86. Naval forces
Chapter 86 The Navy
“Drink!”
Occam held a wooden knife in his hand and stabbed hard at his opponent.
But the opponent easily parried his wooden blade, and before his arm could be retracted, he poked him in the waistline with a backhanded wooden blade.
“Don’t just attack, remember to be steady at all times in the chassis!”
Former pirate leader and now Alda Navy Private Quake loudly pointed out his opponent’s shortcomings.
Occam rubbed his lower back, which was raw from the wooden blade poking him, and resumed his offensive stance, looking for holes in Quake’s defense.
After staring at each other for a few rounds, he found an angle where he thought he couldn’t counterattack, and stabbed hard and fast, but this time Quake simply dodged ……
“With a plop, Occam rushed too hard and fell into the water.
Alda Navy sailors are practicing how to fight on the surface of the water, six naval warships and a dozen fishing boats temporarily recruited, filled with sailors who are in the middle of a fierce “fight”.
Just as everyone was training in full swing, they suddenly heard a rallying cry from the shore.
The crowd immediately stopped their hands and rowed their oars towards the military harbor pier.
Through the construction and levy of converted civilian ships, the Arda Navy at this time already possessed six larger paddle sailing ships, each controlled by about 50 people. The Navy had also set aside a plot of land in Fullan Harbor for the construction of a naval base and a dock dedicated to the docking of military warships.
On shore, Paul and his “Admiral” Austin were already standing.
The sailors disembarked and quickly ran to the playground in the harbor, where they formed six squares of more than 300 men under the leadership of their captains, according to the warships to which they belonged.
Although the weather was getting cooler after the fall, due to the training, everyone wore only a blue and white striped shirt, this kind of cotton shirt named “Soul of the Sea Shirt” by the lord was very popular among the navy officers and soldiers.
It is not only for the sailors at sea to play the role of wind and sun protection, there is a very practical function is, when someone accidentally fell into the sea from the deck, can be quickly found.
Paul, accompanied by Austin, reviewed the sailors’ squad.
He saw “Quaker I” in the formation and smiled at him playfully.
Quake’s face reddened, and he dared not turn his head in fear of the military regulations, so he flicked his eyes slightly to the side to avoid looking directly at Paul.
In the face of this slightly rude behavior, Paul did not reproach, this guy was made to look ugly in the interrogation and forced confessions in Lakewood Town, and now he would naturally be very very embarrassed to see himself.
These from the pirate prisoners selected into the Navy’s wearable personnel, the army only to supply them with food, clothing and housing, salary do not think about it, unless they can make any outstanding achievements or serve for a period of time after a good performance, in order to obtain the same treatment as normal sailors.
Quirk was the second batch of prisoners to be selected into the navy, and was fortunate enough to be promoted to private and receive half-pay for his service, and full-pay if he continued to perform well, after he had done a great deal of good work in defending himself against pirate raids ashore.
Looking at the fledgling maritime force, Paul was proud that although it was only a small sapling, it would sooner or later grow into a huge tree.
Sooner or later, this army would sail the four seas, and when he thought of the countless warships lining up in a column in a neat formation, with ten thousand cannons firing from the side, striking countless cannonballs at the enemy, a burst of excitement could well up in his heart. He asked Austin: “Has artillery training begun?”
Austin replied, “It has already begun, and we have built mock decks on land on which we will place the two naval guns and four cycloramas that we have already built, as a way of practicing the operation of the artillery.”
Paul was very pleased that the two naval guns were still cast directly after the Army’s 6-pounders, except that the frames had been modified to suit the ship’s environment. But battleships could carry heavier guns, and he had already asked Marlowe to begin trials of 12-pounders, and as for the heavier 24-pounders, it would be better to wait until a larger ship could be built.
As for the small caliber artillery like the cyclorama, it was mainly mounted on the head and stern of the battleship to make up for the areas that the ship’s side guns couldn’t cover, as well as when there was a gang-jumping battle, the first thing to do was to use the cyclorama to fire loose bullets to paste the enemy.
After the parade, the sailors were ordered to continue their training, while the officers of the navy gathered in the conference room in the base to listen to the lord’s introduction of the next development and arrangement.
Paul sat at the head of the room and said, “Gentlemen, as I’m sure you’re all aware, the shipwrights from the south are already in place, and the construction of the new ships will begin in a matter of days.”
The crowd nodded in understanding, and when Paul led the shipwrights from the south to the shipyard that day, their commander Austin and several other officers went along as representatives of the navy.
And what the new type of ship looks like they also know well, the model of the Slupe ship has two placed in the shipyard for the shipbuilders to refer to in order to draw a detailed design, and there are also two placed in the naval base for the naval officers and men to study the use of.
Paul said, “In the first phase of the Navy’s development program, I intend to build six Slurpee ships, but after building two and drilling them a little, the Navy will have to start clearing out the large and small groups of pirates on the Northwest Gulf, so you guys need to hurry up and prepare for war.”
The pirates who had come ashore to plunder were eliminated, but at this point the Northwest Gulf was far from quiet, as Alda’s navy was still very weak, so a passive defense strategy was adopted, only going forward to engage the pirates when they were advancing, and not messing with the pirates if they didn’t come.
Even so, since the public trial conference still occurred several pirate invasion incident, but fortunately all were repelled by the Alda army, each invasion will promptly report to the lake town.
By the time the navy was equipped with two Slurpee ships, it would be able to place a total of 28 cannons on the ships, and with such powerful firepower, the Alda navy would no longer be afraid of any pirates.
Paul also made another request:
“The Council of State has decided that after clearing out the pirates, it will send merchant ships to the south, and the navy must play a role in scouting the route and escorting them.”
“From now on, you will have to send people south along the coastline to map out information about the various ports along the way, so as to facilitate the docking, resupplying, and repairing of our ships in case of accidents on the way.”
The Lord Earl was truly far-sighted, this was the thought of quite a few people here.
……
After the meeting in the naval base, Paul went to the shipyard, which was not far away.
At this time the shipyard had not yet started building the Slurpee ship, because according to the results of the old shipwright Benjamin’s inspection, the equipment here was already a bit outdated, so he was commanding the craftsmen in the shipyard to upgrade and repair the equipment together with Supervisor Rubin.
Paul promised Rubin that the navy would be the next focus of financial expenditure, and that if he encountered any trouble when upgrading equipment or purchasing raw materials for shipbuilding, he would just ask the Ministry of Finance.
When he left, he asked Rubin and the shipwrights from the south to work well together, Rubin busy nodded yes.
(End of chapter)