Can a front-loaded black powder smoothbore cannon fire conical shells?
To be honest, Zuo Mengeng didn't know either.
He has never seen it!
If we have the technology to manufacture conical cannonballs, it means that the casting technology of the barrel has also made considerable progress, and rifling will be available.
In this case, why bother to manufacture front-loading artillery?
Therefore, front-loading smoothbore guns and conical shells themselves should not be products of the same era.
But on the empire's side, we encountered this situation.
In order to maintain its lead, breech-loaded artillery and explosive shells must not be sold to the outside world, and must be kept as confidential as possible.
As a result, the bronze Napoleon cannon became the flagship product of the imperial arms.
Facts have proved that this kind of artillery also had an unparalleled advantage in the seventeenth century.
Both the Dutch and the Portuguese were very keen on bronze cannons, and they generously donated money to buy them.
For this reason, the National Defense Forces also use bronze artillery from time to time to enhance customer confidence.
But for the National Defense Forces who are used to using breech-loaded artillery, the power of bronze artillery really makes them feel dissatisfied.
Therefore, some soldiers came up with an idea and created conical artillery shells that effectively reduced air resistance.
Of course, this so-called conical cannonball did not meet the standards of later generations.
With the craftsmanship of this era, being able to create a cylinder with an oval tip is the maximum.
But even so, after the test, the National Defense Forces were gratified to find that the range of the bronze artillery increased by a full third.
Most importantly, pointed cannonballs can break through the battleship's defense with more powerful potential.
Although the cannonball cannot explode, it is also a good way to increase its power.
The Imperial Navy that visited Europe was equipped with this kind of artillery shells.
In addition to the cylinder and oval tip, this kind of cannonball has another feature, that is, the tail of the cannonball has a certain concavity.
This is to allow the energy of the gunpowder explosion to act on the cannonball as much as possible, giving the cannonball greater kinetic energy.
In view of the large number of British naval warships, the pressure was a bit high, so Kong Zhiguang brought out the best weapons as soon as he came up.
Just when the cannonballs were loaded, the entire fleet had completed its turn and aimed its broadsides at the approaching British fleet.
Because the steering maneuver point begins when the two sides are two thousand meters apart, when the fleet is in place, the distance between the two sides is only seven or eight hundred meters.
And this distance is still a little far for the current naval battle.
Although the heavy artillery mounted on British warships can hit more than a thousand meters, once it exceeds 300 meters at sea, the accuracy is completely impossible to control.
Because of this, both sides in the current naval battle will try their best to get closer to their opponents. It is best to pour out all their firepower within a distance of one hundred to three hundred meters.
It can be said that this is a method of shooting with a bayonet on the cannon.
Of course the Imperial Navy would not do this.
They only have seven battleships. If the British fleet rushes into sight, no matter how strong the battleships are, they will not be able to withstand the siege of a pack of wolves.
The best way is to use the bronze cannon's longer effective range, higher accuracy, and faster speed to bully the British.
After the observation post measured the distance between the two sides, it immediately passed it to the command podium.
"Order the lower gun positions to fire first."
Kong Zhiguang was very decisive and gave the order on the spot.
The adjutant next to him picked up the wooden hammer and banged it on the iron piece.
The sound quickly spread throughout the warship through the metal pipes, and at the same time, the messenger on the observation post also passed the order to other warships.
After receiving the order, the artillery positions at the bottom immediately began aiming under the command of the chief gunner.
If it is an authentic imperial warship, the measurement and aiming are done by the observation post, and the command platform gives the order to fire.
After all, imperial warships equipped with rear-mounted artillery have a range of up to three thousand to five thousand meters.
At this distance, it is almost impossible for the gunner in the cabin to see the enemy.
Only at the observation post at the highest point can the measurement be completed and the data then transmitted to the artillery position.
However, these battleships are equipped with bronze cannons with a shorter range, and the maximum effective range does not exceed 700 meters.
If there are observation posts to conduct calculations and pass them on one by one, it is easy to miss the fighter opportunity.
Therefore, the task of aiming was left to each gun position.
The gunner of the No. 1 gun position on each deck is also the chief gunner. It would be faster and more effective for him to observe, aim, and then direct other gun positions.
After receiving the order, the chief gunner quickly moved to the scope and quickly locked the target.
"Distance 669, height positive 3, left 5 degrees..."
De Ruyter was right next to the No. 1 gun position. He was stunned when he saw the chief gunner using the sight.
Today's European artillery technology still uses naked eye sighting and empirical measurement, and there is no scientific artillery measurement tutorial.
Seeing what the Imperial Navy was doing, he felt confused.
Next, the Imperial Navy's actions of operating artillery gave him additional knowledge.
The gunners who received the data quickly operated the various cranks on the gun mount, and then saw the gun barrel begin to move slowly, apparently taking aim.
It is completely different from European artillery, which requires manpower to push the gun body, which consumes a lot of energy.
The most important thing is that the Imperial Navy's artillery can swing left and right at a certain angle. Unlike the guns of the Dutch Navy, only the upper and lower can be adjusted.
As for left and right, it is very difficult.
After receiving the reply that each gun position was ready, the chief gunner roared loudly.
"fire!"
All the gunners pulled the ropes almost at the same time, and more than twenty artillery roared in unison, smashing the hot shells into the enemy.
De Ruyter had already seen how bronze cannons were fired when he was on land.
I know that I use a rope to pull the mechanism, then release the spring to push the hammer, and hit the flash cap to ignite the fire.
This method is exactly the same as the Miné rifle, but it is much faster and safer than the open flame and flintlock methods.
Thinking that the Dutch Navy would soon be able to universally equip this kind of artillery, his heart was extremely hot.
Robert Blake was in no such mood.
He couldn't understand it at all when he saw the Imperial Navy firing cannons from a position nearly 700 meters away.
Is such a long distance trying to scare people?
The rapid flight of the cannonball quickly woke him up from his confusion.
I saw many water columns suddenly rising up in front of the British fleet, and then falling from high altitude, causing many people to get wet.
Apparently many shells missed their targets.
But naturally some of them hit the target.
Robert Blake saw with his own eyes a cannonball hitting the fastest boat.
This kind of small boat can be regarded as a victim. It relies on its extremely fast speed to pounce on the opponent and then give the main battleship a chance. At the same time, it plays the role of supporting and covering the main battleship.
But even so, if such a small boat was to be sunk in previous naval battles, it would have taken dozens of cannonballs to do so.
But what he sees now is...
The cannonball was like thunder, smashing into the front of the small boat, and then rushed out from the back end of the small boat without any hindrance, hitting a large ship behind again.
A large hole was opened in the front end of the ship on the spot, sawdust flew everywhere, screams were made, and blood was like mist. The artillery placed on the bow of the ship was rolling around and completely useless.
Looking at the small boat again, it was like a piece of bread being cut open with a knife, suddenly split into two halves left and right, and was quickly submerged by the sea water.
Robert Blake gasped and trembled.
He realized that the British Navy was in trouble!
(End of chapter)
