The third drawing is the German version of the Japanese modified Yunryu-class aircraft carrier, with an original design displacement of 17,500 tons, but the use of an open bow, the German Naval Design Bureau intends to change it to the Atlantic bow, and the rest of the internal design is roughly referenced, and part of the structure is reasonably reinforced according to the designer's requirements (the Germans always feel that the Japanese ship is not strong enough), these two changes directly increased the displacement by 3,500 tons. Due to the modification of the bow, the number of carrier-based aircraft in the German version will be reduced, and under the premise that the displacement will increase to 21,000 tons, an increase of 20%, carrier-based aircraft are still expected to have only 49 commonly used + 6 in reserve (57+8 in Japan).

Hoffman opened his mouth: "I am considering building 4 medium-sized aircraft carriers, 2 in the North Sea direction, and 2 in the Mediterranean Sea and Indian Ocean direction. As for the construction period, I would like the completion time to be 20 months, and no later than 24 months. ”

"How much does one cost?" Raeder asked nervously.

"100 million."

"Do the Italians pay?"

Speer shook his head: "No, even the renovation and expansion of some facilities in the Italian shipyard still cost us, and the total is 420 million." ”

Two years of completion is equivalent to another 210 million per year......

"It is required to start construction work sequentially from March, one per month, start construction in March and April, start construction of the Strasser, start construction in May, and start construction after the Italian shipyard completes the infrastructure in January." Hoffman clapped his head, "This is the core warship that relates to whether the empire can win in the end, it must be completed, and the required materials and manpower are dispatched by Speer, and the crew can be trained from now on." ”

Everyone gasped when the fourth blueprint came on, and dozens of anti-aircraft guns were densely packed on it.

"Gentlemen, this is a new destroyer that I designed with my expertise, and I call it the Hedgehog......" Hoffman said with a smile.

"Hah!" The crowd burst into laughter, and the Führer's witticism was too vivid: Isn't the anti-aircraft artillery group above it like a hedgehog with all the backstabs up? Seeing that people's scalps are numb.

"Japan built the Akizuki-class air defense destroyers, which were barely satisfactory in terms of air defense performance, but the Führer wanted us to go one step further and personally proposed an artillery design concept for close air defense." Schubert has a new image, which has a unique shape, and the cross-sectional view looks densely like a beehive, which is very stressful for people with dense phobias.

"I call this kind of anti-aircraft gun a phalanx, is a Mauser company multi-barreled chamber MG213 aviation cannon based on the development of the carrier-based version, although the current aircraft has not been completely successful, but because the carrier-based version can be enlarged in size and weight, so the use of technology is not as limited as the aviation machine gun, the body tube can also be longer, consider combining 6 or 8 MG213 as a phalanx turret, the use of electric drive, a single rate of fire per second is expected to be as high as 1400-1500 rounds, The muzzle velocity is expected to be 1050 m/s, and then the combination is enough to pull up a metal storm......"

"This destroyer focuses on anti-aircraft firepower, long-range air defense is 6 3 groups of twin 88mm high-level dual-purpose guns with a total of 12, medium-range air defense is up to 16 40mm Bofors high group, close range is 12 Führer developed phalanx, as for the torpedo tubes, the original consideration was canceled, and it was finally decided to keep only 2 torpedo tubes per ship." Schubert explained, "In long-range air defense, 88mm anti-aircraft guns will be commanded by radar, and medium- and short-range air defense will all use dense barrage to kill - when a dive bomber is forced to pounce, how many can withstand such blazing fire?" ”

"In addition, there is a good innovation, the Air Force Armaments Department tossed out the radio proximity fuse, is doing the final test before the final acceptance, if it goes smoothly in July, the new fuse can be used, of course, it can only be stuffed into 88mm shells at present, but even this is enough for enemy bombers to enjoy." Whether it is a proximity fuse, a phalanx, or radar fire control, Hofmann has put forward new ideas based on the current situation, and the Air Force cannot wait for this -- if the shipborne air defense is effective, then the ground air defense towers will also be more confident in dealing with heavy bombers.

"The anti-submarine capabilities of this warship are also outstanding, and we will be installing the latest sea search radars, sonars, and hydrophones - which have been tested on other ships and found that our U-boats are 5-7 times more efficient, and will also carry up to 128 depth charges...... It will be slightly slower than the Z-Class, with a top speed of 35 knots and a range of about 6,000 nautical miles / 18 knots. ”

After listening to Schubert's introduction, everyone immediately turned their heads to look at Dönitz, and he showed an embarrassed smile: "This...... Last time I used the old model of submarines, the new model will not be the same. ”

Raeder understood, this is a complete air defense and anti-submarine destroyer, although the standard displacement is enough 3200 tons, but there is almost no tonnage for traditional fleet engagements and breaking, it is completely used with aircraft carrier formations, and the 88mm caliber high-level dual-purpose artillery can't even catch up with the firepower of some 10,000-ton freighters, at least everyone has begun to equip 105mm guns.

"The head of the new destroyer called for the construction of at least 24 ships, and initially intended to start construction on both sides at the same time." "Among them, 14 are built in Germany and 10 in Italy, and if the Z-class destroyers currently on the slipway can be changed to a new design, if they can't be changed, they will be built with reference to that design as much as possible, regardless of whether the Z-class is modified or not, the number of 24 will remain the same." The construction period of a single ship is not more than 15 months, and the entire construction work is completed within 3 years, as for the price......"

Raeder "chuckled" in his heart, and hurriedly asked, "How much?" ”

"Estimated at 40 million marks a piece."

Raeder felt that he was going to faint, and this batch of destroyers alone would cost 960 million marks, which would be 320 million a year according to 3 years. What he didn't know was that Hoffman actually proposed an enlarged version of the Hedgehog class - the development of a 5,500-ton light cruiser, but neither the design nor the slipway could support it, so it had to be postponed.

Finally, when it comes to submarines, the price of the VII-class submarine has been reduced to about 8 million marks per submarine, and the construction price of the slightly larger IX-class submarine is about 11 million marks - this is one of the few German naval equipment that is lower than the world level. However, it is clear that what Raeder saw from the design drawings was not Class VII or Class IX, it was a completely new submarine design, and compared to the past, the new submarine was streamlined in appearance and was conducive to reducing submarine resistance. From the data, it is known that it can carry 23 torpedoes or a combination of 17 torpedoes and 12 mines, and there are 6 torpedo tubes in the bow, and the level of firepower is not low.

"The design, which is proposed to be XXI class, improves the capacity of the old battery to three times that of the VIIC type, increases the underwater range and shortens the time required to surface. The biggest advantage of this stage is that it only takes 5 hours to recharge the snorkel, and it can have 2-3 days of continuous diving at a speed of 5 knots without having to recharge, and it is completely equipped with superb stealth characteristics, which is more difficult to be tracked and destroyed. Its top surface speed is more than 16 knots, which is higher than that of various types of transport ships or merchant ships, and its endurance is up to 15,000 nautical miles, which can be used in global battlefields. "The ship also has a special hydraulic torpedo system, which allows the torpedo to be assembled in a very short time, enough to fire 18 torpedoes in 20 minutes, and it will be even better if combined with the newly developed G9 oxygen torpedo (German version of the 93 torpedo). At the same time, he also has the most advanced sonar system available, which can be aimed without a periscope when firing torpedoes, which greatly increases concealment. ”

Hoffmann was even more aware of the merits of the XXI class than Dönitz, and historically this submarine was called the best submarine of the Third Reich, but the construction process was delayed for two reasons so that it did not play a greater role: first, the construction of new submarines was delayed in order to compensate for the large number of submarine losses that began in the spring of 1943; Second, due to the aggravation of the British and American bombing, Dönitz was forced to adopt the process of sectional construction and reassembly, and the level of each factory was different, and the components often had problems that could not be assembled and needed to be remedied, which delayed the construction time.

But now the "super secret" has been destroyed in advance, Germany has strictly followed the regulations of 6-9 months to change the password, Britain and the United States can not take advantage of the code decipherment, can only rely on radar, sonar and escort aircraft carrier system to improve anti-submarine capabilities, the loss rate of U-boats has risen to a certain extent, but there will be no sharp rise in history, at the same time, the British and American air raids have also been initially contained, not as in history to do whatever they want, the level and efficiency of each manufacturing plant is also stronger than history.

"How's the price?"

"About 19 million marks a piece, large-scale construction can be reduced to less than 16 million."

Raeder was very nervous, he didn't know how much Dönitz wanted, if he asked for 100, it would be 2 billion directly.

But the Führer did not mention the number, only asked: "I am very concerned about the start of construction." In addition, I think that the remaining 20mm anti-aircraft gun can also be canceled - the fight with aircraft is not the task of submarines, you should count on aviation battleships. ”

"Yes, Führer. I expect that the prototype will be finalized in July, and then it can be put into production, and the construction time of a single line is expected to be 50-60 days, and we can start construction of 15-18 lines at the same time. ”

"Very good, the production of new models must start in August, and all other models will be suspended, and strive to increase the level of simultaneous operation to more than 25, the time can be slowed down a little, but the quality must be guaranteed."

Dönitz was a little anxious: "I'm afraid this won't work, the construction of new submarines is relatively slow, if all other models are basically stopped, the number of fleets in the second half of the year will not be able to make up, after all, our combat scope has been expanded to the Indian Ocean, and the scale gap is very large......

"Quantity is a problem, of course, but I've found a better solution."

"What is it?" Dönitz was as puzzled as everyone else, could the Führer still be able to conjure a submarine? (To be continued.) )