Reborn In 17th century India with Black Technology-Chapter 801: Change in Southern United Naval Design Bureau

25th August 1663

Southern United Naval Design Bureau (SUN)

Reading the letter sent by the Ministry of Defence, Puneet Shetty's emotions were turbulent. He clenched his fist tightly with anger and determination. His eyes radiated a desire to fight as his blood began to boil.

"This is my chance to prove everyone wrong." It was an opportunity for him and the whole design bureau to reclaim themselves as one of the top design bureaus in the empire once again. Now that he got the chance, he would stop at nothing to make it happen, no matter the cost.

"I will definitely not lose, definitely," he growled with a hoarse voice.

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The move made by Danior Boswell greatly affected him.

He felt both disappointed and angry when he was not invited into the Kathmandu-class clipper design project initiated by His Majesty. He could understand why Chief Designer Danior Boswell did not invite him or the design bureau he was working for, since he quit his job at Boswell Design Bureau in hopes of a better future, and he proved to himself that his choice was right. But he was still unwilling. Was it wrong to hope to reach the pinnacle of ship design, or was it wrong to build a better future for himself?

"No, definitely not," he was resolute. "As long as I was in Boswell Design Bureau, I have already done my utmost best and worked seriously without any complaints. We don't owe each other anything."

Looking at the design requirements put forward by the Ministry of Defense for a new generation of clippers, as well as a reference design of the Kathmandu class, he became tenacious and unwavering to the point of being stubborn.

Soon, Puneet Shetty called for an executive meeting and ordered all the designers to mandatorily attend.

Confirming that all the designers were there, Puneet Shetty threw the document onto the table. "Ministry of Defense has put forward three different design tasks: two for modifying the designs of the Delhi-class and Guwahati-class to modernize them according to the new technologies that are being used in the Kathmandu-class, and the last one is to design a new 2000-tonne clipper referencing the Kathmandu-class." There wasn't much emotion on his face, but he looked at the designers' faces one by one to see how they would react.

The backbone designers of the Southern United Naval Design Bureau immediately became overjoyed. It had been a long time since they had done any design work for the military. The last design work they did was to modify the Pune-class battleship and attach modern artillery mounts to it.

The designers talked with each other excitedly. They put forward various ideas and suggestions about how the modification of the Delhi-class battleship and Guwahati-class armed merchant ship should be done.

"We can use the composite design method. It should increase the structural stability while reducing the materials required and reducing the weight."

"We should also install the new mounting system for better artillery manoeuvrability."

"...."

"...."

Puneet Shetty: "..."

He was silent, but his eyes looked like they were blazing with anger. 'These people did not even have the ambition and goal of designing the new clipper.' Apart from the junior designers who were not afraid of anything and were full of ambition with a lot of vitality, who picked up the design requirements for designing the new clipper, the senior and intermediate designers only talked about modifying the current Delhi-class and Guwahati-class. They did not even try to pick up the design requirement copy of the clipper that was on the table. He wanted to reprimand them right there and then, but in the end, he did not, since he knew he was also one of the reasons why such an atmosphere was created.

Making new designs is a highly risky move for any design bureau. It was the same for the Southern United Naval Design Bureau as well. So, apart from designing civilian vessels for specialized transportation, they had not done any major designs ever since the Bharatiya Navy had been built. He himself had also become lost in looking at profits and losses and stopped taking big risks. Instead, the whole design bureau, under the pursuit of monetary gain, took on the atmosphere of utilitarianism and only did modifications for larger battleships and designed smaller vessels. Although this did increase the profitability, since modifications were inherently safer than new designs, it also killed the entrepreneurship spirit of the company.

It wasn't until he realized that he was blatantly ignored and didn't even receive any invite to the design of the Kathmandu class that he realized that hard power is the only thing that mattered. No matter how much money he earned by making modifications, he would not be taken seriously by the top leaders in the military or by the top industrialists in the empire. He would become just another design firm that once had a glorious past.

This was not what he wanted, so he firmly made the decision, and his attitude was very clear. "We are not going to focus on modifying the already existing Delhi-class battleship and Guwahati-class armed ship, but we will work on designing the new 2000-tonne clipper, code-named Surat Class."

The words of Puneet Shetty immediately shocked all the designers.

" What!!! "

" Really? Chief!!"

" Chief, are you sure? it's very risky "

" Chief, do you want to reconsider? With our capabilities, our design for the modified Delhi-class and Guwahati-class is bound to win recognition from the Ministry of Defence. We are the best in this field."

Some people were excited, while others were shocked.

Puneeth Shetty was bombarded with questions and suggestions, but he was unmoved. Instead, he looked at Balkrishna Pujari and Bhargav Reddy, the Deputy Chief Designer and Shipbuilding Supervisor of the design bureau—his right and left-hand men.

Balkrishna Pujari and Bhargav Reddy were surprisingly united in their opinion. "I think the Chief's decision is correct. We should indeed design the clipper."

"I agree. It has been a long time since we participated in a major project. Even if our design is not selected, it does not matter. As long as we don't forget our craft, everything is good."

The opinion of the second and third in command took a lot of people by surprise, but Puneet was not too concerned, as he was expecting something similar to happen. When he was not invited to design the Kathmandu class, he was not the only one who was angry, depressed, and unwilling. Balakrishna Pujari, who was the direct disciple of Ganaprabu Berunda, and Bhargav Reddy, who used to work in Raaya Shipyard, were also unwilling. They too wanted to do something big and prove to their colleagues in Danior Boswell Design Bureau and Berunda Design that they had grown up and were capable of fighting back.

With the top leaders of the Southern United Naval Design Bureau coming to a unanimous decision, the rest of the designers who disagreed had no say. In the end, the Southern United Naval Design Bureau decided to stop all their work and focus their complete resources on developing a design for the Surat-class clipper a 2000-Tonne—clipper focused on speed, firepower, and endurance.

Mumbai,

The three owners of the Southern United Naval Design Bureau—Naveen Ambani, Bajrang Dharani, and Indrasena Reddy—after getting to know about the decision of the designers in the design bureau, all laughed happily. In fact, they were disappointed in the design bureau's recent change in attitude and environment themselves, but they could not say anything since there was nothing actually wrong with it. There was no corruption, there was no nepotism, and even the profits were at an all-time high. But they could feel that the spirit of a pioneer had begun to dissipate. The three owners thought that they had to talk about this matter with the Chief Designers, but now it looked like they didn't have to do it since Puneeth Shetty seemed to have come to his senses himself.

"Thank God this guy woke up quickly enough, or else we would have had to intervene," Naveen drank a sip of coffee and sighed.

"That's true. Not being invited to design the Kathmandu class could be said to be a blessing in disguise. At least it was able to wake up those guys who had started to become addicted to the smell of Varaha," Bajrang Dharani leaned back onto his chair while he broke off a biscuit and put it in his mouth.

Indrasena Reddy wiped his mouth with a towel. "Everything happens for good because if we really had to intervene in how the design bureau is run, instead of listening to the suggestion, Puneeth Shetty might actually turn hostile and become resistant to us."

"In case he becomes dissatisfied and takes a few designers with him, thousands of people are waiting to fund the next design bureau. Hell, even I would be tempted to get a senior ship designer for myself."

Bajrang Dharani and Naveen Ambani looked at Indrasena Reddy with a speechless look in their eyes. In fact, they would actually do the same, but they wouldn't talk about digging their friend's backyard with their friend, after all.

"Forget it. How about these two guys?" Naveen Ambani shook his head and changed the topic.

Indrasena Reddy and Bajrang Dharani took over the letter handed over by Naveen Ambani. After reading it, they became contemptuous.

"Humph, these kinds of guys who talk behind the back are not needed in the company," Indrasena Reddy angrily threw the letter away.

Bajrang Dharani was very angry as well.

"I agree. Complaining about the chief and deputy designer behind their backs—what sort of person does that?"

"I wouldn't be angry if this guy actually exposed corruption or unethical practices in the design bureau, but they actually complained about the chief designer taking a wrong path and causing loss for the company."

"These guys—if we really wanted to make money, would we need a design bureau? Couldn't we just construct a few more ships and do transport business with the frontier? It is much faster than printing the money."

"I say we directly fire these two guys."

Naveen Ambani nodded in agreement, "I agree, but they should not be fired from our end. Instead, Puneet should do it himself, because what if the lower-level designers think that it is dangerous to send information to us and not inform us about corruption and unethical practices when it happens? Wouldn't we be at a loss?"

"Agreed."

"Agreed!"

The very next day, two intermediate designers in the Southern United Naval Design Bureau were fired from their jobs.

The two designers who were fired got out of the company while cursing incessantly.

"Goddamn Bastard!! he will bring the whole design bureau down. I will witness its downfall with my own eyes."

"And that Balakrishna Pujari as well—both of them are colluding with each other, or else why would they fire us as soon as we objected to their opinion? Aren't they too domineering?"

They were angry and resentful, but they were not worried, since no matter what, they were also ship design technicians with a lot of experience and had reached intermediate levels in one of the best ship design firms in the empire.

With what money they had saved over the years, as well as an investment from a coal mine owner, they started their own design firm: Chiranjeevi Design Firm.

But that is all in the future.