Chapter 188 - Massive Warship
Because of the supergravity, the scanning signals could be warped, but due to how massive this metal object was, the metal scanner managed to make the signal out despite all the disruptions.
The signal strength gradually decreased the further it traveled. Xia Fei boldly predicted that the actual size of this object was probably more than 1.5 billion cubic meters.
It was already shocking to find a metal object 1.5 billion cubic meters; it would be even harder to imagine something bigger.
A few moments later, the Tomahawk traveled through layers of rock, nearing the huge metal object, but Xia Fei and Phantom were utterly shocked when they finally saw it with their eyes.
For it was a warship.
A warship that could not be described in words.
A massive warship.
It was definitely not 1.5 billion cubic meters, but fifteen billion cubic meters in volume..
He placed his two fingers on his temple. This was a shocking discovery, so much so that the usually calm Xia Fei took a few moments to calm down.
“What is that?” Harris followed up right after Phantom, but because Xia Fei and Phantom communicated via their consciousness, Harris had no idea of Phantom’s existence.
Xia Fei waved his hand, not saying anything, as he had no idea what to say.
So far, it was certain that the object was a warship because of its thick plating. Moreover, there were brackets for two super cannons on the sides of the ship, but, for some reason unknown, there were no cannons installed on it.
A few moments later, Xia Fei came to the command deck. “Fly in a corkscrew maneuver around the ship, maintaining a speed of 1000m/s.”
The Tomahawk then circled the ship at a manageable speed, and the more Xia Fei looked the more shocked he got.
There were a few massive scaffolds on the sides of the ship. These scaffolds were made of incredibly solid alloys, each of them were as thick as small mountains.
“What are those?” Phantom asked curiously.
“Maybe they are scaffolds.”
” Scaffolds?”
Xia fei blew a smoke ring. “I read in books that massive warships can’t be built on planets because overly strong gravity means that no shipyard can support the weight of the ship. This requires a massive shipyard to be built in space first, then the ship’s parts are transported using a massive pool of spacecraft to the shipyard in space before being assembled.”
Phantom nodded. “I get it. First split up a massive warship into different pieces, then combine these pieces after transporting them to a shipyard in space, but what about its armor and structure? Won’t it break easier if it’s done in pieces?”
“Indeed, the armor and structure can’t be done using pieces and must be done in one piece, so outside of requiring a massive shipyard, there’s a need for a massive refinery—one that can melt enough alloy, then be cast into a mold,” explained Xia Fei.
Phantom pouted. It was easier said than done. How much metal would a ship billions of cubic meters in volume require? It was difficult to imagine how it would be cast in one piece.
“I’m referring to the common methods used in the Alliance for large warships. The manufacturing process of supercarriers is a tightly guarded secret of each company. There has been no mention of it in books, but one thing’s for sure, it’s much more difficult to produce it than imagined, so I have no idea who has the power to create this big boy,” elaborated Xia Fei.
It was just as Xia Fei said; although the four warship companies had the power to create supercarriers, they had never revealed their manufacturing secret to the universe at large.
The four big companies claimed to be capable of producing a new super capital ship every thirteen years, but in reality, it was far from it. Apparently, the four companies would take at least eighty years to produce one capital ship, unlike the fifty-five years that they claimed.
There had been many curious folks who had tried various methods to collect data about supercarriers. What was most surprising was that supercarriers in the Alliance were few and far between. It was very possible that there were fewer than two hundred supercarriers in the entire Alliance. The humans occupied a large area with so many residents that it was not possible to count. It was incredibly few to only have below two hundred supercarriers in the Alliance, and this could be used to infer how difficult it was to produce large warships.
A five-hundred-million-cubic-meter supercarrier already cost a lot of manpower and money, so how was anyone capable of producing this fifteen-billion-cubic-meter super-supercarrier?
One thing that Phantom or Xia Fei could understand was the presence of lifting scaffolds next to this ship. scaffolds were usually attached to shipyards, and the presence of scaffolds usually meant that there was a shipyard, but where was it?
“Enable manual control.” commanded Xia Fei.
Two control sticks suddenly appeared from beneath the control deck.
Because most warships used AI computers for most operations, it was not common for people to fly ships manually. Therefore, the control sticks were usually hidden away and were rarely used.
He sat at where the control sticks were, holding onto them tightly as he made a sharp turn, heading right toward the massive warship.
“What are you trying to do?” Phantom asked curiously.
Xia Fei pointed at a large hold in the body of the warship. “That place looks severely damaged; the Tomahawk can probably fit in there. I want to take a look at its interior.”