1825 My New Daming

Chapter 304 Sir, I found something strange! (ask for subscription, ask for monthly pass)

Great Strait.

A fat airship slowly passed over Sumatra Island and flew over the strait between Sumatra Island and the Andaman Islands. In the four-seater cabin, two large telescopes protruded from the left and right. .

This is a Flying Dragon IV reconnaissance airship produced by the Flying Dragon Company of Ming Dynasty.Although Feilong has invested heavily in the development and manufacture of aircraft, it has not completely thrown aside the airship.After all, this airship is Feilong's current cash cow and source of profit.As a capitalist, Zhuge Feilong, how could he have trouble with profits?

Besides, the current airships cannot be completely replaced by airplanes. The ultra-long endurance of airships alone is beyond the reach of current airplanes.Take the latest Flying Dragon [-] of Flying Dragon Company as an example. Although this type of airship has shrunk in size and load has been reduced a lot, but because it uses the latest radial engine and increases the fuel tank volume, the airship's battery life and maximum flight speed have increased a lot.

Without resupply, the maximum range of this type of airship can reach 6000 kilometers!And its maximum speed can reach an astonishing 120 km/h!

In addition, because the cabin of this type of airship is also designed to be more comfortable, better sealed, and equipped with heating and oxygen supply devices, it can perform high-altitude flight missions for a long time.The crew can even stay in the air for 10 consecutive days!
When the operation in Malacca began, the Nanyang Fleet specially dispatched 18 Flying Dragon IV airships for surveillance and reconnaissance. The ultra-long range made it easy to fly to the west of the Strait of Malacca for repeated searches.

And when the submarine deployed at the western entrance of the Strait of Malacca discovered the British fleet, the Andaman Islands and the Great Strait became the key search areas for these airships.

The four-seat cabin of this airship is similar to the front and rear seats of a car. The captain/pilot, co-pilot/communication officer are sitting in the front seat, and two lookouts are sitting in the back seat. The large telescope on board scanned the sea vigilantly.

Because the large fleet of the British and Indian sides had been discovered before, and the "First Aviation War" that bypassed Sumatra and maneuvered west of Malacca also kept encountering airships from the British and Indian sides.So the next Battle of the Great Strait is almost a game of chess!
That is, the British and Indian large fleets seek a decisive battle with the "First Air War" by virtue of their numerical advantages, and the "First Air War" relies on speed and air superiority to attack the British and Indian large fleets.

So last night, the reconnaissance airships on both sides rushed to the Great Strait area like crazy, and they wanted to fly over the enemy fleet at the first time, so let's keep a close eye on them!
"Look, the British airship formation!"

Suddenly, a formation of airships heading south from the sky over the Andaman Sea caught the attention of the watchmen.This airship formation is composed of a large airship that has never appeared near the Strait of Malacca before. There are a total of 15 airships, forming two columns in the air, flying mightily.One can tell from this formation at a glance, it must be going to bomb the Ming's fleet!

The captain of the Wyvern IV airship quickly said to the co-pilot beside him: "Hurry up and send power to the headquarters to find a large formation of enemy airships, located above the Great Strait, number 15, and sail south!"

"Yes!"

The co-pilot responded, and then the sound of tick-tock sounded in the cabin.Before the telegram was sent, the watchman in the back seat yelled again: "British fleet! Battleship one, two, three, four, five, six. Ten! His grandma's, ten battleships! The British have paid out their money! "

The captain of the airship quickly stretched out his neck and looked down. Where is the enemy's battleship formation yet?Someone in the backseat shouted again, "Old Zhang, look, what type of battleship is this? It's not Sovereignty, nor is it Unyielding. Five turrets, and one of the turrets is still behind the chimney amidships!"

"This is a new warship! The British have launched a new warship! Captain, the British have launched a new warship."

At this time, the captain of the airship also used binoculars to see ten "Victory" class battleships that were rapidly heading south in double file on the sea!

The appearance of this type of battleship is very unique. It adopts a five-turret layout of "three in the front, one in the middle, and one in the back". It is obviously a new ship.And new battleships often mean more powerful firepower and greater host power!
This news must be reported to the airship headquarters of the Nanyang Fleet immediately!
Almost at the same time, the reconnaissance airship sent by the British had also discovered the formation of the "First Aviation Battle"!
It was discovered that the airship in the "First Air War" was a large 140-meter-long airship belonging to the Royal Indian Navy Air Force. It is an airship where surface ships are engaged in battle - this idea seems quite strange, but at present, apart from bad weather, there seems to be nothing that can threaten the airship flying high in the sky. And James Hood both look fine.

So last night George Elliot boarded this "command airship" overnight, and flew all the way from a secret base in the Andaman Islands to the south of the Treg Strait. He wanted to find the Ming Navy formation and take a good look at it. .

After searching for a while in the south of the Great Strait, the lookout post on the airship that George Elliott was on really found the "First Air Battle" dangling on the sea.Then George Elliot ordered the airship to fly to the vicinity of the Daming Navy formation to take a good look.

And this close, I found something strange.

"Commander, I found something strange!"

"Strange thing?" George Elliot was taken aback, "What is it?"

"I'm not sure, it's just that there is no airship on their airship mothership, and there are a lot of strange things that look like shelf carts!"

"A shelf cart?"

George Elliot was confused, so he took a binoculars and went to the porthole of the airship to see for himself.After seeing it, he was immediately stunned.

"What kind of ship is this? There are two tiers of turrets on the bow, and a slab on the stern, and a large slab protruding from the port side! What is that on the slab?"

It turned out that George Elliot saw the aircraft-carrying battlecruiser!

What puzzled him even more was the biplanes that had been lined up on the flight deck of the aircraft-carrying battlecruiser—these biplanes had folding wings, and the folding wings hadn't been put down yet. So it doesn't look like an airplane at all, but like a wooden frame cart
Of course, even with the folded wings down, George Elliot might not be able to recognize it as an airplane.Because the planes that just appeared in Europe are all developed from delta glider, that is, a delta glider on the top, a pod on the bottom, and a rotary engine or an in-line engine behind the pod's buttocks, and then install a propeller , if it is not an airplane dropped from an airship, then there will be a tail behind the delta wing. Basically that's it!
Of course, this kind of aircraft can also fly, but the speed and take-off weight of the aircraft that are the same as the "wooden frame cart" that George Elliot saw is completely different.They can't take off from an aircraft carrier at all, they can't carry much bombs, and the flight itself is a bit difficult.

That's why the Royal Naval Air Force commanded by George Elliot used airships to drop "man-operated glide-guided bombs" instead of serious carrier-based aircraft to drop bombs.

George Elliot had come to his senses at this time, and said to the people around him: "Quickly, quickly power the Victory and tell them that we have discovered the formation of the Ming Dynasty. There are 4 battleships that we have never seen before. There are also 3 airship motherships. There is also a strange battleship that I don’t know whether it should be a battleship or an airship mothership. In addition, their airship seems to have taken off!"

(End of this chapter)