Japan Space-Time Strange Chronicles

Escort Squadron vs Bird Carrier Fleet, Begins

Before I knew it, my bookmarks exceeded 480... Somehow, the number of registrations has increased remarkably recently... I will do my best to live up to your expectations!!

- Kazuhiro Kasami

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June 18, 1738

About 50 km off the western coast of the Republic of Francesca

After spending the night in port, the fleet departed from the port city in Francesca and sailed like an arrow over the sea at a high speed of 22 knots.

"I-it's so fast!? Just how fast is this ship!?"

Lysiol was astonished to see the speed of the ship, which was far from what he knew.

He had previously been on board the battleship Quartz as an observer when the Grand Lago Kingdom was involved in a small-scale conflict with the Finweden Sea Kingdom to the east. The experience was indescribably harsh, and he had thought that he would never want to ride on a steel ship again. However, the ship he is on now is faster and much larger than that. He was surprised at how little the ship swayed, and he wondered how this might affect them in battle.

The Azuchi-class amphibious assault ship he was on was designed from the start to be able to reach a maximum speed of 30 knots in order to be able to keep up with fleet operations, despite being a landing ship. And yet, it is no exaggeration to say that the ship would not experience any turbulence unless the seas were very rough. And since there was still some time left before the battle, he was being guided around the ship by Captain Endo.

Despite being a steel ship like the one owned by Grand Lago, a powerful country, the inside was comfortable itself. The inside of the Kingdom's warship, especially near the engine room, was quite hot from the heat of burning coal, and the dwarves were sweating as they worked, but this was not the case on this warship. The crews are working briskly, but he didn't see anyone sweaty or carrying heavy-looking coal. Above all, there is no air that can be called high heat.

Lysiol knew from a book he had bought at a bookstore (a book published in French, since their language was similar to French) that not only this ship but also most of the Japanese escort ships were powered by a mechanism called a gas turbine. He didn't understand the mechanism, but he knew that it was far superior to coal in terms of mere power, and since he had always wanted to visit a Japanese ship, he jumped at the chance to see one.

"Even the Yetisk Empire... will not have this same capability. To be a friendly nation with this country... this must be a stroke of luck."

Next to him was Diles, the captain of a protected cruiser dispatched from the Grand Lago Kingdom as an observer. He had been on board the Japanese patrol vessel Shikishima but had never been on a destroyer, so when he heard about this, he thought it would be a good opportunity to study Japanese technology. However, this technology that existed before their eyes was far beyond their understanding, and they were only confronted once again with the fact that they had not caught up with it at all.

The ship sailed further.

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4 hours later

200 km off the southwest coast of the Republic of Francesca

Tolon, commander of the Allied Kingdoms Fleet, or the Invincible Fleet, smiled with satisfaction as he watched the fleet sailing at a speed of about 10 knots.

"Hohoho... someday my fleet on this blue sea will dye the cup of victory with red wine."

According to the telegram, the land side is struggling a bit, but the Republic of Francesca does not have any kind of warship armed with cannons. Thanks to a bit of steel technology support from Grand Lago, they have steel ships with thick armored plates, but their battle strategy is fire and slash. It was predicted that if they attacked from outside enemy range with the guns of their man o' war, including the 100-gun ships, they would be able to reduce the enemy's combat capability almost without much effort.