Battle of the Third Reich Chapter 231: Sona, torpedo (below)

The development process of the Japanese oxygen torpedo can be used to make an inspirational movie if you don't look at the background of the story. The Technician’s Blood Laboratory has become a daily plot. The Japanese Navy even customized a suit of bullet-proof isolation screens specifically for this project. This is where torpedo engines are being developed.

Because the torpedo project is a navy secret, the technical department responsible for R&D cannot hire external experts, and can only explore on its own with past experience. These people may be experts in machinery and manufacturing, but the problem is actually the fuel used. Above, all the R&D teams are laymen on this issue. The result is conceivable. The technicians continue to improve the structural parameters of the engine, but the result is to replicate the tragic failure time and time again. To say that this kind of repeated defeat and reluctance to give up is still very emotional, but it is against Looking at it, these people bombed so many times, they didn't even fully understand the reason and principle of the explosion.

The R&D staff only knew that after inputting oxygen with a purity of more than 25% into the combustion chamber, the engine exploded into a ball of fire as soon as it started. When they asked them why this was the case, a group of people would just scratch their heads bitterly. However, they obtained a bunch of detailed and reliable data from countless explosions, which laid a solid technical foundation for the successful development of the final oxygen torpedo.

The key to the ultimate solution to the problem was found by people outside the Japanese Navy. At that time, the Japanese Navy Ship Management Headquarters saw that such bombing was not an option, and it seemed that it would be impossible not to seek foreign aid, so it was ready to pay for the hiring of professionals to join the project's research.

It’s just that the navy’s funding at the time was also tight. Some spare money was all used to build warships. Finally, the commissioned research fund approved by the Marine Administration Headquarters was 7,000 yen. At present, 7,000 yen is only enough to buy two cigarettes, but in Japan in the 1930s, it was really a lot of money.

In 1932, the international exchange rate of Japanese yen was one U.S. dollar to three yen, which is a relatively strong currency. The monthly salary of a Japanese admiral is about 13 yen, which is just enough to buy a bottle of the top sake of the year, and a rookie ensign who just came out of Eta Island has a monthly salary of 850 yen, which can buy two. The popular paulownia cabinets on the market. A brand new imported bicycle in a Tokyo store costs about 90 yen, and 20 catties of good flour can be bought for only 3 yen. The seven thousand yen of 1932, if converted into modern times, would be equivalent to about 13 to 14 million yen, which is enough for a commoner to live comfortably for two years.

The problem is that this amount of money seems to be a lot, but it is far from enough to put it into the research project at the time. This kind of explosive experiment is too expensive. As a result, the director of the ship administration headquarters and the chief of the first section each donated half a month of military salary, which only collected 13,000 yen for the research, and the project finally proceeded smoothly.

To say that the money spent is really worth it. After all, the University of Tokyo that outsourced the project is a top university. The cause of the explosion was quickly found, and an important situation was discovered in the experiment. If after the burning of petroleum fuel Adding pure oxygen can prevent explosions.

Navy researchers were overjoyed when they learned of this situation. They immediately adjusted the engine's ignition program, started the engine with ordinary air, and waited for the power to stabilize before starting to input pure oxygen into the cylinder. As a result, the first test It was a perfect success, and then the Japanese navy carried out several experiments in succession, with success and failure. Finally, in 1933, the "93-type acid torpedo", which was heard by European navies, was formally produced.

Because the kerosene engine uses oxygen as the combustion accelerator, the combustion efficiency is several times that of ordinary air. At the same time, the huge mine body can hold more fuel, so that this torpedo has the advantages of both high speed and long range. When this is applied to ordinary thermodynamic torpedoes, these two parameters are usually presented in inverse proportion.

The limit range of 40,000 meters has exceeded the range of the main guns of most warships. There is almost no residual gas emission after the oxygen is burned. When the torpedo is sailing, there will be no obvious bubble trails dragged by ordinary torpedoes. Greatly increases the concealment of the spear torpedo when attacking.

In fact, the spear also has a wake. Its two pairs of high-speed reversing propellers will produce a cavitation effect, but usually the depth of sailing is three meters below the water surface, so the wake on the sea is not very obvious, but if If you observe in the air, you can still clearly see the straight underwater track of the torpedo.

At the same time, because of the special starting method of the Type 93, during the five hundred to one kilometer range of the first launch, the engine is not burning pure oxygen, but ordinary compressed air. Spears are used in this distance. Like ordinary torpedoes, there is a bubble trail, but in actual combat, the Japanese army often launches lightning strikes from a distance of 10,000 meters or even 20,000 meters. The target is often unaware that the enemy has launched a torpedo, so in the early days of the war, The U.S. Navy fleet, which does not understand the parameters of Japanese torpedoes, suffered a lot of misery.

I want to ask whether the German Navy knows that such torpedoes exist. Of course, there is no doubt. The German head can now draw a sketch of the structure of a 93-type acid torpedo. If he is interested, he can even give subsequent improved models. You draw it.

Raidel’s headquarters has obtained all the technical parameters of the Japanese oxygen torpedo, and has some interest in this torpedo, but this is just an interest. Raidel has no eyes on this dangerous and outdated thing. . This kind of torpedo is engraved with obsessions peculiar to the Japanese nation, and its defects are as obvious as its advantages.

The 93-type torpedo has technical hidden dangers. It is a weapon that is equally dangerous to the enemy. This point is very clear to the Japanese navy. If it is used well, it will kill the enemy's demon sword. If it is not used well, it will become self-decision. Blade. The 500 kilograms of Type 97 explosives in the torpedo head will explode without mercy because of the same nationality.

The historical record of the Type 93 oxygen torpedo is indeed amazing, but when the U.S. military knows the technical indicators of this torpedo, it immediately improved its naval warfare tactics in a targeted manner, and when the U.S. military’s shipborne radar technology matured, The damage caused by the spear torpedo began to decline rapidly.

Often, in a naval battle, the Japanese struggling to launch dozens of torpedoes, not only did not one hit the enemy, but also suffered heavy losses in the US naval and air joint encirclement. In the end, the remaining lightning strike team of the Japanese Navy was forced to abandon the long-range lightning strike tactics they had always admired, and began to resume attacks at regular range or even close to enemy ships. Nothing.

Captain Robin is a little curious about the 95-type torpedo. This is just the kind of curiosity that soldiers have about the new weapon. Although he knows the parameters of this torpedo well, this is the first time he has seen the real thing, so he will add a few more. Pay attention. Discovering that the captain of the German submarine was interested in the 95-type torpedo on the standby mine rack, Guidao couldn't help but smile. He didn't worry about leaking any secrets at all, because it was impossible to infer this torpedo just by looking at the appearance. Performance. The shape and size of the 95-type torpedo is no different from the conventional 533mm torpedo. If you don't disassemble the shell, you will not be able to find the mess.

When the Germans turned around in the narrow bow torpedo bay, Guidao stood at the door of the waterproof bay and greeted: "Captain Robin, please follow me to the rear power bay to visit."

"Okay, no problem, Mr. Colonel." Robin nodded and patted the torpedo tube on the front of No. 60. The flower room standing beside suddenly felt his eyelids tremble, and his heart vaguely There was a strange feeling that I didn't know how to describe.

PS: It's finally done, thank you for your understanding.

These chapters are all popular science chapters, and maybe some book friends don't like it, but now that I have written them, the author wants to tell you all the anecdotes he knows. After all, not all book friends of this book are historians of World War II.

But it's coming soon. The storyline begins to advance. After this scene, our perspective will return to Shanghai.

PS2: Starting from today, the author will be enrolled for advanced studies. From now on, there will be at least two full-time courses every week. Writing will definitely be affected. I am considering how to arrange the update time reasonably.

Thank you for your support, the author will continue to work hard.