Chapter 658 New Destroyer
"The standard displacement of the destroyer we are going to build is initially set at 1,400 tons," said Charles. "The full load displacement is about 2,000 tons, which can be changed appropriately depending on the situation."
Tijani took notes in his notebook and said, "Why don't we just build cruisers with a displacement of about 4,000 tons? The larger the displacement, the more powerful the firepower, Vice Admiral, and it will even save money."
As the "crown prince" of the Brest Shipyard, Tijani knew that tonnage and price were not in a simple proportional relationship. The larger the tonnage, the lower the average cost.
"Speed, General." Charles' answer was simple: "With the same level of technology and industry, larger tonnage often means slower speed."
"Speed?" Tijani stopped writing and looked at Charles in confusion: "If we already have planes, I mean, planes with torpedoes, why do we need to emphasize the speed of destroyers?"
Charles asked in return: "Does it mean that because we have aircraft cover on land, tanks don't need speed?"
Tijani was stunned for a moment, and said unwillingly: "But this seems to be different from tanks. Tanks can be concealed by numbers, and there are many ways to dodge, but warships are few in number, and there is no way to avoid aircraft at sea."
Charles continued to ask: "What if the enemy uses torpedo boats or destroyers, which are small but fast ships, to besiege us? Will we also choose to use aircraft to mount torpedoes to sink them?"
Tijani was speechless.
It might be possible to sink a destroyer, but torpedo boats are fast and difficult to be hit by torpedoes, so even if they are hit, it is not worth it.
Charles then analyzed:
"Any operation should be systematic, General."
"In previous naval battles, the system consisted of torpedo boats, destroyers, cruisers and battleships. They worked together to form a strong combat capability."
"The new destroyer we are building is not just a destroyer, but it is to break this old system and form a new combat system."
Tijani thought for a moment, with uncertainty on his face: "You mean, a new system formed by the cooperation of destroyers and aircraft?"
"Yes." Ciel replied, "The two should cooperate with each other instead of restraining each other. This requires both to have the ability to protect themselves and not form weaknesses that can be defeated by the enemy one by one."
Tijani understood: "Aircraft have the ability to protect themselves. They can always fly out of the enemy's firepower and find the right time to join the battle, but warships are not like this."
Ciel nodded: "The self-defense ability of a warship also depends on its speed."
"You are right." Tijani admitted his mistake generously: "So, the tonnage of a warship is determined by the current technological level and the speed of the enemy's warships. The enemy's destroyers have a speed of about 33 knots, and our destroyers must have at least this speed."
With a speed of 33 knots and the reconnaissance of aircraft, the battleship with a speed of about 19 knots can be completely ignored, and it can never catch up with the destroyer.
At the same time, cruisers with a speed of around 29 knots can be basically ignored.
Therefore, on the vast ocean, the destroyers only have to face enemy destroyers, or torpedo boats when entering the enemy's near waters.
Once you understand this, the rest is much easier.
"Because our main opponent is the enemy destroyer, we still need to have a lot of naval guns. The initial plan is to have four 130MM main guns."
This is because the firepower of enemy destroyers and dive bombers had not yet developed at that time, and the new destroyers could not have only one or two naval guns like modern ones.
"Plus two more triple torpedo tubes."
Most of the torpedo tubes on destroyers during this period were twin-mounted. The purpose of Charles using triple-mounted tubes was to increase the number of torpedoes that could be fired at one time, thus better leveraging the strike capability of the new torpedoes.
"Two depth charge rails, 22 bombs in reserve."
Charles intentionally weakened the anti-submarine requirements of the destroyers.
The reason is that the main opponent of the French fleet is not the German Navy but the British Royal Navy.
On the other hand, the new destroyer Charles is used for mobile warfare at sea, maneuvering at a speed of 33 knots rather than for escort.
During World War I, submarines could travel at more than ten knots on the surface and only eight to ten knots underwater, posing no threat to this warship.
Tijani wrote these down one by one. Although he had some doubts about the anti-submarine aspect, he did not ask too many questions.
After thinking for a while, he asked a question: "I heard that our new warship is mainly used for air defense, but so far, I haven't seen any anti-aircraft firepower."
Charles took out a blueprint from the drawer and handed it to Tijani: "For anti-aircraft firepower, use this machine gun, 20MM caliber."
"20MM caliber?" Tijani asked doubtfully, "The German Becker cannon?"
But after taking Charles's drawings, he realized that the machine gun on the drawings was somewhat different from the Becker gun. The general structure was the same, but the barrel was longer and thinner.
(The picture above shows the prototype of the Oerlikon cannon, which was invented by the German Becker, so it was called the Becker cannon. The cannon was originally used by the Germans on airplanes, but was soon shot down and captured by the Allies. Its characteristic is that it pioneered a unique pre-firing recoil mode, which reduced the recoil force, so it was widely used in anti-aircraft cannons and aircraft cannons)
(The picture above shows the Oerlikon machine guns that are widely used on warships)
Charles simply showed the blueprint in front of Tijani and then took it back, handing over a data file instead.
"I'm responsible for the production of the machine guns." Charles said, "You just need to know these data and reserve gun positions on its side."
It is not a secret that this type of machine gun is used for air defense, but the improved version of Charles' Oerlikon 20MM machine gun is a secret. It has a higher rate of fire and initial velocity than the original Becker, and its performance has been significantly improved. This is not something that can be easily disclosed.
Charles planned to have the gun produced at the artillery factory in the town of Darvaz.
Charles believed that one should be cautious when it came to balancing one's own equipment.
For example, this Oerlikon machine gun was responsible for shooting down nearly 30% of the planes during World War II.
It can also be used as an aircraft cannon.
One day, by installing it on an airplane and firing at tanks, it can easily penetrate the top armor of the tank and become a ground attack aircraft.
Tijani certainly understood the pros and cons of this. He nodded to show his understanding: "Understood, Lieutenant General. If it were me, I would also do everything I could to keep it secret. After all, you are inventing equipment to counter your own equipment."
Then he laughed: "It must be tiring, I mean, to be your own opponent!"
Charles sighed inwardly.
This situation is bound to occur when the number of invented equipment reaches a certain level.
Now we can only hope that the enemy doesn’t imitate it so quickly and “feed back” to us!
(End of this chapter)
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