Empire Conquest
Chapter 411 - 407: The Stubborn Behemoth

Chapter 411: Chapter 407: The Stubborn Behemoth

On the 14th, the fleet and shipborne air force still took the lead.

However, this time the location was changed.

The fleet personnel went aboard the "Saiyi" and operated high-altitude guns to "intercept" the incoming "enemy aircraft."

For realism, remotely controlled drones were used to simulate enemy aircraft.

Simply put, it was to let the fleet personnel use the "Saiyi’s" high-altitude guns to intercept the target drones and assess the ship’s air defense combat efficiency.

Additionally, it was also to find effective attack tactics.

This arrangement was actually related to the Newland Navy.

According to intelligence provided by the Sixth Bureau, designers and engineers from the Newland Federation participated in the design and construction of the "Saiyi," and the Saiyi Navy had already handed over the design blueprints of the "Saiyi" to the Newland Navy. They even sent designers to the Newland Federation, who might be involved in the design and construction of Newland’s new battleships, possibly utilizing valuable features such as the centralized deployment of high-altitude guns.

To say, the Newland Navy still lacked fast battleships, let alone experience in using them.

Once the "Beika" class was commissioned, the Newland Navy would first need to address tactics for utilizing fast battleships, the simplest method being to learn from the Saiyi Navy.

Based on this, it was deduced that the Newland fast battleships would lean towards the configurations of the Saiyi fast battleships, and would be even more powerful. Like using 40-millimeter machine guns to enhance mid-close range firepower density, similar to the Imperial Navy, and replacing high-altitude machine guns with 20-millimeter machine guns.

That was precisely why they needed to use the "Saiyi" to find effective attack tactics.

A day’s delay was actually needed to give time for shipyard workers to patch up the holes caused by air torpedoes and bombs.

By the 15th, the second protagonist arrived.

Yes, it was the "Xu Sea."

Just a few days before, the "Xu Sea" was still undergoing repairs at Puzhou Shipyard.

To participate in the testing, not only was the repair work halted, but a new gun barrel was specially fitted for one of the main guns, and it was equipped with all types of 400-millimeter shells.

The task for the "Xu Sea" was to test the power of the 400-millimeter shells.

This testing lasted a full half month.

Mainly, after each hit, they had to stop, arrange for technicians to go on board the "Saiyi," survey and patch the blasted holes, and then restart.

Furthermore, there were too many shells to be tested.

In the end, even the "Lu River" joined in the excitement, incidentally testing the 350-millimeter shells.

The 41st Special Mixed Fleet left the testing area on the 15th, and Bai Zhizhan and Zhao Yu also flew back to their country on a patrol plane that day, so they learned about the test results afterward.

The results were close to prior theoretical calculations.

The "Saiyi" was merely a vessel with a 60,000-ton hull, with slightly better defensive capabilities than the "Xu Sea" class, but only slightly.

The old type 400-millimeter armor-piercing bullet, a light bullet weighing 950 kilograms, posed a minimal threat to the "Saiyi," only having a 50% chance of penetrating the "Saiyi’s" main armor belt from about 7000 meters. It might not even penetrate the turret and command tower, other vital protective parts, from a reduced range of 5000 meters. As the engagement range increased and shifted to indirect combat, the light bullet couldn’t penetrate the "Saiyi’s" horizontal armor.

The new type 400-millimeter armor-piercing bullet, weighing 1080 kilograms as a heavy bullet, could penetrate the "Saiyi’s" armor from a range of 8,000 to 17,000 meters. Even when the engagement range extended to 20,000 meters, it had a 30% chance of penetrating the horizontal armor.

The key was the latest type of armor-piercing bullet, the super heavy bullet weighing 1280 kilograms.

This new type of armor-piercing bullet, officially designed and put into production after the war and not yet issued to the fleet, could penetrate the "Saiyi’s" armor at all ranges.

The key factor was the extremely strong penetration performance at flat trajectories!

There was, however, one prerequisite: Use of the Type 99 400-millimeter naval gun with a 55-caliber length.

According to studies conducted by the Navy later on, it was also related to the material used in manufacturing the shells.

This discovery led the Imperial Navy to begin exploring the possibility of using super-hard metals to produce armor-piercing bullets and invest in developing the technology for producing and processing super-hard alloys. Otherwise, the Imperial Navy would not have been able to take the lead in using tungsten alloy for armor-piercing bullets, which was also used in the later stages of the war for aviation armor-piercing bombs.

As for the 350-millimeter shells, even the 650-kilogram new armor-piercing shells posed no threat to the "Saiyi," failing to penetrate its armor at virtually any range.

Of course, this did not surprise anyone.

This result effectively placed all old battleships in the cold, including the Longxing class.

The Longxing class’s 400-millimeter naval guns were limited by the chamber volume, preventing the use of super heavy bullets and even failing to fully realize the power of heavy bullets. Since the existing turrets could not accommodate the Type 99 400-millimeter naval gun, and replacing the turrets was not only costly but also very troublesome, requiring the use of the dock, from a cost-effectiveness perspective during the war, the Longxing class wasn’t even worth refitting.

As a result, the old battleships that had been laboriously salvaged and repaired from Chengjiang Port all became gunships supporting landing forces during the major conflict.

The test using "Saiyi" as a target had not yet concluded.

Later, after pumping out the seawater from inside the hull and sealing the holes blown open by the shells, and towing it to deep waters, the final round of testing was conducted.

In the last round of testing, the main participants were a light cruiser and a submarine.

All used were heavy torpedoes.

This test indirectly proved the correctness of the tactics proposed by Shen Pu and Zhu Huasheng.

At that time, a submarine first launched six heavy torpedoes at the port side of "Saiyi," all hitting target, causing several thousand tons of water to flood the port compartments and a tilt of nearly 20 degrees.

Had it been a battleship that had already been commissioned, it likely would have capsized and sunk.

Then, a light cruiser launched four heavy torpedoes at its starboard side, also achieving direct hits.

As a result, "Saiyi" did not sink but instead, due to water flooding into the starboard compartments, the tilt was corrected, accurately reducing the port list to 6 degrees.

After enduring ten heavy torpedoes, "Saiyi" still stubbornly floated on the ocean surface!

The next day, after completing all the mapping work, the light cruiser used four torpedoes to sink it.

In fact, during the final torpedo attack, the Imperial Navy also tested a magnetic proximity fuze.

Unfortunately, because the prototype fuze did not function properly, no valid test results were obtained.

After the third heavy torpedo hit, "Saiyi" continued to struggle on the ocean surface for nearly half an hour.

Until the stern completely sank, lifting the bow above the water surface, and due to the enormous self-weight causing the hull to break in the middle, it quickly sank to the ocean floor.

This also proved that a massive hull is in itself a guarantee of survival.

Of course, this indirectly proved the necessity of constructing large carriers, showing that using thin armor and smaller compartments could also enhance a carrier’s survival capability.

Through this test, all doubts concerning large carriers were dispelled.

From then on, under permissible conditions, the Imperial Navy’s carriers began to get larger and larger.

Naturally, this series of live-fire tests was conducted in secret, or else they would not have chosen the Xu Sea as the location.

In public declarations, "Saiyi" was sold as scrap metal to a ship dismantling firm in the Gaoju Kingdom.

In fact, what was sent for dismantling was "Saiyi’s" sister ship, the No.2 Ship, which had been damaged in Long Sorrow.

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