Extraordinary Voyage-Chapter 690 - 594: Sea Trials and Missiles

Splash...

A long, black silhouette cuts through the azure waves like an arrow, shooting toward the depths of the Black Sea, leaving a long white line in its wake.

Despite the assistance of witchcraft, outfitting the warship still took nearly a month for Aiven and Angie, the main forces of the "Vitalist School." By now, it is July, marking the third day of the warship officially entering the sea trial phase.

The location is the depths of the Black Sea, which frequently sees storms, large waves, and hurricanes after the rainy season begins. Testing the propulsion system at full speed, they have already traversed nearly half of the new and old continents' route.

The waves in the sea are substantial, but the warship remains as stable as a mountain.

Located at the foremost end of the tower's top, within the bridge containing the command room and steering room.

Aiven sits in his exclusive command seat, observing the rows of navigation parameters projected on the screen in front of him: ship's status, speed, course, latitude... He controls all these via a gold talisman inlaid with an emerald, representing the highest command authority— the warship's "Secret Key."

Because the entire design revolves around the "Ship Spirit," almost no critical positions were left for human crew. With the current temporary absence of the "Ship Spirit," Aiven is effectively taking on what would be the workload of hundreds on a typical military vessel.

Besides Aiven and the fellow Upper-Rank Wizard Nymph, there is currently no third person on the ship who can perform this task. However, once the Ship Spirit awakens, even a child who cannot read could easily navigate.

The more advanced the technology, the more "foolproof" the operation.

Once this sea trial succeeds, with slight adjustments, the warship will enter its optimal state, awaiting the grand display of the [Living Ship Spirit Technique].

Therefore, no one dares to slack.

"Aiven, who would've thought that the bronze blades, so vastly different in size compared to sails, could truly drive such a large warship at high speed. Do you think the 'Steam Fortress' might also use this kind of propeller?"

Olivia, dressed in a smart military uniform, stands beside Aiven. Even after being at sea for several days, she remains amazed by the power that seemingly ordinary things can exert, which seems even more magical than witchcraft.

"Possibly, although I haven't personally visited that 'Legendary Battleship,' the technological reserves of the Alchemy School shouldn't be underestimated. Besides the importance of propellers, the key is the propulsion system powered by the 'Golden Crown of the Frog God.'"

Aiven smiles, the technical route is clear to him, using what others have developed couldn't be more delightful.

After deciding to build a modern warship and abandoning sails, they directly leap to using propellers crafted from enchanted nickel-aluminum-bronze alloy, skipping over the cumbersome "paddle wheels."

Because key components like propellers allow a certain degree of deformation but not breakage, they require more toughness than hardness.

Moreover, the forces on them are inherently complex. Using rigid materials like steel can easily lead to stress concentration and breakage; bronze alloys are the optimal choice.

Copper ions also have a lethal effect on marine microorganisms, making it difficult for barnacles and diatoms to grow even with prolonged exposure in seawater.

Additionally.

In shipbuilding, matching ships with specific propellers is an incredibly complex discipline. Factors like wing profile, pitch, longitudinal tilt, lateral tilt, diameter, and disk area ratio (sum of blade extension profile area/propeller disk area) are all related.

Though Aiven hasn't systematically studied related subjects, with a brain comparable to a supercomputer as an Upper-Rank Wizard, plus "Data Visualization," he can reshape the propellers anytime during the sea trial.

In other words, he has the capital to trial endlessly.

Relying on fragmented memories in his mind: thrust is proportional to the product of mass and acceleration in water; ship speed depends on the thrust provided by propellers and aggregation of various resistances; fewer blades mean higher propeller efficiency...

Fewer blades demand more of the material. For reliability and efficiency, Aiven initially chose four-bladed propellers.

After numerous experiments, he eventually adjusted to near-perfect products, as any change in parameters would cause a speed drop.

Single blade weight: 3500kg; hub weight: 6500kg; propeller weight: 10000kg; propeller diameter: 4 meters. Designed using a dual-shaft dual-propeller mode, stronger than single propeller performance, and commonly selected in modern cruisers.

Behind the propeller is a vertical rudder, steering by controlling the direction of water flow stirred by the propeller.

As for the most core of the warship's propulsion system, the ideal energy in Aiven's mind has always been "Magnetic Ore," which can convert sunlight's radiance into endless energy, usable for production or transformed into thunderbolts to destroy enemies.

It can also convert freely among multiple energy forms like light, thermal, electrical, and mechanical energy, a power capable of changing the world.

However, the most cutting-edge achievement of "Magnetic Ore" remains the "Extraordinary Battery" with aquamarine as a substitute. Using Philosopher's Stones, aquamarine, and other extraordinary energies as alternatives inevitably lowers efficiency, further reducing the warship's combat capability.

Nevertheless, in the complete harvest of the fourth volume, the [Living Ship Spirit Technique] records in a series of witchcraft —[Energy Core: Touch of the Tree of Life] has provided Aiven with a new idea.

This technology is applied similarly in the super giant rock golem "Mountain Giant's" internal extraordinary supply system, utilizing rituals containing ten original essences to draw the power of Extraordinary Treasures.

Theoretically, the stronger the treasure's power, the stronger the "Mountain Giant's" output becomes.

At its peak, achieving the Tier 4 extraordinary attack power is no issue, enough to withstand when defending the King of Sea Monsters Kraken, the Sea God's Son "White Remains'" attack.

Moreover, there is no restriction on the types of treasures. Those originally stored in the caves like "Mist Silver Lamp," "Deep Blue Treasure Pearl," etc., can serve as extraordinary energy.

Coincidentally, Aiven has a powerful treasure temporarily unknown in use, the "Golden Crown of the Frog God," constantly emitting strong energy radiation. Sealed within a hollow rune copper ball, it serves as a temporary replacement for the warship's power core, not considered a waste.

Wait until the "Magnetic Ore" is manufactured later to replace it.

Afterwards, the Extraordinary Energy is converted by the [Energy Core: Touch of the Tree of Life] into kinetic energy to propel the propeller, which is a simple process.

And so.

When the "Steam Fortress" uses a magically modified steam engine as its power source, along with alchemy, enabling a conventional cruising speed of 20 knots.

Aiven's semi-finished warship reached an astonishing maximum speed of 32 knots. While it takes others at least two months to cross the Black Sea, it requires only six days.

Besides the propeller and power core, another contributor to this terrifying speed is the ship's incredible length-to-width ratio.

The fastest Flying Clipper in the Age of Sails could reach 14 knots, with a length-to-width ratio generally above 6:1. However, this warship, with a length of 132 meters and a beam width of 16 meters, boasts a ratio exceeding 8:1, making it unparalleled among wooden warships.

When modifying the "Venus," I did not dare to experiment, but building a new warship without side cannons from scratch had no such concerns. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

The main resistance on the ship's surface includes: frictional resistance, vortex resistance, wave resistance, protrusion resistance, and air resistance, all of which increase with speed.

Reducing the area of the hull in contact with water, decreasing lateral length, or reducing the hull's weight can increase speed. The correct way to build a high-speed ship is to increase the length-to-width ratio, increase sail area (power), and sharpen the bow (reduce resistance).

The underwater part of the new warship's bow is modeled after the modern "bulbous bow," which can overcome wave resistance by causing wave peaks and troughs of the ship and bulb to cancel each other out.

Aiven also integrated an improved "Siren's Song" into it, which not only has the capability of killing Sea Monsters through "infrasound," but can also switch to "ultrasound" to act as a [sonar], detecting underwater targets like reefs and Sea Monsters.

Effect: Passive detection range is approximately 20 kilometers, active detection range is around 50 kilometers.

Originally, [sonar] technology involved navigation and distance measurement through electroacoustic conversion and information processing. The key point isn't ultrasound, but electroacoustic conversion and information processing. However, once the Ship Spirit awakens, there's no need for electroacoustic conversion, as it can be directly handled by the Ship Spirit.

Currently, Aiven needs to manually control it through his mental force field.

While explaining the principles of these devices to Olivia, Nymph, Milan, Angie, and the students, Aiven suddenly felt a stirring in his heart.

"Hmm, it seems we've found a target for testing the weapon systems."

Using [sonar], a rapidly moving large creature was detected about 40 kilometers in the 11 o'clock direction. It suddenly shot out from the deep sea, biting a giant squid, and was rushing to the sea surface at high speed.

In the next moment, the seagull "Mind Network," serving as the reconnaissance system, also spotted the vast shadow underwater from above and quickly locked onto two features: its shell and tentacles.

The main body should be a Sea Monster, the Lance-rod Fish, measuring 320 meters, surpassing the large species limit and racing towards the 500-meter Giant Species threshold.

Without a doubt, this is a Beloved of the "Mother of Sea Monsters," and it's the first formidable opponent encountered in the three days at sea.

"Come on, Hesi, besides the fixed target, the task of launching the first [Hurricane Missile] falls to you."

"Yes, Captain! I'll ensure success!"

Amid the envious gazes of the crowd, Olivia solemnly saluted and took the warship's "Secret Key" handed over by Aiven.

Then, holding a gold talisman embedded with an emerald, she accessed the weapon system equipped after the warship's outfitting, her spiritual radiance lightly touching the [Extraordinary Armament: Missile Launching Well].

Pop—

On the streamlined warship's front deck, located between the foremost twin-gun turret and the tower, two round hatch covers simultaneously popped open.

A flash of green runes flickered on the well wall.

Immediately.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Amidst the sudden gale on deck.

A metal warhead, guided by the high-speed rotating low-pressure cyclone at its tip (temporarily empowering an Elemental Spirit), soared into the sky at nearly 340 meters per second.

Upon ascending, the two warheads carrying 10 kilograms of payload each unfolded a pair of small metal wings to assist in flight, rushing towards the 11 o'clock direction, guided by the "Mind Network" positioning.

The currently equipped [Hurricane Missile], strictly classified as a low-speed (below Mach 1) cruise missile, can strike targets up to 1300 kilometers away within the signal coverage area of the "Mind Network."

At this moment.

Everyone on the bridge simultaneously connected onto the "Mind Network," watching tensely as this ultra-long-range weapon was used in combat for the first time. A successful strike would completely secure sea battle dominance for our side in future beyond visual range conventional attacks.

It's possible to overcome numerical odds, fighting ten to one, a hundred to one, or even completely ignoring the number of ordinary warships!