Empire Conquest
Chapter 410 - 406: Live Fire Target Practice

Chapter 410: Chapter 406: Live Fire Target Practice

Because they still had three days, Bai Zhizhan and Zhao Yu weren’t in a rush to get there.

Accompanied by the guards arranged by Liu Changxun, the two first went to Wu Port and inspected the reconstruction of the industrial zone while passing through Shenhu. After examining Wu Port, they also visited a nearby industrial city, taking the opportunity to taste the distinctive cuisine of the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom.

Indeed, it was the renowned Shenhu beef.

It was only later that Bai Zhizhan learned that after accepting the Imperial Family’s conferment, Emperor Xia sent the Crown Prince to the Empire to pay homage, offering Kobe beef as tribute.

But they were all bulls.

However, when the Imperial Army occupied Shenhu, they quietly acquired a batch of cows and secretly transported them back, subsequently establishing a breeding farm domestically.

This was handled by the Army and originally had nothing to do with the Navy.

It was only because they were transported by naval vessels that the news leaked out, allowing the Navy to learn about it. However, at the time, it did not attract the attention of the naval high command.

The Navy’s food was already very good, and naval officers and soldiers usually didn’t pay much attention to their culinary desires.

This Shenhu beef was indeed a great delicacy, and Bai Zhizhan was full of praise after tasting it.

Encouraged by Zhao Yu, after returning to the Empire, he specifically mentioned this to Liu Changxun. Later, he found Li Qing and acquired several breeding cows from the Imperial Guard-run breeding center, bringing them to a ranch owned by a retired naval officer. From then on, the Imperial Navy had its own exclusive supply of Shenhu beef.

Of course, all of this came later.

On December 13, the two finally arrived at Long Sorrow.

Long Sorrow Port had already resumed normal operations and had even repaired several deep-water piers capable of accommodating large combat ships, including carriers.

Moreover, Long Sorrow Port also served as the shared port for the Navy’s Second Fleet and Fourth Fleet.

Though it had only been a few months, according to the Navy’s arrangements, the resting battleships could choose to dock at Long Sorrow Port for maintenance, and officers and soldiers were allowed shore leave during the period.

Shore leave was key.

In addition to various thoughtful services, what attracted the Imperial Navy officers and soldiers were the low prices.

Naturally, only the victors could enjoy special treatment.

Fundamentally, it boiled down to judicial amnesty.

Although the Imperial Guard, akin to military police, was responsible for maintaining order, throughout the entire war, the Imperial Army operated outside the jurisdiction of the Saiyi Imperial Kingdom’s judiciary.

Even if a serviceman committed a crime, they were dealt with according to Imperial military law.

To accommodate the thousands of Imperial servicemen from resting units, hundreds of hotels sprang up around Long Sorrow Port like mushrooms after the rain.

In fact, it was the Imperial servicemen who first helped the people of Long Sorrow in Saiyi walk out of the shadow of war.

Of course, both Bai Zhizhan and Zhao Yu were family men and did not partake in the characteristic services of Saiyi.

After arriving at Long Sorrow Port, the two boarded a patrol aircraft specially prepared for them and returned to the "Peijing" that evening.

Before Bai Zhizhan’s arrival, Li Mingbo and the other officers at the Fleet Headquarter had just found out that they would be participating in a live-fire test targeting the "Saiyi."

The most excited were Shen Pu and Zhu Huasheng.

Although the "Saiyi" was not yet completed, even at 75% completeness, it was still the largest battleship in terms of displacement that the world had ever seen!

It was also the most massive battleship.

Long before the outbreak of the great war, the Imperial Navy had set its sights on this battleship and had undertaken targeted training based on the limited intelligence available.

For the shipborne aircraft pilots of the Imperial Navy, their greatest dream was to sink the "Saiyi."

Leaving other things aside, the Imperial Navy designed its air torpedoes’ warheads based on the thickness of the Saiyi’s torpedo bulkheads, ensuring penetration and damage before considering other performance metrics.

The critical point was that the Imperial Intelligence Agency consistently overestimated the defensive capabilities of the "Saiyi."

At the time, estimating a standard displacement close to 50,000 tons and still equipped with 16-inch main guns, such a battleship would undoubtedly possess extremely robust defensive features.

In fact, if the Imperial Navy were to build a 50,000-ton battleship, it would certainly be formidable.

Don’t forget that the "Xu Sea" class was designed with a displacement of only 35,000 tons!

Even the "Nanzhu Sea" class, designed after the treaty standards, had an initial standard displacement limited to 42,000 tons, with a maximum of no more than 45,000 tons. Before the outbreak of the war, the Imperial Navy did not plan to build battleships with a standard displacement reaching 50,000 tons.

In the pre-war era, a 50,000-ton battleship was unimaginable.

The direct result of this was that Imperial Navy’s air torpedoes were extremely powerful but had a pitifully short effective range.

Only 1200 meters!

In the same era, Saiyi Navy’s air torpedoes had an effective range of over 2000 meters at a set depth of 3 meters, and Newland’s Navy could reach 1500 meters.

The reason is simple: the warhead’s large proportion left little mass and space for the propulsion system.

However, these were all digressions.

That afternoon, the first round of live-fire target testing was conducted, led solemnly by the shipborne air force.

Also, because the bombs and torpedoes mounted on the carrier aircraft had the least destructive power, they wouldn’t cause severe damage to the "Saiyi."

Both carriers deployed 2 squadrons each, one torpedo bomber squadron and one bomber squadron each.

Crucially, two types of air torpedoes and two calibers of air bombs were tested.

As for the results, they did not exceed expectations.

The new air torpedo’s warhead charge was reduced by 50 kilograms, but with a more powerful explosive, it still had sufficient destructive capacity. However, for a behemoth like the "Saiyi," the injury capacity of air torpedoes was indeed very limited.

Moreover, a sophisticated underwater defense system could significantly reduce the damage caused by torpedoes.

As for air bombs, the 250 kg armor-piercing bombs could actually be phased out completely, as even the 500 kg class aviation armor-piercing bombs could not guarantee penetration through the "Saiyi’s" horizontal armor. Crucially, the horizontal protection of the "Saiyi" was only average among contemporary battleships.

Furthermore, the power of the aviation armor-piercing bombs was insufficient.

To ensure penetration, aviation armor-piercing bombs were essentially large iron tubes, with only a few kilograms of explosives in a 500 kg bomb, the majority being the bomb casing.

Based on calculations made later, using air bombs and air torpedoes, even with good luck, it would require over 50 hits to potentially sink the "Saiyi."

Like attacking carriers, achieving sinking or significant damage with a single bomb or torpedo was nearly impossible.

This, in turn, required the development of larger and heavier carrier aircraft, as well as large carriers capable of accommodating and operating these large ship-borne aircraft.

Moreover, the effect of the attack also depended on the tactics employed.

After completing the target tests, Shen Pu and Zhu Huasheng organized a discussion with the pilots and eventually formulated a specific attack tactic.

To put it accurately, it was an essential principle.

Torpedo attack aircraft had to concentrate their attacks from one direction, ensuring all torpedoes struck one side of the battleship.

In theory, about 10 air torpedoes could cause the "Saiyi" to capsize due to serious flooding on one side.

As for dive-bombing, using high-explosive bombs might be better than using armor-piercing bombs, as high-explosive bombs could eliminate the battleship’s high-altitude guns.

Of course, if there was a more powerful air armor-piercing bomb, it would be even better.