Pirate Kingship.

Chapter 477 Launching! The long-awaited heavy cruiser!
In the blink of an eye, more than a month passed and it was the end of September in the Silver Age 1472.

Byron took some time off from his busy schedule of playing two roles and performing "professional fake fights" everywhere, and returned to Torrent Fortress in the image of "Sea Hunter" Byron Tudor together with Catherine, who was also very busy.

He didn't go anywhere else but went straight into the shipyard.

"How's the situation with the pirates? It's really tiring for you to run back and forth all the time by yourself. It wouldn't hurt to take a couple of days off to rest."

Catherine felt particularly sorry for Byron, who had been working non-stop. She had not even been able to gather enough people for the three cultivations that were most effective in improving one's spiritual realm.

Recently, he used the identity of the Wild Hunt to rob the cargo ships of the royalist nobles and break into their territory on the colonial island of Arawak, looting cash, jewelry, spices, and food;
After a while, he used the identity of "Sea Hunter" to regain the lost territory, and tearfully transferred various real estates that had lost their owners to his own name.

These pirates and navy have their own lives which are too tiring.

Look how tired he is. He has gained at least three pounds.

Hearing this, Byron waved his hand generously:
“We are all serving the public. If we take their money, we have to put on some attitude. I can only suffer for myself first.

Actors should at least have some professionalism. It is too unprofessional to just show their face and then say 1, 2, 3, 4 at most.

There is the [Eight-legged Pegasus] and the Sword Saint Herman, the [Wild Hunt Servant]. The two identities have appeared together many times and have even fought each other in person. No one would doubt that they are the same person."

Over the past month, the royalists and the earls have been fighting each other, but their support for the two "Byrons" has been growing day by day.

Under Byron's superb acting skills, the sunk costs of both sides became higher and higher, and gradually it became the case that the one who owed money was the boss.

Both the Royalists and the Earls were afraid that their investment targets would not be able to hold on, causing all their investments to go down the drain, or even triggering a chain reaction of collapse.

Not only did he not dare to urge him, but he even spoke in a soft voice.

Expectations have been lowered again and again. Even if it is just to restrain each other and prevent the other party from having time to interfere with the homeland, it will be worth the price of the ticket.

At this time, even if the two Byrons each replied, "Don't scream at me," they would still have to smile and continue to transfer money.

That's how confident you are to keep the enemy at bay!
At this moment, Catherine seemed to have suddenly thought of something funny. She gently scratched her delicate face and said to Byron in a teasing tone:

“With the opening up of the southern continent, more and more new things are happening, and the Lighthouse Weekly has recently been upgraded to the Lighthouse Daily.

I see that the deeds of "Wild Hunt" and "Sea Hunter" have dominated the front page headlines in the newspaper for a long time.

After all the serious stuff was said, all kinds of gossip started flying around.

Today’s title is the most interesting – “Exclusive News: Shocking! The real reason for the fight between the two strong men is actually jealousy!”

I just found out from the newspaper that Mr. Wild Hunt and Mr. Sea Hunter were engaging in group fights all over Bantaan, and it turned out that they were fighting over his wife.

I don’t know who will win in the end.

Weak little girls like us can only be at the mercy of others. I will give birth to a baby for whoever wins, sob."

Snapped!
Byron slapped his sister on her round buttocks in annoyance, making the "wife" who was snatched away in the gossip news burst into tears.

"Well, how dare you domestic abuse me?
I will go find the Wild Hunt and marry him as his concubine along with the Wanmin Princess."

As Catherine spoke, she raised her long legs like a jade pillar and kicked Byron on the butt.

"Shame on you, little train, you've become a bad kid too, sister."

Byron grabbed Catherine’s ankle and was about to fight back when Violet’s voice suddenly rang in their ears:

"Why are you two so slow? The cruiser has already been painted with the last coat of tung oil. If you don't come soon, you will miss the launching ceremony of the new ship."

They immediately perked up, stopped fighting, and rushed into Dock No. 1 hand in hand.

When they saw the huge golden ship in the dry dock, they all narrowed their eyes slightly.

The real thing is obviously much more shocking than the drawing.

This battleship was built with nearly two thousand teak trees. It has a low hull, smooth lines, and a soft golden glow all over.

Especially the bottom of the ship, which was covered with a layer of equally golden copper at no cost, specifically to suppress marine parasites such as barnacles.

Just looking at it from a distance, it looks like a dazzling work of art.

Catherine, who had only visited a few times during the construction period, couldn't help but exclaimed:

"Is this the heavily armed cruiser that is known as 'invincible in single combat'? It is so beautiful."

She doesn't know how to build ships, but she is a typical beauty-conscious person. As long as someone is good-looking, then their strength must be good.

At this time, Little Hans was leading a group of shipwrights to brush tung oil that had just been shipped back from the Sun Empire up and down the inside and outside of the hull.

Take advantage of the window period in late September and early October.

The Holy Golden Empire of the "Alliance of Indigenous Empires" and the Sun Empire led by [Hand of Fortune] Atahualpa have completed another deal that is satisfactory to all.

To be honest, the trade volume is already enough to match two or three Castilian treasure ships, and it will definitely get higher and higher in the future. I am afraid that one day it will transform into the second "treasure fleet".

This newly built heavy cruiser was fortunate enough to become the first sailing warship to be maintained with tung oil.

Based on the already solid teak wood, the service life can be doubled.

Soon, the craftsmen finished applying the tung oil. A spiritual wind from [Alchemy] blew over, and the tung oil dried immediately and firmly combined with the wood, forming a waterproof layer that seemed to be one piece. Violet, the chief engineer, waved her hand and ordered:

"Open the gate and release the water!"

As seawater was pumped into the dock, the new ship began to gradually float back to its upright position.

After carefully checking that there were no leaks or keel deformations, Violet immediately led the team to outfit the ship.

Among the large group of people, the only one who was qualified to get started was at least a second-level [Craftsman]. With the cooperation of the elite sailors, they worked very quickly and completed the final interior and exterior outfitting in just two hours.

"It's done."

Byron immediately pulled his sister onto the deck, reached out and grasped the steering wheel, which felt very good in the hand, as if he could feel the pulsating vitality of the battleship.

The detailed parameters of the [Heavy-armored Cruiser (Unnamed)] also appeared before him.

"Specifications: The ship is 62.2 meters long, 13.6 meters wide, 6.85 meters deep, has a displacement of 2200 tons, a designed speed of 14 knots, a crew of 450, and a flat deck design with no forecastle or stern.

[Armament]: Double-deck gun deck, with 30 32-pound cannons on the lower deck and 26 42-pound carronades on the upper deck, capable of both long-range and close combat.

The one-time projectile mass can reach 2052 pounds!
Because the technology of the carronade is mature, the artillery configuration of this battleship has exceeded the common sense of many people.

The normal configuration should be 32 pounds for the lower layer and 24 pounds for the upper layer, but the caliber of its upper layer artillery is actually larger than that of the lower layer heavy artillery.

And it is a 42-pound gun, a monster comparable to the main gun of a first-class battleship.

In fact, thanks to the fact that the carronade weighs only half of a long-barreled cannon of the same caliber, this configuration is relatively moderate and will not cause the center of gravity to be too high and cause rollover.

The only drawback is that its range is not as good as the cannon.

[Sail rig]: Full sail rig (full cross sails on three masts), bow diagonal jib, stern gaff, sail area 3969 square meters.

Compared with the third-level and above battleships of the same era, which have powerful firepower but poor self-sustaining ability, the advantages of this enhanced super cruise ship are obviously very prominent:

First, heavy cruisers with a lower center of gravity can be equipped with more heavy artillery than third-level battleships, and can even be equipped with all heavy artillery, thus having firepower that is almost as good as that of third-level battleships in naval battles.

要知道，一艘74炮三级舰的火力配置通常是：32磅炮二十八门、24磅炮三十门、9磅炮十六门，一次性投射质量才只有1760磅。

It is still a long way from the cruiser's 2052 pounds, about nine 32-pound guns away, which is simply too exaggerated.

Second, the forecastle and stern towers were eliminated with the same tonnage, so a thicker hull could be equipped, greatly increasing the defense capability.

The multi-layered teak hull is nearly one meter thick. Even if it is not an ironclad ship, it is better than an ironclad ship.

Third, lower the altitude to get closer to the water surface, increase the length-to-width ratio to close to 6:1, reduce wave-making resistance, and increase the speed.

Unlike Yan Dang's sister, Byron knew the significance of this battleship best:
"The configuration of the heavy cruiser has reached the pinnacle of sailing warship design performance, at least 200 years ahead of the current galleon.

The design concept is that no matter what kind of opponent it faces, one side will always have the advantage in terms of firepower and speed.

Those who can beat it cannot outrun it, and those who can outrun it cannot beat it.

You can move freely on the sea and have success in everything you do.

With its powerful firepower and excellent speed, the heavy-armored cruiser, as a mortal object, dares to compete with any non-magical warship.

Even many exotic warships may not be its match.

With its superior design, excellent materials, and the black magic ritual of "The Mysteries of Theseus", it is definitely expected to be promoted to a born ship spirit, comparable to the [Legendary Battleship] of a fifth-level extraordinary person!
More importantly,

Byron looked down at the entire Stromgarde Industrial Center outside the dock.

“What I got was not just a ship, but an entire industry built around it.

Originally this land was just a barren land.

But now, through the construction of this battleship, industries such as iron smelting, steel smelting, gunpowder, artillery shells, milling machines, boring machines, cannons, muskets, wood processing, tar chemicals, shipbuilding, etc. are all available.

Basic industrial systems such as metallurgy, shipbuilding, coal chemical industry, and military manufacturing have taken shape one by one in the territory.

Now all they need to do is build a whale oil-powered steam engine as a catalyst, and Torrent Fortress will be able to unleash an industrial power so terrifying that the whole world will tremble.

I'm not afraid of starting a new season.

Will an industrial powerhouse with a complete industrial chain lose?

Never heard of it.

Even if I don't take part in the battle myself, but only serve as an arms supplier to both warring parties, I still have the hope of becoming the world's number one power. No one understands crossing the river by feeling the way with a bald eagle better than me.

Today is not just the launch of a new battleship, but also the launch ceremony of an industrial monster!

Once I am crowned the [Sun King], I will truly be the sun rising in the east, and I will be the only one who is undefeated, bah bah."

With great ambition filling his chest, Byron tapped the steering wheel lightly, and the name of the "Golden Hind", "the fastest three-masted ship in the world", was transferred to the new ship.

clang!clang!clang!
The [Silver Law] manifested, and a huge golden light column broke through the air, dyeing the [New New Golden Deer] into pure gold.

(End of this chapter)