Chapter 1346: Sea and Sky Era (Second update, please subscribe)
The Gulf of Penas is the southernmost bay of the South American continent, bordering the Strait of Magellan to the south. In a sense, this is the end of the world.
Although this place is sparsely populated, there is a naval coal and water station deep in the bay that provides fuel and other supplies to the naval fleet. In the past year, the navy has expanded this coal and water station, not only expanding the pier, but also building an airport nearby.
In fact, the so-called airport is just a flat lawn. At the end of the airport is a group of wooden houses, with a wooden hangar on one side and a wooden dormitory on the other.
Early in the morning, Captain Lu Rende of the Imperial Navy Flying Team rubbed his sleepy eyes, washed his face casually in the basin, and brushed his teeth. Then he yawned and walked to the corridor. Standing in the corridor, he could see that the team members were all in the restaurant.
The breakfast on the big plate was not much different from the usual ones. There was a corn tortilla on the plate, with vegetables, carrots and beef rolled up in it, plus an egg and a glass of milk. This was the most common breakfast in the navy, and of course the officers and soldiers of the Navy Flight Team also ate this in the morning.
In fact, although it is located in a remote area, the food here is very rich. After all, there are farms nearby that can supply fresh beef and mutton, and there are also all kinds of seafood. However, despite this, people always miss the prosperity of the city.
But this place is far away from the city. After all, until now, aircraft are still a weapon with a very high level of confidentiality. It is precisely because of the high level of confidentiality of aircraft that training is carried out in such sparsely populated areas.
Holding a plate in his hand, Li Tianle said as soon as he sat next to the captain:
"For example, when can we conduct lightning strike tests?"
"Our aircraft has a small ammunition load, and the torpedo is so heavy, it's a question whether we can carry it."
Lu Deren couldn't help feeling a little regretful. The torpedo was too heavy and the plane's carrying capacity was small, so it couldn't carry it at all.
"But Captain, you also know that bombs usually have a good effect on lightly protected and unprotected targets. However, for those heavily armored warships with strong helmets and thick armor, the light aerial bombs carried by aircraft are insignificant. Even heavy bombs, unless they can hit the vital points by chance, it is difficult to cause fatal damage to these iron turtles. Torpedoes, as assassins from underwater, can cause great damage to the combat effectiveness of warships as long as they can hit normally, and even cause fatal injuries."
Li Tianle emphasized this deliberately.
"It only takes one torpedo to sink a battleship!"
In past training, he had been thinking about how to inflict the greatest damage to enemy ships, and later he thought that only torpedoes were the most suitable weapons.
"Captain, I think this is entirely possible. The height of the air-dropped torpedo should be about 3 to 6 meters, which is about the same as the height of the torpedo boat launching the torpedo. The launch distance should be between 500 and 800 meters. When air-dropping torpedoes, the aircraft should be like a torpedo boat, flying in a straight line as much as possible to give the torpedo an initial heading, and then aiming and dropping the bomb like a torpedo boat."
Li Tianle is now like a tactical expert, he has studied for a long time. The only thing he needs is a light torpedo.
"Captain, I think we can give it a try! If we succeed, we'll have more ways to attack!"
Li Tianle said confidently while looking at the captain.
"I heard from the officers and soldiers on the ship that the navy did have light torpedoes in the early days. We can apply to try it out. If it doesn't work, we can apply to manufacture a small torpedo."
"Captain, I think we can give it a try. If we bomb, it will be difficult for the bomb to hit the target directly unless we lower the altitude as much as possible. But if the altitude is too low, the initial velocity of the bomb will not be enough to penetrate the deck, and the damage caused to the enemy ship will always be very limited. If we can use torpedoes, it will definitely be more effective than bombs."
Faced with the persuasion of his comrades, Lu Deren thought for a while and then said.
"Are there indeed light torpedoes in the Navy's warehouses?"
"We can just look for it in the warehouse! If they say it's there, then it must be there."
At this time, a soldier came over, picked up the kettle and poured a cup of coffee for each of the officers, then left quietly.
Glancing at the coffee in front of him, Lu Deren frowned and said:
"Look in the warehouse..."
"Captain, we have to do something."
Picking up the coffee, Lu Deren drank it slowly. At the end, he nodded vigorously and said.
"In that case, let's go to the warehouse today and try our luck."
Li Tianle raised his coffee cup and took a sip comfortably.
"I dare say we are very lucky."
Their luck was indeed good. Although the Imperial Navy mainly used 540 mm large torpedoes, due to the limitations of the size of steel gas cylinders in the early days, the torpedoes produced in the early days were all 356 mm light torpedoes.
There were indeed some light torpedoes stored in the inventory of the naval station warehouse. After all, they had conducted torpedo training here in the early years when the torpedo boats were not yet secret.
Five days later, three Holly attack aircraft were parked quietly on the lawn. This was a naval-specific biplane developed with the support of the navy. It used a seven-cylinder radial engine with a power of up to 195 horsepower. The two racks under the wings could carry six 50-kilogram bombs or a 300-kilogram bomb on the belly. The rear machine gunner could operate a 7.5mm Type 10 machine gun.
"299.5 kilograms, plus the newly welded bracket, it's exactly 300 kilograms..."
Standing next to the plane, bending over and staring at the light torpedo under the belly of the plane, Li Tianle smiled and patted it.
"It's exactly what we prepared, not a pound more or less..."
"Haha, you're so beautiful. Be careful when dropping bombs. These torpedoes were produced more than ten years ago. You have to control the speed..."
"Captain, don't worry!"
More than ten minutes later, three sea hollies took off one after another and quickly formed a wedge formation and flew westward. After they flew to the target area, they soon saw a reef full of targets. Staring at the reef, Li Tianle took a deep breath. When he lowered the altitude, Lu Deren flew the plane to keep a certain distance from him. The machine gunner in the back seat did not operate the machine gun, but held a small camera to film the test process.
"It can't go any lower..."
Looking from the air, Lu Deren even felt that the plane was almost flying close to the sea surface.
The aircraft's altimeter was now pointing to "0". While maintaining the "0" altitude, Li Tianle continued to adjust the course. In that instant, he even felt the splashing waves falling on him.
In front of him, the dark shadow of the reef grew larger and clearer. In his eyes, the shape of the reef turned into a warship, which was simply the perfect target!
"attack!"
When the distance was between 400 and 500 meters, Li Tianle pulled the bomb rod. The heavy torpedo sank into the water the moment it entered the water, then floated up again, accompanied by a particularly eye-catching trail of white bubbles, and headed straight towards the target.
"Captain, the torpedo drop was successful, successful..."
There was no need for the machine gunner to remind him. Lü Deren could see the white trail and could clearly see him running towards the target, just like running towards a warship...
(End of this chapter)
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