Episode 115 Submarine Warfare Staff

But Xiang Xiaoqiang found more and more that the thoughts of people in this era really can't jump out of this era.

If you want to say that the Ming Dynasty established a submarine force, it was still a matter of World War I. At that time, the German unrestricted submarine war was in full swing, and it almost broke the neck of Britain. The Battle of Jutland between the German Ocean Fleet and the British Main Fleet can be described as a battle of behemoths, and the two sides have competed for many years in terms of national strength, technology, painstaking efforts, and the results of naval competitions. In this way, Germany had only achieved a tactical victory in that naval battle, but it still failed to achieve its strategic goal: to break through into the Atlantic.

At the same time, the German submarine forces, the inconspicuous "little ones", did what the "behemoths" of the Ocean Fleet did not do. Not only did he fly in and out of the Atlantic Ocean like his own backyard, but he almost cut Britain's throat. The whole world has seen the tremendous power of submarines, and discovered submarines as a low-cost, high-performance weapon. All discerning naval strategists have discovered that submarines, which in their eyes could only "steal chickens and dogs" earlier, have now almost become a kind of "strategic weapon": no matter how small the submarines are, as long as there are enough submarines, they can effectively blockade a country, at least an island country, and cut off the blood vessels of its national economy -- the sea transportation line. Even if that island nation is the world's largest naval power. This is a strategic weapon in the truest sense of the word.

It was also at that time that many countries began to prepare for the construction of their own submarine forces. And Daming was not to be left behind, and quickly began to form Daming's submarine force. Da Ming has his own considerations: looking at the world, there is nothing more like Britain and Germany than tomorrow. Not only is one a mainland country and the other an island country, but the difference in naval strength between the two sides is also very close to that of Britain and Germany at that time. And Japan is a potential maritime adversary of the Ming Dynasty. In the eyes of the ministers of the Ming Dynasty, what Germany can do, the Ming Dynasty can do.

Later, however, the Entente countries implemented the "fleet escort system", no longer letting cargo ships sail alone, but pooling many cargo ships to form a convoy, and then sending warships to escort them. In this way, the probability of German submarines spotting cargo ships on the ocean was greatly reduced, and even if they were occasionally discovered, German submarines were all acting alone, and in the face of the heavy protection of the fleet, it was difficult for a single submarine to achieve much success. In addition, the continuous improvement of anti-submarine technology in the Allied countries and the continuous application of new equipment such as acoustic detectors led to a sharp decline in the number of cargo ships sunk by German submarines and a sharp increase in their own losses. By 1918, in full view of the whole world, Germany surrendered, the German Navy sank en masse, and the "unrestricted submarine war" failed.

Since then, the status of submarines in the eyes of the navies of various countries has declined sharply, and from the "strategic weapon" in 1916 and 1917, it has suddenly changed back to "crooked ways" and "stealing chickens and dogs". Even the Ming Dynasty almost wanted to abolish the newly established submarine force. It was this infant submarine force that embodied its new use in time to avoid the fate of being dismantled.

The so-called "new use" is also something that other countries do not have – that is, long-term, large-scale operations behind enemy lines. Although the Admiralty and the General Staff of the Navy did not appreciate the usefulness of submarines, the special service units of Dongchang Jinyiwei tasted the sweetness of submarines, a "new means of transportation". In the past, it was extremely difficult for Ming agents to infiltrate the Northern Qing Dynasty, or to pick someone out of the Northern Qing Dynasty. Either smuggled across the Yangtze River in a life-and-death manner, or landed on a surface boat in the middle of the night from somewhere deserted shore. But the odds of both being found are too great.

Now, however, a submarine can land at almost any point along the coastline of the Beiqing Dynasty, float up from a few hundred meters or even tens of meters from the shore, and go ashore on a small rubber raft, and the concealment has been greatly improved. Thanks to the submarines, the work behind the enemy lines of the Northern Qing Dynasty was in full swing at once. It is for this reason that the newly established Daming submarine force escaped the fate of early death and barely survived. Later, after more than 20 years of continuous struggle, step by step development and growth, it has reached the scale of more than 90 submarines today. To this day, among the submarine forces of the Ming Army, the most experienced in actual combat is not the ocean-going submarine unit, but the small submarine force like the "Grasshopper", which is responsible for operations behind enemy lines.

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Xiang Xiaoqiang also learned these things from Qiu Yu's mouth. Xiang Xiaoqiang understands Qiu Qiu's complicated feelings about submarines. On the one hand, the submarine provides them with a chance for the girls to fight on the front line, and provides them with the opportunity to become combat heroes. On the other hand, the neglect of submarines, and even the "decline" of submarines as a weapon, have made them sad. They are also people of this era, not "hindsight" like Xiang Xiaoqiang. They don't think they're smarter than the Admiralty officers, so in their opinion, submarines are more or less about to decline.

Now, Xiang Xiaoqiang intends to rebuild the confidence of the Ming Navy in submarines. Just like he cultivated their confidence in aircraft carriers.

Xiang Xiaoqiang tried his best to explain all the truths to Xiong Dingming:

First, submarines are inexpensive and have a short construction period, so mass production is feasible in the short term.

Second, precisely because of the low cost and short construction period of submarines, the inherent shortcomings of submarines - slow speed and narrow field of vision - can be completely compensated by quantity. Even if more R&D is invested in submarines, submarine technology will evolve, and the speed will not be lowered forever.

Thirdly, submarines can do what surface ship forces cannot do, that is, conveniently break through the blockade and go deep into the ocean. Note that this is a "convenient" way to break through the blockade. Of course, the surface ship forces of the Ming army can also break through the blockade. However, the cost was too great, so we had to choose the southernmost point of the Ryukyu island chain near Taiwan at first, and then go around a large circle to the north. Secondly, every time it passes, it is necessary to be prepared for air and naval battles. Just like this time the Tianshu detachment broke into the ocean. Submarines can choose any part of the island chain and easily pass through. Entering the ocean from the north side of the island chain can also save time and shorten the voyage.

Fourth, in future naval warfare, as in land warfare, air supremacy is the key. With the brilliant voyage of the Tianshu detachment, "there is no air supremacy, there is no sea supremacy," which will soon become the consensus of all countries. Even if you haven't understood it this time, then in the next few naval and air battles, the most sluggish people will understand this truth. Therefore, if you want to blockade Japan, you must have sea control in the western Pacific. And who can control the sea supremacy in the western Pacific depends on who can control the air supremacy in the western Pacific.

Fifth, geographically, the Japanese archipelago is deeper into the Pacific Ocean than the Ming Dynasty. The plane took off from Japan and had a shorter range. It is also more convenient for aircraft carriers to go directly to the Pacific Ocean from Japan. On the other hand, the Ming planes sailed directly into the Pacific Ocean, and the range was definitely not enough, and aircraft carriers had to be used, and every time the Ming army's aircraft carriers entered and exited the Pacific Ocean, they needed a lot of trouble and could not be compared with Japan at all. In the future, it is likely that the Ming army will send several aircraft carriers to meet a large group of land-based aircraft that will take off directly from the Japanese mainland. The extent of the loss can be imagined. In other words, it is very difficult to fight for air supremacy in the western Pacific over Japan. It's not that there aren't enough planes in the Ming Dynasty, or it's not that the pilots can't do it, but it's determined by the geographical location of the two countries.

Sixth, since it is very difficult to surpass Japan in the struggle for air supremacy in the western Pacific, it is very necessary to adopt a combat method that basically does not require air supremacy -- submarine warfare.

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These truths are placed on the table one-two-three-four by Xiang Xiaoqiang, and they can make sense of each other. Although Xiong Dingming is controlled by old concepts, he has to take it seriously in the face of such a rational analysis.

"Lord Xiang," Xiong Dingming said slowly while looking down in thought, "I know that your two wives are both submarine officers, so they ......."

"Lord Xiong," Xiang Xiaoqiang was very sensitive, and immediately said, "Lord Xiong, this has nothing to do with them. I support submarines, not because my wife is a submarine officer. You see, I also strongly supported tanks, planes, and aircraft carriers before, do I still have a wife who is a tank soldier, pilot, and aircraft carrier officer? ”

Xiong Dingming raised his head and smiled dumbly. He laughed and said:

"No, no, Lord Xiang, you misunderstood. I mean, both of your wives are submarine officers, so you must know a little bit about submarines. At least not in ignorance. Then I think that since several things that you have vigorously advocated before, such as armored forces, aviation forces, submachine guns, and aircraft carriers, have proved to be great successes, then you are now advocating submarines, which must not be without purpose. ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang now feels very pleasing to the ear, and said with a smile:

"Yes, yes, you see, I have supported so many new weapons and new tactics before, is there one wrong?"

Xiong Dingming said with a smile:

"That's it, that 'aircraft carrier small staff', you can hand it over first. I'll get a new 'submarine mini-staff' like this, and you'll be in charge." Mrs. Zun can also be involved. I asked the Submarine Force Command to cooperate with you and also organize a 'submarine campaign' to verify the actual combat effectiveness of submarines. What do you think? ”