The earliest iron-armored warships of mankind were actually not uncommon. In ancient times, the navy of various countries had the idea of ​​covering iron-armored hulls on wooden hulls. In the Three Kingdoms period, iron shields were installed on the outer layer of the hull to prevent enemy rockets and catapults.

In order to defeat Ishiyama Honanji, Oda Nobunaga specially built an iron armored ship. In fact, it was just a layer of iron plates covered with the outside of a large Anzai ship. Finally, he defeated the Murakami Navy in the Seto Inland Sea and finally captured the famous castle Ishiyama Honanji.

In fact, North Korea has also studied its own iron-armored ship. The turtle ship built by Lee Sun-sin is actually a primitive iron-armored ship. The Japanese suffered a great loss in front of the turtle ship. Don’t think that the name of the turtle ship is not good. There is a black-sized carved in front of the warship, and it will spray poisonous smoke outwards.

Of course, these so-called ironclad ships from the Middle Ages were not what Xiao Letian wanted. In the mid-19th century, Europeans rely on the design ideas of sail battleships, and a batch of ironclad ships created by the Europeans were not what Xiao Letian wanted.

In 1858, the French built the world's first ironclad ship, the Glory, with a displacement of 5,630 tons. However, this was still a warship covered with ironclads, not a pure ironclad ship.

Then in 1860, the United Kingdom produced a pure steel warship of the Warriors, with a displacement of 9,137 tons. This time, it gave up the wood inside the iron plate, but the sails are still there, and the artillery is also the arrangement of sail battleships in the past, with one on both sides.

As for the American Civil War, although this is the first time that the ironclad ships were used in actual combat, the two ironclad ships, Virginia and Monit, were too weird in shape, and could only shoot at each other in the inland river, and could not enter the ocean at all.

In Xiao Letian's eyes, the origin of the ironclad ship should be pushed back for another thirty years. By the early 20th century, it was the era of ironclad ships.

Pure steam power abandons sails, the main gun is arranged in the central axis and can rotate the turret freely, completely abandoning the smoothbore cannon... Such an iron-armored marine monster is the sea overlord in Xiao Letian's mind.

What I want to show at Volkeng Shipyard today is the top secret plan jointly led by Xiao Letian and Prince Carl, a very bold attempt.

The Vulken Shipyard is located along the Oder River in Szczechin, close to the estuary, and to the north is the Baltic Sea. In order to keep it secret, the shipyard specially invested in a huge dry dock, and built a huge rack with wooden racks and tarpaulins. The engineers and workers who could enter here were all reliable people strictly selected by the Prussian side.

When the Wing King's carriage entered the shipyard, Fang Guan and his team found a gold-painted carriage parked in front of the office building. They were so familiar with this carriage, it was Prince Carl's car.

"The prince has arrived, pay attention to his appearance..." The Wing King carefully reminded the others, but this was useless to Fangguan. Prince Carl in the living room just picked up a cup of coffee, Fangguan screamed and rushed over.

"Godfather..." Fangguan brought a gust of wind and threw himself into Prince Carl's arms. In order to avoid Fangguan's white skirt, the coffee in Carl was sprinkled on his pants.

"Oh, you're so naughty. I really should find you a powerful prince to control you..."

"No...I don't want a prince. I know how to fight one by one, just like a fighting rooster..."

"Haha, then who do you like? I'll click on that French intelligence officer." Carl smiled.

Fangguan shrugged and said indifferently, "I just gave him a chance to pursue me, and what comes later depends on his ability..."

Carl rubbed Fangguan's hair, stood up and apologized to the Wing King, "I'm very sorry, I'll go change my clothes..."

After a while, Prince Karl changed into clean clothes and walked out. At this time, all the international students greeted the prince one by one. After some greetings, King Wing said, "Looking at your good mental state, it seems that the throat disease should be nothing serious."

"Yes, I really want to thank my dear Xiao. The doctor said that my lesions were discovered very promptly. If they were a few years later, it would be dangerous... God blessed him, why did he predict the future?"

"Maybe this is the charm of Brother Xiao. If there were no magical means, how could he design such a strange warship?" The Wing King smiled.

"Yes, I have invited many military experts to study it together, and I unanimously agreed that this kind of warship will create a brand new idea of ​​naval combat. Maybe we have really come to the forefront of the times this time. Although it is not perfect, I am still willing to take this risk..."

The Wing King shook his head, "The prince is wrong. This time the risk is independently borne by Ryukyu. In the early stage, 900,000 taels of silver were allocated to build this dry dock and a large amount of equipment. Later, he invested 1 million taels of silver to build the hull three times. The treasures made by 1.9 million taels are all the money spent by our foundation."

"No, no, no, Lord, don't settle the score like this. I think Xiao Letian would not. In order to provide the design and construction engineers of this warship, Prussia stopped the construction plan of the two warships in succession, and drew top engineers from steel factories and machinery manufacturing plants in various places... Even our brave spy personnel lost more than ten, which were all costs."

The two of them looked at each other and smiled. The tentative tests between politicians were very particular about strength. They were not allowed to argue with red faces.

"Of course we are unforgettable to provide support from Prussia, but if it weren't for the original drawings of Brother Xiao, I'm afraid your genius designers would not be able to come up with such a weird warship..."

"Yes, I admit that Xiao Letian's design ideas are worthless. If this idea is verified in actual combat, then I think our two countries will lead the era 30 years..."

"Oh that's good... Money is valuable only if you spend it. We Chinese are not slaves. Although 1.9 million taels are heartbroken, I think the cost in the future will not be so high."

Carl reached out and made a gesture of asking together, "Let's talk while walking. The cost of 1.9 million taels is really expensive. A British Victoria launched in 1859 costs 150,578 pounds, and a normal displacement of 6,959 tons. This is the normal cost of the wooden sail battleship..."

"The Iron Armored Warriors, launched in 1861, cost 377,392 pounds, with a normal displacement of 9,137 tons, and the cost is more than doubled. It can be seen that the Iron Armored Warriors themselves are money-burning toys, and they cannot be played without a strong country."

The group started from the office building to the closed dry dock. The whole way was full of elite Prussian soldiers. Even the Wing King saw a few familiar faces. During the bloody battle between Shiqiao, a group of Prussian soldiers fought with Xiao Letian and others, but now many have been transferred.

"According to our previous budget, even if the style of the warship Xiao Letian is extremely strange, the cost should not be more than twice as much as the Warriors. According to the current price of 1.9 million taels to silver, it would be a total of 630,000 pounds, which is indeed very high..."

"However, the cost is not calculated in this way. The performance of the turret barrel required by Xiao Letian is now impossible to manufacture in all steel mills in Europe, and the strength is not enough. We must gather many scientists to study the new steel and the appearance of the warship. Xiao Letian insists on protecting the dome armor, which also increases the difficulty of design..."

"The more important thing is the turbine unit. What Xiao Letian wants is the cruiser. This requires multiple considerations of speed and reliability. The entire design work is completely beyond our imagination... By the way, hasn't the beautiful Miss Cai Bixia always followed the design team to observe? I think she should be very clear about the complexity of the craftsmanship of this warship..."

As we talked and talked, the door to the dock was finally opened for them. When the Wing King and his group walked into the dock, everyone took a breath of air. The monster in front of them was completely beyond everyone's imagination.
Chapter completed!