Persian Empire 1845

Chapter 412 Warship Bidding (Part 1)

Shipbuilding has always been an essential industry for all countries with coastlines, with Britain and France being the most powerful. Together, these two countries account for three-quarters of the global shipbuilding industry.

Iran's shipbuilding industry has also developed under such difficult circumstances. With the support of policies and funds, it has formed a civilian merchant ship manufacturing center led by Bushehr Port and a warship manufacturing center led by Abbas Port.

The Abbas Shipyard is the largest military shipbuilding enterprise under the control of the Iranian government, with six dry docks and 6800 workers. It is the largest shipyard in Iran and even the entire West Asia region. Most of Iran's warships are built here.

In addition to the Abbas shipyard, there are also the Sais shipyard in Bushehr and the Darius shipyard in Chahbahar. The heads of the three shipyards gathered in Tehran today because of the Navy Ministry's tender.

During the Malayan crisis, British warships disregarded everything and sailed directly to Muscat, which greatly shocked Iranian society. If it weren't for the powerful coastal defenses, they probably would have landed there.

Therefore, the Admiralty decided to build warships capable of maintaining its interests in the Indian Ocean. This was approved by the Shah. Iran and British India share a border, and conflict is bound to break out again sooner or later. This crisis was at best a stroke of luck, but what if Britain transferred warships from other places? They dared not gamble; it was a high-probability event, and they had to improve their capabilities.

While the navy, which was in charge of the bidding process, had not yet arrived, the major shipyards took the opportunity to network and build relationships. Of course, whether any private agreements could be reached after these exchanges remains to be seen.

The brief exchange always ends so quickly. The people in the hall hadn't been talking for long when someone announced from the doorway, "Minister of the Navy, His Excellency Xerxes has arrived!"

Upon hearing this announcement, everyone in the hall immediately stopped talking and quickly lined up at the door to welcome Vice Admiral Xerxes, who held supreme command of the navy.

Xerxes argued forcefully at the meeting, ultimately persuading the Shah and Grand Vizier to approve funding for the construction of two warships. This time, Iran aims to completely transform the Persian Gulf into its own inland sea.

After speaking with everyone, Xerxes took his seat at the head of the table. Once everyone was seated, he began to speak. "To avoid taking up too much of your time, the bidding for new warships will now begin. I hope you can all provide ships that will satisfy the Admiralty."

As the bidding conference began, the designers in the venue took out their carefully prepared drawings, ready to go on stage and explain the details of their works to the Navy.

"The first one is Darius Shipyard."

As a rising star in the shipbuilding industry, Darius Shipyard has built numerous merchant ships and small warships. The shipyard's moment of glory came when it received an order for two small battleships for the Qinistan, which made it famous overnight.

The shipyard designers were aware of their own situation, but fortunately, the navy requested ships capable of protecting the Persian Gulf and numerous ports. Considering Iran's specific circumstances, the designers proposed the following plan:
Their plan was to build a shallow-draft heavy gunboat with a displacement of 1200 tons, a speed of 7 knots, and a range of 800 nautical miles. It would be equipped with two 300mm smoothbore guns and two 24-pounder howitzers. For armor, the hull would be 50mm thick, and the deck 75mm. Featuring fully enclosed turrets and an extremely low freeboard, it was more like a floating turret on water than a warship.

This ship was designed with the situation in the Persian Gulf and the diplomatic landscape in mind. Iran needs to protect its industrial areas and cities along the Persian Gulf coast, so the ship needs to be powerful, but its own range is insufficient, thus it can only serve as a defensive vessel. However, it effectively fills a gap in Iran's defenses.

Lieutenant General Xerxes nodded, indicating his approval of the plan, but that was not his purpose today. "Next, Seth Shipyard."

This shipyard is the largest merchant shipbuilder in Bushehr, constructing 60% of Iran's merchant ships. It actively seeks to acquire technology from countries like Britain and France; if that's not possible, it employs other methods—in short, it's unscrupulous.

赛斯造船厂这次给出的方案是撞击装甲舰。排水量5200吨，拥有6500马力的螺旋桨发动机，最高航速12节，续航1500海里。拥有2门200磅的线膛炮和4门32磅炮，以及长4米的铁质撞角。

This design is groundbreaking, employing a low freeboard and a streamlined bow, sacrificing seaworthiness for speed to penetrate enemy defenses. It can function as a maritime assassin, capable of both offense and defense.

“This is good,” Xerxes said to the person next to him. If they could make the purchase, security in the Persian Gulf would be just around the corner.

As the designers at the Sais shipyard put away their blueprints, all eyes turned to the last bidder—Hassan Morawiecki, the chief engineer of the Abbas shipyard. The elderly man with an Ottoman-style beard slowly rose and gestured to his assistant to unfold a three-meter-long blueprint.

"Gentlemen," he said, his voice thick with the distinctive Caspian accent, "we are not just building warships—we are building the gatekeepers of the Persian Gulf."

蓝图上的钢铁巨兽让全场倒吸冷气：满载排水量9800吨，比英国任意一艘军舰都大；4门300磅前装线膛炮、6门68磅滑膛炮以及十二门小型火炮，并且配备了旋转炮塔。

Employing the shipyard's latest composite steam engine, coupled with auxiliary sails, it achieved a top speed of 14 knots and a range of 3000 nautical miles. It featured a through-armor belt at both ends and sloped armor, with turrets capable of firing in all directions. Most importantly, experimental torpedo tubes were mounted on both sides of the hull.

“We call it the Shahrbaz class (City Guardian in Persian),” Moravi tapped the armor data with his pointer, “120 mm of composite armor, enough to withstand the bombardment of British Armstrong guns.”

Lieutenant General Xerxes' pen left deep marks on the notebook. The design far exceeded expectations—but it also cost a whopping 450 million riyals, far exceeding the price of Britain's most expensive ship at £38.

"Torpedo technology? I've never heard of this in China?" Xerxes stared sharply at Moravi.

The old man gave a mysterious smile: "This is a collaboration between us and the Marseille shipyard. Of course, we've made some improvements."

The conference room fell silent. Everyone understood the weight of those words—because the two countries had never cooperated in this way before, there was only one possibility: their technology had been leaked. But the French would never admit to a technology leak, while British intelligence would be furious.

The three warships have now been reported as completed, with construction costs of 120 million, 280 million, and 450 million rials respectively, while the approved naval funding is 600 million. This puts Xerxes in a dilemma. He had brought in the last behemoth, but the cost was a bit too high, so he adjourned the meeting to discuss it with the officers.

(End of this chapter)