Alien Arms Empire

 Chapter 680680The great development of the Tang Dynasty’s navy

How could the arms race be without the Tang Kingdom?

In fact, the arms race in the Tang Kingdom never stopped from the beginning. Tang Mo has been thinking of ways to update the weapons and equipment of the Tang army without stopping for a moment.

The Tang Navy was not frightened by the crazy military expansion plans of various navies, and even joined the arms race crazily.

 According to the plan, the Tang Navy will equip more than 20 submarines before the next war to cut off the transportation and supply lines of hostile countries and severely damage the enemy's main fleet.

There is no need to say more about the combat effectiveness of these submarines, because the enemy is completely unaware of the existence of these submarines, so they have no sense of preparedness at all.

Tang Mo even felt that his submarine force could definitely enter the port and massacre the enemy's warships! The Tang Navy could even do a sneak attack like Prien's to hunt down the Royal Oak battleship many times!

As long as the Tang State does not sell related technologies, those countries will not even have anti-submarine means! They would not have depth charges, nor would they have any anti-submarine tactics.

Just like the aircraft in the Battle of Tang Qi, the opponent had no way to deal with the submarine and could only watch its own ship being sunk by the submarine!

In addition to submarines, Tang Mo also installed torpedoes on newly produced standard destroyers, giving these small warships the ability to challenge large warships.

The Tang Navy is fully equipped with torpedoes, a powerful weapon. As a secret weapon, its power can definitely allow the Tang Navy to give their opponents a big surprise.

 It was not until this stage that Tang Mo finally took out a World War II-era destroyer.

  The new destroyer is equipped with five 127 mm caliber naval guns and a large number of anti-aircraft guns for air defense. The trump card against large enemy warships is the torpedo launch tube installed in the middle of the hull.

This new type of destroyer is actually a Fletcher-class destroyer, except that Tang Mo changed the torpedo launcher in the middle to a German caliber, and the torpedoes he took out were German versions.

In order to take care of the torpedoes used by U-boats, Tang Mo had to slightly modify the torpedo launch tubes on the Fletcher-class destroyers. Both have a caliber of 533 mm, so the five-unit design was maintained. .

However, overall, it is still the design of a Fletcher-class destroyer, with air defense capabilities, sea warfare capabilities, and anti-submarine capabilities, and is well balanced in all aspects.

 This is also one of the main reasons why Tang Mo chose this type of destroyer: what he needs is a balanced destroyer that can be mass-produced without changing the model!

As a general-purpose destroyer with nearly two hundred planned to be produced during World War II, the design of the Fletcher class is actually very reasonable.

 It has a laundry room and a high-standard galley, suitable for ocean voyages, and can be used for a variety of tasks.

 At the same time, it has a fast speed, sufficient weapons, and no obvious flaws. It can definitely be said to be a very successful destroyer.

What is even more satisfactory is that the Fletcher-class destroyer is equipped with sea and air search radars, and is also equipped with sonar, which can serve as a warning and **** mission.

 As another secret weapon of Tang Mo, radar is also being equipped on a large scale by troops, especially naval warships.

 For Tang Mo, the navy's warships are also not cheap, so he also hopes to provide the navy with the best weapons and equipment to reduce his own losses.

 The entire battleship has a displacement of 3,000 tons, a length of 115 meters, a width of 12 meters, and a draft of 5.5 meters. The maximum speed can reach an astonishing 68 kilometers per hour, which is already the ultimate speed of the destroyer.

Even in the 21st century, the speed of the main destroyers of various countries is only this speed, and the improvement is not big.

 In addition to five 127 mm caliber naval guns, the deck is also equipped with twin Bofors 40 mm caliber anti-aircraft guns, 20 mm caliber Oerlikon machine guns, and a large number of anti-aircraft machine guns.

In addition, a large number of 12.7 mm caliber anti-aircraft machine guns were installed everywhere. This time Tang Mo gritted his teeth and came up with an ammunition caliber for the navy...

 He was also helpless, because the MG42 machine gun could no longer be used casually, and its power on a warship was really too small. Therefore, we had no choice but to use 12.7 mm caliber heavy machine guns, and the naval logistics department could only admit it with pinched noses when there was an extra caliber.

At the same time, the design of the Wolf-class cruiser was completely outdated, so Tang Mo came up with a new design of a light cruiser and completely stopped the construction of the Wolf-class cruiser. The brand new battleship is the Cleveland-class light cruiser built by the United States during World War II. It is basically a destroyer leader, and it is also a very good anti-aircraft cruiser.

The main reason why Tang Mo chose this pre-World War II cruiser that was neither high nor low was that it was of suitable tonnage and could be used as a transitional warship.

He had previously thought about using the Des Moines-class cruiser, but the displacement of 20,000 tons was the same as the Dongwan-class battleship used by the Tang Navy, which would inevitably be too wasteful.

You must know that nowadays, all countries are generally building battleships as the main force of naval warfare. The 203 mm caliber main gun of the Des Moines class cruiser is indeed not powerful enough. This makes the main gun automatic loading system on the Des Moines class cruiser seem a bit useless.

So Tang Mo decided to abandon the heavy cruiser route and just build some light cruisers to strengthen the fleet's air defense.

After all, he knew about the technology tree of aircraft carriers, and his fleet would definitely be built around aircraft carriers in the future, so heavy cruisers and battleships had been excluded by Tang Mo.

Although big ships and big guns are a man's romance, they are too primitive compared to aircraft carriers.

 But Tang Mo cannot only produce destroyers, as that would make the navy's fleet look too thin. Therefore, Tang Mo still needs some cruisers and battleships to "line up". He needs large battleships to withstand the enemy's close attack.

  After all, early aircraft carriers had no combat effectiveness at night. After dark, they could only rely on battleships and cruisers for protection.

 The Cleveland-class has a displacement of 10,000 tons, a purely anti-aircraft gunboat design, and a high speed, which fully meets Tang Mo's requirements for a "cruiser". It wasn't the best, but it was the most suitable for Tang Mo to use for transition. !

In addition, Tang Mo is also building two brand-new battleships. Instead of using 406 mm caliber main guns, they use Desan's 380 mm caliber.

Since it was the research and development expenses provided by the Dornish Navy, Tang Mo decided to use them directly: Tang Mo’s new battleship was a Bismarck-class battleship!

This is actually a strange choice: in theory, there are many better battleships than the Bismarck-class battleships of the three German navies. The design ideas for comprehensive protection of the German navy's battleships are not advanced, and the performance of the Bismarck-class battleships is not outstanding.

But in order to serve as a human shield for the aircraft carrier, Bismarck's choice met the requirements: Japan's Yamato-class battleships were too expensive, the American Iowa was a battle cruiser and too fragile, the Hood was even less good, and the maintenance The Neto-class was hit by one shot, and after counting, Bismarck seemed to be stronger.

 It is used as a human shield anyway, as long as it is strong, it is enough. Tang Mo was not prepared to let his battleship act alone, and small problems in the details could be easily solved.

It’s just that the German 37mm caliber handguns on the Bismarck-class battleships are really **** and must be replaced. Tang Mo modified his new battleship with a 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft gun and a 20mm Oerlikon cannon.

 The original 128mm caliber high and flat dual-purpose gun has also been changed to 127mm, which is common to naval destroyers. At the same time, some armor designs of the entire battleship have been modified to improve the battleship's protective capabilities, increasing the displacement to 53,000 tons in one go!

 The new warship is also equipped with a new radar and a fire control system, but all of this is still on the drawing board.

In order to confuse other countries, Dongwan-class battleships are still being built continuously, but these new Dongwan-class battleships are ready for sale. Two of them will be sold to the Dornish Empire, and the existing five will also be sold in the future.

The real killer move of the Tang Navy is the aircraft carrier that has already laid the keel on Dragon Island and started construction in secret.

 The sea conditions in the Endless Sea were very good most of the time, so when Tang Mo chose the aircraft carrier, he did not choose the British and German aircraft carriers with Atlantic ship design. Ark Royal and Zeppelin were eliminated.

The fully enclosed bow and hangar severely reduced the number of carrier-based aircraft, which Tang Mo couldn't bear. At the beginning, he had few aircraft carriers. If he couldn't install more carrier-based aircraft, he would definitely flip the table.

The chimneys built by the islanders who were living a good life were too ugly and poor in performance, so Tang Mo was not willing to use them.

 So the American Essex-class aircraft carrier with the best performance and beautiful appearance became Tang Mo's first choice. Anyway, the technical difficulty of building aircraft carriers during World War II was not very high, so you could just copy them.

  After all, the Essex-class aircraft carrier can be said to be a very successful World War II aircraft carrier design. There is no need to look far away to find other aircraft carriers for modification.

As for the carrier-based aircraft, Tang Mo plans to continue to use his FW-190 and Stuka first. After all, the performance of the beautiful country's early carrier-based aircraft was not very good. When it is really necessary to improve the performance of carrier-based aircraft, it will not be too late for him to come up with designs such as pirates.

  Anyway, the performance of the Stuka and FW-190 Butcher fighter jets is definitely sufficient now, and it is okay to maintain some commonality with Air Force aircraft. The Stuka dive bomber production factory built on Dragon Island is now seizing time to modify the prototype so that the Stuka has the ability to carry torpedoes. As for dive bombing, that is the Stuka dive bomber's specialty and does not require any modification at all.

 (End of this chapter)