"Although the armored ship is very good, the current cost of steamships is much higher than that of sail battleships. The bid of your shipyard is that an armored frigate with 36 guns is twice that of 90 gun-class sail battleships. This price is hard for us to bear. Even if we replace some warships, it is a expensive expense."

Since Ling'er was born, Nelson has been helping Chu Yun with all his heart. He knew that Chu Yun often struggled with finance. At present, a major project is to lay submarine cables. For this reason, several factories that produce submarine cables are starting construction day and night, and a considerable part of the finance is invested in it.

"But Lord Nelson, think about it, the steam armored ship has no advantages in sail battleships. For example, defense is not enough unless it is hit by the enemy's shells, the solid bombs propelled by black gunpowder in this era cannot cause effective damage to the armored ship. In other words, the steam armored ship is invincible in this era!"

"Also, when the sailing battleship reaches the equatorial windless belt and the temperate windless belt, it is difficult to drive at all, and with steam as an auxiliary power, it can travel freely. Similar situations include the inland warfare, the steam iron armored ship can easily go upstream and completely crush ordinary sailing warships!"

The manager of the Royal Shipyard strives to promote his own steamship.

"Please look at it, Lord Nelson, this is the blueprint of the ironclad ship we imagined." The factory manager clapped his hands and asked an engineer to unfold the design drawings for Nelson to show.

When Nelson looked at the design, his eyes shone.

This is a structural diagram of an ironclad ship, with a top view dialysis diagram and a side view dialysis diagram, and there are various marks on it, which are obviously carefully thought and designed by the engineer. The captain actually reached an astonishing 115 meters! You should know that this is not a giant ship for loading, but a warship! There was no such warship in this era! Just this size is amazing!

"Our designers had the spare time to design the armored warship in the later stages of manufacturing the giant ship. So after more than a dozen engineers designed it for 200 days, this steam armored warship was found. It is estimated to be 115.2 meters long, with a full load displacement of 9,200 tons. If the angle is added, the length can reach 126 meters. We call this model of steam warship the 'secret class' iron armored piercing."

"Although there is only one deck and it is planned to be loaded with 36 guns, in our plan, these 36 guns are no longer commonly used 24-pound guns and 32-pound guns, but 10 110-pound rifled rear-loading guns and 26 68-pound smoothbore front-loading guns. Lord Nelson, you should know the difference. Although the Victory has more than 100 guns, the heaviest guns of Victory are only 32 pounds, which is not worth mentioning compared to 68-pound and 110-pound guns. Once the existing sail battleship is hit by 110-pound guns, it will basically suffer a heavy blow. Therefore, although the ironclad ship is called a frigate by the Admiralty, it is actually sufficient to replace the sail battleship in the battle line. In addition, its defense ability, its combat effectiveness is simply unimaginable."

"There is another important thing. The design speed of the 'secret class' is 15 knots, equipped with a full set of sails, and has the ability to cruise around the world. Even if you invest in wars across the oceans in the future, you will never fall behind. The speed of arriving on the battlefield is nearly twice as fast as the Victory, and it is enough to serve for more than 20 years."

The factory manager continued to tempt Nelson without leaving any effort.

Nelson felt itchy when he heard the 110-pound cannon, 15 knots of speed, and stunning iron armor. For their Admiralty, such a temptation was even more deadly than a woman!

Even though the three major fleets of the Admiralty are now invincible in the Pacific, they want to replace them with more powerful warships!

A larger ship and a larger cannon, this is the romance of an iron-blooded man!

"What is the estimated cost?" Nelson couldn't help swallowing when he saw the design drawings and the prospects depicted by the factory manager.

If the Admiralty's budget is sufficient, he really wanted to build a whole steam ironclad ship that had never been seen in history to support the Admiralty's facade!

"This is the estimated cost table." The factory manager handed a quote to Nelson.

Nelson looked at the cost table and poured it down like a basin of cold water: "My God, it's too expensive, too expensive."

"What I listed is the cost price, just 36 artillery pieces is a sky-high price. All the budgets of our shipyard are also made according to the above approvals. In addition to salary and bonuses, private individuals will not make profits. I thought that if our factory first produces the first batch of "secret class" iron-armored ships, our factory first will be famous in history, and the engineers and workers involved in the construction will be promoted." The factory director said to Nelson.

"The 110-pound gun plan uses the Armstrong rifled gun that is being developed, right? As far as I can tell, the 110-pound naval gun has not been developed yet." Nelson saw that the 110-pound gun listed in the cost table is the top secret gun currently being developed by the Kyushu Army - the Armstrong rifled gun with higher power, range and accuracy!

"Yes, only 110-pound guns are qualified to be equipped with our steam armored ship. The secret class iron armored ship with a standard discharge of 6,000 tons can make 110-pound guns useful. In addition to 110-pound guns, if you want to produce a 68-pound smoothbore front-loading gun, the production capacity of the artillery factory is enough to produce. Even after our steam armored ship is successfully researched, the 110-pound gun can be replaced by 68-pound guns before it has been developed." The factory director said.

"36 68-pound cannons, armored hull..." Nelson was a little moved.

However, thinking that Chu Yun was worried about finances and that his grandson could not lose his father so soon, Nelson suppressed the urge to order dozens of ships: "After all, the expensive price is here. Our fleet is currently enough to control the Pacific Western Conference. Let's consider building a steam iron armored ship after a while."

"So... Lord Nelson, take this design drawing back and take a look first. Our shipyard has a backup, and maybe the Admiralty will change its mind." The director of Royal First Shipyard handed over the design drawing to Nelson.

Nelson carefully took the design drawing and handed it over to his personal soldiers who came with him. Even if he had no money to build a ship now, he would be fine to look at the plums and quench his thirst.

"Prepare to let the giant ship be launched, so that everyone can see the style of the 10,000-ton giant ship we built in the local area!" The shipyard knew that the Admiralty would definitely be interested in the ironclad ship he promoted, so he called on the workers on the ship platform.

The second generation steamship developed by the Jiuzhou Army is about to go into the sea!
Chapter completed!