Chapter 230 Chauchat machine gun?

In the conference room of the Ritz Hotel, Charles gave Steed a rough description of the requirements for the aerial bomb, including the fuse.

Aerial bomb fuses must be different.

If a trigger fuse is still set at the front end like ordinary artillery shells such as mortars, a serious problem may arise: if the wind on the plane is too strong, once the bomb is released, the strong wind may cause the bombs to collide with each other or even directly trigger the fuse to detonate it.

This is also one of the reasons why bombs were rarely carried on planes for bombing during this period. If they were carried, they were usually dropped by hand at a low speed, and even so, accidents were still inevitable.

The solution is to use the "wind wheel trigger fuse" unique to aerial bombs.

It is a small propeller installed behind the tail.

When the safety is released, the small propeller will start to rotate due to the wind and it will not explode.

After the bomb is dropped, the propeller continues to rotate with the wind until the explosives fall to the ground and the wind is lost, causing it to stop rotating or rotate very slowly, at which point the bomb explodes with a "boom".

(The picture above is a picture taken from the movie Pearl Harbor. The Japanese bomb has a "wind wheel type trigger fuze", and the red circle is a small rotating wind wheel)

This method not only ensures the safety of the aircraft itself but also enables the bomb to explode after landing, so it is called "wind wheel trigger fuze".

"This is confidential." Charles said to Steed, "The technicians and workers who produce this bomb must undergo strict screening!"

"No problem, Colonel!" Steed answered confidently, "Leave it to me, we'll be able to make it soon."

The Saint-Etienne Arsenal has a very mature management mechanism, and their level of confidentiality is even much higher than that of the military and the government. After all, this is related to the interests of the capitalists themselves.

"But I may be in trouble, Colonel." Steed looked embarrassed: "I know you are very busy, and I probably shouldn't bother you with these little things, but..."

"What's the trouble?" asked Charles.

"That's right." Steed took out his cigar out of habit, but after glancing at Charles, he immediately put the cigar back. "Do you know the Pitot Arsenal?"

"I've heard some of it." Charles nodded.

"It was originally a machine tool factory," Steed said. "It made tools and equipment for us. But now it has started making rifles, and they are Berthier rifles."

"Berthier rifle?" Charles had heard of this gun, but he couldn't remember it for a moment.

"Yes," Steed explained. "It's a shortened Lebel rifle, originally used to equip cavalry."

Charles said "Oh", and now he remembered it.

The French Lebel rifle could not be used by cavalry due to its loading defects, so a cavalry rifle was developed instead.

This gun not only has a shorter barrel, but the tubular loading has also been changed to vertical loading. However, due to the taper of the bullet, it can only hold 3 rounds.

Unexpectedly, this cavalry rifle was very popular with the infantry. Everyone believed that this neglected rifle that the government had given to the colonial troops was much better than the original Lebel.

This shows how unpopular the tube loading method of the Lebel rifle was. It was a disaster for new soldiers who were about to go to the battlefield after a few weeks of training, including Charles.

"They originally intended to have the American Remington Company improve it to make it more suitable for infantry combat." Steed continued, "But now the task has been handed over to the Pitot Arsenal."

Charles was a little surprised. Whether from the perspective of proficiency or scale, the improvement work should be handed over to the Saint-Etienne Arsenal.

Steed added: "It is said that this is the result of Schneider's operation."

After hearing this, Charles understood that Schneider would suppress anyone who cooperated with him.

This not only reduces Charles' development space, but also warns others not to cooperate with Charles.

Fundamentally, this is not about Saint-Etienne, but a battle between Charr and Schneider.

Steed said worriedly: "It is said that the Puteaux Arsenal is still developing new machine guns. You know, the foundation of the Saint-Etienne Arsenal is rifles and machine guns. If all the Lebel rifles and machine guns are taken away by the Puteaux Arsenal..."

Then Saint-Étienne would no longer be Saint-Étienne.

Charles knew what this meant.

Because Saint-Etienne has the production base and strength, whether it is a bomb, a grenade, or a 37mm cannon, as long as the drawings are thrown or the requirements are simply described to Steed, Saint-Etienne can produce them in a short time.

This is not a matter of money, nor is it just about machines, but also about skilled workers and related talents, a complete set of systematic talents.

If Saint-Étienne lost orders for rifles and machine guns, these workers and talents would be lost, and then the manufacturing capacity would be lost.

"So, you want a more advanced rifle?" asked Charles.

"It would be nice to have a rifle," Steed replied, "but we are more eager to produce a machine gun. In fact, we are already developing a machine gun, but we have not been able to solve its defects..."

This happened after the Saint-Etienne machine gun was eliminated. As the owner of the Saint-Etienne Arsenal, Steed certainly had to consider upgrading the machine gun instead of letting others grab a piece of the pie.

"So, what about the machine gun?" Charles asked puzzledly.

"Wait a moment, Colonel." Steed glanced toward the gate. "I'm very sorry. I asked my son to bring the machine gun. He is an expert in this area. I think he will be able to talk to you more clearly."

After a while, there was a knock on the door, and then Dominic walked in carrying a long box.

Charles looked at him in confusion: "Instructor, what are you doing here..."

Looking at the long box in Dominic's hand, Charles suddenly understood that Dominic was the son that Steed was talking about!

Dominic was also stunned when he saw Charles. Steed only told him to bring a machine gun, but did not say that he was here to see Charles.

Steed was stunned: "Do you know each other?"

"Of course, father!" Dominic said with a smile, "You forgot that I am an instructor at the police training base."

Steed said "Oh" and nodded. Dominic was responsible for a series of training on mortars, 37 guns, etc., and these equipment were invented by Charles. Of course they had met before.

But Steed still introduced: "My son Dominic, he doesn't have any other hobbies except guns."

Dominic's face turned red as he remembered the incident at the Officers' Club. Fortunately, Charles didn't seem to have any impression of it.

Steed spread his hands, and Dominic finally reacted. He quickly put the long box on the conference table and opened it. He took out a machine gun from it, unfolded it and introduced it in detail: "This is the machine gun we just developed. It uses the same 8MM Leber bullet as rifles, with a capacity of 20 rounds..."

Charles felt a little dizzy when he saw this machine gun. Chauchat, known as the "worst machine gun"?

(End of this chapter)