Chapter 1065: 987 victims

“In the end, we still have to sell them something. If they don’t have radar, if they don’t have signal towers… then what targets would our missiles hit?” Tang Mo, while tasting the delicacies in front of him, said to Roger.

The more modern the weapon, the more emphasis on striking precision. As the Great Tang Empire’s weaponry becomes increasingly modernized, the enemy should at least make some progress as well.

Just as mentioned before, we must wait until the enemy also has jet fighters for the Great Tang Empire’s air-to-air combat missiles to have a place to be used.

Otherwise, how could those expensive, high-performance modern weapons possibly be equipped? Are we supposed to use a missile worth millions to shoot down a plane worth less than twenty thousand? Even if we don’t discuss whether it could hit, what do we do about losing money if it does?

Roger, who was invited to dine together, nodded. He had kindly reminded Tang Mo earlier not to sell too core technologies, lest the enemy gain the power to resist.

Tang Mo, on the other hand, wasn’t worried about this. The radar systems he sold were basically at the level of World War II. Those things lack precision and performance; they merely address the issue of presence or absence.

No need for proper electromagnetic interference; adverse weather can significantly reduce the effectiveness of these radars. To enhance the basic performance of these radars, the countries that bought them would have to start their research with cathode-ray tubes.

“As soon as these countries have set up their radars, we have several ways to turn those radars into mere decorations… You can be assured of that,” Tang Mo said as he stuffed a piece of beef into his mouth, the tender sensation of fat marbling creating a comforting and enjoyable chewing experience.

Seeing Tang Mo so relaxed, Roger also let down his guard completely. Tang Mo started to talk to him about the experimental results of the Styx Missiles.

The Great Tang Empire had only equipped two Bismarck improved-type battleships, which made the Great Tang Empire Navy actually fall far behind other countries’ navies in terms of warship tonnage.

Especially in terms of single-ship combat capability, the Navy’s destroyers of the Great Tang Empire, except for the radar advantage, could only barely cope by relying on torpedoes.

Given this, Tang Mo planned to prioritize equipping the Navy with anti-ship missiles to enhance the single-ship combat capability of naval vessels. Therefore, the development and deployment of the Styx Missiles were quite rapid, much faster than the Air Force’s Thunderbolt 2 air-to-air combat missiles.

Why were battleships from World War II era completely eliminated? In fact, apart from the threat of aircraft carriers and carrier-based aircraft, the increasingly worrying efficiency of battleship protection was also part of the reason.

Battleships of the World War II era generally equipped heavy armor on important parts to ensure their defensive capabilities. However, due to buoyancy characteristics, it’s impossible to protect the entire body.

Therefore, outside of the armor belt, battleships still had to arrange a large number of watertight compartments to increase buoyancy, and these compartments weren’t protected by corresponding heavy armor.

Thus, sinking a battleship sometimes doesn’t require penetrating the opponent’s heavy armor belt; it just requires creating enough damage to the watertight compartments, and the armor inside the battleship can drag the vessel into the deep sea by its own weight.

Another reason is that armor-piercing technology made rapid progress towards the end of World War II, and the heavy armor of battleships actually wasn’t as useful as before.

In past naval battles, the clash between battleships depended on large-caliber naval guns from both sides. But due to technological limitations, both sides used armor-piercing rounds with little explosive and thick shells, and the projectile angle was restricted, so the armor-piercing capability was not high.

The main armor thickness of battleships from various countries was generally only about the same value as the caliber of their own guns. For instance, the Yamato battleship had a main gun caliber of 460 millimeters and its main armor was also just 460 millimeters.

Doesn’t that sound very thick? Doesn’t it seem exaggerated? Actually, this value is quite average. Normally, an anti-tank missile produced with modern technology and shaped charge armor-piercing warhead can easily penetrate armor of over 600 millimeters in thickness.

In fact, the warhead of an anti-ship missile fitted with over 500 kilograms of explosive formed into a shaped charge could easily penetrate one meter thick homogeneous steel armor. The reason for not adopting this design is mainly because modern warship armor is not thick, and the speed of anti-ship missiles is becoming faster, really because of fear that too much power would result in over-penetration…

But the current adversaries of the Great Tang Empire are completely different. The Great Tang Empire’s current main naval opponents are equipped with a large number of battleships and gun cruisers.

The armors on these warships are very thick, most exceeding 200 millimeters and some even nearing 400 millimeters.

To penetrate these warships, the Styx Anti-ship Missiles that the Great Tang Empire started equipping its troops with must use shaped charge armor-piercing warheads.

In plain terms, it’s a super-sized armor-piercing shell warhead! This kind of warhead could easily penetrate over 1300 millimeters of homogeneous steel armor, with astonishingly destructive effects.

The situation in the Great Tang Empire also illustrates that there will no longer be thickly armored warships in modern warfare: you laboriously build a dozen warships, and the enemy only needs to purchase a few hundred armor-piercing warheads to cope, so what’s the point in cost-effectiveness.

Just a day ago, at the naval experimental base on Dragon Island, a Styx Anti-ship Missile had undergone a live-fire test. The Styx launched from the shore-based missile battery hit a moving target 15 kilometers away, and utterly obliterated it.

The naval admirals, quite satisfied with the result of the experiment, immediately approved the subsequent development plan. On one hand, producing at least 400 Styx Anti-ship Missiles, and on the other, retrofitting 10 Missile Destroyers.

Under the radar of all but a few, the world’s first Missile Destroyer had already begun its retrofitting.

The brand new 10 torpedo destroyers would have their torpedos stripped along with some other equipment, replaced with triple missile launchers to acquire missile strike capabilities.

Theoretically, the Styx Missile can reach an attack distance of over 30 kilometers with a maximum range of 35 kilometers, nearing the speed of sound. Without electronic jamming from the other side, the accuracy of the missile is quite high.

The greatest significance of the anti-ship missile is granting small warships the ability to challenge larger ones, its existence blurring the disparity between different tonnages of warships, essentially destabilizing the position of gun-based warships.

It wasn’t until the future advent of anti-air missiles and the maturation of missile interception concepts that new, large-tonnage warships once again took the initiative in offensive and defensive fields.

On Earth, from the 60s to the 70s, unless there was a stringent need for deployment in distant seas, the cost-effectiveness of large warships truly was lower compared to small ones.

This state persisted until the widespread adoption of the Aegis Combat System, which provided area air defense, vertical launching systems, and power for large phased array radars; thereby, missile destroyers of great tonnage truly found their purpose.

In fact, Tang Mo’s mood today wasn’t that great; he invited Roger to dine together because he wanted to discuss something else with him.

“There were four engineers injured on the job…” After discussing the anti-ship missiles, Tang Mo broached what seemed to be a trivial matter with Roger.

He set down his eating utensils, wiped his mouth with a white napkin, and looked at Roger, who was watching him: “These individuals are among the first batch who partook in the sonic and radio signal research tests.”

Roger was taken aback; he knew these people might be the old-timers who had joined during Brunas’s developmental period, whose expertise was invaluable wherever they were stationed, and who had made outstanding contributions to the rise of the Great Tang Empire.

“Is it serious?” Roger asked.

“Their ears have sustained various degrees of damage; they’re now suffering from tinnitus and hearing loss, and I believe that in a few years, they will be completely deaf,” Tang Mo replied without any concealment.

When they were first assigned their jobs, they were already given compensation for this, and even to ensure their health, Tang Mo had limited their working hours.

For example, painters, acoustic tuning technicians, chemical workers, etc… Such occupations had a mandatory transfer to secondary office work after at most five years… yet even so, a large number of industrial injuries still occurred.

The working conditions back then were indeed too harsh; often, for the sake of efficiency or convenience, or even due to unbearable temperatures, workers would forgo protective gear like suits or masks altogether.

Deafness was actually one of the lesser issues; some had contracted diseases due to prolonged exposure to chemicals, others fell ill working in polluted environments, and Great Tang Group’s industrial march forward at breakneck speed was not without its costs.

It could be said that beneath the industrial throne of the Great Tang Group lay a bed of skeletons; the foundation itself was built upon the flesh and blood of its people.

There are no true shortcuts in this world; it’s just that some have used their bodies as rungs so others could climb faster and with greater stability.

In fact, there were more than a dozen engineers Tang Mo couldn’t bring himself to talk to Roger about who were gravely ill within the nuclear industry research facilities of the Great Tang Empire, already having sacrificed their lives due to radiation.

These individuals had contributed their lives to the technological advances of the Great Tang Empire, every bit of their sacrifice strengthening this empire’s grandeur and power.

“We should remember them, treat them well…” Thinking of the familiar names and faces from the Blacksmith’s shop, Roger said with some emotion.

Those who started at the Blacksmith shop, to this day, dozens will never be seen again. Among these individuals, some died of diseases contracted through their work, some simply retired when they had acquired modest wealth and disappeared into the vast crowd, others perhaps were executed due to corruption…

If such a group was to reflect the entire Great Tang Empire, then in the process of the rise of the Great Tang Empire, just how many people have disappeared, and how many have departed?