Chapter 2867: Break

How many shells does a Japanese battleship have? The number of main artillery shells of the Nagato-class battleship is about 1,050. The Fuso-class battleship is about 1,100 to 1,200 rounds, which means that each artillery has about 120 rounds. Considering the diversity of sea combat targets, you must prepare armor-piercing projectiles, semi-armor-piercing projectiles and high-explosive projectiles. Armour-piercing shells are naturally used against capital ships, semi-armor-piercing shells hit cruisers and these battleships, while high-explosive shells hit unprotected battleships, and can be used against destroyers and merchant ships.

Taking into account the characteristics of ammunition, its practical armor-piercing projectiles and semi-armor-piercing projectiles are not necessarily easy to use against merchant ships, because the fuze triggering of these two types of projectiles has a limit value, such as how thick the armor can be penetrated before the fuze can be activated. , Or how long does it take to detonate after the shell hits the target. Merchant ships are very unfriendly to this setting. First of all, the merchant ships not only have no armor, but even the thickness of the hull plate is not so thick that even the trigger standard of semi-armor-piercing projectiles cannot be met. If it fails, then The cannonball fuze will not be activated and will not explode. Eventually, the cannonball hits the hull directly, and then falls into the sea from the other side... Compared with the high-explosive projectile, a too long delay will also cause "harmless passage" even if the fuze is activated.

Therefore, the best shells for attacking merchant ships are high-explosive shells. In fact, considering that the Japanese fleet lacks enough destroyers, in the event of a large-scale artillery battle, the high-explosive shells of capital ships still need to be considered against destroyers. So, this Some trouble.... For the Japanese navy, if hunting a long distance transport ship may cause too many high-explosive bombs to be used, then the Japanese fleet will hesitate. This is a very troublesome thing.

As for whether the fuzes of armor-piercing projectiles and semi-armor-piercing projectiles can be adjusted to suit the defense level of merchant ships? Naturally, it is possible. You can adjust the fuse to a higher Lin Min and reduce the delay. But if such a shell has a battleship, it will definitely not work! Because the British artillery shells at the beginning of the war were like this, the fuze was too sensitive and the delay was too low...

So, it seems that breaking the relationship is a simple problem, but how to solve as many merchant ships as possible with as little ammunition as possible is a trouble for all artillery officers. After all, smoking cans are too popular. .... The cost is very low and the use requirements are not high.

"If it doesn't work, we can consider using aerial lightning strikes or bombs to solve the target. The speed of the aircraft is much faster than that of the battleship, and when the aircraft is struck by lightning, it will hardly be disturbed by the smoke cans of a single battleship." Betty thought for a while and said. .

After all, the amount of smoke released by a ship is limited, which can obscure the view within a certain range, which is incomparable with the full coverage of smoke released by a large group of US destroyers surrounding the capital ship during the Sulawesi Sea battle. Therefore, torpedo aircraft can naturally launch attacks, and the speed and agility of merchant ships are very poor, and the defensive firepower is also very limited. After all, the hit rate of anti-aircraft guns in this era was not high, and the number of anti-aircraft guns on commercial ships was not large. Therefore, it is a good way to use aerial torpedo planes or bombers to pursue targets that are faster and farther away. Of course, this approach may expose the aviation strength of the Japanese fleet.

"Use the seaplane on the battleship to attack the merchant ship with bombs. According to our experiments, 100 kilograms of bombs can cause a lot of damage to the merchant ship. As for the regular carrier-based aircraft? I think I will invest some when necessary. It’s okay. After all, we have dispatched 6 battleships. If we say that there are no aircraft carriers attached to it? I don’t think the Americans would believe it? At this time, it is good for us to take the initiative to expose some." Expressed support.

"Two ships, at most reveal the strength of two aircraft carriers. If three are exposed, then the U.S. fleet is likely to mobilize more than four aircraft carriers to participate in the battle. In this way, our aviation power will have no advantage." After thinking about it. "Theoretically, we can use one aircraft carrier. If we want to use two, then we must get my approval."

As a result, the problem of ambushes is now mostly resolved. With the support of at least dozens of bombers and torpedo aircraft on the aircraft carrier, plus the seaplanes on the battleship, the Japanese fleet’s strike capability and sufficient strength can be considered Guaranteed, then the rest is to watch the performance.

Therefore, after discussion, the Japanese fleet developed a decentralized deployment of the fleet, surrounded in multiple directions and then launched a centripetal assault. Battleships and carrier-based aircraft attacked the main targets, while the destroyers were responsible for the tactics of encircling, intercepting, and attacking defenseless targets. Simple, but the specific implementation is definitely a very troublesome thing, so that before departure, the Japanese fleet has to conduct special tactical exercises.

However, in subsequent exercises, the Japanese found that relying on a total of less than 20 capital ships and destroyers to effectively destroy a large transport fleet of 70 transport ships and about 10 **** ships is still very difficult, because according to According to the Japanese standard, they need to completely destroy 80% of the transport ships to be considered annihilated, and this means that each ship, including the destroyers, will kill 2.5 transport ships on average! And if the opponent's auxiliary cruiser has a seaplane, it is also a hassle. It is very difficult to sneak attack.

So ~www.wuxiaspot.com~ In the follow-up plan, the British and Japanese parties modified the plan, which added a plan to use semi-submersible submarines or camouflaged cruisers to track at long distances. Of course, this tracking is definitely not likely to be the visual distance, more is to determine the general direction of the US fleet by observing the smoke column.

And when the attack is officially launched, these submarines and camouflaged cruisers will also directly participate in the battle, using naval guns or torpedoes to attack American transport ships to make up for the lack of battleships. After the war, the Japanese camouflage cruiser also assumed the mission of escorting prisoners of war.

In the end, this whole set of plans for the attack on the large American transport fleet was called Plan A, and in addition to Plan A, the Japanese Navy also formulated a Plan B, and this Plan B was an improvement to the US high-speed cruise ship. Soldiers! This kind of ship has a very fast speed, with an average speed of over 22 knots. In terms of long-distance running ability, it does not belong to a brand-new fuel battleship. Moreover, the operation is very concealed, and the cover fleet is also small, like ghosts on the ocean. If you can sink such a troop carrier, then it will naturally be a very big record. After all, a large ocean-going cruise ship can carry more than 7,000 officers and soldiers on a transport ship. Killing this ship is equivalent to a month’s record of the army. Up!

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