The sand in the shell is considered by many people to be an important reason why Beiyang Navy lost to the Japanese fleet. I remember the first time I saw the movie Wu Jia Storm, there was such a plot. ? Zhiyuan? Deng Shichang, a wind band, found that the hit shells didn't explode, so he asked his subordinates to take them apart. As a result, sand, not explosives, flowed out of the barrel. At that time, my first feeling must have been to cut corners. Use sand as explosives, not shoddy. No wonder Beiyang navy can't beat it. With such shells, everyone will lose.
And this account, of course, was also put on the head of the Qing government, because they embezzled and misappropriated the money from the shells, which eventually led to the failure of the Beiyang Navy.
In fact, there are also some shells filled with sand in the shells equipped by Beiyang Navy. However, the failure of Beiyang Navy was not due to these shells filled with sand. Because these shells are not the defective products described in the movie, but the normal equipment in the ammunition depot of Beiyang Navy. In other words, it is right that sand appears in these shells.
The cruiser Zhiyuan is a British warship, but the two 2 10mm main guns on the warship are made in Germany. This is not unexpected. After all, our master Li Hongzhang is a die-hard fan of Krupp cannon. There are two main types of shells of this Krupp cannon.
One is a common flowering bomb. Generally, the structure is a lead or metal shell, and the shell is wrapped with a metal projectile, and the interior of the projectile is filled with explosives, which is triggered by a fuse installed in the warhead. This is a kind of shell that uses the impact of explosion to make shrapnel bloom, thus killing the enemy.
This kind of shell has great lethality and wide killing range, which was commonly used in naval guns at that time. However, the bullet has a disadvantage, that is, its penetration is limited, and its lethality is limited in the face of a huge steel ship wrapped in real armor.
Therefore, in order to enhance the armor-piercing ability of artillery, warships are often equipped with armor-piercing bullets specifically for armor. Its principle is also very simple, that is, relying on its own kinetic energy to achieve the effect of penetrating the armor of enemy warships. It turns out that the interior of the armor-piercing projectile will also be filled with explosives, which will detonate after penetrating the armor, thus causing damage to the interior of the enemy ship.
However, with the thickening of armor and the appearance of carburized steel and other armor, the robustness of warship armor is getting higher and higher. When the traditional armor-piercing projectile comes into contact with armor, the explosive filled in it will explode ahead of time due to the huge stress impact. Finally, its effect is not much different from that of a flowering bomb. Later, in order to prevent the explosion of explosives in advance, the designer simply stopped loading explosives and directly relied on the bullet itself. If a few holes are dug below the waterline, the boat is likely to be gone.
However, this simple physical impact on buildings requires mass, because if the mass of the projectile is not enough, then the kinetic energy is not enough, and the effect of penetrating the armor of enemy ships cannot be achieved. Therefore, after the powder 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.
This kind of shell is called sand-filled bomb, which is often called sand-filled bomb equipped by Beiyang Navy. In fact, sand-filled bombs had become the standard of navies of all countries at that time, not only the Beiyang Navy, but also the Japanese Navy.
So? Fill the shells with sand? It is not the reason for the failure of Beiyang Navy, nor the evidence of corruption in Qing Dynasty. The reason for this rumor is that Li Hongzhang's political opponents attacked Beiyang Navy for cheating and abandoning military equipment in order to crack down on Li Hongzhang, and found out the reasons. For what? Fill the shells with sand? Most people are amateurs and don't know the inside story. Naturally, they were filled with indignation, which was passed down from mouth to mouth and finally spread to this day.
Of course, I don't deny that the military equipment of Beiyang Navy is lax, but I am more in favor of corruption in the Qing Dynasty. But it should not be presented with such rumors. It's a little unreasonable to be black for the sake of black.