Chapter 640 The Future of the French Navy

Chapter 641 The future of the French Navy

Joseph immediately said:

"Your outstanding work has made the Navy's strength take off! Starting from this month, your rating on the Talent Committee will be raised by one level, and you will be awarded a special allowance by the Brest Shipyard."

The three Murdochs all looked happy and bowed together:

"Thank you, Your Highness the Crown Prince!"

You know, moving up a level from the talent committee means getting a bigger villa, a more luxurious carriage, more maids, more income, and a very respected social status - according to regulations, His Majesty the King will do it every year Regularly meet with all C-level and above talents and hold cocktail parties for them - this is an honor that many nobles cannot dream of.

Joseph finished handing out the candies and said seriously:

"Next, the development of ultra-high-pressure steam engines will depend on you! I promise that when the development of a 200-horsepower steam engine is completed, I will personally apply for a knighthood for you."

Murdoch and others hurriedly bowed and saluted again:

"Your Highness, please rest assured! We will not disappoint you!"

Soon, Joseph boarded the frigate "Brown Quartz" and sailed to the open sea outside the port.

The "Mediterranean Light" not far away sounded its whistle. The black smoke from the chimney became thicker, and it was obvious that it was ready to set sail.

The first thing to be done was the racing display between the "Mediterranean Light" and the galley.

In the past, test ships equipped with only one steam engine were able to throw galleys far away, and new warships equipped with two steam engines were even more powerful.

In less than 15 minutes, the "Mediterranean Light" opened a distance of more than 600 meters from its opponent. This has exceeded the maximum range of the 24-pound cannon.

In other words, if the "Light of the Mediterranean" sails past an enemy ship, the opponent's artillery fire will not be able to reach it for up to 15 minutes.

This is still facing a galley. If it is a pure sail warship that starts slowly, it is estimated that it can escape the opponent's fire range in 10 minutes.

You know, the accuracy of smoothbore guns in this era was very poor, and it often took several hours to sink an enemy ship in a naval battle.

10 minutes almost flew by in a flash.

Joseph applauded the steam battleship with satisfaction. What he didn't expect was that the next battle with the "Light of the Mediterranean" turned out to be a huge third-level battleship "Valiant".

The steam frigate was like a small toy in front of the third-level ship that was more than twice its size.

Joseph looked at the Marquis of Castelli:

"What is this demonstration for?"

"Actual combat, Your Highness." The Minister of the Navy said, "As you said, as long as we have suitable tactical assistance, our new frigates are enough to deal with battleships in the Mediterranean."

"You did a great job." Joseph praised. Although he proposed this idea, it took the Navy less than half a year to complete the specific tactical design and train sailors who could execute it. This efficiency is absolutely amazing. A long whistle pierced the sky, and the "Light of the Mediterranean" took the lead in launching, almost instantly throwing away the huge battleship.

It took the "Valiant" a long time to aim its bow at the "enemy ship", with the sails fully open, but the wind here was not strong, causing the sails to hang lazily.

The "Mediterranean Light" kept a sufficient distance, took advantage of its fast steering, and quickly moved to the bow of the "Valiant", and then turned directly sideways, facing the opponent's bow with its own side.

This is a typical "T-shaped cross-head" tactic - warships of this era are equipped with a large number of cannons on the sides, and only a few cannons on the bow and stern. Therefore, if you can use your own broadsides to aim at the bow and stern of the enemy ship, you can create a situation of unilateral firepower output.

The guns of the "Mediterranean Light" began to roar. The "Valiant" hurriedly turned its hull. However, just as the latter's broadside was about to turn around, the steam frigate immediately ran away at full power.

Afterwards, the steam frigate went around in a circle, used its absolute speed advantage to land on the bow of the "Valiant" again, and fired again.

The exercise lasted for more than half an hour. The "Mediterranean Light" was always in a dominant position, forming a "T-shaped crosshead" four times and completing the shooting, while the "Valiant" did not fire a single broadside salvo.

At the end of the exercise, the "Mediterranean Light" spewed out a plume of thick smoke from its chimney and flew away. The third-tier battleship tried its best to catch up, but couldn't even catch its tail smoke.

Joseph stood up again and led the applause. Other naval officers and people from the shipyard also cheered and clapped excitedly.

Everyone knows that the third-level battleships are the absolute main force of the fleet at the moment - the first- and second-level battleships are expensive and difficult to exert firepower, so they are more used as symbols of the fleet, or used to charge into enemy formations with their solid hulls - that is It is said that France only needs a large number of cheap and easy-to-build steam frigates to deal with the British main fleet in the Mediterranean!

According to the current speed of the Brest shipyard, it will only take about a year to build 20 "Light of the Mediterranean" class frigates.

Of course, it is difficult to sink a battleship with the firepower of a frigate, and at most it will damage it. However, the British fleet has difficulty replenishing in the Mediterranean - now, the entire North African coast, except for the western part of Algiers, is controlled by France. The British had to return to Gibraltar to complete supplies. The French navy can supply supplies anywhere.

In this way, as long as France insists on fighting a war of attrition with the British fleet, the latter will soon have to withdraw from the Mediterranean due to the need for warships to return to port for repairs and lack of supplies.

At the end of the maiden voyage ceremony, the naval officers happily talked about the future situation and left the port with the Crown Prince.

Joseph was listening to the naval shipbuilding director Borda introducing the construction plan of the steam frigate, when he suddenly caught a glimpse of a small boat with a unique shape parked in the narrow waterway on the north side of the port.

The ship had a few sparse sails, but a waterwheel-shaped wooden wheel was installed on each side of the hull, and a chimney stood in the middle of the hull.

"Steam paddle steamer?" Joseph gestured to the small boat curiously and asked Borda, "Is that a test product of the shipyard?"

The shipbuilding director was startled for a moment, then smiled and said:

"Your Highness, that was built by a gentleman named Joe Frey. He came to the shipyard two months ago with the ship and a design drawing, saying that he had designed a new type of warship.

“We looked at his design and learned that it was just a steam paddle steamer, so we didn’t adopt it.

“However, Mr. Joffrey has good design talent and unique insights into steamships, so I hired him as a designer in the shipyard.

"Oh, he later saw the steam battleship you invented, and never mentioned his little boat again."

Joe Fry?

Joseph vaguely remembered that in the documentary introducing Fulton, the father of the steam paddle steamer, there seemed to be a mention of a Frenchman named Joffrey - he had built a steam-powered ship more than ten years before Fulton, but he Because the French steam engines were so bad, they had to give up in the end.