The night of January 31, 1941, Libi Country, Sirt Basin
"Not just high-grade gasoline, diesel, gasoline, kerosene, and lubricants, everything you need is here!" the Air Marshal said excitedly, pointing to the row of oil barrels. In order to test the quality of the oil, he even personally went there today After flying the plane for a while, the results were very gratifying. The aviation fuel produced by those small refineries has fully met the standards of imported Bald Eagle fuel.
Not only aviation fuel, the lubricating oil refined by small refineries is also of very good quality. It can be used by aircraft with a little blending. Similarly, after changing the formula, it can also be used by vehicles and machines. In Mr. Otto's words, it is true that these small equipment are crude and have poor production efficiency, but the quality of the oil they produce is really good.
How did they know that the production process of these small equipment is the result of decades of technological accumulation by countless small refineries in a certain country in another time and space? Computer simulation software was even used to improve many processes, and the potential of these equipment similar to pressure cooker groups has been tapped. Done.
"Your Excellency, Marshal, can these be directly supplied to the army?" Rommel suddenly became excited. The 7th Armored Division looked extremely powerful, but his family knew their own affairs, and the fuel they carried was simply not enough for a battle. , once there is a real conflict with the British, there will definitely be a problem. Now, it seems that this problem is no longer a problem.
"My general, have you seen it? There are already dozens of small refineries here, which can produce hundreds of tons of refined oil every day. In the near future, tens of thousands of refineries will be erected on this land. Distillation tower, by then, the empire's fuel crisis will be completely alleviated." The Air Marshal looked at the still desolate basin and said with great enthusiasm.
"Your Excellency, Marshal, the Mediterranean belongs to the British." Rommel reminded with some disappointment. Although he was also very happy, his reason prevented him from ignoring this issue.
Although he had just learned that the Empire had oil fields in Libi, it did not prevent him from speculating on the reasons for the recent unusual behavior of the British. The current situation was that as long as it could not gain control of the sea in the Mediterranean, the Empire would not be able to transport equipment to Libi. Similarly, the crude oil and refined oil produced cannot be shipped back.
"But the sky over the Mediterranean can belong to the empire, general. My air force has high-grade aviation fuel and a steady stream of aviation fuel. We must not only protect the skies of Libya, but we must also completely control the Mediterranean!" the air marshal said decisively. Said that the Air Force has recently withdrawn many elite forces from the Strait, and there are still a few months until June. He can use these few months to give Texas a tough blow to the surrounding British Navy and Air Force. , Malta, the Pharaohs, the Middle East, the Balkans, wherever there is a British air force base, someone will be sent to him. The only thing I worry about is whether the head of state will approve this plan. After all, the empire's precious strategic reserves are prepared for the alliance. .
When thinking about strategic reserves, the air marshal suddenly had a flash of inspiration and remembered the letter handed over by the embassy of the Eastern powers the day before. That guy Li Yunlong always likes to give himself some reminders at critical moments. I hope it will be the same this time.
Sure enough, after opening the letter, the Air Marshal saw at first sight a palm-sized piece of paper. On the piece of paper was a brief introduction to a weapon:
Napalm - A projectile filled with a jelly made of gasoline and other chemicals, usually dropped from an aircraft. When it explodes, it can produce high-temperature flames, forming a layer of flames that spatters around, generating a high temperature of about 1000°C, and can stick to other objects and burn for a long time.
After seeing this, the Air Marshal couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. What's new about napalm?
During World War I, Hans first designed an infantry flamethrower. Later, both warring parties developed various types of flamethrowers. A major problem with early liquid fuels was that they were easy to splash and difficult to adhere to targets, making it difficult to achieve the purpose of concentrated killing.
Later, the group of bald eagles were disgraced and discovered that using gelled gasoline could increase the range and effectiveness of the flamethrower, but gelled gasoline required the use of large quantities of expensive and in short supply natural rubber. So even though everyone has basically understood this technology, no one is idle enough to make glue-mounted gasoline bombs. There is no way, it is too expensive, okay?
This is especially true for Hans. Not only are Hans short of natural rubber, they are also short of gasoline! Did that guy Li Yunlong guess that the empire had solved the gasoline problem and suggested that I build this napalm bomb?
But at the bottom of this piece of paper, two equations were simply written, as well as the percentage to be added. The air marshal immediately reacted, Damn, this is the sticky agent suggested by Li Yunlong, he How could I forget that Li Yunlong is still an out-and-out "scientist", so the Air Force Marshal rushed into the tent and pulled out Mr. Otto, who was still testing refined oil there.
"Marshal, according to the above tips, you can get the best colloidal gasoline by adding a mixture of napthenic (naphthenic acid) and palmitic acid (palmitic acid) to the gasoline in proportion, and you can achieve the best combustion. The bomb effect." Mr. Otto said after looking at the piece of paper and thinking about it.
"Are these two substances difficult to obtain?" the Air Marshal asked. If the problems of gasoline and viscous agents are solved, what else is there? Isn't the rest just a tin shell and a detonating device?
Compared with expensive traditional bombs, the manufacturing cost and manufacturing process of napalm bombs are negligible. Of course, the premise is that the sticky agent proposed by Li Yunlong is cheap and easy to obtain.
"It is very easy to obtain. Naphthenic acid is an acidic compound that exists in petroleum, so it is also called petroleum acid. I read the technical information handed over to us by the big Eastern countries. Their small refining equipment can extract a small amount of naphthenic acid. Alkanoic acid. As for palmitic acid, it widely exists in nature. Almost all oils contain varying amounts of palmitic acid components. The content of palmitic acid in some vegetable oils even exceeds 60%." Mr. Otto said He said with a somewhat admiring tone. Scientifically speaking, the simpler things are, the harder they are to work with. He can also come up with a lot of gasoline thickeners, some of which may have better effects, but they have to meet the requirements of low price. , and it is not so easy to find a thickener that is easily available.
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