Ming Shipyards Maintain Advanced Naval Technology

1461

Despite the imperial abandonment of treasure fleets, Ming shipyards along the coast continued building advanced naval vessels equipped with watertight bulkhead compartments, a technology unknown in European shipbuilding for another three centuries. Coastal defense junks patrolled against Japanese pirate fleets using hull construction that could survive serious breaches without sinking. Chinese maritime technology remained globally supreme even as imperial policy turned its attention stubbornly inward toward the steppe frontier.