Back to Ming Dynasty with Industrial Revolution System

Chapter 1828 Torpedoes
The shipyard develops the latest technology not only on the main ironclad ships, but also on small boats moored in inconspicuous small docks.

Compared with the two iron-clad steamships "Emperor Han Wen" and "Emperor Han Jing" we saw just now, there is only one poor boat moored in the small dock.

"This boat is 25.7 meters long, 3.3 meters wide, 1.57 meters draft, and 32 tons displacement." The factory manager said, pointing to the humble boat.

In fact, this "small boat" is not particularly small. It's just that everyone has just seen the 7000-ton Dahan-class battleship with a turret. At this time, looking at the small boat that is about the size of a fishing boat, it feels small in sharp contrast. The boat is too shabby.

Some of the naval officers who came did not know the purpose of the boat, and they all speculated: "Is this an explosive ship or a landing ship?"

They carefully observed its structure, and it was neither like a dynamite ship nor a landing ship, let alone a gun ship, because it didn't even have a single cannon.

"It's not a fishing boat, is it? It's here to improve the food for our Admiralty?" some naval officers said half-jokingly.

But when they saw Chu Yun's serious expression, they guessed it was really not a joke.

There should be some secret hidden in the humble boat.

"Torpedo boat, that's its name." The factory manager said, "It is used to launch a kind of immature weapon called torpedo. According to the adult's assumption, this is a confidential project, and even a little bit of content will not be announced to the outside world."

"Torpedo?! What is that?"

Many naval officers have never heard of this new type of weapon.

"Look, everyone, this is a torpedo."

The factory manager asked the boatman to carefully carry a strange thing like an iron pillar, for fear that it would be hit.

Everyone was even more puzzled, the appearance of this weapon was too strange.

Chu Yun was not surprised at all, because this is a torpedo.

The torpedo appeared in this world for the first time. To be precise, it should have appeared in this secret dock. Chu Yun did not intend to make it public.

Torpedoes are a dangerous thing. It can turn expensive ships into scrap iron, or keep the military technology outside at a relatively backward level, which is safer for China.

Compared with the Dahan-class ironclad ships, torpedoes are even more secretive.At least two Dahan-class ironclad ships were built to deter possible enemies, and they were active in various ports from time to time.

And the torpedo technology may really only be trained in the base, and will not be known to others.

Keeping the outside world at a low level of force is a good thing for civilization as a whole.

Even the vast majority of officers in the Navy Department don't know that there is such a weapon. If it wasn't for training a group of soldiers who can operate torpedoes just in case, they might not be able to see it now.

Almost all the people present were above the rank of lieutenant colonel, and they were amazed at the weapons they didn't even know about.

The factory director saw the doubts of other people except Chu Yun and others, so he introduced to them: "You can understand this thing as a cylindrical shell that can be propelled in water. The front part is a mine head, which is equipped with explosives and fuzes. , the middle part is a compressed air chamber, which stores compressed air with huge pressure, and the tail is a twin-cylinder V-shaped engine, which is driven by a propeller blade, which is somewhat similar to a ship."

"It can go 6 meters underwater at 200 knots. The torpedo is explosive enough to be used against a surface ship, and if it hits head-on, it might be able to wipe out an ironclad ship."

After hearing the factory director's introduction to the torpedo, everyone probably understood the principle.

Engines, explosives, and propellers constitute a new type of weapon!

This new type of weapon somewhat surpassed their imagination. The shells could also sail like ordinary ships, acting as the left battalion of the explosive ship. This idea is really unimaginable.

"Can we take a look at its power? The power of explosives in water will not be reduced?" some officers asked puzzled.

"No, on the contrary, the destructive power of explosives in water is greater than that in air. Isn't it hard to imagine?" said the factory manager.

Officers concerned only with artillery did not compare the difference between gunpowder above and below water.

According to common sense, the power of explosives underwater will be weaker, but experiments have shown them that this common sense is not so correct, and the destructive power of explosives exploded underwater is greater.

"Explosives can explode in water, but can they cause even greater damage?"

"We need to see the power of the torpedo firsthand to be able to believe it works."

Even the top executives of the Ministry of the Navy, they still choose seeing is believing, after all, things like torpedoes are beyond the scope of their previous cognition.

"It is very dangerous to conduct experiments in the dock. We have a temporary place for torpedo experiments." The director pointed to the small boat, "This is a torpedo boat specially used to launch torpedoes to attack enemy ships. There are torpedo tubes. We can take other ships to follow the torpedo boat to the test place."

Chu Yun and his party came to a steam passenger ship in the port, and they followed a secret ship such as a torpedo boat to a place in the harbor that was also strictly guarded.

"According to the report you provided, the torpedo developed should not be practical yet?" Chu Yun asked the factory manager on the passenger ship.

The factory director quickly complained to Chu Yun: "Your Excellency's words are correct. The torpedo we produced has many shortcomings. First, the range is only about 200 meters, and the speed of the torpedo underwater is very slow. There are a lot of problems in the design that can’t be solved. If you want to hit the enemy’s ship, you need the torpedo boat to get as close as possible. However, such a small boat with tens of tons will be quickly sunk by the naval guns of the steam ship. As long as the 30-ton torpedo boat is hit A hit by the main gun of the Dahan-class ironclad ship will cause unimaginable consequences."

"The current material used to make torpedoes is of course steel. Although steel is hard, it is not corrosion-resistant. If it is often immersed in water, the shell of the torpedo will inevitably be rusted. For torpedoes that need to be frequently practiced in the water and recovered, This flaw is a headache."

"That's why my subordinates think that there is no need to spend a lot of money on the research of torpedoes and torpedo boats. Similarly, to deal with wooden ships, just use cannons directly. After comparison, it is more efficient to use cannons directly than to use torpedoes to hit the enemy's wooden ships."

Chu Yun silently listened to the factory director express his thoughts.

The factory director believes that torpedoes are not as efficient as naval guns.This is a fairly normal thought.

At this time, the torpedo has just come out, it is really quite inefficient, the accuracy is too poor, and the profit is not high.Especially now that the enemy is still a wooden boat, with a few rounds of shells, is it necessary to spend a lot of money and energy on researching torpedoes?

(End of this chapter)