Alien Arms Empire.

Chapter 150 Chapter 150

But this is not a real train gun, but a prototype of a beggar's version of the train gun.In fact, these C80 howitzers are towed artillery, and they have wheels.

Tang Mo just produced some flat train carriages, and then simply fixed the cannons on these flat carriages.

This ensured Tang Mo's flexibility in using these artillery to the greatest extent, but at the expense of the protective performance of the train artillery.

In theory, Tang Mo could create an armored train and install cannons and various weapons on it to surprise the enemy.

But you must know that the armored train consumes a lot of steel, and its use is also very limited. In fact, Tang Mo can't fully utilize the advantages of the armored train.

In comparison, saving steel is more in line with Tang Mo's current situation.After all, he now wants to put his limited steel production capacity in a more useful place.

Because Tang Mo is now formally considering whether he is going to get his hands on that distant Heilong Island, which is rich in oil.

After all, oil, as the blood of modern industry, is very precious and the most important.Being able to grasp an oil producing area in advance is absolutely crucial to Tang Mo's planning and layout.

Now that he knows that there is such a place as Heilong Island, he naturally hopes to hold this island in his own hands.

And in his plan, to conquer and control Black Dragon Island, the navy is definitely the core force.With only his dozen or so sailboats, wanting to monopolize Heilong Island is tantamount to a dream.

Even if he really occupied Heilong Island, those dozens of small boats would not be able to support his sea transportation, let alone defend his island assets!
Therefore, in Tang Mo's plan, the expansion of sea power is actually very important and urgent.

Against this backdrop, Tang Mo didn't spend all his limited steel on the option of armored trains, but saved as much as he could, turning his train gun into a simple model.

Where is the saved steel used?It was used on a brand new ship in the dock - it was a real steel new warship, using steam power.

The design of this battleship was based on the famous Zhiyuan cruiser, but because of the times and Tang Mo's current capabilities, some minor modifications were made.

First of all, in terms of the defense capability of the battleship, due to the lack of steel, a large number of reductions have been made.Originally more and denser watertight cabins have been greatly simplified.

At the same time, the famous German dome armor horizontal defense was completely cancelled, and only a layer of steel plates under the deck was arranged for defense.

After all, warships at sea in this era still use front-loading guns, and basically all use solid bullets.Under this premise, increasing the armor of the steel battleship itself does not make any sense.

After canceling the horizontal armor and reducing the internal defensive armor, the length of Tang Mo's warship was increased by 10 meters, reaching an astonishing 89 meters long and 11.5 meters wide.

The main reason for such a modification is to save materials, and the defensive design other than ensuring the strength of the hull was eventually cut down.

Even the bridge, which could have defended itself against direct fire from large-caliber artillery, has been reduced to half its original armor thickness.

Because of the lack of so much steel, the ship’s self-weight is reduced, and the center of gravity of the design is unstable, so some hulls can only be expanded to increase the self-sustaining drinking water and coal reserves inside—used as ballast stones.

For this series of improvements, Tang Mo deliberately hired nine master craftsmen who designed the ship at a high price, and used the computer in his mind to perform simulation calculations before completing the ultimate improvement of the ship.

Therefore, the self-sustainability of this improved Zhiyuan battleship at sea has been greatly improved, and its speed has also increased to a terrifying 40 kilometers per hour.

For the convenience of calculation, Tang Mo did not stubbornly refer to the calculation unit of "knot", but still used the length unit kilometer on land at sea.

40 kilometers per hour is roughly equal to a speed of about 22 knots, which is the advantage brought by the weight reduction of new warships and the use of more mature steam engines.

In order to cope with the problem of more advanced boilers and greater heat generation from steam engines, this warship added another chimney in the middle of the growing hull.

Because there is no need to design so many watertight compartments, there is enough coal and enough fresh water, so the living standard on the battleship has also improved a lot, more food can be carried, and there are more spacious living conditions.

In terms of weapons, this improved battleship Zhiyuan, or a severely shrunk battleship, has eliminated many novelties.

Tang Mo didn't have so many novelty things to pile up on this battleship, so all the torpedoes originally designed to be used on the battleship were cancelled.

There's no way, Tang Mo doesn't even have a torpedo production workshop, let alone torpedoes.He also has no way to start the production of so many weapons, and his workers don't even know what a torpedo is.

The torpedo cannot be manufactured, so the relevant compartment of the torpedo can also be moved out and used as the crew's living area.

At the same time, Tang Mo couldn't use the large number of Hotchkiss rapid-fire guns equipped on the Zhiyuan.

On the original Zhiyuan ship, there were 8 Hotchkiss 57mm single-barreled guns and 6 37mm rapid-fire guns... Tang Mo also couldn't directly get out such a bunch of things to equip the battleship.

Whether they are useful or garbage, Tang Mo doesn't intend to pursue them, because he has never seen their battle scenes after all, but it is true that he does not have a production line for these weapons.

There was also no other way, and it was impossible for Tang Mo to deliberately re-open the production lines of two special weapons for a warship.

Every production line he has now is precious, and he must take care of the army's use needs as much as possible, and at the same time, he must also consider the subsequent sales promotion, so it is impossible for him to get any 37mm caliber special gun for the navy.

Therefore, this battleship finally used all 10 75mm rear-loading field guns that Tang Mo could produce...

The shooting range of these artillery is very limited, and they are all deployed on the side, so they cannot provide any firepower to the bow.

However, relying on the frightening speed of this warship, it can calmly adjust its posture outside the range of the enemy warship, and use the most powerful side of the fire to meet the enemy.

The artillery used on the bow and stern is actually not the 210mm large-caliber main gun with insufficient fire rate of the Zhiyuan ship.Instead, the 120mm caliber field gun was directly improved to make do with it.

After all, these days, there are no naval guns that can hit more than 5 kilometers. A 120mm cannon that can hit high-explosive bombs is completely crushed at sea.

What's more, the advantages brought by the reduced caliber are even more obvious. The bow and stern of this improved battleship are equipped with a triple-mounted and a double-mounted turret respectively!

Therefore, the new ship designed as a whole has five 5mm caliber guns and 120 12mm caliber secondary guns as its main weapons. The number of guns alone is much stronger than that of a destroyer.

However, because the searchlight technology was immature, Tang Mo could only honestly cancel the design of the searchlight, so this giant ship, like other navy warships, did not have the ability to fight at night.

In addition, the dozen or so old-fashioned Gatling machine guns originally equipped on the Zhiyuan ship were also canceled by Tang Mo.Instead, there are 6 Maxim water-cooled heavy machine guns with more powerful firepower.

Because the machine guns have not been developed yet, when the new ship was built, only the bases of these weapons were kept, and they were not installed.

Also because there is no need for key ammunition protection, most of the ammunition depots are distributed near the gun positions, so the total weight of the overall firepower system is reduced, and the speed of taking shells is also increased accordingly.

The lack of defensive power is actually offset by the current hip-pull opponents. It is impossible for those solid shells that can only hit less than one kilometer to penetrate the thin side armor and smash into the ammunition bay of the ironclad ship.

In fact, this giant ship with a displacement of 3700 tons is definitely the most advanced and powerful warship in the world.Nowadays, the sailing battleships of various countries are not its opponents at all.

Although it still has many imperfections, its birth will still be recorded in the annals of history, and its appearance will still rewrite the naval battles of the entire world.

Tang Mo was very confident that after this warship was launched, he would almost be able to keep his sea transportation line.

At that time, starting the construction of Black Dragon Island became the top priority.Therefore, it is necessary for him to inspect Heilong Island first, and let the sailors master the skills of long-distance sailing.

So, he looked at Roger and the others, and asked about the activities of his fleet: "What about the fleet?"

Roger immediately answered his question: "We sent two ships to the south with 1000 K1 fast guns and 5 rounds of ammunition. If all goes well, they can sell these weapons."

Li Ao also added: "They have only gone south for more than a month, and there is no news yet."

"If we can sell the needle gun, we can get all the boats going south next time," continued Roger.

"This is good news." Tang Mo nodded.

After half a year of training, his fleet finally started ocean-going activities.On the one hand, this can train sailors, and on the other hand, it can also bring more profits to Tang Mo.

Just tossing around in the Wright Kingdom obviously couldn't satisfy Tang Mo's expansion ambitions.What he needs is to control more trade routes and sell more things.

"Before they come back, this is not good news." John reminded: "Sea trade is a very dangerous thing."

He looked at Tang Mo and frowned: "You look more like a man, this trip to Beiling, are you..."

"Don't guess!" Tang Mo glanced at John with a smile, and explained, "It's good news that our sailors have the courage to fight in the ocean."

"If you don't send them out, they may die in the port." Bernard, who is in charge of the navy, told a joke.

"Hahahaha!" Everyone burst out laughing.

(End of this chapter)