[OL-FB] Floating Battery

[Bodi]

Somewhere in Eltina. The Duke d'Ablette was sitting behind his desk reading some newspapers official documents when a naval officer came in.

- Monseigneur, I have a message from the shipyards.

- Very well, what do they want again? More funds? Asked the Duke.

- You guessed right, as always. Answered the messenger with a bow. - They want for more funds to outfit a floating battery.

- A floating battery, what is it? I can't remember having ordered the construction of a such thing.

- Monseigneur, a floating battery is a ship specially designed to attack forts, it has reinforced hull and is mounted with large guns and mortars. This one was ordered by the Duke de Beauregard. Replied the officer.

- De Beauregard! If it was him who has ordered a such ship, then we should complete it. Although I don't know why we'll need a such ship if we don't have to attack a fort.

- You are right, monseigneur, but you see, some of our settlements, such as Dragonstone and Acropolis, are still weakly defended, and a ship like this could come in handy. 

- Vous avez raison, bon, go see the treasurer and finish the outfitting.

The officer saluted the Duke and went out.

 

Side view of the floatting battery:

Stern.

The captain and his crew. 

A brid view.

Bow

The mortar.

OOC: The floating batteries were built by the French navy for the Spanish, they were used for the first time during the siege of Gibraltar, in 1782. 

[Professor Thaum]

Wow, what a shape, I love this one very much !!!

Did you use some brown slopes 1x4 for the upper bow and stern curves ? or are there special pieces I didn't know ?

 

[Fraunces]

Kinda fat ship but the techniques are neat! Wonderful job on the rigging btw

[Bart]

I like the architecture with the windows and the turntable bases in your office scene,

The ship is nice too, clearly build for a purpose, fat, as to give the guns a stable platform. minimum rigging to faul the firing line of the mortar. ample ventilation in deck. No fancy officer cabins in the stern but more guns. Good ideas and execution all around.

I was thinking too, what if I just anchored a gun ship infront of a settlement, that's cheaper then a fortress. But someone pointed out to me, you can't use a ship as a fortress, you can only let it patrolle the zone you are in. And how do you know which ships to attack. Forts automatically attack when an attack is being taken place. 

But if the raiding party doesn't set their ships to attack your ships. then your ship would never respond, as to the captain it is just a ship from faction X. 

anyway food for thought. 

[LM71Blackbird]

A great looking ship Bodi! You've got some fantastic shapes on it. 

[Darnok]

1 hour ago, Bart said:

I  was thinking too, what if I just anchored a gun ship infront of a settlement, that's cheaper then a fortress.

That was my first thought as well! I think @Bregir did something like that, but not as a "fort".

[Bodi]

9 hours ago, Professor Thaum said:

Wow, what a shape, I love this one very much !!!

Did you use some brown slopes 1x4 for the upper bow and stern curves ? or are there special pieces I didn't know ?

 

Thank you Thaum. Those curves are indeed built with 1x4 slopes.

6 hours ago, Fraunces said:

Kinda fat ship but the techniques are neat! Wonderful job on the rigging btw

Thank you Fraunces.

6 hours ago, Bart said:

minimum rigging to faul the firing line of the mortar

In fact the minimalist rigging here is due to the lack of reference, the only picture I could find on floating battery was an artistic painting depicting the siege of Gibraltar, on which you could see a trapezoid ship with two rows of guns per broadside, it looks like a CSS Virginia with masts. And there were no clear signs of chainplates or other means to fix the riggings, so I had to improvise.

6 hours ago, Bart said:

But if the raiding party doesn't set their ships to attack your ships. then your ship would never respond, as to the captain it is just a ship from faction X. 

Interesting, good to know.

5 hours ago, LM71Blackbird said:

A great looking ship Bodi! You've got some fantastic shapes on it. 

Thanks LM, glad you like it.

[Bodi]

4 hours ago, Drunknok said:

That was my first thought as well! I think @Bregir did something like that, but not as a "fort".

The above IC talks are meant to persuade d'Ablette to approve the outfitting work, OCC I'll license it as a ship ofc, with low range and maneuvre stats though, as we may expect from a ship like that.

[Captain Genaro]

A rather ugly ship, but I suppose I should blame the actual designer rather than you for that. 

I do like the design on her. You did a good job with the tumblehome, especially around the bow and stern. 

As for improvement, I think the jibs are too small (though this may be due to the slack in the lines that are holding them in place), and I think that you could add a few more details on the deck. Bars holding belaying pins, some guns on the upper decks, and a ships bell would be some simple ideas you may consider incorporating into your next vessel. 

[Bodi]

10 hours ago, Captain Genaro said:

A rather ugly ship, but I suppose I should blame the actual designer rather than you for that. 

I do like the design on her. You did a good job with the tumblehome, especially around the bow and stern. 

As for improvement, I think the jibs are too small (though this may be due to the slack in the lines that are holding them in place), and I think that you could add a few more details on the deck. Bars holding belaying pins, some guns on the upper decks, and a ships bell would be some simple ideas you may consider incorporating into your next vessel. 

So many to change, I think I'd better build a new one.

[Bregir]

As I said elsewhere, I like this build. It isn't the most elegant ship, but it is a very nice representation of a different concept - and I really like seeing other ship types represented in BoBs, including the ones I didn't know about! :)

I really have nothing much to add to what has already been said, other than not really being sold on the trashbin for a mortar. Personally, I prefer the heavier barrelled method I used on my Lavalette build or my artillery sloop.

Other than that, great shaping - and very nice rigging. What is the material you have used for sails?

[Cylo]

You've nailed the curves!

[Bodi]

On 1/28/2019 at 4:35 PM, Bregir said:

As I said elsewhere, I like this build. It isn't the most elegant ship, but it is a very nice representation of a different concept - and I really like seeing other ship types represented in BoBs, including the ones I didn't know about! :)

I really have nothing much to add to what has already been said, other than not really being sold on the trashbin for a mortar. Personally, I prefer the heavier barrelled method I used on my Lavalette build or my artillery sloop.

Other than that, great shaping - and very nice rigging. What is the material you have used for sails?

The sails are made from fine canvas, at least that's what I was told to, I got them from a ship modeler, speaking of which, I should pay a visit to his store to buy a few more for future use.

I agree with you, trashbins aren't the best parts to build bombards, but I started building this ship a year ago, so it kept some old techniques that I was used to. Now if you ask me to choice between trashbin and barrel pieces, I'll definitely choice the barrelled method. Btw, it seems that your artillery sloop was sunk in the last MRCA.

On 1/28/2019 at 4:42 PM, Reaper said:

You've nailed the curves!

Thank you, glad you like it!

[Bregir]

1 hour ago, Bodi said:

Btw, it seems that your artillery sloop was sunk in the last MRCA.

Only damaged. In fact, I do not think Corrington has yet to lose a single gunboat, (WTC excluded) neither taken as prize, nor sunk. On the other hand, they have taken several prizes and sunk several enemies!

At the naval HQ in King's Harbour, the gunboat strategy has been deemed a general success, and everyone is padding each other on the back for their general brilliance.

2 hours ago, Bodi said:

The sails are made from fine canvas, at least that's what I was told to,

BTW, have you sealed the edges of the sails in some way? Glue, stitches, etc? Or are they simply cut along the edges? (I bought a sheet of canvas too, you see ;) )

[Bodi]

10 hours ago, Bregir said:

BTW, have you sealed the edges of the sails in some way? Glue, stitches, etc? Or are they simply cut along the edges? (I bought a sheet of canvas too, you see ;) )

The edges aren't sealed, for most my ships, I didn't bother to clean the loose threads on the edges of the sails, as I don't know how to have a clean cut when cutting cloth with scissors. Alternatively, I'm now using a cutting tool with circular blade, the blade turns like a disc when cutting, and the cut is quite clean.