"Is it weird?" Owen asked.

But then I thought about it, in this era when wooden boats were prevalent, almost no one would want to use iron to make boats.

At most, it is a large wooden ship covered with a layer of iron armor and used as a warship.

Even so, the problem of iron rust is already a headache, and maintenance is quite troublesome.

In addition, it is generally believed that iron is too heavy and it is impossible for a ship made purely of steel to float.

Also, iron is much more expensive than wood, so the cost of building an iron ship must be very expensive.

From this point of view, Owen's idea of ​​building a steel battleship is indeed an unusual move.

"I think it's okay. Maybe my idea is too advanced." He said vaguely.

"That's not weird!" Mapel puffed up her chest proudly, "Mr. Owen is just so smart, otherwise he wouldn't have invented so many powerful things."

Thank you for your trust, Mapel.

Only Irving knows best that none of this is his fault.

"Let's just treat it like this." Angelica did not continue to delve deeper.

After a pause, she asked: "Those dwarf craftsmen only focused on the steel battleship itself, but did not pay attention to the problem of materials. Marquis Aisen, if you want to build a steel battleship, you will undoubtedly need a lot of steel. You plan to build a steel battleship in the future."

Will all the iron ore produced during the period be invested?"

Angelica is right about one thing, building a steel battleship does require a lot of steel.

However, Owen will not use all the iron ore produced in Border Guard Town to build warships.

There are obviously many places that need iron, so cutting off their iron supply is really stupid.

The main reason why Irving dared to build steel battleships was that he had just swallowed up Duke Eddie's property not long ago, and now he is not short of money.

Now that you have money, you can just purchase a large amount of iron ingots and iron ore from other places, transport them back to Bianzhu Town, and then smelt them into steel.

Several blast furnaces have been built across the periphery of the mining area, operating around the clock and constantly inputting raw materials. Steel output has reached an astonishing figure and is still growing.

Perhaps, the annual steel output in the entire kingdom outside of Bianzhu Town is not as high as that of Bianzhu Town.

This is the huge advantage brought by mastering advanced smelting technology. The steel-making method in many places is still the ancient method of forging into steel, which is time-consuming and labor-intensive, and the output is low.

"Don't worry." The corner of Owen's mouth raised. "Before you came to Border Guard Town, I had signed a contract with Sharp Holly, the largest mining businessman in the west of the kingdom, to purchase large quantities of iron ingots and iron ore from them."

"It turns out I was prepared for it, no wonder." Angelica suddenly said.

Then, she asked: "Marquis Essen, your purpose of building steel battleships should be to deal with King White Wells's warship fleet, right?"

"Yes, that's right." Owen admitted frankly.

In addition to ground troops, the royal capital also has a powerful water fleet, consisting of more than ten large warships.

Whether you passively wait for the opponent to attack, or take the initiative to attack the royal capital, this water battle is unavoidable.

Although there are cement steamships in Bianshu Town, and new cement ships are continuing to be built, the main task of these ships is for transportation.

If it really wanted to be used in a water battle, it wouldn't work.

If a larger cement ship is built as the main body of the battleship, a few more cannons are installed, and enough cannon shells and other weapons are carried.

Coupled with the personnel, fuel, etc., if you think about it, this cement battleship will definitely be quite heavy.

Irving had already discussed with Winster that such a cement warship would sail very slowly. The reason was that the weight of the cement ship was too large, and the steam engines currently manufactured in Border Guard Town were really unable to move it.

Too slow speed means that enemy warships can easily catch up, get close and board the ship by force.

And those who want to chase the enemy's ship are even more wishful thinking. They can only watch the enemy run away from under their noses.

As a warship, such a cement warship is obviously unqualified and must sail faster.

After discussing with Winster, Irving decided to let the cement ship continue to undertake the transportation task and build an additional steel warship as the first warship in Border Guard Town.

Such a huge steel battleship can already put enough heavy psychological pressure on the enemy just by sailing on the river.

Which one is better, the steel body or the wooden hull? You can tell at a glance.

In the afternoon, Owen took his escort to a certain bank of the Weishui River to inspect the construction of the first dock in Bianzhu Town.

Because this task is relatively important, Viru is solely responsible for the construction of the dock.

Seeing Owen coming, Weiru hurried over to greet him.

"Your Majesty, are you here to inspect the construction of the dock?"

"Yeah." Owen nodded, "You go back and continue working, I'll just take a look."

"Okay, please do as you please, Lord Marquis."

After saying that, Weiru turned around and returned to the construction site, loudly reminding the construction workers present.

"The lord has come here specially to supervise everyone's work. Please work harder and don't be lazy!"

After hearing this, the construction workers worked faster.

This situation made Owen feel familiar.

Not wanting to disturb the workers who were working hard, Owen stood at the edge of the dock to inspect.

It can be seen that there are three earth magicians working in different places on the construction site.

When earth magic is used, several square meters of the ground will sink. This is how they transform the terrain here little by little, which saves the time-consuming and laborious work of digging soil, which is very convenient.

In addition, the adobe housing project outside the town could be built so quickly to accommodate the serfs transported from Dongsheng Fortress in advance.

It is also thanks to these earth magicians that they can indeed play an important role in the field of construction.

Next, Owen began to observe the shipyard under construction.

The dock is a working platform for repairing and building ships.

After the steel battleship is built, this place will also become an important place for daily maintenance or repair of the battleship.

What is being built here is a dry dock, which is connected to land on three sides and faces water on three sides. It consists of three parts: the dock entrance, the dock room and the dock head.

The dock is where ships enter and exit. There will be a dock door to block water. Water pumping steam machines will be placed above the dock piers on both sides of the dock.

The dock is a place where ships are placed. There are keel piers and side piers at the bottom to support the ship.

The dock head is located at the end opposite to the dock mouth, and its plane shape is semicircular. The space at the dock head is also part of the dock room, where the propeller and tail shaft can be disassembled and assembled.

In addition, the dock will be equipped with necessary ancillary equipment such as lifting, rust removal and boat pulling, all of which will be manufactured by Gita.

Standing on the edge of the dock, Owen couldn't help but start to imagine what it would be like to build steel battleships in the dock after the dock was built.

Before the built warship is to be undocking, water must be poured into the dock first to make the water level inside and outside the dock door equal. Then the dock door can be opened and the ship can be led out of the dock.

When a warship needs to be docked for maintenance or repair, it must first be filled with water in the dock. When the water level is level, the dock door can be opened and the ship-towing equipment can be used to slowly pull it into the dock.
Chapter completed!