The Rise of the Empire

"I've convinced you!" The prince was really helpless, and he had really learned the stubbornness of some people. However, the current situation is not bad, Xiao Maoqi finally began to seriously consider building a train artillery unit to make up for the lack of long-range firepower and strike power. Germany's tactical advantage on the western front will last longer, and on the eastern front, it will also receive the support of railway artillery and turn it into a strategic advantage... \u003c/p\u003eYes, you read that right, it is a strategic advantage! The reason why it is a tactical advantage on the Western Front is because Germany has large-caliber train guns, and Britain and France also have them! The technical gap between the two sides is very limited. If you can hit me, I can also hit you. No one can completely overwhelm the opponent. But the Eastern Front is different! Because the Russian army is an out-and-out asshole! In terms of equipment, it is even better than Austria-Hungary! \u003c/p\u003eLook at the world artillery giants at that time, France had Schneider, Germany had Krupp, Britain had Vickers, Austria-Hungary had Skoda, and Italy had Andorsa. What does Russia have? Never heard of it? Among the army artillery, let alone Germany and Britain, the Italians all have 15-inch heavy artillery. The Austro-Hungarian Empire even had two super-heavy artillery pieces, 15-inch and 420mm! Especially the m14 42cml15 super heavy artillery, which is simply a big killer when the war starts! \u003c/p\u003eThis heavy artillery that existed in 1914 weighed 105 tons, and a total of 8 were built in history. The shells of this artillery weighed 1020 kilograms, and the muzzle velocity was 432 meters per second. The maximum range is 14600 meters! Has a rate of fire of 1 shot in 5 minutes! If you look at it comprehensively, this artillery can almost be regarded as the most powerful weapon in the war! This is such a good train gun material! (Well, this product was also a shore artillery at the beginning--!)\u003c/p\u003eAnd what did the Russians have in World War I? Not to mention the mobile train guns, counting all the artillery used by the army, it seems that there is only one m1915 305mm heavy gun that is not bad. However, this thing weighing more than 69 tons is still a bit sorry for its tonnage, and its maximum range is only 13.47 kilometers! \u003c/p\u003eSo, if the Eastern Front in charge of the prince can deploy train artillery from the very beginning, then these powerful artillery will hardly be threatened at the beginning of the war, and they can safely project the terrifying bullet rain on the Russians overhead! If the prince remembers correctly, there were not even decent long-range cannons in the Russian field troops in WWI, right? \u003c/p\u003e"The 12-inch L40 naval gun and the 10-inch L40 naval gun retired from the navy can be converted into very useful train guns. The 280mm gun that Krupp failed to bid can also be converted into a train gun." Xiao Mao Qi thought want to say. "We have ready-made artillery. Anyway, the navy is going to use new artillery. If these artillery and ammunition are handed over to the army, it will be fully utilized!"\u003c/p\u003e"Very good idea, but Krupp's 280mm gun is not There is no need to equip it. The 12-inch gun can do better, and now we need to simplify our equipment system as much as possible to reduce the difficulty of late supply." The prince still has some feelings about Krupp and his 11-inch gun. Tired and crooked! \u003c/p\u003eNow Xiao Maoqi is following a complete historical routine. The earliest train guns in Germany were really waste utilization. For example, the first 21cmsk "peteradalbert" train guns. The main guns on the Lücher and Harnhorst-class armored cruisers! \u003c/p\u003eAfter the sinking of the Blücher armored cruiser, all the 210mm guns and shells in the German Navy's inventory were useless, and none of the active battleships could use these weapons, and then the German Army decided to change them to long-range artillery. And these artillery, which are not good at fighting battleships, performed well in the army,

Although the shells are not very powerful, the range of up to 26 kilometers still has an extremely powerful deterrent effect on many howitzers! \u003c/p\u003eThe weight of these artillery carried by two 4-axle trains is about 110 tons. The Germans built 11 such train guns successively, and used them in many battles on the Western Front, which played a certain role. When the Germans discovered that these "waste utilization" artillery were very good to use, they also started The artillery of more old-fashioned battleships was removed from the battleships, and then installed on the moving trains! \u003c/p\u003eThe Germans' subsequent improvement work can be described as insane! Almost all pre-dreadnoughts equipped with 240mm guns are hard to escape! The power of 210mm artillery is too small and not enough, then use 240mm artillery! At the beginning, the German Army was still careful. During the manufacturing process of the first batch of 240mm train guns, the German Army also knew to shorten the barrels. The weight of these short-barreled train guns was about the same as that of the 21cmsk "peteradalbert" , but the bomb weight has increased to 140-151kg. And it can be transported on the same trailer. \u003c/p\u003e But then, the Germans discovered that the weight was reduced, but the muzzle velocity and range were also reduced, and the maximum muzzle velocity was only 640 meters per second. And the range is reduced to 18.7km. And this distance is still a bit too high for monsters of the same level on the western front, so after building 4 vehicles, they stopped decisively. \u003c/p\u003e Then in February 1915, five German Kaiser Friedrich III-class battleships were decommissioned, and a total of 26 240mm guns were removed. Except for 8 as coastal defense guns, the other 16 were later It was handed over to the German Army as a train gun. This is the 24cmskl/40 "theodorkarl" train gun with the largest production volume in Germany in World War I. This train gun using the 240mml40 artillery finally produced a total of 34 pieces! \u003c/p\u003eThe basic performance of this artillery is basically the same as that of the previous one, but because the barrel is longer and the muzzle velocity is higher, the maximum range reaches 26.6km. The largest weight of more than 110 tons can still be transported by two 4-axle trains, so the German Army is still very satisfied with this. \u003c/p\u003eAlthough the production capacity of the 240mm train gun is very large, the 280mm train gun is still larger in terms of function. This level of train gun is mainly divided into two types, namely 28cmskl/40 "bruno" and 28cmkl/40 "Kurfurst". The production of the former is 22 to 24 cars, while the production of the latter is 6 cars. \u003c/p\u003eThe performance of these train guns manufactured using the 280mml40 artillery on the last dreadnought ship of Germany is also good, especially in terms of range. When using the old 240kg shell of l2.9, it has a range of 20 kilometers. And if you use the new 284kg shell of l4.4, it has a range of 27.5 kilometers! \u003c/p\u003eHowever, whether it is a train gun with a 240mm gun or a train gun with a 280mm gun, there is a problem that the power of the shell is too small, which is much better than the train gun modified by the French with the old 240mm gun, but if it is the same as those Compared with train guns using 12-inch or even 340mm guns, it is a notch worse. \u003c/p\u003e Fortunately, in this plane, the German Navy does not have the problem of small guns, and even the problem of the German Army's train guns being less powerful has been solved... Land and sea are not separated? Of course, there is only such a plan now. As for how to do it in the future, a detailed plan needs to be formulated. \u003c/p\u003eThe prince and Little Moltke had a lot to say, and the latter would need some time to digest it, so they decided to postpone the visit to the Bavarian Army Exercise, and the prince had more time to prepare. \u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e