It turns out that the Ming Dynasty was nothing more than this!
When Baron Ladario had this idea in his mind, what he didn't know was...
There is a kind of airship called Daming's airship and other countries' airships.
The Ming Dynasty was the founding country that put airships into military use!
As the founder, Daming must have his own unique secrets. But at this time, many people can't think of these.
"Check the bombsight!"
When the airship was about to fly over Montevideo Harbor, the commander of the 5th Aircraft Wing, Ma Guangming, shouted to the aiming hand.
Bombsight!
Different from the visual aiming in the past, two years ago, after years of research, the mechanical sight was finally successfully developed. Although its structure is extremely simple, consisting of only two iron pieces, when used for low-altitude bombing, its bombing accuracy is
Still extremely high.
In fact, in terms of structural principle, it is very similar to the "Mark Twain" bombsight used by Doolittle when he bombed Tokyo in World War II. It is just two pieces of iron. This new sight is not only highly accurate, but also easy to use.
For low-altitude bomb drops of 1,500 feet, this sight is even more accurate than the too-high-precision Knowlton sight.
Perhaps, during World War II, bombing at an altitude of 1,500 feet, or 457 meters, was considered a low altitude, but in 1876... this was definitely a high altitude!
And what are the orders received by the floating troops now?
It was to bomb the Brazilian fleet anchored in Montevideo. This was the first time that airships were used to bomb warships.
"Don't worry, sir, it'll be fine!"
It's just two iron rulers. Is there anything worth checking? The most important thing is to check the bomb delivery system.
Compared with their counterparts in other European countries, the Ming Dynasty's aerial troops not only had bomb sights, but also a specially designed bomb delivery system. The bomb would be dropped the moment the aiming hand pressed the button.
The sight and bomb delivery system are complementary to each other. Without this bomb delivery system, it would be impossible to carry out precise bombing by manpower dropping bombs as in the past.
"Open the bomb bay!"
When the bomb bay was opened, dozens of bombs hanging on the bomb racks were blown by the breeze.
At this time, the enemy's warship has come into view, and the target is ahead!
Staring at the target on the sea, Ma Guangming's lips curled up, and a fanatical smile appeared on his face.
"See? The Brazilians are still there pressurizing the boilers!"
Not to mention this era, it is the steam turbine era a hundred years later, during World War II, warships from various countries need up to several hours to complete pressurization, and that is still a hot furnace. If the boiler is completely cooled,
It may even take more than ten hours.
In fact, Brazilian warships also have thermal boilers. If they found a target at sea, they would have time to pressurize the boilers. But now they are facing an airship from the sky, which directly determines that they will not have time to complete the pressurization.
Just as the boilermen of the Brazilian Navy were desperately shoveling coal into the furnace, the airship was already flying over the fleet.
"What are they going to do?"
The Brazilian naval officers on the warship have seen the open cabins of the airship group, and they can even see the bombs in the cabins with high-power telescopes.
That must be a bomb!
At the same time, Ma Guangming, who had flown over the Brazilian fleet, could clearly see the "Rio de Janeiro" that was very similar to the Nanhua... He swallowed hard! This battleship
If the airship could be blown up and sunk, the Ming Dynasty's floating troops would become famous.
In the past few years, as various countries have equipped themselves with airships, it seems that airships are no longer a secret. Everyone knows that this big ship looks very big, but it can't hold many bombs. What's more terrible is that it can explode
Infantry and fortresses are okay, but as for warships, that's impossible.
And now?
The Brazilian warship was right in front of him.
The aiming hand, wearing a military cap on his back, aimed at the target on the sea through the bombsight. Soot was rising from the chimney of the "Rio de Janeiro". Seen from an altitude of nearly 500 meters, the 100-meter-long warship
It looks small.
100 meters long, 17 meters wide...
With this number in mind, the aiming hand finally pressed the bomb release button.
In an instant, several aerial bombs weighing 200 kilograms were dropped from the bomb bay. At the moment when the bombs were dropped, the edge of its tail friction and vibrated with the air, making a "chichi" sound cutting through the air. This sound sounded like
It's jarring, but also heart-stirring.
"They're dropping bombs!"
The Brazilian naval officers and soldiers on the deck all shouted in horror,
Not only the Rio de Janeiro, but also the Riachuelo, Achidaba and Sao Paulo. There are airships dropping bombs above each warship. When dropping bombs,
The airship's speed was not very fast, only a few dozen kilometers, and bombs fell from the sky one after another.
"God bless, the accuracy of the airship's bomb drop is not high..."
Almost as soon as this idea emerged from the minds of the naval officers, huge water columns suddenly exploded near the warship, and at the same time, a bomb accurately hit the "Rio de Janeiro".
The 200-kilogram bomb did not explode immediately after hitting the deck, but smashed through the oak deck and then directly into the cabin - warships of this era did not have horizontal armor.
When the bomb hit below the deck, the Brazilian sailors in the cabin even saw the bomb in horror.
The black bomb looks so scary!
Suddenly, before they could scream, the bomb exploded!
The power of the hundreds of kilograms of explosives loaded inside the bomb was extremely astonishing. It almost blew the entire front deck of the "Rio de Janeiro" into the sky. During the violent explosion, the Brazilian sailors in the cabin were even directly vaporized.
, the smoke clouds of the explosion burst out of the portholes like fireworks at a festival.
"my Lord!"
Baron Radario opened his eyes wide in horror. Just when he couldn't believe the scene before him, a bomb accurately hit his "Riachuelo". Although the bomb did not penetrate the deck, it did
A huge fireball exploded on the deck. With the explosion, the smoke flew everywhere, not only setting the canvas ropes on fire, but also blasting the twin ten-inch turrets amidships with corpses everywhere.
.The top cover of the left turret was directly blown into the sky. There were corpses everywhere inside the turret. The two ten-inch cannons did not even have time to take effect and lost their combat effectiveness.
Immediately afterwards, the airships flying through the sky began to drop bombs again. The airships in the sky were like a huge air fleet. They lined up in neat columns, and then continued to drop bombs towards the ground.
Hundreds of heavy aerial bombs fell!
In the first wave of air strikes, the airship force had a total of 200 200 kilogram aviation armor-piercing bombs, 12 of which hit the target!
Although the hit rate is only 6%, the losses caused to the Brazilian fleet are unimaginable. At least in the naval battles of this era, no fleet has ever suffered such heavy losses at the beginning of the battle.
.
A bomb hit the front deck of the "Rio de Janeiro", blowing the front deck and secondary guns directly into the sky. Two bombs hit the building below the bridge of the "São Paulo" and exploded on the spot, directly destroying the ship.
The captain and senior officers on the bridge were blown into the sky.
As for the left turret of the fleet "Riachuelo", everyone on the flagship was staggering. Two other bombs fell on the deck of the "Achidaba", one penetrated the deck, and
There was an explosion in the coal bunker, which caused a fire, and a bomb exploded directly on the quarter deck.
As for the "Set Deset Mburu", which is known as the pride of the Brazilian shipbuilding industry, a bomb hit directly amidships. The violent explosion not only blew up the warship, but also ignited the coal bunker.
The coal in it directly caused the fire...
This chapter has been completed!