Chapter five hundred and seventieth steel sea battle continued
It was not until about 1,500 meters that the hit rate of the unified navy improved. The hit rate of medium-caliber naval guns such as 150 mm, 120 mm, and 100 mm could be maintained at about 3%.
about.
The hit rate of some warships can only increase significantly when the distance is reduced to within a thousand meters, because at this distance, skilled gunners can target enemy ships with their experience and technology, while above 1,500 meters, a single
However, it is difficult to aim based on the gunner's experience and skills, and requires the assistance of mechanical equipment.
This data already makes Huang Xinggang quite satisfied.
At this time last year, their hit rate at a distance of 1,500 meters was infinitely close to zero. This was achieved only after the new sextant rangefinder was widely equipped this year!
This also makes him more hopeful that more advanced rangefinders and other fire control systems can be developed. I heard that the Navy Ordnance Department has set up a special fire control department to organize technical personnel from universities, colleges and enterprises to prepare for some optical
If rangefinders and the like can be developed, then the power of naval guns will be even more unleashed in the future.
Today's naval guns and ranges are seriously unequal!
Nowadays, the navy is equipped with breech-mounted rifled guns with a longer range and greater power. If such artillery is used by the army, the army can use hot air balloons and other observation equipment to accurately bombard targets tens of thousands of meters away!
This shelling distance makes the navy not even qualified to look up!
Due to the constant rocking of the hull back and forth, and the constant maneuvering of the ships on both sides, the navy's naval gun hit rate has always been very poor, and it is difficult to directly exert the effective range of the naval gun itself.
Fortunately, after the Daheng unified army was equipped with breech-mounted rifled guns and improved sextant rangefinders, although the hit rate was still not high due to the restrictions of naval battles, at 1,500 meters, its hit rate was already achieved.
It has been greatly improved. If you are lucky, you can even hit enemy ships from a distance of two to three thousand meters. Of course, this hit rate is very impressive.
The navy is now able to increase the effective range to about 1,500 meters, which seems to be far different from the army, which can carry out artillery strikes of several kilometers or even 10,000 meters!
But compared to the traditional smoothbore cannon, it is still a huge improvement!
In the past, the engagement distance of smoothbore cannons was generally within 500 meters, and more often it was even within the range of 300 meters or even closer. However, rifled cannons can extend this distance to more than 1,000 to 500 meters.
And the breech-mounted rifled gun has another advantage, that is, it has a faster rate of fire!
Especially the 120mm, 100mm, and 75mm naval guns that use propellant and integrated warheads for fixed-loading ammunition. Their rate of fire is very fast, and they can fire several rounds per minute.
Even the 150mm naval gun that still uses divided ammunition has a rate of fire much faster than that of front-loaded artillery. Under the operation of skilled gunners and with more loaders available for rotation, Pingbo can
The 150mm naval gun on the USS can barely achieve a rate of fire of one round per minute.
Even a 200mm naval gun can achieve a rate of fire of one round every three minutes. The caliber of this thing is too large, it is too troublesome to reset, and it is more difficult to load.
The rear-mounted naval gun has a faster rate of fire, and even if the hit rate is relatively low at a range of about 1,500 meters, it can still hit enemy ships.
This is the direct effect of being equipped with a breech-loaded rifled gun.
Our own side is equipped with a large number of breech-loaded rifled cannons. Huang Xinggang will naturally not let his warships and enemy fleets get into close combat and let the opponent's front-loaded smoothbore cannons with an effective range of only a few hundred meters exert their firepower.
With an average speed of fifteen knots, the fast fleet has always maintained its formation, maneuvered at high speed, and maintained a fighting distance. During this process, Huang Xingang also gave the fleet priority to attack a ship in the enemy fleet equipped with a breech-mounted rifled gun.
Nanguang class cruiser.
The ship is too fast and can easily destroy the formation of its own fleet through high speed.
In the continuous exchange of fire between the two sides, the fast fleet hit the enemy ships one after another with the firepower of its breech-loaded rifled guns that far exceeded the opponent's.
In particular, an enemy Nanguang-class cruiser that was hit hard by the fast fleet was quickly hit by multiple artillery shells. Although the hits on the battleship were all 150 mm, 120 mm or even 100 mm, seven
There are no 200mm shells for 15mm shells.
But these 150mm artillery shells are also quite powerful.
And the most important thing is that the Nanguang-class cruiser is just an unprotected cruiser with an iron-ribbed wooden hull, and its protection ability is not very good. After a large number of shells hit it, the Nanguang-class cruiser quickly burst into flames, and
A large amount of water began to enter.
It didn't take long before the Nanguang-class unprotected cruiser was forced to withdraw from the battle. The crew was busy putting out the fire and pumping water. After a few minutes, the captain of the ship gave the order to sail towards the land. It seemed that it would be difficult to hold on.
, I want to go to the beach.
Not long after the battle broke out, the opponent's fastest warship was eliminated. This greatly boosted the morale of the soldiers in the fast fleet. The opponent only had four warships left, and the speed was not very fast. Even if one of them was
It is an armored ship of more than 5,000 tons, but our own strength still holds an absolute advantage.
The opponent obviously knew that it would be difficult to rush up to fight in close range, and the advantage of mid- and long-range artillery fire was at a huge disadvantage. The most important thing was that at this time, they had already discovered that another huge fleet had appeared in the south.
This directly caused them to start to break away from the battle and retreat towards Quping Port, trying to resist with the cover of coastal defense artillery.
The huge southern fleet they discovered was naturally the First Fleet Slow Fleet, a fleet with twelve warships. Although the speed was slow, several of them were actually armored ships with powerful firepower and protection.
.
Unlike the seven battleships in the fast fleet, except for the armored ship Pingbo, all the others are cruisers, and except for the Luo Hai, which is an iron-ribbed steel-hulled dome-armored cruiser, two of the other five are iron
It is a cruiser with a ribbed steel hull, and the remaining three are unprotected cruisers with an iron-ribbed wooden hull.
Generally speaking, these seven warships all have the same characteristics: they are new in age, equipped with more advanced steam engines, and have relatively high speeds.
However, in terms of protection, except for Pingbo and Luo Hai, the other five ships are still relatively weak.
As for firepower, it is at an average level, neither high nor low.
It's different in the slow fleet. Although most of them are old battleships and their speed is slow, there are fully five battleships in it that are armored ships with waterline armor belts, and their tonnage is not small, which is enough.
It carries more naval guns, so its firepower is generally not bad.
The arrival of the slow fleet directly changed the maritime battle outside Quping Naval Base. The four warships in the two-state combined fleet chose to retreat and returned to Quping Naval Base.
Huang Xinggang's first fleet successfully blocked the enemy fleet at Quping Naval Base.