I Became a Plutocrat in World War I: Starting with Saving France

After listening to Tijani's explanation, Shire realized that the "Brenan Torpedo" of this period was different from the near-modern wire-guided torpedoes.

The biggest difference was that the wire of the "Brenan Torpedo" both controlled and transmitted electricity.

"It is equipped with an electric engine." Tijani explained, "Our batteries cannot store enough power for it to reach the target, and the generator is too large to fit into the torpedo body, so we use shore-based power generation to supply electricity to it."

The method of power generation made Shire chuckle. They even equipped this torpedo with a boiler room, using the boiler room to drive a steam engine to generate electricity, then transmitting the power to the torpedo. The entire apparatus was practically a small power plant.

(The image above shows the operating method of the "Brenan Torpedo", usually set up on the shore, where a lookout tower is used to observe the direction of the torpedo. The personnel at the base then use a "steering wheel" to control the torpedo and adjust its trajectory over the phone.)

Clearly, such a large torpedo mechanism could not be brought onto a torpedo boat.

It was even considered unrealistic to move it onto a destroyer or battleship. The internal space of destroyers and battleships is extremely valuable, and developing a specialized system for the torpedo and setting up coordinated lookouts was less practical than relying on traditional torpedoes and luck.

However, Shire quickly found a solution.

"Why don't we combine these two types of torpedoes?" Shire suggested, "I mean, take the advantages of both."

"The advantages of both..." Tijani suddenly understood, "You mean, equip traditional torpedoes with a wire that only controls its steering?"

Shire nodded.

At this time, the "Brenan Torpedo" already existed, which meant that the system for electric control of torpedo steering was mature and developing it was not difficult.

Tijani was stunned for a moment, then suddenly got up, looking serious: "Thank you very much, Colonel. I'm not sure if this idea is feasible. I need to ask them! And of course, this..."

As he spoke, Tijani raised the document in his hand: "I'll be back to find you soon..."

"Wait!" Shire called out to the eager-to-leave Tijani: "Perhaps we should discuss the issue of torpedo range."

Tijani turned back as if electrified, looking at Shire with a face full of astonishment: "You, you have a way to improve the torpedo range?"

...

In the 15th district of Paris, at a five-story villa by the Seine River, Wells, wearing pince-nez glasses, was buried in a pile of design drawings, busy to the point of exhaustion.

During this period, Wells had been implementing the two directions proposed by Shire: upgrading destroyers and improving torpedoes.

Upgrading the destroyers posed no technical difficulty for the Brest Shipyard, as it involved a comprehensive consideration of the warship's speed, armor, and firepower.

The key was that it had clear objectives: the speed must be faster than cruisers and battleships, and the firepower and protection must be stronger than Britain's destroyers.

In this way, it could form asymmetric competition: those that could outfight destroyers couldn't catch up with it, and those that could catch up with destroyers were no match for it.

In a sense, it would be invincible, able to run around the ocean with no one able to handle it.

However, improving the torpedoes was difficult.

The most troublesome aspect was its use of compressed air to internally drive a turbine engine to propel the propeller, and compressed air contains only 21% oxygen, determining the torpedo's range to be around 2 kilometers.

(Note: Early whitehead torpedoes had a range of only 640 meters, which later developed to 10 kilometers)

To increase the torpedo's range, the only option seemed to be enlarging it to load more compressed air; apart from that, there seemed to be no other way.

Unless, like the "Brenan Torpedo", power is supplied by electric wire. In theory, this could drive the torpedo farther.

But that was just "in theory". In practice, the length of the wire suffers from its own weight and breakage issues, which similarly determines that its range is hard to exceed 2 kilometers.

Two kilometers, this number seemed like a curse, tightly binding Wells, preventing him from surpassing it.

All the designers, all the design plans couldn't achieve it.

Wells grew increasingly frustrated as he looked at the drawings, and finally threw them all aside in anger, took out a cigar from his coat, and cursed irritably, "It's all rubbish. Someone even thought about replacing air with oxygen. Don't they know they would blow themselves up?"

At this moment, hurried footsteps sounded from outside the door.

Wells knew it was Tijani. He wondered, shouldn't Tijani be in the City Defense Headquarters?

Just as he was thinking, Tijani pushed the door open, almost running to Wells' desk, gasping, "Father, we might have a way to improve the torpedoes!"

Wells smiled and sat back in his chair. Just you, the army Major General?

Tijani didn't explain. He glanced at the desk, rummaged through the documents and sketches, and took out two sheets, placing them in front of Wells: "Father, look at this, what do you think?"

"What?" Wells asked coldly.

The two drawings in front of him were one of a traditional whitehead torpedo and the other of a "Brenan Torpedo." What else could be different?

Tijani didn't speak. He took the whitehead torpedo drawing and tore off the blank part at the tail with a "rip," then stacked it on top of the "Brenan Torpedo"...

Wells was stunned at first, then his pupils gradually enlarged: "Wire-guided? Wire-guided whitehead torpedo?"

"Yes!" Tijani nodded heavily, "We only control without transmitting electricity. Therefore, a very thin, lightweight wire, along with a small battery that doesn't require much electricity, can complete the control of the whitehead torpedo."

Tijani thoughtfully nodded, realizing that the wire itself was a big issue.

If it only transmitted control commands without needing to supply power, it could be made thinner, thinner means lighter, and lighter means it could be launched farther.

But soon, Wells's enthusiastic gaze dimmed again. A longer wire had no significant meaning; air was still insufficient, which was the crux of the matter.

Tijani seemed to see through Wells's thoughts. He continued: "Father, regarding the range, Shire meant that if we couldn't find anything to replace air, then we should find something else to replace explosives and fuel."

"Explosives and fuel?" Wells asked, puzzled, looking at Tijani.

"Yes!" Tijani excitedly explained, "For example, the amount of explosives required to pierce through a battleship. A more powerful explosive formula would need a smaller volume, the same applies to fuel. If we can save space for both explosives and fuel, we can load more compressed air."

Wells's eyes lit up.

Such an innovative idea, with a simple logic, but everyone had been focused on the difficulty of compressed air, neglecting the easier-to-improve explosives and fuel.

Thinking about this, Wells couldn't help but be delighted.

He realized that supporting Shire was the right choice. His talent could bring earth-shaking changes to the navy!