Chapter 392: Naval Innovations (1/2)

With the experimentation of new grenades and smokeless powder underway, the introduction of the 1422 Service Revolver, and the use of the 1422 7.5 cm Field Gun, Berengar had found that his arms development was sufficient in accordance with his five-year plan if you consider the equipment that would be fielded to his Army.

However, another matter needed to be attended to; while his Army was rushing headfirst into the Industrial Age, his Navy was still operating with Frigates powered by Sails. Berengar had invested a substantial cost into these mighty vessels, but already their time was coming to an end, at least in service to his Royal Navy.

The Berengar-Class Frigates still had many years left of service before they needed retrofitting. Austria could quite easily sell the ones they had manufactured to their allies after replacing them with something more modern.

Berengar gazed at the documents piled on his desk with a bitter smile. He honestly had no idea that by the time he had managed to gain the capacity to make large Ships of the Line, he would already have the ability to manufacture something superior for his use.

As such, the blueprint of the Linde-Class Ship of the Line he had designed years ago was now utterly useless. Perhaps he would rename the vessel and sell it to his allies in Granada and Byzantium at a future date.

For the time being, Berengar needed to invent new ships, designs that were far more worthy of being named after his wives. With the current rate of steel production and the industrialization of his major cities underway, it was only a matter of time before he could produce all-steel steam-powered vessels.

With this in mind, Berengar thought of developing ships that could be improved upon through retrofits later when new technology was invented. At the moment, the best power source he could design within the next five years would be a vertical triple-expansion steam engine that utilized water-tube boilers.

A triple-expansion steam engine was a compound steam engine where the steam was divided into three separate stages. In essence, the steam would build up in a high-pressure cylinder before losing pressure and exhausting directly into two more large-volume low-pressure cylinders where it extracted more energy from the steam.

As for the high-pressure water tube boiler, it functioned by circulating water in tubes heated externally by the fire, fuel such as coal burned inside the furnace, creating hot gas and boiling water in the steam-generating lines.

With this in mind, a bunch of ship designs he had read about during his brief time in the libraries of the US Naval Academy came to mind. Everything from ironclads to light cruisers and even early battleships. The fundamental question that came to Berengar's mind revolved entirely around the nature of how he would utilize his vessels and the enemies he might face.

Though giant battleships such as dreadnoughts were beautiful weapons of war, ultimately, he was in an era where at most, his Navy would be facing wooden sailing ships with a few muzzle-loading cannons. To build a dreadnought in this medieval era would be utterly ridiculous to even think about. The number of resources required to construct such a massive beast was no small sum.

His current frigates were already more than enough to decimate any naval power in the world. They could even be used for decades to guarantee Naval Dominance. However, there were some drawbacks to such designs.

A wooden sailing vessel was far more likely to sink than a steam-powered steel warship on the high seas. It was also entirely reliant on the wind and was much slower than several of the designs he could think of.

Berengar's purpose for building a powerful Navy was not to dominate the Mediterranean like he was currently doing but to secure a vast global Empire that he would one day establish. To fulfill this, his vessels needed to be swift and sturdy.

With this in mind, Berengar finally realized the exact classification of the vessels he would need to achieve his goals in the most efficient manner. The Light Cruiser was wholly armored while being relatively compact. This meant that the ship required a much smaller crew complement to operate while having speeds well over 20 knots.

Berengar searched through his memory to find the perfect ship to create to fulfill this role. Ultimately he stumbled upon a design that utilized the technology he had in mind, with relatively decent armor, armament, and most importantly, speed.