Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology

"Kolkata-class clipper and Amravati-class frigate—are the initial code names."

The designers scrolled down all the requirements in their notebooks, ready to get started on the design, but they were taken aback when His Majesty continued to give them more projects.

"Up next is the M Series frigate (Medium). The Vinayak-class frigate is no longer usable, so I am going to replace it with a newer generation frigate. This frigate’s role will be to act as the damage dealer in a naval battle. The tonnage is designated to be under 800 tonnes, and the speed should not decrease from the last generation."

"Also, similar to the medium-class frigate, the Navy requires a medium-class clipper designed for speed. The tonnage is naturally 800 tonnes."

"The new code names are Chennai-class clipper and Colombo-class frigate."

The happiness of the designers did not stop there as His Majesty kept going.

"The next ships I require will test the strength of our naval shipbuilding capabilities. Our shipbuilding technology has been developing over the past seven years, and now is the time to fully utilize these capabilities, as the next ships I require are to be the main flagships of our empire."

"The first one, I call the Delhi-class battleship, will be a 2,000-ton Battleship designated to be the flagship of our empire’s naval fleet. This will be the biggest warship our empire has ever built."

"What!"

A jolt of lightning ran through Danior Boswell and Ganaprabu Berunda, as they were the only two people capable of bringing this vision to reality, except for the Venetian designer, who was not present at the meeting.

Both of them were excited, but they knew their limitations.

"Your Majesty, even the Pune-class battleship was built with the help provided by the Venetians. Now, we are suddenly jumping to the construction of a 2,000-ton battleship, the largest warship any country in the world can produce. Are we not being too hasty?" Danior Boswell asked with a worried expression.

"I agree with Mr. Boswell, Your Majesty. Although I am very confident that I can eventually design such behemoths, I’m not sure if that time is now," Ganaprabu Berunda, a rival of Danior Boswell, unusually supported his rival.

Vijay was not surprised by the doubts of his top designers, as he had expected this to happen. But since he had put forward the condition, he naturally had a solution to the problem. "I understand your concerns, but don’t worry, you can do it."

"Don’t we have the design drawings of the Dutch battleships we initially captured, the design drawings of the caravel we bought from the Portuguese, the design drawings of our own Bheema-class armed merchant ship, our own Samudra Bandhu-class merchant ship, Dhana-class armed merchant ship, and the design drawings of the Venetian battleships that we eventually used to make the Pune-class battleship?" Everyone nodded, as this was common knowledge.

However, Vijay then put on a mysterious expression, intriguing all those present.

"This is confidential information, but let me tell you all, we have the blueprint layouts of the 1,500-tonne and 2,000-tonne Spanish galleons. So, combining all the knowledge and experience we have, it should be possible to build a 2,000-tonne battleship capable of sailing the oceans of the world."

The designers were immediately shocked, not understanding how they had acquired the blueprints of such advanced ships. However, since His Majesty didn’t mention it, they chose not to question it.

Vijay had actually found the blueprint of the Spanish galleon in the port of Manila. Typically, in order to maintain the galleons, workers needed to be clear about what they were working on, and the Philippines had numerous blueprints of some of the ships that visited Manila Bay.

When the Bharatiya forces took over Manila Bay, the person responsible for destroying these blueprints was lying unconscious after drinking too much. The Bharatiya Empire got a great bargain.

When Vijay obtained the blueprint, he used his knowledge to modify it slightly, making it easier for the Bharatiya Empire to design its own battleship. Of course, he wasn’t going to mention all of this to the designers.

Vijay went on to encourage the designers, "Additionally, after we captured the Spanish colonizers from the Philippines, many maintenance personnel are in our custody, so you can use them during your design sessions. It should make the process easier."

Danior Boswell and Ganapatra Berunda’s eyes lit up; they indeed found the plan to be feasible. "We can do it, Your Majesty."

Vijay was very happy with the confidence of his two best designers. Secretly, he passed on his knowledge to these two designers, in the form of knowledge seeds to gain constant insights into the design when they started the process.

"Now that the Delhi-class battleship is settled, we also need an armed merchant ship. I personally love the design of the Khaki-class grain transporter designed by the Southern United Naval Design Bureau. I appreciate how your purpose-built ship has significantly increased the efficiency of our goods transportation. Mr.

Naveen, you and your colleagues from the small three shipyards, along with the design bureau you established, did a very good job with the ship," Vijay said, looking at Naveen with kindness.

Naveen and the three designers were immediately overwhelmed. They got up and thanked Vijay profusely. "It is our honour, Your Majesty. Your grace is like the endless Ganga River..."

Before they could go further, Vijay motioned for them to stop and sit down. He continued, "So after seeing the Khaki-class grain transporter, I suddenly had an idea. We can build our new armed merchant ship purpose-built for the transportation of cargo.

What I suggest is to make modifications in the ship’s cargo bay so that many rectangular storage units could be stacked on top of one another like bricks. We can standardize the size of these containers, making transportation easier."

"And any goods transported could be placed into these rectangular containers, making transportation simpler," he added.

"I am sure these containers will weigh a lot, so we can use some sort of pulley system to get them off the ship.

For now, let’s standardize the size and weight of these containers to be under 2 tonnes so that they can be easily attached to specialized carriages, allowing for direct transportation from the port without much hassle."

All the designers were amazed at the idea proposed by His Majesty; they did not expect him to bring out such a significant design from a small Khaki-class grain transporter, which weighs less than 800 tonnes.

Their eyes were filled with admiration, and they quickly wrote down all the details.

"This new ship can be categorized as a container series ship, or simply as a ’C’ series ship." Vijay wrote down the word "C" in Bharati’s text on a piece of paper and showed it to everyone. "The container series ship will be built on the main hull platform of a ship codenamed the Guwahati-class armed merchant ship."

"The container ship is not the only series of ships I require. The second series is the carrier-series ship or simply ’CR’ series, which should be purpose-built by the customer to carry specific objects."

"For example, like the Khaki-class ship, which is primarily used to transport grain, the carrier-type ship could be custom-built to carry not only grain but also many other items, such as ore, coal, steel, cement, timber, and more."

"For now, the Empire urgently requires a ship that is purpose-built to handle all these tasks in a specialized manner, so I want you all to consider a basic platform of the CR series Guwahati-class armed merchant ships that can manage these loads with slight modifications."

"The third series, is the classic armed merchant ship used for military purposes; hence, this will be called the M series ships. I just need it to be based on our Bhima-class armed merchant ship but bring its draft tonnage to 2000 tonnes. The only further requirement of mine is to make its offensive and defensive capabilities similar to those of the Pune-class battleship. Nôv(el)B\\jnn

This armed merchant ship would be used to carry sensitive goods like gold, silver, or military equipment."

"So, in total, there are three different series of ships under the Guwahati-class armed merchant ship: the C Series, the CR Series, and the M Series. Make sure that all three series of ships share the same hull and have familiar parts. Take the help of the Bharatiya Standards Organisation to standardise the parts produced by the supporting industry."

"Also, before I forget, make sure that compartmentalization is utilised in both the Delhi-class battleship and the Guwahati-class armed merchant ship throughout its three series."

The designers were doubtful, as they couldn’t understand why His Majesty suddenly wanted compartmentalization, but they did not have to wait long, as His Majesty explained himself: "These two ships will not be constrained to the Indian Ocean; they will be responsible for intercontinental trade and exploration purposes. So it is best to make them more durable and resistant to sinking.

As for the disadvantage of small activity space, come up with a way to reduce the number of people required aboard. If it is still not possible, we can increase the qualifications for sailors aboard the ship, thereby reducing the number of personnel required."

The designers now fully understood.

"So, in total, all of you have six designs to make. Well, including the different series of Guwahati-class, let us consider it as eight different designs. The deadline is two months. The deadline for prototype creation will be decided after reviewing the designs, but as compensation for your work, each reasonable design will earn 2,000 varaha.

For the accepted design, the prize money will be 200,000 varaha."

There was an uproar among the designers; 2,000 varaha was almost equivalent to the annual salary of a major in the Bharatiya Army, and in terms of gold, 2,000 varaha is 68 grams of gold. This is money that the designers have never earned in one lump sum, especially for the 3 designers of the Southern United Marine Design Bureau, whose total annual net income wouldn’t reach 10,000 varaha.

This huge amount is also a significant temptation for the wealthy designers like Danior Bosswell and Ganaprabu Berunda, as the prize for a winning design is 200,000 varaha. Given that there are only three design bureaus, it means that with ingenuity and hard work, Danior Boswell or Ganaprabu Berunda could potentially earn more than 200,000 varaha in the span of a few months.

Two hundred thousand varaha is equal to 6.8 kilograms of gold, which is a substantial sum of money for a single design.

With the benefits provided by His Majesty, all the designers were energized. They quickly left the Royal Palace excitedly to start the designing process.

"Ganesh, send the Venetian designer our requirements for the merchant ship, and also mention the benefits and the deadline." Vijay didn’t call the Venetian designer to the meeting, as the designer is not part of the Bharatiya Empire.

This was not a significant problem during the design of the Pune-class battleship because they had much better shipbuilding technology than the Bharatiya Empire. However, now the Bharatiya Empire is set out to build a battleship that even the Venetians could not build, so it had to be kept secret.