Now that the internal combustion engine has begun to appear, the development direction of weapons will appear in more categories. It is no longer enough to rely on just a few people such as Fang Xiaoyu and Xu Shouchang. Therefore, Fang Xiaoyu decided to set up a weapons laboratory to specialize in the development of various weapons for the navy and army.
Fang Xiaoyu personally serves as the head of the weapons laboratory. With Fang Xiaoyu who is familiar with the laws of weapons development, this laboratory will design more and better weapons without making any detours.
Holland began to design a new submarine based on diesel engines, and Li Zhonggong was brought in by Fang Xiaoyu to start preliminary research on tanks and aircraft, especially the independent suspension system of tanks. In addition, Fang Xiaoyu also specialized in building the world's first aircraft test vehicle.
Wind tunnel.
Deng Jiaxiang began the development of TNT explosives and white phosphorus incendiary bombs, Tesla began pre-research on electric transmission devices for warships and tanks, and the artillery research laboratory led by Zhang Hui undertook artillery research for both the navy and the army.
In the current Zhonghua Ling Technology Department, Fang Xiaoyu has established a complete structure for civilian technology. With Xiaofeng's technical support, it will operate with high efficiency even if Fang Xiaoyu doesn't care.
This time Fang Xiaoyu built the structure of the military research department again, so that the scientific research department of China Leader was officially completed. In the future, even without the help of Xiaofeng, there will be no problem. It will still be one of the few large-scale research departments in the world.
mechanism.
In March 895 of the Taiyuan calendar, Fang Xiaoyu began to build five battleships and ten cruisers for the St. Martin Empire at major shipyards in the Lanfang Empire. In order to boost morale, the St. Martin Empire vigorously promoted its new power in the country.
News of the advanced nature of the custom-built warships quickly spread to the Boston Empire, which greatly panicked their government.
The best battleship currently recognized in the world is the 'Lanting' class of the Chinese Navy. If they sell this kind of warship to the St. Martin Empire, it will pose a great threat to the Boston Empire.
In order to avoid military passivity, the Boston Empire decided to use a battle to severely damage the St. Martin Empire's navy before it became stronger, and severely hit the St. Martin Empire. A conspiracy against the St. Martin Empire quietly unfolded.
The Central South-South Alliance is a national alliance composed of six small countries, Mara, Salva, Honduras, Nicara, Costa Rica, and Chiapas, for self-protection. The capital is located in Salva.
City of Alva.
The Central-Southern Alliance is located at the intersection of the northern and southern continents of the New World, bordering the Saint Martin Empire to the south and the Kingdom of Moss to the north. This is the dividing point between the northern and southern parts of the New World and is also the narrowest part of the entire New World. Its land area is less than one hundred
Thousands of square kilometers, the internal terrain of the alliance is complex and the population is small. The people mainly rely on agriculture, fishery and maritime transportation for their livelihood.
Since the Central and Southern Alliance was weak and had always maintained neutrality, the Boston Empire and the St. Martin Empire did not want to expand the war indefinitely and harm their own economic interests.
In order to limit the war to the mode of naval warfare, both sides also recognized the neutral status of the Central Yugoslavia Alliance and regarded it as a buffer zone. Therefore, the Central Yugoslavia Alliance has been relatively stable for many years, with only a small domestic standing army and even no navy.
In July 895, the St. Martin Empire received a piece of information stating that the Boston Empire sent its Tempest Ocean Fleet to escort a division of the army to prepare to land in the Central South Alliance. After occupying there, it would dig a canal in the narrowest part of the entire continent to facilitate the two sides.
The foreign fleets could cooperate with each other. This news was like a bolt from the blue, which panicked Augustus I.
The St. Martin Empire has always been in a weak position. The reason why the two sides can maintain a balance of power is that in addition to the continuous support of the powerful countries in the Western Continent, another advantage is the geographical location.
Because the sea to the north of the Boston Empire is covered with snow all year round and there are many icebergs, there is no route to travel with, making it impossible for the two ocean fleets to join forces. The Saint Martin Empire relies on the straits in the south to allow the two ocean navies to join forces, so that it can maintain a balance of power.
Once the Boston Empire can also gather all its fleets, its naval power will far exceed the nightmare of the St. Martin Empire. At that time, the St. Martin Empire's navy will be in catastrophe.
Knowing the seriousness of the situation, Augustus I immediately ordered the main fleet to maneuver towards the coastline of the Prosperous Ocean of the Central and Southern Alliance, ready to intercept the landing of the Boston Empire at any time. At the same time, the two divisions of the army were on standby at the border of the Central and Southern Alliance. Once things changed, they would rush into Central and South Africa.
Alliance, occupy key areas to resist the attack of the Boston Empire.
Marshal Dinant is leading the main fleet of the Saint Martin Empire to search for enemies on the Tempest Ocean. This fleet has concentrated all the essence of the entire Saint Martin Empire navy, including eight ironclads, eleven cruisers and forty-one wooden ships of various types.
Warships and a large number of supply ships.
This time their mission is to prevent the Bostonians from transporting troops to the Central and Southern Alliance. They want to find the Boston Empire's Tempest Ocean Fleet and strive to sink the troop transport ships it guards.
The Prosperous Ocean is different from the gentle sea surface of the Eastern Ocean. The winds and waves here are always high, so the warships serving in the Prosperous Ocean all have one characteristic: their hulls are wide.
This kind of warship has relatively high stability, small hull roll, and the artillery can have a high hit rate in big waves. However, this design also brings a disadvantage: slow speed, difficult steering, and a large deck area exposed to attack.
The structural strength is reduced, so most warships traveling in the Eastern Ocean do not adopt this design, but adopt a larger aspect ratio to obtain better flexibility.
The fleets of the St. Martin Empire are all stubby ships unique to the Ocean of Tempests. In addition to the fact that the main operations of the Empire of St. Martin are in the Ocean of Tempests, the St. Martin Empire itself cannot build warships, and purchasing them from the countries on the Western Continent is also one of the reasons.
Because the warships purchased from the countries in the Western Continent will naturally not be redesigned for the St. Martin Empire, and they will need to build the country's existing ship types. The countries in the Western Continent are located on the east coast of the Tempest Ocean, so naturally they are all stubby ship types.
At this moment, Marshal Dinant is sitting on such a short and stubby warship. This flagship is the 'Sibai' class ironclad ship purchased by the Saint Martin Empire from the Saar Empire five years ago.
This type of ironclad ship abandoned the waterline armored belt that was popular in the Western Continent at the time, and instead adopted armored fortress-style armor that concentrated defense on key areas. This design optimized the armor composition, reduced weight, and greatly increased the speed.
The turrets of this kind of warship are also very unique. Since the Western Continent pursues a bow engagement strategy that is different from the Chinese leader's side engagement method, arranging the turrets along the central axis cannot allow the front and rear turrets to turn to the bow or stern of the ship to attack at the same time, like
A naval gun arrangement like that of the Chinese leader is considered to be a design that cannot exert maximum firepower.