Chapter 974 1063 Drill

"Is this the new batch of bird boats?"

At this time, Yu Dayou and a group of naval officers stood beside a three-masted sailboat about thirty meters long.

Compared with the tall Dafu boats that Yu Dayou likes, the sides of the bird boats are obviously much lower.

In addition, because these bird boats are suitable for long-distance voyages, the hulls are more than ten meters longer than traditional boat hulls, so there are some overall changes. That is to learn from the centipede boat and add four paddles to these bird boats.

The original bird boat had four oars and one oar, so it was not as maneuverable as the centipede boat with twenty oars.

These large bird boats already have eight oars and one oar, which at least maintains the original maneuverability of the bird boats.

The biggest change is on the side of the ship. On the side of the ship facing the dock, ten windows have appeared, which should be the gun windows.

"Have the cannon been delivered?"

Yu Dayou walked to the springboard with great interest and asked as he walked.

Soon after getting on the deck, Deng Zilong stood beside Yu Dayou and whispered: "A batch of artillery has been sent, the number is twenty less, but I asked them to transfer some from other ships. All ten bird boats are loaded Okay, there are a lot of them.”

Yu Dayou looked back and forth on the deck. The standard Ming army warship configuration was that as long as the hull could withstand it, large cannons would be installed on the bow and stern.

On the bird ship below, there is a long and slender Hongyi cannon on the front and rear of the hull.

This type of artillery with a long barrel and spindle-shaped structure is quite easy to identify among the many firearms used by the Ming Dynasty. It is too conspicuous.

And inside the body, next to the gun window, there are twenty guns placed as a whole.

The Faji is a type of Western-style artillery imitated and improved by the Ming Dynasty. It is generally made of copper, so it is also called the Bronze Faji. It was improved after the Ming Dynasty obtained the Franconian artillery technology during the Zhengde period. It was originally named the Franconian. Big copper gun.

In fact, the Franco machine is not the model of the gun, but the source, which is manufactured by the Franco machine technology.

During the Zhengde period, the Franco machine artillery technology acquired by the Ming Dynasty included not only the rear-loaded Franco machine cannon, but also the front-loaded engine.

Because Fajie is a front-loaded cannon, unlike the Franco machine gun, it does not use sub-cannons for rapid reloading. In order to facilitate the distinction, the name of the Franco machine gun was directly changed to Fajie.

In fact, the Faji can be regarded as the early Hongyi cannon, but at this time in Europe, early eagle cannons such as the Faji had been eliminated.

Although the rate of fire is much slower, the firing range is longer because the barrel is fully enclosed, which is very close to the principle of the Hongyi cannon.

The only difference is that the whole body of the Hongyi cannon is smoother and slender, and the powder chamber in the middle of the cannon body is larger and can hold more gunpowder. The barrel is shorter than the Hongyi cannon, but it is still shorter than the original Ming army cannon. There are many firearms.

Correspondingly, because there is more gunpowder, the vibration when firing the engine is not small. In the past, only the Dafu ship could install the engine on the bow and stern of the Ming Dynasty warships, and it could not be installed on the hull at all.

In fact, after seeing the power of Western-style warship warfare, the naval officers and craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty were also looking for ways to solve the problem of placing cannons on the hull.

However, the shipbuilding technology of the Ming Dynasty was obviously different from that of Western shipbuilding. The warships manufactured by the Ming Dynasty could not simply move the artillery to the hull for use.

Because when the artillery salvo fires, the huge vibration will cause irreparable damage to the hull, so the only firearms that can be arranged on the sides of Ming warships are Fran cannons.

However, the poor range of the Fran cannon was naturally unable to meet the tactical needs of the navy.

But in the hull of this bird boat, there were twenty hairpins, which made Yu Dayou marvel.

It is obviously different from the hairpins we have seen before. The hairpin in front of us is placed on a raft instead of being directly fixed to the hull.

Yu Dayou was keenly aware that the raft under the ship may be the key to solving the problem of gunfire on the hull.

Pointing to the raft under his hair, Yu Dayou asked: "What is this and what is its use?"

Deng Zilong immediately smiled and said: "This raft is to solve the problem of hull vibration when firing cannons."

With that said, Deng Zilong walked over with Yu Dayou, pointed to the raft and the raft and said: "The raft is on top of the raft, and is connected to the side of the ship with ropes instead of the deck.

As soon as the raft is sent out, it will inevitably fall back. There are ropes on the raft to restrain it, and there are ropes on the raft. If you still can't sit down, there is waxy wood behind the raft. There is a soft seat on it to withstand the strong force, and there is a big cable to hold it back. Control the residual power.

The retreating force of the launch can be basically offset by the two ropes and the final soft seat, and the force acts on the side of the ship, which is also reinforced and can withstand multiple cannon fires. "

Yu Dayou bent down and carefully observed the expansion and contraction of the hairpin and the connection between the raft and the ship's side. He also saw the cork behind the raft, and then nodded.

"Whether it works or not, you will know once you try it after going to sea."

This time he went to sea, there was actually no mission. The main purpose was to test the power of this bird ship's cannon to see whether it could do what he hoped.

"If this is feasible, what if we replace the weapon with a Hongyi cannon?"

Yu Dayou stood up straight again, thought about it and asked again.

"The Hongyi cannon is longer and takes up more space to reload."

Deng Zilong gestured at the length before continuing: "If the bird ship is replaced with a Hongyi cannon, the number of firearms it carries will probably be reduced by half.

Now there is one Hongyi cannon at the bow and stern of the bird ship, and twenty cannons are arranged on the hull, for a total of twenty-two in the whole ship.

If all the Hongyi cannons were replaced, the ship would probably only be able to accommodate eight to ten cannons. If there were more, they would not be able to move around and would be difficult to load. "

Because it is a front-loading gun, the gun must be dragged back into the hull for loading, rather than placed on the runway.

So once loading begins, ten guns are pulled into the hull, and space must be made for the gunners, so the cabin appears narrow and crowded.

The gunboats of this period not only pay attention to the accuracy of the gunfire, but also the loading speed, and the very important range.

The fast-firing falconets will be abandoned, and only a few will be placed on the deck of the ship to prevent the enemy from boarding the ship. It is because the range is too short that they are directly replaced by cannons, or the red cannons of this period.

Of course, the modified bird ship this time is equipped with more than 20 guns, which is really incomparable to the Western warships at this time, and is only close to the level of Western armed merchant ships operating on the East Asian sea at this time.

These armed merchant ships carry only 20 to 30 guns, while the standard Western warships are equipped with more than 50 guns, and there are even galleons with 100 guns and three or four decks.

More than ten years later, the large galleons that appeared in Europe were the pinnacle of the sailing age. They had a displacement of up to 2,000 tons, almost ten times that of the Ming army's bird ships. The hull had seven decks and carried hundreds of various cannons.

You can imagine how powerful the salvo of this warship was when seventy or eighty cannons fired in one direction at the same time.

Of course, the cannons carried on Western warships were not of the same type, but often four or five types of cannons, so the broadside salvo was not all cannons firing in one direction at the same time.

The great success of the galleon made it the design standard for warships, including battleships, until the end of the sailing age.

Among them, the requirements for seaworthiness and firepower were the overriding conditions, so as to seize favorable positions and exert superior firepower in battle.

A few decades later, in the 17th century, the main sailing ships in the Anglo-Dutch War were all galleons with low sides, horizontal sails, and cannons on both sides. Many such ships were lined up in a long row to give full play to the firepower advantage of both sides. This was also the first time the name "battleship" was used.

"Notify them that the supply is completed and the fleet will go out to sea immediately, aiming at Beigang."

Yu Dayou ordered.

It is definitely not okay to stop at the dock to watch the ship. It must be pulled out to test it at sea, and let ten bird ships conduct several rounds of artillery tests to determine the feasibility.

"Yes, order."

Deng Zilong bowed immediately.

Then he turned his head and ordered the generals behind him to urge the sailors to complete the transportation of supplies as soon as possible.

As all the supplies were transported to the ship, a burst of cannons sounded, and more than a hundred warship cables were untied. With the oars rowing, one warship after another left the dock and headed towards Hangzhou Bay.

After leaving Hangzhou Bay, the fleet immediately headed south and headed for Beigang, north of Dongfan Island.

"Full sail, try the speed of this ship."

This time, Yu Dayou did not return to his favorite ship, the Dafu ship, but stayed directly on the bird ship. He wanted to see the speed of this new bird ship with his own eyes and see the power of more than ten cannons when they were fired.

With the hard sails hoisted, the speed of the bird ship increased significantly, and soon surpassed other warships around.

"Not bad, the speed is still so fast."

Although there is no speedometer, Yu Dayou has been staying at sea for many years and has a strong sensitivity to the speed of the ship. He still feels that the speed of this ship is not much slower than the ten-meter-long bird ship in the past.

As it enters the channel, the boat sways slightly, and the whole ship cuts slightly to the left, making a perfect right turn, and the course has been aimed at the approximate location of Beigang.

The Nanyang Navy is still in the early stages of developing Dongfan Island, and the banner is also to suppress the Japanese, but it has found a suitable port in the north of Dongfan Island to establish Beigang, and built a new port in the south.

When sailing around the island, the lair of the Lin Feng pirate group was discovered. After a round of siege, it was found that this place was also an excellent seaport, so a base was also established in Wanggang.

Wanggang is located in the southeast of Dongfan Island, close to the middle of Dongfan Island. The establishment of three military ports is perfect.

It's just a pity that there are many mountains on the east side of Dongfan Island, and no suitable location was found to build a military camp. Otherwise, there would be military ports on all sides, and the defense of the entire Dongfan Island would be perfect.

Despite this, the mountains on the east side are actually conducive to defense, at least not suitable for other fleets to dock and large-scale landing.

As long as the navy sends fleets to patrol around the island regularly, the safety of Dongfan Island is guaranteed.

With the help of the Fujian people who had been to Dongfan Island in the early years, the South China Sea Navy landed on Dongfan Island and did not encounter hostility from the natives on the island, although they were still on guard against each other.

Anyway, it is impossible for the Ming Dynasty court to collect taxes from these natives in a short period of time.

However, it seems that this is not under the jurisdiction of Yu Dayou. He is only in charge of the military camps on the island and the surrounding land.

After the garrison is moved here, the island natives will be considered to surrender.

Not long after, a bird boat has left the fleet. Yu Dayou saw a small reef on the sea surface in front of the right with the help of a telescope, and immediately had an idea.

He called Deng Zilong and pointed out the location of the small reef a few miles away. He ordered: "Ten bird boats surround that reef and fire for me. I want to see the effect."

In fact, Yu Dayou has seen dozens of artillery fire, but that was a land battle, which was far less shocking than on a warship.

After all, how wide a distance would it take to pull out twenty or thirty artillery in a row.

But on a narrow warship, so many artillery can be deployed, and the visual effect is naturally incomparable.

Deng Zilong immediately asked the flag bearer to send the rest of the bird boats forward and backward, asking them to adjust their course and quickly approach the small reef.

At this time, the maximum range of the red cannon cast by the Ming Dynasty was about two miles. The longer the range, the lower the hit rate.

The effective range of the cannon was even shorter, only one mile.

This time, the power of the broadside salvo was mainly considered, so it was natural to choose to fire cannons, so the fleet could only slow down and slowly approach the reef.

After several consecutive laps around the small reef, the main force of the navy fleet had arrived nearby, and Deng Zilong came to report: "Admiral, the route has been surveyed properly, there are no reefs around, and you can sail freely for artillery fire."

When coming over, the bird boat slowed down, fearing that there were reefs under the sea nearby.

After several laps, it was confirmed that the surrounding area was safe waters, so it was natural to conduct artillery fire drills at high and slow speeds.

"Let's start."

Yu Dayou didn't say anything when Deng Zilong gave orders before, but just watched him give orders quietly. He was finally satisfied that he didn't rashly let the fleet approach and start firing.

In fact, he deliberately tested him when he gave orders. If he rashly ordered the fleet to go over, he would immediately order to stop.

Deng Zilong passed his test this time, and he could let him lead the fleet to sea independently in the future.

Soon, under the command of the flag bearer's flag signal, ten bird boats surrounded the small reef in a semicircle, and in the cabin, the gunners were nervously and quickly preparing for the firing.

After the preparations were completed, as Deng Zilong shouted to fire, starting with this boat, ten bird boats gradually fired a round of artillery.

"Boom boom boom"

For a while, the sound of artillery on the sea was deafening, and water splashed around the small reef.

At this time, the speed of the ship was not fast, and the sails had been lowered to slow down the speed of the ship, so the hit rate was still good at this time.

Although Yu Dayou could not see any shells hitting the reef through the telescope, the splashes within a few meters were clearly visible.

If it was a large ship, several shells would have hit the hull.

The bird boat still sailed around the reef, and soon, the preparations for the second round of shelling were completed.

Yu Dayou estimated the time. Within the time of the Navy Drill, this group of gunners were obviously not newcomers, but skilled gunners transferred from other ships.

Yu Dayou was actually quite satisfied with the previous shelling effect, but it was a pity that it was not a red cannon, but a cannon, which was still a bit shorter than the range.

However, he had just seen that it was not easy to place twenty cannons in the narrow cabin, so he naturally could not expect too much.

This was not due to other reasons, but the limitations of the Ming Dynasty's shipbuilding technology, unless the Western shipbuilding method was adopted.

As the speed of the ship increased, the hit rate naturally decreased. When the bird boat reached a high speed, only a few shells fell near the reef.