Chapter 765 - 351: Monarch-class Battleship

There is a saying in the military that "where there is heavy reward, there are brave men," and in the field of science and technology, there is naturally a similar principle where "with heavy funding, breakthroughs will come."

Under the substantial solicitations of the Spanish Royal Family and the Naval Department, domestic and foreign shipyards began designing a type of warship that would satisfy the Spanish Navy.

To design a warship that would satisfy the Spanish Navy, one must clearly understand the shortcomings of the current mainstream ironclad ships of Spain.

As the name suggests, ironclad ships initially were merely sailing warships wrapped in a layer of armor. Even though the designs of major naval powers’ ironclad ships have now evolved to steel frameworks, the reality remains that the majority still have wooden interiors.

Compared to the steel-framed ironclad ships, those with wooden interiors have significant defects. First, an ironclad with a wooden framework is certainly not as sturdy as one with a steel framework, and the wooden framework even limits the tonnage and size of the ironclad.

It is for this reason that as the tonnage approaches 10,000 tons, the framework of ironclad ships is gradually shifting from wooden to steel.

The warships required by the Spanish Navy must be with a steel framework, as only a steel framework can support a displacement of over 10,000 tons, allowing them to pursue superiority in firepower and armor protection.

Once the basic framework of the warship was determined, designers from various shipyards began to study the advantages and disadvantages of ironclad ships from different countries to see if they could find their own design ideas.

Seeing that several domestic shipyards had been discussing for over a month without any progress, Carlo decided to integrate the strengths of domestic shipyards and collaborate to develop the battleship he needed.

The good news is that Spain’s top few shipyards mostly had royal shares. Besides the Royal Guanizuo Shipyard being fully owned by the royal family, they also owned nearly half of the Valencia United Shipyard and about a quarter of the El Ferrol Royal Navy Shipyard and Cartagena Shipyard.

With the combined power of the royal family and the Spanish Government, these shipyards could be united to develop a powerful warship.

These shipyards, with their official backdrop, could not deny the requirements of the government and the royal family when both entities had demands.

In the subsequent months, top warship designers from the four major shipyards gathered to frequently discuss the pros and cons of various warship designs, adding value to the latest battleship design.

Although there wasn’t much inspiration for the new warship design yet, after more than a month of discussion among these top experts, they at least clarified which shortcomings of the original ironclad ships should be corrected in the new battleship design.

While the ironclad ship is currently the most advanced warship design, its design concept has some significant problems and contradictions.

Some low-freeboard turret-type and exposed-turret ironclads have difficulty maintaining stability on rough seas. In extreme conditions, the severe rolling and pitching of ironclads can lead to ineffective use of their cannons.

This issue is especially evident in turret-type ironclads, as the main guns, which are very close to the waterline, often get buried in waves crashing over the forecastle.

Since low-freeboard ironclads are unstable in strong winds and waves, it is necessary to consider high-freeboard warship designs to enhance ship stability in such conditions.

However, such designs can only strengthen the stability of the cannons and do not significantly enhance firepower. To increase firepower, it is necessary to continuously use the most advanced artillery technology and find ways to increase the caliber of the cannons.

After extended discussions among many shipbuilding experts from the four major shipyards, it was finally decided to use a 13.5-inch main gun caliber, or 343 mm, in the new warship design.

Guns of this caliber are already quite powerful, and battleships equipped with 343 mm caliber main guns can definitely be considered top-tier in terms of firepower.

The shipbuilding experts debated the number of main guns for a long time and finally decided to install two protected main guns at both the bow and stern of the warship.

Each main gun’s firing arc should reach 260 degrees and be able to fire on both beams, significantly expanding the coverage of the guns and enhancing the ship’s ability to respond to enemies coming from different directions.

Regarding the secondary guns, to enhance the battleship’s capability against cruisers, the number of secondary guns was increased to ten, placed amidships on both sides between the main guns.

The caliber of the secondary guns is six inches, or 152.4 mm. The secondary guns also need strong armor protection, and the designers covered the main and secondary guns with as much armor as possible on the blueprints.

Considering the smoke interference between secondary guns during rapid firing, a designer from the Royal Guanizuo Shipyard specifically proposed arranging five secondary guns on each side on two different deck levels to minimize the impact of smoke generated during shell firing on other gun turrets.

Through such discussions, at least in terms of firepower, the design concept of this brand new battleship had already become apparent.

As for propulsion, there was no hesitation—it must use the most advanced steam engine to stack as much power as possible into the warship.

After another two and a half months of discussion, in August 1890, the battleship design committee, led by the royal family and the government, submitted the first battleship design drawings to the Naval Department.