In the past two days, Zhang Chi has also had some idleness, just watching the group of American sappers tossing the "Sherman". Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

Not to mention, these American sappers really have a hand, and in less than two days they have successfully suspended the "Sherman" on the water, and at first they did not dare to let this "Sherman" go to the sea, fearing that the center of gravity would be unstable and then a wave would sink over, so they dug a big pit on the shore, drove the tank with the pontoon welded into it, and then poured seawater into the pit, and then watched the tank float up little by little.

At this time, the counterweight is adjusted according to the balance of the tank, and after installing the external thrusters, some simple wind and wave resistance tests are carried out, and then it is driven into the sea when the wind and waves are calm...... At this time, I had to drive into the sea, because in the pit there was no way to know the working condition of the thrusters and whether the tank could land normally, after all, many things are imagined to be the same thing, and there will be problems of one kind or another when you really do it.

The results of the sea trials were not satisfactory, and the tank was able to move at a speed of 5 kilometers per hour in the sea...... You must know that the normal walking speed of a person can reach 4.5 kilometers, which means that the speed of the tank in the water is not much faster than the walking speed of a person.

This problem cannot be solved, first of all, the shape of the "Sherman" tank itself plus the "pontoon" are not designed for sailing in the sea, so there will be great resistance when sailing, and secondly, the external thruster is not a special thruster, and the thrust is insufficient, and the solution to the turn can only be to install a thruster on the left and right sides of the tank, and brake with one of the thrusters to achieve the purpose of steering.

Another important drawback is poor security......

This is related to its first flaw, slow speed means that it is in the enemy's fire range for a long time, which causes the amphibious tank to suffer from the enemy's attack for a long time, and because it is so slow, it is difficult for the amphibious landing vehicle to coordinate with it, and even the amphibious landing vehicle can knock it over if it accidentally collides with the tank.

In addition, its resistance to wind and waves is also seriously insufficient...... Because the amphibious tank uses a pontoon to float on the water, the lack of stability makes it possible for a wind wave to roll over or enter the water.

Wilson's solution was simply to equip the amphibious tank with a drain.

The more serious problem is its ability to resist blows.

This is also a concern for admirals such as Commodore Johnson...... Although those pontoons are welded to the tank, if the enemy's shells or bullets are hit, then the pontoons will soon enter the water, and it is needless to say what the result is, the amphibious tank will first lose its balance and tilt, and it will not be long before it sinks to the bottom of the sea.

Because there are so many problems, even Martin and others have no hope for it, because of its slow speed and unsafeness, the American GIs humorously nicknamed the amphibious tank "Donald Duck".

But Wilson was full of confidence, he patted Zhang Chi on the shoulder and said, "Dude, we have created a new kind of equipment, I have a hunch that he will show his skills on the battlefield!" ”

In the evening of the next day, Halsey accompanied Johnson, Smith and others to Beato Island for "acceptance."

At the sight of "Donald Duck", Johnson couldn't help but laugh.

"Colonel!" Johnson asked Wilson, "Are you going to have our Marines go into battle with this?" You might as well let them kill themselves! ”

"General!" Wilson replied, "As I said before...... Whether it can play a role on the battlefield depends on the performance of actual combat! ”

"What do you want this thing to do in real combat?" Johnson quipped: "All I know is ...... It may not survive even a minute on the battlefield, and you wish it could hit the islands defended by the Japanese! You think war too simply, Colonel! ”

Halsey and the other admirals were silent because they felt that Johnson was right, and that putting such equipment into battle was not only a waste of equipment, but also an irresponsibility for the lives of soldiers.

But Halsey held out a glimmer of hope, telling Wilson, "At least...... Let's try to do a test and draw conclusions! ”

"Testing?" Wilson looked at Halsey suspiciously.

"Yes!" Halsey replied.

Tests soon began, and the content was the resistance of amphibious tanks, and the test objects were two "Donald Ducks".

First of all, it is to let the two "Donald Ducks" sail to the coast in normal sailing condition...... For the sake of safety, the driver jumped into the water and escaped after stabilizing the course of the "Donald Duck", which means that both "Donald Duck" rushed to the beach without a driver.

Of course, the word "rush" here may not be accurate, because it is so slow that it is not "rushing" at all, but wriggling or moving.

Then, one machine gun and one mortar fired and bombarded the two Donald Ducks, respectively......

Needless to say, the results of this test are too slow, so Donald Duck is easy to target.

The mortar shell hit directly and made the "Donald Duck" sink directly to the bottom of the sea without a trace, and the machine gun did not take much effort, after a shuttle of bullets passed, the pontoon was pierced and began to enter the water, and after two shuttle bullets, the "Donald Duck" began to tilt, at this time it had lost its direction and turned around in the sea, and it did not take long for it to sink to the bottom of the sea under the eyes of everyone.

"I don't know what it is!" Johnson laughed, "But I know I'm not going to let my soldiers drive this thing onto the battlefield, never!" ”

"General!" Wilson looked at Halsey expectantly.

Halsey shook his head silently and said, "I'm sorry! I also don't feel like it works on the battlefield! I think we should consider another option! ”

The crowd was silent, and the other admirals would not gloat as Johnson when they learned this, because they knew that it meant that the problem had not been solved and that the US Navy was still in a difficult situation.

"General!" Just when everyone was silent, Zhang Chi said: "If you don't want to try, leave it to us!" ”

"You guys?" Hearing this, Halsey couldn't help but be stunned: "What do you mean...... Let the Chinese army drive this thing to attack the Japanese lines? ”

"Yes!" Zhang Chi replied.

"Colonel!" Halsey stared at Zhang Chi and said, "I have to remind you that your troops are very good troops, and I don't want them to be sacrificed in meaningless attempts, and on the other hand, I don't want you to make a wrong decision because it's your own idea!" ”

"Of course!" Zhang Chi nodded: "But I don't think it's a wrong decision!" (To be continued.) )