I, transformed into a vampire girl, sparked the Industrial Revolution.

Chapter 56 The Navy's New Capital Ship

Bonus chapter released on 11/21 (3/2)

"That's a really big guy..."

Admiral Yug Lat wiped his sweat as he looked at the massive ship that had just slid from the slipway onto the water. It had three masts, a thick smokestack in the middle, and the cannons hadn't been installed yet. New technologies were constantly emerging from the Trian, and the Naval Armaments Committee was still adjusting the ship's final equipment.

The three masts are made of composite boards, with most of the timber coming from the south, much of it imported. But no matter where it came from, from the moment Saxony was brought under its control, the timber had a stable supply.

"Your Excellency, her keel is made of iron. Heaven knows how many geniuses are among His Highness's engineers to be able to use such materials to make a ship's keel. Who would dare to imagine such a long piece of iron?"

The rails are understandable, since they are actually made of many short iron bars pieced together, but a 70-meter-long iron component is still a miracle in this era.

"The entire national industrial sector has developed a vast amount of technology for this ship... Your Excellency, I've spent my entire life building ships, and I've never had an experience like this before. For this ship, we've had to coordinate with the Trian Steel Works, the Hilla Machinery Manufacturing Plant, the Hilla National Woodworking Plant... and the Ministry of Transport has also given us a boost in the entire railway system for the materials needed for shipbuilding..."

Lachman exclaimed that this was almost a national effort, but that was not quite right, since it was just an ordinary project in the national industrial development plan. What he was marveling at was the process of the ship from keel to launch, every step and every component, which was not the sole achievement of their naval shipyard, but rather an industrial chorus.

"Yes, I served in the navy in the South for a long time. Back then, naval shipyards had to build entire ships themselves. It is said that the naval fleet we sank took fifty years to build."

"And how long did it take us to build this ship? Nine months! And during those nine months, we also produced two batches of Type 90."

"The Royal Family, the National Development Office, the National Industrial Committee, the Naval Military Committee, nine national research universities, 325 supporting manufacturers, 104 related majors... and there will be more and more. Just behind this ship, there are tens of thousands of people. Your Excellency, I think you understand better than I do what this represents."

Both Lachman and Yog Latto had the same answer in their hearts, an answer that made them tremble, yet also filled them with immense excitement and pride.

"This means that we have a vast country behind us... a solid nation... Mr. Lachman, I have a feeling that the winds of war have shifted."

“How come you see?”

"Perhaps the outcome of a war will be determined before it even begins, from the moment His Highness establishes the first factory."

Lachman thought for a moment, then nodded, a feeling that he too was beginning to have.

“I visited the Hilla Machine Factory. At that time, I needed them to manufacture iron frames for the Flying Cloud. I visited the machines there. An iron ingot went in from one end and produced iron frames continuously from the other end. I wondered if our ordnance was produced in this way, and if we could produce firearms like we produce iron frames.”

"Later I learned that they could produce not only iron frames, but also firearms. Now I fully understand what this massive, dazzling mechanical production means: if the enemy kills one of our soldiers, the weapons produced in the rear can immediately arm three soldiers to fight; if the enemy sinks one of our ships, we can quickly launch another fleet."

“Mr. Lachman, what you say is undoubtedly correct. Thus, even if the enemy wins a hundred battles, as long as we win once, the war will be over.”

The two boarded the Flying Cloud, and Lachman ordered the magic lamps to be turned on. The Hilla Naval Shipyard, as one of the strategic facilities, also received a quota of lamps, including many large lighting fixtures.

The shipyard itself is made of wood, which makes it difficult to lay cables, so most of the cables are exposed, except for the cables at the dock which are buried in cement.

The sunlight was no longer enough for them to see the giant ship clearly, so a huge searchlight was turned on, illuminating the Feiyun.

"From a traditional perspective, the Feiyun is simply not associated with the word 'beauty'; its jet-black hull is a direct contradiction to beauty. But from a military perspective, it is a stunning beauty."

With a full-load displacement of 1623 tons, it was equipped with eight 75mm Dahlgren secondary guns and two 122mm Dahlgren main guns. Considering that the Armstrong breech-loading rifled guns tested by the Naval Ordnance Design Bureau were not fundamentally different from the Dahlgren guns, and that the threaded breechblock was difficult to lock, and that there was no significant improvement in loading time, accuracy, or range, coupled with the fact that the Navy's existing artillery was sufficient to give it an overwhelming advantage over all hypothetical enemies, the muzzle-loading Dahlgren rifled guns remained the Navy's main artillery.

Even the Hilla Fortress under construction at the mouth of the Hilla Rhine is planned to use 122mm Dahlgren cannons. After all, new cannons need to pass the approval of the planning bureau. Alice issued a document requiring that no new cannons be put into service until at least this year, pending the release of this year's budget.

The ship was still bare. Yug Lat noticed that the planned positions for the cannons were only the bases of the open-air gun emplacements. As if noticing his curious gaze, Lachman explained, "The special train from Trian will deliver the cannons to the shipyard tomorrow, and then the cannons will be installed."

Yug Latto turned his gaze to the small metal supports at the front and rear of the warship, which were supported independently by a single metal support, and immediately asked about them.

"Hotchgate machine gun, Your Excellency, the naval designation seems to be M763 30mm machine gun."

Lachmann explained that, after all, even capital ships of the navy need some close-range defense methods, so four positions for machine guns were designed on the ships. The operations of the Rhine Fleet showed that machine guns could effectively counter groups of fire-bombing ships.

A six-meter-high boiler chimney stands amidships, the ship’s only deck structure. As a clipper-type vessel, the Hiun-class was designed for high speed from the outset. The narrow hull provided even greater speed, and with the addition of steam engines, Yugo Latto was certain that the Hiun was the fastest warship in the Western Ocean.