Daming 1805

Chapter 134 Are you interested in seeing our new naval gun?

Zhu Jianfeng's irascibility is not at the same level as Zhu Jingyuan's overbearing.

Zhu Jingyuan relied on Daming's strength and status to speak the hard truth.

Zhu Jianfeng directly opened his mouth about Xiyi, but kept his mouth stupid. He directly insulted the Taixi people from the biological structure, saying that they had slop in their brains.

These verbal insults are actually many times stronger than the initial "roll".

However, the representatives of the Thai and Western countries have not responded particularly violently.

Because the first "scroll" was when I got used to dealing with Zhu Jingyuan's civilization, and instantly felt the insult brought by the difference.

After being repeatedly scolded by Zhu Jianfeng for several rounds, they slowly accepted this fact.

They realized that Zhu Jianfeng just scolded like this, and they didn't recruit them. Even if they scolded Zhu Jianfeng, they would be the ones who suffered the most in the end.

Now all of them stood there in a daze, not talking about sincerity.

Zhu Jingyuan looked at the situation at the scene. The original perceptions and plans of the representatives of the Thai and Western countries were disrupted, and new decisions could not be made on the spot.

So today's meeting is no longer possible.

Uncle Jiu's irascibility almost set off the atmosphere, and he could also take out the things he had prepared to add fuel to the fire.

So Zhu Jingyuan also stood up and said:

"That's all for today's meeting, we have something else to do here.

"We have sent a new type of naval gun from our home country, and we need to conduct actual target shooting and armor penetration tests.

"If you are interested, you can go to the scene to see together.

"The generals of various countries can also give advice."

In the originally quiet Wenhua Palace, there was a burst of suppressed discussions.

What does it mean to go and see if you are interested?
If you didn't take the initiative to show things like new weapon tests, how could it be possible for outsiders like us to see them?

You are using it to threaten us!

Then the representatives of all countries agreed without hesitation.

It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to have a close look at Ming's latest artillery.

The meeting ended immediately, and the representatives of various countries immediately joined the generals of their own countries and drove to the test site next to the armored pier.

On the temporary fort six meters above the sea, there are two twin turrets with new barrels replaced.

This obviously imitates the height of the battleship's main gun above the water surface.

In front of the temporary fort, floating on the sea ten kilometers away, was an old battleship with a displacement of [-] tons.

The paint colors on the surface of the capital ship are different, because the external armor was specially replaced for testing, and the new armor was not specially painted.

Several representatives of the Ming court, several generals of the navy and army, several craftsmen who designed and built warships, and major representatives and generals of various countries.

A group of people first went to visit the outside of the fort, mainly to show and confirm the condition of the four cannons.

Zhu Jingyuan originally wanted to go to see the scene, but Guan Tianpei forcibly stopped him and stayed on the observation deck on the nearby pier.

There are more than 300 specialized guards scattered inside and outside, up and down, and around the watchtower.

The person in charge of the test site is Wang Lai, director of the Ship Department of the Ministry of Industry of the Ming Dynasty.

As an aborigine in this world, Wang Lai didn't have much affection for Xiyi in the cultural atmosphere of Daming.

However, Wang Lai originally had a relatively gentle personality, and there were representatives and generals of Ming Dynasty at the scene, so he did not directly show contempt.

With a businesslike expression, Wang Lai explained the situation in a simple and steady tone:
"What we are going to test today is the new 45mm, [-]-caliber main naval gun that you see now.

"Both caliber and double diameter are the most common.

"Two items in one test today.

"One is the armor-piercing capability at a distance of [-] kilometers, and the other is to confirm the spread range of the naval gun at a distance of [-] kilometers."

Wang Lai's words are taken for granted, but they are actually half-truths and half-false.

Although the naval gun installed on the shore gun turret for testing is indeed newly produced, the design of the naval gun itself is the same as before.

The actual difference is actually in the shells.

Before Zhu Jingyuan came to the meeting, he arranged for the "hardened hood armor-piercing projectile" developed by the Ordnance Department to be successfully tested two months ago.

Then, a lot of tests were done, and several versions were continuously adjusted and optimized, so that it could barely be mass-produced.

Finally, according to Zhu Jingyuan's original request, a batch was specially produced and sent to the Western Cape.

But now Wang Lai deliberately didn't reveal anything about the shells.

The shape of the "hardened hooded armor-piercing projectile" proposed by Zhu Jingyuan is somewhat different from traditional armor-piercing projectiles.

If it is directly shown to people in other navies, they will definitely be able to quickly discover the difference in shells.

Then this morphological difference may become a reference for them to design new shells.

Although Zhu Jingyuan is planning to go to Taixi to apply for a patent, not all technologies have to apply for a patent.

It is impossible to apply for patents abroad for new armor-piercing projectiles, new armor formulas, new engines, and aircraft cannon designs.

These are things that must be kept secret, as long as they can be kept secret.

Anyway, it is difficult to authorize this kind of thing. The research and development and production of the other party are all for the army, so it is impossible to sell it in the private sector.

Unless Daming directly hits the other party's territory, it is very difficult for the other party to pay the patent fee.

When it really hits the opponent's homeland, there is no need to ask for patent fees, just ask for war indemnity.

Therefore, Wang Lai did not bring representatives from various countries into the turret, but just asked them to observe from the outside to confirm that the caliber and double diameter of the artillery were correct.

Among all the people present, those who listened most carefully were the admirals from Britain, France, Spain, and Portugal.

Next are representatives and generals of Prussia, Austria, and Lucia, three countries that hope to get the support of Ming Dynasty and start to exert force in the navy.

These personnel, who are familiar enough with the existing naval equipment, nodded for granted when they heard Wang Lai's first words.

In this world, Ming Dynasty was the first to industrialize and began to produce rifled guns, and other countries followed suit.

The Ming Dynasty adopted the "Emperor Shizu Imperially Decided the Daming Metric System", and all industrialized countries followed suit.

Including the British themselves, the British system is no longer used in industry, technology, and military affairs, and only reservations are made in daily life.

Therefore, the caliber and indicators of weapons and equipment in various countries in the world today are all metric.

Common caliber data are 8mm, 12mm, 160mm, 240mm, 300mm.

There are no such calibers as 7.62mm (quarter inch), 12.7mm (half inch), 152mm (six inches), and 305mm (one foot), which are converted from the imperial system.

Now the caliber of the main guns of all capital ships of all countries is [-] mm, but there is a slight difference in the multiple diameter.

The double diameter is the ratio of the barrel length to the caliber. Under the same caliber, the larger the double diameter, the longer the barrel, the longer the range, and the more difficult it is to manufacture.

Daming has been able to produce naval guns with [-] times the caliber, but they are not used on traditional capital ships, only used on newly designed warships.

At present, the latest naval guns of other countries are still below 45.

So this parameter is totally fine.

But when the representatives heard Wang Lai's second sentence, they were obviously stunned.

The typical engagement range of the navy is still at a distance of five or six kilometers, and often even runs within five kilometers.

Daming is now going to test the bombardment at a distance of more than [-] kilometers, which is directly doubled compared to the existing typical combat distance!

If this is a private test by researchers, the distance of [-] kilometers is not too special, and [-] kilometers has also been tested.

But that kind of test has no actual combat significance. It is usually just to see how far the gun can hit at most, not to hit distant targets.

Daming's public display now is obviously deterrent, and he must be sure of the content of the test.

So the theoretical combat distance of the Ming Dynasty Navy has increased to twice as far as ours?
This is a natural inference, but it is unbelievable.

If the strike distance in battle is doubled, the advantage will be overwhelming.

Among all the people at the scene, the one who thought the most and was the most meticulous was Nelson of the British Navy.

When Nelson heard the number twelve kilometers, his eyes widened, and Collingwood beside Nelson was also obviously taken aback.

Then both of them pricked up their ears and listened carefully to what Wang Lai said next.

Wang Lai turned and pointed forward:

"On the sea twelve kilometers away, the old capital ship that was the target ship has been replaced with new armor with a thickness of [-] millimeters."

Hearing this, several naval generals who were already in doubt suddenly showed even more surprised expressions.

Nelson subconsciously asked directly:

"Great craftsman, what do you mean, Ming's new naval gun can penetrate [-]mm thick armor at a distance of [-] kilometers? What type of armor is it?"

Wang Lai has already done several tests, and now he just nodded proudly and said:
"Yes, according to simulation calculations, our new naval gun can penetrate [-]mm thick armor at a distance of twelve kilometers.

"The effect of ten kilometers has been tested before, and it is confirmed that it can be easily penetrated. At a distance of twelve kilometers, no actual test has been carried out here.

"The armor we used for testing is the latest generation of carburized hardened nickel-chromium steel armor produced by Daming Royal Iron and Steel Works.

"This is the best battleship armor in the world today. After the test is completed, everyone can go to the scene for inspection."

Listening to Wang Lai's explanations, everyone who was familiar with the navy fell silent.

The British, French, Spanish, and Portuguese navies have all done naval gun shooting over ten kilometers.

Even if it is an armor-piercing bullet with a cap, the armor-piercing ability against the latest armor at a distance of ten kilometers is about [-] to [-] mm.

At a distance of [-] kilometers, the armor-piercing capability should be reduced to [-] to [-] millimeters.

At the same time, the thickness of the main armor of the latest capital ships is usually in the range of 280 to [-] mm.

It is impossible for existing naval guns to penetrate the main armor of a capital ship at a distance of more than ten kilometers.

So ten kilometers is an absolutely safe distance for capital ships.

Da Ming's test today not only proves that Da Ming can fight at a distance of more than ten kilometers, but also penetrates the battleship's armor at twelve kilometers!
If this test is really successful, it will completely break the so-called safe distance, making the existing capital ships no longer safe!

On the future battlefield, the opponent's battleship could not enter the combat distance at all, and it was already smashed by Ming's warship!

By this time, not only the admiral, but also the other representatives were alarmed.

The expressions of the representatives of various countries are very complicated.

Daming is showing off his muscles today, but he must not succeed...

In the weird atmosphere at the scene, Wang Lai explained the testing process and details clearly.

Then let the driver of Huangzhuang drive the audience away, and go to the observation tower where Zhu Jingyuan is, and stand on a high place to observe the test process from a long distance.

After all the relevant personnel are ready, the on-site staff checks again that there are no idle people and ships around the test site.

Related news reported to Zhu Jingyuan, Zhu Jingyuan directly issued an order, and Wang Lai waved the command flag.

The generals of the army are all holding binoculars and staring carefully at the test ship on the sea.

Ordinary representatives and members of the royal family who did not bring binoculars also stared at the shadow of the ship on the distant sea with wide eyes.

On the temporary shore artillery fort below, dazzling flames suddenly burst out from the muzzles of the four artillery pieces.

This was followed by four consecutive bangs.

The sound of propellant explosion, the sound of the muzzle storm, and the sound of the [-]-kilogram shell breaking through the air at twice the speed of sound, mixed into a deafening muffled thunder.

Four cannonballs flew out of the gun barrel with a roar, and rushed towards the old ship twelve kilometers away from the water.

The distance of twelve kilometers takes ten seconds.

The hearts of all the audience tightened.

Everyone held their breath and survived the ten seconds.

In the end, four shells fell into the water one after another around the target ship, and four water columns shot up into the sky.

The old warship that had a new look swayed slightly.

The cannonball missed, but the audience was not relieved, and no one felt lucky, but felt even more depressed.

It is completely normal in gunnery that the naval gun fails to hit in the first round of shooting.

The first hit can only be regarded as an accident.

Moreover, in the first shooting now, the shells all fell around the target ship.

That is to say, the same shell fired from the same gun with the same shooting parameters completely covered the target target ship.

This shows that the shooting parameters are no longer a problem, after all, I have aimed many times before the test.

It's just that the artillery itself has errors and the shells did not fall on the target.

This situation is the so-called "straddling" in artillery.

As long as the artillery is reloaded and the shooting continues with the same parameters, hitting is purely a matter of probability.

While everyone was waiting and suffering, the four cannons were loaded again, and Wang Lai sent out the firing signal again.

There were four more cannon shots in succession, and another ten seconds of breath-holding.

As a result, only three water columns rose this time.

"Hit!"

I don't know who yelled, but several people also yelled.

Zhu Jingyuan held the binoculars and observed the situation of the target ship.

The hit shell, like a huge hammer, hit the side of the target ship.

In a moment that was difficult for human eyes to detect, a huge gap was torn out on the side of the hull.

Bright flames shot out from the gap, and the distant and dull explosion sound came back half a minute later.

The shell exploded in the belly of the target ship.

This shows that the shell not only successfully penetrated the armor, but also effectively penetrated it.If it is only worn but not fried, it is an invalid breakdown.

At a distance of twelve kilometers, the [-]mm armor was really penetrated directly by the [-]mm naval gun.

Craftsmen in a country like Daming should not be able to falsify this kind of display test.

At most, the test environment is far more comfortable and stable than actual combat.

(End of this chapter)