Two airships were flying clumsily on the sea. They were approaching each other, and both sides were even firing machine guns. Although bullets kept hitting the airships, the airships were still flying freely.
At the same time, the spacecraft even approached directly and collided... but there was still no problem.
This is an air battle!
A simulated air battle involving a British Royal Navy flying force.
While the air battle was going on, on the famous White Cliff, Admiral Milne and a group of naval admirals were observing the "air battle" with telescopes.
"Your Excellency, according to our ongoing experiments, it seems that air combat between airships is unrealistic... Even shooting with a Gatling gun will have little impact on the spacecraft. This is because airships are
There are more than ten independent air bags inside. If a bullet destroys an air bag, only a small amount of hydrogen will escape and will not be ignited, let alone explode. As for the artillery shells..."
Will, a spaceship engineer who once studied spacecraft construction in the Ming Dynasty, shrugged his shoulders helplessly.
"The strength of the rubberized silk is simply not enough to trigger the fuse of the artillery shells. The shells whizzed past like bullets. No matter whether it was an impact, machine gun bullets or artillery shells, they could not cause fatal damage to the airship..."
The engineer's answer made Milne feel so confused!
Compared with previous tests, this test has not made any progress at all. Why has there not been much progress in the anti-aircraft weapons researched by various countries in the past few years? To put it bluntly, it is because machine guns and cannons are not effective against airships.
Not of much use.
It seems that the airship is impossible to shoot down!
airship......
It’s really a bit fatal!
"What if we attack the airship bay from the ground with a Gatling cannon?"
Admiral Yelverton pointed at the airship and said.
"There are some hard objects in the airship cabin, such as light wooden beams. Of course, the most important thing is people. If we can't shoot down the airship, can we destroy the airship cabin through intensive shelling and kill as many people as possible who operate the airship?
personnel!"
"It seems so ungentlemanly to attack people."
"Mr. Will, this is war, and there are never any gentlemen or ungentlemen in war!"
As an admiral, Yelverton answered directly!
Under the Ming Empire's airship bombing, eight warships were destroyed, including four second-class ironclads. Such a cruel reality forced him to consider how to preserve the fleet during the bombing.
What hits are useless!
Then beat people, kill them all, and the airship will naturally be useless!
"Your Excellency, General, this requires a prerequisite, that is, the enemy airship must fly low enough. Only in this way can we attack them with machine guns or cannons. In addition... even if we use machine guns to attack the airship cabin,
It is also difficult to confirm whether it has effectively killed the people in the airship, or it will continue to fly! If it flies high, even a machine gun will be difficult to hit."
Engineer Weir's answer made the expressions of the generals of the Royal Navy extremely exciting.
"Fly high enough..."
Milne frowned and then said.
"If they fly high enough, does that mean that the accuracy of their bomb delivery will also directly decrease?"
When he said these words, Milne's eyes lit up.
"We can equip warships with a large number of Gatling machine guns and use them to drive away airships. They may be able to fly very high, but the bombing accuracy will definitely decrease. In the end, even the Ming Dynasty's airship bombings will have a hard time hitting warships.
!”
Milne's words made Engineer Will nod his head and said:
"If the airship flies to a height of 2,000 meters, 3,000 meters, or even above 4,000 meters, it should be very safe... The accuracy of bombing at this height will be very poor, but..."
After thinking for a moment, Engineer Will said again:
"It is indeed difficult to hit the target by flying bombs at such a high altitude, but it is not completely impossible. General, if you keep the spaceship above the warship, maintain a corresponding speed, and constantly adjust the bombing angle and direction, I think there is still a chance to hit the target.
Chinese warships...and the airship can also bomb the enemy fleet before the decisive battle. Even if it misses the target, it can still disrupt the enemy fleet and damage the enemy's morale.
Of course, I think airships can also attack those warships that were injured in the battle after the fleet battle. The speed of those injured warships will usually drop significantly, and the Gatling cannons will also suffer losses in the artillery battle, making them easier to attack.
To target the target, the airship can lower its altitude appropriately to increase the hit rate."
Will did not notice how rich the expressions of the Royal Navy generals such as Admiral Milne and Admiral Yelverton, the Lord of the Admiralty, were when he said these words. They even felt that,
This airship was sent by God to defeat the Royal Navy.
With the spaceship, can’t the Royal Navy no longer navigate the oceans?
While the generals of the Royal Navy were staring at the airship in the sky with different expressions, Engineer Will said again:
"Of course, the most suitable task for airships is to bomb enemy cities or army units. Although it is very powerful, in my opinion, airships do not have the ability to replace warships. Even to a certain extent, if they are combined with other
Battleships can work together to achieve greater results. In order to surpass the Ming Empire, the British Empire must build airships with better performance. They should be bigger, faster, and of course stronger. The most important thing is that there must be enough! Only enough
Only with airships can the British Empire remain at the forefront!"
"You are right, Mr. Will!"
Milne said while staring at the airship that had lowered to a low altitude of only four to five hundred meters above the sea because the airbag had been punctured.
"We must have more and better airships. This is related to the future of the British Empire! Of course, it is related to the future of the Royal Navy!"
In fact, as early as 6 years ago, when the British Empire traded the British Columbia colony for airships, it almost fell into this project.
However, at that time, I was just getting started!
But what now?
Faced with the dazzling achievements of the Ming Empire's floating troops, how could it be possible not to be moved? Even the Royal Navy... has to adapt to the changes of the times!
In fact, historically, the European powers attached great importance to airships, and it was natural for them to regard huge airships as artifacts. In the early days of World War I, Zeppelin airships bombed the British mainland many times, triggering panic among the British people across the country.
This is the famous "Zeppelin Panic", but airships were not born at the right time in that era - the advancement of aircraft technology led to the gradual marginalization of airships.
Now, airplanes have not been invented yet, but airships have become more mature under the intervention of Emperor Zhu Da. Except that there are no hard-shell airships because aluminum is too expensive, soft-shell airships have now reached another world in the 1920s.
level.
This kind of large airship has continuously proved its worth with tangible results! From the "bombing of Versailles", to the French "bombing of Luxembourg", to the "Montevideo Air and Sea Battle". Actual battles again and again
The value of airships has been proven to the world.
Faced with such brilliant achievements, the airship has naturally become an artifact of this era.
Today’s airship is an artifact!
No one can doubt this.
Before the "Air and Sea Battle of Montevideo", airships were just "strategic deterrent weapons" used to ensure the destruction of enemy cities. But now? Airships have become artifacts that can dry-sink battleships to the bottom of the sea.
So awesome!
Therefore, the British Empire must pursue the Ming Dynasty on airships and occupy the sky with airships!
Just like the Royal Navy once owned the Earth's oceans.
The sky is also a sea, a blue ocean. This sea of sky must belong to the British Empire!