We've started to experience failed barge attacks in the last 40 days. After one barge looped back to the island, it was relaunched to coast a different direction, and managed to bait in a leviathan, but a second barge that was launched ended up drifting out to sea completely. While it's generally a good sign that most of the leviathans have been dealt with, it's also a bit of an issue in that it's getting harder to remove the remainder. The worst thing that could happen is that we think launching a ship is safe after a few years of work, only for it to be smashed to pieces by a leviathan on it's maiden voyage.
Before we launch the ship and send it to sea, I intend to have us launch a few bait barges out from the bay to make sure that the path to the ocean is clear first. We're getting closer to the point where I'm getting more confident in the final weight and design of the ship. I've really started to size out the main powerplant for the ship, and I've started testing propeller designs. One of the more interesting problems I've been working on is how to make external connection to the ship. The propellers are powered from the inside and they're far too big to try to use gear joints to send the torque above the water line and back down. We'll also need controllable ocean water inlets and outlets that have similar problems.
For water, we very well could use a pump and valve system to let water in and eject it above the waterline to prevent backflow, but the propellers are going to require some creative solutions. While I'm now pretty sure that the internal weight of all the various components will come in at less than the estimated 1600 tons, I've decided to start finalizing the design and begin working on the fabrication process for the plating and I-beams as if it was 1600 tons. The difference will get made up in the keel with extra lead. The more we come in under the predicted amount, the more stable the boat will be overall.
In four months, we've made some monumental progress. We've had to start launching larger barges carrying 150% more payload, as one of the major surviving forms of aggressive leviathans are now crabs, and due to their choice of using a claw rather than their body to attack, we've had increase the concussive power to a level where most of the time the crab dies.
As for the ship, the way I've settled on building out the hull and frame is a mixed system. The frame will be composed of I-beams along the exterior and across the inside to provide the shell for the ship. Most beams will be 30 feet long, though a few special pieces will need to be cut to finalize certain parts of the design. Some of the I-beams will be bent in the factory to match specifications using a differential roller machine to produce different curves as necessary.
The hull itself will be comprised of rolls of steel of the necessary thickness, that I've made a decoiling machine in a a facility at the drydock to unravel. Basically, various portions of the ship will be made and cut in continuous pieces at the roller mill where the material is shaped to allow smooth overlap, then an automatic drill puts the necessary holes for rivets to be attached at regular intervals on the overlapping pieces of steel. I've also taken the time to create two not-so-portable hand tools that utilize compressed gas cylinders.
The first being a hydraulic rivet tool that uses the compressed air to repeatedly and quickly hammer a rivet. Because we really lack any flexible material that would be airtight under high pressure, the compressed cylinder is attached to the tool directly and sealed with lightstone. The cylinders can easily be refilled at a large compressor tank that is also powered in the same facility as the decoiling machine. Due to the bulky nature, both of these hand tools are only able to be used by our stronger demons, but we do have a decent number of demons capable of handling tools that are a few hundred pounds, so it's not nearly as much of a constraint as I thought it would be.
The other hand tool utilizes our methanol and liquid oxygen. Well, the oxygen is under compression and the methanol is kept hot enough via a fluorite plate inside it's cylinder that it functions as a rudimentary oxy fuel torch. Again, it's fairly bulky, but it gets the job done. Whether that's heating steel rivets red hot before driving them, or applying enough heat to allow minor shape adjustments, these two tools should make ship building significantly faster than the expected manual methods we'd have needed to use.
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I've also come up with a decent system to make a mostly watertight seal for the propellers. By passing the shaft through a fairly small opening where fatty lubricant is kept alongside thick plant fiber ropes, we can minimize the amount of water getting in. We'll need to haul plenty of spare lubricant as it does slowly need replacement, but it's far better than trying to continuously pump out leaking water. I still do plan on having pumps installed at various points on the ship to allow us to remove water that might leak in.
We've gotten an update from the mainland on the condition of the war as well. The dwarven capitol has fallen, along with almost all of the coasts. Kao's territory is one of the few ones that has maintained contact. They were reinforced from the human continent given their proximity quickly enough to halt the invasion. The only reason that the humans were actually able to respond so quickly was because the countries around what used to be Rathland kept some of their armies back, likely in an attempt to reform their shattered country if the opportunity presented itself, just like how Rathland itself grew in the past. Given the immediate threat to all of their territory should the dwarven continent completely fall, they agreed to an armistice and sent those troops over.
There wasn't any mention of it, but I do wonder whether the rifled artillery that Kao adopted ended up playing a role or not. I don't know what kind of tactics the demons are using on a large scale, but old encirclements and siege tactics don't work as well when the enemy can hit you from very long distances. Though there is a question as to how long they can hold the defensive line. Most of the territories in that region are fairly rugged with only one main port. According to Shasta and Elora both, travel to that port can take quite a long time, as the prevailing winds in the region are aimed inland towards the other continents which also coincides with a strong ocean current in the same direction, meaning water travel to the area is very slow going.
The only real comfort is that it seems that many of the dwarves are still holding onto the mountainous regions interior to the continent utilizing mountain tunnels and forts to thoroughly slow down any attempts at invading further inland.
Three more months have passed, and the decision has been made to scout the nearest island to check for any other demons. We don't know for sure just how many might have landed there, so we're going to be cautious about it. A few long canoes are going to be sent to check the situation there. Considering enough landed on the dwarven continent to capture most of it in about a year, it'd be very easy for us to be completely outclassed. Though we do have an advantage in terms of a war of attrition, should we choose to do something like that.
Production is coming along smoothly for the ship, though it seems like I'm going to end up being the holdup for it. I have a handful of items that I need to design and install before some of the steps can be completed. The outer hull is coming along well, and we've been installing sacrificial zinc plates in places to preserve the steel against corrosion. We've also started making shallow angular cuts into the steel in grids along the ship, so that lightstone can be shaped to grip to the surface and provide water protection. We also plan on keeping about 50 tons of lightstone on the ship to make repairs and seal holes.
While I've already designed the new artillery pieces, the turrets they'll be mounted on need to be designed, and I need to plan out the superstructure. Without primers, each turret is only going to hold a single cannon which can fire a 5-inch shell, and I plan on having three turrets, two ahead of the superstructure and one behind. After the artillery were designed and tested, we found we could get about 10 miles of range out of them, which is incredibly far compared to the mile or so of our older guns. If I get the chance, I'd like to take the time to make range tables for the guns. Perhaps I'll take the time while we travel to start trying to do so.
The superstructure of the ship is going to require a handful of things. The bridge, fire control center, and observation posts are the main spaces I want in there. Most of the structure won't sit very high above the deck, but I do want to have a small tower positioned up 30 or so feet above the deck with a rotatable rangefinder if I can find the time to design the thing. Otherwise, I'll just have an observation deck up there where we can use telescopes for spotting.
