Even after the aircraft carrier completely outlawed the status of battleships, large ships and huge guns were still sought after by countless people, which has to be said to be quite an interesting point.

If iron-blooded romance is too superficial, is there a deeper meaning and reason?

The answer is yes.

Because the main gun of the Longshuo has run out of life, it will soon be sailed into the dock to undergo maintenance work to replace the barrel bore.

Now, several engineers and technicians are riding ladders investigating the ablation and wear inside the chamber.

“…… It is precisely like this, depending on the number of powder packs used when it fires each time, more than 200 catties to more than 400 catties of propellant will detonate in an instant, and more than 1,900 catties of shells will be pushed out by gunpowder gas, rotate at high speed under the squeezing of 88 riflings, and fly out at a speed of more than 700 meters per second......"

When firing with a full charge, the inner wall of the chamber is subjected to an average pressure of nearly three tons per square centimeter of 2,900 kilograms, the size of a thumbnail.

The entire triple turret weighed 1,340 tons, but the hydraulic mechanism drove it to rotate half a turn in a minute.

As the first battleship to apply a high-temperature and high-pressure steam turbine system, the boiler operating pressure can reach 30 kilograms per square centimeter, and the steam superheater can increase the steam temperature to 400 degrees.

Eight boilers and four steam turbines can output more than 130,000 horsepower, which can enable a battleship with a standard displacement of 35,000 tons to reach a speed of nearly 30 knots.

With a length of more than 11 meters, the optical rangefinder can be combined with a sophisticated mechanical firing elemental solution device to accurately hit an enemy ship dozens of miles away.

It can be said that the battleship is not only a symbol of naval warfare, but also the product of the combination of human beliefs, theories, technology, and organizational capabilities.

Designed by the best talents and integrated with the most advanced technology, they are the crystallization of well-deserved wisdom and practice, and are truly important weapons of the country.

“…… Compared with the Americans, we are much more free in the design of such capital ships, at least not restricted. ”

"Huh? How so? ”

Lin Xunzhen and Zhou Changfeng walked through the cabin and corridor, the former strolling leisurely, while the latter was already dizzy by the extremely complicated internal "traffic".

How many cabins did you just walk through? Where to turn the corner? Why is every place so similar?

"The Panama Canal." Lin Xunzhen, who had an expression of "why don't you know this", explained slowly: "After all, it was excavated manually, the width and depth are limited, and the size of the lock is also there, one hundred and ten feet (33.53m). So the design of the American battleship had to strictly follow the limits, and the width of the side should not exceed thirty-two meters. ”

"Oh, well, I thought it was something else."

It was essentially a matter of trade-offs, and if the limit was exceeded, the battleships would no longer be able to travel to and from the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans via the Panama Canal, and would have to go south to bypass all of South America.

You can imagine what a waste of fuel and time that would be.

Perhaps the deep-pocketed Americans don't care about the oil, but the time for strategic deployment and deployment is hard to buy.

On the way to the bridge control tower, Lin Xunzhen introduced the special features of the Longshuo to Zhou Changfeng.

"The ship is more like an experimental product of new technology, new boilers and turbines, new main guns, new mine armor, well... Even the flue and chimney arrangements are new. ”

Obviously, the Ming Navy has not been willing to spend more budget to build a constrained treaty-type battleship in recent years, so they have applied the technology that has made breakthroughs and progress in the past ten years to the Longshuo, and used her as a technology verification platform.

In this way, as soon as the time of the naval treaty has passed, it will be possible to build battleships with better overall performance without constraints.

The Longshuo is a long-bow ship, with a hyperbolic S-shaped bow and a pointed stern.

It is powered by eight new high-temperature and high-pressure boilers, four steam turbines, and four-shaft propulsion, with a normal maximum output of 132,000 hp and a maximum speed of 29.4 knots, and a power of 144,000 hp when operating under overload.

The main gun is a three-five type twelve and a half inches (400mm) triple assembly, 46 times the diameter, the armor-piercing projectile weighs 982kg, the muzzle velocity is 770m/s, and the depth of 15km horizontal and vertical penetration is 380mm, and the depth of 30km is 200mm, which is unsatisfactory and can pose enough threat to the Colorado-class battleships.

Zhou Changfeng, who was in the middle of the control tower, felt like a child who had just started school, and was full of curiosity about everything.

The last time he was in Guangzhou, he had never entered the bridge, and this time it could be said that it was the first time in his past and present lives.

"What is this? Such a big one. He asked, pointing to a large freezer-like steel object next to him.

Lin Xun was really looking through a copy of a cannon almanac, and when he heard this, he replied casually: "Oh, that's the shelling calculator, and then the one next to it is the shooting calculator." ”

Every firing of the battleship's main guns was to be recorded, and that large booklet was called the Gun Almanac.

Shelling calculator? It must be a mechanical computer, right?

To be honest, Zhou Changfeng feels that this purely mechanical computing device has a unique charm, which is the so-called steampunk beauty, right?

Seeing that he was very interested in it, Lin Xunzhen explained briefly.

"To establish a coordinate system on a plane and solve for the radial and tangential velocity components of the enemy ship relative to our ship, the hand calculation must be very slow. With this, it's very fast, and the mechanical component solver and differential calculation gears come out in a few clicks. ”

"Then, to calculate the elevation angle of the main gun and the flight time of the shell in the air, to solve this problem, you have to use the ball disc points calculator to calculate the points."

"Okay, now that the flight time of the shell has been obtained, it is time to calculate the change in bearing according to the measured speed and course of the enemy ship, the tangential speed divided by the distance is the angular velocity, and then find its integral to know the direction of the enemy ship."

【Component Solver & Integration Calculator】

It can be said that mechanical computers are the pinnacle of human wisdom before the invention of electronic computers, and these calculators were designed by the outstanding teachers and students of the Mathematics and Mechanical Departments of Suncheon University of Technology and Imperial Gezhi University.

The fire control system composed of them weighed several thousand catties, and the manufacturing cost exceeded 90,000 yuan, which was converted to more than 10 million yuan in later generations.

A visit to such a labyrinthine steel fortress is undoubtedly very time-consuming, but the exuberant Circumference Wind is full of energy.

Because he had something to do, Lin Xunzhen asked a captain to continue shopping with Zhou Changfeng, and said that he would stay for dinner in the evening.

Oh huh? It is said that the navy is an aristocratic army, and there are many nobles or descendants of powerful people on the capital ships of the Ming Navy, so the food must be very luxurious, right?

Zhou Changfeng, who was thinking about the food, naturally agreed, he was very unhappy that he didn't even eat strawberries yesterday, and he was going to have a big meal today.

It's very reasonable for us Chinese people to pursue food, right?

So Zhou Changfeng asked the captain generously: "By the way, how is the food configuration of this ship?" ”

Obviously, the latter misunderstood what he meant, was slightly stunned, and replied: "There is an officer's kitchen cabin and two soldiers' kitchen cabins, refrigerators, peelers, rice washers, and dishwashers... Oh, and the ice cream machine has it too. ”

Dizzy! I mean food!

I found a gif of the two-component solver and the integration calculator.

(End of chapter)