Chapter 696 The military’s preparation for war
At the end of 1631, Luhuitou Army Base in Sanya.
Tao Donglai, Yan Chujie, Wang Tom and other senior military officials had a rare opportunity to gather together. They were sitting under a temporary tent set up outdoors and watching the amphibious landing exercise conducted by the army and navy at the Luhuitou training ground. Since the end of the Annan Civil War, the military has not frequently practiced amphibious landing tactics in the past two years. Large-scale actual combat exercises involving two battalions and more than 20 combat ships at once are rare in recent times. Big move.
Although the top military officials did not announce the purpose of arranging this exercise, veterans who have been in the military for more than three years know that this is a precursor to Haihan launching another foreign war. At present, the entire Hainan Island is basically under the control of Haihan. Even the Qiongzhong Mountain District, which has been closed off in the past few years, has chosen to surrender after being wiped out several Li and Miao tribes who opposed Haihan. committee. It can be said that on Hainan Island today, it is difficult for anyone to stir up big waves. There is no need for Haihan to launch another landing operation on this big island. The possible targets will only be outside Hainan Island. place.
"How is the progress of the shipyard's renovation of the landing ship now?" Tao Donglai asked, putting down the telescope in his hand.
"Two ships have been modified, and two more will be put on the slipway this week. At least four ships can be modified in the first quarter of next year." Sun Changmi, who was present as a representative of the shipyard, immediately responded: "But the steam required by the Navy I’m afraid it will be too late to complete the construction of the powered battleship in the first half of next year.”
"The slipway is not enough?" Tao Donglai asked.
"It's not just the slipway problem." Wang Tom took over at this time: "Because a lot of mining equipment in Shilu was destroyed in the previous riots, and Tian Du's workshop is still rushing to repair this area. The marine steam engine required by our military was delayed. ”
According to the development plan formulated by the Navy, by the end of 1631, the Navy should have six "Dignity-class" hybrid warships in service. However, due to various reasons, the manufacturing capacity of the ordnance industry department has not been able to meet the needs of the military. The fourth "Dignity-class" warship was just commissioned a month ago, and the fifth will not enter the sea trial stage until next month. If everything goes well, we may be able to join the team before the start of the Fujian competition. But the sixth ship is still on the slipway. It needs to wait for the steam engine manufactured by Tiandu Industrial Zone to be in place before it can continue the subsequent construction steps. Even if it is worked day and night, it will probably have to wait until the second half of next year before it can be launched.
Although one more ship and one less ship may not have a big impact on the direction of the war in Fujian, the navy will naturally not be satisfied with such a delay. According to the force deployment plan recently submitted by Wang Tom to the Executive Committee, after completing the combat mission to attack Penghu next year, the navy will at least be stationed at Magong Port in Penghu, Fujian, Zhennan Port at the Pearl River Estuary in Guangdong, Haikou Port in the Qiongzhou Strait, Victory Port, the base camp, and northern Annan. Each of the six key nodes of Tushan Port and Cam Ranh Port in the south deploys a combat fleet with a "majesty-class" warship as the flagship to protect Haihan's sphere of influence in the South China Sea. However, it now appears that this plan is expected to undergo some changes due to delays in the manufacturing progress of the "Dignity-class" warships. In some areas, it is estimated that it will have to wait until the end of next year to complete the fleet deployment plan proposed by the navy.
Of course, the ambitions of Tom Wang and the Navy don't stop there. The current direction of "building more ships and building bigger ships" advocated by the Ministry of Shipping is almost in harmony with the Navy. Although the "Dignity-class" warships still have the capabilities in the current Far East seas It has certain advantages, but the navy and shipyards are already planning to build ocean-going combat ships with larger tonnage, stronger firepower, and more advanced steam engine propulsion systems. Of course, as for when to start construction, that still has to wait until Tom Wang gets the approval and budget from the executive committee.
However, the large warship itself is not the most urgently needed ship for the navy. The landing ship that will be rebuilt starting from the second half of this year will be one of the most important vehicles for attacking Penghu in the coming year.
When the landing operations were carried out in Annan in the early years, the Navy had already begun to try to use ships with more professional functions to carry out landing operations. However, the technical capabilities of the Victory Port Shipyard were still relatively limited at that time, so the so-called transformations were all done in a small way. action. This time, the Victory Port Shipyard's transformation of the first batch of "Exploration-class" warships that were in service in the early years was much more professional.
First, the gun positions on the second deck were removed from the ship and converted into manned bays, so that each ship could carry one more company of troops than before. Secondly, a total of four small boats and corresponding lifting facilities were deployed on the deck. The boats can be quickly lowered in places where docking near the shore is inconvenient, and the boats can be landed by human oars. Then part of the side of the ship was transformed into an everted structure. When docked at the shore, this part of the side of the ship is lowered outwards, which can serve as a springboard between the ship and the shore, allowing personnel to land in the shortest possible time. Moreover, various baggage materials in the cabin can be unloaded to the shore relatively easily. In addition, many adjustments have been made to the cabins and other equipment on the ship according to the functional needs of the landing ship, in order to shorten the time required for landing personnel and materials on the ship as short as possible during landing operations.
Of course, these modifications will also weaken the warship itself to a certain extent. On the one hand, the artillery output will be almost completely cancelled, and the ship's self-defense capability will be greatly weakened. On the other hand, the modification of the ship's sides, cabins and other parts will affect the structural strength of the hull. There is definitely some influence. If such a ship is to land during combat, it must be protected by other warships with firepower output capabilities. However, the military believes that this kind of transformation based on combat needs is very necessary, so the Navy decided on the transformation plan for eight ships in one go. These eight ships are fully loaded and can basically transport the personnel of a reinforced battalion as well as weapons and supplies for short-term operations. The military believes that this should be the extent required to establish a stable beachhead.
Of course, as to whether this newly modified landing warship is easy to use and how it should be used during actual landing battles, this needs to be tested by landing exercises like the current one. Although there are currently only two modified landing ships in the navy, this is enough for the officers to figure out basic tactics.
In addition to the transformation of ships, another focus that adults are paying attention to is the new equipment used by the army. When participating in the Annan Civil War, in order to quickly establish bunkers on the beaches, a large number of multi-functional flatbed vehicles were built at that time, which could not only load and unload supplies, but also be connected in a short time to form a simple defense line. Nowadays, the structure of this kind of car has been further strengthened. In addition to covering the bottom of the car with a thin iron sheet to enhance its defense capabilities, the body has also been standardized and has added fasteners and supports to connect the car together. The structural member on which the trolley is erected. In this way, the time required for engineers to connect such small vehicles to form a line of defense during war will be shorter. In addition, as the Shilu Mine began to produce copper ore, the military also benefited from this. A batch of bronze cannons of various calibers have been put into the artillery unit. Compared with the iron cannons installed before, the advantages of bronze cannons are very obvious, such as good ductility, easy processing, fast heat dissipation, and difficulty in exploding the chamber. In addition, copper cannons have an incomparable advantage in the field of offshore combat, that is, they are more resistant to corrosion and are not prone to rusting due to salty, high-humidity environments like iron cannons.
The cast iron of this period was not capable of high chamber pressures, and the smelting technology of low-carbon steel was not that good. Although Haihan could be said to be unique in the world in terms of steel smelting technology, its actual realization did not happen overnight. Before Haihan's steel production capacity increases to a certain level, using copper cannons can be said to be the simplest and most effective way to improve the strength of artillery. However, in the past few years, because Haihan had no stable copper resources, the number of copper cannons cast was extremely limited, and most of the militia's equipment was iron cannons. In the year since the Shilu Mine was put into operation, Tian Du's ordnance workshop has cast more than two hundred copper cannons of various calibers for the militia army, replacing those cast iron cannons whose service life has ended.
"Currently, the battalion participating in the exercise has all been equipped with copper cannons, four 12-pound cannons and four 24-pound cannons. Compared with the iron cannons previously equipped, the firing speed has been increased by 30%, and the life of the artillery barrel has also been increased. At least more than one-third." Yan Chujie watched the artillerymen unloading the artillery from the ship to the shore, and introduced to his colleagues present: "In addition, because the strength of the artillery barrel has increased, the amount of powder can be increased. To extend the range. Now the range of artillery of the same caliber has increased by a quarter compared to before. It can be said that basically no one in the Far East can achieve the same range as us, not even the artillery we sold before. ”
"How many more can be installed in the first quarter tomorrow?" Tao Donglai asked with interest. As a traditional advocate of artillery bombing, he, like Yan Chujie, believes in the combat philosophy of artillery supremacy - in front of artillery, there is no invincible opponent or city that cannot be breached. If there is, it must be the artillery. The equipment is not strong enough.
Yan Chujie responded: "According to Liu Xingli's answer to me, the quality and quantity of twenty guns per month can be maintained, and at least sixty guns can be delivered to the Army in the first quarter of next year."
Tom Wang coughed dryly and interjected: "Let me correct you. The sixty guns per month mentioned by Engineer Liu Xingli actually include the part delivered to the Navy, and are not exclusively for the Army. According to what we have said before According to the distribution method, the navy should get 40% of the sixty guns, which is twenty-four. The other thirty-six guns belong to your army."
"No, no, no, you are talking about the arrangements made a few months ago." Yan Chujie immediately retorted: "In next year's landing operation, after all, the army will be the main force, so this batch of new artillery must be installed in the army first, and then the navy You can take it easy first.”
"Lao Yan, you are really arrogant!" Wang Tom shook his head repeatedly: "The army is the main force? Do you plan to let the soldiers swim from Sanya to Fujian? Don't forget, Shibazhi is a pirate, they We still have thousands of sea ships under our command. Can the Army handle them? If you want to say it is powerful, then I will give way to the Army immediately, and your Army will be responsible for dispatching troops from now on, okay?”
Yan Chujie was not that easy to get along with, so he immediately retorted: "Your navy has double-digit artillery on one ship, how many cannons do I have in an artillery company? Sixty cannons are enough for my army to equip several battalions. You The navy only has enough to equip a few ships, so of course we should consider the army first and then the navy!”
"Stop arguing!" Tao Donglai quickly spoke up to stop the two people from continuing to argue. After the army and navy were separated, competition for limited military expenditures and resources was inevitable. Even senior officials like Yan Chujie and Wang Tom had many quarrels like this.
Of course, most of the time, such disputes are just a gesture, so that others can understand that the military branch they represent will not give up their interests easily. Just like these dozens of bronze cannons. In fact, it is not the key to which army or navy gets more guns. The key is not to give in easily, otherwise the other party will easily get the upper hand when allocating resources next time.
In addition to weapons, some new equipment has also begun to be installed in the troops, and will appear one after another in this exercise and next year's combat plan. For example, the brass telescopes produced by the ordnance industry department have been installed in company-level units in the Army, and the captain of each ship in the Navy's "Exploration-class" or above warships is issued one. Although the performance of this telescope is far inferior to the industrial products brought by the time travellers, it is a very practical tool for improving the combat effectiveness of the militia.
In addition to these standardized equipment, the ordnance industry department also has some experimental weapons and equipment, which will be conducted in the field for next year's combat missions to test their combat performance. However, these equipment are still undisclosed black technologies and will not appear in this exercise.
The entire exercise took a total of two and a half hours from launching an attack at sea to establishing a beachhead position, and some live ammunition was used during the exercise. In addition to senior officials from Haihan, representatives from Annan and Portugal also watched the exercise with shocked expressions in the guest seats. Through this exercise, they discovered that the combat capabilities of the Haihan militia had improved to a higher level than a few years ago. If their own army wanted to act as a defender to prevent the Haihan people from landing, the possibility of victory would be slim. Under the opponent's sharp long-range firepower, the fate of the defensive troops may not be any better than those targets that were shot to pieces.
(End of chapter)