Chapter 443: Chlorine Gas

Qian Shuiting went below deck. The layout of the cabins, and even the packaging of the cargo in the hold, were all in place. Fu Sansi said that this was all restored as much as possible according to historical data, and also referenced the testimonies of several Spanish sailors.

“Spanish sailors’ testimonies?” Qian Shuiting asked, surprised. He didn’t remember any Spanish among the Senate’s naturalized citizens.

“They were captured at Bopu and have been working in the labor reform teams ever since,” Fu Sansi said. “After more than two years, they have met the conditions for their release. They were released and resettled at the beginning of the year along with the Indians captured at the same time.”

“The Spanish are one thing; at least they can be guides. What do we want the Indians for?” Qian Shuiting said with dissatisfaction. “The languages in that part of India are so bizarre, they’re not much use as guides.”

“The Indians went to the Agriculture Committee—I don’t know what Old Wu plans to do with them. The Spanish were left to do odd jobs in the shipbuilding department. One is a sailmaker, the other a carpenter, both considered useful people. They seem to be very honest so far. Many of the details on this ship and how the Spanish manage their ship’s administration were provided by them.”

Fu Sansi led him on a tour of the cabin layout. Qian Shuiting had seen many pictures and diagrams of galleon cabin layouts, but seeing the real thing was much more intuitive. Fu Sansi told him that the bulkheads of these cabins were actually removable and could be rearranged according to the cabin layout diagrams of different ships, increasing the variety of options.

“Shi Zhiqi often brings marines from Hong Kong here to train. It’s very lively,” Fu Sansi said with a smile. “For this Hunger operation, we can draw some people from the Marine Corps. They have plenty of training experience.”

Since Shi Zhiqi’s arrival in Hong Kong, he had been actively lobbying the Naval Department to move the Marine Corps headquarters to Hong Kong. The navy was not very satisfied with Lingao as its main naval base either; Hong Kong, Sanya, or Kaohsiung were clearly more suitable. As an island close to the Pearl River Delta region and an important node on the shipping routes, launching amphibious landings from Hong Kong was much more convenient than from Lingao. Therefore, the main force and headquarters of the Marine Corps were eventually transferred to Hong Kong. Currently, only one battalion headquarters remained in Hainan, commanding the two marine companies in Sanya and Lingao, as well as the platoon and squad-level detachments on garrison duty on Hainan Island and the Dongsha Islands.

As the project manager for Operation Hunger, Qian Shuiting’s confidence grew after visiting the one-to-one scale training model. Although he had absolute confidence in the navy’s combat effectiveness, the fanaticism of the Spanish was also well-known. It was not impossible that if their emotions were stirred up, they would refuse to surrender and insist on a boarding battle with the marines.

With this full-scale model, the boarding marines could fully train their specific tactical coordination, increasing their chances of success by a few more points.

He occupied a room in the Naval Department building in Bopu and established the headquarters for Operation Hunger.

He first selected the elders who would participate in this operation. Originally, he wanted Zhou Weisen to operate the Feiyun and command the formation. However, Zhou Weisen said that an elder like him, who was not from a naval background, had no prestige in the navy and no military rank—he might not be able to command respect. After consideration, Qian Shuiting decided to ask Lin Chuanqing to command the formation. He was the commander-in-chief of the naval fishing fleet, with a high enough rank and position. Secondly, as an old snakehead, old smuggler, and old fisherman, he was more familiar with the sea conditions in Southeast Asia than most people, and he had the richest experience in operating and using small boats.

As for the two Type 901s, Nongchao and Daishuang were chosen. These two warships were launched later than the first batch of four Type 901s. Although they encountered many problems as soon as they were launched, they were in better condition after repairs and running-in. They also had fewer hull attachments and could be put into action directly. Although the captain of the Daishuang, Lü Yang, couldn’t be said to have much experience, his youth and vitality were an advantage. It was a good opportunity for him to gain more experience in long-distance voyages. With Lin Chuanqing in command, there shouldn’t be any major problems.

Since the round trip to the Philippines was over 2000 nautical miles, the coal carrying capacity of the Type 901s alone was not enough for the long voyage and the search and standby period. Therefore, they would be accompanied by a fast coal tender with a hybrid sail-steam engine: the Haifeng.

The two Type 901 gunboats underwent necessary modifications, including the installation of rapid boarding bridges for boarding combat. Considering that if the opponent was a large galleon, the freeboard might be very high, so machine guns were installed on the fore and aft mast platforms of the 901s to suppress the enemy’s deck fire and cover the boarding party as they climbed the ship.

“The sailors on the ships can be re-selected and reorganized. Pick experienced sailors. During the last Giant operation, after only a week at sea, so many people were seasick to the point of being half-dead. This operation will take at least a month round trip, and it’s on the open sea with high waves. Seasickness will be unbearable. Let’s use more sailors who were formerly pirates,” Qian Shuiting proposed at the preparatory meeting.

“That’s not a good idea. The sailors and officers on each ship have already formed a combat collective. If you change people now, it’s like having to reintegrate them,” Lin Chuanqing shook his head. “The professional specialization of the 901’s posts is also much higher than that of ordinary sailing ships. It’s not so easy to replace them. Besides, they have been sailing continuously at sea for more than half a year, so their adaptability should be fine. My main concern is the wind direction.” He pointed at the sea chart. “The wind direction is not good. In July, the prevailing wind is already the southeast wind. Coming back will be convenient, but going will be very troublesome.”

“Isn’t the Type 901 mainly powered by steam?”

“The consumption is still very high against the wind. The self-sustainability of the 901’s equipment is not very optimistic. If the boiler is damaged, the entire plan will be affected. And coaling at sea is a technical job. We need to practice it a lot recently.”

The key boarding personnel were selected from the marines. The sailors on the steam warships were no longer the “dregs of humanity” that could be easily replaced; losing one would require a considerable amount of time to retrain. Most of the Senate Navy’s warships were equipped with a varying number of marines, one of whose tasks was to conduct boarding operations when necessary. However, considering that each galleon might have 400 sailors, a platoon of marines was specially reinforced on each Type 901 this time. They were all members of the Marine Corps’ amphibious reconnaissance detachment, selected by Shi Zhiqi from Hong Kong, who had participated in many simulated boarding exercises on the galleon model.

To ensure a foolproof plan, Qian Shuiting had originally wanted to mobilize a special reconnaissance detachment to accompany the fleet, but all the detachments were currently deployed abroad, and manpower was very tight. In the end, after coordination, Bei Wei agreed to send a small team of ten members to accompany the fleet—to act as snipers and M240 machine gunners, and if necessary, to directly participate in the boarding assault with submachine guns and shotguns.

Someone even suggested bringing anti-tank missiles, but everyone felt that this thing might have too much destructive power. If one shot went wrong and the silver wasn’t secured before the ship sank, it would be a huge loss.

Several demonstration confrontational exercises were conducted on the galleon model. The results of the exercises showed that no matter which assault plan was adopted, there were basically no casualties during the boarding. The combined use of the M240 and the machine guns was enough to clear the entire deck. However, once the battle entered the middle and lower decks, a certain number of casualties were inevitable. Even if their side was very familiar with the cabin structure, as long as the opposing side had sufficient will to fight, they could still inflict losses on the assaulting marines with matchlocks and swords. And it was not without precedent for the small cannons on the gun decks to be turned around to fire grape shot to rout the invading enemy.

The main equipment of the marines, the Minie rifle, would have its combat effectiveness greatly reduced once it entered the narrow and poorly lit middle and lower decks. The smoke from firing was too great, and the firing reaction was not fast enough in close combat. Obviously, the submachine guns and shotguns used by the special reconnaissance team were the most ideal tools for boarding battles.

But these weapons were very rare, so Qian Shuiting turned his attention to poison gas. Currently, Lingao could only produce two types of poison gas: one was the pepper tear gas widely equipped by the garrison forces, and the other was chlorine gas. Chlorine gas was an important product of Lingao’s chemical industry and a widely used raw material in industrial production. Both its production and storage had certain application conditions. Qian Shuiting planned to control the upper deck and then inject chlorine gas through the personnel entrances. Chlorine gas is heavy and flows downwards. Although the galleon had lower gun ports and large stern windows, and the lower deck was a through-deck with good air circulation, so the chlorine gas could not achieve its optimal effect, even a small amount of chlorine gas would be enough to incapacitate people.

“It’s clean, labor-saving, and, well, environmentally friendly. It even disinfects the ship as a bonus,” Qian Shuiting tirelessly promoted. “And its protection is simple—just a mask soaked in an alkaline solution is enough. No need for gas masks.”

“But you still need goggles. Chlorine gas is irritating to the eyes. The safety of using this thing is not very good,” Shi Zhiqi was not very interested in using chlorine gas. He felt that using chlorine gas was a typical abuse of technology. Besides, he was not very confident about having a high-pressure steel cylinder filled with chlorine gas, which was past its service life, on a ship sailing across the ocean.

“We can test the actual effect—we have a full-scale model now. We can put some rabbits and goats inside and release a canister of chlorine gas…”

“The elders will be up in arms. Aren’t you wasting meat?” Shi Zhiqi shook his head repeatedly. “I think it’s better for the marines to assault!” He slammed his fist. “If the Minie rifle is not effective, then each person will carry two revolvers and a cutlass for close combat.”

In the end, no one could convince the other. However, the Planning Commission readily agreed to allocate a chlorine gas cylinder and related protective equipment. It was said that someone in the military was very interested in using chlorine gas and had therefore made special arrangements with the Executive Committee and the Planning Commission. The Ministry of Health was also interested in the disinfecting effect of chlorine gas on ships.