I want to be emperor

Chapter 1122 Actual combat test of armored vehicles

The Yongding-class littoral combat ship and the Gaozhou-class littoral combat ship, two warships with unique designs and different combat uses from traditional warships, have become two symbols of the strategic transformation of the Da Chu Empire Navy after entering fifty years.

However, the emergence of these two types of warships is not just a simple strategic shift, but also has the important task of further reducing the overseas deployment and combat costs of the naval fleet.

You must know that the Da Chu Empire Navy has the important task of controlling sea areas, major rivers, and large lakes. This means that the scale of the Da Chu Empire Navy is very large.

The number of various ocean-going battleships alone has reached five to six hundred, as well as hundreds of offshore battleships and shallow-water gunboats. The total size of all combat ships has reached more than a thousand.

Note that this is only talking about combat ships, and combat ships with a tonnage of more than 100 tons. Those small ships with only a few tons or dozens of tons are not even included in it.

It also does not include various auxiliary warships, such as transport ships, supply ships, hospital ships, repair ships, etc. There are quite a few of these ships and their tonnage is not small.

Maintaining such a large fleet was also very stressful for the Chu Empire's navy. Therefore, the Chu Empire was actively engaged in various reforms after entering the 1930s, and many of the reforms were to save money. funding.

The same is true for the emergence of offshore combat ships... In addition to carrying out the strategic mission of controlling land from the sea, a large number of cheap offshore combat ships using mature technologies will also be responsible for replacing some traditional ocean frigates, cruisers, offshore patrol ships and large-tonnage shallow water ships. Gunboat mission.

In the past, the Dachu Empire Navy would use a large number of ocean-going frigates and cruisers in order to carry out tasks of controlling land from the sea, such as bombarding an indigenous port or conducting an offshore blockade... And although these expensive ocean-going non-main battleships were It is very good in naval battles, but it is not very reliable when used in sea-to-land operations. A very important reason is that traditional ocean-going frigates and cruisers have relatively deep drafts and poor protection capabilities.

Frigates are even unprotected warships, and previous cruisers only used dome armor designs... This means that even if they are bombarded by indigenous smoothbore cannons, they can still cause damage to these seemingly advanced warships... Although it is very difficult for the indigenous smoothbore cannon to hit them.

But this also restricts these ocean-going non-main combat ships from approaching the coastline, let alone entering rivers to fight... They can only carry out long-distance bombardment several kilometers away, which also leads to a poor hit rate.

In order to solve this problem in the early days, the Da Chu Empire Navy developed a variety of shallow water gunboats to perform offshore and river and lake combat missions. These shallow water gunboats ranged from 100 tons to 1,000 tons, and most were around hundreds of tons.

However, these shallow-water gunboats also have great limitations, that is, they basically do not have the ability to sail in the ocean. Even if they encounter a slight wind and waves in the offshore, it is difficult to sail and fight, and there is even a risk of capsizing. Their endurance is generally not very good, which means These shallow-water gunboats, which are mainly hundreds of tons, can only be used as special warships in a certain area. It is difficult to transfer to other areas in need to perform tasks in a short period of time!

What problems does this create?

This means that if the Imperial Navy wants to maintain offshore power capabilities in many areas at the same time, it needs to maintain a large number of shallow water gunboats at the same time... which means more maintenance costs.

As for the offshore patrol ship, this thing is purely a miscellaneous thing. It has weak firepower and no protective capabilities. It is difficult to use. Most of the time, this thing is used for coastal blockade and smuggling inspection... and has little to do with combat.

Therefore, the Dachu Empire Navy also began to carry out formal reforms in the 49th year of Chengshun, and officially established the Coast Guard. This is an agency under the dual jurisdiction of the Military Affairs Council and the Council of State Council. It is used for coastal patrols and combating smuggling on a daily basis. Maritime search and rescue, port guarding and other tasks, and during necessary war periods, cooperate with the navy to protect the coastline.

At present, this reform has been gradually completed. Corresponding reforms have been completed in the Asia-Pacific and Americas regions, and are currently being gradually advanced in the Indian Ocean region, Africa, and Europe.

Looking at the traditional ocean-going frigates, cruisers, shallow-water gunboats, and offshore patrol ships that have begun to be handed over to the Coast Guard in large numbers, these ships only have one or a few of the two characteristics.

But the current offshore combat ship combines multiple mission attributes at the same time, which means it can replace some frigates, cruisers, offshore patrol ships and large-tonnage shallow-water gunboats.

This is equivalent to integrating the tasks of many different ship types into one, using one ship to complete tasks that used to require two, three or even three or four ships.

And this boat is extremely cheap!

This means that the cost of maintaining overseas colonies by using sea to control land has dropped significantly.

This is why the Navy started large-scale mass production of the Yongding-class littoral combat ships as soon as they entered service and before they even saw actual combat results.

At the same time, it also accelerated the construction of Gaozhou-class offshore combat ships.

The Gaozhou-class littoral combat ship, to some extent, is an expanded version of the Yongding-class littoral combat ship. It has larger tonnage, stronger firepower, and better protection. At the same time, it has good ocean maneuverability and good endurance, and is similar to Yongding. Unlike the Gaozhou-class littoral combat ship, which can only carry out ocean maneuvers in a region, the Gaozhou-class littoral combat ship is capable of global deployment and global maneuvering in the true sense.

Although this thing still has a low freeboard design, it has optimized sailing performance and can also ride the wind and waves for ocean navigation, but it has little combat effectiveness when the wind and waves are relatively large.

The Gaozhou-class offshore combat ship has a full load displacement of 4,000 tons and is equipped with two twin-mounted 200mm 40-caliber rapid-fire cannons... This artillery is actually the main rapid-fire cannon used by the previous generation of second-class battleships of the Navy. Cannon... Compared to the price of the latest 200mm 45x caliber rapid-fire cannon and the 250mm 45x caliber rapid-fire cannon, it is naturally much cheaper.

But even so, among the Gaozhou-class offshore combat ships, the most expensive ones are still these four main guns... because the others are also cheap. The 4,000-ton Gaozhou-class offshore combat ship has a maximum design speed of only sixteen Just a festival.

The protection concept adopts a comprehensive protection concept. The thickest part of the side armor belt reaches 75 mm. Of course, most locations do not actually have 75 mm. The thickness of the turret armor front reaches 75 mm, and the command tower armor also reaches 75 mm. Seventy-five millimeters.

The armor is made of surface-hardened alloy steel... But this thing is not a new technology, but a serious backward technology. This is what the navy used in the 1940s, and now when the empire is building cutting-edge warships This thing is basically no longer used, and more advanced surface-hardened nickel-chromium alloy steel is used.

However, the new nickel alloy steel is very expensive. In addition to the cutting-edge performance warships that can use this kind of armor, other low-cost and cost-effective warships still use ordinary hardened nickel alloy steel with more mature technology and cheaper prices in order to save costs.

For example, the Littoral Combat Ship... This thing is a typical low-cost and cost-effective warship. Everything is the cheapest one under the premise of meeting the basic performance requirements.

Such firepower, such armor steel!

Not to mention the power system, which is all old products.

Only in this way can the cost be controlled at more than 400,000 Chu Yuan... You must know that the cutting-edge Guangxin-class light armored cruiser at the same time has a full load displacement of just over 4,000 tons, but its cost is as high as more than 800,000 Chu Yuan. Yuan, almost twice the price.

Littoral combat ships were positioned as low-cost and cost-effective warships in the Dachu Empire. Only if the price was low enough could they be built in sufficient numbers and replace a large number of frigates, cruisers, offshore patrol ships, and large-tonnage shallow-water gunboats.

Two types of littoral combat ships brought the Da Chu Empire Navy into a new era.

Compared with the larger strategic changes of the Navy, the Army remains the same... Although the equipment continues to be updated, the strategy has not changed much.

However, the firepower is more powerful. At the same time, after the armored vehicles began to enter service, the Chu army's mobility and protection capabilities have been greatly improved, making it easier to deal with indigenous rebels.

In the autumn and August of the 52nd year of Chengshun, about thirty kilometers north of Rome in the Sicilian Peninsula of Europe, a foreign legion of dozens of people was slowly advancing along a dirt road.

Suddenly, a gunshot broke the silence!

Immediately afterwards, multiple gunshots rang out, and a man in the foreign legion who was marching in line was shot and fell.

A young Chu officer on horseback also took action quickly, quickly commanding his troops to spread out in battle formation and look for obstacles.

Find the enemy's location at the same time!

Soon, through the sound of gunfire, the young Chu lieutenant waved his hand, and immediately a large number of foreign legion soldiers raised their 25-year-old repeating rifles and fired towards a short hillside in the northeast.

In this case, they actually didn't even see the enemy's shadow, but the important thing is not to aim for a counterattack after seeing the enemy. The important thing is to fire intensively in the general direction as soon as possible, and suppress the enemy's attack through a large number of intensive shooting. firepower, thereby creating favorable conditions for the next step of formation adjustment and counterattack.

As a large number of Type 25 rifles continued to fire, dense bullets sprayed on the low hillside about three hundred meters away.

At this time, the young lieutenant who raised the telescope for observation finally saw the looming figure through the telescope... In the sight of the telescope, these natives were very smart, and they were actually wearing green clothes, so they were able to hide on the hillside and be difficult to detect.

The lieutenant continued to issue orders, asking Tong Lieutenant, an indigenous officer of a foreign legion under his command, to lead more than ten people to conduct a roundabout outflank and counterattack. But when the infantry platoon under his command detoured back to position, they found that the ambush natives had disappeared... Of course, they did not completely disappear, but two corpses were left behind!

After the roundabout counterattack failed and the enemy escaped, the young lieutenant was very angry. While sending messengers on horseback to report the news to the camp behind, he continued to search and track the ambushed resistance forces.

These resistance forces can sneak up near them, and the number is estimated to be small. After all, this place is not far from their camp, only more than ten kilometers... It is not easy for a large-scale resistance army to come over, it is estimated that A small group infiltrated and planned an ambush.

There are not many people on the other side, and they want to ambush and run away. How can it be such a good thing?

A pursuit battle was immediately launched on this land.

About two hours later, a special Chu army appeared in this area. This Chu army had some cavalry on horseback, but there were also two armored vehicles among the cavalry.

These two armored vehicles are actually not big, no more than four meters long, and they are also small in size. However, they have a bulge in the center of the vehicle body, and a heavy machine gun is mounted on it.

This kind of armored vehicle is one of the many types of armored vehicles purchased by the Chu Army and put into service... It is a Guangzhou-type 3 light armored vehicle developed and produced by the Guangdong and Guangdong Arms Company. It weighs only four tons and is equipped with a 30-horsepower gasoline engine. , using rear-wheel drive.

Firepower is an eight-millimeter air-cooled heavy machine gun.

Although the protection is average and the firepower is average, because the car is small and light, its off-road capabilities are relatively better, its passing ability is good, and of course, the price is not expensive.

In the process of purchasing armored vehicles for service in the Dachu Empire, because they are in the early stages of exploration, there is no provision for equipping a specific type of armored vehicles. Basically, the military is interested in purchasing any armored vehicle produced by the five major automobile companies that seems to be usable. batches for testing.

After all, armored vehicles are a new thing, and no one knows what kind of armored vehicles will be useful. Therefore, the early purchases are diverse, and basically everyone will try them out.

It was against this background that the military purchased more than a hundred of this light armored vehicle... Some remained in East Asia for various tests, and some were simply sent to Europe for actual combat testing.

After all, military equipment is useless just looking at surface data. A large number of tests, especially actual combat tests, are required to find problems.

It was against this background that the Guangsan-type armored vehicle was deployed to the Sicilian Peninsula in Europe two months ago. After preliminary adaptability training, it was deployed to a forward-looking base five days ago.

When the camp received a report that the patrol was ambushed, the commander in the camp not only sent out cavalry for support, but also sent out two Guangsan armored vehicles assigned to him for testing. .

It's a practical test. How can we test it if we don't send it out?

As a result, an armored convoy of two vehicles, accompanied by dozens of foreign legion cavalry, galloped on the dirt road for more than ten kilometers, and finally caught up with the infantry troops on the front line.

The more than ten kilometers of speeding on dirt roads was to some extent a test of the Guangsan armored vehicle... As for armored vehicles, their ability to maneuver quickly on ordinary dirt roads is the most basic.

Fortunately, the two armored vehicles did not lose their chains along the way, and they rushed all the way to the front line with a churning sound.

After the supporting mobile forces and infantry took over, the cavalry began to maneuver quickly and outflanked them on both sides based on the information provided by the infantry who were pursuing them.

According to the information provided by the infantry, the resistance force they were chasing was about thirty people in size. They used single-shot rifled rifles. After ambushing their own side, they ran away wildly. The distance between the two sides was about one thousand meters.

When the cavalry began to outflank the two armored vehicles, the commanders of the two armored vehicles directed the armored vehicles to directly increase the accelerator, and then quickly advance forward...

These two-legged resistance forces cannot outrun a four-wheeled armored vehicle.

Soon, the armored vehicle arrived close to the battlefield. The commander leaning out of the vehicle used a telescope to search. It didn't take long to find the target, and immediately commanded the vehicle's heavy-duty machine gun to fire from a long distance.

Even though there was a distance of five or six hundred meters, under the guidance of the commander through the telescope, the heavy machine gun on the vehicle still accurately fired bullets near the enemy. The dense bullets instantly killed multiple fleeing enemies. Knocked down, some had to take cover because they were under machine gun fire.

This avoidance means stopping and being unable to continue running.

At this time, the indigenous resistance forces who were escaping in front finally discovered what they were facing... They were two very strange steel vehicles, as if monsters were spraying bullets at them.

Of course... they also knew that this was not a monster, and even the leader of the resistance army knew that it was a Chu country car... The natives did not know anything, they also knew that the Chu country people had cars, and even Many natives have seen it.

You don't have to go far, there are Chu people's cars in the Roman Concession not far away, and basically all the natives who can enter the concession can see them.

But they have never seen a car equipped with a machine gun!

With the assistance of the armored vehicles, this pursuit was basically uneventful... The armored vehicles rushed forward and used the heavy machine guns on the vehicles to completely suppress dozens of resistance troops, forcing them to stop their escape and use bunkers to avoid machine gun fire.

Then the cavalry who outflanked them came back to their positions and launched an attack from the flanks.

Under siege from three sides, these resistance troops were unable to resist at all, and most of them were quickly killed and injured. A few took advantage of the chaos and ran out, and some surrendered.

By the time the infantrymen of the Foreign Legion caught up panting, the battle was over.

The Chu infantry lieutenant who was catching up looked at the armored vehicle and was extremely envious... If he had had this thing, he would have chased down and surrounded the indigenous resistance army long ago.

It's a pity that he doesn't have such good things... and he also knows that it will be impossible for the Foreign Legion to be equipped with these advanced weapons for many, many years to come.

However, the Foreign Legion will not be equipped with these advanced weapons for a long time in the future, which does not mean that he will not be able to command these advanced weapons for a long time.

After all, he won't stay in the Foreign Legion for too long. According to common practice, if he stays in the Foreign Legion for another three to five years, he can be transferred back to the regular army. By then, he might have armored vehicles under his command.

It is worth noting that this small-scale battle near Rome on the Sicilian Peninsula was not the first actual combat of Chu army armored vehicles, not even the first hundred times.

Since last year, the Chu Army has sent a large number of various armored vehicles to India, West Asia and Europe for actual combat testing. Although regular troops in these places usually do not dispatch, the ones who perform tasks are foreign legions.

However, for actual combat testing, these armored vehicles are often deployed directly to the front line to cooperate with foreign legions in combat, so there are many opportunities to participate in combat.

Although the scale of the battles is small and belongs to the category of security operations... But security operations are also operations. They can still test the advantages and disadvantages of various armored vehicles in actual combat, and explore the large-scale subsequent procurement of equipment and operations for armored vehicles for the Army. Use accumulated experience.

While various armored vehicles are undergoing actual combat testing on the front line, the five major weapons companies in the rear are also paying close attention to the testing situation.

Because these actual combat tests will largely affect the military, especially the Army's future armored vehicle procurement.

After all, it is impossible for the Army to equip more than twenty types of armored vehicles at once. Unsurprisingly, the Army will select two or three types according to different specifications for large-scale procurement and put them into service.

This means that in the future competition for armored vehicle orders, there will be losers and winners!

In this regard, the five major weapons companies also attach great importance to the purchase of armored vehicles. It is a very large order, and none of the five major weapons companies are willing to give up.

The only company firmly sitting on Diaoyutai is Hantian Arsenal, a subsidiary of Huguang Arms Company... No matter whose armored vehicle wins the bid, they will have to use their air-cooled heavy machine guns in the end!