Less than a week after the wedding, Mainz returned to the army.
The one-month leave approved by Hindenburg for him was a chancellor's leave, but it did not say that he could not come to work in the army!
The headquarters of the German army has been in Hamburg since 1919, and Hamburg is closer to Elizabeth's home in Essen, so Mainz took Elizabeth back to her parents' home and went to see the situation of the Gustav cannon.
"General, this is the Gustav cannon we cast according to your requirements!"
Unlike the Gustav cannon in history, Mainz did not ask Gustav to cast him an 800mm cannon right away. That was unrealistic. The technology level in 1923 could not reach this level!
So what Mainz is watching now is the 500mm Gustav cannon. The tonnage of this cannon is as high as 450 tons. The total number of commanders, operators and guards is more than 1,000. Its shells are 2.1 tons in size and the killing range can reach 200X200 meters. If armor-piercing shells are used, 500mm homogeneous armor can be penetrated. No warship in this era can withstand her bombardment!
Therefore, this cannon is prepared for the navy!
Of course, the army can also use it, but it is very difficult to transport such a behemoth on land!
The Gustav cannon in front of Mainz has been completed by about 80%, and the loader has not yet been equipped.
The 2.1 shells are too heavy to be used with ordinary loaders. A specific loader must be used. However, the specific loader has some minor problems with the material. It needs some very strong alloys to bear this weight. However, the use of alloy technology makes the welding process not up to the requirements, and the welding effect is not ideal, so this artillery is not yet complete.
However, although the Gustav cannon's own loader is not equipped, with the cooperation of another crane, this artillery can still be used!
"Have you ever conducted live ammunition shooting?"
Mainz really wanted to see the power of this giant cannon with his own eyes. It is said that when the mustache saw the Gustav cannon, he was as excited as a child. He stood beside the Gustav cannon and watched it for a long time. He also met with the developers of the cannon and took a photo with the Gustav cannon.
Mainz was not as enthusiastic about a weapon as the mustache, but he knew the significance of the Gustav cannon very well.
This giant cannon was prepared for the next generation of German battleships, the Hindenburg-class battleships. Main gun!
Once the development of this giant gun is successfully completed and passes the military test, the naval gun improvement project for this gun will be launched immediately and the development will be stepped up!
Mainz knows that during World War II, the main gun calibers of the main battleships of various countries were all over 400 mm. The main guns of the British and America were both 406 mm, and the Japanese had concealed the truth and developed a 460 mm main gun and equipped it on the Yamato-class battleships.
If you want to fight against these countries' warships, In order to gain an advantage, the caliber of the main guns of the German main battleships must not be smaller than theirs, and the existing 380mm main guns have no advantage when facing the enemy's 400mm main guns, so new main guns must be developed.
However, the German army has always lacked experience in the research of large-caliber naval guns.
Most of the main guns of the navy are forged by the Krupp factory.
The largest of their main guns is 380mm.
There has never been a main gun with a diameter exceeding this number before, so this time the Gustav cannon is also a test for Krupp!
The development of the army's artillery is much easier than that of the navy.
After all, the army does not need to consider restrictions such as tonnage and space when fighting on land, but it is different for war.
In the narrow space of a warship, it is very difficult to install a huge main gun!
Therefore, in order to reserve technology for the navy, the research on the army's artillery should be carried out earlier, and after the research is completed, the more difficult navy model improvement will be carried out. This will become an investment with relatively low risk and relatively low cost.
"Not yet. We are preparing to find a suitable shooting range for testing these days!"
Gustav said something he shouldn't have said in front of Mainz last time, so he has been very cautious since then, for fear that he might have said something wrong.
The question Mainz just asked was not just asking him, but actually reminding him that he wanted to see the test firing of this artillery.
In this case, Gustav naturally couldn't play dumb, and he immediately began to make arrangements.
Seeing this, Mainz greeted Elizabeth, and then followed Gustav to the shooting range in the suburbs to watch the test firing of the artillery up close. The
Gustav cannon is completely different from ordinary artillery. This kind of artillery is too heavy, and the length of the 50-caliber barrel reaches an exaggerated 25 meters.
So in order to transport the artillery to the test site, The military also specially designed three giant transport trains with special structures.
Fortunately, the weight of this artillery is only 450 tons, which is not as exaggerated as the 1,500 tons of the 800mm Gustav, so the bridges along the way can still withstand such weight, and the train does not need to take a long detour and can go directly to the shooting range!
In order to minimize the risk of exposure, the artillery was divided into three parts during transportation, and transported in batches after disassembly. In this way, even if spies from other countries saw it, they might not be able to figure out the true identity of this thing in a short time!
The shooting range is located in a forest in the north of Lower Saxony. It has always been a shooting range and training base for the German army, and the surrounding residents have long been evacuated.
In order to avoid The artillery test alarmed irrelevant people, and Mainz even specifically ordered the German troops training here to suspend training and move to other places.
So when they arrived here, there were only 200 of them busy on the entire shooting range.
These two thousand people include 100 artillery operators and security personnel, more than 200 army artillery observers, and some artillery designers and engineers.
They are responsible for observing the situation of the artillery, evaluating the performance and performance of the artillery, and then summarizing and making corrections based on the test firing situation this time!
After all, this artillery has not yet been officially finalized, so many tests are needed.
Only after the detailed performance and parameters are determined can it be delivered to the troops for use!
The Gustav cannon is slowly Slowly under the guidance of the towing vehicle, they arrived at the position. Two giant cranes that had been prepared began to hoist the base, and then installed the gun mount, gun barrel and loading mechanism. All the work was completed by a major general commanding more than 1,200 people who fought for 3 hours.
The towering barrel of the Gustav cannon is very magnificent. In order to prevent leaks, a large number of infantry, patrolmen and police dogs were deployed around the test site to patrol within 10 kilometers around.
In short, the German army attaches great importance to this giant cannon and is full of expectations!
Everyone wants to see the performance of this artillery with the largest caliber in human history!
Under the attention of the public, the Gustav cannon is finally ready.
When the crane finished hoisting the 2.1-ton shells and the barrel was raised high, everyone held their breath!
"General, the Gustav cannon is ready, please give instructions!!!"
After everything was ready, the German general who was in charge of the test firing came to Mainz and asked him for instructions.
"Fire!"
With Mainz's order, the cannon roared, and a fiery red projectile flew out at a speed invisible to the naked eye!
A minute later, a loud bang was heard in the distance!
With a bang, the whole earth began to tremble!