Chapter 264 Torpedo Improvements
I have something urgent to do today and can't code in time, so there may only be two chapters. The other chapter will be out later. Sorry!
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Charles asked Tijani sarcastically, "Do you know design?"
"No, I don't understand." Tijani answered simply.
Charles asked again: "Do you know mathematics?"
Tijani laughed: "I've never passed math!"
"So what are you doing here?"
In fact, Charles had already guessed the answer. This rich second generation came here to "chase stars."
Tijani spread his hands, still with grievance on his face: "Please, Colonel, I have resources, is this enough?"
Charles was silent instantly. Having resources is indeed a skill. It's others' fault that they can't be reincarnated.
If you think about it more carefully, it’s actually a good thing that Tijani doesn’t know anything.
Because this means he needs to throw the problem to the technicians in the shipyard, and then the information that "Charle intends to produce super-heavy tanks" will spread quickly, even including Charle's design drawings.
Thinking of this, Charles nodded slightly and motioned for Tijani to sit down in the chair in front of the desk.
He took out a document from his briefcase and handed it to Tijani, patted it lightly with his hand, and said in a low voice: "This is the tank I want, General. This is a military secret."
"Understood, Colonel!" Tijani responded and opened the document with interest.
However, he only took one look and stared at Charles in surprise: "13 meters long, 3 meters wide, weighing 120 tons... This is a big guy!"
"Charle A1" is only 8 tons, this is more than ten times that of "Charle A1".
"Of course." Charles replied, "It's because it's so big that we need a naval technical advisor. I want to know if this design is reasonable, such as whether the steel can withstand the weight of the vehicle, the pressure of the tracks on the ground, and what standard tracks can withstand a weight of about 120 tons."
"Colonel..." Tijani turned his eyes to the document with a confused look on his face, and said hesitantly: "You don't really want to produce this kind of tank, do you?"
"Is there a problem?" Charles asked.
"No, no, no... no problem." Tijani scratched his head, his eyes seemed a little frustrated: "It seems that I was wrong. After seeing the 'Char A1', I thought that tanks should be like it, and there is no better than it. But now..."
Charles was a little surprised.
He didn't expect that this rich second generation who seemed to know nothing actually had such vision.
Tijani obviously had no professional knowledge, but he seemed to "feel" the direction of tank development by intuition, and his thinking was even earlier than that of Colonel Estiny.
In fact, this was a misunderstanding on Charles' part. Tijani did not rely entirely on "intuition".
Ordinary people's research and development is always involuntarily immersed in the battlefield or for the purpose of making money. Tijani takes it to another level: he believes that equipment research and development is an art, a process of human social progress, and a violent beauty of war.
Perhaps because he is standing at another height, he can see farther, more clearly and more forward-looking.
Only someone with a background like Tijani could do this, because ordinary people cannot look at equipment like tanks as toys, or appreciate warships as paintings. They do not have such conditions.
Charles didn't waste time talking to Tijani: "I just want to know the answer, General, do you have any solution?"
"Of course." Tijani replied with a grin, "Don't worry, Colonel, I will bring the design plan and the data you need tomorrow. I guarantee you will be satisfied!"
Charles said "hmm" and turned to review a stack of telegrams that Lieutenant Colonel Fernan had just handed over, as if to tell Tijani: I'm busy with you, take care.
Tijani didn't leave. He came up to him with a smile and said, "Colonel, we have encountered some difficulties in improving the torpedo."
Charles didn't answer and continued to busy himself with his own work. If the torpedo was simple, there would be no need for you to develop it.
Tijani, who was sitting on the bench, didn't mind. He took a pencil casually, played with it and muttered to himself, as if nothing had happened:
“The main difficulty is that the hydrological situation is too complicated.”
"After a torpedo is launched, it is easily affected by the undercurrent, and we cannot even predict the direction of the water current, so its launch direction is uncontrollable."
"We thought of many ways, such as increasing the speed of torpedoes or adding sensors for self-correction, but the results were not ideal."
…
Although Charles didn't intend to listen, he was still attracted by the questions raised by Tijani. Although he was flipping through the information in his hands, his mind was diverted.
This problem actually exists with artillery shells as well.
The difference is that a cannonball flying through the air is affected by wind, which is obviously much less powerful than ocean currents.
On the other hand, the wind force in a certain local area and at a specific time is measurable, such as northwest wind, southeast wind, and level. Artillery can make corrections based on the wind deviation rate and ultimately obtain a relatively accurate trajectory.
This is not possible with a torpedo launched from the sea; there may even be eddies in the ocean current that throw the torpedo in another direction.
Therefore, during this period there were cases where the target could not be hit even at a distance of 150 meters, and there were even cases where the torpedoes fired by warships turned around and destroyed themselves.
(Note: Such an accident occurred in the British Navy in 1942)
In modern times, the installation of gyroscopes has enabled torpedoes to have the ability to correct their course, which has led to a qualitative leap.
But there is a simple and direct way...
Ciel paused for a moment and replied, "We may be able to solve this problem with wire guides."
"Wire-guided?" Tijani looked at Charles calmly, "You mean the Brennan torpedo?"
This time it was Charles' turn to be confused.
He originally thought that when he proposed the advanced concept of wire-guided torpedoes, Tijani would exclaim: "That's right, Colonel, we only need to add a wire to the tail of the torpedo to control them to swim to the target in the sea! You are amazing, why didn't we think of it!"
However……
Tijani looked only slightly confused, and brought up a term Ciel didn't know: "Brennan torpedo."
Ciel's reaction surprised Tijani at the same time. He looked surprised and admired: "God, you don't know about the Brennan torpedo, but you still thought of using wire guidance to solve the accuracy problem."
Charles understood what he meant. He stopped what he was doing and turned to look at Tijani: "General, do you mean that the wire-guided torpedo has been invented?"
"Yes, Colonel!" Tijani nodded heavily. "This should be... twenty years ago. I'm not sure. The inventor was Brennan from Ireland, so it was named 'Brennan Torpedo'."
Charles felt a little dizzy.
This was World War I. He always thought that the equipment of this period was very primitive and backward. He did not expect that torpedoes had developed to the wire-guided level, and this guidance technology is still in use even in modern times.
Then Charles was a little puzzled: "Since there is such a torpedo, why is there still an accuracy problem?"
What Charles means is, why don't you just use it?
Tijani shook his head and replied, "It has great limitations, Colonel. Many of us are also discussing whether to use this approach."
(The picture above shows the Brennan torpedo, invented in 1887. The straight rod on the torpedo is used to observe its position, and the wires behind the torpedo are used to transmit electricity and control)
(End of this chapter)
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