I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 591 French Navy Festival

The design layout that Joseph gave to Sane was certainly excellent, because he copied it directly from the famous "Napoleon" battleship that was built more than half a century later.

Although the "Napoleon" was the world's first sailing warship equipped with a steam engine, its overall structure was very reasonable due to the careful design of French designers.

This was also the easiest to understand for Sane, who was designing a sailing steam-engine warship for the first time. After all, although the subsequent designs became more and more sophisticated, they were also more difficult to understand.

In addition, Joseph later had a model of the "Napoleon", which he assembled himself, so he was familiar with the internal structure.

Sane's ship was based on the light frigate HMS Juran from the Seven Years' War, with minimal modifications, so the initial design was completed in just a few months.

Sane pointed to the lower cabin at the rear of the design with a thin wooden stick and explained to the officers: "The sailor cabin here has been moved to the front, expanded and reinforced to install two steam engines.

"They can provide more than 100 horsepower of thrust, and the warship can reach a speed of more than 8 knots with the propeller alone. When using the sails at the same time, the speed can reach 12 knots!"

All the officers looked excited.

You know, even in the Atlantic, the main force of the British fleet, the third-class battleships, could hardly reach a speed of 10 knots. Frigates could reach nearly 12 knots when there was a strong tailwind, but if they were placed in the Mediterranean, their speed would be reduced by % or even % because the Mediterranean has only light winds all year round.

Even the Mediterranean's darling galley can reach 11 knots at maximum output, but can only maintain this speed for half an hour at most.

Therefore, the new ships of the French Navy are unmatched in the Mediterranean!
Sane continued, "Eight of the original broadside gun positions have been removed, and the free space is used to store coal. Oh, there is also a coal storage bunker in the lower cabin. All the fuel added up can support the battleship to sail 8 nautical miles.

"Of course, if we maintain the maximum speed, we can only travel 570 nautical miles."

Although this voyage is not far enough, it is basically enough for the narrow Mediterranean Sea. You know, it is only 400 nautical miles from Toulon to Tunisia.

And during non-combat periods, it is entirely possible to save fuel by sailing only.

However, Brest Fleet Commander Rogiever frowned slightly and interrupted the designer, “Mr. Sane, light frigates are usually equipped with 28 to 30 guns.

"Your ship has removed eight gun positions, so it can only carry 8 guns. With all due respect, this firepower configuration is probably too weak."

Joseph smiled and continued: "General Rogiever, in fact, the 'Light of the Mediterranean' only has 17 guns.

“But you don’t need to worry because it’s not designed for traditional broadside combat.

"Do you remember the new tactical specifications of the Navy? It is the 'Ranger Tactics' that the General Staff is currently compiling, which is designed to adapt to the new warships."

Rogifor had read the first draft of the "Ranger Tactics" and vaguely remembered that it was a style of play that mainly focused on harassment.

Following the words of the Crown Prince, Sane pointed to the stern of the design and said, “The gun bay here will be modified to install three 24-pound cannons.

“而侧舷炮位则配有6门18磅长炮、4门12磅炮和4门32磅卡隆炮。没有舰艏炮。”

Rogiever quickly realized that the ship's heaviest firepower was all arranged at the stern, which meant that the ship was ready to turn around and run at any time!

If you dare to chase me, I will fire my stern gun at you.

The long-barreled cannons of France have always had a range advantage, and although this proved to be useless in the fleet battles of the Seven Years' War, they could be placed at the stern to play a unique role. He could already imagine that the French steam-powered sailing ships would use their speed advantage to hover around the British warships, and once the British caught up with them, they would immediately flee far away while keeping a distance within the range of their long cannons.

The British bow guns could not reach the steam sailing ship, but the French stern guns could continue to fire.

Although three guns can hardly cause a devastating blow to an enemy ship, they can always inflict some damage on you. If the damage accumulates, you will have to return to port for repairs. And you never know if one of the guns will hit a vital part like a mast, which would be a huge win.

In fact, the "Light of the Mediterranean" has another advantage that he doesn't know about, that is, ships equipped with propellers can turn more quickly.

Because the thrust of the propeller will be deflected through the rudder at the rear, thus generating lateral thrust, it is much faster than a sailboat turning by simply relying on the rudder to deflect the sea water while moving.

In this way, even if the Mediterranean Light was using its broadside to contact the enemy ship, it could quickly turn its stern to face the enemy, fighting while running. The sailing warship was still slowly turning around at this time, and during this period it had already been hit by several rounds of artillery fire.

Nearly two hours later, Sane had given a general introduction to the new frigate.

The eyes of the naval officers lit up when they heard this. The French Navy had been suppressed by the British for many years, and this time at least they could fight back in the Mediterranean!

The Minister of the Navy looked at Joseph expectantly and asked very respectfully, "Your Highness, perhaps you can tell me how many of these frigates the Navy can get?"

Joseph said without hesitation: "20."

The eyes of several naval officers lit up. This was enough.

You know, in the past three years, the navy has only built one third-level battleship and four light frigates, which is almost like a beggar.

At the same time, the British fleet had already added 1 first-class ship, 3 third-class ships and 7 heavy frigates. There were so many light frigates that I was too lazy to count them...

This is the result of the British seeing that the French navy across the street did not build many ships, so they slowed down accordingly.

After three years of hard times, the French Navy finally had a festival today.

The Marquis of Castries, in particular, was so excited that his nose was sore.

Unexpectedly, Joseph continued: "After the 'Light of the Mediterranean' class is launched, Mr. Sane will immediately design a new steam-powered frigate based on the 'Virgin', which will be propelled by three steam engines.

"A total of 12 ships of this class will be built."

The Marquis of Castries was so excited that he almost couldn't breathe. The "Virgin" was a heavy frigate of 32 guns, much larger than the "Light of the Mediterranean", and could be equipped with 32-pound guns, which could threaten battleships.

And build 12 ships at a time!
He suddenly asked Joseph nervously, "Your Highness, if we build so many at once, will it reduce the number of other battleships to be built?"

Although frigates are cheap, there are so many of them and they use new technologies, so the total price will not be cheap.

Joseph smiled and shook his head: "Don't worry, these new frigates are all additional funds."

No wonder he is so generous. Just yesterday afternoon, he received a secret letter from Kalona in London, saying that the "project" there had raised more than one million pounds.

(End of this chapter)