Chapter 286 - Anti-Piracy Operations
Chapter 286 – Anti-Piracy Operations
Emmerich was in the process of taking out the Austrian First Fleet for its maiden voyage. This fleet comprised of ten Berengar-Class Frigates, these frigates had a crew complement of 450 men each, as well as 55 marines on board. Needless to say, it was among the finest fleets in existence, and would soon be playing a pivotal role in the establishment of Austrian power in the Mediterranean.
It was supposed to be a standard patrol mission off the coastline of the Duchy of Austria. However, the moment these ships set sail, they quickly noticed a peculiar scene. A clipper waving the flag of Austria was in the process of being pursued by three caravels. Though the clipper was far faster than the caravels chasing after it and would eventually escape, it did not mean that the Admiral would leave such lawlessness unpunished.
Assuming that this was the act of pirates, Admiral Emmerich gave the command to pursue the pirates and end their actions. As such, the ten frigates began to sail at an exceptional speed of 13 knots, when compared to the 8 knots that the Caravels were traveling at, the frigates quickly caught up to the would-be pirates.
The massive forty-four gun frigates formed into a line and presented their broadside cannons at the pirates, who had nearly shat their pants in fear of the gigantic vessels that had appeared before them so suddenly.
During this era, broadside cannons were nonexistent on European vessels, as such Berengar's ships held an enormous advantage in terms of firepower. At best, these small caravels had two guns, one in the fore and the other in the ship's aft. As such, the vessel desperately tried to turn their boats around to fire onto the ten frigates that hard surrounded them on both sides.
However, the next moment the SMS Berengar, the first of its class, and the current flagship of Admiral Emmerich opened fire with the guns on its starboard side, the Pirates' hopes vanished. The thunder of the guns echoed into the air as the shells fired out of the massive steel cannons, exploding upon impact, and blasting the Caravel to smithereens, along with the crew on board.
Explosive shells were deadly weapons to a wooden ship, which is the main reason why ironclads were developed in Berengar's previous life, specifically to counteract the existence of cannons capable of firing explosive shells from the 1850s onward.
Seeing one of their allies taken out in a single barrage from a single ship, the deckhand of the other caravels immediately tried to raise the white flag. Still, a few other vessels unleashed a barrage of their guns before they could do so, blasting the small 75 foot long caravels into pieces.
Whatever was on board these pirates' ships were either blown apart or sunk to the depths of the Adriatic sea. Little did Emmerich know that the Venetian Republic secretly hired these pirates to harass Berengar's shipping. However, they had achieved virtually no success.
The clippers were too fast for the caravels to compete. A Caravel was capable of at most 8 knots of speed, whereas the clipper's top rate maxed out over 22 knots. There was simply no way for the vessels of the era to catch Berengar's merchant ships.
While Emmerich continued his patrol, a nearby Venetian vessel and its crew that had observed the display of prowess by the ten frigates were stunned into silence. The Captain on board the vessel watching the swift destruction of the pirates was at a loss for words. Cold sweat poured from the man's brow as he thought back to the near-instant destruction the Austrian vessels had caused to the small pirate fleet.
It was only after several minutes did someone finally voice a thought on the matter. It was one of the officers under the Captain's command.
"Captain… What do we do about this?"
The Captain had an urge to strip off his uniform and jump into the Adriatic sea. Knowing that the Doge wanted to go to war against such terrifying power and that the Austrians were pumping out ships like this every week stripped away any semblance of bravery the man thought he had.
Within a year, the Austrians would potentially have hundreds of these vessels. Hell, even if they only managed to create 50 of those damned things, the Venetian Navy would be in for a world of hurt. Not only was there a significant speed advantage that the Frigates held, but the firepower on a single one of the Austrian ships was more than enough to take on a fleet of their own.
As such, the Captain swallowed his saliva and took a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself down before responding to the officer's question.
"Set a course for Venice, we must alert the Admiralty of this news as soon as possible."
With that said the Venetian Naval vessel immediately changed course and began to head back to Venice. When they finally arrived the Head Admiral was already in the middle of a conversation with a Doge, rather than wait around for the head of state, and the foremost Admiral to finish their discussion, the Captain decided to risk his position and barged into the door after arguing with the secretary.
The moment the Captain entered the room, the Doge and Admiral glared at him with fury, the Venetian head of state immediately began to chastise the Captain.
"What do you think you are doing barging into the middle of my office? Who permitted you to do such a thing!"
However, the Captain could not care less about proper etiquette at this moment and instantly began to inform the two men of the terrifying sight he had witnessed.
"Your serenity, Admiral, I apologize for the intrusion, but I have urgent news from the Adriatic sea that you must be aware of; it has to do with the pirates we have hired to attack Austrian shipping!"
The Doge began to curse under his breath as he heard this
"Useless fucking pirates! What the hell am I paying them for!?! Go on, spit it out!"
Not willing to waste a second, the Captain immediately reported what he and his crew had witnessed and the overwhelming destructive power of a single frigate used by the Austrian Navy. After a lengthy discussion, the Captain was dismissed, leaving the Head Admiral and the Doge with grim expressions as they stood in silence by themselves.
They had a hard time believing the Captain's reports and had even questioned the man's sanity as he told the horrific tale of the Pirates' untimely demise. Ultimately the Doge posed a question to the Admiral.
"Do you think he was telling the truth?"
The Admiral scratched his chin for a bit before sighing
"I believe that he believes that he was telling the truth…"
The Doge looked at the Admiral with a questioning gaze as he heard this and asked for clarification.
"meaning?"
After careful consideration, the Admiral laid out what he believed to be a more likely scenario.
"What the Captain says is too unrealistic. Even with the alleged industrial prowess of Austria, to make ten ships, each armed with dozens of cannons, that is capable of firing projectiles that explode upon impact is unlikely.
I mean, I have heard reports of his army using such technology, but this is mostly from second-hand information and is probably just a propaganda tactic the Austrians are using to mislead us about their actual military capabilities.
I don't doubt that the Pirate ships were destroyed, but by a single vessel with a single bombardment? Preposterous! Unless I can personally witness such a thing, I refuse to believe in such a fantasy.
No, I think it is far more likely that the Austrians have constructed a new kind of vessel capable of having cannons on the broadside, and all ten of the ships opened fire on the three pirate vessels simultaneously.
At most, they have five cannons on each side, which is not something we need to worry about; after all, we planned for unexpected circumstances such as this, and we are producing a new warship every day.
Assuming Bernegar isn't foolish enough to attack us, we will have our thousand ships in under three years. By then, it does not matter how many of these ships the Austrians have; they will be outnumbered!"
After hearing this estimation, the Doge began to calm down and think about the circumstances more rationally. The Admiral was right; such firepower on a vessel was not just outrageous; it was downright otherworldly.
Unless Berengar had received divine inspiration from the Lord Almighty himself, there was no way he could design such monstrous vessels. As such, the valuable intelligence that the Captain reported was disregarded as the rantings of a coward.
Little did the Venetian Admiralty realize that every word the Captain had spoken was complete and utter truth because the Doge and Head Admiral had disregarded the Captains testimony, they would be in for a world of hurt the day they were unfortunate enough to enter a war with Austria, and the Tyrant of Steel.
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