Southern Song perfect paddlewheel warships

1178

Song naval engineers along the Yangtze perfected treadmill-powered paddlewheel warships - armored vessels driven by crews working internal mechanisms rather than oars or sails - capable of ramming enemy craft and outmaneuvering the Jin river fleets at will. The technology, centuries ahead of anything in the Western world, gave the Southern Song decisive and lasting control of China's vital inland waterways.