Chapter 674: Improved Anti-Aircraft Guns
The development of tank guns has gone through a process from smoothbore to rifled and then from rifled to smoothbore.
Initially, most tank guns were smoothbore, so the Saint-Chamond was only an outlier as it was equipped with a 75mm gun.
This is because tanks are more rudimentary, and most people think of them as shields that "block bullets", so they don't have high requirements for the accuracy of the guns.
However, with the development of tanks, the battlefield requirements for tank guns became higher and higher, and tank guns gradually turned into rifled guns.
Compared with smoothbore guns, rifled guns have many advantages: long range and high accuracy.
This can often play a decisive role in tank battles:
When two enemy tanks meet, at the same distance and with the same armor capability, an accurate rifled gun can often hit the target with one shot and win the battle.
This was a fatal blow to smoothbore guns, so most tank guns during World War II used rifled ones.
But all this was completely overturned because of the emergence of the "fin-stabilized armor-piercing discarding sabot projectile".
(The picture above shows a fin-stabilized discarding sabot armor-piercing projectile. Its saddle-shaped sabot will automatically fall off during the launch, so it is called "discarding sabot". What is finally shot towards the target is actually an arrow-shaped projectile with a tail fin, which can maintain flight stability instead of rolling in the air.)
The reason why rifled cannons have the advantages of "long range" and "high accuracy" is that the rifling will cause the shells to spin, allowing the shells to maintain stable flight.
But if the smoothbore gun changes the shell to use an arrow-shaped projectile, it can still fly stably in the air and improve accuracy.
As a result, the advantages of rifled guns were completely surpassed by smoothbore guns and were no longer advantages, but the disadvantages of rifled guns could not be avoided:
Because it needs to be rifled, it is very expensive.
Because of the rifling, there is intense friction between the rifling and the shell every time a shell is fired, so the lifespan is very short.
Because of the rifling, the friction between the shell and the rifling consumes a lot of kinetic energy, so the initial velocity is low and the armor-piercing ability is weak.
…
In short, rifled guns are useless compared to smoothbore guns.
(Note: After World War II, almost all countries switched to smoothbore guns, and only Britain and its colonies stubbornly used rifled guns. Not long ago, Britain finally couldn't hold on any longer and bought all the smoothbore guns from Germany for modification, but at that time, its smoothbore gun production technology was far behind that of mainstream countries in the world.)
Because Charles knew this development process, he firmly chose the smoothbore cannon.
Why go through so many changes and take detours when you can achieve your goal in one go?
Now other countries do not have dedicated tank guns, so Charles does not need to worry about anything, the 75 smoothbore gun is enough.
When other countries developed specialized tank guns and developed rifled ones, Charles only needed to take out the blueprint of the "fin-stabilized armored discarding sabot" and throw it on the table:
"Everyone here is garbage."
"The rifled cannons you have are all expensive and useless equipment. Get rid of them all!"
"Use the smoothbore gun and 'penetration' like me, or you will die!"
…
Of course, Charles would not say these words to Stokes and the researchers. There was no need to do so until the time came.
If such an advanced concept were to be known and used by others first, it would obviously not be in the interests of Charles, the capitalist.
We must make all countries in the world invest a large amount of money in rifled cannons, develop them with great difficulty, and then let them grit their teeth and scrap them.
"It's wartime, gentlemen." Charles found a perfect excuse: "You also know that the battlefield can't wait that long. We need to equip a large number of tanks in a short period of time. Especially now that France is in urgent need of manpower and material resources, we have to compromise."
Stokes and the researchers were all stunned.
What Charles said was true, and they had no way of refutation.
After a while, Stokes took the lead in expressing his agreement: "The general is right. When we develop equipment for use on the battlefield, we must consider practical considerations."
The researchers nodded one after another:
"Yes, we only consider the equipment itself without considering the actual situation."
"France has already implemented a rationing system, so it is not suitable to produce expensive rifled cannons."
"If it cannot form a sufficient scale, it will not be able to exert its due combat effectiveness on the battlefield. I agree with the general's idea!"
…
As a result, the issue was unified: the new tank gun uses a smoothbore gun with simple technology and low cost.
(Note: The smoothbore guns used in modern tanks use more complex processes to increase life and performance, so the cost is even higher than that of rifled guns. However, smoothbore guns during World War I and World War II were much cheaper than rifled guns.)
After discussing the issue, Stokes brought Shai and Djokovic into his office.
Charles was surprised to find that Stokes' office was very luxurious, covering an area of more than 100 square meters, divided into three rooms, a living room, a secretary's office, a telecommunications room, and a studio. It was equipped with all kinds of facilities and even had fitness equipment.
Charles looked at Djokovic in confusion, as this was far beyond the standards of his office.
Djokovic nodded slightly, with a smile in his eyes, as if to say: "Only in this way can we retain talents, it's worth it!"
Charles looked somewhat helpless. He wanted to say, "Father, Stokes is a traitor in principle. You don't need to worry about not being able to keep him."
Stokes enthusiastically invited the two to sit down on the sofa: "What would you like to drink?"
Charles ordered coffee, Djokovic ordered wine, and Stokes asked for a glass of wine himself.
Soon the secretary brought drinks to the group, as well as a plate of sliced apples and pastries.
These were not something that ordinary people could easily do during the period when rationing was required.
"Your son is excellent, Mr. Djoka!" Stokes smiled and clinked glasses with Djoka, complimenting him: "With just a few words, he solved a problem that we had been arguing about for several days without being able to decide."
"Thank you, Mr. Stokes." Djoka accepted it graciously: "He is really great."
Charles didn't say much. He took out a blueprint from his briefcase and handed it to Stokes: "Can you produce this, Mr. Stokes?"
Stokes took the blueprint and looked at it, with a hint of surprise in his eyes: "A gun? Why don't you give it to the artillery factory? I think they can definitely produce this kind of gun..."
"This is no ordinary gun, sir," Charles replied.
That is the Oerlikon anti-aircraft gun, which can be moved to an airplane and used as an aircraft gun after being improved.
"We have this weapon, with a similar structure." Charles explained, "It's called the Becker gun. We captured it from the Germans. I need you to improve it according to the specifications and data on the blueprint."
As he spoke, Charles handed another document to Stokes, which contained pictures and data of the Becker cannon.
Stokes said "Oh" and understood.
This is indeed what these mechanics are good at!
He put the two drawings together and compared them for a while, then confidently replied, "No problem, this doesn't look difficult!"
(End of this chapter)
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