Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 223 Warship

ps: Thank you to the students who gave rewards and voted for support. The second semester of my junior year is coming to an end and my free time is limited. I apologize for not being able to update regularly due to other things.

Xinjing Shipyard and Xinghe Shipyard are located in Xinjing and Xinghe County (Joinvia) respectively.

The two shipyards were originally two civilian shipyards established in early 1869 with shipbuilding equipment imported from Prussia.

In February 1872, two shipyards were upgraded and transformed into military shipyards, and one shipyard was moved from Xinjing to Xinghe County.

In April 1873, with the help of the technology of French shipbuilders such as Darman, the Xinjing Shipyard successfully built a gunboat with a displacement of 760 tons. Three months later, the Xinghe Shipyard absorbed the experience of the Xinjing Shipyard and also built a gunboat.

The Xinjing and Xinghe shipyards share shipbuilding technology and build warships of the same level.

The research and construction of gunboats and small ironclad ships were carried out simultaneously. Gunboats with a displacement of less than 1000 tons had lower technical requirements and could be built in a shorter time, while small ironclad ships with a displacement of more than 1000 tons had higher technical requirements, and it was acceptable for Li Mingyuan to spend six years to successfully build them.

The technical monitoring of the first self-built small ironclad ship has met the standards. The Han Navy will soon have six ironclad ships, and its strength will have returned to the level before the second battle against the Brazilian Navy.

Among the six ironclad ships, excluding a small ironclad ship with a displacement of 1350 tons that was built by the country, two ironclad ships with a displacement of 3200 tons are still in the Mediterranean shipyard in France and require the Han Navy to send personnel to receive them. The remaining three warships are a large ironclad ship with a displacement of 6270 tons captured from the Brazilian Navy, and the other two are medium-sized ironclad ships with a displacement of 3500 tons that were customized from the UK in the early days.

Drawing on the classification of warships by Western countries, Li Mingyuan initially divided the Han navy's warships into four levels: battleships, cruisers, light cruisers, and gunboats.

Warships with a displacement of more than 5000 tons are battleships.
2500吨到5000吨范围内为巡洋舰，1000吨到2500吨为轻巡洋舰，1000吨以下为炮舰。

According to the classification of warships by displacement, the Han Navy had a total of one battleship, four cruisers, one self-built light cruiser, seven self-built gunboats, nine gunboats, as well as twenty-five auxiliary ships and thirty wooden steam troop transports with a displacement of more than one thousand tons.

Gunboats are smaller than gunboats, with a displacement of about 200 tons. They are mainly used for inland river and near-shore patrols and have limited role in large-scale naval battles.

After the Xinjing Shipyard built the first gunboat, the navy gradually replaced the gunboats with gunboats with larger tonnage and better performance. Some of the eliminated gunboats were arranged into the inland fleet, while most of the remaining ones were arranged in transit points such as the Natuna Islands, Songkhla, Kismayo, Mtwara and other places near the immigration routes.

The immigrant fleets that set out from Southeast Asia initially stopped at strongholds controlled by Britain, France, Portugal and other countries for material supplies. Later, as the number of Chinese immigrants increased, the trading bases established by Britain, France and other countries on the coast of Africa could no longer provide sufficient supplies for the fleet. So starting in April 1872, the immigrant fleet first looked for suitable ports on the east coast of Africa, and then used muskets, tea and other commodities to buy the selected land from local chiefs as a supply base for the immigrant fleet.

Small gunboats have lost their use in South America, but in the coastal areas of Africa, Chinese sailors stationed in transit points have played a significant role with the help of gunboats.

After personally boarding the ironclad ship for an inspection, Li Mingyuan observed a row of gunboats docked in the port. Li Han introduced, "Your Highness, the last nine gunboats are scheduled to be retired after four months of service. The leaders of the Kismayo and Mtwara strongholds have applied to the navy for six of the nine gunboats to support them in fighting against the local black pirates."

"Half a year ago, didn't they report that they had wiped out five small-scale black pirate gangs? How come new pirates have appeared there now?"

Li Mingyuan asked doubtfully.

"Most of the pirates in the waters near the two places were cleared out in the crackdown six months ago. However, a new group of pirates appeared in the Kismayo waters a few months ago. Their number is much larger than the number of pirates that were encircled and suppressed at the beginning. Moreover, the person in charge of the Kismayo stronghold reported that the weapons and equipment of the new pirates are more advanced than those of the local pirates. They not only have muskets and small cannons, but also a small gunboat.

The head of the Kismayo outpost believes that this group of pirates is likely to be pirates active in the waters of Djibouti. They escaped the French crackdown on Djibouti pirates some time ago and fled to the waters of Kismayo.

"The speculation of the person in charge of the Kismayo stronghold makes sense. After the opening of the Suez Canal, pirates from the surrounding areas of the east coast of Africa flocked to the Red Sea. In recent years, more than ten merchant ships from various countries have been hijacked by pirates in the Red Sea every year."

The Suez Canal is the most strategically important artificial canal in the 5500th century. Compared with the detour around the Cape of Good Hope in Africa, it shortens the distance from the European Atlantic coast countries to the Indian Ocean by 8009-8000 kilometers; it shortens the distance from the Mediterranean countries to the Indian Ocean by 10000-12000 kilometers; and for the Black Sea coast, it shortens the distance by kilometers.

The Suez Canal, due to its important strategic position and the economic benefit of greatly shortening the distance for ocean-going ships, attracted competition from the two major European powers, Britain and France, before its construction even began.

In 1859, the Suez Canal was initially dug by a French company. Later, the British government used its strong national strength to force the French government to share the management rights of the canal with Britain. As a result, the British government gradually squeezed the French government's power in the Suez Canal and gained the dominant position in managing canal affairs after the Franco-Prussian War.

The Suez Canal was built at great expense by commercial companies supported by the French government. In order to maintain its growing overseas interests and restore France's status as a major power in Europe, the French government, after being at a disadvantage in the competition with Britain for the management of the Suez Canal, turned to controlling the outlet of the Red Sea and deploying military forces in key areas such as Djibouti in order to hold Britain hostage to the Suez Canal.

Under the guidance of this strategy, France first incorporated Djibouti into its sphere of influence and did not allow other countries to interfere. It then regularly cleared out pirates in the waters near Djibouti and strengthened France's maritime control over the Red Sea outlet and the Gulf of Aden.

The French's crackdown on piracy did not harm the interests of the Han Dynasty on the east coast of Africa. However, as the French government continued to strengthen its presence in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, the Italian colonial forces posed a great threat to Kismayo.

Although the Western powers have not clearly defined their respective spheres of influence in Africa, according to the tacit understanding among countries, in Somalia and the Red Sea outlet area, Eritrea belongs to the Italian sphere of influence, Djibouti in western Somalia belongs to the French sphere of influence, and Somaliland in the north belongs to the British sphere of influence. As for the central and southern regions of Somalia, the forces of Britain, France, Italy and other countries are intertwined and have not yet been clearly assigned to any one country.

To the north of Kismayo is Marka, which is controlled by Italy. In 1876, the Italian colonists in the Marka stronghold launched an attack on the Kismayo stronghold on the grounds that they did not recognize the Chinese occupation of Kismayo. The actual fighting in the Kismayo conflict lasted less than a day. After the Italian army attacked the stronghold in the daytime without success, it was defeated by Chinese soldiers who attacked out of the city at night. Twenty-one of the Italian troops were killed, forty-five were injured, and more than three hundred were captured.

The Kismayo conflict was the first battle between the Han Dynasty and a Western country. The Chinese soldiers in the Kismayo stronghold showed their due combat effectiveness, while the performance of the Italian army was disappointing.

After the Battle of Kismayo, the Chinese troops in the stronghold took advantage of the lack of troops in Marka and occupied the local Italian stronghold by boat overnight. Then, in the subsequent negotiations, the Han State obtained the Italian government's recognition of the Han State's occupation of Kismayo on the condition of returning the captured soldiers and withdrawing from Marka.

Although a formal agreement was signed with the Italians, Li Mingyuan never relaxed his vigilance against them, knowing clearly the traitorous nature of the Italians during World War I and World War II. The current Han government did not have the ability to occupy large tracts of land in Africa, but several transit points near the immigration route were very important to the immigration operation, and Li Mingyuan would not easily give up the points that the Han government had already established.

Thinking of the threat from Italy from the African pirate problem, Li Mingyuan felt it necessary to strengthen the military strength of the Han State in strongholds such as Kismayo and Mtwara.

"We don't have to wait four months. The six gunboats can be deployed to them now. In three months, Kismayo will get two more gunboats and 100 soldiers. Please remind them that the anti-pirate campaign cannot be relaxed. I don't want any immigrant ship to be sunk by pirates. Also, tell them to pay attention to the actions of the Italians. Don't let them take advantage of the loopholes and infiltrate the Kismayo area."

"As you command, Your Highness."

Li Han replied.

(End of this chapter)