Doomsday: I Build a Space Fleet

Chapter 210 is under design...

After a quick meal, Luo Lin and Ouyang Nian stayed at the restaurant to clean up, while Bai Jin and Lin Shu went to the research lab and picked up some testing equipment.

The three then donned their respective power armor and boarded a helicopter with Platinum to reach the deck of the amphibious assault ship.

After an hour of testing and adjustments, Platinum's power armor became more responsive and the various minor issues disappeared.

The following morning, Platinum arrived at the cockpit and remotely controlled the unmanned combat swarm to begin clearing the zombies from the city.

Lorraine and Ouyang Nian went into the design studio together and began designing the subsequent flagship hull.

Lorraine defines this flagship as an aviation cruiser, whose main responsibilities are observation, command, special forces delivery platform, and air fire delivery platform.

In addition, since the warship's main operating range is on the water surface and in the atmosphere, it not only needs to install electromagnetic guns on the upper deck, but also needs to install cannons capable of striking land targets on the bottom of the hull.

Meanwhile, in order to face an increasingly powerful enemy, Lorraine also planned to install a powerful axial cannon on the warship. However, due to a lack of existing materials, it was impossible to manufacture more fusion engines to power the axial cannon.

The second thing to consider is the mobility of this airship. The existing anti-gravity unit can only make the flagship float after activation. Propulsion devices need to be installed at the tail and around the flagship to ensure that the flagship can move freely in the air.

However, this would require the flagship to be equipped with three power systems, significantly reducing the space inside the ship.

The third thing to consider is airdrop capability. The current mechanical dog squad, like the special forces squad, has a larger machine, stronger firepower, and faster movement speed.

The flagship also needs to have enough space to park three small transport boats.

Ouyang Nian's mood fluctuated between excitement, confusion, and numbness, but when she saw the sketch drawn by Lorraine, her attitude instantly turned into extreme fervor.

"Once we have the basic structure, things will be easier. How should we divide the tasks?"

After all, it would be quite difficult for her to design something she had never seen before from scratch.

"You'll handle the air propulsion system, the power supply system for the anti-gravity unit, and the power supply system for the electromagnetic gun."

"I'll handle the weapon systems and the superstructure."

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"We can leave the optimization of the ship's internal space to Cleveland."

"Easy, I've done this job many times before."

Afterwards, Ouyang Nian returned to his work station.

The entire workbench occupies one-third of the interior space, leaving a hemispherical space in the middle.

The control panel is trapezoidal and consists of three small control panels, each 700 mm long. It is equipped with standard tools such as a keyboard and mouse, as well as touchpads, digitizers, ballpoint spheres, and other similar items.

The strangest thing is the distribution of the screens on the control panel. Each small control panel has a small screen that is 30 cm wide and 45 cm long and is placed at a 30-degree angle. Each screen also has a scroll wheel and some buttons on the side.

"drop"

The spherical space behind the control panel slowly lit up, emitting a faint blue glow.

Then, an interactive holographic projection appeared above the control panel.

The two control panels are arranged back to back and have the ability to exchange data. During the design process, the 3D projection in front of them will change in real time, and the two can annotate each other's designs at any time.

While Ouyang Nian was designing the ship's interior, Lorraine was adjusting the position of the island superstructure.

Because the flagship needed to be equipped with a axial gun, and the main propulsion unit also needed to be installed at the stern, and the stern propulsion unit would also have a certain impact on the take-off and landing of aircraft, the flight deck could only be arranged above the axial gun.

The main propulsion system, located on the outside of the ship, is the most critical part of the entire vessel. After a brief moment of consideration, Lorraine decisively placed the bridge at the stern of the ship, choosing to have the flagship face the enemy head-on.

Therefore, he removed all heavy firepower located at the stern of the ship, retaining only short-range air defense missiles, laser interceptor weapons, and close-in weapon systems, which occupy less space.

The arrangement of weapons on both sides of the flight deck at the front of the ship is also a question worth considering.

Based on the current situation, it is highly likely that there are extraterrestrial life forms' ships in the sky or in space.

In addition to the large-caliber main guns that serve as the main artillery, Lorraine now also needs smaller-caliber secondary guns capable of anti-aircraft fire, as well as a large number of close-in weapon systems.

The simplest of these is the close-in weapon system, which can be achieved by integrating existing close-range air defense missiles, multi-barrel rapid-fire cannons, and laser interception weapons.

Before deploying the secondary guns, Lorraine opened the database to search for electromagnetic guns with lower energy consumption and higher initial velocity.

Unfortunately, Lorraine did not find the electromagnetic cannon he wanted. Instead, he found more advanced electromagnetic cannons with different advantages and disadvantages: the electromagnetic railgun, the electrothermal cannon, and the reconnection cannon.

An electromagnetic railgun consists of two parallel, long, straight rails, with the projectile positioned between the two rails.

When the two rails are connected to a power source, a strong current flows from one rail into the projectile and flows back from the other rail, generating a strong magnetic field between the two rails. The energized projectile is then launched at an extremely high speed under the influence of the Ampere force.

Compared to coilguns, which require alternating current, railguns only require direct current, which simplifies the structure and reduces the weight of the gun. The muzzle velocity of the projectiles is also higher than that of coilguns, but the ability to launch large-mass projectiles is reduced.

The reconnector is similar to a conventional electromagnetic gun, but it does not have a barrel. Instead, it consists of a multi-stage accelerated contactless electromagnetic launcher that requires the projectile to have a certain initial velocity before entering the reconnector.

Compared to coilguns and railguns, the reconnector gun combines the advantages of both in that it can fire large-mass and high-velocity projectiles. Its special coil magnetic field arrangement also gives the projectile a higher peak acceleration force, resulting in a higher muzzle velocity.

At the same time, the cannon consumes less energy and generates less heat. Its only drawback is that the projectile needs to have a certain initial velocity.

The principle of electrothermal guns is completely different from all the electromagnetic guns mentioned above. They are launching devices that use electrical energy to heat the working fluid to propel the projectile. They can be divided into two categories: direct heating and indirect heating. Indirect heating is classified as an electrothermal chemical gun.

Direct-heat electromagnetic railguns generate plasma directly from a high-power pulsed power supply to propel projectiles, while electrothermal-chemical railguns use plasma to heat a light working fluid to generate high-pressure hot gas to drive projectiles.

However, compared to other electric cannons, electrothermal cannons have a relatively simple structure, and some types of electrothermal cannons can be slightly modified from conventional artillery, making them the best choice for efficiently utilizing existing equipment to enhance combat power.

However, compared to other electromagnetic railguns, electrothermal guns have lower propulsion efficiency, generally below 3 kilometers per second. Furthermore, they require propellant during firing, which reduces a ship's ammunition carrying capacity to some extent. (If you could only read one science fiction novel in your life, it would probably be "Doomsday: I Build a Space Fleet").

Lorraine quickly selected the electromagnetic railgun as the secondary gun, but the emergence of the reconnection gun and the electrothermal gun gave Lorraine new ideas for the flagship's axial gun.

However, putting that idea aside for now, Lorraine first found the balance between the mass of the railgun projectile and its high initial velocity, and determined that the secondary gun's caliber was 240 mm.

"The caliber of the fleet's artillery is getting bigger and bigger. This won't do; I need to find a way to standardize these calibers as much as possible."

However, this is not a difficult task, thanks to the fact that electromagnetic railguns are not usually composed of highly sealed barrels, and they can easily fire sub-caliber ammunition of various sizes.

For Lorraine, having too much power is better than not having enough, and in the foreseeable future, all the mines on this continent will provide him with resources, so having too much power is not a bad thing.

The idea flashed through his mind, and soon four single-mounted 240mm railguns were neatly arranged on both sides of the 183-meter-long flight deck.

With the secondary gun groups for anti-aircraft fire already deployed, Lorraine began researching ground attack weapon systems.

However, since the flagship was positioned more towards long-range strikes, Lorraine did not install the high-energy laser array that he had longed for, which could be used for pinpoint strikes. Instead, he installed two 380mm coilguns on both sides of the hull.

On the other side, Ouyang Nian was immersed in choosing a propulsion system.

If a common chemical fuel propulsion system were used, the flagship's payload capacity would be largely consumed by chemical fuel, and it would require frequent refueling.

However, if a high-thrust ion thruster is used, the current manufacturing capabilities of the flagship are insufficient to produce such a propulsion system, which is recorded in the Level 5 database.

The power supply systems for the anti-gravity units and electromagnetic weapons have already been completed.

Ouyang Nian did not use any existing gas turbine, but instead created a gas turbine with higher output power, higher thermal efficiency, and smaller size based on data from the database.

After the waste heat recovery system was installed, the thermal efficiency of this type of gas turbine increased from 46.8% to 78.2%, and the output power of a single unit also reached 265.7 megawatts. Only two units are needed to meet the energy needs of the entire ship.

Moreover, using ion thrusters has another drawback: it requires a large amount of power to ionize the working fluid. In addition, the thrust of a thruster of the same size is still less than that of a chemical fuel thruster.

"Rolling around".

With a powerful push of his feet, Lorraine slid down in the ergonomic chair to Ouyang Nian's side.

"What's bothering you? Tell me."

Ouyang Nian poured out all her worries, and then when she looked up, she saw Luo Lin's ambiguous smile.

Ouyang Nian instantly became furious, his long tail slapping behind him as he fiercely questioned Lorraine.

"What are you laughing at? What's so funny?"

Seeing Ouyang Nian's agitated state, Luo Lin quickly tried to calm him down.

"No, no, I'll solve the problem for you right away."

"First of all, according to Cleveland's calculations, this type of thruster can be manufactured by the machining center after the flagship is upgraded to level four, so you only need to reserve the placement location."

"Second, the anti-gravity unit almost completely cancels out the flagship's gravity when operating at full power."

At this point, Lorraine suddenly remembered something and asked Ouyang Nian a question.

"So what is the flagship's maximum speed after installing plasma thrusters?"

"When using chemical propulsion, the maximum flight speed is 542 kilometers per hour. When equipped with plasma thrusters, the maximum flight speed is 340 kilometers per hour."

"?"

Seeing Lorraine's twitching lips, Ouyang Nian had no idea what he had done wrong.

Lorraine sighed and said, "This is a large warship with a standard displacement of over 45,000 tons. Why do you insist on making it fly at the same speed as a propeller-driven fighter jet?"

"Moreover, we are fighting within the atmosphere."

Lorraine pointed to the ship model that didn't conform to aerodynamic design.

"The faster we fly, the greater our aerodynamic drag and the higher our external temperature. Moreover, we are a flagship, and we don't need to travel at such high speeds in the sky in normal operation."

"Although we now have data to refer to, designing a warship is not something that can be done overnight. It is only with Cleveland's assistance that we have been able to design a usable warship so quickly."

"Moreover, we are still in a state of learning and applying at the same time. Don't rush when designing, take your time, ask Cleveland more questions, communicate more and exchange ideas more."

"oh."

Ouyang Nian flicked his tail, perked up, and looked at the documents that had just been delivered.

"Is this a composite artillery piece combining an electrothermal cannon and a reloading cannon?"

"Yes."

"The electrothermal gun ignites the working propellant and uses high-pressure plasma gas to propel the projectile to a muzzle velocity of at least 2 kilometers per second. The projectile with this initial velocity then enters the re-launch gun, which continues to increase the projectile's initial velocity."

"Plus, the main gun isn't something that needs to be fired frequently, so this is the optimal solution I can come up with right now."

Ouyang Nian tilted his head and thought for a moment, and found that apart from the long acceleration trajectory, this main gun did not have any major drawbacks. Overall, it was a very good weapon.

After all, its energy consumption is not too high for a flagship's energy system.

"Has the caliber of that cannon been determined?"

Lorraine shook her head.

"Right now, we're just having Cleveland conduct a feasibility test. We'll start calculating the appropriate caliber once the test is complete."

But just as the two were having an exciting discussion, the door to the design studio quietly opened, and Lin Shu, with a gloomy face, appeared at the cabin door.

It wasn't until she walked up behind the two that Ouyang Nian noticed something was wrong, but then a voice gritting its teeth rang out from behind them.

"Lorraine, Ouyang Nian, have you two forgotten something? What about what you promised me?"

Upon hearing Lin Shu's voice, the two of them stiffly turned to look behind them.

"Um, Sister Shu, we..."

Clearly, the two people, engrossed in their design, had no idea what time it was.

Seeing the stiff expressions on their faces, Lin Shu gripped their shoulders even tighter.

"You two haven't eaten for a whole day!!!"