Chapter 225: The Birth of the Maxim Machine Gun

Not long after signing the second arms trade order with the Russian government, another piece of good news came from the Royal Arsenal.

The Royal Arsenal's weapons design engineer and chief expert in machine gun design, Gao Da, came to the Wang Gong in person to report this good news to Xiang Kaluo: the Maxim machine gun that Xiang Kaluo had been longing for had finally achieved certain results after six and a half years of research and development.

The time when Xiang Kaluo invited the Gao Da brothers to come to Spain to take on important positions was January 1871. Over these past six and a half years, the Gao Da brothers had been serving as weapons design engineers at the Royal Arsenal, primarily responsible for the design of machine guns and the development of smokeless powder.

At the beginning, the machine gun R&D project team only consisted of the two Gao Da brothers, but as the Royal Arsenal acquired a large number of military industrial talents, the number of firearms engineers in the machine gun R&D project team grew, currently reaching over 30 people.

Besides the famous Gao Da, the firearms engineers who were able to join the machine gun R&D project team were all renowned firearms engineers from Italy, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, or Spain.

Moreover, only those firearms engineers who had completely immigrated to Spain would be invited by Xiang Kaluo to join the machine gun R&D project team. The machine gun was known as the king of all guns, and its role in war was far greater than that of a rifle.

In the era of manual rifles, a truly fully automatic machine gun would completely change the situation of war.

Currently, on the Balkan battlefield, both the Russian government and the Ottoman Empire were using human wave assault tactics. The Russian government had built a formidable reputation based on human wave assault tactics, which was also the reason why various European countries were wary of the Russian government.

But during the First World War, after the armies of various countries were fully armed with machine guns, conventional human wave tactics lost their effectiveness.

Cluster-style assaults were tantamount to organized suicide against machine guns; it was nothing more than consuming more bullets and increasing the kill-death ratio.

Precisely because of this, the machine gun was extremely important to Spain, and it had to be kept secret if possible.

The moment he learned that the machine gun had been developed, Xiang Kaluo arrived at the Royal Arsenal's weapons testing ground in the suburbs of Madrid to admire Spain's first truly automatic firearm.

The Royal Arsenal placed the weapons testing site in the mountainous area outside Madrid. Further north was the Central Mountain Range, which could be described as desolate, so there was no need to worry about causing panic among residents or attracting the attention of foreign spies during weapons testing.

Riding in the latest improved "automobile" from Benz, traveling at a speed of nearly 30 kilometers per hour, Xiang Kaluo and his party soon arrived at the weapons testing site.

Accompanying Xiang Kaluo to watch the machine gun test were the current Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Serrano, Chief of General Staff of the Ministry of Defense Maerka Antonio Fleche, Commander-in-Chief of the Spanish Royal Army Evan Bradley, and Commander-in-Chief of the Spanish Royal Navy Greeson Ruiz.

It could be said that because of this small test of the machine gun, the bigwigs of the Spanish military all came.

Minister of Defense Serrano held the rank of Marshal, while Chief of General Staff Fleche, Army Commander-in-Chief Evan, and Navy Commander-in-Chief Greeson all held the rank of General.

This also showed the importance the military placed on weapons like the machine gun. Xiang Kaluo had long since mentioned the role of such automatic weapons, and the military had already conducted discussions on them.

If it were confirmed that the machine gun manufactured by Gao Da did not differ much in function from the machine gun described by Xiang Kaluo, then the military would order at least a thousand machine guns to significantly strengthen Spain's firepower.

Of course, for the sake of maximum secrecy, the machine guns would not be equipped to the troops right now; instead, a brand-new unit would be formed to conduct training on the machine guns.

When the future war involving Spain broke out, these units specifically trained for machine guns would be split into multiple small units and dispersed among the various infantry divisions of Spain.

When Xiang Kaluo and his party arrived at the weapons testing site, Gao Da had already brought a group of experts who developed the machine gun to wait respectfully outside the site.

"Your Majesty." Seeing Xiang Kaluo step down from the carriage, Gao Da walked up quickly and bowed respectfully to Xiang Kaluo.

It was Xiang Kaluo who gave him the opportunity to use his abilities in his favorite position as a firearms engineer. Xiang Kaluo also gave him enough budget so that he could conduct his experiments as he pleased without worrying about funding issues.

After six and a half years of hard work, this machine gun, which seemed quite perfect to Gao Da, was precisely Gao Da's repayment for Xiang Kaluo's trust in him.

"Well done, Mr. Gao Da." Xiang Kaluo nodded, maintaining a quite amiable attitude toward Gao Da and the group of firearms experts behind him.

Xiang Kaluo did quite well in valuing talent; as long as these talents were willing to contribute to Spain, Xiang Kaluo was also willing to treat them well and provide them with more generous rewards and salary packages.

Led by Gao Da and his team of experts, the group soon walked into the interior of the weapons testing site, where a Maxim machine gun and ten Spanish Vitali M1872 rifles had already been set up.

"Your Majesty, Generals, please look, this is our research achievement, a machine gun in the true sense."

"Mr. Gatling's revolving machine gun gave us some inspiration, but what we have manufactured is a truly automatic machine gun, completely different from Mr. Gatling's machine gun."

"This machine gun has a muzzle diameter of 11. 3 millimeters, the entire machine gun weighs 27. kilograms, it can perform single-shot and burst-fire shooting, and the rate of fire can also be adjusted through a rate-of-fire regulator."

"Because the machine gun's rate of fire is extremely fast, we adopted a canvas ammunition belt feeding method, with a maximum capacity of 333 rounds."

"We used the most advanced recoil springs, shell ejection systems, belt feeding mechanisms, and acceleration mechanisms in the machine gun. Relying on gunpowder gas as power, one only needs to pull the trigger to complete a series of actions such as feeding, firing, and shell ejection."

"Using such a machine gun, soldiers no longer need to load bullets while firing, which saves most of the time and also strengthens the machine gun's own firepower."

"According to our estimates, the maximum rate of fire of this machine gun is 600 rounds per minute, and the service life of the barrel is 3, 30 rounds."

"Currently, the biggest problem with this machine gun is that the barrel heating will cause the entire machine gun to be scrapped, and it is difficult to have time to replace the barrel on the battlefield."

"We are developing a water-cooled machine gun. In the presence of a water source, this type of machine gun can dissipate heat more effectively than an air-cooled machine gun, and the service life of the barrel will also be extended to over 7, 00 rounds."

"But even with the above shortcomings, this machine gun can still provide firepower far beyond the reach of rifles within 5 to 10 minutes, helping our army have a greater advantage when attacking or defending." Gao Da introduced the machine gun he developed slowly, and he was quite confident when mentioning the shortcomings.

The reason for Gao Da's confidence was naturally that the machine gun he developed possessed extremely powerful firepower compared to rifles.

Spain's standard rifle, the Vitali M1872, could fire at most 10 to 15 bullets per minute, even when used by extremely skilled soldiers.

The maximum rate of fire of the Maxim machine gun was 40 to 60 times that of the Vitali M1872 rifle, which also meant that the firepower of 50 soldiers firing at full capacity could barely compete with one machine gun.

However, the Maxim machine gun was not without shortcomings in terms of firepower. Because the Maxim machine gun weighed 27. kilograms, it required at least two people to carry this 50-plus-pound machine gun during marches and combat.

Because the machine gun's rate of fire was extremely fast, it also required a large supply of bullets. These bullets also needed many people to carry, which resulted in the need for additional loaders, transport soldiers, and messengers, in addition to the primary and secondary gunners operating the machine gun.

According to Gao Da's own estimates, to maximize the firepower of the machine gun, each machine gun required at least 5 to 8 soldiers to be responsible for it.

However, compared to current rifles, the machine gun's firepower was still quite superior. 5 to 8 soldiers could exert firepower close to what 50 soldiers using rifles could exert, and its role on the battlefield was already quite obvious.

Hearing Gao Da's various introductions, Xiang Kaluo nodded with great satisfaction, and then said with a smile: "Mr. Gao Da, these guys are already quite looking forward to the machine gun you mentioned. When can the test begin? I also want to see if this so-called machine gun is really that magical?"

"It's already prepared, we can start now." Hearing Xiang Kaluo's inquiry, Gao Da replied immediately.

This test was something the Royal Arsenal had been preparing for a long time, and its purpose was to directly demonstrate the power of the machine gun's firepower to Xiang Kaluo and the several generals behind him.

"Then let's begin." Xiang Kaluo nodded.

Following Xiang Kaluo's order, several experts familiar with the Maxim machine gun began to prepare for the pre-test work.

This machine gun experiment was divided into several parts. First, it would directly demonstrate the machine gun's maximum firepower and the single-shot and burst-fire modes; second, it would be compared with ten rifles to reflect the powerful firepower the machine gun possessed.

Then there was the experiment on the service life of the machine gun barrel, as well as testing the time required for the machine gun to change ammunition.

After completing all these experiments, the advanced nature and power of this machine gun could be fully demonstrated. For these high-level military officials, they could also judge whether this machine gun had any use on the battlefield.

The preparatory work was soon completed, and the machine gun test officially began.

The first thing tested was the machine gun's maximum firepower. The test method was also very simple: after loading the ammunition, it would fire at full capacity, while one side would time it for one minute.

Da-da-da! Da-da-da-da-da!

As the expert responsible for timing gave a starting gesture, the Maxim machine gun operated by two gunners began to unleash its firepower.

Bullets shot out from the muzzle one after another, connecting into a line, making the muzzle of the Maxim machine gun look as if it were on fire.

The trunk of a large tree 50 meters away was crazily strafed by the continuous bullets, forming huge craters.

Before even a minute had passed, the tree was snapped in half under the ravages of the bullets. The high-level military officials also couldn't help but clap and cheer; they were clearly quite satisfied with the machine gun's firepower.

"Time's up." The expert responsible for timing, seeing that the one-minute mark had been reached, quickly signaled the two gunners.

The machine gun soon stopped strafing, and the two gunners were responsible for counting how many bullets the machine gun had fired in total.

Actually, it was easy to calculate: a canvas ammunition belt had 333 bullets in total. The amount consumed in this minute was one and a half belts. One only needed to count the remaining bullets in the second belt to know clearly how many bullets the Maxim machine gun had fired in one minute.

After a brief count, the experts finally gave a quite satisfactory number: 592 bullets.

Of course, there was a certain amount of time between the end of the timing and the cessation of fire. But it was certain that the maximum firepower of this Maxim machine gun within one minute was at least 550 bullets.

Although Xiang Kaluo did not express his attitude, one could see from the smile on his face that he was quite satisfied with the results achieved by the machine gun before him.

As for the high-level military officials, there was no need to say more. After obtaining the data of 592 bullets, all the high-level military officials, including Grand Duke Serrano, were staring intently at the machine gun, as if they wanted to sleep while hugging it.

"Next is the second test: single-shot firing and burst-fire." The expert responsible for the test first explained it to Xiang Kaluo and the high-level military officials, and then began to prepare for the test.

Single-shot firing and burst-fire were very useful for machine guns. After all, for a bullet-devouring beast like a machine gun that consumed a large amount of ammunition, it was difficult for logistics to satisfy the bullets required by the machine gun at all times.

In some situations, performing single-shot firing could also allow the machine gun to play a role in the absence of bullets. Moreover, if it were always firing in bursts, the machine gun barrel would quickly be scrapped due to overheating, which would cause the entire machine gun to lose its combat effectiveness for a long time to come.

Replacing the machine gun barrel was still quite troublesome, and it also required waiting for the barrel to cool down completely before it could be replaced. Soldiers on the battlefield did not have any heat-resistant gloves, so if they wanted to avoid getting their hands burned, they could only wait for the barrel to cool down completely.

The time wasted in this process would be at least half an hour or so. This also meant that if the machine gun barrel were scrapped, the machine gun would completely lose its function for the next half hour or more.

Da-da-da!

Da!

Da!

Under the operation of the two gunners, the Maxim machine gun demonstrated its single-shot and burst-fire modes, and the free switching between them was quite stable.

This also made the high-level military officials even more satisfied with the Maxim machine gun, to the point that they wished they could place an order for the Maxim machine gun right now.

If it weren't for the fact that there were still related tests to follow, the high-level military officials would probably have already dragged Gao Da over to discuss the order.

It is worth mentioning that although Gao Da and others belonged to the Royal Arsenal, the machine gun R&D project team was separate, and the Maxim machine gun belonged to the machine gun R&D project team.

The owner of the project team was naturally Xiang Kaluo. Xiang Kaluo held 95% of the shares of the machine gun R&D project team, while the remaining 5% of the shares were divided among the other firearms experts.

The profits earned from future heavy machine gun orders would also be shared 5% by these experts who developed the heavy machine guns.

This was a reward given to them by Xiang Kaluo, and its purpose was precisely to improve their efficiency and give them sufficient motivation when researching and improving machine guns.

Of course, in addition to the 5% shares, the due rewards were also not lacking in the slightest. Xiang Kaluo was quite satisfied with this machine gun test. After all the tests were completed, Xiang Kaluo distributed a series of rewards, including checks and real estate, to all the firearms experts in the machine gun R&D project team.

As the head of the R&D team, the reward Xiang Kaluo gave Gao Da was the most generous. He not only received a property in the center of Madrid but also received a check with a face value of up to 10, 00 pesetas.

(End of this chapter)