C845 The first Iron-armored Ship (2/2)
”If you don't find the fire enough, we can also equip up to eight Gatling heavy machine gun s … And last of all, a 45,72mm torpedo launcher... This is simply a heavy firepower fortress on a sea. Even the Royal Navy does not have this kind of battleship … ”
Kevin rubbed his hands together and said excitedly, ”We have finally walked to the top of this era... I have witnessed the birth of an entirely new marine age! ”
Everyone present was excited by Kevin's words. They had all gone through very systematic naval knowledge training before, and even Shi Dakai, who had always been the king of land battles, had been mending the knowledge of the navy for the past two years.
Everyone knew what the series of parameters that Kevin had mentioned meant. High speed, high firepower, high defense … This was a battleship that stood at the forefront of the times. It had been ahead of the British battleship for almost 30 years.
If there was anything wrong with this battleship, it could be said that it had no sail, no skilled sailor could handle it, and all sorts of precise tools were used to work together to eliminate the problem.
The last item was the high price. The 1.9 million silver construction cost made the King Yi and Prince Karl, who had seen much of the world, a little scared.
”No, no, no …” ”You should not be considering things like this. More than half of the 1.9 million is in research funding. Don't blame us for spending so much money. We need innovative thinking in so many places …”
”Does the power increase have to consider the airtight performance of the steam cylinder? You can't use manpower to rotate the turret, can you? How should the hydraulic transmission system be arranged? ”We even need to carefully study the formula for the antirust paint on the armor …”
”After this battleship travels far, I will take with me all the advantages and disadvantages to start the production of the second battleship. I estimate that the second battleship will at most cost 1 million silver taels …” ”By the time Prussia and the Ryukyu's industrial systems begin to adapt to the new equipment, our costs will continue to decrease...”
”How about 800 thousand silver?” I can only guarantee this much for the lowest price. It really isn't expensive … ”Think about it carefully. It's not expensive at all. 800 thousand silver taels and you want it to be 260 thousand pounds. This is already the lowest price …”
Kevin was as pitiful as a child. This battleship was an epoch-making miracle to him, and his name was destined to be immortal together with this battleship.
Whether it was 800 thousand silver or 1.8 million silver, none of these were things that the King Yi could decide. The Sino-German Foundation was Xiao Letian's industry after all, and after a few years of operation, the German Foundation had already reached the gigantic scale of 8 million silver. Although it could not compare to the Jewish Consortium in Europe, it was still a very big professional foundation.
But is 8 million silver really enough? Xiao Letian had told the King Yi before, that this Iron-armored Ship was not the final destination and was only the starting point. The 2300 model ships only appeared for two reasons, one was to train soldiers, and the other was to bully the weak navy.
As long as this type of battleship appeared in the world, with the industrial strength of English and French, America and Russia, they could easily create it. If he wanted to not be surpassed by others, he would have to constantly improve on this model.
This was the path of no return for an arms race. In the sail battleship era, a battleship made from oak could theoretically last for 300 years, like the Constitution of the United States, which could sail from 1798 until 2012.
But Iron-armored Ship couldn't do it. This kind of terrifying sea monster, once it appeared in the ocean, would cause the world's cruelest arms race. It wasn't a competition that the super powers couldn't even afford to play.