The Mech Touch novel Chapter 2771

Chapter 2771 - Adaptable Capital Ship

The Graveyard offered a compelling package to organizations that needed a self-sufficient capital ship.

While the Graveyard still required deep maintenance every now and then to keep her systems in good condition, the fact that she was not dependent on shipyards to replace or beef up her armor was a major benefit!

Yet an unconventional ship like the Graveyard always always came with a host of limitations that complicated her use. If this wasn’t the case, then scavenger sh.i.p.s with armor belts made out of scrap would have been much more common in space!

Vivian was all too well aware of the various shortcomings and problematic aspects of the Graveyard.

She pointed at the wireframe schematics of the Graveyard. "Properly speaking, the Graveyard is built for danger, but not for war."

"Is there a difference?" Ves raised his eyebrow as he petted an unruly Lucky.

"There is. The difference is quite substantial. The Graveyard is not designed and built by a military organization, so she is incomparable to the Auralis when it comes to the defensiveness of her inner hull structure."

"What does this all mean?"

"If an enemy manages to penetrate her exterior plating, the Graveyard’s core compartments are less well protected than the inner structure of true fleet carriers. The salvage processing machines and the engineering bay are just some of the systems and compartments that can get trashed."

That was indeed a serious concern. All of this meant that the Graveyard had to prevent the enemy from digging through her armor belt at all cost. While every ship suffered if an enemy force managed to open a hole through their defenses, combat vessels were highly compartmentalized and possessed a lot of interior reinforcement to limit spillover damage.

Since combat vessels such as fleet carriers were built for combat, the shipwrights designed them to retain as many core functions as possible in the event they incurred heavy damage!

In general, this was not a luxury provided to non-combat vessels. Developing a more damage-resistant internal structure massively drove up the cost. All of that extra spending hurt the pocketbooks of the clients and wasn’t even necessary if the vessel didn’t participate in combat.

While the Graveyard was different in that it was designed to play an active role in battle, she was not a military vessel. Her design, ship components, material usage and standards completely conformed to the private sector.

This meant that the Larkinson Clan would lose a considerable degree of defensive capabilities if it traded out the Auralis for the Graveyard.

Ves frowned and rubbed his smooth-shaven cheek. "What’s your opinion on this matter?"

"The Graveyard is not a bad ship because of this design limitation, sir." She answered. "Her vulnerable core won’t be an issue if we don’t let her armor belt get penetrated in the first place. That means we need to proactively invest in her exterior and continue to pile up higher quality alloys."

That sounded familiar to Ves. Wasn’t this how his Devil Tiger worked?

"I see. It will cost a lot of salvage, but it can make a big difference to the Graveyard if we outfit it with armor plates that are made from premium materials."

Ves thought that Breyer alloy might be a good option for this. The only issue was that it would take many years to cover the Graveyard entirely with this material.

In any case, the premise she presented was not wrong. Yet enemies rarely acted according to the intentions of the opposite side.

"It’s not going to be easy to protect the Graveyard’s internals. This is especially if we wish to employ her as one of our main defensive bulwarks in battle. We can’t keep her out of the line of fire because we are afraid of giving our foes the opportunity to break her shell."

"Then we just have to keep upgrading the shell so that it never has the chance to break entirely. This is why I said that she is suited for danger but not war. She won’t fare well if she is pulled into severely high-intensive battles in quick succession. However, as long as we have time to repair our battle damage after an engagement, she can serve her purpose at maximum efficiency in the subsequent battle."

This suited the Larkinson Clan more. Ves did not expect his expeditionary fleet to enter into a feud with some other powerful faction and get entangled in lots of fights. It was much more likely that his clan would get caught in some major friction against other pioneers every now and then. There weren’t any established states in the Red Ocean that could dispatch a continuous flood of powerful fleets!

"The Graveyard is continuously upgradable." The female shipwright emphasized. "Her wide tolerance for different exteriors means that it is very simple for us to upgrade her current basic armor belt with one that is made out of premium second-class materials. We can make the Graveyard twice, thrice or even ten times more resilient without ever needing to put her into a drydock!"

Ves widened his eyes. This definitely sounded interesting to him. Other sh.i.p.s were more strict and limited in this regard. Every major overhaul demanded shipyard services in order to perform the necessary operations.

"The Graveyard is also versatile in other ways, sir. In her current configuration, her armor belt is quite thick, which has a considerable impact on her mobility. If you speed the ship up, you can shed some of her mass and reduce her armor. If you think you need solid protection again, you can mount it up with thicker and more massive armor plating again."

This was a great advantage. Her adaptability and ease of modification meant she could turn into different vessels at different times.

"The Graveyard is 47 years old." Vivian stated. "The ship is definitely in a used condition, so her maintenance burden is slightly higher than when she was brand new. In another half-century, it becomes more strenuous to keep her systems running unless she undergoes an extensive overhaul. That said, I think this ship can definitely operate for decades at a time without exhibiting any serious defects as long as we care for her. Her adaptability also makes it easy for us to apply continuous upgrades that can extend her usefulness." _{freeweɓnovel.cøm}

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