Chapter 1085: Our Tang Navy must be invincible in the world
The patrol ships in the Tang Dynasty Navy were positioned to share the pressure of the capital ships and did some odd jobs. Therefore, although the tonnage of this type of warship was actually not small, the early patrol ships were one hundred and fifty.
The patrol ships built in the later period basically have a standard displacement of 180 tons.
In fact, this tonnage is not too small. You must know that most of the ships currently running the East Asia route, a considerable number of ocean-going merchant ships are only one or two hundred tons.
But as a warship, this tonnage is obviously too small.
At present, the Datang Navy's standard positioning of capital ships is that battleships start at one thousand tons. In fact, even the first battleship has a standard displacement of one thousand three hundred tons.
The standard for a cruiser is over 500 tons. The first-generation cruiser, the Lianzhou-class cruiser, also weighs 550 tons. As for the first-generation cruiser currently under construction, its tonnage has soared to 800 tons.
Even for frigates, the first generation frigate was 350 tons, but now it has increased to 450 tons.
In other words, the current navy's capital ships have the lowest tonnage of 350 tons, while the ones under construction are 450 tons.
In comparison, the second-generation patrol ship, which is a full circle smaller, is only 180 tons.
The combat effectiveness of warships these days is basically equated with size, because the larger the tonnage, the more artillery can be loaded.
A battleship can carry more than 60 artillery pieces, all of which are large-caliber guns, while a 180-ton patrol ship can only carry more than a dozen artillery pieces, mainly small and medium-caliber artillery pieces.
Firepower is not on the same level at all.
However, the patrol ships are weak compared to the battleships of the Tang Navy. If they are against the battleships of other indigenous countries, then whether they are weak or not is another question.
More than ten artillery pieces may not be too many, but they may not be too many.
Moreover, this kind of ship is small in size, has a large sail area, and is equipped with oars for offshore and inland river operations, so it is quite flexible.
Therefore, when these two patrol ships enter the Han River, they can not only provide cover for the two bulky temporarily modified land fire support ships, but they can also exert powerful firepower to support land.
Two refitted merchant ships and two patrol ships together entered the Han River and provided powerful fire support for the landing troops. After all, these four ships were equipped with nearly a hundred artillery pieces.
This firepower is actually more powerful than the firepower of the entire 15th Infantry Division!
The total number of landing troops who entered Seoul after landing was only 3,000. However, these 3,000 people were supported by nearly a hundred naval guns. Therefore, in a fight, it was basically a matter of killing gods when encountering gods, and killing Buddha when encountering Buddhas.
of.
Well, the premise is that the battle is on the bank of the Han River. If it is outside the scope of the bank, then the Marine Corps itself can only rely on it.
But it doesn't matter. In addition to the navy's own marines, the landing force also has a mixed battalion of the Guards. The total strength is not large, only a thousand people.
However, in addition to an infantry battalion, this Guards camp also has an artillery team and other transport troops. When the Guards go on an expedition, they never send infantry, cavalry or artillery alone. They are often temporarily integrated and dispatched a mixed force.
force.
The larger ones are mixed brigades, the medium ones are mixed regiments, and the smaller ones are mixed battalions.
It is worth mentioning that although the field artillery brought by the artillery team in this mixed battalion of the Guards is no different from the field artillery of other armies and marines, they are all ordinary five-pound field artillery.
But the shells they use are different.
Because the artillery shells they use are not ordinary solid bullets or shotguns, but grenades that have not yet been officially equipped in batches by the army and navy.
The Tang Dynasty had developed grenades before, but because the technical details were not perfect enough, and the construction of the production line also took time. In addition, some minor problems were exposed during many live-fire tests, so it took a long time.
The grenades are all in the stage of technological improvement, and are only produced in small batches. They are basically taken away by the Guards.
Apart from a small amount of testing, the Army and Navy have not equipped them on a large scale!
But today, the Guards artillery team that came to the Korean Peninsula used grenades.
Although there were not many, they only had a few artillery pieces in total, and the number of grenades they carried was only enough for them to use, but they still played a huge role when attacking Seoul.
When they shelled the natives in Seoul, the scene almost shocked the artillerymen of the Marine Corps next door!
Although our navy is called a rubbish by the army officers, the navy is actually well-informed. They know and use this grenade, and it is still a big thing like 48 kilograms or 24 kilograms.
But precisely because of the use of these artillery pieces, when they saw the Guards firing grenades with only five-pound field guns, their eyes were wide open, for fear of missing any detail.
Many of them know that the Navy is already testing grenades, and it is estimated that they will be equipped in large quantities in the near future. But to be honest, these are just rumors. They have not seen grenades that can actually be fired by long-barreled artillery.
Pass.
When they saw it, they were very curious!
These grenades can be fired from long-barreled artillery, and the loading is similar to ordinary solid rounds. It is much easier to operate than short-barreled heavy howitzers, and the rate of fire is also higher.
And more importantly, the accuracy of the fuze is much better.
After the shells are fired, although it is inevitable that some shells will explode prematurely in mid-air, most of them are still within the acceptable range, and there is no case of the shells exploding as soon as they come out of the barrel.
After watching the Guards artillery team shelling with grenades, they didn't even bother to look at the casualties of the indigenous people. Anyway, the indigenous people in Seoul had collapsed. Facing the powerful landing force and naval gunfire, they were basically impossible.
If they had any way to fight back, they were more interested in the grenades of the Guards.
Then he shamelessly asked for a small number of grenades from the Guards to prepare for his own enjoyment and try out the feeling of firing grenades.
Anyway, these grenades were originally designed to be fired by the existing long-barreled artillery of the army and navy, and in order to simplify logistics, the Tang Empire formulated a unified caliber for the artillery of the army and navy.
Even in the actual production process, in order to make more efficient use of existing production lines, the three major weapons companies have used many artillery pieces for the army and navy. The gun mounts are often different, but the barrels are basically the same.
The barrel used in the Army's Nine-pound field gun is actually no different from the Navy's Nine-pound naval gun, and they are even produced on the same production line.
Although the Guards have their own system independent of the Army and Navy, their equipment is the same as that of the Army and Navy. After all, although they have their own system, they are not so good that the Ministry of State-owned Enterprises has developed a complete set of equipment specifically for them.
Weaponry.
Strictly speaking, many of the weapons and equipment of the Guards are actually the same as those of the army and navy. The artillery uses the army's standard artillery. As for the flintlock musket, it does not use the army's standard flintlock musket. Instead, it uses
The characteristic of the naval flintlock rifle is that the barrel is slightly shorter than the army standard rifle.
This also means that many weapons and equipment of the Army, Marine Corps, and Guards are actually exactly the same. Even if there are differences, the differences are not big. In terms of logistics, they are basically the same.
of.
Cannonballs are naturally no exception.
After the Guards' grenades were taken away by the Navy, there were not many of them, only a few dozen rounds in total. The Navy's Second Squadron was prepared to take this opportunity to experience the power of the grenades in actual combat in advance.
So they randomly pulled up a ship captured from the Korean natives, opened their sails to keep the ship sailing, and the people retreated, and then used it as a target ship!
However, although this scene looks like an actual combat test, in fact, the people in the Navy do not care about the issue of whether the grenade hits the target, because this is a matter of gunnery, not a big issue with the artillery shells. They are more concerned about the hit of these grenades.
Effect after target.
So in order to ensure a hit, they frantically drove the test warship less than a hundred meters away from the target ship and fired!
Although when it comes to fighting on the sea, the hit rate is frighteningly low. If you fire a gun from a distance of more than 400 meters, you basically can't expect a high hit rate. However, if you fire a gun at a distance of 100 meters, as long as the gunner is not stupid, the hit rate is basically
It won’t miss the mark!
In naval battles, battles within a hundred meters are basically bayonet melee combat, and the hit rate is very high. The competition is not gunnery, but the number and power of both sides' artillery.
So a group of naval admirals just stood on the bridge and stared at the target ship opposite!
With the sound of a cannon, they saw the target ship opposite, which was only a few dozen tons, suddenly burst into flames. Because the distance was very close, they could clearly see the scene of sawdust flying after the shell exploded!
There was another cannon shot, and this time the shell hit the upper bridge at the rear of the ship. After the explosion, it also caused violent wind and waves.
During the third shelling, they saw that the sails were all beaten to pieces.
The live ammunition test continued, and they fired more than a dozen shots before they stopped!
The target ship has become a mess. Although the outer shell of the hull is still intact as a whole, the upper deck and the interior are almost in a mess. Even one of the masts is broken. As for the sails, the
It is so full of holes that it is impossible to continue sailing.
From a distance, this dilapidated ship is still floating on the sea, but everyone knows that in actual combat, this level of shelling would be enough to cause the ship to lose power and cause heavy casualties.
.
After many naval officers personally boarded the target ship to see it, they couldn't help but have a scene in their minds: when the two battleships were dueling, the enemy could only fire solid bullets and other traditional artillery shells, but they themselves were
Grenades were sent to the enemy ships one after another. The violent explosions destroyed their sails, killed a large number of their personnel, and even caused the powder barrels on the enemy ships to explode and catch fire.
The thought of such a scene made these naval officers extremely excited: Our Datang Navy must be invincible in the world!