Chapter 591 Festival of the French Navy
Of course Joseph's design layout for Sane was excellent, because he copied it directly from the famous "Napoleon" battleship more than half a century later.
Although the "Napoleon" is the world's first sailing battleship equipped with a steam engine, its overall structure is very reasonable under the careful design of French designers.
This is also the easiest to understand for Sane, who is designing a sail steam engine battleship for the first time. After all, although the subsequent designs are getting more and more sophisticated, they are also more difficult to understand.
In addition, Joseph actually had a model of the "Napoleon" later in life, and he assembled it himself, so he was relatively familiar with the internal structure.
Sane's ship was based on the light frigate "The Wave" from the Seven Years' War, with minimal modifications, so it took only a few months to complete the preliminary design.
Sane pointed to the lower cabin at the rear of the design with a slender wooden stick and explained to the officers: "The sailor cabin here has been moved to the forward position and expanded and reinforced. Due to the installation of two steam engines,
“They can provide more than 100 horsepower of thrust, allowing the battleship to reach a speed of more than 8 knots relying only on the propellers. And when the sails are used at the same time, the speed can reach 12 knots! ”
All the officers looked excited.
You know, even in the Atlantic Ocean, it is difficult for the third-class battleship, the main force of the British fleet, to reach a speed of 10 knots. . Frigates can approach 12 knots in strong tailwinds, but if placed in the Mediterranean, their speed will be reduced by 30% or even 40% because the Mediterranean Sea only has breezes all year round.
Even the darling galley of the Mediterranean can reach 11 knots at its maximum output, but it can only maintain this speed for half an hour at most.
So the French Navy’s new ship is something that no one can catch up with in the Mediterranean!
Sane continued: "The original 8 side gun emplacements have been eliminated, and the free space is used to store coal. Oh, there is also a coal storage cabin in the lower cabin. All the fuel combined can support the battleship to sail 900 kilometers Nautical miles.
“Of course, if the maximum speed is maintained, it can only go 570 nautical miles. ”
Although this voyage is not far enough, it is basically enough for the narrow Mediterranean. You know, it is only 400 nautical miles from Toulon to Tunisia.
And during non-combat periods, it is entirely possible to save fuel by sailing only with sail.
However, Brest Fleet Commander Rojifor frowned slightly and interrupted the designer: "Mr. Sane, light frigates are usually equipped with 28 to 30 guns.
" Your ship has canceled 8 gun positions, so it can only carry 20 guns. With all due respect, this firepower configuration is probably too weak. "
Joseph smiled and continued: "General Rogifort, in fact, the "Light of the Mediterranean" only has 17 guns.
“But you don’t need to worry because it’s not designed for traditional broadside fighting.
"Do you still remember the Navy's new tactical specifications? It is the 'Ranger Tactics' that the Staff Department is formulating, which is used to adapt to the new warships."
Rojifor has seen "Rangers Tactics" In the first draft of "Tactics", I vaguely remember that it was a style of play that mainly focused on harassment.
Sane followed the words of the crown prince and pointed to the stern of the design and said: "The gun cabin here will be modified to install three 24-pound long guns.
"And The side gun positions are equipped with 6 18-pound long guns, 4 12-pound guns, and 4 32-pound caron guns. There is no bow gun. ”
Rogifort quickly understood that the heaviest firepower on the ship was all arranged at the stern, which meant he was ready to turn around and run away at any time!
If you dare to chase me, I will blast you with my stern cannon.
The French long-barreled cannon has always had a range advantage. Although it proved useless in the fleet shooting in the Seven Years War, it can play a unique effect when placed on the stern of the ship. He could already imagine the French steam sailing ships taking advantage of their speed to hover around the British warships. Once the British caught up, they would immediately flee while keeping the distance within the range of their long guns.
The British bow guns could not reach the steam sailing ships, but the French stern guns could fire continuously.
Although it is difficult for three cannons to cause a devastating blow to enemy ships, they can always cause you some damage. If a little adds up, you'll have to return to Hong Kong for repairs. And maybe one of the cannons hit a critical point such as the mast, which would make a lot of money.
In fact, the "Mediterranean Light" has another advantage that he doesn't know about, that is, ships equipped with propellers can turn more quickly.
Because the thrust of the propeller will be deflected by the rudder behind it, thereby generating lateral thrust, it can turn much faster than a sailboat that only relies on the rudder deflecting the sea water when moving.
In this way, even if the "Mediterranean Light" contacts the enemy ship with its broadside, it can quickly switch to the stern to attack the enemy, running and fighting at the same time. The sailing battleship was still slowly turning around at this time, and had already been bombarded by several rounds during this period.
Nearly two hours later, Sane has given a general introduction to the new frigate.
The navy officers' eyes lit up when they heard this. The French navy had been suppressed by the British for many years. This time at least it could fight back in the Mediterranean!
The Minister of the Navy looked at Joseph expectantly and asked very respectfully: "Your Royal Highness, perhaps you can tell me how many such frigates the Navy can get?"
Joseph said without hesitation: "20 ships."
The eyes of several navy officials were bright, this is enough.
You know, the Navy has built one third-class battleship and four light frigates in the past three years, which is almost like a beggar.
At the same time, the British fleet on the opposite side has added 1 first-class ship, 3 third-class ships and 7 heavy frigates. There are already so many light frigates that I am too lazy to count...
This was the result of the British seeing that the French navy on the opposite side did not build many ships, so they slowed down.
After three years of hard life, the French Navy finally ushered in a holiday today.
Especially the Marquis of Castries, his nose was sore with excitement.
Unexpectedly, Joseph continued: "After the 'Light of the Mediterranean' class is launched, Mr. Sane will immediately design a new steam-powered frigate based on the 'Virgin', which will be propelled by three steam engines.
"Twelve ships of this class will be built. ”
The Marquis of Castries was so excited that he could hardly breathe. The "Virgin" is a 32-gun class heavy frigate, much larger than the "Light of the Mediterranean". It can be equipped with 32-pound guns, which can already threaten battleships.
And build 12 ships at a time!
He suddenly asked Joseph nervously: "Your Highness, building so many at once will reduce the number of other battleships built?"
Although frigates are cheap, there are so many of them. With the use of new technology, the price will not be cheap.
Joseph smiled and shook his head: "Don't worry, these new frigates are all additional funds."
No wonder he was so generous. Just yesterday afternoon, he received a secret letter from Carlona from London, which said that the "project" there had raised more than one million pounds.
(End of this chapter)