As Luo Zhixue ordered the test to begin, many artillery pieces on the test site also began preparations.
The first one to appear is a small-caliber front-loading rifled gun that is easier and faster to prepare.
"This is a 75mm caliber front-loading rifled field gun developed by Hebei Weapons Company. This gun is relatively light, with a weight of only 870 kilograms and a diameter of 24 times. It has an effective range when launching grenades. It can reach 3,500 meters, and its grenade explosion power is much greater than the spherical grenade of our latest 23-year-old 115mm bronze smoothbore gun currently in service."
"Whether it is the range or the lethality, it is far more than the 23-year-old 115mm bronze field gun that we are currently in large numbers of equipment. However, its total weight (barrel plus gun mount plus wheels) is 850 kilograms. , which is much lower than the 1,100 kilograms of the Type 23 115mm bronze field gun, and is more maneuverable."
"Our army intends to allow this level of front-loading rifled artillery to replace the tactical mission of the 115mm field gun and serve as a division-affiliated long-range suppression artillery."
While Luo Zhixue was listening to the introduction, he looked at the artillery in front of him. This artillery didn't look big from the outside. Just by looking at the barrel, he knew it was a little guy... This look was used to the middlemen in the Chu army. Large-caliber artillery, and looking at this 75mm-caliber artillery, to be honest, Luo Zhixue thinks this thing is a bit small...
After all, the caliber of this thing is only slightly larger than the 65mm field gun used as an infantry cannon. If it is placed in the Dachu Empire Army, it is the penultimate artillery caliber.
Even though Luo Zhixue knew that many of the modern divisional artillery in the original time and space were of 75mm caliber, but when did they come from, they were all from the late 19th century or even the early 20th century... That's all In the era of electrification, the technical level is not comparable to that of the current Chu Empire.
More advanced technology can naturally use small-caliber artillery and exert greater power... With the same barrel, others can shoot five to six kilometers or even further, but our own can only shoot more than three thousand meters.
Luo Zhixue was a little worried about whether such a small artillery could be qualified for the important task of suppressing the division's long-range artillery...
But... this idea only popped up for a second before he threw it away. He just fell into a misunderstanding.
I always felt that the range of small-caliber artillery was not enough... but I forgot for a moment that the artillery of the enemies of the Chu Empire was even worse.
When it comes to attacking the indigenous people, there is actually not much difference between the effective range of army artillery of three to four thousand meters or the effective range of five to six thousand meters, because once it exceeds two thousand meters, the indigenous artillery basically loses its threat, and Our own artillery can still hit the enemy accurately.
Forget it, as long as the range is sufficient, there is no need to build artillery with an effective range of five to six thousand meters or even longer.
As for the power, because of the cylindrical shell, although the caliber is smaller, the power is still quite good!
Cylindrical shells bring more charge and greater explosive power. This is an important advantage in rifled artillery, and it is also one of the decisive reasons for the military to change its equipment.
What's more, the Chu Army has always had a tradition of equipping its divisional artillery regiments with field artillery and larger-caliber howitzers at the same time.
Just like the current 115mm field guns and 150mm light howitzers, if we go back to equip the division artillery force with new rifled artillery on a large scale, we will give this 75mm rifled field gun with a larger caliber. howitzer.
By then, remote suppression will be available and its power will be available.
Then the corps-level artillery force will acquire more larger-caliber howitzers and short-barreled howitzers, such as 120 mm caliber or even 150 mm caliber, which will definitely be very powerful by then.
Because the Chu army likes to use grenades, the development direction of artillery is towards large caliber. Artillery with larger caliber can fire larger caliber grenades, so the amount of charge in the shell will be more, and the lethality will be stronger.
It's just that when the caliber is larger, in order to control the weight and ensure maneuverability, the magnification is often lower.
For example, the latest 23-year-old 115mm bronze field gun has a magnification of only 14.5 times. The reason why the magnification is relatively low is to control the weight of the artillery. Therefore, the gun only weighs 1,100 kilograms. , can barely be used as a divisional field gun.
However, although the magnification is low, because it is a bronze artillery gun and the barrel is relatively thick, more propellant can be used, and the chamber pressure is not low when firing. Therefore, when firing solid bullets, its effective range can reach one 1,500 meters, and 1,800 meters have also been beaten in actual combat.
From the perspective of smoothbore cannons, this kind of artillery is quite excellent. It can be said that it has reached the current limit of bronze artillery manufactured by the Dachu Empire.
The Chu army's hierarchical use of artillery is mainly based on weight. Basically, the weight of divisional artillery is limited to about one thousand kilograms. If it exceeds one hundred kilograms, it is barely acceptable, but if it is more, it will not be possible. .
If the weight limit of infantry artillery is greater, those over 400 kilograms are basically not needed. It is too difficult to maneuver and cannot be afforded... The series of 65mm smoothbore field artillery in the Chu army are very typical infantry artillery. Although It is called a field gun, but it is actually a medium-barreled artillery. The full range of 65mm field guns currently in service range in weight from 320 kilograms to 380 kilograms.
Its latest improved model, the 24-year-old 65mm bronze smoothbore field gun, has a total weight of only 350 kilograms, which is very light.
The test firing of Hebei Weapons Company's 75mm rifled field gun went smoothly. The gun crew fired four shells in succession, which traveled more than 2,000 meters, setting off four clouds of smoke on the hillside that served as the target area in the distance.
However, the successful test firing does not mean that the Army will want this thing now... Because although the performance data of this thing looks good in all aspects, it still has two fatal flaws. First, the rifling processing is difficult and the cost is not low, and then The most important thing is that the service life of the rifling is not long, and the service life of the barrel is only about 300 rounds.
The Army said that the higher procurement cost is acceptable, but the artillery only has a barrel life of 300 rounds, and it is still used as the main artillery of the division. This is absolutely unacceptable...
Therefore, it will take a long time for this kind of 75mm caliber divisional field artillery to be recognized by the Army and enter the battlefield. At least the problem of barrel life must be solved, not to mention that it can do a thousand It’s more than one shot, but no matter what, you have to have five hundred shots.
Otherwise, with the army's tradition of firing out countless artillery shells at every turn, an artillery piece would be put on the battlefield and the artillery piece would be scrapped before the battle was over...
Not only does the Army dislike this artillery, the Army also dislikes some other rifled artillery developed for the Army because its barrel life is too low... It only said that a small number of them will be purchased and used as experimental equipment, mainly for training and to adapt to rifled artillery in advance. tactical applications.
The Army has no plans to put rifled artillery on the battlefield for the time being!
Anyway, the series of bronze smoothbore cannons currently in service in the Army still have an overwhelming advantage when facing indigenous artillery from various countries.
While the artillerymen of the indigenous countries were still playing field artillery with an effective range of only a few hundred meters, the artillery unit of the Chu Empire Army had already extended the effective range of the field artillery to more than a thousand meters.
In terms of artillery, the Chu army had an overwhelming advantage over the natives of various countries, and did not have the same urgent need to change equipment as the navy did.
Moreover, the Army has a large number of various smoothbore cannons, and they are all expensive bronze artillery. If you ask the Army to throw away all these bronze artillery pieces and replace them with rifled cannons in a short period of time, the Army will not be able to bear it...
Compared with the Navy's generosity in arms procurement, the Army has always been very stingy in arms procurement. They even invented a brand new concept called "full life use cost". They combine the procurement cost and the later maintenance cost. All the usage costs are taken into account, and then the cost is calculated... just to save money.
Therefore, the Army plans to continue to use the existing smoothbore cannons, and at the same time purchase a small amount of rifled cannons, and conduct experiments first to explore the tactics of using rifled cannons.
Subsequently, the overall outfit change will be carried out gradually, and this process will last for at least ten years!
In short, the Army just wants to get the Navy to spend money on various research and development of rifled guns.
Bring down production costs and improve technology at the same time.
When the development of rifled artillery matures, the army will directly pick the peaches...
Look, what the Army has in mind!
So even though a series of tests of front-loading artillery used by the Army have not yet ended, Army generals have already taken the initiative to find Luo Zhixue and expressed the Army's relevant opinions, that is, only a small amount will be purchased in the short term...
The Army is actually afraid that once Luo Zhixue sees the huge advantages of rifled artillery, he will force the Army to purchase them on a large scale, which is not in line with the Army's development pace.
Naturally, Luo Zhixue had no objection to this. Anyway, the Army now has a great advantage in foreign operations, and its demand for rifled artillery is not urgent. This is different from the situation in the Navy.
The Navy's demand for rifled artillery is very urgent, because it is directly related to the Navy's tactics.
The Navy has always wanted to play kite-flying tactics, so even though the front-loaded rifled artillery is immature, high-cost, and short-lived, the Navy still decided to equip it on a large scale.
The next thing to be tested is a series of front-loading rifled guns used by the Navy. The front-loading rifled guns used by the Navy also have large and small calibers.
The loudest and most powerful one was undoubtedly the two hundred millimeter-caliber ship-borne cannon. When this big thing weighing more than ten tons was tested, the momentum was very huge.
Even though the viewing platform where Luo Zhixue and the others were sitting was more than two thousand meters away from the hillside of the shooting area in front, they could still hear the huge explosion after the shell exploded.
The shells fired by the two hundred millimeter cannon are no joke.
However, it is precisely because of its huge power that if you want to put this thing on a ship, you need a battleship large enough to carry it. The Hantian-class battleship under construction, with a full load of 5,500 tons, is equipped with such a powerful weapon. In fact, the giant cannon cannot carry many guns.
Therefore, there is little hope that this kind of giant cannon will be put on ships in the short term. We will have to wait for the navy's new generation of warships to come out before we can see it.
The Navy has started to design a large warship made of pure steel, with a displacement of 9,000 tons.
The main gun expected to be used by this future giant battleship is this two-hundred-millimeter front-loading rifled gun.
What's funny is that the reason why the Navy designs large warships made of pure steel is not to enhance the protective capabilities of the warships... although the protective capabilities of steel battleships will indeed be better.
In fact, the reason that prompted the Navy to build all-steel warships was to reduce the weight of the hull.
Because it has been proven by many previous test ships and theoretical calculations that an iron hull is lighter than a wooden hull of the same size... Isn't it strange that an iron ship is lighter than a wooden ship?
But that's what it is.
Why?
Because steel can use lighter and thinner materials, it can achieve the performance of thick wood.
This principle is actually similar to the fact that the armor used by soldiers of the Chu army is made of steel instead of wood.
After the thickness of the hull and armor is greatly reduced, the weight will naturally be lighter, which can free up more displacement for steam engines, coal, naval guns, etc.
In this way, the warship can be equipped with a more powerful steam engine and carry more naval guns and coal to obtain greater speed, longer endurance, and more powerful firepower... Well, by the way, the warship's protective capabilities can also be greatly increased. Amplitude increase.
However, the cost of building such a large-tonnage all-steel warship will be high, and the technical difficulty is also very high. We don’t know when we will see it.
Therefore, the day when the two-hundred-millimeter cannon will be put on the ship is relatively far away, but the Guards expressed that they want to get two of them and deploy them on the Zhenjiang Fortress.
Zhenjiang Fortress, which is a strategic location for the defense of Yingtianfu in Gyeonggi Province, has always been garrisoned by the Guards. The Guards have always been very concerned about Zhenjiang Fortress. When they saw this powerful artillery, they wanted to move it. Go to the fortress and use it as fortress artillery...so that you can block the Yangtze River and control the capital when necessary.
The Navy prefers front-loading rifled guns of several calibers to be tested next, including 170mm front-loading rifled guns, 150mm front-loading rifled guns, and 130mm front-loading rifled guns. Rifled cannon.
Among them, the 170mm naval gun and the 150mm naval gun were both developed by the Dangtu Heavy Artillery Factory, a subsidiary of Jiangnan Weapons Company. Their technical routes are highly unified.
The 130mm front-loading rifled gun was developed by the Foshan Artillery Factory, a subsidiary of the Guangdong and Guangxi Arms Company. This artillery factory is also the navy's royal artillery factory and specializes in producing various artillery pieces for the navy.
In addition, Foshan Artillery Factory also has two naval gun products, a 100mm rifled gun and a 75mm rifled gun, which also participated in the test.
Just after the test ended, the Navy officially placed orders for the two naval artillery factories to purchase front-loading rifled guns of different calibers and equip them on some new warships under construction.
The Navy has also decided to officially stop purchasing front-loading smoothbore cannons. Subsequent new construction, including warships currently under construction but not yet completed, will all use front-loading rifled cannons as shipborne artillery.
As a result, the Hantian battleship under construction once again changed its design, planning to cancel all the front-loading smoothbore cannons on it and equip it with front-loading rifled cannons.
Due to changes in the guns expected to be loaded, the planned completion time of the ship will have to be postponed for several months...
As for the Hantian's sister ship Yingtian not long after the keel was laid, work was simply stopped first. The Naval Military and Administrative Department planned to change the firepower layout to better adapt to the firepower of the front-mounted rifled gun. The hull design was changed. Naturally, subsequent construction will also need to be changed accordingly.
At the same time, you can also wait for the new steam engine!
Recently, the Navy has been putting pressure on the three major steam engine manufacturers, asking them to work together and use their unique patented technologies to jointly develop a shipboard steam engine to be used as a power for warships. Although the three major steam engine manufacturers have a very tough tone... they are clamoring. They are unwilling to give up their patents to the other party for life or death.
But being tough on your peers doesn’t mean you’re tough on the Navy!
Faced with continued pressure from the Navy, Tianjin Machinery Company, one of the three major steam engine manufacturers, has made some changes. They said: Don't expect to let go of patents. This is a matter of life and death for the company. Don't tell me that the Navy is coming, even if your immediate boss, the Ministry of Industry, If the boss comes over, they will not agree to release their series of patents on multi-expansion steam engines.
But...since your navy has such a need, we are not unreasonable. You can first go to Dangtu Machinery Company to buy an ultra-high-pressure master cylinder and those connecting pipes, street entrances, etc. Find a water tube boiler from Guangzhou Machinery Company... Then our Tianjin Machinery Company will get the second cylinder and transmission structure and other parts, and then assemble the above parts, so you will have a high-performance steam engine. Well.
The Navy feels that although this plan sounds unreliable... Well, you can tell with your toes that Dangtu Machinery Company and Guangzhou Machinery Company will definitely not agree to hand over their core patented products to Tianjin Machinery Company for assembly.
But this is the closest path to success, so the Navy has been working on this matter in the past six months, but there are also a lot of troubles... The three major steam engine manufacturers have conflicts from time to time. If this doesn't work, that won't work, and the internal fighting is very fierce.
Therefore, the top brass of the Navy have completely lost patience with these three major steam engine manufacturers. After discussing with people from the Ministry of Industry, they are preparing to develop a second plan.
That is to directly order various parts and components from the three major steam engine manufacturers and obtain partial technical authorization, and then hand them over to an independent and limited-purpose assembly factory for final assembly.
In this way, the trivial and messy matters between the three major steam engine manufacturers will be put aside, and the cooperation between the three major steam engine manufacturers will be turned into a normal equipment purchase between the three major steam engine manufacturers and the navy.
In this way, we can avoid the complicated contradictions between the three major steam engines that cannot be sorted out and become chaotic!
Damn it, these three companies can quarrel for a long time about trivial matters. They are expected to negotiate with each other before cooperating to produce a new type of steam engine. I am afraid that the 9,000-ton giant ship that is still in the drawing design has been decommissioned...
That was nonsense, so the Navy simply changed its approach and turned the cooperation between them into cooperation between the Navy and them.
In this way, the matter will be solved easily.
So, in May of the 27th year of Chengshun, after more than half a year of wrangling, a naval steam engine factory directly under the Ministry of Industry but with strict business restrictions was established.
According to the agreement between the three major steam engine manufacturers and the Navy, the factory is a pure design and assembly factory. It does not produce any parts itself. It only purchases parts from the three major steam engine manufacturers and other manufacturers, and the steam engines assembled from these parts are It can only be supplied to the navy and cannot flow into the civilian market.
At the same time, the three major steam engine manufacturers will license core patents to them, but there are strict restrictions.
In order to protect their respective core patents, the three major steam engine manufacturers have formulated very strict patent usage terms.
However, the navy naturally does not care, because the core purpose of this naval steam engine factory is not other than to enable naval warships to use the latest and best new technologies and products that belong to different steam engine manufacturers or other companies, and Integrate them to create the most advanced ship-based steam engine.
(End of chapter)
