is true for the shoreland. It needs to go northward along the Benguela cold current, then look for easterly winds and ocean currents in the Gulf of Guinea, cross the Atlantic Ocean to Jiaohe Port in eastern Brazil, and finally go south along the coastline to reach the starting point. It also needs to make a big circle. , is time-consuming and dangerous.

But all-steam-powered ships don't need to be so troublesome! On December 1686, 12, the "Dingjunshan" set off from Qingdao Port, then headed east all the way, and finally arrived at the west coast of South Africa on January 15, 1687.The whole process only took about 1 days, which is amazing.The direct voyage of all steam-powered ships is so willful, enough to make all sailing ships burst into tears!

(End of this chapter)