Super Chief

"Boss, they started to turn, and our impact points are too scattered, the sea breeze today is too big..."

　　 The observer passed down the latest news again, and Carew's face became even darker.

The big eyes next to Karoo whispered: "Kalu, the trajectory of our shells has changed too much. This should have something to do with the gradual increase in the wind on the sea today. We encountered this in the past when our artillery regiment was training. The situation, so I think if we get closer to the enemy ship and then shoot, the effect should be better."

　　 Big Eye is the commander of the artillery regiment of the Fourth Division of the Grim Bear Army, and Shui Gouzi, the head of the coastal defense artillery regiment, is the right-hand man of Dahe. The navy’s gunners and gunners are mostly elites selected from the 4th Division’s artillery regiments and coastal defense artillery regiments, so Big Eye is familiar with naval gunners, gunners, and even observers.

　　 With big eyes, Shi Xiong naturally heard it in his ears, and he nodded insignificantly.

　　 Compared with the army artillery, although these navy recruits have no problem in firing artillery, naval battles and land battles are completely different things, so their experience is still far behind.

Carew’s expression moved, and he lowered his head for a while. Then he nodded thoughtfully, then grabbed his head and said to the signal soldier beside him: “Notify the other ships to suspend shooting. We need to get closer to the enemy. Shoot again from the ship’s distance. Well, let’s try out two rounds at a distance of seven kilometers. If the effect is not good, we will continue to close the distance. We must use this rare actual combat to find the best shooting distance for the main gun."

　　 The signal corps immediately carried out Karoo's orders, and soon the original rumble of cannons disappeared.

　　 The sound of the 105mm shipborne main gun was very loud when it fired. Although it could not be transmitted to the shore more than 50 kilometers away, the sailors of the Noel Fleet heard clearly more than ten kilometers apart.

　　 The sound of dozens of volleys of main guns is not much worse than thunder...

　　 Now the sound of thunder suddenly stopped, and Noel, who had already turned around, couldn't help but smile.

　　 Although he doesn't know where the strange ships on the opposite side belong to, it is an undoubted fact that those ships are hostile to his fleet.

　　 At such a long distance, Noel thinks he can't resist the enemy, but if he wants to escape here, Noel still has an eight-point confidence.

　　The reason why Noel has so much confidence mainly comes from the speed of the two warships, because the two ships have completed the installation of the copper bottom last year, and the speed has increased a lot compared to before.

　　The so-called copper bottom is to cover a layer of copper on the bottom of the battleship.

　　 For warships in the sailing age, the biggest threat is often not the enemy’s shells, but the shellfish attached to the bottom of the ship. This kind of marine creatures commonly known as "boat worms" are good at making holes in the wood, which can rot the bottom of the boat into many holes and cause serious damage. In addition, the bottom of warships that have been going to sea for a long time will have water weeds attached to them.

　　 So since the history of navigation, humans have been seeking various countermeasures to inhibit the growth of boat worms and water plants, but due to the limitations of the technological level, the effect is not ideal. Warships of various countries can only regularly return to the port to clean the bottom of the ship, which not only consumes manpower, but also often delays fighter opportunities.

　　 Around 1750, the British began experimenting with copper covering the bottom of the boat to prevent the attachment of boat insects and water plants.

　　 In 1761, the British Royal Navy cruiser "Alarm Bell" laid copper skins on the entire bottom of the ship, and then returned for inspection after two years of cruise. It was found that the protection effect was excellent and no foreign matter was found on the bottom of the ship.

　　 However, a new problem soon appeared. The copper covering the bottom of the ship began to peel off after a few years. The reason was that the iron nail fixing the copper was gradually corroded due to electrolysis and eventually broke.

　　 After years of experimentation, scientists finally found a solution. In 1786, the British Royal Navy began to use copper-zinc alloy nails instead of iron nails to fix the copper skin on the bottom of the ship, which solved this problem.

　　 Especially with the outbreak of the War of Independence, France, Spain, and the Netherlands successively declared war on Britain. The Royal Navy is facing severe challenges. The fleet goes out to sea more frequently and takes longer and longer. Regular cleaning of the bottom of the ship has become a luxury. So the British Admiralty decided to wrap the bottoms of all warships with copper. As of 1781, all battleships, cruisers and auxiliary ships of the Royal Navy were equipped with copper bottoms, becoming the world's first "copper bottom" fleet.

Warships equipped with copper bottoms not only saved the British the trouble of cleaning the bottom of the ship, but also brought an unexpected benefit to the British, that is, all warships equipped with copper bottoms had a much faster speed than before. Promote.

　　In the sailing age, in order to achieve higher speeds, warship builders would go to great lengths to improve the hull lines. France is leading the trend in this area, and a large number of designers who are proficient in the so-called "hydraulic principle" have emerged.

　　 French warships have always been known for their beautiful and smooth lines, but the speed advantage compared to British warships is not obvious. The French naval commanders were puzzled, and could only be attributed to the poor quality of their warships. This is actually a misunderstanding of the scientific community in the eighteenth century.

　　 The speed of the sailing age is usually less than ten knots. At this speed, the maximum resistance of a warship sailing comes from the friction between the surface of the hull and the water, and has nothing to do with the lines. Because the bottom surface of the copper-bottomed warship is smooth ~www.readwn.com~, the resistance is much lower than that of ordinary warships, so when the Royal Navy warships are equipped with copper bottoms, their speeds often increase inexplicably.

　　 This unexpected gain quite puzzled the experts of the Admiralty, and the generals who only cared about actual combat performance were naturally ecstatic.

Later, the French and Spaniards also received the news of the "bronze bottom". Although they could not figure out why the warships equipped with the copper bottom would be able to obtain higher speeds, this did not prevent them from starting to learn from the British. The bottom of our warship is equipped with a copper bottom.

　　 The Atlantic Horn that Noel was riding on had just completed the preparation of its copper bottom last year, and the other three-tier sailing battleship "Sea Horse" in the squadron also had a copper bottom.

　　 As for the three armed merchant ships, it is naturally impossible to have copper bottoms. But this has nothing to do with Noel, he is now ready to abandon the three armed merchant ships of the Spaniard.

　　 There are many factors in making such a decision. The most important point is that Noel believes that he must escape, and relays the news of the appearance of this strange ship and the artillery capable of hitting more than ten kilometers in the New World of North America. This is what Noel thinks is the most important thing.

　　 It's a pity that Noel, who was desperately fleeing, suddenly discovered that even if the speed of his two ships had soared to a speed of nearly eleven knots, the strange ships behind them were still quickly drawing closer.

　　 Even half an hour was useless, and the sound of thunder-like muffled sound resounded on the sea again...

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