The Third Reich: The Return of the King

Chapter 459

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: 0.375s Scan: 0.031sAfter listening to Speer’s report, everyone calmed down a lot.

War cannot be divorced from reality. The army is not ready yet. It is possible to fight, but if it cannot be fatal after the fight, it will be more troublesome. They may fall into the quagmire of a protracted war.

“When will the two aircraft carriers of the Navy be able to form combat effectiveness?”

Manstein did not oppose the war, but he was not so urgent. However, since Speer was willing to disclose various intelligence, he could take the opportunity to learn about the Navy.

“If nothing goes wrong, the two aircraft carriers will be launched at the end of June. In fact, the construction of an aircraft carrier is much simpler than that of a battleship, because there are fewer weapons and equipment, and fewer buildings on the deck. All you need to do is lay straight decks and inclined decks, and then build the hangar and various cabins!”

Although Speer said so, everyone was an outsider and just listened for fun. No one took his words seriously!

The construction of naval warships is a huge subject. There are many things involved. Without strong industrial strength, ordinary countries really can’t handle this thing!

Of course, there is one thing Speer said that is right. It is indeed easier to build aircraft carriers in this era than battleships, because the superstructure of the battleship, especially the turrets, really affects the layout of the battleship. If there is a slight mistake, the battleship may malfunction due to the center of gravity and other reasons, resulting in damage to combat effectiveness or simply unable to fight!

This kind of thing is not uncommon. When the Second Empire first developed dreadnoughts, it encountered such a problem. Even the Zhenyuan-class ironclad ships produced by Hans for the Qing court were experimental warships. To put it bluntly, he used the Qing Navy as guinea pigs to experiment on himself!

“If it is launched in June, when will it be able to form combat effectiveness?”

Manstein directly ignored the latter part of Speer’s content. He was more concerned about the substantive issues.

“This depends on the progress. Our navy lacks experience in using aircraft carriers. In fact, the navies of countries around the world do not have much experience in using aircraft carriers, so it is estimated that we will have to spend more time on training in this regard. If the Shanghai trial is counted, we may not be able to expect aircraft carriers to have any combat effectiveness before 1928!”

Speer was still relatively optimistic. In fact, the training of aircraft carriers was more complicated, because it was not only the aircraft carriers themselves that had to be trained, but also the escort fleets around the aircraft carriers, as well as the aviation combat squadrons on the aircraft carriers.

Compared with battleships, aircraft carriers were completely different weapons. They did not have very strong attack power. Hans’ own aircraft carriers did not even have large-caliber main guns. They were all replaced with small and medium-caliber anti-aircraft guns, almost completely eliminating the aircraft carrier’s own ability to strike surface targets.

This design idea can be said to be very bold in this era. Almost no aircraft carrier in any country did not install main guns. After all, if an aircraft carrier encountered an enemy warship, they could still rely on their main guns to protect themselves. In addition, the speed of an aircraft carrier was generally around 30 knots. If they fought and ran, they might be able to escape from the tiger’s mouth and escape!

But Hans’ design idea was not like this. In Mainz’s view, if the enemy’s surface ships entered the core defense circle of the aircraft carrier battle group, it would prove the outer protection of the aircraft carrier battle group. The amount has been destroyed. In this case, even if the aircraft carrier itself has some main guns, it is impossible to get rid of the enemy’s attack. They will still be sunk. Therefore, adding a few guns is not very meaningful!

There is space to install the main guns, but it is not necessary to increase the area of the deck and the hangar, and install more aircraft.

After all, the main combat power of the aircraft carrier still depends on it!

The special thing about Hans’s aircraft carrier is that from the beginning of the design, Hans’s aircraft carrier must rely entirely on the protection of the aircraft carrier battle group and rely on the fighters on the aircraft carrier to attack.

Their fighting method is the standard aircraft carrier battle group in later generations, which is very different from the fighting method of this era!

Therefore, even if the aircraft carrier is landed, it cannot form combat effectiveness by relying solely on its own training. They also need to practice with other ships in the aircraft carrier battle group. This process will be very long.

However, time waits for no one. Hans does not have so much time to wait. Although Hans’s own aircraft carrier battle group is not rich in experience, considering that everyone in this era has no experience in the use of aircraft carriers, their experience will not become a flaw or loophole!

“So, we should set the battle time after 1928?”

After hearing what Speer said, the mustache man raised his eyebrows, not knowing whether he was dissatisfied or satisfied with the time.

“This is an ideal situation. Of course, if it really comes to 1928, the navy will have at least 8 Scharnhorst-class battlecruisers, 2 Bismarck-class battleships, and two 40,000-ton aircraft carriers!

Even if our strength cannot reach the level of the British Royal Navy, it can at least reach about 70% of the other side’s level!”

Navy Commander Dönitz said confidently!

If someone told him five years ago that the Hans Navy, which had only 5,000 troops at the time, could approach about 70% of the strength of the British Royal Navy within five years, he would definitely think that guy was still daydreaming!

So when all this really happened, Dönitz still couldn’t believe it in his heart. He felt that this was too dreamy!

“It is not enough to have surface ships alone. If a war really breaks out, the Royal Navy will definitely lay mines at sea, restrict our activity area, and try to block us in the port like in World War I!”The

High Seas Fleet was very strong in World War I, but it could not find a good opportunity. As a result, after only fighting the Battle of Jutland, the High Seas Fleet was no longer useful! After the lessons of the High Seas Fleet, the people attending the meeting couldn’t help but murmur in their hearts when they heard the data of 70%.

The High Seas Fleet at that time was close to 70% of the strength of the Royal Navy, but in the end it was not useless. They didn’t even have the chance to die on the battlefield, and ended their lives by collective self-sinking!

So the number of 70% is definitely not an auspicious number for Hans’s navy!

So they can’t put all their hopes on surface ships, but must rely on underwater forces that had performed extremely well in World War I, that is, Hans’s U-boats!

“Submarines have a relatively small tonnage and are produced at a relatively fast speed. Currently, the navy has produced and equipped a total of 57 submarines. There are 12 submarines waiting to be launched on the slipway of the shipyard. Now at least 4 submarines are launched every month. At this rate, by 1928, we will have at least 80 submarines ready for combat!”

Mainz nodded. Historically, when the Third Reich broke out in World War II, it had only 57 submarines, and most of them were first-generation submarines with very small tonnage. This type of submarine had insufficient endurance, torpedo carrying capacity and diving depth, so its combat effectiveness was not very strong.

But even so, these five submarines still brought tremendous pressure to the British Empire after the outbreak of the war.

The important role of submarines in commerce-breaking warfare has been proven in World War I and World War II!

This kind of underwater warship, which is low in cost, highly concealed, and able to quietly cross the enemy’s blockade line, is the key to the German army’s ability to use asymmetric tactics against powerful enemies when its strength is not as good as that of the Royal Navy. weight.

Therefore, Mainz has always attached great importance to this kind of killer-level weapon.

If he had 200 submarines in his hands, then Hans might be able to completely cut off the shipping routes between the British mainland and the outside world at the beginning of the war, turning them into an isolated island! The British mainland has a large population, but supplies are very scarce. They are very dependent on foreign imports, so as long as their sea transportation routes are blocked, I am afraid that they will be ashamed of themselves if they don’t fight!

In World War I, because of the terrible attacks by German submarines, the British mainland’s transport ships were not enough, and they even took out the old sampans!

It can be seen how much pressure Hans’ submarines have brought to them!