Episode 122 Sonic tubes

After Xiang Xiaoqiang's plan was made public, it is ironic that the basis for this kind of doubt was provided to others by Xiang Xiaoqiang himself - the sea and air combat cruises he led showed everyone how vulnerable the seemingly powerful ships were in front of the planes.

What makes Xiang Xiaoqiang distressed now is that people's acceptance of new things is always easy to go from one extreme to another at once. At first, I had no confidence in the plane at all, but after seeing a few beautiful sea and air battles, I immediately made another 180-degree turn, and my confidence ran to the plane, and I lost all my confidence in the ship. This kind of extreme understanding is useless to just explain it with words, and it has to wait for time to wash it away. With the passage of time, after the real display of one battle after another, and the pros and cons of the two sides are fully displayed, people can have a more considerable understanding.

There are two main kinds of opposition at present, one is "tactical opposition", that is, you think that if your submarine wants to fight with the plane, it is no play, and you can't fight it at all. A few more anti-aircraft guns can't beat it. Because the mobility of the two sides is not on a reciprocal level. Although the firepower of your submarine is dozens of times stronger than that of an airplane, how flexible and fast other planes are. The aircraft can dodge flexibly at high speed, calmly adjust the distance and direction in the air, and choose the most advantageous direction to attack. And compared to your submarine and airplane, the maneuverability is negligible, and it is basically stationary. In other words, there is no way to dodge at all, and the target is big, so you can only be beaten passively there.

The second is "strategic opposition". This means that even if you can fight planes, it is no problem to shoot down one or two enemy planes at a time, but it is not the right way to build submarines to compete with planes. What can really deal with airplanes is still airplanes. That is, aircraft carriers. If you really want to deal with the Japanese planes, then send two aircraft carriers over, and it is true to seize air supremacy in a serious way. Now to blockade Japan and sink Japanese freighters, the existing submarines are not enough, and to allocate a part of them specifically to the anti-air type is really putting the cart before the horse.

Xiang Xiaoqiang listened to all these questions, but ignored them for the time being and continued with his plan. Although he cannot directly command operations, he can still directly call the shots in equipment research and development and logistics. Because this all belongs to the "military and political" part. Xiang Xiaoqiang ordered to speed up, intensify the work, and first refit a few air defense submarines. At first, you don't need to have a lot of them, just a few. Large submarines and medium submarines were converted into two or three submarines and put them at sea for testing. Exactly how effective it will be depends on the facts. And Xiang Xiaoqiang knows that in the history of World War II, Dönitz's hand has received good results, and for a long time, British aircraft have converged a lot, and German submarines have entered and exited the Bay of Biscay much safer.

Of course, Xiang Xiaoqiang also knows that this is not a long-term solution. He wanted to use this hand as a means of transition, and from now until the real "ideal submarine" in his mind was put into service, he would desperately crack down on Japanese patrol planes and prevent Japan from tasting the sweetness of "aircraft anti-submarine." Once they get a taste of it, it's a shame. That's not a matter of a couple of anti-aircraft submarines.

……

Listening to Xiang Xiaoqiang's narration, Qiu Yun couldn't help but ask:

"Xiaoqiang, you're an 'ideal submarine', I've heard you say it several times. What kind of submarine is it? ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang ignored her, and just ordered:

"Go, get me all those who have developed technology."

Qiu Yu was a little unwilling, and asked again:

"Can't you tell me?"

Xiang Xiaoqiang raised his head and glared at her. Qiu Yu shrank his head and ran out very honestly.

After a few moments, the people from the technical department in Office Zero arrived.

Qiu Yu wanted to quit and stopped her from Xiaoqiang:

"Hey, you can listen to it here, too. You are the only one here who is an active captain, and there are many places where you have a voice. ”

"Hey! Good. ”

Qiu Yu looked happy, nodded, and sat next to him silently, staring at Xiang Xiaoqiang.

Xiang Xiaoqiang smiled at several experts:

"You may be seated. The idea I proposed last time, I wonder if a few of you think it is feasible after going back to study it? ”

The experts didn't have an embarrassed expression, nodded, and naturally took out a roll of drawings and spread them on the table. Xiang Xiaoqiang looked at their demeanor, and his heart suddenly relaxed: Okay, the problem won't be too big. At least technically, there are no insurmountable obstacles.

After the drawings were spread out, Qiu Yu hurriedly stretched his neck and leaned over to take a look. Several engineers also politely gave way to the back, giving up the best position to Qiu Yun.

Xiang Xiaoqiang coughed lightly and reminded Qiu Yu to pay attention. Qiu Yu was stunned for a moment, and he felt embarrassed, so he retreated with a red face.

There are several sketches on the map, and there are many scribbled annotations. It seems that it was drawn casually by a few engineers while discussing. In the center of the drawing, is a side view of a submarine.

Qiu Yun stared at the shape of the submarine on the picture, and slowly widened his eyes.

Her first feeling - it didn't look like a submarine, it looked like a torpedo. It's just that there's an extra conning tower above the torpedo.

She just wanted to ask, "Is this a submarine?" But after glancing at Xiang Xiaoqiang, he couldn't help it. The question rolled in his throat a few times, but he swallowed it. She decided to listen quietly and listen to what people had to say.

……

"Lord Xiang, this overall idea of yours, in the humble opinion of a few old people, is not a big problem. It's just ......"

When Xiang Xiaoqiang heard this, his heart was completely relieved. He immediately asked:

"Just what?"

Sun Tingyu, the chief submarine designer of the General Administration of Military Industry, pushed his reading glasses and said hesitantly:

"It's just...... Xiang Daren's idea is still incomprehensible...... This one...... Whether it is necessary or not. Well, in general, this is an idea that is purely about underwater performance. The pursuit of underwater performance is true, but for the sake of underwater performance, there are too many things to give up. ”

He pulled out another drawing from underneath the drawing, laid it aside, and contrasted:

"My lord, please see, this is an ordinary ocean-going submarine drawing. My lord...... Oh, and Madame, you can all see the difference at a glance. Especially the lady, who is a submarine captain, must have a deep understanding. Although the submarine has the word 'submarine', it does not mean that it is a 'submarine boat'. It spends most of its time on the water, and only in very special situations such as attacking and dodging, will it dive for a short time. Submarines, a more scientific explanation should be 'surface ships that can dive'. ”

Qiu Yu nodded again and again, obviously agreeing with Mr. Sun's words.

Sun Tingyu smiled and continued:

"Madam, you can also tell that the two submarines have very different appearances. This one is the current submarine, you see, its hull is like an ordinary ship, the bow is upturned, the deck is straight, except for the difference in the superstructure, the hull is still very similar to the surface ship. This design ensures the speed of the submarine on the surface and the seaworthiness on the surface. It's all important. The speed of the submarine is slow enough, and with this hull shape suitable for sailing on the surface, it can still maintain a speed of more than a dozen knots. But sir, if you really want to change to a streamlined hull according to your idea, then ...... Alas, of course, the speed increases greatly when diving, but once it surfaces, the speed will be much slower. ”

Qiu Yu nodded, understood. She thought to herself: I said how to look at this new submarine like a torpedo, I see. Xiaoqiang had a whim again, he probably thought that "submarine submarine", then the underwater performance must be the first...... Alas.

Sun Tingyu shook his head and said:

"My lord, such a simple emphasis on underwater performance is not just about surface speed. You also discarded the 75mm guns on the foredeck, leaving only one twin 20mm cannon on the conning tower...... Of course, this greatly reduces the underwater resistance, but the self-defense capability of the submarine is simply negligible. And when dealing with cargo ships, the 75 gun is still very useful. During the European War, many German captains used deck guns to the extreme, and sometimes a torpedo failed to sink a freighter, but it was too wasteful to make up for another one, so they sank it with artillery...... Even when encountering enemy torpedo boats, small patrol boats, etc., the presence of this deck gun can give the submarine an advantage. Xiang Lord, the old man really doesn't think it's worth it. ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang smiled slightly, and said without hurry:

"Well, anything else?"

Sun Tingyu was stunned for a moment, then smiled as well, and continued generously:

"Hehe, of course. That's what adults say...... This 'snorkel' is the ventilation pipe that allows the submarine to use a diesel engine even underwater, but the problem is ......"

Qiu Yu "snorted" and was almost about to squirt out. But she immediately peeked at Xiang Xiaoqiang, and she restrained herself in a proper manner.

Sun Tingyu also glanced at Qiu Yu, shook his head with a wry smile, as if he could understand her reaction, and sighed with a smile:

"Submarines dive for concealment. However, the length of the snorkel is limited, and as long as the snorkel is used, it can only dive very shallow...... And in this way, a thick snorkel is exposed, and black smoke is spewed, making a piercing sound, which can be found from afar...... Excuse me, in that case, what's the point of diving? Why not just surface and sail? It could be even faster. ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang smiled:

"How is it pointless? So that the submarine can be submerged around the clock. This kind of large submarine has eliminated the main gun, can be installed with double batteries, and with a snorkel, the battery can be charged when diving, and there is no longer a need to surface to charge. Such...... Hmm, the underwater speed has been increased to more than a dozen knots, and there is basically no need to go out of the water, Sun Lao, do you think it makes no sense to dive at this level? ”

Sun Tingyu was stunned, shook his head and said:

"It's not meaningless, it's unnecessary. Okay, even if you have an underwater diesel engine, double battery power, a streamlined hull, and no main guns...... A multi-pronged approach can increase the underwater speed to more than a dozen knots, so the old man wants to ask: is it necessary? Is the current submarine already unusable on the surface of the water and must be drilled underwater around the clock? Don't forget, the field of view of the submarine is already very low, and even if you float on the surface of the water and stand on the conning tower, you can see a small radius. Now if you go underwater and observe it all through a periscope, how far can you see it? Is it possible to find enemy transports? ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang shook his head and said with a smile:

"Old Sun, you misunderstood me. I put forward this idea not for the sake of the current war situation. In the current submarine warfare, both sides are still working alone, with the Japanese transport ship sailing alone, and our submarines patrolling alone. And this new type of submarine is tailor-made for the cluster combat that will appear in the future. ”

"What is a swarm battle?" Sun Tingyu smiled, "But what adults say about 'wolves'? ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang nodded:

"On the one hand, our submarines should form a wolf pack, one finds the target, and several will meet and attack together. On the other hand, the Japanese army will soon abandon the mode of single-ship sailing, and will form a convoy of cargo ships and arm them with destroyers, as the European Entente did with the Entente. This submarine is designed for this new mode of combat. ”