Chapter 2671

Following an order, the flagship Zhoushan took the lead in opening fire, shooting at several unmanned sailboats floating on the sea a few miles away. The entire combined fleet also launched a battle formation, aimed its broadside at the target and began to pour

The firepower and rumble of artillery spread along the sea surface and could be heard even dozens of miles away.

Although this simple target practice method cannot completely simulate the actual situation of a sea battle, the scene is indeed lively enough, which is exactly what upper-class figures like Li Zhen expect to see in military exercises.

For North Korea, the purpose of injecting huge military expenditures into the navy for more than ten years is of course to build a maritime armed force with strong combat effectiveness. Even if the strength cannot reach the same level as the Haihan Navy, it can narrow the gap to

Being able to fight side by side at sea was enough to make Li Xie feel gratified.

As for how the combat effectiveness of a powerful fleet can be intuitively reflected in a short period of time, perhaps live ammunition shooting is an excellent way. Even if the viewer is purely an outsider, the momentum of dozens of large and small ships firing at the same time,

It is enough to destroy any doubtful idea. Strong ships and powerful guns are the last word. This is not anyone’s imagination, but the truth proved by the Haihan Armed Fleet’s actual achievements over the past twenty years.

Li Zhi strongly agreed with this truth. He understood that the level of combat effectiveness was directly linked to the intensity of firepower. He knew very well how Haihan used an armed fleet to blockade the Liaodong coast, and the frequent landings and raids made the Manchus miserable;

There was also a cross-sea expedition against the Hirado clan. Haihan relied on the fleet's equipment advantages to defeat the Hirado fleet, known as Japan's first naval force.

These battle examples all proved the importance of firepower. Li Zhi also followed this idea in building the new navy, pursuing firepower first. But what he always regretted was that Haihan refused to use the most advanced breech-loading

Naval guns are exported, so the artillery equipped by the North Korean Navy is still the old muzzle-loading gun, with short range, low rate of fire, and relatively limited power.

With this salvo, the gap in combat effectiveness between the two countries' ships immediately became apparent. It took the Haihan fleet approximately three rounds of shooting before the North Korean navy could complete one round of shooting. If this were an opponent on the battlefield, they would have been beaten long ago.

It's no longer possible.

Of course, if it were not for competing with Haihan, the firepower intensity of the North Korean navy would have been considerable. At least compared with the neighboring Manchus and Japan, they certainly do not have armed fleets with the same combat effectiveness. Even North Korea's past

The suzerain country, the Ming Dynasty, was no longer as good as North Korea in terms of maritime armament. This would have been a situation that Li Zhen would not have dared to imagine twenty years ago.

As the joint fleet's artillery fire poured out, several target ships were quickly and completely destroyed, and their broken bodies slowly sank into the sea. But the exercise was not over. Immediately afterwards, the Zhoushan issued an order, and the fleet divided into two groups to attack

An amphibious landing operation was carried out on a small island ten miles south.

The process of Haihan's expansion is inseparable from naval battles, and amphibious landing warfare is also one of Haihan's special skills. From its early intervention in the Annan Civil War, to subsequent large-scale operations aimed at expanding its sphere of influence from south to north.

, in almost every foreign war there will be a landing operation.

The North Korean Navy has much less combat experience in this area. After all, it was not strong enough in the past. It could only do odd jobs behind the Haihan Fleet and be responsible for some logistics and transportation tasks. Amphibious operations were not the turn of the North Korean troops at all.

Debut. Later, the new army was established, and after several years of operation, it gradually formed combat effectiveness. However, at this stage, the Manchu and Qing Dynasties and Japan had already surrendered to Haihan, and there was no need for North Korea to launch a landing war.

However, the North Korean New Army has always studied under Haehan. Since Haehan’s military training particularly emphasized the importance of amphibious landing warfare, it is natural that they must follow the same instructions. Although it seems that they have learned the skill of slaying dragons now, it may not be possible in the future.

It will come in handy at some point.

On the Zhoushan, Li Yan held up binoculars and looked at the island shore. While observing various enemy fortifications set up on the island in advance, he listened to Shi Chengwu and Wang Anguo's explanation of the landing operations.

The arrangement of the landing exercise is to attack the island defenses pre-set by an enemy country. The uninhabited island used as the pre-set battlefield is not too large, so when the fleet is divided into two pincers to attack, friendly forces can still be seen on the sea.

The location. The landing point chosen was the two ends of a long beach, and the two fleets attacked one end of it each.

It is not difficult to lower the small boat from the troop carrier and let the soldiers equipped with muskets row into the beach. The really difficult part is to use artillery fire to clear the beach and hit land targets, clearing the way forward for the landing troops.

This tactic has relatively high requirements for the shooting accuracy of ship-based firepower. Otherwise, the clearing effect will not be achieved, and it will be troublesome if the landing friendly troops are accidentally injured.

The adjustment of the shooting angle of the old artillery is more troublesome, and the range is short. A slight deviation in the angle may cause the shell to hit the head of one's own troops. If the sea conditions are poor and the wind and waves are strong, the risk will increase a bit.

Therefore, in this exercise session, for the sake of safety, it was the Haihan ships that carried out the fire strikes across the shore, while the North Korean Navy was only responsible for the force projection part.

Although Li Zhi really wanted to see his country's fleet serve as the main force in the exercise, he also knew that this exercise subject was a bit too high for his troops, and if it was too strong, it might cause trouble, so in the end he did not object to Haihan's arrangement.

But in order to show his military knowledge, Li Zhi still took the initiative to ask: "If the enemy has heavy firepower fortifications like coastal defense batteries on the coast, is our fleet safe? Can ship-based weapons guarantee fire suppression?"

Wang Anguo responded: "It depends on the specific situation. Generally speaking, the range of the more common coastal defense guns during this period is only about two or three miles. If we want to ensure safety, we can keep the fleet's position within the enemy's firepower

out of range, and then use Zhoushan's main gun to carry out a unilateral strike. But the tactic we are more likely to adopt is to approach the island shore with the fleet, use intensive firepower to destroy the enemy fortifications on the beach first, and then allow the infantry to forcibly land on the beach to establish a beachhead position.

Then we will gradually advance and clean up those fortifications that are far away from the beach."

Shi Chengwu was afraid that he would not understand, so he continued the topic and explained: "Our operational goal is to establish a beachhead. As long as we have a beachhead, we can transport artillery ashore, and the accuracy of launching an artillery offensive from the shore will be far better."

Shipboard firepower.”
Chapter completed!