“The Civil Defense force has recently gotten an application by a… Halafina Tark… Do you need us to look out for her?” Trey said, looking at Lawrence’s eyes. Lawrence hated it. It felt as if Trey was burrowing into Lawrence’s soul.
“Just let her join and treat her as a normal staffer. Why are you asking me this?” Lawrence asked, slightly annoyed. Does he have to start approving every small matter now?
“Ah… I thought you were interested in Miss Tark, it seems that perhaps I was mistaken,” Trey laughed, rubbing his hands together as he set down his mug.
“That will be all, Sir Carstein, I will take my leave. Thank you for your hospitality.”
Bowing, the man left, whistling an eerie tune. Shivering, Lawrence cleaned up after his guests and sat in the comfortable chair by the fireplace, with a fresh pot of tea.
Now that a lot of things are out of the way, Lawrence only needed to wait for the shipyard to be finished and have military and naval experts gather to design a ship. Of course, Lawrence had a design in mind as well.
To understand this design, one had to understand an event known as the Battle of Myeongnyang. In the Battle of Myeongnyang, on October 26, 1597, the Korean Joseon kingdom's navy, led by Admiral Yi Sun-sin, fought the Japanese navy in the Myeongnyang Strait, near Jindo Island, off the southwest corner of the Korean peninsula.
With only 12 ships remaining from Admiral Won Gyun's disastrous defeat at the Battle of Chilchonryang, Admiral Yi held the strait as a "last stand" battle against the Japanese Navy, who were sailing to support their land army's advance towards the Joseon capital of Hanyang (modern-day Seoul).
The actual numeric strength of the Japanese fleet that Admiral Yi fought is unclear; various sources indicate the number of Japanese ships could have been anywhere between 120 and 330 ships, though the low end of this range appears to be a count of actual warships and the high end appears to be referring to the entire Japanese fleet (including roughly 200 supporting non-combatant ships).
In total 30 Japanese warships were sunk or crippled during the battle. Todo Takatora, the commander of the Japanese navy, was wounded during the battle and half of his subordinate officers were also wounded or killed. Given the disparity in numbers of ships, the naval battle is regarded as one of Admiral Yi's most remarkable victories, and a humiliating naval defeat for the Japanese.
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Many different versions of the turtle ships served during the war, but in general they were about 100 to 120 feet (30 to 37 metres) long, and strongly resembled the panokseon's bottom structure. The turtle ship was technically a hull that was placed on top of a panokseon with a large anchor held in the front of the ship and other minor modifications.
On the bow of the vessel was mounted a dragon head which emitted sulfur smoke to effectively hide its movement from the enemy in short distance combat. The dragon head, which is considered the most distinguishing feature of the vessel, was large enough for a cannon to fit inside. The dragon head served as a form of psychological warfare, with the aim of striking fear into the hearts of Japanese sailors. Early versions of the turtle ship would burn poisonous materials in the dragon's head to release a poisonous smoke.
In the front of the ship was a large anchor. Below the anchor was a wooden crest that was shaped like a face, and these were used to ram into enemy ships.
The turtle ship had two masts and two sails. Oars were also used for manoeuvring and increased speed. Another advantage the turtle ship had was that it could turn on its own radius.
The turtle ship had 10 oars and 11 cannon portholes on each side. Usually, there was one cannon porthole in the dragon head's mouth. There were two more cannon portholes on the front and back of the turtle ship. The heavy cannons enabled the turtle ships to unleash a mass volley of cannonballs (some would use special wooden bolts several feet in length, with specially engineered iron fins). Its crew complement usually comprised about 50 to 60 fighting marines and 70 oarsmen, as well as the captain.
Sources indicate that sharp iron spikes protruded from hexagonal plates covering the top of the turtle ship. An advantage of the closed deck was that it protected the Korean sailors and marines from small arms and incendiary fire. The spikes discouraged Japanese from engaging in their primary method of naval combat at the time, grappling an enemy ship with hooks and then boarding it to engage in hand-to-hand combat.
Of course, since cannons were not available, Lawrence planned to make do with massive ballista in their place instead, with explosive tips.
Lawrence had already heard about the other war ships available in this era. The reason why Lawrence did not want the ships already in existence was solely due to the fact that Lawrence was aiming for the control of the seas in two steps.
First of all, the navy should be capable of all defensive operations. Then, they should be capable of defending their trade routes or even conduct offensive operations if need be.
The first one should be accomplished within three years while the other in five. Lawrence had no interest in forcing anyone to do something beyond their scope and training only with disastrous consequences.
When Lawrence was in the army, he often faced problems with people disconnected from the ground, used to sitting behind desks issuing orders without knowing what on earth was going on. For example, Lawrence had heard officers grumble about how training schedules have been planned without consideration of the officers themselves or involving them with the training, which meant they practically have zero rest in between each training session.
Therefore, Lawrence made an effort to head down to his men’s training to watch them, while always reminding Longines and Kraft that they are humans and should be treated as such, regardless of how they drilled men in the past.