My Italy

On the sea, a warship was speeding rapidly. Its speed was so fast that the Eagle, which was following behind it at a speed of up to 23 knots, could not catch up. On the Eagle, more than a dozen naval officers were observing the fast-moving warship.

"The Lombardi is so fast."

An officer looked at the Lombardi protective cruiser speeding in the distance and couldn't help but praise it.

"Of course it's fast. With 10,000 horsepower installed on a thousand-ton reconnaissance cruiser, it won't be slow."

The officer on the side retorted.

"What I said fast is the absolute speed of the Lombardi. It has been two hours, and the Lombardi can still maintain a high speed of 32 knots. This was simply unbelievable in the past. So I say that steam turbines are the future warships. main power equipment.”

"This is not necessarily true. Who can say clearly about the future? Steam turbines look good now, but who can imagine whether there will be new power equipment in the future. I feel that diesel engines are excellent power equipment in the future. "

The conversation between the two attracted the attention of other officers. Suddenly someone suddenly coughed twice on purpose, and the two officers who were talking eloquently stopped their speeches immediately.

They saw a group of people appearing in front of them from the command tower where the ship had a better observation position.

"Your Majesty, you have also seen that the steam turbine equipped on the Lombardi is a new type of power equipment developed by our Naval Power Institute. This equipment has a power of up to 10,000 horsepower and can maintain full output for a long time. For our naval ships, it plays a very huge role."

Admiral Yagier, the Minister of the Navy, was eloquently introducing to Carlo the Lombardi, which was equipped with a steam turbine and was sailing at high speed in the distance.

"Thank you to the researchers of the Naval Power Station for your hard work. On behalf of the kingdom, I would like to express my gratitude to you."

Carlo pulled the director of the power station beside him. The embarrassment on the director's face flashed across his face, but he could not avoid the king's enthusiasm and could only keep smiling to cover up his embarrassment.

That's right, this steam turbine was really built by the Naval Power Research Institute. It is similar to the steam turbine of Parsons Company of the British Empire, both of which have 10,000 horsepower. But to say that it was derived from his own research would embarrass the director of the Naval Power Station.

Think about it, you have spent a lot of manpower and material resources, but the result is not as fast as others who spend less. In addition, in order to complete the goal plan, you need to purchase technology from the other party. For everyone who wants to lose face, this is really an unspeakable thing.

But sometimes things are like this. A genius' flash of inspiration is more effective than other people's hard work. There is no need for this kind of frustration.

Of course, for the current director of the Power Research Institute, it would be better if this damn inspection, which was like a public execution, ended as soon as possible to get himself out of this bad state.

But it was obvious that the king did not hear his voice.

"Mr. Rudenev, how long can your steam turbine keep running at full speed?"

Carlo's question forced the director of the Power Research Institute to answer, and he forced a smile on his face. "Your Majesty, this steam turbine can guarantee this kind of full speed operation for 12 hours. We have tested it on land, and the effect is amazingly good."

"It's really good. It can run for such a long time. It is indeed an epoch-making power equipment."

Facing Carlo's exclamation, Admiral Yagir on the side immediately agreed. "Your Majesty is right. This kind of power that can operate at full capacity for a long time is exactly what the navy urgently needs. With steam turbines, naval warships have more choices no matter what mission they are in."

Admiral Yagir was right. The Navy is already considering installing steam turbines on more warships after the Lombardi test is completed.

Of course, there is currently another condition that restricts it, and that is price.

The cost of this steam turbine is not cheap at all. It is almost twice as expensive as a three-expansion reciprocating steam power engine.

This price is destined to make it impossible for the Navy to complete all the replacements. After all, the Navy has limited money and can only spend it wisely.

Of course, the king cannot just watch the operation of the steam turbine equipped on the Lombardi all the time. It would be too boring. However, if you want to divert the king's attention so that it is not so boring, at least other battleships need to bear part of it.

But the tall and majestic main battleship is currently sold out. Should the king be invited to visit the Galio-class battleship that has been in service for almost 20 years?

Don't make trouble, take the king to see the forward-loading gun battleship from 20 years ago (the largest caliber 460 mm main gun in history), I'm afraid he has lost his mind to do this.

But then, Admiral Yagil thought of a gadget.

"Your Majesty, our navy has developed a new warship that can submerge into the water. I wonder if your Majesty is interested in taking a look."

"I'm very interested. Take me to see it."

How could Carlo not be interested in what the Minister of the Navy said. He actually only paid attention to the large battleship on the water, and even forgot about the assassin in the water. Submarines are powerful weapons. Although they are not that useful in the Mediterranean, you must know that Italy currently has overseas colonies, and they are very suitable for the use of assassins in the sea.

The group then returned to the Taranto military port. Under the leadership of Admiral Yagir, they came to a small military dock. A ship with submarine characteristics appeared in front of everyone. Compared with the warships next to it, this submarine is very small. Its length above the water is no more than 20 meters and its width is about three meters.

Sure enough, I heard Admiral Agil's introduction.

"Your Majesty, this submersible ship was designed and built under the supervision of naval engineer Captain Ezziel Lord. Only the designer knows the specific situation. Captain Lord, please introduce this new warship. Bar."

When Admiral Yagir said the word battleship, his eyes clearly drifted towards the row of battleships standing on rails in the military port. It was obvious that he had a hard conscience about referring to the humble-looking boat in front of him as a battleship.

Fortunately, Captain Rhodes came to his rescue.

"Your Majesty, Your Excellency, General."

Looking at the trembling Captain Rhodes standing in front of him, Carlo said with a smile. "Captain, please introduce your work."

"Your Majesty, Admiral, this Explorer submarine was built after I applied to the Navy. It has a total length of 18.79 meters and a total width of 6.78 meters. It weighs 84.86 tons above water and 94.83 tons below water. It is equipped with a 60-horsepower diesel engine The engine and the electric motor powered by the battery can guarantee the boat's speed of 10 knots on the water and 6 knots underwater. However, due to power problems, it can only stay underwater for a maximum of 2 hours. In addition, the submarine is on the boat Two torpedo launch tubes were installed for the first time, capable of launching 433mm blackhead torpedoes."

From Captain Lord's narration, Carlo later learned about his ideas for building the submarine. Because he also got inspiration from others, he was full of interest after seeing photos of submarines designed by American John Holland, so he started designing submarines.

After hearing what Captain Rhodes said, Carlo said to Admiral Yagir behind him. "Admiral, the Navy Department needs to pay attention to this type of ship called a submarine. The main research and development idea is to prioritize reliability, followed by range, firepower, etc. Torpedoes are a good weapon. For such a concealed ship, Very suitable.”

Now that the king has spoken, how could Admiral Yagir be ignorant? Besides, this thing doesn't cost much at first glance, so you might gain a lot from researching it.

So Admiral Yagir agreed. "Okay Your Majesty, we will allocate a fund to conduct research on this submarine."

"Admiral Yagier, I think Mr. John Holland can try to invite him to see if he is willing to come to Italy to study submarines."

"Okay, Your Majesty, I will send someone to invite you."

"Forget it, I'll let the people from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs do it better. It's not good for you to send people to the United States."

Considering that many officers and soldiers of the Navy fought against their American counterparts last year, it would be better for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to take action and not attract so much attention.