Chapter 612 Performance and Tactics
Shi Diwen generously took the enthusiastic Xu Xinsu around in the engine room again, but this time they came out quickly. During the operation of the steam system, soot was mixed with water vapor in the engine room, plus The huge mechanical noise is really not a comfortable place to be. Pass through two sealed doors from the only two-foot-wide aisle next to the engine room toward the bow, and then you will reach the second-floor gun deck.
Ten 24-pound guns on the left and right are arranged on this deck, all of which adopt the latest movable gun mounts and spring braking systems, allowing each gun to be fully controlled by only four gunners. With the ship's side gun windows closed, it was almost impossible to get any light from the outside, so a lot of Haihan's specialty windproof oil lamps were used in the cabin as lighting sources. In order to prevent the oil lamps from falling onto the deck during rough seas and causing fires, these oil lamps were fixed on the cabin roof.
Xu Xinsu noticed that the cabin structure here was obviously stronger than that of the smaller "Exploration-class" warship. There were a large number of support structures linked by steel components in the cabin. This was obviously to overcome the impact of these naval guns on the hull when they fired. force. The warships of the Ming Army were rarely equipped with high-power artillery. One of the reasons was that the hull structure could not withstand the huge vibrations during firing. For example, from the Jiajing period, the Ming Navy's large copper-haired cannons were equipped because the vibrations were too great. It cannot be installed on a warship, but has to drag a raft behind the warship to carry this weapon. You can imagine its effectiveness in combat.
Starting from the Jiajing period in the mid-16th century, front-loading guns made of cast copper or pig iron began to appear in the southeastern coastal areas. It is said that the word "faji" may come from the Portuguese field gun. Although the bulkiness was an obvious flaw, its power made it difficult for the Ming army to abandon it. The Ming navy used a large number of this weapon as the main bow gun of warships at that time. As for the reason why the Army does not like this thing, it is also very simple. This cannon cannot be used to defend a city, let alone in field battles. It is better to use this thing than to use the Hongyi cannon, which is equally heavy but has much higher performance. .
Although there are many firearms equipped on Ming army warships, there are very few that have long range, high accuracy and certain lethality. Although Xu Xinsu had long known that the "Prestige Signal" was equipped with a large number of artillery pieces, when he actually entered the cabin and saw the real thing, the shocking feeling still made it difficult for him to restrain the surprised expression on his face.
Shi Diwen wasted no time in showing off to Xu Xinsu: "This ship is designed with three artillery decks and is equipped with a total of 52 artillery pieces of three different calibers. The sides of the ship can be bombarded by up to 24 artillery pieces at the same time. Mr. Xu should It is also conceivable that no ship can maintain normal navigation capabilities after being bombarded by so many artillery pieces at a distance of fifty to one hundred feet. No matter how strong the ship is, we are confident that it can survive five rounds of close range bombardment. Then make it completely incapacitated.”
Xu Xinsu thought to herself that it would take five rounds. She was probably lucky to survive three rounds. In the past few years, he had bought a lot of artillery from the Haihan people, and he was very clear about the power of the Haihan artillery. The artillery installed on this deck, he knew at a glance that it was a 24-pounder, let alone firing such artillery shells. Wooden shipboards, even masonry of the same thickness, can be penetrated at the distance mentioned by Shi Diwen. Although I have not personally witnessed the power of this kind of naval gun, judging from past experience, even if the hit rate is only 23 out of 10, five rounds are enough to sieve the target.
However, the warships of the Ming army could not be equipped with as many artillery pieces as the Haihan warships. Xu Xinsu estimated that the warships of the navy under her combined together would not have as much firepower as the three Haihan warships. There are many ships - three of his ships are equipped with hundreds of cannons, and he has many ships, but the weapons on board are not useful. If measured by Haihan's artillery standards, the only ones that can be called "cannons" are the cannons equipped on the two recently acquired warships customized from Haihan.
But thinking of those two ships, Xu Xinsu gave up the idea of asking Shi Diwen for a price. The small gunboat equipped with ten cannons costs tens of thousands of taels of silver. The large gunboat equipped with more than fifty cannons and its peculiar propulsion device will probably command an astronomical price.
Although Xu Xinsu drooled after seeing it, she still maintained a certain amount of rationality, knowing that this thing was not something the Ming army could afford at the moment. Even if the Haihan people are willing to sell it, the Fujian Navy may not be able to afford this big guy. Just looking at so many cannons on the ship, you know how troublesome it is to maintain this thing. Moreover, the number of gunners needed on this ship is more than the artillery establishment of Zhangzhou City. Xu Xinsu will not be able to spare so many professional manpower to operate this big killer for a while.
At the same time, Xu Xinsu also realized that the Haihan Militia had even stronger reserves of professional military personnel than the Fujian Ming Army. According to Shi Diwen, there is not just one such warship, but several. Coupled with the numerous "exploration-class" and "exploration-class" warships, the required artillery force is probably close to a thousand people. , and this is just the artillery of their maritime forces, the establishment is close to or even exceeds the number of artillery of the entire Fujian Ming Army.
Most of the artillerymen under Xu Xinsu, especially the troops using Haihan artillery, were sent to Sanya for training by the Haihan military. The growth of the personnel size was limited by objective conditions, and naturally they could not compare with the Haihan artillery. Expansion speed. Of course, the Fujian military can also train gunners on its own with the old and the new, but the effect is far less than sending it to Sanya and letting the Haihan people do it for them. Apart from anything else, in terms of live-fire shooting exercises alone, the gunners trained by the Fujian Ming Army themselves were far inferior to the cadets at the Haihan Military Academy. As for advanced subjects such as ballistic calculations, only teachers from Haihan Military Academy can teach relevant knowledge in a simple and easy-to-understand manner. The strength gap between the two sides in the artillery branch is almost impossible to narrow.
"It's so dark in this cabin that we can't see anything. Let's go back up there!" Shi Diwen didn't want Xu Xinsu to stay here all the time. Although this combat mode on the Haihan battleship cannot be imitated, Shi Diwen didn't intend to show all his trump cards - for example, he wouldn't take Xu Xinsu to visit the 48-pound gun installed on the bottom deck. As long as the shells fired by that thing hit the area near the waterline of the ship's hull, one shot can paralyze the ship.
Although Xu Xinsu was a little reluctant to leave, he was a senior officer himself and knew that the warship was already a restricted military area. It was a great favor that someone was willing to show him around. It would be unreasonable to stay and not leave.
After the "Prestige Signal" sailed with its steam propulsion device for two hours, Shi Diwen ordered the engine room to stop operating. At this time, the "Prestigious Signal" had left the entire participating fleet behind it for a full ten nautical miles. This kind of Xu Xinsu was stunned by the speed and didn't know how to evaluate it.
"When we want to leave, no one can keep us, and when we want to fight, no one can escape from the battlefield!" Shi Diwen proudly gave this battleship, which carries Haihan's highest technological achievements, the ultimate Its high rating and advantages in speed and firepower make it proud of its maritime competitors in the entire Far East. After Xu Xinsu visited the power facilities and weapons equipment on the ship, she had to admit Shi Diwen's statement wholeheartedly. The powerful strength shown by the Haihan people in maritime armed forces simply makes it impossible for people to think of resistance. Xu Xinsu definitely does not want to meet an opponent like Haihan in his lifetime. He even sympathizes with Shibazhi a little, because those entrenched The gangsters on the island had no idea what kind of troublesome people they had provoked.
As far as Xu Xinsu knows about Shibazhi, the opponent does not have any warships on hand that can fight against monsters like "Wei Signal". When encountering at sea, there is probably no other way except to escape - of course, can you escape? It probably depends on Commander Haihan's mood. As for the battle, Xu Xinsu believes that there will be no suspense. The ship Haihan is enough to defeat the opponent several times. Although Shibazhi claims to have many ships, there are hundreds of ships under one big boss, and there are probably not as many cannons as there are on the "Prestige Signal". The difference in force between the two sides is more than one level.
Shi Diwen ordered the sails to be lowered and slowed down, and after waiting for a long time, the subsequent large forces finally caught up. The Haihan Navy is naturally accustomed to such situations. During sea training, the "Wei signal" and "Dignity" often leave their teammates behind and run alone for a while to test whether the operation of the steam propulsion system is stable. However, it was the first time for the Ming Navy navy participating in this military exercise to witness such a spectacle. This huge Haihan warship suddenly spewed smoke and accelerated, and as soon as it sped out, it threw the fleet behind it. If it weren't for the flag on the flagship for the fleet to follow, the navy officers would probably have thought they had seen a ghost in the daytime.
Some Ming army officers who originally had doubts about the content of the military exercises arranged by Haihan were now basically convinced. Regardless of whether there is a fight or not, the speed of the warship alone is enough to make people give up resistance - if they can't even catch up, how can they play it?
After "Prestige Signal" returned to the fleet, he no longer served as a midshipman, but began to work as a pilot. Although this sea area is relatively unfamiliar to the Haihan Navy, several veteran sailors provided by Xu Xinsu who are familiar with nearby sea conditions are also arranged on the ship to assist in navigation. As for the skills to utilize changes in wind direction and ocean currents, the Haihan navy, which has received advanced navigation training, has obvious advantages. In addition, the performance of the "power signal" is already outstanding, and it can lead the fleet at a higher speed when piloting. March with efficiency.
When the fleet arrived off the coast of Quanzhou, it was more than an hour earlier than expected. For a voyage of only more than fifty nautical miles, it is not easy to shorten the sailing time so much. If it were not for the Haihan Navy to lead the way, It’s really hard to do.
After arriving at the predetermined sea area, the fleet began to practice coordinated maritime operations as planned. Under the leadership of "Wei Signal", several warships began to learn how to seize the upper hand and use the ship's side to confront the enemy, which is how to seize the T-prefix tactic in modern naval battles.
This tactic is indeed a bit advanced for the Ming Navy, which still uses various primitive firearms as its main output. However, as the Fujian Navy gradually purchases Haihan warships, the firepower output will rely more on equipment on both sides. Artillery, this tactic of maximizing the firepower output of the ship's side is still something that must be mastered. As for the Fujian Navy, only a handful of senior officers had been taught this type of tactics in Sanya, but they were unable to practice it after returning to Fujian, because the reason for the emergence of this type of tactics was the emergence of battleships equipped with a large number of side guns. The ships began to be equipped with surface troops, but there were not many warships that could be called gunboats in Fujian.
The Fujian Navy, which usually has no training opportunities at all, is fortunate to be able to train with the Haihan Navy this time, which is still very advanced tactics in the Far East. While issuing various orders, Shi Diwen explained the beauty of this tactic to Xu Xinsu.
In fact, there was no need for Shi Diwen to explain too much. Xu Xinsu already understood about 70% of this queue when she saw it. To put it simply, the superior firepower of one's own ship's broadside guns is used to suppress the limited number of guns on the bow or stern of the opponent's ship. The long row of one's own gun ships is simply a moving artillery position. After such a sideways trip, even if the opponent's ship was not sunk, it was probably close to capsizing.
Similar to this tactic, Xu Xinsu knew that there were also Red-haired and Folangji people, but their proficiency was probably not as good as that of the Haihan people who were proficient in navigation. Moreover, when it came to the flexibility of warships at sea, Haihan would definitely be the first. work.
Although there was no target ship arranged for live ammunition shooting, Xu Xinsu could imagine what it would be like to go into battle just by walking in formation twice on the sea. He had heard that the Haihan people defeated Liu Xiang's fleet at the Pearl River Estuary with a small number and a large number, and that it had been in ruins ever since. It seems that they relied on this advanced tactic.
It wasn't until the sky gradually darkened that Shi Diwen ordered the exercise to be terminated and the fleet sailed to Quanzhou Port for rest.
Quanzhou Port has been open for thousands of years and is known as the largest port in the world. According to "Marco Polo's Travels", Quanzhou Port can be as famous as Alexandria in Egypt. During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, Quanzhou was China's most important foreign trade port, with more than 70 countries and regions doing business. However, in the late Yuan Dynasty, the "Yisibaxi War" in Quanzhou lasted for a full ten years, and this war severely damaged Quanzhou's social economy, and it began to decline from then on. After the Ming Dynasty, due to the imperial court's maritime ban policy, Quanzhou could only trade with Ryukyu. Fujian's shipping department also moved north to Fuzhou, and the foreign trade status of Quanzhou Port further declined. By the time of Tianqi and Chongzhen when the time traveler came to this time and space, the status and scale of Quanzhou Port were no longer as good as those of the nearby Zhangzhou Port.
(End of chapter)