Volume 1: The Battleship Yitian Changes into the Sino-Japanese War of 1894 Chapter 62: Propellant and Armor-Piercing Projectiles
Sun Gang thought about it and made up his mind. Regardless of whether the imperial court could give him money, he would use the money he had to overhaul the two battleships as soon as possible!
With ample funds on hand, things went smoothly. After receiving the order, the Jiangnan Manufacturing General Administration immediately organized personnel to refer to the new recoil device on the main gun of the "Haining" and made changes to the 305mm main guns of the two battleships "Dingyuan" and "Zhenyuan". Their gun mounts were changed into a hybrid gun mount that could quickly reset the gun body. The cannons were also repaired, which greatly increased the firing rate of the main guns. The secondary guns were also turned into homemade 152mm 42x large-caliber rapid-fire guns (considering the problem of artillery shell models, military personnel suggested using 152mm guns, not the 200mm originally required by Sun Gang). The Fujian Shipyard, which was already on the decline, was overjoyed to suddenly receive a full order for submarines. At this time, under Sun Gang's "heavy money temptation", it also sent a large number of technical personnel to Lushun, and together with the people from the Tianjin Machinery Bureau, began to overhaul the internal machines of the two ships.
Having personally experienced this great naval battle, Sun Gang, who had only had written knowledge of naval battles, gained a more intuitive understanding and paid more attention to some important details of modern naval battles. Thanks to his efforts, the Beiyang Fleet introduced new rangefinders from foreign countries (the Japanese fleet had already been equipped with them), allowing gunners and captains to more easily know the distance between the enemy and us, which was crucial in naval battles where artillery was the main weapon.
On the Dingyuan ship, although the warheads of the shells were replaced with picric acid charges because of him, the propellant was not replaced in time. The Beiyang Fleet originally used black powder. Later, because the black powder burned too fast, they were worried that it would cause explosions and other accidents, so they switched to chestnut powder (that is, black powder that was passivated with water vapor, which burned slower than ordinary black powder. Because the color was slightly lighter than black powder, it was called chestnut powder). This kind of gunpowder passivated from black powder has a high temperature when burning, which is easy to burn the gun barrel, and the gunpowder residue produced after burning is attached to the rifling and is not easy to remove. It takes a long time to clean the gun barrel after each firing. In addition, when black powder burns, a large amount of pungent white smoke will be produced. After firing, it is necessary to wait for the smoke to dissipate before re-aiming and firing. Because of these factors, the Beiyang Navy's old artillery, which was not fast, became more sluggish. But the officers and soldiers of the Beiyang Fleet used these old things and won the naval battle!
On the other hand, the Japanese Combined Fleet used white cotton gunpowder, a type of smokeless gunpowder, in their warheads. This meant that after firing a round, the gunners of the Japanese Combined Fleet could aim and shoot the next round immediately without waiting for the smoke to dissipate. This was a huge difference from the Beiyang Fleet, which used chestnut gunpowder as propellant and had to wait for the smoke to dissipate after firing.
But even so, the Japanese lost!
The high combat proficiency of the officers and soldiers of the Beiyang Fleet was admired by the navies of all the countries in the world at that time!
Before the war, the Beiyang Navy's torpedoes had already used cotton gunpowder as the warhead charge. At Sun Gang's request, all the warships of the Beiyang Fleet had replaced the maroon gunpowder with cotton gunpowder as the propellant for the artillery.
These are experiences gained with the blood of countless officers and soldiers in naval battles. Thinking of this, Sun Gang deeply felt the weight of responsibility on his shoulders.
Naval battles are full of technical contests, and an insignificant detail can often determine the outcome of a war. If he had not tampered with the charging of the shells and outwitted the Japanese, would there have been today's victory?
Thinking of the artillery shells, Sun Gang couldn't help but smile knowingly. I still have a trump card that I haven't used yet!
That is, armor-piercing explosive bomb.
This is also thanks to the gunners on the Pingyuan ship.
It turned out that when he was sitting on the Pingyuan and chatting with the gunners, the gunners told him that before the Battle of the Yellow Sea, because the Beiyang Fleet only had 260mm guns, the shells were all imported from abroad. After the court ordered to stop purchasing ship guns from abroad, the source of ammunition was lost. After all the only shrapnel shells in stock were replaced with picric acid explosives, it was not enough! Facing the upcoming battle, Li He no longer cared about being angry. In order to use these precious shrapnel shells at the critical moment, he ordered to bring a lot of solid steel shells. This kind of steel shell is equivalent to the earliest armor-piercing shells. It can penetrate the hull but cannot explode. Unless it hits the enemy ship below the waterline and causes a lot of water to enter, it can only "pass through" the enemy ship. During the Battle of the Yellow Sea, the Pingyuan initially used solid steel bullets, which made a big hole in the Yandao. Later, when it got closer, the gunner switched to shrapnel shells, which flew into the hole as if helped by God. No one knew where on the Yandao the shell exploded, but the Yandao immediately became a big firework (probably because the enemy ship's ammunition exploded), and sank in a short while, which almost drove the gunner of the Pingyuan crazy with joy.
This incident reminded Sun Gang that even the British only realized the value of armor-piercing explosive shells after they suffered a great loss in the Battle of Jutland. The German armor-piercing shells equipped with time fuses could easily penetrate the hull of the British ship and explode, causing great destructive effects, while the British shells could not penetrate the armor of the German ships, but exploded upon contact. It took a large amount of ammunition to remove the "vest" of the German ships. Therefore, in the Battle of Jutland, in terms of losses alone, Britain suffered much greater losses than Germany.
If the solid steel bullets were changed into armor-piercing explosive bombs that were partially filled with picric acid explosives and delayed fuses , then whoever dared to stir up trouble at the gate of the Qing Dynasty would feel very happy after tasting these armor-piercing explosive bombs.
When he told the military workers of the Ordnance Department about this idea, they were all amazed and thought it was feasible and not too difficult. After Sun Gang allocated some money to them, they immediately started to organize trial production.
"You can't spend money this way." His beloved wife reminded him, "Although the current expenses are not much, but no matter how much gold and silver you have, there is a limit. If you only spend and don't earn, you will eventually run out of money."
"What should we do then?" Sun Gang asked.
"You can start your shipyard plan now." Ma Yue looked at him and said, "With your own shipyard, you can not only build warships, but also civilian ships, set up a shipping company, and develop overseas trade. That will be a huge source of money. What kind of warship can't you build with the money you earn? You came from a bank, how come you don't have any business sense at all?"
Sun Gang's face turned gloomy when she brought up his worries.
"You are far inferior to Lord Zhongtang in this respect." Ma Yue said in surprise: "Look at the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company founded by Lord Zhongtang. In just a few years, it squeezed out all foreign shipping companies and almost monopolized inland waterway shipping. There is no competition in the overseas market yet. You, the Minister of Shipbuilding, now have such a good opportunity to realize your plan."
"You're right. I want to do this, too." Sun Gang said to her, "But all this can only be done in a peaceful environment."
"Isn't the war over?" Ma Yue asked again: "The Russians have only occupied four small islands to the north of the Japanese. The Japanese are working with Britain and the United States to mediate, right? There shouldn't be a war."
Sun Gang hugged her lovingly and looked at her face. Indeed, as a girl, it was difficult for her to understand these issues from a military perspective.
"Do you remember I told you that the Japanese ordered two battleships from Britain this year in order to deal with our Dingyuan and Zhenyuan?" he said.
"Of course I remember!" She looked at him with some pride. She was with him all day and almost became a military fan. "It's the Fuji and Yashima, 12,000 tons, with the same main gun caliber as the Dingyuan, right?"
"They will be completed in three years at the latest. If China does not have warships that can compete with them within three years, we will be in trouble," said Sun Gang.
"So that's how it is." She was very smart and immediately understood his concerns. She nodded. "It's very scary. Although there are treaty restrictions now, we lack the means to control them. So you want to save money to buy more powerful warships for emergencies, right?"
Sun Gang did not answer, but hugged her tightly and gave her a long, satisfying kiss.
"I'll help you think of a way to do both things at the same time. Even if the court doesn't give us money, we have to do it right away and get ready before the Japanese do." She looked at him with a rosy face, gently brushed her messed up hair, and said, "You can place orders overseas according to the normal procedures. My father and I will try to raise money from the private business community to buy ships and build shipyards."
"I have troubled you again, I..." Sun Gang looked at his beloved wife with pity, not knowing what to say. Since coming to this era, she has given him so much.
"Come on." She interrupted him carelessly, lowered her head and thought for a while, then looked at him and said, "Money is not a problem at the moment. I am worried that you may not be able to buy it."
"Why do you say that?" Sun Gang asked puzzledly.
"I heard you say that you want to buy the British Sovereign-class battleship, which looks like the golden ship given to the Queen Mother. It should be the best one at present, much better than these two Japanese ships." Ma Yue said, "But are you sure the British can sell it to you?"
His wife's words woke him up. He nodded involuntarily and said, "Then we have to consider buying from Germany. Germany's 'Brandenburg' class battleships are not as good as the 'Sovereign' class in terms of performance."
"I'm afraid the Germans won't sell it to you either," she said.
"No way? We bought Dingyuan and Zhenyuan from them?" Sun Gang looked at her strangely and said with a smile, "Our battle at the Dadonggou was like giving the German shipyard a free global advertisement. We haven't even asked for the advertising fee yet, how dare they not sell it!"
"Anyway..." She thought about it, looked at him, smiled, and didn't say anything else, as if she didn't have the heart to dampen his emotions.
These days, Ding Ruchang and Lin Taizeng have actually been worried about him.
It had been several days since the memorial was submitted, but there was no response from the higher-ups, which made Sun Gang very puzzled. Could it be that the memorial was not written well this time and did not attract the emperor's attention?
He still feels that he is far behind not only in naval affairs but also in being an official.
But Master Weng's reply arrived first, which made him very surprised.
It said: "At present, coastal defense is the most urgent task, but the financial resources are extremely limited. The purchase of the Chilean express ship last time cost 4 million taels of silver, and the land expenses for this campaign to drive out the Japanese are no less than 10 million. We have raised funds in every possible way and will first send 100,000 taels of silver from the treasury to you for the replacement of guns. The rest of the ship funds will be paid in batches as the financial resources gradually increase."
He only asked for a small fraction of the money the court had owed for the purchase of ships and cannons for two years.
"This is already very respectful to you. I thought there was no money at all." Lin Taizeng laughed after reading it, "I am a little uncomfortable with this."
"You sound so pitiful, as if you are complaining. This is not like Master Weng's character." Ding Ruchang also laughed.
