Chapter 62 Artillery (1)
On the evening of May 8, after the regular meeting that day, the Executive Committee convened some relevant personnel to hold another small meeting. The content of this small meeting is to discuss the cannon casting plan proposed by the Military and Police Department, taking into account both military needs and production technology, brainstorming and determining the future artillery weapon development plan of Chuangzhong.
Discussions about making our own artillery have never stopped since the day the Military and Police Department was established. Thanks to the influence of the big bomb doctrine pursued by the People's Liberation Army in later generations, keyboard military strategists will express their opinions on the artillery development route that the military should adopt at any time and anywhere on forums, at the dinner table, and in the office. In this heated discussion atmosphere, everyone has reached a consensus on one thing - artillery is definitely one of the most important weapons for the traversers to conquer cities on land, dominate the seven seas on the water, and ensure that the traverse regime can smoothly expand its territory. .
However, due to the limitations of objective conditions after time travel, the matter of manufacturing artillery had to be temporarily shelved by the Executive Committee. Until recently, when the Tiandu Iron Mine was put into operation and the iron-making workshop was put into operation, this matter was once again put on the agenda of the anxious Military and Police Department.
The anxiety of the Military and Police Department is understandable. Currently, the only heavy weapons in the hands of the traversers are two PP89 60mm mortars, and the ammunition reserve of only 20 rounds makes the existence of these two small cannons even more difficult. Like a kind of self-psychological comfort. When pirates attacked last time, the military and police had to use iron-shelled fishing boats to engage in hand-to-hand combat with their opponents at sea. In the end, they only won the battle by relying on the strong hulls. Although the results were good, this was not a good idea for the general public. The great navalists who wanted to build a fleet of heavy artillery were simply a disaster.
Build a cannon! Build more cannons! Build more large-caliber heavy artillery! This has become a hot topic discussed on forums recently. Even pacifists like Gu Kai had to participate in it and were invited to translate English military documents in large databases for some half-hearted military strategists so that they can use them today. At this stage, I will give some useful information in the debate about the advantages and disadvantages of front-loading guns and breech-loading guns.
Since manufacturing artillery requires a lot of materials and manpower, the Executive Committee also attaches great importance to this and decided to hold a special meeting to discuss this plan. In addition to all members of the Executive Committee, those invited to attend the meeting also included key members of the Military and Police Department, relevant personnel from the Maritime Department, metallurgical technicians, machining technicians, and a number of military enthusiasts of varying levels. More than thirty people packed the small executive committee meeting room to the brim. In addition, a considerable number of these men were smokers. The smell of sweat mixed with smoke in the meeting room made the environment even worse than it is now called. Cement kilns, the number one source of pollution, are also bad.
The person in charge of presiding over the meeting was Tao Donglai. He first used a whiteboard pen to write a few lines of large characters on the whiteboard in front of the conference room.
1. Actual military needs
2. Technical difficulty of implementation
3. Artillery tactics and organization
After finishing writing, Tao Donglai put down his pen, sat back in his seat, raised his finger and pointed at the whiteboard and said: "This is the agenda for today's discussion. Let's come one by one. Comrades who smoke should be a little more relaxed, but now this room is simply miserable. It looks like a fire, be careful and wait for someone to rush in and splash water.”
After a burst of low laughter, several old smokers embarrassedly put out the cigarette butts in their hands.
"Let me talk about the first question on behalf of the Military and Police Department." As a veteran, Tao Donglai also holds a concurrent position in the Military and Police Department. At this time, he became the spokesperson of the Military and Police Department.
"I know that many people think that we should directly manufacture breech-loading rifled guns, and we should pursue large-caliber, long-range, and heavy-fire suppression effects. Putting aside the technical issues of gun manufacturing, I think first of all, we must pay attention to this era. There is a clear understanding of the armed forces that may become our opponents.”
"What was the level of artillery in the 17th century? I think the people attending today have learned enough from various film and television works and related written materials. Black powder, muzzle-loading cannon, solid cannonballs, whether it was artillery in this era The design, manufacturing, and practical application of artillery techniques and tactics in the military are still in a state of exploration based on existing experience, and there is no standardization. Our advantage lies in the development trends of various weapons technologies and military tactics. Having a thorough understanding can help you avoid mistakes and avoid many detours during the exploration process. ”
"Super-era artillery technology can indeed easily suppress the battlefield during this period, but is that level of technology really what we need now? I don't think so. Our current military needs mainly come from land and sea. On the one hand, there are ship-mounted naval guns at sea, and on land there are coastal defense guns and infantry guns needed by future troops. What are the artillery tactics in naval battles in this era? Is it to conduct bombardment at a distance of two hundred meters or even one hundred meters? We cannot yet build large battleships based on pure firepower output, and it is difficult to gain an advantage in the number of naval guns. Therefore, our naval guns must pursue better accuracy and stronger destructive power. .”
"But at the same time, we must also realize that this era still lacks accurate artillery sighting systems and fire control systems. Relying on visual correction for artillery fire at a distance of more than two thousand meters at sea is basically a waste of ammunition. The shipbuilding technology we have at hand is enough Let the speed of our warships be far ahead in this era, so as long as the effective range of our naval guns is more than twice that of the contemporary naval guns, it will be enough to gain an advantage in naval battles. I personally think that this reasonable effective range is within one thousand meters. , within this range, there is actually no need to equip a breech-loaded rifled gun that is difficult to produce..." Tao Donglai was about to continue, when he saw Yue Zhiyun raising his hand, he nodded to indicate that he could speak.
Yue Zhiyun stood up and said: "First of all, I agree with Mr. Tao's view on the effective range of naval guns. The British Royal Navy's shooting regulations in the 19th century also clearly stipulated that the maximum shooting distance of the 24-pound gun is 400 yards, which means that it is not To a distance of 400 meters, excessive range is actually an unnecessary waste of performance for naval warfare in this era.”
"But when designing the artillery, we must also consider the carrying capacity of the ship. For example, the 12-pound front-loading artillery with a caliber of 70mm may seem small, and the gun body is only four to five hundred kilograms, but it must be equipped on the ship. , the displacement of the ship must reach a certain standard, otherwise the cabin cannot provide enough artillery combat space. As for the tonnage required to use the 12-pounder gun, our Shipping Department believes that it must be at least one level of the Haicang ship in Victory Port. times, that is, a displacement of about 300 tons. I don’t think a ship of this tonnage can be built within this year.”
"If a breech-loading rifled gun is used, the situation is different. According to the data I found in a large database, if the 12-pound breech-loading gun uses conical shells, not only the effective range will be much greater than that of the front-loading gun, but also The accuracy and destructive power far exceed that of artillery of the same caliber. It is well documented that the armor-piercing power within the effective range is equivalent to that of a 24-pound front-loading artillery shell. Ships can be directly equipped with 12-pound guns. ”
"Let me interrupt!" Bai Kesi from the Ministry of Industry raised his hand: "The mechanical structure of hydraulic retraction will only remain on paper for a long time in the future. You can temporarily ignore it when designing naval guns. Tube-repulsed artillery.”
"Wouldn't it be possible to use springs instead of hydraulics for retraction?" A half-hearted military fan said in the crowd.
"Theoretically, it's possible, but first we have to make a spring." Bai Kesi explained patiently: "Considering the strength of the material, we have to use special spring steel to make this kind of cannon braking spring, but this kind of spring steel is the most We have to wait until we mine the manganese ore in Damao before we can build it. Moreover, the spring-type retraction machine has very little buffering capacity, so it was quickly eliminated in history. Instead of considering spring retraction, it is better to consider building a cannon. It is more practical to directly mount the muzzle brake. ”
"Muzzle brakes will not work on naval guns of this era." Yan Chujie of the Military and Police Department shook his head and retorted: "Muzzle brakes will affect the accuracy and aiming of artillery shooting. With our current gun-making technology, it is impossible to make That thing is not worth the loss, so it is better to use the stand-off technology. We also have many mature technologies that have been tested over time.”
Seeing that the order was about to lose order and turn into chaos, Tao Donglai quickly knocked on the table to signal everyone to calm down: "Have you ever thought that breech-loading rifled cannon can be built, but what about the problem of shells and fuses? Industry? Does the department have a solution now? ”
Bai Kesi shook his head and said: "A small amount of cannonballs can be made, and the projectile body can be slowly turned out with a lathe, but it is difficult to mass-produce it. The process flow is completely different. You must know that there is special equipment for making cannonballs and bullets. A set of There are dozens of equipment in the production line, and it is difficult to replicate it under our current conditions. This is still a solid armor-piercing projectile. If it is a grenade, it also involves the manufacturing of fuses, which our industrial department cannot solve.”
"We can copy the oldest breech-loading cannon." Someone from the Shipping Department shouted again. It was Xie Chun who was engaged in shipping management. No one knew how he came to participate in this discussion.
"The oldest breech-loading cannon shells are cast iron coated with lead. They still use black powder as the propellant and have no primer. The breech-loading cannons of the 19th century basically have this structure. Is there no problem in making a cast iron projectile and black powder? "It seems that Xie Chun was not aimless and was prepared beforehand.
But someone immediately refuted his statement: "Aren't you talking about the Armstrong cannon that embarrassed the Qing army in the Second Opium War? If we can't solve the adhesion problem of the lead skin, the lead fragments will be released when the cannon is fired. Splashing in a short distance in front of the muzzle may cause damage to our soldiers. This is a real situation that has occurred in history. For this reason, the British returned to the front-loaded cannon and took a detour for a while. "< br>
(End of chapter)