In the dry dock of the Royal Shipyard, a gigantic Flying Airship has been completed, and gas is currently being filled into its gasbag, which is even larger than its hull.
Eldest Princess Annie stood in front of the viewing platform, gazing at this colossal creation, genuinely shocked by the Empire’s powerful industrial strength.
After all, this is a massive beast with a length of 143 meters. Although the cigar-shaped hull doesn’t look very robust, its enormous size still makes the Empire’s latest battleship under construction on the nearby slipway appear diminutive.
Named the Sovereignty-class, the Empire’s newest battleship design has an overall length of 125 meters. Even though in this era, a steel giant with a displacement of up to 14,000 tons is an unimaginably terrifying existence, and could be called the Empire’s national Divine Artifact.
But in front of the Flying Airship designed by Perfikot, it still can’t compare.
The huge silver-gray gasbag didn’t become inflated due to the filling, which made Eldest Princess Annie a bit curious to casually ask the person in charge of the shipyard next to her, "How much longer will the inflation take?"
"It’s almost done because this airship uses a rigid gasbag framework and internal segmented gasbag structure, so it’s impossible to see from the outside that it’s already filled," the person in charge explained to Eldest Princess Annie.
Many people were present for the ceremony today, not just the nobles who came because of fame, but also the surrounding populace and curious citizens who received news and came from Langton.
By now, the area around the shipyard was already a sea of people, and with the personal attendance of the Eldest Princess, everyone at the shipyard took today’s event quite seriously, with even the person in charge nervously sweating at the forehead.
Although this Flying Airship was built strictly according to the designs given by Perfikot, and they knew that the airship built by Perfikot herself had already successfully made the round trip between the Empire’s mainland and the New Continent, they were still apprehensive about whether this Flying Airship in front of them could successfully ascend.
After all, this thing is just too massive; it can be said to be the largest vessel ever built by the Royal Shipyard, even though it doesn’t sail in the sea and its tonnage is far less than the Sovereignty-class battleship next to it.
"What is this so-called rigid gasbag? Did you use metal skin? It looks really beautiful!" Eldest Princess Annie gazed at the airship’s silver-gray gasbag, thinking it was made of metal materials.
Seeing the Eldest Princess’s misunderstanding, the person in charge quickly explained: "No, no, it’s not metal skin, but a kind of special fireproof coating. Both the outer skin and the materials used for the internal gasbag are cotton canvas, but the surface is entirely coated with this fireproof material invented by Miss Brandelis.
We have tested it, even when burned with an open flame, the canvas coated with this fireproof material cannot be ignited, providing excellent fireproof effect! Its fireproof effect is so good that we even want to suggest to Miss Perfikot to use hydrogen as the gasbag filling gas."
Upon hearing the technical issues being discussed by the person in charge, Eldest Princess Annie wisely did not continue the conversation. Though she was curious about such things, she wasn’t interested in delving into what they entailed.
She only asked with concern, "Then can it fly smoothly?"
"Of course! With the century-long reputation of the Royal Shipyard as our guarantee, no ship built by our shipyard has ever failed to sail!" At this moment, the shipyard’s manager also came to Eldest Princess Annie’s side, ignoring the anxious expression on the face of the responsible person aside, thumping his chest in reassurance.
For the confidence of the Royal Shipyard, of course, Eldest Princess Annie had her trust.
Since the Royal Shipyard’s establishment, it has always been the most important shipbuilding base for the Empire. Nearly all of the Navy’s main warships have been built here, and the Royal Shipyard’s strength has always been trusted.
However, the person in charge was still somewhat nervous as he came beside the shipyard manager, attempting to argue, "But we haven’t had time to test it, and everything is unknown..."
"Shut up! Do you want to ruin the century-long reputation of the Royal Shipyard?" The shipyard manager softly rebuked the responsible person, simultaneously pointing to the surrounding crowd, shouting at him, "Look at these people! Use your brain and think; if this Flying Airship doesn’t fly today, how would people perceive the Royal Shipyard! The airship personally built by the Northern Territory Countess has already flown to the New Continent and the Northern Territory and returned!
If we can’t do it, the Royal Shipyard’s reputation will be completely finished, understand? We absolutely cannot fail! We must succeed! If you’re worried, then go do another check right away instead of telling me there are issues, and it can’t fly!"
After being yelled at by the manager, the person in charge had no choice but to run toward the dry dock, intending to conduct one final inspection before the official ascent.
Witnessing this scene, Eldest Princess Annie could only slightly shake her head and pretend not to see it.
She could understand their actions; as long as nothing went wrong, she would turn a blind eye. For the Empire, the Royal Shipyard indeed held great importance, as besides this place, no other shipyard has this large slipway and dry dock to build ships exceeding one hundred meters in length.
Especially since Perfikot’s subsequent plans would require more large Flying Airships, a shipyard like the Royal Shipyard, which has gained construction experience and possesses mass production capacity, becomes increasingly important. This update is available on NovєlFіre.net
Thinking about Perfikot’s future plans, Eldest Princess Annie proactively asked the shipyard manager beside her, "How many large slipways and berths does the Royal Shipyard currently have available for building Flying Airships?"
"Following Your Highness’s instructions earlier, we’ve already set aside three large slipways capable of building cruisers for the construction of Flying Airships. Currently, the overall construction progress of those three Flying Airships is already 75% complete, expected to be finished within this year," the shipyard manager estimated a bit before first reporting on the construction progress of the other three Flying Airships, and then mentioned the current number of slipways: "Besides these three large slipways, if the Navy doesn’t mind us adjusting the production plan a bit, theoretically, we can free up five more large slipways, which altogether would be eight large slipways.
If the Northern Territory Countess is willing to scale down the size of the Flying Airships, by March next year, there will be seven medium slipways and twelve small slipways available."
"Medium and small slipways..." Eldest Princess Annie was somewhat uncertain. After hesitating for a moment, she said to the shipyard manager, "For now, prepare according to these numbers. The specific situation I need to discuss with the Northern Territory Count first."
While they were talking, the final inspection before the airship’s takeoff was finally completed, and under countless expectant gazes, the gigantic Flying Airship rose from the ground. Like a silver-gray mountain blocking the sky, it demonstrated the mighty power of the industrial age, prompting countless people to cheer involuntarily.
Follow current novels on freewe(b)novel.c(o)m