1. The first steam-powered gunboats in war were used by the British in the First Opium War against China in 1840, led by the ironclad Nemesis. The British, however, were surprised to see the Chinese use paddlewheel vessels of their own. They chalked it up to Oriental imitation.
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3. Of course, the Chinese paddlewheels of 1840 were still wooden boats hand-cranked by conscripts, so they were no match for the steam-powered British ironclad. British innovation was as foreign to the Chinese as the Chinese origins of that innovation were foreign to the British.
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4. The first engagement where the Nemesis steamed into a harbor and the rest of the British fleet just hung back and blocked the exits was, basically, the naval equivalent of the scene from Rogue One where Darth Vader has the rebels trapped in a corridor. Utter massacre.
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