"Technically, long-range artillery battles make it easier for us to destroy the opponent's vital points. The main armor belt on the side of the current battleship is the thickest area of the ship's armor, and our Wittelsbach-class battleships have armor with a thickness of 300 mm, and even our own new naval guns and new armor-piercing shells will struggle with this thickness of armor.

Moreover, stronger artillery, greater tonnage, and thicker armor will inevitably appear, so it will be more and more difficult to penetrate the main armor belt on the side of the Diran battleship in the future, but long-range artillery bombardment will completely change this situation.

As the distance increases, the original straight trajectory will be replaced by a curved trajectory with a greater arc, and it will be more and more difficult for our shells to hit the narrow main armor on the side of the enemy ship, but the large arc of the trajectory means that the projectiles fall almost vertically, so that we can avoid the solid main armor belt on the side and hit their weak horizontal armor directly.

The horizontal armor of a battleship is obviously much larger than the area of the vertical main armor belt, so even a little increase in the thickness of the horizontal armor must pay a huge displacement price, and too thick horizontal armor will lead the center of gravity of the battleship to be too high and the stability will decrease.

Therefore, long-range artillery warfare can give us the ability to effectively penetrate the enemy's armor and destroy its core area. Jochen explained.

"Your Highness, if you want to hit the horizontal armor of enemy ships, then you must have a large-angle drop projectile, which is not just as simple as extending the range." Tirpitz said immediately.

"That's right, if we increase the amount of propellant and increase the double diameter of the naval gun, increasing the muzzle velocity of the shell can also increase the range, but the angle of fall at the end of the shell will still not be very large." Jochen nodded in agreement.

This method was indeed used by the Germans in history, increasing the muzzle velocity to allow the shells to gain a longer range while maintaining a straight trajectory. Instead of raising the elevation angle through guò. However, the idea of high-speed light bomb proved to be a cheating idea in World War II, except for Nazi Germany, which was a cheating father, all countries basically embarked on the heavy bomb route in World War II, and the Americans even more frantically embarked on the super heavy bomb route.

As soon as Jochen said this, Tirpitz naturally understood: "Your Highness, do you mean to increase the elevation angle of the main gun in exchange for a more curved trajectory to get a large-angle drop at a time?" This is much easier than adding a propellant and increasing the magnification. ”

Tong guò increased the propellant to increase the speed of the cannon discharge, in later generations by military fans jokingly called the cannon. While this does greatly increase the power of the shell, it also brings problems such as extremely rapid rifling wear, severe ablation of the propellant to the body tube, and a short bore life.

For example, the Italian Navy's Model-1934 15-inch 50-diameter naval gun, which ranked third in World War II, as a 15-inch naval gun, has surpassed the 16-inch naval guns of the same era, such as the American MK6, the Japanese three-year type, etc., Model-1934 is naturally the best in the drug cannon, but its bore life is only about 110 rounds, which is only about half of other large-caliber naval guns in the same period.

That's not the biggest problem, the barrel life of 110 rounds is enough to kill all the shells in your own ammunition depot in a naval battle. But there is also a problem with the cannon, which is that the dispersion of the shells will be very touching, which will also have a big impact on the hit rate.

Historically, the Italian battleships had poor results, in addition to the fact that their own gunnery was indeed inferior to the British, the use of triple turrets and the use of drugs in the guns themselves may also be one of the reasons.

The lengthened double diameter puts forward higher requirements for the level of artillery manufacturing, not only the processing technology and metallurgical process requirements will be greatly improved, but also the specifications of the vertical heating tower and other supporting equipment used to complete the heat treatment of the body tube must also be increased accordingly.

Therefore, it is not wise to pursue a long diameter at the current level of technology, and it is obviously more economical and cost-effective to increase the elevation angle to obtain a longer range.

"And not only that, if we use heavier shells. Sacrificing muzzle velocity in exchange for a larger fall angle is more effective at penetrating enemy horizontal armor. The lower muzzle velocity reduces the drag of the projectile during flight and reduces energy consumption. Heavier shells have higher survival velocity and stability, and in long-range artillery battles, low-velocity super-heavy shells have a greater advantage over high-speed light shells. Jochen said.

Super-heavy ammunition is not only available to those super-dreadnought guns above 14 inches, in fact, there were also 12-inch super-heavy shells in World War I, that is, the Russians who took a different path, and their Pattern 1907 305 mm 52 times the diameter naval gun used 471 kg shells. Muzzle velocity can also reach 762 m/s.

In World War II, the MK8 12-inch 50-diameter naval gun, which was frenzied by the Americans, used 517 kg of super-heavy ammunition while also having a muzzle velocity of 762 m/s, which was comparable to the old 14-inch 45-diameter naval gun of the Americans during World War I.

Therefore, Jochen is going to take the German naval guns to the super-heavy bomb route, and Mao Zi can do it, so why can't we do it, that is, it is a matter of concept.

"Then your Highness, do you mean that we need to equip the 283mm naval guns that are now in use with heavier shells?" Tirpitz asked.

"I think that the current 283-mm naval guns are nothing more than a transitional option for us. And with its performance, even with the use of new shells, the power increase is limited, so I think it will be enough to increase the elevation angle. Increasing the elevation angle to 25 degrees should allow the range to exceed 20,000 meters, which should be enough for us to study and train accordingly. Jochen replied.

Although this kind of naval gun, which was the standard naval gun of the German Navy's former dreadnought, was powerful enough to engage in a dignified artillery battle with the dreadnought, the low speed of the battleship itself became a drag.

The Germans will not pull out their former dreadnoughts in order to make up for the lack of dreadnoughts, as they have done in history, which not only did not have much effect, but also slowed down the entire fleet. Therefore, it is unlikely that these former dreadnoughts will want to show their skills. Therefore, there is no need to put too much effort into the naval guns they use, just use them to conduct experiments and provide a number of jù for reference for the new naval guns.

"Yes, Your Highness." Tirpitz nodded in understanding.

"That's all I have to explain to you, and the specific problems can only be found in actual use, and the problems can be solved when they are discovered. So how to find the problem and solve the problem is your business. Jochen said, signaling that he had nothing more to say.

However, Tirpitz asked a little anxiously: "Your Highness, when can we start construction of this brand new warship?" ”

"Don't worry, Alfred, Sigfred will take a long time to complete the full design, and building this new warship is a challenge for all major shipyards, so it will take them some time to prepare.

Therefore, at least the first batch of 4 Braunschweig-class battleships will be completed, and the shipyard will be free, and then a series of preparations will be carried out before construction can begin. I thought it would be appropriate to start construction work after mid-1904. Jochen said.

Jochen's decision was not only made because he really wanted not to be too tight on time, but also because he wanted to delay it for a while.

Jochen was not prepared to do so, and he made a big deal about the construction of the dreadnought to show the might of the British Empire, and even came up with a gimmick like 14 months to complete it. According to the efficiency of the current German shipyards, the hull can be launched in about 9 months, and the outfitting work after that will only take about 16 months.

If work had started immediately at the end of 1903 or the beginning of 1904, it would have been launched and outfitted at the end of 1904, and at the end of 1905, the new warship would have to undergo sea trials.

The battleship Dreadnought, built by the British, was only a test ship, and in parallel with the construction of the Dreadnought, the construction of the Nelson-class pre-dreadnoughts was underway. If the British had gotten the news of the Germans' construction of new battleships earlier, it was possible that the Nelson class would have become the Dreadnought.

Therefore, it is not a big problem to delay the start of construction of the new battleship a little, let the battleship be completed around the middle of 1906, and then keep it a little secret, and drag the dreadnoughts to the British to be basically completed.

At this time, the Nelson-class battleships of the British had basically been launched, and it was impossible to scrap them, so the British had to face their own gimmicks, and the new battleships completed in 14 months had to face a year-long inspection and commissioning before they could be officially put into service.

And in the face of the absolute superiority of the Germans in terms of the number of warships, the British are estimated to be sitting on pins and needles, and when the time comes, they will immediately start construction of a large number of warships of the same type after the inspection and commissioning are completed? Or do you have to wait for the previous year to complete all the work, and then make certain modifications to the original design before starting the construction of new battleships, so that you have to face the current situation that you are inferior in the number of new battleships for 1-2 years?

In this way, the British were led by the nose by the Germans, and no matter which one the British chose, the Germans had the absolute advantage after the rush, so that they had enough time to explore and improve the new warships and continue to build stronger warships.

"Yes, Your Highness, I understand, and I will begin the preparations." Tirpitz said.

"Hans, Alfred, until Sigfred finishes the design drawings, I hope that no one else in the General Staff will know about this, and the things I have explained will be hard for you."

"Yes, Your Highness, it is our duty." (To be continued......)

PS: The chapter name of this one is the same as the author's mood right now

Krypton made avant-garde gambled 100 times in a row, and his face was as black as the bottom of the pot

You can't be in a hurry to build a battleship

Dajian needs to chop his hands, and krypton gold will ruin his life