Chapter 587 Three-year agreement with the Minister of the Navy

Chapter 588 The three-year agreement with the Lord Admiralty

Brittany, a province in northwestern France.

On the north shore of Brest Bay, the Brest Shipyard, which is almost as big as a small town, is as busy as an ant colony smelling molasses.

Thousands of workers carried raw materials on wooden tracks, split wood with huge tools, or built ship hulls on towering wooden frames. The large chimneys that can be seen everywhere are constantly spewing thick smoke, dyeing half of the sky gray and black.

After being idle for nearly three years, the largest shipyard in Brittany is finally busy.

Because, the Crown Prince is here.

At this time, on the dock of the shipyard, Joseph and dozens of people were holding telescopes, looking at the two ships on the sea not far away, and talking a few words from time to time.

These people include senior naval officers including the Lord of the Navy, the Marquis of Castries, and the Commander of the Brest Fleet, Roger Forre, as well as the naval shipbuilding director Borda, and the top battleship designer Jacques Battleship designers led by Sane.

It can be said that it has gathered all the elites in the field of French shipbuilding.

Not long after, with the sound of a melodious trombone, Joseph saw the two ships begin to slowly start.

The ship on the left is a traditional galley-type frigate. At this time, half the sail is raised, and the wooden oars on both sides of the ship are raised high, and then cut into the water.

The ship on the right is smaller and looks like an ordinary 24-gun light frigate "Indomitable". However, the towering chimney in the middle and rear of its hull shows that it is anything but ordinary.

Yes, this is the world's first steam engine-driven warship that has just been refitted.

It is equipped with the latest model LJ52 high-pressure steam engine of the United Steam Engine Company.

This "performance monster" can output up to 52 horsepower, which is ahead of its time and can completely defy its British counterparts with less than 20 horsepower.

It is still in the testing phase, so only one has been installed.

After all technical difficulties are overcome, two machines will be used to drive the warship at the same time. The strong power of more than 100 horsepower can enable the light frigate to break through 12 knots when the wind is downwind.

You know, on the calm Mediterranean, this speed is almost like flying!

Usually only a 30-ton boat can barely reach this speed when the paddler rows at full strength. A frigate-level galley can reach just over 10 knots.

As for the sail warships, they are always slow in the Mediterranean waters because there is really no wind. Even an ordinary galley was maneuverable enough to poop on their heads, let alone a steam-powered vessel.

On the sea, the galley quickly broke through the waves and rushed out.

After the "Indomitable" fell behind by three to four hundred meters, more and more black smoke came out of the chimney, and its speed continued to increase. The gap between the "Indomitable" and the galley finally stopped increasing.

Nearly 20 minutes later, the oarsmen on the galley apparently lost strength, but the "Indomitable" maintained its speed and began to catch up.

The audience on the pier suddenly showed surprise.

Chief designer Sane sincerely sighed: "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is right. Excellent propulsion effects can be achieved without using a paddle wheel."

Shipbuilding Director Borda immediately nodded: "If we follow our original design, the hull will be at least 30 tons heavier than it is now. The speed will be significantly reduced."

Two months ago, after they heard that Joseph wanted to be driven by a steam engine, they immediately expressed their intention to use paddle wheels, which meant installing two sets of huge wooden wheels like waterwheels on both sides of the hull, and wrapping the water lines of the paddle wheels with oak shells. The above part is used to resist shelling.

This is also the most mature solution. Although paddle steamers have not yet been put into use, theories have been put forward, and some people have even made models.

But Joseph flatly rejected this design.

The paddle wheel was already very heavy, and with the bulletproof casing, most of the power advantage of using a steam engine would be offset.

Moreover, the target of the paddle wheel is very large. Even if it is protected by a wooden shell, it is still easily destroyed by enemy cannons. As for the power part, if there is a problem with the paddle wheel, the captain can basically order to abandon the ship.

Then he took out a common marine propeller in later generations, and gave birth to the "Indomitable" test boat in front of him.

The Lord of the Navy, the Marquis of Castries, looked at the Crown Prince with gratitude.

He waited three years for the latter to promise him to build advanced steam-armored battleships. In the past three years, the Navy has hardly launched any warships above the third level.

Just when he thought he would have to wait three more years, the Dauphin suddenly arrived in Brittany.

Then steam-powered ships were really invented.

He looked at the "Indomitable" that was constantly approaching the galley, couldn't help but squeeze his fists, and said excitedly: "If there are 20 such warships, no, as long as 15, we can challenge the British fleet in the Mediterranean. !”

Although steam power can currently only drive light frigates and cannot compete head-on with serious battleships, using high speed and durability, it is completely possible to engage in maneuver warfare with the British. Using diversion and harassment, the British fleet was exhausted and eventually had to withdraw from the Mediterranean. .

General Rogifre was about to agree, but suddenly he saw the hull of the "Indomitable" trembling in the telescope, and then the black smoke in the chimney gradually disappeared, and the speed quickly slowed down.

After a moment, the technician on the "Indomitable" rowed the famous boat to the shore, and said to Joseph with a grimace: "Your Highness, the propeller is vibrating violently again.

"This time even the main shaft was broken..."

Joseph frowned immediately.

This is the fifth time the vibration problem has occurred.

When he first came to the shipyard, he thought that by magnifying the model ship he had played with in his previous life a hundred times, he could make a steam-powered ship, but he didn't expect that it was completely different.

For example, the propeller, he only remembered the general shape, but he had to figure out the specific blade inclination, how the blade shape was twisted, and even what materials to use.

Although after repeated attempts by the technicians, the above technical details were solved - such as using beech wood to make the propeller, using four blades, etc., and the first propeller was soon built.

However, from the moment the propeller was connected to the steam engine, it has been troubled by serious vibration problems.

After research and analysis by Joseph and the technicians, it was believed that it should be caused by insufficient processing accuracy - the two sides of the propeller could not be completely symmetrical, and vibration would occur when rotating at high speed. The vibration motor of the mobile phone works on this principle.

Joseph held his forehead and shook his head. He finally understood why early steamships were driven by paddle wheels. It seemed that it was because it was difficult to manufacture qualified propellers.

He looked at Borda and others beside him and sighed. Did they really have to use paddle wheels?