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Chapter 1429 Each Has Its Own Strengths 2
In the early 17th century, the French Navy was undergoing a transformation, shifting from coastal defense to deep-sea offensive under the strong impetus of Prime Minister Richelieu, or rather, from controlling the Mediterranean to developing into the broader Atlantic Ocean.

However, the reforms have a limited duration. Currently, apart from a large number of galleys suitable for sailing and fighting in the calm conditions of the Mediterranean, there are very few decent ocean-going warships, and they are quite outdated. Most new warships are still in shipyards or on the drawing board.

In order to coordinate with the military operations of the European coalition and to avoid disgracing France's ideal of becoming a military power, the red-clad prime minister still scraped together eight warships and more than 20 armed merchant ships.

Leaving aside merchant ships, let's focus on warships. These eight French warships were insignificant in number within the Allied fleet, yet they were easily recognizable from a distance. It wasn't that the French had any unique design features for their warships, but rather that they chose a very distinctive flag.

White flag! That's right, the French Navy uniformly flies a pure white flag, said to symbolize the Bourbon dynasty and represent the king's color. The flagship adds a slender triangular white flag with long tassels around the edges. If the commander has royal blood, it can also be decorated with an iris pattern.

Amidst a sea of ​​colorful flags, the white flag stood out so purely, so conspicuously, almost like a crane among chickens, completely out of place. For the officers and soldiers of the Ming navy, it was even more impossible to ignore, as they were accustomed to using a white flag to signify surrender, always assuming that someone on the other side was about to give up.

The French and British approaches to using artillery differed significantly. The French preferred long-barreled, heavy guns, prioritizing range and destructive power. Furthermore, due to a copper shortage, the French invested heavily in cast iron cannons, achieving considerable success and replacing bronze cannons with iron ones.

The warships sent this time were mostly capital ships built at the end of the 16th century, with a displacement of around 800 tons, two long gun decks, and equipped with more than 50 cannons, 60% of which were long-barreled heavy cannons weighing more than 24 pounds.

The flagship "Crown" was an exception. It was built under Richelieu's strong advocacy after he came to power. It was a collaboration between Dutch and French designers, took four years to build, used more than 4000 century-old oak trees, and cost 400,000 livres, equivalent to 40% of the French Navy's annual budget. It was not launched and commissioned until 1636.

After paying such a high price, what did the French Navy ultimately gain? As the saying goes, nothing comes for free.

“王冠号”的排水量达到了2000吨，主龙骨长53米、船体宽14米、满载吃水深度6.5米、主桅55米，妥妥的庞然大物。

It features a three-tiered gun deck design, capable of equipping fourteen heavy long-barreled 36-pounder cast iron smoothbore guns, twenty-four 24-pounder guns, eighteen 12-pounder guns, and more than ten deck guns weighing less than six pounds. In addition, with a hull thickness of 20 centimeters, it is also a proper sea gun emplacement.

Compared with the main warships of Britain, the Netherlands, Spain and Portugal at the same time, the Crown was far ahead in terms of tonnage, number of guns and sturdiness.

Of course, the "Crown" was not perfect, and even somewhat unbalanced. In its extreme pursuit of firepower and survivability, its seaworthiness could not be guaranteed.

In particular, the high center of gravity becomes a significant disadvantage when fully loaded with cannons. In high sea states, the lateral roll is quite large, making it difficult to unleash the intended firepower density. It is also a weakness in turning and sailing against the wind.

In addition, the cost was too high. To keep this behemoth in normal operation during wartime, it required at least 400 skilled sailors and gunners working closely together, and the annual maintenance cost was nearly 10 livres, which seriously hampered the development of the French Navy.

The navy flying the red flag with a yellow Burgundy cross belonged to the Kingdom of Spain. Despite suffering numerous defeats at sea and on land in recent years, and with its finances in dire straits, the British Empire was still a formidable force. Spain had sent over 30 warships and more than 40 converted raiding ships and armed merchant vessels, led by the 1200-ton, 60-gun "Santiago."

At first glance, the Spanish fleet, with its greater numbers and artillery, should appear to be more powerful than the British and French fleets. However, the reality was not necessarily so. Like the aging British Empire, the Spanish fleet's naval warfare concepts remained stuck in the last century.

Despite repeated defeats, they remained deeply entrenched in their old ideas and refused to let go. Boarding action was still the preferred method; warships and cannons were not intended to sink enemy ships, but merely auxiliary tools to approach enemy vessels and create favorable conditions for soldiers to board.

The Holy Cross, the Iris, and the Burgundy Cross—it seems like all the major European naval powers had their own flags. But that's not actually the case. In the early 17th century, the Spanish navy was in decline, while the British and French navies were still in their infancy. The navy of the Dutch Republic was truly at its zenith.

The Dutch were not warlike, but they were not incapable of fighting. They were known as the "maritime carriers" for a reason; in terms of the number of ocean-going vessels and the pool of skilled personnel, the Dutch held an absolute advantage.

According to statistics from the West India Company and the East India Company, the number of registered seagoing vessels in the United Provinces Republic at this time exceeded 20000, of which 4% were ocean-going vessels with a total tonnage of 60 tons, more than the total number of ocean-going vessels in all European countries.

In the world's oceans, one out of every two transoceanic ships was Dutch. Although most were merchant ships, the Dutch have a long tradition of universal conscription, both in the army and the navy.

The United Provinces Republic did not actually have a unified navy or a unified flag. Instead, it was divided into five naval ministries: Amsterdam, Friesland, Sealand, Maas, and North Holland. Each naval ministries established its own navy, maintaining a standing force of no more than 100 ships.

However, during wartime, the number of naval vessels would increase dramatically, the exact number depending on the scale of the war. Many of the East and West India Companies' merchant ships were designed and built as warships, and they had their own cannons, sailors, and gunners, without the need for the state to provide them.

The Dutch Navy had the largest number of ships participating in the European coalition, with 101 warships, generally around 500 tons. Although the number of guns on each ship was not large, their combat power was not weak.

The Dutch naval guns were significantly superior in quality to their European counterparts, primarily in terms of range and firepower. Although both were smoothbore cannons, the Dutch gun barrels were lighter and longer, allowing them to withstand higher chamber pressures and greatly increasing the muzzle velocity of the projectiles.

In fact, these cannon barrels were not cast by the Dutch, but came from the Ming Dynasty. For more than twenty years, the Dutch had been acting as arms dealers, secretly selling firearms and cannons made in the Ming Dynasty to Russia, thereby weakening British influence there, and with great success.

The Dutch, having made money and expanded their power, were not content and began to study the cannons manufactured by the Ming Dynasty. These cannons were popular with the Russians not only because they were inexpensive but also because of their high quality. For their caliber, they were not only lightweight but also highly durable.

If they could acquire the manufacturing technology and have the Netherlands produce them themselves, the profits would be enormous! Moreover, with better cannons, the Netherlands would no longer fear the Ming navy at sea, and would no longer have to endure the harsh conditions imposed by the Ming emperor.

(End of this chapter)