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The chief designer of the "Decisive", Sane, saw the Crown Prince’s serious expression and immediately stepped forward to explain: "Your Highness, the original design indeed installed 18 32-pound cannons, and there were no problems during Mediterranean testing. However, during testing in the more volatile Atlantic Ocean, it was found that excessive heavy artillery firing caused the ship to lose stability."

He glanced cautiously at Joseph: "You know, after all, the width of the ’Decisive’ is only 12.7 meters..."

Joseph understood that the cannons of this era were all fired from one side of the ship, which meant that if the ship’s width was insufficient, the recoil from the heavy artillery firing would cause the ship to sway sideways.

Even without considering navigational safety, the severe rocking would make it impossible to guarantee the accuracy of the cannon firing.

Moreover, the waves of the Atlantic Ocean would exacerbate the ship’s sway. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

As a main battleship, the firepower of 10 32-pound cannons was clearly too weak.

He looked at the chief designer and said, "Can the hull be widened further?"

Sane shook his head helplessly: "That would bring a series of issues, Your Highness. Most directly, it would greatly increase drag and reduce speed.

"In fact, thanks to the powerful propulsion of the steam engine, the ’Decisive’ is already much wider than usual Fourth-level ships. For example, the ’Jason’ is only 12.3 meters wide."

It seems to have only been widened by 0.4 meters, but for battleship design, it is a huge improvement.

Currently, you should know that France’s standard Third-class battleships are only 13.7 meters wide, but the lower gun deck can accommodate 28 32-pound cannons.

Joseph searched through his recollection for stabilizing ship technology and said to Sane: "Perhaps you could try using a yaw reduction fin design."

"Yaw reduction fin? What is that?"

Joseph picked up a nearby cannon wedge and gestured: "It’s about installing two inclined strips on the bottom of the ship, which hardly increases drag but can significantly improve the ship’s ability to resist lateral sway."

"Are you referring to ’bilge keel’?" Sane asked in surprise, "You know of this technology too?"

The bilge keel is a new technology that the design team at the Brest Shipyard researched last year, and it’s under strict confidentiality. Even if the Crown Prince wants to access it, high-level shipyard signatures are required.

Joseph was equally surprised: "Is the ’bilge keel’ the same as the technology I just mentioned?"

"Yes, Your Highness, except the length is a bit greater than what you mentioned, but otherwise exactly the same," Sane said, "In fact, the ’Decisive’ is already equipped with bilge keels."

Joseph could not help but lament that French battleship designers were indeed Europe’s top-notch.

Historically, most battleship revolutions were actually originated in France, while conservative British designers typically took years to follow suit. It seems yaw reduction fins are also like this.

He pondered for a moment and then brought out another stabilization technology: "What about the ’adjustable ballast tank’?"

Sane shook his head: "I am sure I have not heard of it, Your Highness."

Joseph quickly walked to the stern of the ship and down the stairs in a few steps, pointing to both sides: "It’s about setting up two smaller ballast tanks on both sides of the ship bottom. If firing to the port side, discharge the ballast water from the starboard side.

"This way, the hull would slightly tilt to the port side, partially offsetting the recoil during firing."

Woklair, nearby, was immediately intrigued: "Your Highness, this is a brilliant design! Just by adding 5 to 7 tons of small ballast tanks on each side, the lateral rocking caused by firing can be greatly eliminated!"

The so-called ballast tank is essentially the lowest "counterweight" of the vessel, usually filled with fresh or even seawater to create a balance effect.

Yet, this era’s ballast tanks are all located in the center at the bottom of the vessel, designs with side counterweights have never appeared before.

Sane furrowed his brows and said: "Even with 5-ton ballast tanks, it would take at least 13 minutes to completely drain.

"In the heat of battle, there’s likely no time to adjust. I mean, the enemy ships could switch sides within a few minutes. Are we supposed to wait for the ballast tanks to refill before firing?"

Joseph asked hurriedly, "How is the ballast tank drained, by what method?"

"With a drainage pump, Your Highness, all battleships are equipped with them. Operated by two sailors turning the handle simultaneously to pump out the ballast water."

"Manual?"

"Yes, Your Highness."

Joseph immediately said: "What if we used a steam engine to pump the water? Equipping a 20-horsepower steam engine, or using a transmission system to draw power from the main steam engine to the bottom cabin."

Sane immediately took out paper and pen and began computing.

Within two minutes, he excitedly raised his head: "This should be feasible. A 20-horsepower pump can drain 5 tons of ballast water in just over 40 seconds. Oh, and that’s starting from low-pressure steam engine status; if the boiler pressure is maintained, it would be even faster.

"Even considering the time needed for sailors to operate, it would not exceed 1 minute!"

Heavy wind-powered battleship combat makes 1 minute seem like a flicker.

The designer continued to suggest: "We could divide the ’adjustable ballast tank’ into several compartments and decide how much water to drain based on prevailing sea conditions.

"This could even be used to improve the ship’s sailing performance. Like encountering continuous crosswinds, there’s no need to adjust the angle of the main sail; just the weight difference between the two side ballast tanks could keep the ship stable!"

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The main function of bilge keels is to increase damping when a ship rolls, reducing the degree of rolling, belonging to a fixed anti-roll device, usually symmetrically arranged on both sides of the ship, with continuous and intermittent types. The connection between the bilge keel and bilge plating should ensure no damage to the bilge plating if bilge keels get damaged. Bilge keels are generally used on ships with small block coefficients, used to improve wave resistance and stability. However, installing bilge keels can reduce a ship’s maneuverability correspondingly. Thus, only a reasonable design can greatly reduce roll and pitch for improving wave resistance.

The bilge keel is installed along the ship’s length direction at the bilge. To minimize water resistance when advancing, bilge keels should align with the ship’s streamline direction and model tests should be conducted in water tanks to determine this. In transverse section, bilge keel placement should follow the oblique straight line from the connection point between the ship’s half-width line and baseline to the G-center (approximate roll center) of the ship. This can achieve substantial roll damping effects. Lengthwise, bilge keels are installed within 1/3 to 1/4 of the ship’s mid-length. Bilge keel width varies according to ship size and purpose. Small width is 0.2 m, large could reach 1.2 m, but should not exceed the ship’s half-width line and baseline range.