Munitions Empire-Chapter 1215 - 1135 submarine arrived

After much commotion, an early-model submarine finally docked at the pier as the military band began performing. A group of officers applauded fervently—after all, this was their nation’s first truly… functional submarine.

At last, after paying a hefty price, they now had a direction for their research. Before the submarine arrived, a group of technical experts from the Tang Country had already come here in force by ship.

The entire pier required modernization—after all, a port for submarines is entirely different.

To ensure the submarine could enter and exit stealthily, the pier had to be built near steep cliffs. The cliffs were hollowed out and reinforced with cement, forming a natural fortress.

The site selection itself was a major challenge. If the nation’s coast lacked decent terrain suitable for a submarine base, an artificial solution was the only choice.

Then came the necessary supporting facilities: cranes for repairing submarines, specialized equipment for refueling, devices for hoisting torpedoes, and so on.

The supporting infrastructure also had to connect to a torpedo storage depot, fuel warehouse… This entire set of facilities, along with the machinery required for submarine production, represented an enormous undertaking.

The Tang Country deliberately elevated the specifications for submarine facilities to this level. This would allow their satellites to easily detect any telltale signs during reconnaissance and monitor the submarine fleets of other nations.

Because the scale of renovating and constructing submarine facilities was so massive, the Tang Country could accurately track the data on each nation’s submarine infrastructure projects.

"Thank you for delivering the submarine to us," said the Dorne Navy admiral as he reached out to shake hands with the submarine captain responsible for handing over the vessel.

The Tang Army submarine crew would stay here for thirty days to train a group of cadets so they could learn to operate this small submarine.

Submarines are inherently highly integrated weapons platforms, making their crew size inherently small. This particular submarine had only about twenty crewmembers, a natural contrast to its immense capability.

Countering a single submarine often demands disproportionately greater resources. This is precisely why submarine fleets have consistently been favored by weaker nations.

"You’re too kind," the Tang Army captain smiled. His beard was thick and unkempt—clearly not shaved for some time. But he was in good spirits, knowing this trip was, after all, a money-making venture.

Indeed—money-making. This crew had come to Dorne purely to earn processing fees while enjoying a little sightseeing: each day, they received two Gold Coins in special allowances, paid by the Dorne Empire.

To ensure the crew would "impart their secrets generously," the Dorne Empire also prepared lavish gifts and arranged various activities to keep these "esteemed guests" satisfied.

In fact, the engineers, technicians, and even attendants accompanying the Tang Empire personnel were all paid directly by the Dorne Empire.

It couldn’t be helped—the situation left Dorne with no choice. To quickly master submarine operations, internalize submarine tactics, and deploy submarines as soon as possible, they could only humbly cater to these experts.

At a beckon from the Dorne admiral, young women holding bouquets swarmed over, shoving the flowers—almost aggressively—into the hands of the foul-smelling sailors.

No matter how much they disliked the sailors, they smiled brightly, nearly throwing themselves into the sailors’ arms along with the flowers. What made the allure of beauties so effective was its near impossibility for most men to resist.

The music of the military band grew louder. The sailors and women burst into cheerful laughter now and then, creating an enviably celebratory atmosphere.

Dorne’s technicians were allowed into the submarine—their expensive purchase—without encountering any obstruction.

As they climbed down into the submarine via ladders, they quickly realized this contraption wasn’t something one could casually observe and then manage to replicate.

Inside the submarine was a labyrinth of pipes connecting various points—some leading straight into the walls, others bending vertically into the floor beneath their feet.

Although many pipes were labeled with their functions, terms like "exhaust pipe" or "pressure tube" seemed only partially explanatory—almost as if they conveyed nothing substantial.

Without deep expertise in submarine mechanics, it was impossible to glean any meaningful insights from this maze of pipelines. To be frank, even the complexity of a single toilet onboard was enough to keep Dorne’s engineers studying for quite a while.

"How was it?" the navy admiral asked expectantly as an elderly engineer climbed out of the submarine.

The engineer shook his head helplessly and replied, "Even if we disassembled it, we wouldn’t be able to build one ourselves—it’s far too intricate, beyond our manufacturing capabilities."

This contraption was simply too sophisticated; every detail was meticulously refined. Learning that Tang Army submarines could dive below 100 meters, Dorne’s engineers were even less inclined to consider reverse-engineering the technology.

They were experts in this field, and their previous independent attempts at submarine development had taught them exactly what being at a depth of 100 meters truly implied.

This depth was entirely unattainable for them; in their view, anything hollow would have already been crushed flat at that depth.

But Tang Army submarines could navigate at this level—that presented a major problem: the materials and construction techniques exceeded their comprehension. How could they possibly replicate something like this?

"They’re using far more advanced welding techniques. If we applied our welding methods, the joints would crack and leak," the elderly engineer explained to the disheartened admiral. "Their materials are also specialized… we simply cannot manufacture them."

And those were merely broad issues—minor nuances ultimately dictated the submarine’s survival. Details that seemed inconspicuous often determined success or failure: deviations in machining precision here, slight imperfections there… all would culminate in increased submarine noise.

Now imagine—if your submarine were ringing bells underwater, what kind of outcome would you expect? The enemy’s destroyers wouldn’t even need sonar—they could hear your submarine’s noise just by pressing their ears to the hull. How could you even hope to engage them?

Fully aware of the intricacies within the bilateral cooperation, the admiral sighed, then chuckled bitterly: "Fortunately, we anticipated this, and we’ve made preparations."

Indeed, they had planned ahead… They had spent huge sums purchasing an entire submarine production line from the Great Tang Empire! Payment was made in copper ore and iron ore…

The project involved training 1,100 submarine manufacturing workers, establishing a dedicated shipyard for submarine construction, mastering hull welding techniques, acquiring all the blueprints for U-boats, learning diesel engine technology, and implementing ventilation system techniques.

However, the steel for the hulls, along with 37% of the specialized components, would still have to be imported from the Tang Country. Materials for a single vessel cost 11 million, far cheaper than purchasing a submarine outright at 70 million.

All production had to proceed under the supervision of Great Tang engineers, who would know exactly how many submarines Dorne built.

Per the contract, Dorne would ultimately manufacture 27 submarines of the same model domestically, including the three already purchased, bringing the total to 30 submarines.

After the 27 submarines were built, pressure hull techniques, ventilation system technology, diesel engine technology, and related sealing techniques would all be freely transferred to the Dorne Empire.

The entire collaboration was valued at 3.5 billion Great Tang Golden Yuan, payable within one year to the Great Tang Empire, using "copper ore," "iron ore," and "cash."

Why pay an additional 500 million? It was because of the so-called technology transfer agreement: once completed, Dorne would possess the capability to independently produce submarines.

They could manufacture more submarines independently and without Tang oversight.

Moreover, they could construct larger submarines tailored to their needs: the small submarine sold by Tang was limited in combat radius—far from satisfactory for Dorne Navy operations.

What they needed were larger submarines… like the Tang Army’s large ocean-going submarines! Indeed, Dorne knew the Tang Army deployed ocean-going submarines, because during the last naval battle, the Tang submarines’ operational radius was clearly far beyond that of the submarines they had sold.

Besides Dorne, Laines, Gobur, and the Empire of Nanla had all purchased similar production-line services. Each country was gearing up for independent operations because Tang submarines were undeniably expensive.

Poplar Empire and Ice Cold Empire lagged behind in this matter, as they were embroiled in war. The wars left them unable to allocate sufficient resources for purchasing military equipment, so they only symbolically bought three submarines each, retaining the option to purchase more later.

Frankly speaking, the Suthers Empire—a landlocked nation—was benefiting excessively. They saved considerable funds because they didn’t need to build a large navy to guard their coastlines.

Instead, they could allocate their resources entirely to their Army and Air Force, enabling them to procure more tanks and airplanes.

"I hope we can truly master these technologies. If we can, we’ll achieve breakthroughs across numerous other fields," said the elderly engineer who had just climbed out of the submarine, brimming with confidence.

Many technologies are interrelated—the Tang Empire’s sale of submarine and aircraft technologies also served to disseminate innovation across other domains.

The widespread transfer of technological know-how worldwide had consumed most global engineers’ time and energy. They lacked both time for independent research and time for theoretical exploration, forced into passively accepting and following in Tang’s footsteps.

They were all waiting—waiting for the day Tang Empire’s technological dominance might stagnate. But during this wait, they discovered the distance between them grew not smaller, but ever larger.

The Tang Empire’s technology advanced further and further, soaring to heights they couldn’t begin to comprehend. Meanwhile, they remained stuck in place, looking skyward at the dazzling brilliance above.