Rise of Empires: Spain.

Chapter 384 Submarine
While Tesla's radio wave experiments were being carried out with great fanfare, the Royal Guarnizo Shipyard, in conjunction with a group of naval warship design experts, was also conducting a highly confidential experiment.

The experiments that these naval ship design experts could participate in were almost all related to warships. Indeed, the so-called highly confidential experiments were actually the research and development of submarines.

Submarines are not unfamiliar to this era; the technology originated hundreds of years ago and has continued to evolve.

The earliest submarine can be traced back to 1620 when the Dutch engineer Drebbel built the first submersible wooden-framed, leather-covered boat. This submarine, known as the Drebbel boat, was a true underwater vessel and one of the earliest vessels that could be called a submarine.

150 years later, during the American Revolutionary War, the American submarine USS Turtle was used in naval combat for the first time. At that time, the man-made submarine attempted to raid British warships. Although the attack ultimately failed, it proved that underwater attacks were feasible.

100 years later, during the American Civil War, the Confederate submarine USS Henry successfully sank the Union warship USS Hausatonnick with a torpedo, marking the first time in human history that a submarine sank a warship.

It was during the American Civil War that submarines demonstrated their effectiveness, prompting European countries to begin paying attention to the development of submarines.

Whether it's the current naval power, Britain, or other major European countries, they all invest to a certain extent in submarine research and development.

More than a decade ago, the French research vessel Electric Eel attempted to use electricity as its power source. However, due to the relatively underdeveloped electrical technology at the time, the Electric Eel's attempt ultimately failed.

The batteries at the time could only store a limited amount of electricity, which was far from sufficient to support the long-distance voyage of the Electric Eel submarine.

Although the French attempt failed, it wasn't entirely their fault. The problem lay in the extremely limited electrical technology at the time, which ultimately led to the unfortunate failure of their idea of ​​using electricity as a submarine propulsion system.

But if electrical technology advances, does that mean that submarine designs similar to the Electric Eel could achieve some success more than a decade from now?
Carlos placed great importance on the development of Spanish submarines.

People today can see the strategic value of submarines, let alone Carlo, who clearly understood their value in later generations.

To put it bluntly, the only purpose of a submarine is to lie in wait underwater and deliver a fatal blow to enemy transport ships and warships.

Although its role seems quite straightforward and simple, submarines possess extremely important strategic value and significance as long as they can inflict damage on enemy large transport ships and warships.

The reason is simple: the value of a ship that a submarine would attack is immeasurable, either in itself or in the value of the cargo it carries.

Even if it means sinking a warship, just severely damaging one would be a worthwhile trade, even if it means sinking to the bottom of the sea.

The cost of a submarine is relatively low, but the cost of a warship is not. Not to mention the most expensive battleships currently available, even a light cruiser with a displacement of only a few thousand tons costs far more than a small submarine.

Sinking an enemy warship of several thousand tons with a submarine would be a win for any country.

Because submarine technology was not yet mature at that time, European warships were not adequately prepared to respond to underwater attacks.

This also means that whoever can develop a relatively mature submarine technology first will gain a huge advantage in naval warfare through submarines.

Even if other countries improve their warships' defenses against submarines, submarines can still easily attack civilian vessels. Trading a submarine for a large transport ship is still a worthwhile deal.

Especially during wartime, transport ships carry not only expensive weapons and equipment and other strategic materials, but also troops of thousands or even tens of thousands of people.

Whether it's destroying a large amount of supplies or eliminating thousands or tens of thousands of enemies, it can have a very important impact on the war.

In this context, not only Carlo, but the naval authorities also attached great importance to submarine development. They hoped that submarines could become another powerful force in the Spanish Navy, making up for the Spanish Navy's deficiency in total tonnage of warships.

In addition to the close cooperation of various shipyards, Spain's submarine development program also needs the help of Gram's power laboratory.

The submarines developed by Spain are groundbreaking, as they will use electric motors as a power source in addition to internal combustion engines, which are the traditional power source.

As is well known, submarines cannot remain submerged for extended periods. Generally, when not on combat missions, submarines float on the surface.

When sailing on the surface, the submarine will use a gasoline engine for power to ensure that the submarine's speed is not too slow.

Once submerged, the submarine's power source will be replaced by an electric motor because there is no air to help the internal combustion engine generate power.

The good news is that, after a long period of development, the power output of generators and the energy storage capacity of batteries have undergone tremendous changes.

Batteries from a decade or so ago could not provide enough power to electric motors, but current batteries are capable of powering them.

Of course, it is completely impossible to support a submarine's voyage for several days or even several weeks using current batteries.

Even with a small generator installed on the submarine, the existing batteries can only support the submarine for less than ten hours of sailing.

The naval design experts at the Royal Guarnizo shipyard gathered to discuss whether submarine designs could be improved to reduce power consumption to some extent.

Because submarines travel underwater, they face significant resistance. This means a lot of power is wasted. If the submarine's shape could reduce resistance to some extent, wouldn't that indirectly increase its range?

"Mr. Graham, could you further increase the battery capacity you designed for the submarine? Our submarine has a surface range of about 1000 nautical miles, but an underwater range of less than 50 nautical miles. The difference between the two seems too great." In the conference room of the Royal Guanizo Shipyard, a naval officer involved in the development of this submarine asked with some anticipation.

The biggest drawback of this submarine is that its underwater range is less than 50 nautical miles, or just over 90 kilometers.

At first glance, it seems alright, but the submarine's surface range is as high as 1,000 nautical miles, which is 1850 kilometers.

Based on the submarine's surface and underwater range, it is difficult to distinguish whether it is a surface warship capable of diving or a submarine capable of long-term surface navigation.

For submarines, the most important factors are their underwater range and the time they can remain submerged. If only surface navigation is considered, then it would be better to build battleships and cruisers.

“It’s probably impossible right now, Your Excellency.” Gram, the head of the power laboratory and general manager of Royal Electricity of Spain, shook his head and gave a negative answer.

"The batteries and electrical systems we installed on this submarine are the best in all of Spain and even in all of Europe."

"Currently, the world's electricity supply can only support this submarine's journey of 50 nautical miles. Unless the submarine's size is increased, thereby increasing the battery capacity, it is impossible to increase the underwater range without changing its size," Gram replied.

Although it is said that everything is difficult at the beginning, a good start can lead to rapid development.

The problem is that the power industry has only been around for a little over a decade. While the development of electricity has been significant, it's clearly impossible to support submarines' long-duration voyages with current power technology.

Perhaps in the next decade or so, battery and electrical technology will offer the prospect of enabling submarines to travel longer distances. But with current technology, this is the best that electrical technology can achieve.

Upon hearing Gram's reply, the naval commander could only nod in disappointment, placing his hopes on improvements to the submarine's appearance and other aspects.

Although the naval officer attending the meeting was a general, he dared not disrespect Gram in the slightest. Leaving aside Gram's positions as head of the power laboratory and general manager of the Royal Electricity Company, his outstanding contributions to the field of electricity were not easily questioned. Moreover, as a founder of the Spanish electricity industry, Gram enjoyed Carlo's deep trust and support. If this naval officer dared to speak disrespectfully to Gram, Carlo would likely punish him immediately upon learning of the situation, teaching him the importance of respecting talent.

"Based on our own cruisers, a 50-nautical-mile underwater range is roughly sufficient. As long as our submarines detect the enemy's warships before they do, and then enter a submerged state to look for an opportunity to launch torpedoes at the enemy's warships, there is still hope for a successful surprise attack."

Currently, neither our warships nor those of other countries can effectively defend against submarines. Once we build submarines and train a submarine force with sufficient combat capability, we can effectively bridge the gap between us and naval powers.

Even if it's Britain, what difference does it make? The money they spend building one battleship is enough for us to build a dozen or even dozens of submarines. Deploying those dozen or even dozens of submarines would yield results far exceeding those of a single battleship.

"If we can make good use of submarines, we might have a chance to win a naval battle against a naval power like Britain in the future." A shipbuilding expert stepped forward, breaking the somewhat somber atmosphere and shifting the focus back from the submarine's underwater range to its overall specifications.

Putting aside the submarine's underwater range, its other performance metrics are quite impressive.

None of the people present had ever been exposed to submarines from later generations; their knowledge was limited to the submarine technology and level of this world at present.

Compared with the existing submarine technologies of other countries, the data exhibited by this submarine can be described as excellent.

According to the initial design by shipbuilding experts, the submarine will be approximately 15 meters long and 3 meters wide. Due to the presence of two propulsion systems and the need to install a large number of batteries, the submarine's displacement reaches 64 tons, which is quite heavy for its size.

The fact that submarines are relatively heavy also means that their speed will not be very fast, whether they are sailing on the surface or underwater.

And that is indeed the case. Based on the maximum power provided by the submarine's propulsion system, the submarine's surface speed is approximately 7 knots, and its underwater speed is approximately 5 knots.

Converted to more familiar units, this is equivalent to a surface speed of 13 kilometers per hour and an underwater speed of 9 kilometers per hour.

Compared to modern warships, such a speed can only be described in one word: slow.

However, it must be said that submarines do not rely on speed. Whether it was a submarine that was still in the theoretical exploration stage hundreds of years ago, or a submarine that has achieved certain research results today, the principle it relies on is underwater navigation.

The reason why warships that can only sail on water need to focus on speed is that the competition between surface warships is all about head-on combat, and speed gives them an advantage.

But submarines are different. Submarines operate underwater, where the enemy is in the open while the submarine is in the shadows, so they don't need speed to establish an initial advantage.

Submarines rely on surprise attacks. They don't care how fast they are; as long as they can successfully launch a surprise attack and damage the enemy's warships, that's all that matters.

This also led the submarine to prioritize firepower and the success of surprise attacks over speed.

A torpedo tube is installed at the bow of the submarine. The submarine can carry three torpedoes, which increases the success rate of submarine raids to some extent.

Even if the first torpedo misses the target, as long as it doesn't alert the enemy, or if the second and third torpedoes are launched in time before the enemy can react, there is still hope of completing the mission.

Near the stern of the submarine, a machine gun was also installed. This machine gun was not primarily intended for underwater targets, but rather for surface targets of similar size, such as enemy submarines and small warships of only a few hundred tons.

At the stern of the submarine, there is a 33-kilowatt gasoline engine and an electric motor powered by a battery.

These two power units can be switched freely. When navigating on water, the more powerful gasoline engine becomes the submarine's first choice because there is sufficient air to help with combustion.

Underwater, gasoline engines become completely ineffective because they cannot obtain oxygen from the air. In this case, an electric motor can be used as the power source.

The submarine is quite large, and is expected to accommodate seven crew members. According to its design, the submarine can dive to a maximum depth of 30 meters, a depth that can effectively prevent enemy warships from detecting it.

Cruisers and battleships of this era had a draft of less than 10 meters, which meant that these warships had difficulty detecting waters deeper than 10 meters.

The depth at which a submarine dives is precisely within the blind spot of a warship, and it is within this blind spot that the submarine can fulfill its role.

Experts from various industries and fields spent several days discussing this submarine design. Only after determining that current technology could not do better did they submit the submarine design to Carlo.

When Carlo saw the submarine's design and specifications, he was surprised to find that it bore a striking resemblance to the Holland 6 submarine, which is considered the prototype of the modern submarine.

The Holland VI submarine, designed in 1898 by Irish-American John Holland, was the first practical submarine to combine a gasoline engine and an electric motor, laying the foundation for modern submarine propulsion.

John Holland, who developed this submarine, is known as the father of the modern submarine, and his contributions to the submarine industry are beyond question.

While Carlo was somewhat surprised that Spain had invested so much effort in developing such a submarine, it wasn't entirely unexpected upon closer examination.

John Holland's design of a submarine that combined gasoline and electric engines was, in fact, a necessity of the times.

As mentioned before, the French submarine Electric Eel had already experimented with using electricity as a power source more than a decade ago, and electricity is currently the only option for submarine power.

Whether it's a steam engine or an internal combustion engine, combustion requires the participation of oxygen from the air. Submarines are better off when they're on the surface, as the oxygen supply from the air is inexhaustible.

Once a submarine submerges, obtaining oxygen becomes extremely difficult. At this point, neither steam engines nor internal combustion engines can provide power to the submarine, making electric motors, which do not require oxygen, the only viable option.

However, electric motors alone were not sufficient, as electrical technology was not yet mature at the time. If only electric motors and batteries were used as the power system, the underwater and surface range of such a submarine would be limited to less than 100 nautical miles.

This is why John Holland used a dual-power system of gasoline engine and electric motor, and also why the Spanish shipbuilding experts coincidentally used such a power system.

To put it bluntly, this design is not a shortcut, but a necessity for the development of submarines in this era.

Regardless of who develops submarines in this era, the power systems they use are basically a combination of these two types.

Unlike the previous submarines with rather strange designs, after months of modifications and exterior corrections by shipbuilding experts, this submarine now bears many similarities to submarines of later generations.

The submarine's data also shows that although it has many shortcomings, it does possess the strategic value and characteristics of a submarine.

Spain only needs to continue its improvements and efforts on such submarines, and in the future, it can hope to develop more advanced, modern, and powerful submarines.

With this in mind, Carlo did not hesitate at all. He expressed his encouragement to all the experts involved in the submarine's development and affirmed their progress in the submarine's development.

The rewards of checks and other valuables were certain, and the construction of submarines would begin immediately. This was partly to train a combat-ready submarine force as soon as possible, and partly to encourage the Spanish navy to learn from its own submarine force and develop a more effective defense against enemy submarines.

Unfortunately, at that time, not only was submarine technology relatively backward, but the technology for defending against submarines was also very backward. Once a country made progress in submarine technology, it meant that those countries without submarines or with poor submarine defense capabilities would suffer in surface warfare.

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(End of this chapter)