1855 United States Tycoon

Chapter 499, Super Battleship (2)

As for the second type of warship, it was quite satisfactory, but the gun on it shocked the Germans. According to the plan of the United States, they will install a 13.5-inch cannon on this warship. In this era, the mainstream artillery of battleships is still 12-inch guns. Of course, a little further, the British Empire is still using reciprocating steam engines. When the speed of warships does not exceed 15 knots, battleships have more than 12-inch guns. However, that kind of artillery is very low in diameter and low in chamber pressure. The ballistic curve is like urination, and the range is as close as a mortar. When it is really used, it is not even comparable to a long tube. 8-inch gun.

The manufacture of large-caliber high-pressure artillery in that era can definitely be called the crown of large-scale industry, and its status is similar to that of later generations of large-thrust turbofan engines. In this regard, the British have always had obvious technological advantages. Although the Krupp cannon is very famous, the Krupp cannon is actually only 11 inches in caliber. The earliest use of 12-inch long-barreled high-pressure guns on warships was the British. It took the Germans a lot of effort to finally develop a 12-inch naval gun in the past few years. However, in terms of performance, there is still a gap between the British and United States products, especially in terms of barrel life. obvious. At present, the barrel life of the 12-inch gun made by the Germans is only two-thirds of the life of the British and United States products. But there is no advantage in manufacturing costs. In addition, the barrels of these giant guns are very expensive, which leads to ascending of the cost of use.

The Germans got some intelligence, saying that the British were already testing 13-inch guns. Although it seems that the 13-inch caliber is only one inch larger than the 12-inch, but this means that the weight of the shells it uses will be a lot larger, and the power will naturally be larger. For example, the weight of a 6-inch cannon shell is generally between 40-50 kilograms, while the weight of an 8-inch cannon shell is 100 kilograms, and the weight of an 11-inch cannon shell is about 300 kilograms, and the weight of a 12-inch cannon The shells weigh more than 500 kilograms. According to the legend, the British 13-inch cannon weighs more than 600 kilograms.

The kinetic energy of such a heavy shell is naturally much greater, and the armor-piercing ability and explosive power are naturally much greater. It is precisely because of this information that the German talents set the standard for the new warship to be able to withstand the firing of 13-inch caliber artillery. And the Germans are also working hard to develop a new 13-inch caliber cannon. It’s just that although the development plan has been in place, the development process is not smooth. And it is very likely that when these artillery can finally be installed on a warship, the British will already have a larger caliber artillery.In contrast, the technology of the McDonald Consortium in large-caliber artillery is much better than that of the Germans. Although in this industry, McDonald Steel and McDonald’s Infantry Weapons Company did not start earlier than Germany, honestly. In other words, the scientific research force of the Macdonald Consortium is not necessarily stronger than that of the Germans. However, the Macdonald Consortium has an advantage that the Germans can’t compare, that is, they have one more traverser. Not to mention that Scrooge was originally a guy from science and engineering. He has good knowledge and technology. Just knowing which science and technology trees are right and which are crooked will take a big advantage. Because the process of scientific research is largely a process of constant trial and error. In the original history, Edison was said to have experimented with thousands of materials in order to invent the light bulb. These failed experiments consumed a lot of time and financial resources. Then, in this time and space, Scrooge directly gave an instruction to use carbon wire in the short term and tungsten wire in the future. All of a sudden, the difficulty of research dropped by several orders of magnitude. Knowing the general trend and knowing which technologies are promising technologies in the future is an unparalleled advantage. Sometimes it is not even necessary for him to have a solid foundation in science and engineering like Scrooge. He only needs to have life experience in the future. For example, even a liberal arts student who travels to the Soviet Union knows that the miniaturization of electron tubes is definitely a bit of a distortion of the science and technology tree. Even if it is a yellow soap with a problematic head and travels to Nazi Germany, he must know that the conclusion that Heisenberg’s original bullet could not be made is absolutely wrong. (At the beginning, Heisenberg used the wrong formula to calculate how much U235 is needed to reach the critical mass of the explosion, and he came up with an unimaginable number that made him think that the original bullet is not at all. It may be made, at least impossible to make with uranium and plutonium. In order to solve this problem, Heisenberg also proposed an extremely weird idea in modern people-to initiate fission through a fusion, just like modern hydrogen bombs. Pour it all down. If the British from the United States knew that Germany’s nuclear weapons program was actually like this, it would probably not be guilty to send bombers to bomb the German heavy water plant.)

Precisely because of this advantage, when the scientific research power is not only inferior to the United Kingdom, but also inferior to Germany, it has made technological progress no less than that of the United Kingdom, and the financial resources spent are far less than this. Two opponents. Because the Macdonald consortium is not actually creating technology, but following research. And following research is always super saving. For example, back then, United States pioneered the research of the original bullet, which cost 2.5 billion U.S. dollars, but how much did the Chitu country that he followed later spent? The people of United States pioneered the research of the fifth-generation fighter, which cost hundreds of billions of dollars. The J-20 followed by the Chitu Kingdom will definitely not cost so much money.

“Are your 13.5-inch guns in stock?” Tirpitz asked after seeing this plan.

“Yes, Lord of the Navy.” Donald replied proudly, “Our 13.5mm gun has been tested many times. The performance is much better than the current 12-inch gun. It can go very far. Penetrate the armor of any warship in active service at a distance of 1500. If your government agrees with our plan, there is absolutely no problem with the 13.5-inch artillery.”

“What about technology transfer?” At this time, a person spoke.

“This gentleman is?” Donald asked.

“Ah, this is Mr. Alfred Krupp. It is the son of the old Mr. Alfred Krupp.” Tirpitz hurriedly introduced the man to Donald and Jr. John Morgan.

“Ah, it turned out to be Mr. Krupp. It’s a blessing to meet.” Donald hurriedly responded.

Speaking of which, Knoop has always been one of the competitors of McDonald’s Infantry Weapons Company. The German large-caliber artillery has always been provided by this company. Krupp has very close relations with the German military and the royal family, and it is even called a national enterprise and a state-owned arsenal of Germany.

It’s just different from history. Because of the rise of McDonald’s Infantry Arms Company and McDonald’s Steel, the worldwide sales of Krupp cannons are much worse than in the original history. However, relying on domestic orders , Krupp’s business is not bad. However, in the technology of large-caliber artillery, there is still a big gap between them and the United States and the United Kingdom.

“Mr. Krupp, I think you also know that artillery technology involves many aspects of technology, and the scope of application of these technologies is far from being limited to artillery. Therefore, although we are willing to carry out certain technology transfers, if we want to Want to obtain all the relevant technology, this may require a lot of money, this figure is probably much larger than the expenditure of this shipbuilding project.” Donald replied.

“Of course we know this.” Alfred Krupp also replied, “but we are not completely without technology foundation. I think we only need a part of technology, such as gun barrel processing technology.”

Donald knows that the technology mentioned by Alfred Krupp mostly refers to MacDonald’s self-tightening technology. The barrel of a gun needs to withstand huge chamber pressure. In order to avoid accidents such as blasting the chamber, the most traditional method is to directly thicken the barrel. But the consequence of this approach is that the barrel is getting heavier and heavier, and it is extremely inconvenient to use. Moreover, the weight of the heavy barrel itself will also cause the barrel to buckle and sag. As a result, the accuracy of the artillery was greatly reduced, and the deformation of the barrel became more obvious after long-term use.

To solve this problem, there were two common methods at the time. One was to develop more advanced gun steel to make the steel itself perform better, and the other was to use casing technology, that is, to divide the gun barrel into two or more layers. The outer diameter of each layer is slightly larger than the inner diameter of the outer layer. First, burn the outer layer red because it expands and shrinks due to heat. At this time, it can be placed outside the inner layer of barrels. When the outer layer of barrels has cooled, it can apply a direction to the inner layer. The prestress of the internal squeeze, when the gun is fired, this prestress can offset part of the chamber pressure, so that the thinner barrel can withstand greater chamber pressure. Of course, the cost will be much higher, and the effect will be limited.

In terms of gun steel, Krupp has also studied the difference between McDonald’s products and own products, but they found that, in fact, McDonald’s gun steel is slightly better in quality than Krupp’s gun steel, but it is better. The gains are also limited. The barrel thickness of such a gun steel made of German craftsmanship is the same as that of the original gun. Therefore, Krupp speculated that McDonald must have a brand new key technology for handling gun barrels. In the current business, what he values ​​most is whether he can obtain this kind of technology. Because this kind of technology is too important for a company that produces cannons.

So what’s the matter with McDonald’s self-tightening technology? This kind of technology is to apply high pressure to the barrel when manufacturing the barrel, so that the barrel is partially or completely plastically deformed from the inside to the outside. After the high pressure is removed, due to the different plastic deformation of each layer, the outer layer produces compressive stress on the adjacent inner layer. Significantly improved. Make it enough to withstand huge chamber pressure.

“This kind of technology is very important, and the requirements for the level of craftsmanship are very high. Improper operation can easily cause waste.” Donald replied, “If we need to transfer this technology, it is only the current quotation provided by the German government to us. not enough.”