In the days when he arrived in Lushun and waited for departure, Xu Jie was not only busy with some related affairs, but also took time to improve his torpedo improvement plan and the performance indicators of the new mine-strike ship, and of course, the corresponding cumulative tactics.

To talk about such a thing as a torpedo, since it was put into service in the 70s, one is a tragic existence. Although the sheer power of the torpedo makes even the strongest ironclads shudder. But in fact, because of the too short range and unstable course, this weapon has never been able to support the existence of chicken ribs, so that Xu Jie did not carry torpedoes when designing new warships for Beiyang. And the capital ships of the Japanese fleet also threw all the torpedoes on the surface of the ship into the sea during the engagement, why? I'm afraid of being detonated! It doesn't matter if you can't blow up the enemy, it's too sad to bring yourself on.

But the times are advancing, and technology is developing. As Xu Jie, who is familiar with the history of the development of naval armaments, he believes that it is absolutely necessary for him to "plagiarize" those great works in history again. And this time Xu Jie chose a thermodynamic torpedo. If you want to talk about why the original torpedo is cheating, you must first start with the power system of the torpedo!

Before the Sino-Japanese War, all torpedoes were cold-powered! What is cold power? In fact, the principle is similar to that of the air guns of later generations, all torpedoes are powered by compressed air, you think about it, a torpedo of several hundred kilograms relies on the compressed air stored in the mine body to drive the propeller forward, what a bad thing it will be, but the torpedoes at that time were like this, so the range is generally only about 300 meters, and this is still the power range!

Secondly, the torpedoes at that time basically did not have equipment such as gyroscopes that could control the course of the torpedo, so even the course could not be guaranteed. Under the influence of ocean currents or other factors, it would be an absolute miracle if a torpedo could travel a straight line of 200 meters.

The power range is too close, and the course cannot be guaranteed, under the influence of these two major factors, in the era before the First Sino-Japanese War. Torpedo weapons can only be described as pit dads in pit dads! So if you want the torpedo to really work, you have to improve the power and course control system. In this case, the thermodynamic torpedo stepped onto the stage of history.

Thermodynamic torpedoes, as the name suggests, are propellers driven by a heat engine, and historically, this new type of torpedo only appeared around 1905. And this kind of thermodynamic torpedo is also divided into two kinds, one is called a dry thermodynamic torpedo. The other is called a wet thermodynamic torpedo. The difference is that the former directly feeds fuel and compressed air into the combustion chamber for combustion, and then drives the propeller to work, while the latter has a fresh water tank in addition to the fuel chamber and compressed air chamber. This fresh water tube sprays a mist of water as fuel and air enter the combustion chamber, which expands dramatically after vaporizing inside the combustion chamber and is used to increase power. And there are special circuits in the body of the mine, which are filled with fresh water for cooling the combustion chamber. And the engine of the thermodynamic torpedo was a star-shaped four-cylinder piston engine.

That's how it works. However, the requirements for industry are very high, first, the manufacture of compressed air cylinders and combustion chambers is a great test of a country's industrial level. And how to put a 4-cylinder engine into a thunder body with a diameter of about half a meter is also very difficult, you know, this thing only appeared in 1905! As for these, Xu Jie's understanding is very limited, and he doesn't even know much about the star-shaped four-piston engine! As for the layout of the power room, it is even more unclear.

The prospect of a thermodynamic torpedo is promising, but Xu Jie can't guarantee that he will be able to make it before the next war begins. So in a second-fashioned retreat, Xu Jie decided to walk on two legs. In the case of developing advanced thermodynamic torpedoes, we should build another improved version of the cold-powered torpedo based on the existing technology. …,

In the same year, the rest of history continued as normal, and Whitehead installed gyroscopes to the rudder of torpedoes to keep the torpedo's course stable, so that the effective range of the torpedo was guaranteed. But this was not enough, the torpedoes of that time also lacked such as a hydrometer and a streamlined mine body. At the same time, because the torpedo propeller at that time used a double-bladed propeller, the power utilization rate was too low. Retrofitting propellers made of 3- or 4-blade high-strength steel became imperative. Of course, if he can, Xu Jie also wants to try to see if he can get the double reversal propeller of the later generations.

Remove the simple torpedo design. The design of a new type of mine strike ship is also on the agenda. It's a pity that in his plane, Xu Jie has no interest in these consumable cannon fodder products, and when he crosses over to this world, Xu Jie finds that Beiyang, which is in a disadvantaged position, needs to improve its combat effectiveness in all aspects, and torpedoes and mine strike boats, which are called weak weapons, must also be carefully designed.

At that time, torpedo boats could be described as a hundred ghosts traveling at night, from the smallest torpedo boats of about 30 tons to torpedo boats of about 200 tons, and the mine load was mainly from the smallest 2 14-inch torpedoes to 3 14-18 inch torpedoes. Basically, there is nothing to do after a wave of fire, and from this point of view, because of the limitation of torpedo performance and the number of torpedoes that are too small, the role of the lightning strike ship is very small.

Therefore, Xu Jie decided to make the torpedo boat larger, referring to the design of later generations, the armament of the new torpedo boat is 2 3 14-inch torpedo launchers, arranged on the central axis of the battleship, which can be rotated to the side chord to fire, and within the effective distance, 6 torpedoes can be fired at the same time. In terms of armament, 37 guns are used, one at the tail, and if the tonnage allows, one on the left and one on the left, nothing else, that is, to deal with the torpedo boats that the other side may come up, the whole weight is controlled at about 300 tons, and the speed is about 25 knots.

Because Xu Jie didn't know much about torpedo boats, he could only come up with a general design idea. As for how to implement it in the end, it will fall on Vittorio and Yan Boxun, and now, Xu Jie has to think more about how to deal with this kind of torpedo boat wolf-like attack, after all, this kind of thinking and the requirements for the shipbuilding industry are not high, you can make this kind of ship, and other countries can do the same, especially the Russians with outstanding imitation ability. Xu Jie didn't want to use a torpedo boat to scare the Russians for the first time, but the second time he let the Russians earn it back!

Historically, with the development of torpedo technology, a large number of warships equipped with torpedo weapons have been put into service, so that the navies of various countries are very vigilant, those with sharp blades, super fast speed guys are very low cost, the number is also very large, in the face of a single capital ship, it is easy to hit a hit, even if you lose a few, as long as you can hit a shot, it will be earned. Therefore, in addition to increasing the number of rapid-fire guns of various calibers on battleships, it became inevitable to build specialized battleships to deal with torpedo boats.

And it was in this context that the destroyer was born. These high-speed battleships equipped with torpedoes and a certain amount of artillery can not only fight against the opponent's torpedo boats but also attack the opponent with torpedoes, the displacement of these battleships is generally about 1000 tons, but Xu Jie obviously still does not plan to equip such a battleship, because as a weak fleet, any warship can have the largest range of application is the best choice, if the destroyer in Beiyang can not suppress the opponent's destroyer, then he is an unsuitable equipment, in this case, Xu Jie decided to continue to take the elite route.

You need to have enough firepower to suppress the enemy's lightning forces, and you must also have enough firepower to deal with the enemy's destroyers, and if necessary, you must team up with other warships against the opponent's dome cruisers. With so many conditions, Xu Jie had only one option, and that was a third-class cruiser. …,

This thing is a battleship that is worse than a second-class cruiser, and the battleship designed by Yan Boxun for the Liangguang and Penghu naval divisions was already a third-class cruiser. However, Xu Jie needs to make some improvements, and the tonnage will be further expanded to about 2,000 tons, and these battleships, armed with a large number of 4.7-inch guns and 12-pounder guns, will exist as a mine protection barrier for the fleet. And when necessary, these ships will also lead the lightning strike team to launch a torpedo attack on the opponent. In terms of role, very close to the First World War were light cruisers. At the same time, if it can be equipped with a steam turbine, Xu Jie does not mind converting it into a high-speed reconnaissance ship.

"With the auxiliary warships in place, I'm afraid the difficulty of this tactical training will be even higher." Looking at his few pages of the book, Xu Jie couldn't help but smile bitterly. With the increasing number of warships and the establishment of a complete naval system, it is not easy to command the behemoth of the Beiyang Fleet. The introduction of a telegraph system and the establishment of a new system for the transmission of information will become very important. From now on, the confrontation of the fleet will be a system confrontation, not a simple battle of warships.

"Jishi, how are you preparing?" Just when Xu Jie was still thinking about the planning of the new fleet. A familiar voice came into Xu Jie's ears.

"Zhang Youqiao? What are you doing here? Do you want to go to Europe too? Xu Jie was pleasantly surprised, and he respected this person who had always been of great help to him.

"Ugh." When he saw the two women behind Zhang Peilun, Xu Jie was taken aback.

"I wonder if there will be 3 more people on the ship?" Zhang Peilun asked with a smile.

"Naturally, why did Brother Zhang suddenly have an interest in going to Europe? You must know that it is a barbarian land in the mouth of the gentlemen of the court. Xu Jie said half-jokingly and half-seriously.

"Even if it's a barbarian, you have to know where the barbarian is, right?" Zhang Peilun said.

"Since Brother Zhang is going, the younger brother will naturally arrange it, how about it on my flagship?" For this person who has always taken care of him like a big brother, Xu Jie naturally can't refuse, and Zhang Peilun's arrival, there must be a shadow of Li Hongzhang behind him, although I don't know why Li Hongzhang suddenly wanted his two daughters to go to Europe. But in this case, Xu Jie definitely can't refuse.

"Then thank you, Lord Xu." Zhang Peilun arched his hand and said with a smile.

Today's double watch, well, do what you say~~~. rq