Chapter 234 The beginning of the naval blockade war
After the lifting machine made a sizzling sound, three projectiles weighing 46 kilograms were stuffed into the gun again, and the propellant was then filled in. The whole process was only ten seconds.
However, the first batch of intern gunners who had played three rounds did not immediately fire the gun, but turned their heads to look at the observer and rangefinders standing on the raised platform behind the turret. After the latter saw this round of gunfire failed again through a long new optical rangefinder, they sighed and looked at the gunners waiting below. He shook his head.
"What are you still doing?"
The old gunner seems to have known that there would be such a result. With a speed of 25 knots, vertical swinging more than three degrees, and a distance of 10,000 meters, these recruits have begun to accelerate with three rounds of shelling. There are at least 15 knots of opponents, unless they burn incense when they go out!
In addition, the previous triple artillery was directly tested by the navy. These intern gunners in the college did it for the first time, and they didn't know anything about it at all.
So the old gunner smiled, kicked the nearest intern gunner, and shouted, "There are still three rounds, can you fight!"
"Fy!" How could the intern gunners who were kicked give up such a good opportunity? Although they had studied in the artillery department of the Naval Academy for half a year, and each of them could not hit nearly a hundred live bullets, it was in ordinary practice, and it was also calm, and their goals and their own speed did not exceed 12 knots. Those experiences do not help the current situation at all.
The intern gunner was in place again, rushed to the gunner's observation window and looked at it twice, readjusted the parameters, and then roared and issued the order to fire.
The turret immediately shook again. Although the gun in the middle fired 0.2 seconds late, this slight error could not be distinguished at all in the turret. I only felt that after a loud noise, the turret was shaken a few times, and the smoke spread again.
This time, the old gunner in charge of the guidance did not stop, so the intern gunner fired three rounds of s of sangulation in one breath, which made the ventilation fan behind the turret have to turn at full speed, trying his best to pull out the harmful gas permeating the turret, making a sound of whistling. The old gunner frowned. He didn't like this kind of Although the fan effect of the closed turret is good, it always makes him feel panicked.
When the lifting machine was working again, more than a dozen intern gunners had turned their heads to look at the observer. When they saw the other party shaking their heads again, they were a little discouraged. According to the instructions of this new gun, the uniform shooting was six rounds per minute, that is to say, in this minute, the first group of intern gunners By the way, the three main guns fired a total of 18 new armor-piercing shells weighing 46 kilograms.
In terms of a single turret, such firepower is not only strong, even more fierce than the main gun of the main determination-level heavy patrol of the current fleet, but as a result... the recent landing point is a few hundred meters away.
This result made the first group of intern gunners depressed, especially when they saw that the Navy Cossack hit the Hequan in the second round, which made them even more discouraged. They stamped hard before bowing their heads and had no choice but to give up their positions. The second group of intern gunners behind him had long been eager to try and saw the first group giving up. The seats, regardless of humility, rushed directly to their respective gun positions and began to adjust the muzzle according to the parameters provided by the rangefinder.
"Pay attention to the amount in advance, and calculate it together with wind speed and speed."
At this time, a voice suddenly came from the corner of the turret. The intern gunners hurriedly looked at it and saw a big man wearing a navy uniform like them without any rank logo standing in front of the turret, holding a small notebook to record something while saying.
"What are you looking at! Didn't you hear what the old man said?"
In fact, the old gunner has already seen the problem of these recruits, that is, they are too excited to forget the most important calmness as a gunner, so they did not fully consider when adjusting the parameters, resulting in the result that there was no near loss of ammunition.
"Senior?" Hearing the words of the old gunner, the intern gunners were stunned. Although they had seen the big man, they had always thought that he was a technician who came to test the artillery work. Except for the gun team on duty, others surrounded the old gunner and asked gossip.
"What? Why are you staring at me? Do you think I'm telling a lie?" The old gunner glanced at the new soldier's egg in front of him and smiled: "In those years, it only took three shells to hit the Yoshino, which was four kilometers away and had a tail speed of more than 18 knots."
"Three hairs? The Yoshino of the 18th section of speed?
The intern gunners' eyes are straight. This man, who has been silent since entering the turret, is still a master!
Wang Guocheng squatted down and carefully checked the state of the gun body as if he hadn't heard the old gunner's words. He didn't think that he and Li Shimao had to hit Yoshino in Toyoshima, forcing Yoshino to chase him. Compared with those old gunners in the Pacific Fleet today, he did this little work. The performance is really not worth mentioning.
After seeing the life and death of so many colleagues, Wang Guocheng came to Oahu with Fang Boqian again. After he gritted his teeth and gave up the idea of serving in the navy. However, it was really uncomfortable to have no cannons. Fortunately, after Fang Boqian was appointed as the navy supervisor, he and several people accompanying him entered the supervision office, and later because he knew about it. The cannon, and the merit of hitting Yoshino, was transferred to the gun factory as an artillery experimenter.
This job can be said to be completely aimed at his appetite, because the content of the work is to draw up experimental steps according to the engineers, and continue to shoot live ammunition every day, as small as the 37mm rapid-fire gun, to the L40/305mm gun used by battleships, and then to the new triplet produced by Honolulu in front of him. It is equipped with a 52-caliber 152mm naval gun. If calculated according to ammunition, he has fired nearly 3,000 shells in the past year!
Three thousand pieces! This is an extremely terrible number. It can be said that no naval gunner in service so far has had the opportunity to fire a thousand shells in a row. Although a large part of them are small rapid-fire guns, this is enough to be amazing!
However, he also knew that he could have such an opportunity not because of his excellence. In addition to the young master's factor, what's more important thing is that the navy is unwilling to put a good gunner in service in the factory, because a good gunner is the core of the whole warship, and sometimes it is even more important than the captain, so it's cheaper for him and a few people. Gunners who came to Honolulu from Beiyang who did not want to continue their service.
Since he is currently the only experienced gunner on the ship to shoot the new gun, he also boarded the ship as a technical guide this time, not to guide the rookie, but to comprehensively investigate the performance of the new gun in actual combat and record it and bring it back to the factory. The planners are for reference.
Although the internship gunners did not hit in the first few rounds, they still could not hide the unique position of this new artillery technology in his heart. Its caliber is not the largest and the rate of fire is not the highest, but it is the result of the painstaking efforts of hundreds of artillery engineers in Honolulu over the past two years, and even the young master has participated in the design. Many key problems have been raised and solved.
In addition to the triple installation technology, the new projectile lifting machine introduced and modified by Germany can make each gun reach an average speed of six rounds per minute, which are not the most critical. The most critical is the hydraulic gas-type reloading machine under the barrel, which is connected with two thick connecting arms under the barrel, even more than from Germany. The improved high-speed lifting machine is more important, because this kind of withdrawal machine, which was proposed by the young master and designed by the French designer named Moa, not only makes the gun lighter, but also no longer needs to install a slow and thick spring reloader on the gun rack.
Although he doesn't know the specific principle, the effect from the frame retreat to the current tube retreat is really amazing. It not only reduces the impact of rectic force on the hull and improves the shooting accuracy, but also accelerates the speed of the retreat, the rate of fire of the gun becomes faster. According to the results he obtained in the test, this new type of gun The maximum rate of fire can even reach nine shots per minute, but the burning in the medicine room will be very serious, and the life of the body tube will be reduced a lot.
If you want to find a shortcoming, it is that the power of the armor-piercing shell is a little small, which is not satisfactory. However, as the improvement work is coming to an end, it is foreseeable that the power of this new gun will rise again!
As the artillery began to roar again and began to bombard at a uniform speed of six shots per minute, Wang Guocheng also squatted under the turret and carefully checked the work of the receding machine. Although the previous test passed the naval acceptance, the actual combat test was the most important, so he had to record every detail, even the cannon. The small cracks on the shelf cannot be let go.
"Closely lost three rounds."
The shouts of the observer made the turret rejoice. According to the standard of the new 152mm artillery, if it is a near loss of ammunition, it means that the shell fell within 50 meters around the target. Although it still failed to hit, it is not only the technology to be tested at this time, but also depends on personal luck.
"The third group!"
With the shouts of the old gunners, the third group of intern gunners pushed up. Although the replaced gunners were still a little annoyed, his face was red. It was a good result to have the opportunity to fire a few shots in actual combat and hit a near-lost bullet at high speed! ——
"Eight thousand meters!"
Kenji Kato felt that his throat was on fire. At this time, he no longer needed a telescope. Basically, he grabbed the sextant to measure the distance and then reported the enemy and his coordinates in time. He was very busy.
But even if he was busy, he couldn't dispel the chill in his heart, especially when he saw that the other party could shoot six rounds of shelling every minute, and he continued to approach, his heart was about to jump out of his throat!
He didn't understand that the mouth of the other party's chimney obviously did not have the thick and thick black smoke column unique to acceleration, which was still similar to the smoke column during the cruise. Did the Hawaiians already have a new boiler and steam that could increase the speed of more than 4,000 tons to more than 25 knots? The machine?
Is it possible? Are their skills more advanced than those of the British? Or is their ship full of boilers and steam engines? But even so, how many tons of power systems can the 4,000-ton cruiser install the power system? What's more, they also need to install larger triple artillery!
Kenji Kato's eyes widened and even hoped to see all the details of the cruiser that was opening fire closer and closer. At this time, a thick black smoke blocked his sight, and the destroyer under his feet finally began to accelerate after being passively beaten for more than ten minutes.
He didn't understand more and more that the acceleration of the coal-fired boiler was not such a simple thing. It needed to constantly add coal to the furnace, and there was a process of full combustion in the middle, so it took time, but the other party...?
Is it still accelerating? There is no delay at all!
Soon, his torpedo ship joined the artillery battle. The 120mm cannon on the bow and the side of the ship began to roar. A regiment of flames kept spewing out of the muzzle, and the soldiers transporting ammunition kept lifting the shells to the deck from the ammunition depot below, and then fired them in the muzzle.
The battle entered ** from the beginning, the rumble of gunfire spread all over the sea, and the fleet next to it began to sail desperately in the direction of the day.
7 kilometers!
Kato saw that due to the extraordinary speed of the other party, the gunners who had good results in normal training suddenly lost their good luck. Countless shells smashed the water column around the other party, but they could not hit the other party. In addition to continuing to approach at high speed, the three cruisers of the Pacific Fleet that originally pursued were also gradually exerted their firepower on the side. The dense shells swept through the middle of the water column like raindrops, and then plunged into their own warships fiercely.
At this time, the crew quality of the two fleets was also quickly revealed. When the distance was getting closer and closer, the shelling of more experienced opponents became more and more accurate. Especially in the recent few minutes, they seized the obvious opportunity of the thick smoke target of the Hequan and kept hitting the shells on the hull, and suddenly The Spring attracted most of the firepower like a huge magnet!
And Kenji Kato also found that even if there is no triple gun in the middle, the firing speed of their slightly smaller double main gun is also frighteningly fast. They often only hit a shell on their side, and the opposite side has already flown seven or eight rounds!
Kato Kenkichi did not know that it was a new generation of standard L47 130mm rapid-fire gun of the Pacific Army. After modifying the oil boiler and steam turbine with smaller volume but larger power, the two ships saved a lot of tonnage, so taking advantage of this modification, the four light patrols also dismantled the original main guns, all With this more powerful rapid-fire gun, the only regret is that the hull is too small to be equipped with a semi-automatic shelling machine, otherwise the rapid-fire gun firepower of the whole shell will be more fierce!
Even so, the heavy rain still made Hequan unable to take the lead. After just a few minutes, the deck was like a dog gnawing. When the fire ignited from every deck, it finally began to turn.
Kato Kenji originally wanted to see what kind of new naval gun it was, but he suddenly felt open in front of him. He lost the torpedo ship covered by the cruiser Izumi, and was completely exposed to the firepower of the other party.
In the afterglow, a shell accurately hit the thin protective armor on the stern of the gun, and then an explosion occurred after a hole was pierced through the front of the turret. Countless fragments swept away with a swelling flame, and the bodies of several gunners were torn to pieces by the swept pieces.
Before he could wake up from the shock, the more and more dense sound of gunfire had rumbled. Several black spots once again flashed into the bridge not far from his feet. Suddenly, the bridge exploded, flames were everywhere, and several soldiers who had no time to dodge were lifted into the sea by huge air waves.
"Bang." Kato Kenji hugged his head hard and hid in the mast, and his body curled up into a ball, hoping to avoid the aftermath of the explosion. But at this time, he suddenly felt that something fell to his side. He turned his head and found that a scorched body had been smashed into the narrow mast. The blood and intestines and stomach on the body were clearly visible, and the pungent smell of burning. Let him vomit violently.
"Retreat! Retreat quickly!"
The sad and tragic cry began to rise from all over the ship. The frightened recruits ran desperately, but where could they escape without the command of the bridge?
Although it was only a few minutes to escape from the Hequan to face the baptism of the bullet rain alone, Kenji Kato felt as long as a few years. When he raised his head again, he found that the small torpedo ship under his feet had ignited a raging fire, and the Suma and another torpedo ship had also fallen and turned the bow with thick smoke. He gave up intercepting the enemy and began to escape. As for dragging black smoke and abandoning his comrades-in-arms, the Hequan plunged into the slowly fleeing fleet, trying to use the merchant ship to cover the enemy's shells.
"Is this the Imperial Navy?" Kato's eyes are about to crack!
He didn't know what Captain Izumi was thinking or what was going on there, but this should not be what an Imperial Navy soldier should do! If the Hequan can leave its torpedo ship alone and explain that the damage needs to be temporarily withdrawn from the fire, then it is unforgivable for them to hide in the slow merchant fleet!
Because of that, the defenseless fleet will be completely exposed to the enemy's muzzle!
Kato couldn't even imagine what would happen to those merchant ships under the muzzle. Maybe he knew what the Izumi would bring when he suddenly squeezed into the fleet. The fleet that had just escaped neatly suddenly exploded, and some sailors on the deck began to panic, and some even ran to the lifeboat.
Perhaps in order to cooperate with Kato's idea, a cargo ship that had just left the fleet and was about to escape was hit by several chasing shells. The explosion exploded from the side of the tall side of the cargo ship. After the violent explosion tore a piece of the hull, the sea water roared in, and the thick smoke in the chimney became lighter and lighter in less than a moment. .
As more and more shells hit the cargo ship over Kato's head, the explosion rose from every part of the ship, and the fire engulfed the whole deck in the blink of an eye!
There was no sound in Kato's throat. He stared at the three enemy ships passing by not far away and killing the fleet that should have been protected by him.
Looking at the red faces on the enemy's gun position that were so close that he could see clearly without a telescope, he sat down in the mast and didn't even find the telescope falling on the deck.
In the rumble of gunfire, he suddenly remembered his mother who was far away in Kyoto, and the cherry blossoms that would bloom in a few months.
(to be continued)