afterglow

Chapter 457 Goal: Grilled Steamed Buns! Uranium ore is coming

Tanks, a collection of mechanical equipment, rely heavily on systems engineering, or integration capabilities.

If the integration is not good, you may have good equipment and technology, but get a bunch of industrial waste when you put them together; and the ability to integrate depends on experience, demand, and the designer's subjective initiative.

Except for Sud and Germany, the tanks equipped by all the major powers in the early stages of the war were not satisfactory and could only be said to be barely usable. It wasn't until the middle and late stages that the tanks of each company finally started to look decent.

The fact that Yiji Company can come up with such a design now seems to be qualified in Zhou Changfeng's opinion.

After all, this has just entered the 40th year, so there is plenty of time, and there is a lot of room for optimization in the prototype car.

Although there are advantages and disadvantages in other aspects, the overall layout of the Daming tank is quite advanced - the driving wheel is rear-mounted, and the corresponding gearbox is also placed at the rear of the body together with the engine.

If the driving wheel is placed in the front, it is more likely to be destroyed by fire from the front; at the same time, the gearbox is in the front of the car body, and the power needs to be transmitted to the gearbox through a transmission shaft that runs through the car body. Improper design will cause the car body to be taller.

The rear-mounted driving wheel has been the mainstream after the war, but under today's technical level, it also has the disadvantage of difficulty in shifting gears, and the operation is difficult, frustrating, and delayed.

The Plan A vehicle designed by No. 5.8 Machinery Company is 2.62 meters long, 2.65 meters wide, 21.1 meters high, and has a total combat weight of tons.

It is the first time to use welding technology to manufacture, but it is said that the defective rate is very high?

The vertical armor thickness of the front of the car body is 70mm, and the thickness of the sides of the car body is 24mm; the turret is hexagonal, the mantlet is 70mm, the front is 60mm, the left and right front sides are 38mm, and the left and right rear sides are 24mm. ㎜.

Plan B is basically the same, except that the front of the car body is changed to sloped armor - 45° relative to the normal, and the thickness is correspondingly reduced to 50mm.

Correspondingly, the weight thus saved was strengthened to the sides, and the sides of the car body were strengthened from 24mm to 38mm.

If simply calculated using the cosine formula, the sloped armor equivalent of Plan B is 50÷cos45°≈70.71㎜.

However, the actual situation is more complicated. The caliber, mass, and velocity of the artillery shell will all affect the effect of penetrating sloped armor. The more commonly used parameter is the T/D value, which is the ratio of the thickness of the armor being hit and the caliber of the incoming artillery shell.

If the incoming artillery shell is a 4mm armor-piercing projectile launched by the M75 Sherman, and the hit armor is tilted at 45°, then the T/D value is 0.66. Looking at the empirical chart, we can see that the equivalent coefficient is 1.6.

In other words, this 50㎜ sloped armor can actually exert the effectiveness of approximately 80㎜ vertical armor.

After listening to the eloquent introduction by the design team, Zhou Changfeng and several army generals were quite satisfied.

Under this ice and snow, the former, who was carried away, reached out and touched the prototype car, and the result...

The fine sweat on the skin condensed instantly, and his right hand froze directly on the steel plate. Someone else quickly poured a cup of warm tea to thaw it.

Zhou Changfeng awkwardly changed the topic, "The effect of the tilted arrangement is indeed good, but why not increase the angle? I heard that the effect of the larger tilt angle is better."

The engineer from before smiled and nodded, "That's exactly what Zhou Daizhao said, but that would require moving the driver's seat further back. The space in the car is too tight, which is inappropriate."

In order to facilitate transportation, the trial-produced Type 40 tank had some trade-offs in size. It looked slightly smaller, especially the body width, which was about 20 centimeters narrower than that of Western tanks.

The space inside the vehicle is limited. In order to ensure the comfort of the crew members and carry enough artillery shells, even the application of sloped armor is not too extreme.

As for the Christie suspension that would occupy space in the car, it was eliminated from the beginning, and the old-fashioned balanced suspension was continued to be used - good shock absorption, mature technology, and sufficient production experience.

What surprised Zhou Changfeng was that No. 80 Machinery Company specially commissioned the Shenyang Army Artillery Factory to develop a new trial-produced mm tank gun and supporting ammunition.

This is completely different from the previous style of modifying ready-made artillery and putting it on tanks.

The tank gun barrel has a diameter of 36 times, a total of 24 right-hand rifling, and a semi-automatic wedge-shaped gun bolt.

当发射80×350㎜被帽穿甲弹时，可以在500m距离上击穿垂直放置的76㎜轧制镍锰装甲钢板，在1000m时为69㎜。

The anti-explosive bomb it is equipped with is very eye-catching. This thing is actually loaded with 722g of Han's explosives, and its killing effect on soft targets is extremely good.

Han's explosive is a TNT mixed explosive, consisting of 45% TNT and 55% TNT. It is widely used by the military industry department of the Ming Dynasty to fill various explosive bombs.

As for maneuverability, the leaf spring balanced suspension that has been used for more than ten years has nothing outstanding and is very mediocre. The ten-cylinder V-shaped air-cooled gasoline engine can output a maximum of 280 horsepower, and the maneuverability is quite satisfactory.

How to comprehensively evaluate a type of tank? In addition to the three basic elements of firepower, protection, and mobility, human-machine efficiency and ease of production must also be considered.

What makes Zhou feel more comfortable is the turret basket, which appeared in the technical verification vehicle many years ago, but has never been used.

The current trial production of the Type 40 tank is also the first time that the Ming Dynasty plans to officially use the turret basket.

In this way, the commander, gunner, and loader can rotate together with the turret. When loading ammunition, the turret does not have to stop and wait for the loader, and there is no need to worry about the loader's turret seat being pinched.

【Picture】

It is worth mentioning that at the beginning of last year, someone Zhou proposed a simple but effective improvement to the Ordnance Bureau of the Ministry of War - the ammunition rack water jacket, also known as the wet ammunition rack.

As the name suggests, this is to add a hollow closed shell to the ammunition rack and fill it with water, which can significantly reduce the risk of the shell exploding.

Historically, after the M4 Sherman used wet ammunition racks, the probability of being shot and catching fire dropped sharply to 15%, which greatly increased the possibility of survival of the crew members.

Therefore, the Type 38 tank A, which was finalized and mass-produced in April last year, adopted this improvement measure.

Unsurprisingly, this good idea has been adopted today.

"Here, let me drive it and give it a try."

Zhou Changfeng was very interested and planned to test drive it himself, so several technicians at the Laizhou Proving Ground who were responsible for the test climbed out of the tank one after another.

Zhou Changfeng straightened his bloated winter clothes and got in. A well-proportioned engineer sat in the heading machine gunner's position to the right of the driver's seat.

The person outside cranked the engine and started the engine. Someone inside, Zhou, stepped on the clutch pedal and pulled the gear lever hard to try to shift into gear.

Because the gearbox is at the rear of the car body, and the gear lever is connected to the gearbox through a long cable, even with Daming's characteristic pneumatic auxiliary shifting device, it is a little difficult.

As the accelerator is stepped on, gasoline is injected into the cylinder, the V10 naturally aspirated engine makes an elegant roar, and the crank rotates rapidly to drive the driving wheel.

In terms of experience, Plan A, which is the vertically armored prototype Type 40 tank, can be said to be quite good, with enough internal space to stretch the arms and legs to a small extent. Later, Zhou tried Plan B of tilting the armor. The space was indeed reduced a lot, and he could clearly feel more cramped.

After turning over and getting out of the tank, Zhou Changfeng waved his hands and exhaled a breath of white steam, "What is the approximate price after mass production? How much does one car cost?"

An official from the Ordnance Bureau pondered for two seconds before replying with a cupped hand: "If the order is confirmed, the first purchase price is tentatively set at 84,000. If the quantity is large later, it is estimated to be 77,000."

The purchase price of Type 6.56A is yuan. After all, the trial production of Type has significantly improved, so the % price increase is reasonable.

In the Ming Dynasty, only three companies, Yanjing No. 1 Heavy Machinery Company, Yanjing Xunjie Automobile Company, and Hangzhou Huifeng Tractor Manufacturing Factory, manufactured tracked armored vehicles. It is estimated that the annual output can reach more than 3,000 vehicles during wartime.

If more resources are devoted to expanding production capacity, it will not be difficult to produce more than 4,000 vehicles per year.

However, the Ming Army's demand for tanks is not large, and it even occupies less than the current annual production capacity of more than 3,000 vehicles.

Demand determines supply. It can be said that the characteristics of the current Pacific War have put the Daming Tank on a more paranoid development path.

Under the two premise of being able to destroy enemy tanks and resist medium-power artillery, it should be as light as possible and as convenient as possible.

It is not easy to transport tanks thousands of miles across the vast ocean to the island. Naturally, the more sophisticated the better, quality is greater than quantity.

Therefore, Ming manufacturers had the leisure to choose to use the time-consuming but high-quality cold-rolling process to manufacture armor steel plates. At the same thickness, the actual ballistic resistance is about 10% stronger than the cast steel armor favored by Americans.

Moreover, the personnel of the Ordnance Bureau of the Ministry of War often like to be arrogant and critical during acceptance inspection, and will require the goods to be returned to the factory for rework if they are even slightly unqualified.

"Give up case A, case B is definitely more promising, and tilting the armor is the general trend." Zhou Changfeng finally gave his opinion.

Then he asked: "If this car is to be mass-produced, how long will it take?"

The design team of Yiji Company discussed quietly for a while, and finally gave the answer that it would take at least four months.

The Type 10 V air-cooled gasoline engine had several problems. It vibrated loudly and was prone to overheating. In addition, the tank itself also had many details that needed to be modified bit by bit.

Zhou Changfeng stared thoughtfully at the barrel of the second prototype vehicle and suddenly said: "By the way, I'm afraid this gun won't be useful in the future. Please ask the Shenyang Artillery Factory to develop a new gun. Don't say it will take four." If the diameter is more than ten times larger, the armor penetration index will have to be increased."

Although he did not understand the protective capabilities of the Sherman tank, he could roughly prove it from the side by recalling the length of the barrel of the German tank in old photos.

Anyway, the one in front of me looks a bit short, so it’s definitely not enough!

A short and stocky lieutenant colonel suggested casually: "Let's calculate it based on three inches. I think it is quite strong if it can penetrate three inches of steel plate."

"Hmm... Then let's set it as a thousand meters and one hundred millimeters vertical target. How about it?" The official of the Ordnance Bureau pushed up his glasses. "I estimate that it will be increased to forty-two or forty-four times the diameter. If you add more, It can be achieved with a burst of propellant.”

Zhou had no objection to this. He felt that this indicator should be sufficient, not to mention that the Ming Army's tungsten core sub-caliber armor-piercing projectiles were generally supplied in sufficient quantities, which could well alleviate anti-tank pressure.

Last year, he repeatedly urged the Ordnance Bureau to start the research and development of the next generation anti-tank gun as soon as possible.

The guys at the Ordnance Bureau took their time and dilly-dallyed for a few months, and now they are finally on the right track. They hope to see results this year.

Goal: skewered steamed buns!

"It's cold today, so the rest of the test is not interesting. It's just running around in circles. Let's go back to the hotel. Let's light up the stove and make a mutton pot to eat. Will Zhou Daizhao appreciate it?"

In addition to the trial production of the Type 40 medium-sized tank, this test mission also includes the wheeled assault gun that was tendered last year.

After half a year, the wheeled assault gun prototype is about to be tested, but that will be tomorrow.

The north wind is howling, the snow is falling, and the wind is freezing my hands and feet. I really can't resist the temptation of making hot pot in a warm room.

While they were enjoying the mutton stove while talking and laughing, half a world away...

In the middle of the west coast of Africa, at the mouth of the Congo River.

A merchant ship flying the flag of Tsarist Russia slowly sailed into the river mouth, and a few hours later arrived near the port terminal of Boma.

Boma is an important port city and commercial center in Congo. It was the capital of the Congo Free State decades ago.

There were more than a dozen Japanese sailors coming and going on the deck, making preparations for docking.

In the bridge, Captain Valery was talking to several Akito beside him.

One of the middle-aged men, who looked serious, said in a deep voice: "It's the same this time. Follow the previous method and be smarter. If something goes wrong, I can't forgive him!"

In this way, the merchant ship slowly docked and moored.

The second mate took a few people off the ship and started chatting with a few lazy people from the port and maritime safety bureau.

The leading Belgian took out a pencil and said with a smile: "You may not know it at sea, but your civil war is still going on. The radio says that millions of troops are fighting."

The taciturn second mate simply replied: "I don't care, no matter who succeeds, my career is on the ship."

The Belgian who was asking for trouble was a little embarrassed, laughed, and then started to register the incoming ships with a pencil.

"The Jessicabrina, registered in Russia, has a displacement of 6,000 long tons..."

The Jacobrina was an ordinary Tsarist Russian merchant ship. After it was delivered for use, it usually traveled between Odessa, Singapore, Guangzhou, and Tokyo. Most of the sailors were Japanese and Malays hired at low prices.

After Tsarist Russia fell into civil strife, the captain was stranded in Tokyo on orders from the shipping company to wait for the situation to improve, but he never received the mission.

Two months ago, this merchant ship was bought by an Annan trading company and fired the captain and half of the sailors at a high price. Later, some Annan and Ming people were welcomed in.

This was the plan of the Ming Dynasty Special Crop Research and Development Association - after learning that the Belgian colony of Hincolobwe was rich in uranium ores, everyone was thinking about how to get a ship back from there.

At first, the imperial court hoped to negotiate a separate peace with Britain or a temporary ceasefire. After all, British merchant ships suffered heavy losses in the Atlantic, and they were also tortured by the Ming Navy's submarine force in the Indo Ocean.

However, London rejected this proposal. The war cabinet headed by Winston claimed that the British Empire would never surrender unless the Ming Dynasty was willing to evacuate Singapore and Dutch East Indu.

Since there is no chance of a temporary ceasefire, we can only take a secret road.

This is the reason why the Jacobina traveled thousands of miles to come to Boma to trick Chen Cang in secret!

(End of this chapter)