Pirate Kingship-Chapter 713 - 476: Launch! The Long-Awaited Heavy Cruiser!

In the blink of an eye, over a month has passed, bringing us to late September of the Silver Era 1472.

Byron took a break from the busy schedule of playing two roles at once, and returned to Torrent Fortress with Catherine, who was just as busy as he was, as Sea Hunter Byron Tudor.

They didn't go anywhere else, going straight into the shipyard.

"How are the pirates doing? You've been running back and forth on your own, it must be exhausting. It's okay to take a break for a couple of days."

Catherine was especially concerned for Byron, who had been working tirelessly, and he hadn't managed to gather people for the Triple Cultivation that is best for mind realm enhancement for a long time.

Recently, he's been using the identity of Mad Hunt to plunder the Royalist Nobles' merchant ships, breaking into their colonial territories on Arawak Island, and grabbing cash, jewelry, spices, and food;

While at the same time, using the identity of Sea Hunter to reclaim lost territories, tearfully allocating various unclaimed properties to himself.

The life of being both a pirate and navy has truly been tiring.

Look at how worn out he is, at least... he's gained three pounds.

Upon hearing this, Byron waved his hand generously:

"All for the public service, when you take people's money, you have to posture, so just have to bear with it myself.

An actor should at least have professionalism, just showing a face, and then reciting 1, 2, 3, 4... it is too unprofessional."

With the Eight-legged Sky Horse and Sword Saint Herman, the Wild Hunt Servant, both identities have appeared many times, and even fought personally, no one will suspect they're the same person.

Over the past month, the Royalist Party and the Earl's Party have fought fiercely, but their support for the two "Byrons" has been increasing.

Under Byron's superb acting skills, the sunk cost of both sides is growing, gradually becoming a situation where debtors are kings.

The Royalist Party and Earl's Party fear their investment objects can't withstand the strain, leading their investments to go to waste and possibly cause a chain collapse.

Not only dare not urge, they speak softly instead.

Expectations have lowered repeatedly, even just mutual containment so neither side disrupts the homeland is worth the investment.

At this point, even if two Byrons were to reply, "Stop nagging at me," they would surely respond with smiles and continue funding.

Fostering bandits to bolster oneself truly has its confidence!

Catherine then seemed to recall something amusing, lightly brushed her tenderface, joking with Byron:

"With the Southern Continent opening up, there's more and more news. The Lighthouse Weekly has recently upgraded to the Lighthouse Daily.

I saw Mad Hunt's and Sea Hunter's exploits have dominated the front page headlines.

After the serious news is over, all kinds of gossip are flying everywhere.

Today's title is the most interesting — 'Exclusive: Shock! The real reason for the clash between two giants is actually a love rivalry!'

I learned from the newspaper that Mr. Mad Hunt and Mr. Sea Hunter were having repeated brawls for a wife throughout Bantaan.

I wonder who will win in the end.

Like us, gentle girls can only be at the mercy of others, whoever wins gets to have kids with us, sob sob..."

Slap!

Byron impatiently gave his sister's rounded behind a slap, causing the "wife" being fought over in the gossip to tear up.

"Oh, you dare commit domestic violence against me?

I will go find Mad Hunt and become a concubine with the Bay Citizen Princess."

Catherine said, lifting her pillar-like legs and kicking Byron's butt.

"Naughty, naughty little train chug, chug, chug, sister you're learning bad habits too..."

Byron grabbed Catherine's ankle, preparing to retaliate, when Violet's voice suddenly echoed:

"Why are you two so slow? The last layer of tung oil on the cruiser is being applied, if you don't hurry you won't catch the launch ceremony."

They were immediately invigorated, stopped playing around, and quickly rushed into Dock No. 1 hand in hand.

Seeing the colossal, gleaming golden object in the dry dock, they involuntarily squinted their eyes a bit.

The actual ship was far more shocking than the blueprints.

This warship was built from nearly two thousand teak trees, its hull low, lines smooth, it shimmered with gentle golden hues.

Especially the bottom, which was extravagantly covered with a layer of equally shimmering copper sheets, specifically to ward off barnacles and other ocean parasites.

Just looking at it from a distance made it seem like a dazzling piece of art.

Catherine, who hadn't visited much during its construction, couldn't help but exclaim:

"So this is the 'single combat invincible' Heavy Cruiser? It's truly beautiful."

She didn't understand shipbuilding, but was a typical beauty worshipper; if it looked good, its strength must be impressive.

At this moment, Little Hans was leading a group of shipwrights up and down inside and outside the hull, applying the recently transported tung oil from the Sun Empire.

Seizing the window period of late September and early October.

The "Aboriginal Empires Alliance" Sacred Golden Empire and Atahualpa-led Sun Empire once again completed a happy transaction.

To be honest, the trade volume was equivalent to two or three Castilia treasure ships, and it's sure to keep growing, possibly evolving into the second "Treasure Fleet."

And this newly built Heavy Cruiser was also very fortunate to become the first sail battleship to use tung oil maintenance.

On the already sturdy foundation of teak, the lifespan can be extended by another fold.

Quickly, the artisans finished applying tung oil, as a spiritual wind from the field of [Alchemy] blew through, drying the tung oil immediately and bonding it firmly with the wood, forming a seamless waterproof layer.

Violet, serving as the chief engineer, waved her small hand and commanded:

"Open the gate, release the water!"

As seawater filled the dock, the new ship began to float upright gradually.

After another careful inspection for any leaks or keel deformation issues, Violet immediately led the outfitting team.

Among the large crowd, those qualified to assist were at least Second Order [Artisans]. With the cooperation of elite sailors, the pace was incredibly fast, completing the final interior and exterior outfitting in just two hours.

"The grand work is accomplished."

Byron immediately pulled his sister aboard the deck, reaching out to grasp the excellently feeling helm, as if sensing the pulsating life within the warship.

The detailed specifications of the [Heavy Cruiser (Unnamed)] floated before him.

"[Specifications]: Total hull length of 62.2 meters, width of 13.6 meters, depth of 6.85 meters, displacement of 2200 tons, designed speed of 14 knots, crew complement of 450, fully eliminating the forecastle and aftercastle, adopting a flush deck design.

[Armament]: Dual-layer cannon decks, lower deck equipped with 30 thirty-two pound cannons, upper deck with 26 forty-two pound carronades, suitable for both long-range and close combat.

The single burst muzzle mass can reach 2052 pounds!

Due to the maturity of carronade technology, this warship's cannon configuration has surpassed the common understanding of many.

The normal configuration should be thirty-two pound cannons on the lower deck and twenty-four pound on the upper deck, but here the caliber of the upper deck cannons is larger than those on the lower deck.

And it features forty-two pound cannons, monstrous in size comparable to those on First Level Battleships.

In fact, thanks to the carronade's weight being only half that of a long-barreled cannon of the same caliber, this configuration is relatively balanced and does not cause the center of gravity to rise too high leading to capsizing.

The only downside is that the range is not as great as the cannon.

[Sail Plan]: Full rigging (three masts with full square sails), ship bow with jib, ship stern with gaff, sail area of 3969 square meters."

Compared to the contemporary Third Level and above Battleships, which although possessing great firepower, had questionable self-sustaining capability, the advantages of this enhanced Super Cruiser were evidently exceedingly prominent:

First, the heavy cruiser with a relatively lower center of gravity could arrange a greater number of heavy artillery relative to Third Level Battleships, even adopting a full heavy artillery configuration, providing nearly parallel firepower during naval battles.

Note, a seventy-four cannon Third Level Ship typically has: 28 thirty-two pound cannons, 30 twenty-four pound cannons, and 16 nine pound cannons, achieving a total burst mass of only 1760 pounds.

There's a substantial gap up to the cruiser's 2052 pounds, approximately nine thirty-two pound guns apart; it's utterly exaggerated.

Second, by eliminating the forecastle and aftercastle under the same tonnage, it could be equipped with a heavier hull, greatly increasing its defensive capability.

Nearly one meter thick multilayer teak hull, despite not being an ironclad, already rivals one.

Third, reducing height close to the water surface, increasing the length to width ratio, nearly 6:1, decreasing wave resistance, resulting in greater speed.

Unlike his sister who was focused on appearance, Byron understood the significance of this warship the most:

"The configuration of the heavy cruiser has reached the pinnacle of sail battleship design performance, leading the Garen Sailing Ships by at least 200 years.

The design philosophy is that no matter the type of opponent encountered, its firepower and speed will always have one advantageous aspect.

If it can be fought, it cannot keep up; if outrunning is possible, outgunning is not.

It maneuvers freely on the sea, invincible in all situations.

With its powerful firepower and outstanding speed, the heavy cruiser, despite being an ordinary object, dares to compete with any non-miracle warship.

Even many miracle warships would struggle against it.

With an integrated superior design, excellent materials, and the Black Sorcery ritual of [Theseus Ship Spirit Ritual], it surely aspires to advance into a warship that births a ship spirit, comparable to a Fifth Order Transcendent [Legendary Warship]!

Even more importantly..."

Byron looked down at the entire Torrentfort industrial center outside the dock.

"What I've acquired is not just a ship, but an entire industrial system established around it. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

Initially, this land was barren and empty.

But now, through constructing this warship, industries of iron refining, steelmaking, gunpowder, shell, milling machines, boring machines, artillery, firearms, wood processing, tar chemical industry, shipbuilding... etc., have all become available.

The metallurgy, shipbuilding industry, coal chemical, military manufacturing, and other fundamental industrial systems in the territory have taken shape one by one.

Now all it requires is producing a whale oil steam engine as a catalyst, allowing Torrent Fortress to unleash terrifying industrial power that would make the entire world tremble.

Not afraid of starting the new season at all.

The concept of an industrial strong nation with a full industrial chain losing? Never heard of that.

Even without taking part in the battle personally, merely serving as a supplier of arms to the opposing sides in a war is likely to leapfrog this territory into the world's foremost strong nation; nobody understands the process of cautiously crossing the river like the White Eagle better than I.

Today is not merely the launch of a brand new warship, but the inauguration of an industrial monster!

Once crowned as the [Sun King], it will indeed be the rising sun in the East, undefeated, pfft."

With ambition filling his chest, Byron gently patted the helm, and the ship name [Golden Deer], the "World's Fastest Three-Master", transferred to the new vessel.

Clang! Clang! Clang!...

[Silver Law] manifested, a gigantic golden beam of light descended from the sky, dyeing this [New Golden Deer] into pure gold.