Chapter 2686: Intelligence of French battleships

France has always been a strong power in Europe. It has a vast land (compared to other European countries), a large population and rich resources, and its people are quite smart. As long as the monarch does not die, the French people will be able to live a good life, even if they die. The wealth belonging to the French people can also be quickly transformed into national power, such as making arms, ranging from rifles to battleships. As long as the king's consciousness is firm, the French can easily produce a large amount of arms.

In Cherbourg, on the shore of the La Manche Strait (the French name is the English Channel), a group of nobles are visiting the shipyard and listening to the factory's introduction.

France has a long coastline with several decent ports, namely Cherbourg, Brest, Le Havre on the Atlantic Ocean and Toulon and Marseille on the Mediterranean. The ship is very suitable and is also where the shipyard is located.

As the South China Army wreaks havoc in the Mediterranean and controlled the Strait of Gibraltar, the ports on the Atlantic Ocean are more important. After all, the Atlantic Ocean is a vast ocean, far better than Mediterranean baths. The Cherbourg Shipyard has become the main force of French shipbuilding.

The head of the Cherbourg shipyard, Count de Grenier, is a middle-aged man. He has a stern appearance and is unsmiling, but depending on the people, he personally said to the group of visiting nobles:

"...We in France have never lagged behind in shipbuilding, we have always been ahead!" He proudly said: "In 1633, during the reign of Bishop Richelieu, he ordered the construction of the Corolla. The designer was Isaac. De Lazli, the "Corolla" has a displacement of 1,800 tons, which is higher than the Spanish giant ship Saint Teresa and the Englishman's "Maritime Monarch". The action in Ondalia City and other warships destroyed more than a dozen Spanish warships!"

"During the administration of Lord Richelieu, a total of 36 new-style pure sail warships were built. Although not many, they at least gave our navy the courage to challenge the maritime powers. Later, when His Majesty (Louis XIV) took charge, He attached great importance to the construction of the navy. In the first year of his administration (1661), he started the construction of China’s first three-deck first-class battleship "Saint Philip". It has a three-layer gun deck and carries 86 guns. !" Count de Grenier asked his assistant to show the picture of the battleship Saint Philip, which won rounds of applause.

"St. Philip's service did not take long. In 1663, the'Royal Louis' was launched in Toulon. It was commissioned in 1665. This is an unprecedented huge ship with 120 artillery. It was completed and put into service in the same year. The Swedish Navy’s huge ship "Cronan" with 126 guns was tied for the largest battleship in the world at that time!" Count de Grenier said excitedly.

"The'Royal Louis' has a displacement of 2,400 tons and is equipped with 30 36-pounder, 30 18-pounder, 32 12-pounder, and 26 6-pounder. It was the most powerful in Europe at the time!" De Grenier The earl boasted.

As he said, the Chinese spy, Viscount De Koscielny, was memorizing the data, and when he saw his friend, Baron Koscielny, raised his hand and asked: "Since our battleship is so powerful, why didn't it make any trips during the three Mediterranean sea battles? ?"

Viscount de Koscielny thought this question well, and he wanted to ask too, but it was not convenient to say it.

Count de Grenier asked gently: "The load on the'Royal Louis' is too large, there are too many artillery, the number of sailors has reached 900, and there is a luxurious cabin at the stern, which can carry royal members when necessary. There are too many carvings on the ship, causing the ship’s center of gravity to be unstable, and there is no good proportion..."

This is nothing more than acknowledging the poor design of the ship. Everyone looked serious, but Viscount de Koscielny snickered in his heart. Well, I wrote it down!

Count de Grénier changed the topic: "The construction of the'Royal Louis' gave us more experience in building large ships. With mature technology, His Majesty the King has set off an unprecedented crazy shipbuilding movement. It has greatly strengthened the strength of our national navy!"

"Recently, there have been two cycles. One cycle is from 1666 to 1667. This cycle is mainly to manufacture Tier 3 battleships. We built 24 Tier 3 battleships in one go! The other cycle is from 1668 to 1669. China’s navy has the most concentrated shipbuilding year. In these two years, only the first-class battleships with the highest level and the highest funding have built 9 ships! These first-class battleships have at least 90 guns and become us. The backbone of the navy, and we are still building new Tier 3 battleships!" Count de Grenier triumphantly.

He emphatically introduced the miracle of French shipbuilding history, the "Royal Sun"!

It turned out that in 1668, in order to demonstrate his power, and due to the pressure of the Eastern pagan battleships, Louis XIV ordered the construction of a royal battleship that could reflect the elements of the Bourbon family. In order to implement his own construction ideas as much as possible, Louis XIV Fourth, the best French shipbuilding expert Lauren Hubocchi, a ship master who has designed and built 49 battleships for the French Royal Navy since 1637, was selected as the chief engineer of the "Royal Sun".

In June 1668, the "Royal Sun" laid the first keel at Cherbourg Shipyard (it is worth mentioning that Cherbourg Shipyard and Chatham, England both have as many as four dry docks), 1668 At the end of the year, the "Royal Sun", which had completed the construction of two gun decks, was launched under the eyes of the public (including Louis XIV himself) (due to technical limitations, in the 17th century, Europe always laid two layers when building large deck battleships. Deck, then launch, and then continue to build the superstructure), UU Reading www.uukanshu.com Finally, this super ship entered service in the second half of 1669.

The "Royal Sun" is very magnificent. Most of the carvings on the bow/stern and both sides of the ship are exquisitely crafted with gilded panels. The blue and gold are interlaced with each other, which is exceptionally magnificent. This is from the oil painting displayed by Count de Grenier. The expression is exhaustive, which makes the nobles feel excited.

The spy Viscount de Koscielny is more interested in the data of the Royal Sun: 28 36-pounders, 30 18-pounders, 28 12-pounder and 20 6-pounders, and 4 4-pounders. , 110 artillery in total!

…

The worthy Count de Grenier spent a lot of saliva to introduce the French battleships. After taking the nobles to visit the shipyard, he stroked the battleship deck (you can find out the thickness) that was still under construction and saw that they were manufactured by the shipyard. The presence of a decent battleship inspired the visiting nobles, who gave generously to contribute to the French navy.

The visiting nobles totaled thirty-five people, and the donation reached 200,000 levs, and they could buy two third-tier battleships!

They were trying to bring down the evil Eastern pagans, and Viscount de Koscielny had a smile on his face. He donated 10,000 Levres, wondering if the French knew that this was bought and beaten with Chinese funds. Battleship, will they praise him for being patriotic?