Daming 1805

chapter 91
After Zhu Jingyuan arranged the armor formula, he went to the Ordnance Department to find people from the Artillery Design Bureau.

Li Rui, the head of the Ordnance Division, just happened to have returned from the testing ground in the suburbs. Hearing that Zhu Jingyuan came to look for someone, he immediately followed to check the situation.

Zhu Jingyuan saw that the familiar Li Rui was back, so he simply stopped looking for the people from the Artillery Bureau.

The Artillery Design Bureau is similar to the Armor Design Bureau. Many craftsmen stay in factories in Xincheng for a long time, tossing the production process of various artillery and shells on the spot.

Most of the personnel in the yamen of the Ministry of Industry are left-behind and docking personnel.

Since we have to find someone to connect and relay it, it is the same for Li Rui to connect directly.

Zhu Jingyuan asked Li Rui to find a small conference room. After the two sides sat down, they first asked about their situation:

"Mr. Li, is the naval gun turret designed by the Artillery Bureau a common saddle gun, that is to say, the two and three gun barrels in the turret can only be raised or lowered at the same time."

Li Rui recalled the contents of the report of the Artillery Bureau:
"Some craftsmen mentioned this design, saying that it can reduce the structural complexity of the triple turret and reduce the overall weight of the turret.

"The side effects of doing this are to be expected, and the shooting accuracy will definitely be reduced. Does Your Highness want to support this design?"

Zhu Jingyuan waved his hand very decisively and said:
"No, I just specifically remind you, try not to design it like this, especially on the large-caliber artillery of battleships."

There are many common saddle guns throughout history, such as the American battleships USS Nevada and Oklahoma, as well as the Cleveland- and Brooklyn-class light cruisers.

Common saddle guns also have some firepower density advantages on light cruisers, which are almost meaningless on battleships pursuing large ranges.

If the main artillery fires repeatedly on the battlefield, and the shells always stroke around the target, that is, it always misses the target, it will definitely increase the blood pressure of the commander.

Li Rui wrote down Zhu Jingyuan's request in his notebook:

"Understood, I will tell them not to engage in common saddle guns at the next meeting. In fact, I don't really agree with it. Is there any other request from Your Highness?"

Zhu Jingyuan tilted his head and thought:
"The other, it doesn't seem to be particularly important, is that the shell should be as heavy as possible, the speed should be as high as possible, and the development of larger-caliber artillery should be started in advance.

"Oh, right……"

Zhu Jingyuan suddenly reacted:
"The quilt - what is the material of the quilt of the cannonball now? Is there a case-hardening process like armored steel?"

Daming's fourth-generation armor, after the application of surface hardening technology, the tip of the shell is easily broken by the armor.

As a result, the shells could not penetrate the armor and were directly abolished. As a result, the main guns of the battleships could not penetrate the armor of the cruisers.

Once made the capital ship embarrassed to the extreme, it also made the cruiser bigger and bigger.

But the craftsmen slowly found a way to deal with it.

They use ductile metal materials to make round and blunt "caps", which are welded on the top of the armor-piercing warhead.

In this way, when the shell hits the armor, the cap first touches the armor, which is equivalent to installing a cushion.

This protects the warhead of the armor-piercing projectile from being smashed by the armor surface.

At the same time, the quilt can also play the role of rubber on the sole, so that the shell will not slip when it hits at an angle.
The resistance can straighten the inclined shells, which can achieve better armor penetration.

This kind of armor-piercing projectile with a cap is called a capped armor-piercing projectile.

With the quilt-piercing bullets, the battleship was finally able to bully the cruiser, and the protective armor of the battleship was thickened again.

But Zhu Jingyuan knew that the cannonball simply had a quilt cap, so that the tip of the cannonball would not be broken again, which was still not the limit of a quilt cap.

It is also possible to "return to the body of others with the way of others".

Use the case hardening process of the armor to make the quilt, which in turn breaks the case hardening layer of the armor.

Apparently no one in this world does that.

When Li Rui heard Zhu Jingyuan's question, he shook his head in surprise and said:
"There is no surface hardening process, just a quilt made of ordinary alloy steel. Your Highness means... to use the case hardening process on the quilt?"

Zhu Jingyuan smiled and nodded and said:
"Yes, we can try to use it to smash the hardened layer of the armor because of the use of the surface carburizing hardening technology of the armor while increasing the quilt.

"Without the surface hardening layer, the fifth-generation armor becomes ordinary homogeneous armor, and the thickness is also significantly reduced, which should improve the armor-piercing ability of the shell.

"Of course, in order to prevent the shells themselves from being shattered, the materials and production methods of the shells should also be optimized simultaneously. How to do it is the task of the craftsmen."

Li Rui understood Zhu Jingyuan's intention, and immediately imagined the effect of this operation, so he couldn't help showing a surprised expression:

"I'll find someone to do the test right away! The modified shell test can be done right away!"

Zhu Jingyuan thought about the task of peace talks, they should not be able to do it before he left, but they can send it over after they are done.

"Do it as soon as possible, and produce a batch immediately after it is done, and send it to the Western Cape by cargo ship. Maybe the negotiation process can be used."

Li Rui immediately understood Zhu Jingyuan's intention. The new armor-piercing shells that can smash the surface hardened layer can definitely form a good deterrent effect.

This effect may even be better than that of planes, because now planes can't deal lethal blows to warships for the time being, but new armor-piercing rounds can.

Li Rui solemnly promised again:

"I must urge everyone to get it out as soon as possible."

Zhu Jingyuan thought for a while, recalled the situation related to the armor-piercing projectile, and reminded Li Rui again:

"By the way, a larger quilt can better protect the tip of the bullet, but it will increase the flight resistance of the armor-piercing bullet, which in turn will shorten the range of the bullet.

"So we can add a pointed hollow shell on the outside of the quilt.

"Let the shells become sharp again, which can be more pointed than the original ordinary armor-piercing shells, and the speed of the shells should be increased again.

"Referring to the previous quilt, I call this 'hood'.

"The hood is hollow, it should be gone when touched, and it should not affect the armor-piercing effect, but the actual effect still needs to be tested."

Li Rui has now only nodded and agreed:
"Okay, great, His Highness's idea is very valuable, although it has not been directly tested, but it will definitely be useful when you can imagine it.

"I'll ask someone to take the test right away. Does Your Highness have any other requirements?"

Zhu Jingyuan sorted out his thoughts again:

"There are, but there are, you think of a way to design a cannonball that will cause flames when hitting things, and bullets for machine guns.

"You can try adding materials like white phosphorus.

"These shells and bullets are mounted on anti-aircraft guns and airborne machine guns, and their main purpose is to attack enemy airships.

"First, use ordinary bullets to penetrate the airship, let the hydrogen in the airbag leak out, and then use incendiary bombs to ignite the hydrogen.

"This turns the airship into a burning gas tank.

"If you make it, remember to send some to the Western Cape, and use the scrapped airship for testing."

Li Rui imagined the scene for a moment, and then subconsciously took a breath.

If these bullets and artillery shells were made and combined with Zhu Jingyuan's combat ideas, the airship would be completely useless.

Li Rui could only restrain his mind and quickly write down all these requirements.

(End of this chapter)