In the movie "Jiawu Fengyun", there is such a bridge. Deng Shichang, the ship's control belt of the Beiyang Navy's Zhiyuan Ship, found that the fired shell did not explode, so he asked the soldiers to disassemble the propellant cartridge. As a result, sand instead of explosives flowed out of the cartridge. The implication is that the quartermaster took out the gunpowder in the cartridge and sold it, replacing it with sand. The first impression
was at that time was that it must be cutting corners. Using sand as an explosive is not even shoddy. No wonder the Beiyang Navy can't beat it. With such a shell, everyone loses. Therefore, the sand in the shells is considered by many to be the main reason for the defeat of the Beiyang Navy in the Sino-Japanese War of Jiawu.
And this account was naturally counted on the Qing government because they were corrupt and embezzled shell money, which ultimately led to the failure of the Beiyang Navy. In fact, this kind of bridge is not realistic. During the Sino-Japanese War of Sino-Japanese War, the naval guns were mainly divided into ammunition and propellant. They consisted of two separate parts: the warhead and the silk-wrapped propellant pack, so there would be no bridges such as demolition shells.
Of course, some shells filled with sand do exist in the shells equipped by the Beiyang Navy. But the failure of the Jiawu naval battle was not because of these sand-filled shells. Because these shells are not the kind of inferior products described in the movie, but the normal equipment in the ammunition depot of the Beiyang Navy. In other words, sand should appear in these shells. The cruiser Z1z
Zhiyuan was a British-built warship, but the two 210mm main guns on the warship were made in Germany. This is not surprising. After all, our Lord Li Hongzhang is a fan of the Krupp cannon. There are two main types of Krupp cannon shells.
is a relatively common flowering bomb. The general structure is a lead or metal shell, which is wrapped with a metal projectile. The inside of the projectile is filled with explosives, which is triggered by a fuze mounted on the warhead. This is a shell that uses the impact force generated by the explosion to cause shrapnel to bloom, thereby killing the enemy. The shells of
had great lethality and a wide range of damage. It was a commonly used shell for naval naval guns at that time. However, there is a shortcoming of the flower bomb, that is, its penetrating power is limited, and its lethality is limited when facing a giant steel ship wrapped in iron armor. Because the fuze is at the top, the fuze will work as soon as the shell hits the target, so it is mostly used to deal with unprotected parts of warships or to kill personnel on the surface.
Therefore, in order to enhance the armor-piercing capabilities of artillery, warships are often equipped with armor-piercing projectiles specifically designed to deal with armor. The principle is also very simple, that is, relying on its own kinetic energy to achieve the effect of penetrating the armor of the enemy warship. Although the explosive power of this kind of shell is small, it has a great structural impact on the warship. After it hits the warship, it can destroy the structure of the enemy warship. If it hits the waterline, it will cause water ingress. Can destroy the turret.
originally contained explosives inside the armor-piercing projectile, which detonated after penetrating the armor, causing damage to the enemy ship. In theory, this type of armor-piercing projectile can penetrate the armor of a Japanese ship and then explode in the ship's body. Its destructive power is greater than that of a grenade. It is the first choice for naval battles. However, this technology is not mature. Generally, the projectile fuze is a collision fuze mounted on the projectile's warhead. After hitting the target, the fuze collision is triggered to detonate the gunpowder in the warhead. However, because the armor-piercing projectile needs to pierce armor, the head of the warhead must be kept sharp and firm, and it is not allowed to drill a fuse on the warhead. Therefore, it can only rely on the gunpowder in the warhead to burn and detonate when it hits the target. After the
shell is launched, the looser black powder filled in the shell cavity will be compressed to the bottom due to inertia. When the shell hits the target, its speed will suddenly slow down. At this time, the black powder compressed at the bottom will quickly hit the front of the cavity due to inertia. In this process, the black powder may rub and burn, and then it will be detonated. The detonation method of
is very unreliable, and sometimes it will not explode at all. Although measures have been taken to increase the roughness of the cavity, there is still no guarantee that the black powder will be ignited every time, and the misfire rate of the shells is very high, which is very Buddhist.
In addition, with the thickening of armor and the advent of carburized steel armor, the armor of warships has become more and more robust. When traditional armor-piercing bullets come into contact with the armor, the explosives loaded inside will become huge Stress impact and explode in advance. In the end, its effect is not much different from that of a flowering bomb. Later, in order to reduce costs,It also prevents the explosives from being detonated in advance to cause the bombs to disintegrate. The designers simply did not load the explosives and directly relied on the bombs to gouge. If a few holes were cut below the waterline, the ship would probably be gone. Of course, the lethality of this artillery shell is also very touching. Unless it hits a critical part during the flight, the damage to the enemy ship is very limited.
And this kind of pure physical impact requires mass, because if the mass of the projectile is not enough, then the kinetic energy will not be enough, and the effect of penetrating the armor of the enemy ship cannot be achieved. Therefore, after the gunpowder is removed, the interior of the armor-piercing projectile will be filled with sand and gravel as a filler to maintain the kinetic energy of the projectile. The shells of
are called sand-filled shells, which are commonly referred to as sand-filled shells equipped by the Beiyang Navy. In fact, sand-filled bombs had become the standard equipment of the navies of all countries at that time, not only the Beiyang navy, but also the Japanese navy.
So during the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the shells filled with sand by the Beiyang Navy did exist, but they were standard equipment, not shoddy products. The so-called "sand in the shells" was not the reason for the failure of the Beiyang Navy, nor was it evidence of corruption in the Qing Dynasty. The reason for such rumors is that Li Hongzhang’s political opponents at the time, in order to attack Li Hongzhang, criticized the Beiyang Navy for falsification and uselessness, and found out the reasons. As for "filling sand in cannonballs", most people are laymen and don't understand the inside story. Naturally, they are filled with righteous indignation.
Of course, I don't deny that the Beiyang Navy is abolished, and I support the corruption of the Qing Dynasty. But it should not be presented with such a rumor. Black for the sake of black, then it's not justified.
