() "Dear General Lin, I don't know why, this time your country only wanted to purchase high-explosive bombs but not armor-piercing bombs? All of your country's 12-inch main gun battleships use British artillery, but why do they all use

German artillery shells?" At the banquet held that night after the sea trial, Jericho took the opportunity to toast Lin Yongsheng and asked about something he had always cared about, which was the development direction of the Chinese navy's armaments.

Although he doesn't want to admit it, Jericho's actual action is to keep up with the pace of China's naval construction. If you build dreadnought battleships, I will also build them. China has decided to build fast battleships, so Jericho has to step up his efforts. And recently.

When he accidentally heard that the Chinese fleet had begun to drastically reduce the amount of ammunition it ordered from Britain, he initially thought it was the Chinese Republic's revenge for some unfriendly behavior towards the British Empire, but he soon discovered that things were not as simple as he thought.

First of all, China's orders for some basic industrial products from the UK have not decreased. If it is retaliation, just focusing on battleship shells would be a bit of a fuss. After all, the consumption of battleship shells is very small. After careful investigation,

Jericho discovered again that the Chinese Republic only

The order contracts for all armor-piercing bombs were cancelled. High-explosive and semi-armor-piercing bombs still use British-produced artillery shells. Once these circumstances are combined, an answer comes out. It must be that the Chinese Republic has discovered some problem, and this problem is very likely.

The problem is the quality of armor-piercing bullets!

. .

Thinking of this, Jericho only felt dizzy. If there was a problem with the artillery shells, especially if there was a problem with the armor-piercing ejection that determined the victory of the naval battle, it would have a huge impact on the outcome of the war, so Jericho needed to figure it out.

What happened to the ground?

"Your country's armor-piercing projectiles are very unstable. Not only is the picric acid explosive inside unstable, but the setting time of the fuze is too short, and it is easy to explode early, so the shell will explode before the shell can penetrate the opponent's armor. Of course.

, the only advantage of doing this is that the shells will not misfire." Lin Yongsheng also received instructions from Xu Jie, so he "revealed" some actual situations to the British in a differentiated manner.

"Are the Germans' armor-piercing bullets good? All this can be changed. General, you should have confidence in the military industry of the British Empire." Jericho asked with the last glimmer of hope.

"Although the German Empire's artillery shells have dumb bombs, relatively speaking, I still hope to use the German Empire's artillery shells. After all, their shells have a higher probability of penetrating the opponent." Lin Yongsheng said apologetically.

"Really? Can I ask, what is the armor penetration depth of the German 12-inch shells?" Jericho asked in a low voice.

"I'm sorry, this requirement is a bit overwhelming. But judging from the experimental results, it is not a big problem to penetrate the main armor of any armored cruiser within 7km." Lin Yongsheng said after a moment of thought.

"Thank you for your help. You will be the Royal Navy of the British Empire and my forever friend." After finishing speaking, Jericho quietly left the venue. He now felt that the actual situation was more dangerous than he expected. The Royal Navy

There are not only misunderstandings in the design of warships, but also various loopholes in the most basic aspects of military production. This is really terrible.

Three days later, the door to Jericho's office was pushed open. Before Jericho could speak, Thomas delivered a report to Jericho's desk.

"The situation is very bad. Our artillery shells do have the problem of premature explosion. The test results of the 12-inch 45l artillery on the shooting range were tragic. At a simulated distance of 6km, we actually couldn't even penetrate 6 inches of hardened armor.

, and this data is already lower than the actual combat data of the Chinese fleet in the Sino-Russian War!" Thomas said.

"Damn it, if such artillery shells were put on the battlefield, I'm afraid it would be difficult to penetrate even 5-inch hardened armor. We must do something. At the next naval meeting, I suggest improving the artillery shell fuses and charges," Jericho said.

.

"In addition, Sir Fisher decided to start construction of three battlecruisers at the same time. His requirements were very simple. They must have at least the firepower of no less than eight 12-inch guns, and the speed must reach more than 25 knots. In terms of defense, it is a waste of money.

Sir Sher thinks 6 inches of armor is enough." Thomas said angrily.

"I'm going to prepare now. I'm going to pay a visit to Sir Fisher in the afternoon." Jericho thought for a while and said. "Don't worry, my friend, I won't confront Sir Fisher head-on. I will take a roundabout way.

Well, just like the Roman general Fabian." Looking at his friend's concerned eyes, Jericho said with a smile.

"You have something to do with me? General Jericho, I'm very busy, at most, half an hour." Fisher frowned slightly as he looked at Jericho walking in. In fact, for Jericho, Fisher

I was not very satisfied. In his impression, Jericho was too conservative, which was not in line with the British Empire's highly offensive naval tradition.

Although Tee was capable and very aggressive, he was not able to convince the public. The reason is very simple. Jericho was at least an officer who participated in the Spanish-American War and observed two wars of the Beiyang Navy. In terms of actual combat experience, the Royal

The navy is unparalleled, so in the entire Royal Navy, Jericho is already the default commander of the Grand Fleet.

"First of all, I congratulate the Royal Navy for finally being able to completely solve the problem of armored cruiser hunting by potential hostile countries." Jericho said after entering the door. "But I have a question for Mr. Minister. Our hostile countries now have

Who? The French are already allied with us, and the Russians are about to be."

"This is an open secret among the Admiralty, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy, and maybe Turkey." Fisher thought for a while and said.

"Then Sir, if we want to deal with the Turks, three battlecruisers should be enough?" Jericho asked.

"Do we still need to use precious battlecruisers to deal with Turkey? The cruisers of the British Empire are enough. The battlecruiser will serve as an effective vanguard force of the Grand Fleet. It has only one goal, and that is the vanguard fleet of the German High Seas Fleet."

Fisher said impatiently.

"But the problem is, the firepower of my battlecruiser is equivalent to the opponent's fast battleship, but the protection is not as good as the opponent's. The speed is too high? This is a good use for escape." Jericho joked.

"With more powerful firepower and faster fire speed, we can destroy the opponent before they destroy us." Fisher said. "We have more battlecruisers. We have an absolute advantage in firepower."

"Okay, I think Mr. Minister should take a look at this report first. The data of the artillery shells used by the British Empire's warships in the test field are actually not as good as the data produced by the Chinese Navy in actual combat, and the latter uses German artillery shells.

It can be light at a distance of 8km

It is easy to penetrate the 6-inch armor and the dome armor behind it. The dome armor at a small angle has no practical effect at all. Therefore, if the two sides fight, maybe with just one shell, our battleship and the heroic Royal Navy officers and soldiers on it will be

I hate the North Sea." Jericho said.

"Hell, but people from Vickers Gun Factory said that 6-inch armor is enough to protect 12-inch main guns." Fisher said. Historically, there are deep-seated reasons why British battlecruisers adopted light protection designs.

, in addition to Fisher's plan to use battlecruisers to fight cruisers at that time, the poor quality of British artillery shells also played a key role. In British tests, the 12-inch 45l naval gun was still unable to penetrate around 1910.

9 inch armor!

Then the British used themselves to judge others, thinking that since their 12-inch naval guns could not destroy 9-inch hardened armor, then the 12-inch 50L on the German battleships could not destroy 9-inch hardened armor.

Equipped with a 9-inch high enough armor belt and dome armor behind it, it is enough to withstand the 11-inch 50l main gun of the German battlecruiser. Since the protection is enough, the weight can be used in other aspects.

But the actual results, everyone knows, because the British artillery shells are so bad, the British overestimated the effectiveness of armor, so the British made serious deviations in designing the protection of battleships and battle cruisers. The British

They are not stupid, and they are not willing to build a warship that is as fragile as paper. But now with the emergence of the butterfly Xu Jie, Britain has realized the seriousness of this problem 10 years earlier.

As for whether this will offset the advantages of the German navy? Xu Jie is not worried. The reason is very simple. Even if the soft-cap armor-piercing projectile solves the fuze and charge problems, its effect is still not very good, and in this plane,

The strength of the German Navy is much higher than before. Maybe even Bavaria can be put into service in advance. The German 15-inch naval gun can penetrate the defense of the Revenge-class battleship!

"General Jericho, how can you verify your statement?" Fisher asked.

"It's very simple. We can buy some German-made artillery shells from the Chinese Navy, and then import some artillery shells from other countries for testing and comparison. This will be enough to explain everything. But the problem now is that the relationship between the two parties has become somewhat

It's not very harmonious, so there are some difficulties." Recalling Lin Yongsheng's change in attitude, Jericho said with some worry.

"Well, this is a political issue, and the result must be borne by the navy. However, being too powerful in China is not a good thing for the British Empire. Malaya, Singapore, and Burma in Southeast Asia are all colonies of the empire. I am worried about the future.

A powerful China will not only have a strong impact on Southeast Asia, but will also have some impact on the South Asian subcontinent," Fisher said.

"This is a historical necessity. The rise of a great power is unstoppable. There is no force in the entire Far East that can contain it. Facing the crisis in Europe, I think the British Empire can still consider making appropriate concessions."

Jericho said.

"Although the Far East is gone, on the other side of the ocean, it does not mean that the country with stronger industry and technology than China will be willing to see the rise of China. Although the Pacific is large, the ambitions of the two countries are greater," Fisher said meaningfully

said.
Chapter completed!