Alien Arms Empire

 Chapter 710 710 New Weapons and New Countermeasures

“The superiors are forcing us to research weapons to deal with submarines. Let’s talk about any good ideas.” A Cyric engineer threw a pile of documents on the table as soon as he entered the room and said to his men.

A group of people looked sad, and one of them said: "There is no way. We have been thinking about it for so many days, and we still can't solve the most critical problem."

"Yes, we have no way to detect submarines in advance. This is the biggest problem." Another old engineer sighed and said.

 They didn’t know the word submarine before, but the radio station in Tang Dynasty told them all the corresponding words.

The opponent is almost playing a clear card: they just dive into the water with one move, but Cyric just can't think of any way to defeat such a move.

“We have developed a bomb that can be thrown into water and explode at a fixed depth.” A weapons research and development engineer then said: “This is not difficult, the difficult thing is... when to drop this bomb.”

"The shipyard has installed corresponding guide rails on the newly built destroyers for throwing such underwater bombs, but it only gives the captain a choice to attack randomly." The person next to him shook his head, depressed. said.

Without sonar, depth charges alone are actually of little use. Everyone here knows that the method of discovering the opponent is the most important.

“I suggest setting up some fishing nets near the port, big ones. Can they prevent enemy submarines from sneaking in?” An engineer sitting at another table gave his opinion.

"It's already being done. We have set up huge fishing nets at the military port of Gobl and the port of Neverwinter in Dorne. We hope it will be effective." The leader of Cyric Engineers leaned on his chair and looked helpless. Cute look.

  Recently, they are installing the same equipment on new battleships and some battleships that have returned to the dock for reconstruction.

Support rods that look like side oars are used to hang fishing nets to prevent "bombs" launched by enemy submarines from approaching the warship.

“In terms of civilian ships, there is really not much we can do. Self-defense problems that cannot be solved by warships are even less likely to be solved by civilian transport ships.” The expert on the other side shook his head and said that there was nothing he could do.

This is different from World War II. During World War II, at least destroyers had sonar, depth bombs for anti-submarine use, and fleets escorted by destroyers. Submarines also needed careful tactical arrangements to provoke them.

 But things are different now. Destroyers have nothing to do when facing submarines, and the concept of **** has no basis at all.

 Fleets can only flee when encountering submarines, let alone **** civilian ships. In this case, the transport ships of various countries can only rely on themselves.

 As he spoke, he lit a cigarette. This thing was originally only smoked by Bunas people, but it has become more and more popular and has become a very widespread habit.

After exhaling a puff of smoke, he continued: "On the one hand, we can only keep the transport ship as high as possible. This is the best method we currently know."

“The speed of a transport ship that can be fully loaded with supplies is not fast!” Another person raised a question.

"Then we can only ask them to load less!" The smoking brother became more and more unreliable. If all ships carry one-fifth less cargo, it is equivalent to saying that the shipping capacity of each country has been reduced by five-fifths. One, this loss can simply be described as despairing.

 If the loss of the sunk transport ship is added to it, the reduction in shipping capacity will only be greater, and no one can bear such consequences.

“Damn it, who would have thought that something like washing powder could become a weapon!” As he said this, an engineer collapsed a little.

"The torpedoes should be large in size, not very convenient to carry, and not cheap." A consultant from the military nearby analyzed: "They are not willing to use them. They often use small-caliber artillery to attack them after robberies. Sink our transport ship."

"Is it possible to take advantage of this and equip merchant ships with some concealed weapons...try to capture a submarine or sink the opponent!" He looked at the engineers and asked these technicians about the feasibility.

“This is feasible!” A designer immediately became excited: “We can temporarily install 90 or 100 mm caliber naval guns on some merchant ships!”

"That makes sense! It can also be used for both high and low altitudes! In this way, can merchant ships also have some air defense capabilities?" Another expert also nodded.

So everyone began to discuss everything from the choice of artillery to whether it was installed voluntarily and whether there was a fee.

 After some discussion, they decided to install side 90mm anti-aircraft guns on several transport ships under construction, so that they would have the ability to engage in artillery battles with submarines at critical moments.

 It’s just that the increased costs and additional gunner configurations need to be borne by each shipping company. “We have also experimented with some ‘torpedoes’. The principle is actually very simple, but some details still need to be improved.” Engineers who developed torpedoes joined the discussion.

After learning about the existence of torpedoes, Cyric and engineers from various countries are also studying this new weapon, hoping to equip their naval fleets with this terrible weapon.

 In fact, everyone knows very well that the threat from the underwater is very deadly, because the underwater defense of the main warships of various countries is almost zero, and they are all in a streaking state.

 It is very difficult to use artillery to sink those heavily armored battleships. Not to mention the low hit rate, the damage effect after hitting is also very average. But torpedoes are different. Only one can severely damage those expensive battleships.

And this thing does not have much technical content: everyone knows the principle of buoyancy, and only needs a simple design, referring to the principles of propeller design and artillery shells, and then building a built-in buoy to create an original torpedo.

It’s just that there are many problems with such primitive torpedoes. How to solve the sensitivity of the impact fuse in a liquid environment, how to obtain stable power from the torpedo, and how to keep the torpedo at a reasonable depth, these details cannot be solved.

Therefore, it is impossible to create a reliable and usable torpedo in a short time, but related research has already begun, and everyone has invested considerable enthusiasm in this aspect.

“We must hurry up in setting up anti-submarine nets, and then arrange more patrol ships near the reserved channels!” the military adviser suggested anxiously.

 Their navy has been really unlucky recently. The Tang Navy's new weapons are emerging one after another, which is really giving them a headache.

The main fleet, which was once sure of victory and had an absolute advantage in numbers, is now hiding here and there like a rat crossing the street. Not to mention blocking Tang's shipping, even returning to Hong Kong for supplies became an adventure.

While they were discussing various technical issues, an officer opened the door of the office and hurriedly walked in.

With a serious look on his face, he pressed a message on the table and said to everyone present: "Bad news! Very bad news! The submarines of the Tang Navy have used new tactics."

"New tactics?" After hearing the news, everyone came together and studied the message carefully, and their faces became particularly ugly.

Just now, in the Great South Bay of the Mirage Kingdom, a destroyer and seven or eight transport ships patrolling the Mirage Kingdom were lost inexplicably. It has been confirmed that the torpedo that sank the destroyer this time was not a submarine torpedo!

That thing is a kind of bomb suspended in the water, fixed by an anchor chain, and looks like a sea urchin.

 Because there are always high-intensity patrols by ships, it is very certain that there are no Tang naval warships nearby. This kind of preset "mines" that work on the same principle as landmines are obviously laid by submarines.

"The Great South Bay has been almost completely blocked now. All ships entering and leaving are on tenterhooks. The Mirage State has no choice but to organize manned diving to check the channel..." The officer who sent the message said: "They found such a 'mine', and then Know that this thing exists.”

“Damn Tang people, **** Datang Group! How come they always come up with such annoying things?” An engineer was about to collapse.

A few such mines can create panic and paralyze a port. The actual effectiveness of this thing may not be very great, but it is full of deterrence.

What's even more fatal is that they are deployed by submarines, and no one knows when they exist, making mine clearance extremely difficult.

You can't mobilize thousands of people and soak in the water every day to check whether there are submarines coming and whether there are mines, right?

 Hence, as we were worried before, reducing the transport capacity by one-fifth is still conservative. If the impact of mines on the port is calculated, it is estimated that it can protect one-half of the original shipping capacity.

This reduction in transportation capacity will cause the production capacity of the entire Anti-Tang Alliance to plummet, and even people's livelihood will be affected.

 So, although the war is unlikely to burn to the Eastern Continent, the actual impact has spread to all countries in the Anti-Tang Alliance.

 “Damn it!” The leader of the engineers became angry and punched the drawing on the table—it was a technical drawing for adding “water bombs” to existing destroyers.

Since there are no corresponding storage rooms and safety settings, this thing is just a track installed on the deck. As for where to put the bomb and how to take it out and use it, we can only use the imagination of the sailors.

This is just like those temporarily installed anti-aircraft guns. The guns are there, but the shells have to be transported from a place dozens of meters away...

It’s not that it can’t be used, it’s just not that convenient. As for the effect, it is almost similar to a placebo.

 (End of this chapter)