Alien Arms Empire.

"The higher-ups are forcing us to study weapons against submarines. Let's all talk about a good way." A Cyric engineer threw a stack of documents on the table as soon as he entered the room, and said to his subordinates.

A group of people were frowning, and one of them said: "There is no way, we have been thinking for so many days, and we still can't solve the most critical problem."

"Yeah, we have no way to detect the submarine in advance, this is the biggest problem." Another old engineer sighed and said.

They didn't know the word submarine before, but Tang Guo's radio station told them all the corresponding words.

The opponent was almost playing his card: he just dived into the water with one move, but Cyric just couldn't think of any way to break such a move.

"We have developed a bomb that can be dropped into water and explode at a fixed depth." A weapon research and development engineer immediately said: "This is not difficult, the difficulty is... when to drop this bomb."

"The shipyard has installed corresponding guide rails on the newly built destroyer to throw this kind of water bomb, but it just gave the captain a choice to attack randomly." The person next to him shook his head, depressed Said.

Without the cooperation of sonar, only depth charges are actually useless. Everyone here knows that the most important method is to find the opponent.

"I suggest setting up some fishing nets near the port. The big ones can prevent the infiltration of enemy submarines?" The engineer sitting at another table gave his opinion.

"It's already been done. We have set up huge fishing nets in the military port of Goblin and the port of Neverwinter in Dorne. I hope it will be effective." The engineer Cyric, who was the leader, leaned on the chair with a lifeless look. Cute look.

Recently, they are installing the same equipment on new battleships, and some battleships that have been rebuilt in the dock.

A support rod similar to a side oar, and then use these support rods to hang fishing nets to prevent the "bombs" launched by enemy submarines from approaching the battleship.

"In terms of civilian ships, we can't do much. The self-defense problem that warships can't solve is even more impossible for civilian transport ships." The expert on the other side shook his head, expressing that he was powerless.

This is different from World War II. During World War II, at least destroyers had sonar, depth charges for anti-submarine use, and fleets escorted by destroyers. Submarines also needed careful tactical arrangements if they wanted to provoke them.

But it's different now. Destroyers are overwhelmed with submarines, and the concept of escort has no basis at all.

The fleet can only escape when it encounters a submarine, let alone escort civilian ships-in this case, the transport ships of various countries can only rely on themselves.

As he spoke, he lit a cigarette.This stuff was originally only smoked by the Bunas people, but it became more and more popular, and it has become a very widespread habit.

After exhaling a puff of smoke, he continued: "On the one hand, we can only keep the transport ship as fast as possible. This is the best method we know so far."

"But the speed of a transport ship full of supplies is not fast!" Another person raised a question.

"Then we can only ask them to load less!" The smoking elder brother became more and more unreliable. If all the ships transported one-fifth of the cargo, it would mean that the shipping capacity of each country was cut by five points at once. One, this loss can be described as desperate.

If the loss of the sunk transport ship is added, the reduction in transport capacity will only be greater, and no one can bear such consequences.

"Damn it, who would have thought that washing powder could become a weapon!" As he spoke, an engineer collapsed a bit.

"The size of the torpedo should be very large, and it is not convenient to carry, and the price should not be cheap." A consultant from the military next to him analyzed: "They are not willing to use it, and often use small-caliber artillery to attack it after robbery. Sink our transport ship."

"Is it possible to take advantage of this and equip the merchant ship with some concealed weapons... try to capture a submarine, or sink it!" He looked at the engineers and asked them about the feasibility.

"This works!" A designer immediately became excited: "We can temporarily install 90 or 100mm naval guns on some merchant ships!"

"It makes sense! It can also be used for high-level and flat-purpose! In this way, can the merchant ship also have some air defense capabilities?" Another expert also nodded.

So everyone began to discuss, from the choice of artillery, to whether it was installed voluntarily, and whether it was necessary to charge a fee.

After some discussion, they decided to install sideboard 90mm caliber anti-aircraft guns on several transport ships under construction, so that they have the ability to fight submarines at critical moments.

It's just that the increased cost and additional gunner configuration require each shipping company to bear the cost.

"We also experimented with some 'torpedoes'. In fact, the principle is very simple, but some details still need to be improved." The engineers who developed the torpedo joined the discussion.

After learning that there is a torpedo weapon, Cyric and engineers from various countries are also researching this new weapon, hoping to equip their naval fleet with this terrible weapon.

In fact, everyone is very clear in their hearts that the threat from underwater is very deadly, because the underwater defense of the main warships of various countries is almost zero, and they are all in a state of streaking.

It is very difficult to use artillery to sink those heavily armored battleships.Not to mention the low hit rate, the damage effect after the hit is also very average.But torpedoes are different, only one is needed to severely damage those expensive battleships.

And this thing does not have much technical content: everyone knows the principle of buoyancy, just simply design it, refer to the propeller design and the principle of shells, and build a built-in buoy to create a primitive torpedo.

It’s just that there are many problems in such primitive torpedoes. How to solve the sensitivity of the touch fuze in a liquid environment, how to make the torpedo obtain stable power, and how to keep the torpedo at a reasonable depth, these details cannot be resolved.

Therefore, it is impossible to manufacture a reliable and usable torpedo in a short period of time, but related research has already begun, and everyone has invested a lot of enthusiasm in this regard.

"We must pay close attention to the deployment of anti-submarine nets, and then arrange more patrol ships near the reserved channel!" The military adviser suggested anxiously.

Their navy has really been the focus of bad luck recently. The new weapons of Tang Guo's navy are emerging one after another, which makes them feel dizzy.

The main fleet, which was originally sure of winning and had an absolute advantage in numbers, is now hiding here and there like a mouse crossing the street.Not to mention the blockade of Tang's shipping, even returning to Hong Kong for supplies has become an adventure.

While they were discussing various technical issues, an officer pushed open the door of the office and hurried in.

With a solemn expression, he pressed a telegram on the table, and said to everyone present: "Bad news! Very bad news! The submarines of the Tang Dynasty Navy have used a new tactic."

"A new tactic?" Upon hearing the news, everyone gathered together and read the telegram carefully, all of them turned extremely ugly.

Just now, in the Great South Bay of Mirage, a destroyer patrolling Mirage and seven or eight transport ships were inexplicably lost.It has been confirmed that it was not the torpedo of the submarine that sank the destroyer this time!
That thing is a kind of bomb suspended in the water, fixed by a anchor chain, and its shape is similar to that of a sea urchin.

Because there have been ships patrolling at high intensity all the time, it is certain that there are no Tang Dynasty naval warships nearby. This kind of preset "mine" with the same principle as a mine is obviously laid by a submarine.

"The Great South Bay is almost completely blocked now, and all the ships entering and leaving are in fear. Mirage has no choice but to organize manpower diving to investigate the channel..." The officer who sent the message said: "They found such a 'mine', That’s how I knew it existed.”

"Damn Tang people, damn Datang Group! How can they always come up with such annoying things?" An engineer was about to collapse.

A few such mines can create panic and paralyze a port.The actual effectiveness of this thing may not be great, but it is full of deterrence.

What's more fatal is that they are laid by submarines, and no one knows when they exist, making demining extremely difficult.

It is impossible to mobilize thousands of people to soak in water every day to check whether submarines have come and whether there are mines, right?
Therefore, it is conservative to reduce the transport capacity by one-fifth as I was worried about before.If the impact of mines on the port is calculated, it can protect half of the original transport capacity, which is probably not bad.

This decline in transport capacity will cause the production capacity of the entire Anti-Tang Alliance to plummet, and even people's livelihood will be affected.

Therefore, although the flames of war are unlikely to spread to the Eastern Continent, the actual impact has already spread to all countries in the Anti-Tang Alliance.

"Damn it!" The leading engineer became furious, and punched the drawing on the table—it was a technical drawing for adding "water bombs" to the existing destroyer.

Because there is no corresponding storage room and safety settings, this thing is the track installed on the deck. As for where to put the bomb and how to take it out and use it, it can only be used by the imagination of the sailors.

This is like those temporarily installed anti-aircraft guns. The guns are there, but the shells have to be transported from tens of meters away...

It's not that it can't be used, it's just that it's not so smooth.As for the effect, it is almost similar to placebo.