Chapter 512: Submarine Hunter

Meeting room at the Ritz Paris.

Wells, who had rushed back from the Brest Shipyard, sat in front of the warm fire and waited quietly for Charles. He stared at the dancing flames, holding a glass of wine in his hand, shaking it gently unconsciously.

During this time Wells was busy at the shipyard producing landing craft, amphibious landing ships and depth charges.

Since Charles' successful landing in the Dardanelles, the shipyard has received a large number of orders from all over the world, including Britain and the United States.

Among them, the amphibious landing ship that can travel on land and sea has become a star equipment.

Wells chuckled incredulously towards the fire. Amphibious landing operations have always been a world problem, but unexpectedly they were easily solved by a few small things invented by Charles.

This is the creativity and vitality that the shipyard needs, Wells thought. This is Shire's unique advantage. He can always think of these simple, practical and efficient things.

Unfortunately, these inventions did not bring much benefit to the development of the navy. The French Navy could only struggle under the shadow of the British Royal Navy and never had much presence.

Wells took out his pocket watch and looked at it. The agreed time was almost up. What surprise would Charles bring this time?

At this moment the door opened and it was Charles.

Wells quickly put down his glass and stood up to greet him. When he turned around, he was stunned to find that Charles did not come alone. He brought a sloppy old man with a beard and glasses.

"Mr. Wells." Charles took the initiative to shake hands and introduced: "This is Professor Versenden. What we are discussing today is related to him."

"Hello, Professor Versenden." Wells shook hands with the old man politely, turned his head and glanced at Charles with a wary look in his eyes.

"Don't worry, Mr. Wells." Charles motioned for them to sit down at the small square table, and said in a relaxed tone: "Professor Versenden is a core R&D staff member. I told you before that I have my own laboratory and R&D department."

Wells said "Oh", he remembered what Charles had said before when giving the formula for torpedo charge.

"So, it's a new torpedo charge formula?" Wells' eyes lit up.

"No." Ciel shook his head. "It's an 'echo sounder'."

"Echo sounder?" Wells looked confused. What is this?

Charles waved his hand towards Versenden, handing over the final word to him.

Fussenden was a little nervous and spoke incoherently:

"Yes, the echo sounder."

"Because it is, it relies on echoes to detect objects, and the sound that hits the target will be bounced back."

"We are in the valley, and we can clearly feel this by shouting."

"We can then use the strength and duration of the echo to calculate the exact location of the target."

…

Wells looked confused.

What does this have to do with the Navy?

What does this have to do with shipbuilding?

Was he studying how far the sound of a whistle could travel?

Charles rolled his eyes. Versenden had a very clever mind but a clumsy mouth, and his expressions were always off the mark.

Helplessly, Charles could only take over the topic: "Professor Versenden has invented a device that can detect the location of a submarine."

Versenden breathed a sigh of relief and nodded heavily: "Yes."

Wells, whose mind was already wandering, was instantly startled. He stared at Charles and then at Versenden with wide eyes: "What? Submarine? You can, you can detect a submarine? A submarine underwater?"

Then he smiled and shook his head: "No, this is impossible, no one can do this."

Ciel nodded seriously, "We did it, just like Professor Versenden said, using echoes."

Only then did Wells realize that the "nonsense" that Versenden had just said was not nonsense.

"But, sound? Sound under water?" Wells still couldn't believe it: "How can there be sound under water?"

Many people think that they can't hear anything underwater, and Wells is no exception.

"Of course there is sound underwater." Versenden was puzzled by this statement: "All sound needs is a medium. It can be transmitted in air, liquid and solid, as long as it is not a vacuum."

As a scientist, Versenden could not imagine the capitalists' ignorance of science, especially when they were bigwigs in the shipbuilding industry.

Wells didn't delve into this question. He looked at Charles in surprise and asked with difficulty: "So, this is true? It really exists?"

Ciel nodded gently: "It has been invented and passed the test. Now we need to mass-produce it and install it on the warships."

Wells' chest rose and fell violently. He looked at Charles half-doubtfully and asked softly, as if the device would disappear if he spoke louder: "Then, we can find the submarine underwater and blow it up with depth charges, right?"

Charles nodded again.

"Great, Major General, great!" Wells suddenly became excited: "You are simply the savior of France, Major General!"

"This will become the pride of the French Navy, will make the French Navy once again return to its important position, and will make it the focus of the world again!"

…

Charles could understand Wells's performance. This epoch-making invention was like radar. It was beyond ordinary people's imagination and thinking. At first, many people even thought that this technology was some kind of magic.

"I want General Gueprat to be in charge of this project," Charles said. "Can it be done?"

General Gueprat was the commander of the French expeditionary force during the Dardanelles campaign, and he did his best to help Charles and Tijani.

But the point is not this, but that Charles believes that he has proved his loyalty to the country with practical actions.

"No problem." Wells smiled confidently. "We have the technology, and the Navy will beg us to share it with them. Of course, they don't care who is in charge of the project."

Wells then hesitated again: "But we don't need to fight now, Major General. I mean, the British control the ocean..."

"I have already made an agreement with the British." Charles interrupted Wells: "You will work with the British fleet to hunt German submarines."

Wells was stunned, then nodded thoughtfully: "Yes, only by participating in it can we avoid being marginalized and maintain our combat effectiveness to show our strength to everyone. This is the first step for the French Navy to become stronger."

Charles secretly praised Wells in his heart, thinking that Wells had a very good strategic vision, at least better than Tijani who thought about the "art of war" all day long.

Charles ended the discussion with a few words:

"Professor Versenden will come to the shipyard to work with you to install the 'echo sounder' and be responsible for personnel training."

"Besides, I think this equipment is more suitable for installation on a destroyer."

Destroyers have faster speeds and are cheaper to build, making them undoubtedly the best choice for hunting submarines.

(End of this chapter)