Opening game, American Tycoon

The tank battle that took place in the spring of 27 at Sidley was, in terms of the history of war, simply a small battle worth mentioning, but it was also a battle worthy of a big book, not because the imperial tank soldiers fought a battle. A beautiful victory.

It's because this is the first tank battle in the world, and it also shows a truth-tank is the best anti-tank weapon.

In the tank overhaul factory in Beihai, Sun Chenggang frowned while inspecting the destroyed tanks.

As an engineer, he has inspected the destroyed tank many times, inspecting and inspecting the past, what is the only result?
"Our tank armor is still too thin, and the survivability is too poor."

"4 to 13!"

As soon as his words fell, Guan Shanhai said at the same time.

"If the survivability is poor, can our tank soldiers achieve such a good record?"

Facing the rhetorical question from his colleagues, Sun Chenggang answered straightforwardly.

"It's because of training. Our tank unit is the earliest in the world. After so many years of training, it has long been mature in tactics. Coupled with the tacit cooperation of our crew members, it is nothing more than normal to be able to achieve excellent results. , it can even be said that if you can't win such a complete victory, it's not normal, besides..."

Pointing to a few piles of broken copper and iron not far away, Sun Chenggang frowned and said.

"Furthermore, according to the battle reports, all US tanks use artillery. Although they fire old 37mm shells, it can be seen that the purpose of the US military is to enable their tanks to have anti-tank capabilities. Although the 37mm armor-piercing guns only It can penetrate 30mm steel armor, but for now, it is basically enough. In contrast, our tanks do not pay attention to anti-tank firepower, and half of them are machine guns. In the middle, we will suffer."

In fact, the 37mm tank guns used by imperial tanks and American tanks all use a kind of shell. This shell was originally a 37mm Gatling gun shell. It was originally a masterpiece of the empire—with its powerful firepower and powerful The power can be called the nemesis of wooden warships and torpedo boats.

Although wooden warships were quickly eliminated, the 37mm Gatling gun was not eliminated. After all, whether it was used to wash the deck or defend against torpedo boats, the Gatling gun was an extremely perfect weapon.

Especially in the face of the threat of air attack from airships, the Gatling cannon can show its strengths in air defense - with its high rate of fire, it can make any airship afraid of it.

Because of this, in the past few years, 37mm Gatling guns have long been standard equipment for naval warships of various countries.

In terms of the choice of tank guns, countries have chosen this caliber one after another, not only because the navy has a large number of 37mm shells-from solid armor-piercing shells to capped armor-piercing shells to high-explosive shells, the ammunition is complete. The power and weight are also suitable for tank use.Although the main guns of the two are similar in power, the problem is that only half of Ming's tanks are equipped with tank guns, which are the most deadly.

"That's because our tanks need to cover infantry, so we prefer machine guns over anti-tank firepower."

Guan Shanhai told the truth in one word.

"Compared with artillery, machine guns are more suitable for attacking infantry."

"really?"

Sun Chenggang couldn't help but sarcastically said.

"Is this really the reason?"

"Or else?"

"The artillery type also has a machine gun on the front of the vehicle. Besides, even if there is another machine gun in the turret, it does not mean that there is no space. The most important thing is to save money. A gun costs 1800 yuan, but a machine gun only It costs 300 yuan."

Save money... Guan Shanhai couldn't accept Sun Chenggang's words, so he said directly.

"How could it be to save money? The military is rich and powerful, so how could it care about such a small amount of money?"

"So what about being rich and powerful? The military in this province has never been generous, just like Type [-] tanks, you see..."

He knocked on the body of the tank with a wrench, Sun Chenggang said.

"Even with the steel plates, they cut corners and used ordinary steel plates, not alloy armor steel."

"Uh, it's not ordinary steel plate, it's high-quality carbon steel, and it's not about cutting corners. I remember that the reason why the military used high-quality carbon steel was because there were no corresponding anti-tank weapons in various countries at that time. Using high-quality carbon steel would It is sufficient to meet the operational needs."

Regarding Guan Shanhai's explanation, Sun Chenggang laughed directly.

"How much is a ton of high-quality carbon steel? Before the war, it was only about 20 yuan. Even now, it is only 80 yuan. What about armor steel? Before the war, it was already 200 yuan a ton, almost ten times the difference. Using high-quality carbon steel, a tank can save thousands of dollars...the military will also calculate the cost."

The military did calculate the cost. After many calculations, the military found that there was no need to use armor steel on tanks, so they used low-cost high-quality carbon steel, but what was the corresponding price?

"The cost has been reduced, but the protection ability has been weakened. Even if a surface hardening process is added, it is better than ordinary steel plates."

When Sun Chenggang's words fell, Guan Shanhai pointed to the pile of scrap iron and said.

"The problem is that we are not the only ones who use ordinary steel plates, but also the Americans. I tested its steel plates before, that is, ordinary carbon steel plates. We are all about the same, and in terms of armor thickness, our tank armor is the same. It is also thicker, the front of the American tank is only 16 mm, while the Type 20 has [-] mm, we are slightly better in terms of defense.”

In fact, even as mechanical engineers, what Sun Chenggang and Guan Shanhai didn’t know was that Ming and the United States both chose ordinary steel plates to produce tanks, not just because of cost, nor because the military didn’t want to use armor with better protection capabilities. steel.

It's because... there isn't enough armor steel.

After all, armor steel was first used on warships. From the invention of nickel steel to surface-hardened armor, it was all to improve the protection capabilities of warships. Because of this, the navy has always been the most important user of armor steel. After the outbreak of war, the navy The demand for armor steel has expanded rapidly. Although steel companies with the ability to produce armor steel have tried their best to increase the output of armor steel, they still cannot meet the needs of the navy.

Under such circumstances, the Army's demand for armor steel is naturally even less likely to be unsatisfied, let alone satisfied, and even the steel company directly rejected the Army's order.

Why did you refuse, because the navy is the real big customer-a warship needs thousands of tons of armor steel at every turn. In comparison, the army's order is simply worthless in the eyes of the steel company carry.

Under such circumstances, no matter whether it is the Ming Dynasty or the United States, when it comes to tank production, they can only take the second place. Choosing high-quality carbon steel as tank armor is not to save money, but to have no choice.

"But we can't keep using such "cut corners" tanks! If we continue to cut corners like this, we will definitely have to pay the price on the battlefield!"

After saying these words, Sun Chenggang said.

"If you want to enhance the survivability of the tank in the war, you have to enhance the protection ability. Either thicken the armor or replace it with armor steel. Apart from this, there is no other choice."

Actually, the best bet is to… use both!