bookrandom Chapter 447 Our Sea
Chapter 447 Our Sea
Lao Gao patted Zhao Dehai a few times, sending this suddenly impressive young man back to his seat, and continued:
"The third difficulty lies in the design of the warhead and fuze. Conventional designs like the HS-293, while carrying a warhead charge of nearly 300kg, lack armor-piercing capability."
As he spoke, Lao Gao drew a simple diagram of the HS-293 on the blackboard. It was developed based on ordinary aerial bombs, and its warhead was elliptical.
Everyone looked at the blackboard, and it became clear at a glance. This design was fine against destroyers, light cruisers, and unarmored aircraft carriers, but it would naturally have limited lethality against heavily armored ships like heavy cruisers and battleships.
"Therefore, it is necessary to design a special semi-armor-piercing warhead and adopt delayed fuse technology to ensure internal explosion after penetrating the hull."
The technical expert from Nanhua Iron and Steel Group assured him, "Leave it to us. We have extensive experience in this area."
Lao Gao nodded with satisfaction and continued:
"Finally, the design of the missile's body and the compatibility of the launch platform were the key factors. The original design of the HS-293 was too makeshift. To ensure its lethality against ships, the 'Sea Eagle 01' should ideally have the ability to fly low over the sea and attack the target ship near its waterline.
The specific exterior design is the responsibility of our First Aircraft Factory's wind tunnel laboratory and design team. As for the launch platform's suitability, that's up to the Navy."
"No problem." The naval staff officer looked excited, full of anticipation for the new weapons. "We have various aircraft, such as B-25, B-17, PB4Y, you can try them out and add any pylons!"
Everyone couldn't help laughing, and the atmosphere in the conference room became much more relaxed.
Amidst the laughter, Zhang Chi couldn't help but raise the corners of his mouth slightly, but his eyes became thoughtful.
He raised his hand and pressed his temple. After a moment, he suddenly stood up and walked quickly to the blackboard. With a wave of his right hand, he swept the engine diagram that Zhao Dehai had just drawn aside. The blackboard spun around, revealing the other side that was as clean as new.
He turned around and glanced at everyone present, his eyes flashing with a light that was both calm and fiery.
"We are all either soldiers or military workers. When developing the Sea Eagle series of anti-ship missiles, what we are trying to solve is a fundamental issue: sea control."
Having said that, he picked up the chalk and wrote three big words in a few strokes.
After a pause, he added another line of small words: It’s not about who has the biggest gun, but who controls the passage.
Everyone sat up straight and looked at Zhang Chi.
He turned around, straightened his expression, and spoke in a low and powerful tone:
"There are two types of sea control. The first is controlling the sea. This control is positive and constructive, and its purpose is to ensure that we and our allies can use the ocean stably for commercial shipping, resource extraction, force projection, and even cultural exchange."
"The current United Kingdom, the White Eagles, and even the Japanese we fought against all took this path. To achieve their goals, they established numerous naval bases and built a complete fleet system from destroyers to battleships. They used the presence of capital ships, fleet coordination, a network of logistics bases, and merchant ship escorts to firmly control each sea route."
As Zhang Chi spoke, he drew a rough world map on the blackboard, marking the bases of major naval powers with red chalk. From Gibraltar to Malacca, and then to Pearl Harbor, the red lines shackled the world like chains.
"The most successful was the United Kingdom," he said, smiling. "In the 19th century, they simply called this kind of rule 'Pax Britannica.' Relying on warships and a system of bases, they ensured connectivity between colonies and protected the imperial cycle of finance, resources, and industry."
"We should also note that simply having warships isn't enough. Hans was a challenger before World War I. They built a massive High Seas Fleet, but were unable to win a decisive naval battle. Ultimately, their defeat was declared with the tragic sinking of the High Seas Fleet in Scapa Flow during Operation Rainbow."
The meeting room fell silent, with only the rustling sound of the recorder sitting in the back row writing furiously. He was obviously taking notes of the meeting.
"As for the White Eagles, they're pursuing control of the oceans on both the east and west coasts, while the Japs are pursuing absolute control of the seas within their so-called absolute defense zone. Of course, the Japs' control of the seas is now riddled with holes."
Everyone chuckled.
As for the world before he traveled through time, after the war, White Eagle relied on its world-leading navy and various military bases spread all over the world to gain global sea control.
It was not until a certain big golden retriever came to power that the White Eagle Navy suffered a setback at the hands of the Slipper Army. In order to intercept the missiles, the escort ships of the aircraft carrier shot down their own carrier-based aircraft.
The corners of Zhang Chi's mouth couldn't help but twitch slightly.
"But not every country has the ability to pursue this kind of sea control." Zhang Chi's eyes turned and his tone became more restrained. "There is a second way, and that is destructive."
He paused, changed a piece of chalk, and drew several heavy crosses on the map.
"The second kind of sea control is to turn the sea into a hell that even the enemy can't use. We don't ask for me to use it, we just ask for you not to use it."
"Hans is a typical example." He glanced at the several naval intelligence officers sitting nearby. "In the late stages of World War I, neither Hans nor the newly elected Nazis were able to defeat the British fleet, complete Operation Sea Lion, or land on the British Isles. So they turned to submarines, engaging in unrestricted submarine warfare, sinking every merchant ship they encountered."
The core goal of this destructive sea control is to deprive the enemy of its ability to utilize the sea. Hans' submarine warfare was extremely effective, at one point severing Britain's sea supply lines, forcing them to rely on White Eagle's 'escort convoy' for emergency relief. This shows that destructive sea control remains a rational choice for weak navies against powerful ones.
However, we must also note that its effectiveness depends on the system's ability to counterattack rather than the performance of a single branch of the military. Recently, with the Allies' new sonar and the normalization of maritime anti-submarine patrols, Hans' submarine warfare has far less dramatic results than before.
The later "Air-Submarine Fast" theory was also based on this, abandoning the open sea and focusing on the area denial strategy that prevents the enemy from entering the near sea.
He nodded at Zhao Dehai. "The missile you just mentioned is called a cruise missile. If it were deployed on shore, on islands in the ocean, or even on ships, forming an area denial firepower network, any enemy that dared to approach our coastal waters would be bombed."
But the development of such a large cruise missile will take time. How we can gain control of the surrounding seas is an urgent issue.
“Therefore, we must improve our own air-to-ship weapons as soon as possible based on HS-293.
Add to that a radar network, aircraft carrying air-to-ship missiles, and enough submarines and speedboats, and this is called an air-submarine-speed strategy!"
"Our current situation is perfectly suited to this strategy. We have limited resources, few large warships, our personnel are still being trained, and our construction capacity is currently insufficient.
"It's fast to dive in the air, requires little investment, has quick results, and is low risk. It can fight and retreat, bite and run."
Seeing everyone nodding, Zhang Chi decided to continue to come up with new ideas.
He has a system in place and a vision that is 70 years ahead of the world. Naturally, he will not be limited to a simple denial strategy, especially since the geography of the South China Sea determines the importance of sea transportation.
"Of course, air and submarine speed is only the current stage. What about the future?" His eyes darkened, and he drew a line with the chalk in his hand. "In the future, we must truly have complete control of the sea."
He wrote three new projects on the blackboard: jet carrier-based aircraft, ship-based missiles, and aircraft carrier strike group.
"The Seahawk 01 was launched by the air force, and the Seahawk 02 was launched from the ground. So what's next? Why can't ships launch anti-ship missiles?"
For the rest of the day, under Zhang Chi's leadership, engineers, scientists and soldiers spoke freely and discussed ideas about future sea control and various weapons.
Zhang Chi knew very well that he, or the Anmin Army, the future national defense army of an independent country, must have complete control of the sea.