Rise of Rurik

Monarch of the Seas!

Otto had fantasized about her size more than once, but now that he finally saw this huge ship, he realized how naive his previous estimation was.

Because people cannot fantasize about things they have never seen or heard.

He stood up with his wooden stick, stepped on the cleaned and tamped ground with both feet, and continued to appreciate the size of the ship.

"Two thousand pounds of silver, did you really spend money to build a mountain?"

Rurik smiled when he heard it: "It's an unsinkable mountain."

"Then, how will she enter the sea? I saw that the big ship is clearly lying in a huge earth pit. It can't be done, or is it human power to pull him out?"

"Hehe, that's not necessary. Just look at the direction of your right hand."

Following Rurik's outstretched right arm, Otto saw a channel, now covered in ice, which at first glance looked nothing special.

"What's that? Little Bay?"

"It's the channel to the sea." As he spoke, Rurik pointed at the "strange wall" made of rammed wood and mud. "Look, that's the lock gate. It will be smashed open by an ax at a critical moment, and the sea water will wash it down, so that the ship can float into the sea."

"Is it okay?"

"That's it. Didn't we chat at the banquet?"

Rurik thought his father understood, but in fact Otto didn't understand at all, unless he could investigate on the spot today.

The dry dock shipbuilding method is too new for Otto, who claims to know a thing or two about shipbuilding. In fact, the same is true for the Hotra family. Stein, the second child of the family, carried out this pioneering work under the behest of Rurik, and even some so-called design innovations were drawn by Rurik himself. Talk about a plan.

So Stein is not afraid of failure, and everything is at the risk of King Rurik, which is the king's promise.

Accompanied by his attendants, the father and son king stood on the edge of the dry dock. When everyone knocked down, they could see the craftsmen still working under the deep pit.

"It's so cold, and they still forget themselves in their work. There are still many young people?"

"They are all my people." Rurik sighed with relief, "Just like I trained those iron slaves, these young people are all my chosen children. They are my shipbuilders. When they learn the technology, I You can direct them to build ships directly. I... don't want to be really at the mercy of those masters of the Huotra family."

"Hotra!" Otto couldn't help repeating the name, "I remember he was in the capital. This old guy should still be alive, right?"

Rurik nodded: "Yes. It's just that he is too old. He doesn't even have the strength to attend our banquet. But this time he must see you."

"That's why we're standing here waiting? Well, I can keep waiting."

At the same time, Stein hurriedly helped the old father put on thick clothes. When the old man sat in the sleigh to meet him, the two kings had to wait for a long time.

The old man was wrapped up to cover it up, like a polar bear's skin, and his old and shriveled body was covered with white fur.

Originally, the old man from Mälaren was going to accompany his eldest son to retire in the hometown of Roseburg. Since the largest ship in the kingdom had to be launched in the spring of 842, he hurried over to witness the grand launch.

The sled stopped in front of Otto, and the reindeer was still twisting its neck and body restlessly, as if frightened by the phantom of the big ship.

"Yes! It's the chief. Sure enough, you are here. Please make amends and keep you waiting for a long time." The old man stood up with Stein's support. He intended to salute the two kings, but was immediately dismissed by Otto.

"We are old friends. Let's take a look at this big ship!"

"Yes. This is a big boat built by our family with all their skill. God bless Thor, when the sea ice melts, it can go into the water."

Take a closer look at the plucked Hotra, who is almost seventy years old now. He is not out of breath when talking, but his bones are relatively weak. His once skillful hands now tremble a little while holding tools. After all, his strong arm muscles have inevitably shrunk a lot.

Here, Rurik could clearly see the elevator. Its essence is the squirrel cage lift. With the successful attempt of the "timber lift" in Elronburg in the north, this type of equipment has a greater scale and heroism in engineering construction.

Otto knew what this behemoth was, and he had to rely on him to board the ship.

"Any description is worse than I go to see it in person. Brother Huotra, I want to go up and have a look." As he said, his big hand pointed to the sky.

"Oh! I am your servant, and it is a great honor to call me brother."

"It's nothing. The Ross Navy is indestructible, and your family has contributed a lot."

The excitement of the spirit seemed to give new strength to the aging body. Otto was in a great mood, and the sky would still be silently snowing tomorrow. His enthusiasm was like the sunshine in July, and now his body was warm.

Squirrel cage cranes rely on ratchet and gear sets to slowly transport heavy loads to the uppermost deck of a vessel.

There are two squirrel cage cranes serving this huge ship with nearly 50 stikas in its keel alone, equivalent to about 48 meters.

The Sea Monarch, according to Rurik himself, is the first Galen ship built by Ross.

What is a Galen ship, and how is it different from the imitation Karak ship of Ross's eight capital ships?

There has never been such a huge ship in Northern Europe, and any definition comes from Rurik's mouth.

The reason why she is huge is that the cabin alone has three floors!

The ceiling of the upper cabin is the surface deck of the ship.

At the beginning, Ross's largest ship, taking the Aurora as an example, she only had a large interior cabin with a whole body, and the deck was equipped with a forecastle and a poop.

The Monarch of the Seas has undergone a large-scale upgrade based on the construction technology of the Aurora. The spliced ​​keel has been lengthened, and the dry oak ribs are densely arranged.

On the first deck, the oak beams are connected to the left and right ship ribs with a mortise and tenon structure, and each beam is also connected by longitudinal wooden beams to ensure the overall structural strength, and finally the oak boards are laid. Because this layer is basically used for shipping goods, the planks must have a strong load-bearing capacity, and strong oak planks are the best choice. This deck divided the bottom cabin and the middle cabin, and according to Rurik's requirements, the bottom cabin was divided into up to ten watertight compartments.

In fact, this is the first time that the Ross people have built a ship that uses a large number of watertight compartments. It was not even built to prevent the ship from sinking on the rocks, but to strengthen the bottom of the ship.

More wooden beams pull the left and right ship ribs, and the wooden beams are rigidly pieced together to form vertical planks. According to the sectional drawings provided by the Huotra family, the bottom cabin of the big ship has as many as ten "solid wooden shells", and the frame structure should be guaranteed as much as possible. The most important bottom warehouse is strong.

On the second deck, the role of the wooden beams is still to pull the ship's ribs to further enhance the overall structural strength, but the wooden boards laid are already common pine wood, and the cost issue really needs to be considered in this regard. This deck divides the second and third floors.

The third deck is divided between the third layer of the ship and the open space on the top. The biggest problem is that the length of the ship's ribs has reached the limit one after another. For this reason, the shipbuilders also assemble each ship's ribs in a mortise and tenon style. The newly added oak parts are used to install the ribs in a restrained manner, so that according to the drawn section sketch, the third cabin of the ship is trapezoidal, so the deck on the third floor has a larger area than the top deck.

The core of the bottom of the ship is a huge assembled keel, the bottom is solid, and the top begins to converge sharply. The overall plan resembles the structure of a tumbler.

This is intentional, after all, it is an unprecedented large ship. According to the experience of building large ships in the past, she exists as the main purpose of transporting goods and troops, and safety considerations are the top priority. As for its speed, the tall and multiple masts are enough to give it a super driving ability, and people believe that the speed is definitely enough.

There are two large bases installed in the keel, and the bilge has been greatly strengthened, and these two bases have been strengthened to the extreme.

At that time, the installation of the mast of this big ship became a lively event, and thousands of people came to watch the fun.

The squirrel cage crane lifted the prepared giant redwood little by little, and then carefully inserted it into the two prepared foundations.

Sequoias in Northern Europe are known for their tallness and straightness. They are widely distributed and are perfect for building houses and large ships.

The redwoods to be used as masts had been in stock since the excavation of the dry dock began. The big tree was peeled off, the surface was treated with a scraper and polished, and it was left to stand for more than two years before installation began. If it can be dried in the shade for ten years, it is the best shipbuilding material. However, it had to be installed. Firstly, Ross couldn't afford to wait, and secondly, two and a half years of standing still made the Hotra family feel that time was too long.

Large ships have a mainmast and a secondmast. Secondly, there are bow and stern masts installed at a slant, and this is a smaller scale.

Because the big ship has grown to a certain extent, it is impractical to still use triangular Latin sails.

The main mast and the auxiliary mast are equipped with sail booms to hang the huge scale sails. It is completely fixed, and the main mast also needs a human winch to drive the sails. The main mast has two sails, the largest one needs a winch to be retracted, and the second sail on the next level requires manpower.

The compound mast still has two sails, which are much smaller in area than the main mast, and all sails need manpower to operate the pulley block.

The bowmast is "lying", and its existence is to catch the wind in the lower part of the ship. It has only one side and is mounted on a single beam. Only when full speed sailing is required, this special sail is lowered.

The most special thing is the stern mast, where the only triangular Latin sail in the whole ship is installed. From this triangle sail, yes, the big ship has the ability to sail against the wind at least, but the displacement of the big ship is too large, no one expects it to really have headwind seaworthiness, the biggest significance of this triangle sail is to correct the ship during sailing heading. After all, with such a large ship, it is really difficult to turn quickly by relying solely on the stern rudder, so it is better to use the special use of the triangular Latin sail to assist.

There are three sets of winch systems in the big ship, one is to control the lifting and lowering of the main mast and mainsail, the other is to control the retractable and retractable anchor, and the other is to control the stern rudder.

The cast iron gears are specially made. With the existence of this system, one person can control the steering of the huge rudder, but the operator needs to keep rotating the wheel to make four or two moves.

No, Rurik Otto and others are already standing on the top deck. The workers here have been busy all the time. The huge sails are piled up on the deck. They are putting the cables in the large number of holes reserved. Ship inspection, these people are still busy working.

Rurik looked at the sky, stared at the top of the mast, and was delighted to see that a watchtower had indeed been installed there.

Take a closer look at the deck, he urgently needs to go to the lower level to take a look.

Portholes were specially reserved on the third floor, and it was pitch black on the second and lower floors. The bottom two floors are designed to transport goods, and the third floor mainly transports people. The reserved portholes are not only for people to see the scenery, but also can be used as shooting holes for torsion slingshots.

Is there any force that dares to fight the Ross Navy at sea? Like a mountain floating on the sea, even if the rope ladder is lowered, people sitting on a traditional long boat have to climb for a while before they can get on the boat.

The Monarch of the Sea canceled the forecastle and continued to keep the poop. The reason for this is that the winch system of the rudder and the stern mast take up a lot of space. Secondly, the captain's cabin is located here, which is the most important cabin of the whole ship, and Rurik also has selfish intentions. When he needs to sail on this new flagship of the Ross Navy, he must live in the best room to spend his slow sailing. boring days.

When Otto was old, he walked down the wooden ladder to the bottom floor. Here he can still hear Ding Ding Dongdong's voice.

"What's this doing? Is anyone else digging the bottom of the boat?" he asked.

Stein hastily explained: "We are busy installing the bilge keel now in order to avoid the big ship bumping left and right at sea."

"Oh? When I first came here, I saw someone busy under the pit, seeming to be nailing some planks. Could it be this?"

"Exactly," Stein added.

The so-called bilge keel is to smash the side of the bottom of the ship to deliberately install a raised part. The so-called intentionally increase sea wave damping. The bilge keel is accompanied by ballast stones. In order to make the ship more stable and safe, it is better to sacrifice some speed.

However, the length-to-width ratio of the entire ship was still a little out of balance. On the one hand, the Hotra family was very aggressive in accordance with Rurik's requirements, and on the other hand, they were very conservative.

Compared with the Aurora, the spliced ​​keel has increased by nearly 20 stikas, and the length has increased by as much as 60%, while the width of the ship remains unchanged.

Because the Hotra family could not build a large ship with a maximum width of 10stika (9.8 meters).

The maximum width of the big ship appears on the second deck, and it converges to a maximum of 8 stikas on the top deck. Then on the **** deck, converge until there are only 6 stikas. Such a length-to-width ratio makes this big ship quite slender.

Everything starts with big trees, iron ore, linen and wool, countless ordinary things, and finally become such giants in the hands of skilled craftsmen.

Otto began to feel that she was more than a two thousand pound investment, that she was huge on the outside and exquisite on the inside.

It's aptly called the Lord of the Seas.

The crane slowly sent the visiting king to the solid ground. Otto was so satisfied that his legs trembled with excitement.

He had to hold his son's shoulders, and smiled to hide the uncontrollable trembling of his lips.

"Hotra, you... your family is a hero. You! God Thor really gave your family power."

Of course, Hotra himself was also surprised. The construction of the big ship has come to an end, and the rest is the time to install various appearance facilities. Facts have proved that there is plenty of time, and the launch and seaworthiness in April will not be delayed at all.

For the first time, Hotra simulated the identity of an outsider to re-examine his family's giant ship. He thought that three years ago he took on this epic task on behalf of the whole family, and now the actual operation is all in the second son and the huge number sent by Rurik of apprentices.

It doesn't matter that the apprentices of the church starve to death of the master, because the big ships are full of new technologies.

Hearing Otto's praise, while being happy, Hotra couldn't help beating his heart.

"What if the ship suddenly leaks water after the gate is released? What if she rolls after entering the ocean? If so, I will be ashamed of the sin even if I apologize with death!" Huotra dared not Speaking out the worries in his heart, he didn't dare to provoke the displeasure of the two kings.

But he is indeed a devout believer of Thor. He stayed in the capital this winter, and went to the Great Temple many times to pray in front of the gilded statue of Thor~www.readwn.com~even, not far from the dry dock A small altar was placed right here, where a silver-plated iron statue of Thor was enshrined. The statue emphasized Thor's Hammer. People regularly prayed to the statue on the spot for the safety of the project and the safety of future sea trials.

So, can the Monarch of the Seas take over the historical responsibility of the old flagship Aurora immediately after launching?

In Rurik's heart there was no possibility of failure at all.

He saw the current situation of the big ship with his own eyes, and told himself that success was inevitable.

Of course, a huge ship needs more people to operate. In the era without electric motors and internal combustion engines, there were no steam boilers. Such a large ship required manpower to steer, retract and release anchors, and raise and lower sails, that is, it required a large number of sailors.

"In the new war, this big ship does not have the combat and transportation capabilities. I must train new sailors and expand the strength of the navy."

Rurik was already about to do that.