Hof felt that today was hell for him. Everything that happened in front of him was beyond comprehension and incredible!
The Zhiyuan is the enemy in the hearts of all French navies. Ever since this warship appeared, they have not stopped collecting intelligence on this warship!
But today he finally understood that all the intelligence collection work he had done before was a waste! Even worse than a fart!
All the technical analysis was wrong. No one could have calculated that the protective power of this battleship would be so incredible!
"How thick is the armor of this battleship? Who can tell me how thick it is!"
I watched helplessly as the shells exploded on the port side of the Zhiyuan's bow, but in the end all I got was a shudder and blackening of the enemy ship, not even a needle-sized hole.
How to fight a turtle-shell battleship like this? I can't fight!
In this world, only Prussia and the Chinese know the detailed data of the Zhiyuan. The armor thickness of the Zhiyuan's hull is not 2.5 inches as judged by the French, nor three inches as judged by the British, but an incredible 4.5 inches. inch!
How thick is four and a half inches? Four inches converted to millimeters is 114! This is a full eleven centimeters thick!
The thickness of the steel plate reaches 11 centimeters. During World War I and World War II, it was just like a paper shell. But in this era, the thickness of this steel plate has exceeded people's imagination!
The maximum caliber of artillery equipped by the French Navy is only 150mm, and the maximum caliber of the British Navy's artillery is only about 160mm. The power of such artillery shells can be against about two inches of iron armor, but now the Zhiyuan has directly doubled the standard!
Such armor can only be countered by cannons with a caliber of 210 or above, but the British and French navies have not even installed such cannons!
It's not that they can't build it, but they think this kind of cannon is meaningless and a complete waste, because they think there is no such madman in the world!
But reality slapped them hard in the face! Of course there is a lunatic, and he is a big lunatic who can mobilize countless wealth in East Asia!
This kind of madman can turn the random thoughts in his head into reality because he has money and power!
Such people can naturally be as willful as they want!
Think about it, after the design drawings were sent to the Prussian engineers, almost all the engineers who saw the indicators went crazy. They thought Xiao Letian was just rich and full!
How many people made suggestions to the head of state in the East, asking him to lower his standards and not waste money, but Xiao Letian didn't listen at all. This stubborn guy forcefully demanded that Prussia build him such a 'big toy'.
In fact, Bismarck also tried to persuade Xiao Letian in a subtle way, but the result was the same rejection!
In the end, those Prussian engineers were angry and gave him the production. "You Chinese are not good at taking money, so just build it! If you are willing to be a prodigal, why do we feel bad! Anyway, in the end, we will make your money. If you don't, you will be a bastard." Egg!"
Most of the Prussian engineers worked for Xiao Letian with this mentality!
However, the Prussians are strict in character and adhere to morality. Although they do not agree with Xiao Letian's design, they do not bother to cut corners!
It is precisely because of this kind of madman-like stubbornness and this kind of paranoid devotion that the legendary battleship Beihai is so powerful today!
After the war, Xiao Letian held a secret meeting for the Navy. At that meeting, he proposed a term called "Hundred Ghosts Night Parade"!
Xiao Letian said that when mankind transitioned from the era of wooden sail battleships to the era of pure steel-bodied steam ironclads, such a period was actually called the Night Parade of One Hundred Ghosts!
What does it mean? What I mean is that during this century of great changes, all battleship designers and top think tanks in all countries are actually confused about the future development direction of battleships!
Because of confusion, the rulers need to brainstorm and need countless wise men to discuss the development direction of future warships together!
After all, this is gambling on design! Isn't war a gamble on the fate of the country? This kind of brainstorming is actually a bet on design and the development direction of future wars.
You see, Napoleon III bet on the wrong design. Prussia focused all its technological points on the breech-mounted steel cannon, but France worked hard to research that weird style heavy machine gun.
What's the end result? It was the breech-loaded steel cannon that completely crushed the heavy machine guns. It was Prussia's wild victory!
This is the consequence of clicking on the wrong technology tree!
The Navy is actually betting on design!
In this era, cruisers were better. In order to meet the needs of ocean combat, these battleships all chose streamlined hulls, and the styles were generally the same.
But on the armored battleship that was the main force on the battlefield, there was a strange Night Parade of Hundred Demons!
Countries were confused about the development ideas of battleships, and in the end, various strange designs appeared, some like big slippers, some like a big bathtub, and some were even round!
That's right, Tsarist Russia once built a round battleship! The name is Popovka battleship!
Of course, this ridiculous design will not succeed, because it is round, and it will spin uncontrollably once you fire it, and it will also spin when you encounter some wind and waves during navigation.
The emergence of such a weird design style shows how confused the thinking of the international mainstream warship design community was at that time!
Of course, in this chaos, the British design community had the greatest say, because at that time Britain was the world's most powerful navy, and the world recognized that their warships were the best and had the most experience!
At that time, spies from countless countries were staring at the drawings of the British Naval Design Institute. In almost every meeting on design, spies purchased the meeting minutes at a high price.
People are eager to know the British's judgment on the development of future warships, so that their own navy can learn from it!
But no one has ever thought that the British will actually make mistakes, the British will also be confused, and in the fog of the future, they will also take detours!
Xiao Letian sighed and said, "The world doesn't like to look too deeply into problems. Don't those spies from France and Tsarist Russia analyze and analyze Britain's great power strategy?"
"Why didn't the UK develop large-caliber artillery in the early days? Why didn't it equip super armor with more than four inches? In the end, it was the British politicians who were influencing the design ideas!"
"After all, Britain is an empire on which the sun never sets. Their colonies are spread all over the world. The important task of the navy is to control the global waterways and ensure the safety of the colonies!"
"Under this general situation, politicians require that the navy must be able to fight around the world, and economics must also be taken into consideration!"
"The larger the caliber of the battleship, the stronger the recoil will be. In this way, the entire battleship's keel and internal structure will need to be redesigned and enlarged!"
"Will the cost increase? One or two ships doesn't matter, but if you want to control the world, how many ships do you need?"
"There is also the issue of armor. The thicker the armor, the heavier the warship will be, and the greater the power will be needed. How much coal will be burned?"
"Don't think that coal is worthless. The coal used in battleships cannot be used casually. The highest quality anthracite white coal must be burned!"
"There is also the issue of power. Should we abandon sails completely? Why is steam power still used in conjunction with sail power in an era when steam technology has matured?"
"To put it bluntly, it's just a supply issue!"
"The Zhiyuan is not without its weaknesses! The Zhiyuan relies too heavily on supply ships. If the Zhiyuan does not follow a supply ship, it will not even be able to cross the Atlantic Ocean!"
It was precisely because the British considered many factors that they did not hesitate to directly click on the technology tree of the 'Big Gun Ship'!
It is precisely because of this era of a hundred ghosts walking at night that the Zhiyuan has the opportunity to make history!
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