The German officers whispered again, because the topic thrown out by Huang Zhe was so amazing that it was far more than building some kind of warship beyond the Germans' cognition, because in the German Navy, it had not thought of building any bases overseas, although Germany now has some colonies overseas, but they are all building small ports of the kind that Huang Zhe said, not even a large port, let alone a base-type port.

This is mainly because Germany's overseas colonies are not very good, either the location is avoided, the real estate is barren, or the scattered islands, the food is tasteless, it is a pity to abandon it, there is not much economic benefit, so Germany is not interested in building overseas bases, Bi Jing to build overseas bases is also a very expensive thing, on the other hand, it is also due to Germany's limited vision, after all, it has always been a continental country, although it has created a strong fleet, but the perception of sea power is limited, and it does not realize the strategic value of building overseas bases.

Tirpitz asked, "How much does such an overseas port need, and where should it be built?"

Huang Zhe said: "We believe that there are 2-3 base-type overseas ports, 3-4 large overseas ports, and 8-10 small overseas ports, and Germany's overseas colonies are mainly divided into Africa and the Asia-Pacific region. Base ports can be selected in Borneo, Sussiwi, New Guinea, these islands are relatively large, and the sea area is complex, difficult to blockade, the most ideal is of course Borneo, and large ports can be selected in Borneo, Java, New Guinea, In Samoa and other areas, the location of the main port should not be too far away, so that the scale of the area can be formed, and each other can be coordinated in times of war; of course, the construction of the port is not achieved overnight, and it can be considered to build a small port first, and then gradually upgrade to a large port or base port. ”

While the other German officers were still thinking about the construction of overseas ports, Schell said: "So how was the fleet formed?"

Huang Zhe then said: " Speaking of the broken fleet, first of all, we have to explain in detail the nature of the battlecruiser, in fact, when we just talked about the fast battleship, we also gave some explanations to the battlecruiser, simply put, it is a large-scale armored cruiser, the displacement is roughly the same as the battleship, and is equipped with the same caliber guns as the battleship, but the level of defense is similar to that of the armored cruiser, or only slightly stronger, but the hull is larger, can accommodate more boilers, so the speed is much higher than the current battleship and the old armored cruiser, even if it is compared with the fast battleship we are talking about, the speed is slightly better, the British are building this type of battlecruiser, the design speed reached 26 knots. ”

"The combat effectiveness of the battle cruiser is far superior to that of the general armored cruiser, and compared with the battleship, it is not inferior in firepower, so it can also perform a variety of combat missions like a fast battleship, even if the main fleet is in a decisive battle, the battle cruiser cannot participate in ordinary battle line operations due to insufficient defense, but it can still use its speed advantage to assist the battleship in combat, such as serving as an outpost fleet, first the enemy finds and retreats when the enemy is extreme, disrupts the battle line formation of the enemy fleet, and so on. However, the main role of the battle cruiser is still in the breaking engagement and the anti-breaking engagement, in the anti-breaking engagement, with its high speed and powerful firepower, it can hunt down all the enemy's armored cruisers that perform the task of breaking the diplomatic relationship, and protect the safety of their sea routes, which is also the main purpose of the British to build battle cruisers. And in the same way, the battle cruiser is also a weapon to carry out the task of breaking the diplomatic relationship, as long as it is targeted by the battle cruiser, no fleet can escape, and even if there is an escort warship, it is not the opponent of the battle cruiser, except for the enemy's battle cruiser. ”

"The broken fleet is composed of battle cruisers as the core, equipped with 1-2 armored cruisers, 2-3 large cruisers, 5-6 light cruisers, plus several submarines, and all warships must have a speed of more than 26 knots, except for battle cruisers, other warships should be able to reach more than 28 knots. Such a broken fleet is formed into 3-4 teams, with overseas bases as the main port, and in times of war, they take turns to attack and carry out broken battles. In the execution of duties, large cruisers and light cruisers are the mainstay, and 2-3 ships form a group to operate in the sea area within a radius of 1,000 kilometers centered on the battle cruiser to intercept merchant ships, and battle cruisers and armored cruisers generally do not participate in intercepting merchant ships, but are responsible for supporting, responding, and ensuring that support is in place within 24 hours. When encountering a small fleet with no escort or weak escort, it will be intercepted by the breaking team, and when it encounters a large caravan with a strong convoy of escort warships, it will ask for help from the battle cruisers and concentrate its forces to intercept it. ”

Spee: "What if there are battlecruisers in the escort fleet?"

Huang Zhe said: "This can depend on the specific situation, but under normal circumstances, we do not recommend intercepting a fleet with a comparable number of battlecruisers to escort us, unless it is a battlecruiser that can concentrate more than the escort, otherwise even if you can defeat the enemy's battlecruiser in a one-on-one situation, you will suffer a certain amount of damage, sometimes 1000 damage to the enemy and 800 self-damage, which is not cost-effective." Moreover, the cost of battle cruisers is expensive, and it is impossible to build them in large quantities, so it is impossible for every fleet to have battle cruisers to escort them, and it is completely possible to let go of this fleet and look for interception of other fleets. ”

Tirpitz frowned and said: "The speed of the warships of the Broken Fleet must exceed 26 knots, and it is best to reach more than 28 knots, so now all our warships cannot meet this condition." Is it so hard that you have to redesign?"

Huang Zhe said: "In fact, it is not so troublesome, we have previously designed Samoa-class protective cruisers and Lune-class armored cruisers for Germany, in fact, the tonnage and firepower of these two types of warships can meet the needs of the broken fleet, but the speed cannot be reached, but if these two types of warships are replaced with steam turbines, the speed can be increased by about 2-3 knots, if some modifications are made to the local design of these two types of warships, there is room to increase the speed of another 1-2 knots, and the speed needs of the broken fleet can be fully met." As for the light cruisers, after all, they are not big, and there will be no problems in designing another type. ”

After listening to Huang Zhe, Tirpitz not only brightened his eyes, but also designed a Samoa-class protective cruiser for Germany. The Rune-class armored cruisers are very well received in the German Navy because of their superior performance, and now eight Samoa-class protective cruisers have been built and two are under construction, and the German Navy also plans to place an order for another six ships to form a total of four sub-fleets; and the Rune-class armored cruisers have also built four ships, two are under construction, and plan to place orders for two more ships. The preparation time is also familiar to the shipyard, and a large number of original spare parts do not need to be re-molded, which can greatly save costs.

At this time, Huang Zhe said again: " Finally, there is the problem of interaction between overseas base garrisons and the home fleet, in addition to the broken fleet, at least one fleet of no less than 4 battleships should be retained in the overseas base, plus 2-4 armored cruisers as the core, the existence of this fleet can play a role in threatening Britain's overseas colonies, receiving the role of breaking the fleet, and the native fleet to echo and interact, when necessary, it can also concentrate the strength of the three broken fleets to attack the ports of Britain's overseas colonies, if Britain mobilizes the main fleet to come over to encircle and suppress, it is bound to weaken the strength of the home fleet, Germany can immediately attack, and the British home fleet for a decisive battleIf the encirclement and suppression fleet sent by Britain does not have an absolute advantage in strength, it can use the defensive firepower of the base and the complex terrain of the sea area to contend with it, and find the best chance to break the enemy and win. ”

"In addition, in addition to the broken fleet and the garrison fleet, the port also needs a number of other warships to be stationed, and it is estimated that 4-6 large cruisers, 10 light cruisers, and 30-40 destroyers are needed. However, the armored cruisers and large cruisers needed to garrison the fleet and ports are not as high as the requirements of the broken fleet, and only the original Samoa-class protective cruisers and Rune-class armored cruisers need to be modified, and the engines are basically enough to change from a compound three-rise steam engine to a steam turbine. ”

Tirpitz listened, nodded his head in agreement. In the case of using the reciprocating three-rise steam engine as the power, the speed of the Samoa-class protective cruiser is 25 knots, and the speed of the Rune-class armored cruiser is 23 knots, even if no other changes are made, only the steam turbine of the same power can be replaced, the speed can be increased by 2-3 knots, so that the speed of the Samoa-class can reach 27-28 knots, and the Rune-class can reach 25-26 knots, even if it does not meet the optimal speed of 28 knots required by East China, but it is also considerable.

After communicating with the naval team for such a long time, Tirpitz's understanding of the navy has also improved a lot, and he knows that the value of speed of warships is not only to run fast, but to quickly arrange, quickly get in place, race against time, and sometimes take the initiative and win on the battlefield.

Of course, changing the engine is a big project for the completed warship, and the Samoa-class protective cruiser and the Rune-class armored cruiser are new ships that have just been in service, and it is not appropriate to modify them immediately, but the general warship will enter a period of overhaul after 7-8 years of service, at most 10 years, and carry out a comprehensive overall maintenance and inspection of the warship, replace the old or damaged parts, so that the warship can basically restore the performance when it was first put into service, and some will also replace the power system and firepower of the warship, so as to achieve the goal of extending the service life of the warship and maintaining combat effectiveness for a long time。 Therefore, it is completely possible to wait for these two types of warships to enter the overhaul period, and then renovate the warships and replace them with steam turbines, which can not only save costs, but also obtain the required warships in a relatively short time.