"In addition to the aircraft carriers that can basically be completed this year, we also have 2 Yunlong and 2 Dafeng to start construction. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 info" Speer said viciously, "Since he likes to brag so much, I'll just add two more cloud dragons to change and see what the Americans do." ”

Hoffman knew that the Ministry of Armaments had always had doubts about the start of the third and fourth Yunlong reforms this year, and thought that it would slow down the construction of the warships in front, but with the victory of the Panama Campaign, it seems that Speer's mood has also been stirred.

"I'm not hot-headed, really...... These two months have been different. "The Anglo-American bombing has been greatly reduced, or even close to none, and the only place where it is still bombed regularly is the Azores, but there is no industry in that projectile area, and the domestic industrial capacity is maintained quite well." In addition, with the influx of shipbuilders from Spain and Portugal, the number of engineers and shipyard workers who need to be put in Italy has also decreased accordingly, and the speed of workers returning from the army has exceeded expectations, which is conducive to ensuring the construction of domestic warships, so even if the construction of two more Yunlong is started, there is no other capital ship construction plan anyway. ”

Raeder disagreed with the Führer on the shipbuilding plan, the old marshal wanted to start construction of another battleship, or 1-2 Hipper-class heavy cruisers to replenish the battle damage, Hoffman saw no need at all, insisting on the absolute priority of aircraft carriers, at most adding some more air defense cruisers and destroyers.

"In 1943, a total of 6 new aircraft carriers were started on the mainland, two of which were the more powerful Dafeng (the 1st and 2nd ships of the Yunlong Reform have started, and the Dafeng 1st ship is planned to start construction in May), as for 1944, with the gradual prosperity of the Italian slipway and shipbuilding capacity, I think it is equally feasible to start construction of 4 more Yunlong in Italy and the mainland, maybe there is a chance to start another Dafeng reform, so that 9 aircraft carriers will start construction in a year - not counting Japan, can the Americans build 36 ships? Of course, they have to use escort aircraft carriers to make up the numbers, I have nothing to say. ”

Hoffman was convinced, and a satisfied smile appeared on his face: "Very good, then do it, 6 ships this year, and strive to start construction of 9 more ships next year." The navy is the top priority in the future, as long as the blockade of British and American sea power can be broken, even if the Americans can mobilize 20 million troops, we will be as stable as a rock in Europe. ”

Of course, this is not Hofmann's bragging, he has seriously thought about it, and he has also had in-depth exchanges with several major staff generals such as Yodl, and he has come to the same conclusion: As long as the British and US navies are not allowed to gain absolute sea supremacy, no matter how large the US Army is, it will be a decoration -- the United States does not share a border with the European continent, and to send an army force, it must land for operations, and the landing limit will not exceed 300,000 at a time. As long as the naval superiority of Britain and the United States was partially neutralized, these 300,000 men were not under any pressure for the Third Reich. Moreover, Britain and the United States will never risk launching a 300,000-level landing campaign before they obtain absolute sea supremacy.

Hoffman was very confident about this: Historically, Britain and the United States waited until Germany had a large-scale retreat on the Eastern Front and completely mastered the sea power in the Atlantic, and did not dare to launch the Normandy landing campaign until June 1944. If we really want to talk about landing, I am afraid that the resumption of the "Sea Lion Project" at this stage is more reliable than the Normandy landing.

But there is one thing that neither of them expected, although Speer made the most daring assumption, he still did not expect that the idea of the United States to start construction of 24 Essex-class aircraft carriers within a year was true, and they did not expect that in addition to starting construction of 2 Essex-class aircraft carriers per month, the General Committee of the US Navy also arranged the construction of 12 Independence-class (or Curry-Tucker-class) aircraft carriers, so that the number of escort aircraft carriers is no more and no less, exactly 36!

This figure surpasses Speer's realization, goes beyond Hoffmann's historical experience, and depends only on the severely altered balance of naval power. In fact, after the two major battles of the Azores and Panama, the overall pattern of the world's navy has changed drastically, and Hoffmann has not yet clearly and completely realized this, but the Americans have a painful pain: at present, the United States is still the first in terms of tonnage, but Japan has surpassed Britain to become second, followed by Italy (fourth) and Germany (fifth).

Although Japan lost 4 aircraft carriers at Midway, and then lost 2 more battleships in Panama, Britain lost all aircraft carriers by April 1943, and only the poor 2 George V-class and 2 Queen Elizabeth-class battleships remained, and the effective tonnage dropped sharply, and now even the tonnage gap between Germany, Italy and Britain has been greatly narrowed, although the United States has lost more capital ships than Britain, but it has made up for these losses with terrible ship-building strength, if it were not for Britain's use of a vote of cruisers, auxiliary cruisers and destroyers support the scene, and the total tonnage of capital ships above 10,000 tons is almost at the bottom of the five countries!

If Japan is ranked in terms of the combat effectiveness of its capital ships, it can basically rank first, and it is vaguely overtaking the United States.

Now Japan temporarily has four aircraft carriers, two large and two small (not counting Bolzano), overpowering the two major aircraft carriers of the United States (Saratoga and Essex); In terms of battleships, Japan still has two Yamato-class, one Nagato-class, and three Kongo-class battleship formations, and the United States has two Iowa-class battleships (the No. 2 ship, the New Jersey, has just been commissioned and has not yet completed sea trials), one New Mexico-class (New Mexico), two South Dakota-class and one North Carolina-class, and the USS California (Tennessee-class) and the USS West Virginia (Colorado class) are still being renovated and will be completed one after another in June-July. Smaller than the gap after the Battle of Pearl Harbor; In the field of heavy cruisers, the United States no longer has a single heavy cruiser, but Japan still maintains more than 10 heavy cruisers, which greatly overwhelms the United States.

However, Japan's window of superiority is very weak, and after the Essex and Independence classes continue to serve in early May, the tonnage advantage of aircraft carriers will basically be gone, and if the quality of carrier-based aircraft pilots is considered, Japan will still have an overall advantage.

In terms of aircraft carrier comparison, Germany now has the Skyhawk, and the UK only has the Unicorn, the former is slightly stronger than the latter, but considering that Germany still has the Zeppelin in maintenance and a vote to transform the aircraft carrier, the two resentment classes under construction in Britain will not be in service until 1944, and the strength has steadily overwhelmed the United Kingdom; In terms of battleship comparison, Germany now has two battleships Tirpitz and Richelieu, Strasbourg and two Scharnhorst-class three battle cruisers, and Britain has two George V-class and two Elizabeth-class battleships, which are inferior to Germany in terms of number and combat effectiveness, even if you consider the unfinished ships on the slipway, the Reich can be commissioned in a few months, and the Lion-class will also have to wait until 1944; Britain was also slightly inferior to Germany in terms of heavy cruisers, but Britain still had a huge accumulation in the field of light cruisers, auxiliary cruisers and destroyers.

Taking these factors into account, even if we do not consider the ranking of naval combat strength in terms of command ability and the quality of officers and men, in the short term (3-6 months) it should be Japan, the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Italy, and in the medium term (6-12 months) it is the United States, Japan, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom. It's just that the British and American navies have been accumulating power for a long time, and all countries, including the Axis, have not yet realized this.

"I'll go and prepare supplies and ships as soon as possible." Speer asked, "When they will go back to Italy, I need 15-20 days." ”

"Keitel didn't say anything about it just now, Horikichi said that he would return to Japan on April 15, but now the time has long passed." Hoffman immediately called Dahlges, "Ask Marshal Keitel, where is the fleet now, when will it return to Italy, and what are the follow-up arrangements?" ”

Half an hour later, Dahlges walked in, whispered a few words in the Führer's ear, and after a few words, Hoffman's face became very strange and wonderful.

"What's going on?" Speer keenly grasped this unusual change of mood.

"Horikiyoshi's main fleet will return to the Azores at the end of the month, and then try to depart east from Italy around May 15."

"At that time, the battle of Madagascar should also end, and we should return to Japan together."

"This is not the key, the point is that the aircraft carrier group led by Tsukahara is not with them, and now no one can contact the mobile fleet, and it seems that radio silence has been implemented."

"Radio silence? What does he want to do? Speer was also taken aback.

"I don't know, Horikichi gave a reference - it is possible to bomb the East Coast of the United States! I don't know what to do, but I don't think there are many targets to choose from, whether it's New York, Washington, or Norfolk Naval Station, or Philadelphia, Boston, etc. ”

"Really?" Speer's face instantly became very rich, and finally he couldn't help laughing, "I hope they can bomb New York, when the bomb is dropped on the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center, or the Brooklyn Bridge, Manhattan Bridge, Roosevelt's expression must be wonderful." ”

"I almost forgot, you turned out to be an architect." Hoffman laughed, "Take a telegram for them, and tell them the most worthwhile landmarks and advice from a professional point of view, and it would be better if you could get a picture." ”

Speer's body leaned forward slightly: "You're not afraid of completely angering the Americans?" ”

"When they dropped bombs on the Ruhr, on Berlin, on Frankfurt, they completely angered me! This is just the most insignificant revenge of the German people! Any bomb, even one, is more effective than piles of denunciations, protests, and invective. "Bismarck said that iron and blood must be relied upon to solve the major problems of our time, and although more than 80 years have passed, this sentence is still relevant today!" (To be continued.) )