I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 1154 "Revolutionary" New Technologies

Just as Peter was falling silent, he heard Glenville's servant knock lightly on the door and say, "Your Excellency, Lord Duncan wishes to see you."

Lord Duncan is the commander of the British North Fleet and ranks among the top five in the British naval command. His special trip to see the Prime Minister must have something important to discuss.

Just as Peter was about to leave, Glenville called out to the servant, "Please let him in."

Duncan entered the room, glanced at Peter Parker, and then bowed to Grenville: "Your Excellency Prime Minister, I have some matters to discuss with you regarding the recent large-scale malfunction of the Mediterranean Fleet."

"You don't need to be shy, please speak."

"Well, actually, I've received some information that Chatham Shipyard has been plagued by rampant corruption in recent years, which has directly led to a large number of malfunctions in our steam warships..."

In fact, this kind of systemic corruption in the navy has existed for hundreds of years, but only if the warships you build do not have problems.

If a problem arises, it will inevitably trigger a bloodbath within the naval system.

When Admiral Jervis arrived at 10 Downing Street, he immediately noticed the naval insignia on the carriage parked outside and his heart tightened.

The prime minister's aide bowed politely to him: "General, the prime minister is probably quite busy right now..."

"I must see His Excellency the Prime Minister immediately; it concerns the future of the navy!"

The servant had no choice but to lead him inside.

When he was still seven or eight meters away from the Prime Minister's office, Jarvis could already hear Duncan's voice:

"According to the evidence obtained by the investigation committee, at least £6 was embezzled by Chatham Shipyard, not including money from investment funds."

"And I regret to discover that our Minister of Naval Warfare and the Chief Comptroller of the Naval Commission may have known about this situation, but chose to..."

Jervis shoved aside the Prime Minister's attendant and rudely banged on the door: "Your Excellency, I have something very important to discuss!"

Duncan's voice trailed off. After a moment of silence, Grenville coughed and said, "Please, come in."

Jervis glared at Duncan resentfully, then gave a perfunctory bow to Glenville: "Your Excellency, some people always like to use rumors they've heard from who-knows-where to influence matters of state."

"Regarding the Chatham Shipyard, I am certain that it has nothing to do with the investment fund or any other officials; it was entirely the work of Sir Hope and the people from that steam engine company."

Duncan gritted his teeth and said in a deep voice, "The shipyard's books are all locked in the investigation committee's safe. My men are currently at Bolton-Watt. Oh, and I also have evidence that this company may have some shady dealings with the French government..."

“That’s not important!” Jervis interrupted him rudely, looking at Grenville. “Your Excellency, as you know, steam warships are crucial to our control of the Mediterranean. And only by controlling this region can we completely sever France’s maritime trade.”

"Therefore, we must save Chatham Shipyard!"

He knew very well that the Prime Minister's opinion would play a decisive role in determining whose responsibility it was and how to handle it. Hope was already heavy enough; pushing her out as a scapegoat was enough to silence Parliament.

Duncan sneered, "General Jervis, it has been proven that steam warships are not suitable for the Royal Navy."

"We invested £70—not including government funding—and the ships we built can't even guarantee normal navigation. That money would have been enough to build more than ten Tier III battleships. If we had invested that money in the Portsmouth shipyard, we could have used a massive fleet of 30 battleships to blockade Toulon!"

"You have no idea what the Mediterranean is like! Clumsy battleships there would only be toyed with by steamships..."

“No, I am very familiar with the Mediterranean. I served in the Mediterranean Fleet for three years when I was young.” Duncan had completely broken off relations and said to Grenville, “Your Excellency, in fact, the Portsmouth Shipyard has made many significant improvements to the battleships in recent years.”

"For example, their technicians invented a 'rotating gun mount' that allows the gun to adjust its firing angle in the horizontal direction, accurately aiming at small targets without moving the ship."

"In addition, on the new generation of battleships, all guns were standardized to two specifications: 24 pounds and 32 pounds, which increased firepower by 35% compared to the past."

"Those small steamships only need two shots to severely damage them once they come within the range of the battleships!"

Because the British Navy invested a large amount of money in Chatham Shipyard, established shipyards such as Portsmouth and Deptford faced enormous challenges and desperately improved their designs in an attempt to win back their budgets.

This allowed them to acquire some new technologies many years earlier than in history, such as the swivel gun mount—previous naval guns were fixed in front and could not be rotated left or right; they could only fire in the direction the warship was turned. The swivel gun mount, on the other hand, consisted of two rows of curved iron rails installed on the ground, allowing the gunner to adjust the firing angle along the rails, making it easier to aim at the target.

British technicians simply rely too much on test results.

In the firing range environment, the British gunners, relying on their experience and by setting a lead time, successfully hit the fast-moving target ship.

However, in actual naval battles, the hull is constantly rising and falling due to the waves, and the ship itself is also moving. To hit a steam warship that is agile and moves around, one can only rely on faith.

In reality, it wasn't until warships were widely equipped with rifled guns and high-explosive shells that they could truly threaten fast-moving targets.

Duncan was clearly well-prepared this time, and continued, "In addition, Portsmouth Shipyard has significantly improved its turning efficiency by using a new type of longitudinal triangular sail at the stern, along with intermast strut sails."

"Furthermore, the expansion of the wing sails increased speed in light winds. This gave our battleships excellent maneuverability in the Mediterranean."

Well, if the Royal Navy builds the new ship and tests it in the Mediterranean, they'll know that the turning speed has increased by 5% and the speed by 3%.

When faced with revolutionary new technologies, patching things up on old platforms won't solve the problem at all. But people tend to habitually revert to past successful paths when they encounter setbacks.

Duncan then went on to talk about hull modifications and the application of new technologies such as iron water tanks.

Not to mention laymen like Grenville and Pete Jr., even Jervis was greatly shocked, vaguely feeling that such a new ship might really be able to regain the advantage in the Mediterranean.

He paused for a moment, then quickly shook his head vigorously:
"Steam warships have unique advantages, they cannot..."

Duncan snorted coldly:
“Apart from not being able to fight, they are pretty good.”

Glenville frowned and raised his hand to stop them from arguing further.

"I will personally oversee the situation at Chatham Shipyard and discuss this matter with the Naval Council. Please return now."

(End of this chapter)