Luo Zhixue actually didn't pay much attention to the huge 200mm front-loading rifled cannon. He just looked at it curiously and asked about it, but he didn't even bother to ask about the equipment plan... because he knew that this thing didn't need to be asked. It's just a test weapon developed by the Navy, with no intention of equipping it.
Because this thing is too heavy and manual loading will be very troublesome.
This is not a smoothbore cannon, but a front-loading rifled cannon.
Smoothbore cannons use spherical shells. The size of the shells is limited, and the weight of the shells is also limited.
However, rifled guns use cylindrical shells, which are many times larger and weigh a lot more. This results in a 200 mm cylindrical shell that would be very difficult to transport by soldiers alone. Not to mention maintaining long-term portability and reloading for combat.
If you want to use this kind of artillery, you have to equip it with a mechanical mechanism for transporting shells and final loading.
Finally, this kind of artillery actually has a serious excess of firepower...
Looking around the world, no country's warships are worthy of the Chu army using this kind of 200mm cannon... Even if they need to attack the city, they can also use the 200mm short-barreled howitzer of the same caliber. There is no need for such a long-barreled ship. Loading a cannon is not necessary!
And the most important reason is...you don't need to ask to know that this thing is very expensive.
The Chu army has never liked weapons that are too expensive!
In the Dachu Empire, whether the military equips a new weapon or other equipment depends not only on performance, but also on cost and actual demand.
To put it simply, it depends on cost-effectiveness.
It doesn't mean to equip whatever is advanced, nor to equip whatever is cheap, but to choose a more moderate weapon and equipment.
In addition, it also depends on whether the weapon has a relatively large actual use value. The actual use value mainly depends on the opponent... equip the weapon according to the enemy's situation.
The most typical one is armor. According to the concepts of later generations, the army of the Chu Empire was all composed of line infantry, artillery and cavalry. In this kind of army in the era of queuing and shooting, in addition to the cavalry being equipped with breastplates, other None of the soldiers wear armor.
However, the Da Chu Empire Army still distributes armor on a large scale, especially the line infantry who still distribute a large number of light half-body armor.
Why?
Because the enemies that the line infantry of later generations had to face were the enemies of the same era, and their enemies were mainly line infantry. Unless the armor was made into a thicker but smaller breastplate shape, it would basically block the enemy. Can't hold back the musket!
In other words, in the line era, infantry armor is basically useless. It will also increase the infantry's load, affect mobility, and increase costs... This is an important reason for infantry in the line era to abandon armor.
The reason why the cavalry continues to retain breastplates is because when the cavalry fights, they often fight against the enemy's cavalry, and the cavalry are generally equipped with cold weapons. The history of the application of weapons such as lances is very long. In the original time and space, even if By the 1920s, there were still cavalry who used lances as their main weapons and achieved great tactical success.
This is how in 1920, the Polish cavalryman Juliusz's cavalry, with a total of 1,700 cavalry, armed with lances that the world considered obsolete, fought against 17,500 Cossack cavalry of the Soviet First Cavalry Army. As a result, the Soviet army The cavalry suffered a disastrous defeat, and the Polish army annihilated more than 4,000 Soviet troops at the cost of 500 casualties.
This Battle of Camorro was the largest cavalry duel in the past two hundred years, and it was also the last swan song of the Lancers. It was also a typical military miracle in which the few defeated the many and the weak defeated the strong. Well, at least the Poles were so I believe that if we look deeper, artillery, machine guns, rifles and other firearms still occupied the main tactical position in this battle.
But it is undeniable that the lance of the Polish Lancers still stole all the limelight in the end!
Cavalry was used until 1920, not to mention sabers. Even in the 21st century, cavalry are still using sabers. Although the cavalry in the 21st century has basically been reduced to an honor guard, in World War I and World War II During this period, the saber was still the main weapon of the cavalry, and there was even a frontal attack by the cavalry.
Infantry positions and successful battles.
In 1917, in Palestine, 800 British Australian cavalry attacked Beersheba where 3,000 Turkish troops were stationed. Surprisingly, they did not choose to dismount and fight on foot. Instead, they directly launched a horse charge and crossed the border. The fire blockade composed of guns and artillery finally broke into the Turkish army's position and successfully captured the city.
It is worth mentioning that this is also the second time since the Crimean War in the 1850s, and the last time in human history that a large-scale cavalry attacked the enemy's infantry defense line head-on and succeeded.
Well, in fact, in modern times, there are more cases where large-scale cavalry launched frontal charges, but failed in the end. But no one cares about the losers, so I won’t talk about them.
The Battle of Camorro and the Battle of Beersheba are famous because they are very rare examples of success... just like winning night raids in ancient times... Li Su attacked Caizhou in the snow at night and was blown away by a thousand Years!
Why? Because except for him, countless other generals who wanted to try night attacks have rushed to the street... What a misfortune!
After entering the 20th century, cavalry charges became a miracle. However, before the mid-19th century, cavalry charges were very common, let alone earlier periods such as the 18th and 17th centuries.
In the age of muskets, the cavalry's lances and sabers were extremely lethal and were indispensable arms.
Since the cavalry are all using cold weapons, and the cavalry who are opponents of each other, in order to prevent the other cavalry from being killed by cold weapons, they naturally have the motivation to equip themselves with armor. Therefore, the cavalry breastplates were equipped until the First World War.
Therefore, in armor, you can clearly see whether a weapon and equipment will be used on a large scale. It is affected by many factors, among which the enemy's threat is a more important one.
In the current mid-seventeenth century, the enemies faced by the Chu Empire Army are generally still in the era of alternation between hot and cold. Even the armies in Europe do not have many flintlock equipment.
Even some backward indigenous countries do not even have matchlocks and still use cold weapons such as bows, arrows and spears.
Because the enemy is still equipped with a large number of cold weapons, the armor assigned to the Chu army can still play a certain defensive role.
This is why the line infantry in the Chu army are equipped with light half-body armor... This kind of armor is not used to block bullets. In fact, it is more used to block the enemy's spears, bows and arrows, as well as sabers and cavalry. Guns and other cold weapons.
At the same time, this is also the reason why the infantry of the Chu army are not equipped with heavy full-body armor, because even heavy armor cannot stop bullets. It is better to expand the protective area and save some weight to enhance mobility.
However, troops sent overseas will be equipped with a small amount of full-body heavy armor, which is not usually used. It is usually used when facing indigenous troops who have few firearms.
When the natives didn't even have matchlocks, the Chu army liked to let the grenadiers put on these heavy armors, and then shoot their opponents with muskets... In this way, the natives' bows and arrows could not hurt these iron cans, etc. After the natives paid a heavy price and rushed forward, these iron cans could also protect the soldiers well and reduce casualties.
This kind of humanoid tank often has miraculous effects when facing some pure cold weapon armies or indigenous armies with only a few primitive firearms!
Full-body heavy armor is a typical piece of equipment used by the strong to bully the weak...
From the Chu army's armor and equipment, we can see that the Chu army's equipment does not only depend on its own situation, but also on the enemy's situation.
This is true for armor, and even more so for artillery.
When the Chu army equips artillery, in addition to considering its leading advantage, it also needs to consider cost-effectiveness and practicality.
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It is used in specific situations, such as shelling the enemy's strong coastal defense forts with powerful sea firepower.
And more will be equipped with smaller caliber front-loading rifled guns, such as 170 mm caliber front-loading rifled guns, 150 mm caliber front-loading rifled guns, and 130 mm or even Smaller seventy-five millimeter caliber.
The caliber of each of the above-mentioned artillery guns is the caliber of the main gun or secondary gun currently used on different types of warships in the Dachu Empire Navy.
The calibers of the smoothbore cannons in the battleships of the Dachu Empire Navy were relatively confusing in the early days, but they were highly unified in the later stages.
At present, the battleships of the Chu army are all equipped with 170mm cannons. Whether they are battleships that were refitted in early service or later in service, or the latest battleship Huai'an, the sister ship of the Suzhou battleship, they are all equipped with a large number of 170mm cannons. , and is also equipped with 170mm medium-barreled and short-barreled artillery of the same caliber.
The three main guns have different barrels, but have the same caliber and the same ammunition.
This is based on the unified large-diameter theory developed in previous years.
The main naval guns on the battleships adopt a unified large caliber and use different barrel lengths to control weight to obtain greater firepower and simplify logistics. This is the main naval gun development idea of the Chu Empire in the past ten years.
Rather than using small-caliber cannons to fire solid shells, the Da Chu Empire Navy prefers to use large-caliber medium-barreled or even short-barreled artillery to launch large grenades directly onto enemy warships.
This is a tactical idea shown by the Chu army after they adopted howitzer bombardment as the main combat method, and the tactical idea also affected the development of equipment.
However, the caliber cannot be increased indefinitely. If the caliber is too large, the cost of the artillery will become higher, and loading will become more difficult, resulting in a reduction in the rate of fire... When warships are bombarded within a distance of two to three hundred meters, the number of naval guns will be reduced, and the firing rate will be reduced. Slowing down is not enough, so the caliber of the battleship's main gun also needs to be kept within a certain range.
This is why in the past twenty years, the Chu army's battleships have always used 170mm naval guns as the main artillery.
If it's too small, it's not powerful enough, if it's too big, it's too troublesome. 170mm is just right... So I got a 170mm naval gun.
In this situation, cruisers, frigates and even inland river gunboats also follow the unified large-caliber idea. In addition to auxiliary artillery, such as small-caliber artillery and ultra-short-barreled mortars, the main guns in a warship include other main guns. Basically use the same caliber.
This is a very unique unified large-caliber tactical idea in the navy of the Da Chu Empire, and now in the era of front-loaded smoothbore guns, the navy still has a good impression of this tactical idea.
Because the core of the unified large-caliber tactical idea is to use howitzer shells to kill enemy ships and increase the amount of ammunition projection as much as possible under limited conditions.
This situation will not change much after the era of front-loaded rifled guns. The core goal of the navy is still to hit the most explosive grenades on enemy ships in the shortest time.
Therefore, it is very important to have a naval gun that is moderate in caliber, powerful, and at the same time not too heavy, and can be deployed in large numbers by cruisers and even frigates.
And this is the 150mm front-loading rifled naval gun also developed by Dangtu Heavy Artillery Factory.
"This new type of naval gun is an improvement from the experimental front-mounted rifled naval gun on the cruiser Pusan. We have improved the smelting process of the gun barrel, used higher-performance steel, and also improved the winding degree of the rifling. , the improved new artillery can have a barrel life of 250 rounds, and its hit rate has also been improved. After substantial performance improvements, its production cost has only increased by less than 10%."
"At present, this artillery has passed the Navy's final review and was awarded the official number of "Twenty-seven-year-old 150mm front-loading rifled naval gun". "
It has passed the finalization review and been given an official year number, which means that this artillery is the main artillery that the Navy is preparing to equip on a large scale. This treatment is the only one among all the test-fired artillery present.
Even the previous 200mm front-loaded rifled gun failed to obtain official military approval.
Party number, only manufacturer number can be used.
The number of formal year numbers is very limited, because it is impossible for the military to name a lot of weapons with years, which is easy to confuse... Therefore, only some major weapons with large-scale equipment will be given official numbers, and other small-scale weapons will be given official numbers. Equipment that is not the main equipment does not have this treatment and can only use the manufacturer number.
Luo Zhixue is very interested in this 27-year-old 150mm front-loading rifled gun. If this thing is done well, it means that the Dachu Empire Navy will get a powerful and widely applicable gun. A main artillery piece.
This kind of artillery can be used as a general main gun for cruisers of one to two thousand tons, and can also be used as a secondary gun for the current new battleships of more than 5,000 tons. Some large-tonnage frigates and even river gunboats can also be equipped with this kind of naval gun in small quantities. Used as a deterrent weapon.
Therefore, he took a closer look and repeatedly asked about some performance data and production status. After getting a satisfactory answer, Luo Zhixue also said: "When this gun is tested for test firing, fire a few more rounds!"
He was looking forward to the test firing of this kind of artillery. He had long heard reports that the cylindrical grenade fired by a rifled gun of this caliber was more explosive than a 250 mm smoothbore mortar. The spherical grenade fired is even larger.
With such power, and the fact that this kind of artillery needs to be equipped on a large scale, you can imagine how powerful the firepower of the Chu warships will be by then!
Coupled with the range advantage of rifled cannons and the maneuverability advantages brought by steam engines, the Da Chu Empire Navy will not need to rely on a huge fleet to surround its opponents in the future. It only needs a few advanced warships to defeat any indigenous navy.
The day when the Chu Empire’s navy will dominate the world’s oceans is almost here!
Luo Zhixue is looking forward to this!
So after briefly looking at several other different types of front-loading rifled guns, Luo Zhixue ordered the start of live ammunition testing.
The live-fire test is the highlight of today!
He not only wanted to see it for himself, but also wanted to let the accompanying army and navy generals experience the huge power of rifled artillery and the huge battlefield advantages it brought!
