Two days later, an exhaustive war game was conducted within the German Navy, and the final result was exactly what Fang Yan expected. www.biquge.info In the full 30 rounds of simulated confrontations, the American battlefleet equipped with 508-mm guns only annihilated the main force of the German fleet once, which was still on the basis of the former's aircraft carrier inflicting heavy damage on a large number of German warships in advance. For the rest of the game, these big guys either followed the aircraft carrier and did nothing, or were intensively watched by enemy aircraft. Even if they were forced to open the fog of the battlefield and create bad weather, they would not be able to hunt down enemy carriers with radar warnings, high speeds, and the ability to run away if necessary.

"Is it true that not a single battleship has been built?" Hearing this result, Rydell's heart was turbulent, and he only felt extremely uncomfortable and awkward. Although he no longer questions the main position of aircraft carriers, decades of professional experience have made certain ideas ingrained in his mind; A large navy is as terrible as a man without a head if it does not develop battleships, as it has been for the long past 50 years! Under the influence of this strong psychological suggestion, Raeder's mind began to come alive again. No matter how careful and meticulous the staff officers are, the wargame is only a combat simulation on paper after all, and in the future there will definitely be deviations in actual combat compared to the present.

What made Fang Yan frustrated and disappointed was that there were still many people in the top echelons of the Navy who held this idea. Even if the wargame shows a one-sided trend, the huge existing inertia still makes them obsessed with battleships - even if its main position has given way to aircraft carriers, it is still an indispensable presence in the fleet system. Faced with this result, Fang Yan once again felt the limitations of his own status, no matter how much he did, he would be brutally overthrown by others!

However, Fang Yan's efforts finally played a small role. The 80,000-ton H-40 proposal was silently shelved by Raeder, and replaced by Bismarck-class blueprints that had been retaken from the confidential room. The Naval Armament Bureau was immediately asked to make an improved design of similar tonnage, and the design of the air defense cruiser was also entrusted to Fang Yan. Faced with this additional task, Fang Yan did not shirk, and at this critical stage of the wartime naval transformation, Fang Yan felt that he had every responsibility to do his part.

A week later, Fang Yan walked into the commander-in-chief's office with the drawings he had drawn. When Raeder saw the delicate and meticulous warship plan on the white map, the consternation on his face could no longer be hidden. Raeder originally thought that Fang Yan was confined to the trivial affairs of the Construction and Repair Bureau, and it would take at least a long time to carry out this design work, but he didn't expect him to come up with the finished product so quickly. These days, the day-to-day operations of the Bureau of Repair and Repair do not seem to be left behind, can it be said that he is fully familiar with his new job and has left room for other things?

Fang Yan didn't seem to notice the anomaly hidden by Raeder, and said directly: "Your Excellency, I have completed the main design of the air defense cruiser. She is a full-time air defense bodyguard for aircraft carriers, and all her performance is determined around this function. ”

With a total length of 165 meters and a width of 18 meters, the slightly wide size gives her a longer roll period, which can make this 6,500-ton warship have the innate stability of a 10,000-ton cruiser. Since the area of the open deck will directly affect the number of anti-aircraft gun emplacements, I did not use the standard reverse underwater protrusion structure on this ship, but returned to the most conventional equal-width ship type. ”

Raeder reined in his thoughts and nodded. Now that the other party is reporting to him, the chaotic thoughts of intrigue should no longer appear. After a few breaths, he completely followed the rhythm of Fang Yan's thoughts.

Fang Yan put his fingers together, circled the drawings one after another, and said: "The ship is equipped with 8 twin 128mm heavy anti-aircraft guns. Six of them are arranged on the front and rear central axis in a knapsack style, and two are arranged on the left and right, and when firing from the single port, 14 main guns can be concentrated at the same time. In order to ensure that these heavy anti-aircraft guns could still bite the enemy aircraft at close range, I drastically reduced the armor of the turret to 20 mm on the front and rear top sides. In this way, heavy anti-aircraft guns that fire grenades can also participate in the lineup of short-range air defense. ”

"Turret armor 20 mm? This can even be pierced by high-explosive shells fired by destroyers! Raeder was taken aback, and his eyes were full of disbelief as he looked at Fang Yan. As the standard equipment of the main warship of the German Navy, the twin 128mm gun undertakes the dual mission of long-range air defense and short-range self-defense, and when the enemy destroyer launches a high-speed torpedo attack, this medium-caliber firepower is the only weapon to prevent the enemy ship from approaching.

Therefore, the survivability of the 128mm gun is very important in the face of enemy destroyers who treat every second as if it were the last moment of their lives, frantically raining down rapid-fire bullets on their own side. If the enemy ship is dumbfounded by self-defense fire, the probability of the opponent successfully breaking through will be greatly increased, and no one wants to see their own warship torpedoed! For this reason, all 128 mm twin turrets of German naval ships had 70 mm frontal protection, and on the Z destroyers, the three rear sides of the turret were further strengthened to 40 mm to cope with dog-and-dog fights between destroyers.

However, now, Fang Yan has almost completely abandoned the survivability of the secondary gun that he has been emphasizing at the beginning, and if it encounters a relatively large main shrapnel, the 20 mm armor is likely to be unable to defend against it. It is true that the weight of the turret has been reduced from 55 tons of Z-drive to just over 40 tons, but is it really worth sacrificing protection?

"Not only the turret, but also the turret and the waterline armor have been heavily chopped. The former is also 20 mm in the level of defense shrapnel, the latter is fused with the hull structure and the thickness is increased to 40 mm. Fang Yan said unhurriedly, his words making the corners of Raeder's eyes jump again. This level of vertical defense is already inferior to even the Z-type destroyer, and it is even more different from the 7,500-ton K-class heavy cruiser. If he didn't know Fang Yan's details, Raeder would definitely order the guards to arrest the person in front of him, and then strictly check whether he was a spy sent by the enemy country!

"Your Excellency Marshal, when we have aircraft carriers as the main force, conventional surface artillery battles are to be avoided as much as possible. Using aircraft reconnaissance and radar warning, we simply do not give the enemy fleet a chance to approach, and since this is the case, what is the point of laying heavy vertical armor again? Fang Yan's explanation made Raeder stunned, and it took him a long time to come back to his senses. Yes, as long as you have the intention to avoid the enemy, then the heavy armor that can't eat shells will naturally become a useless salted fish, and it is completely reasonable to cut it to the level where it can only defend against indirect damage from aerial bombs!

(Raeder's inner monologue: Why did it become like this?) For the first time, there was an over-the-horizon ability to overcome the curvature of the earth, a sharp eye that could lock onto targets in fog and at night. These two happy things coincided, and the result was what should have been the dreamy heyday of the battleship. But why, is this happening...... ）

Fang Yan paused and continued: "On the other hand, I have greatly strengthened her defense against aerial bombs and torpedoes. The ship's horizontal armor is up to 100 mm thick and can withstand 500kg of armor-piercing bombs dropped from a dive at an altitude of 3 km; The three-layer TDS has a depth of 3.5 meters and a total thickness of 50 mm, which can ensure that the core cabin can withstand the air wave bombardment of 350kg of high explosives. Coupled with a total of more than 70 small-caliber anti-aircraft guns, its offensive and defensive capabilities in the face of aircraft are in no way inferior to an old capital ship that has been modernized. ”

In terms of power, the ship is equipped with 4 boilers, 2 shafts and 2 engines, with a maximum stable output of 65,000 horsepower and a full load speed of more than 31.5 knots. Although slightly slower than the aircraft carrier, in the vast majority of cases it will not affect her normal operations. At the same time, the ship can carry 1,600 tons of fuel oil and has a range of 8,000 nautical miles at 16 knots of economic cruise. Fang Yan showed a confident smile on his face, and focused on the lower right corner of the drawing, "Since the whole ship does not use any case-hardened armor, and there is no expensive and complex large-caliber turret, her cost is expected to be reduced to less than 32 million marks, and the construction time can be completely controlled in about 24 months." ”

Hearing this last sentence, Raeder's eyes finally lit up again. Unlike conventional cruisers equipped with 6-inch or 8-inch guns, Fang Yan's design of this light cruiser did not pursue costly attack and defense at all, which made her much easier and faster to build, and the mass production efficiency was only slightly worse than that of the Z-type destroyer. This is obviously an extremely advantageous attribute for the Navy that is currently in the midst of a period of war expansion.

"Jonas, will you add some more vertical defense? As long as it reaches the level of a Z-type destroyer, at least it will not be penetrated by high-explosive shells of the 5-inch level. Raeder suggested. Fang Yan shook his head slightly, but the expression on his face was extremely firm. Fang Yan has always resolutely opposed this kind of practice, which has no actual combat significance and wastes weight and resources, because he deeply understands that the German Navy is not qualified to squander like the United States.

Historically, the United States built a total of 47 cruisers with a total of 9 Atlanta-class, 27 Cleveland-class (excluding 9 Independence-class converted into aircraft carriers), and 11 Baltimore-class cruisers during the Pacific War, with a total tonnage of 540,000 tons. Of these, however, only the former, which is designed for air defense, is fully valuable. The other 38 cruisers, their main guns were almost useless in the battle of the fleet with aircraft carriers as the protagonists, and they could only vent their anger on the land beachhead over and over again.

The only thing that made the Americans happy was that the tonnage of the 2nd class cruisers behind them was large enough to be remedied by adding more anti-aircraft guns. Although the Cleveland class has a light cruiser license, its standard displacement is as high as 12,000 tons, which is more than most heavy cruisers, and the Baltimore class is a heavyweight of 14,500 tons, which is not far behind Germany's Prince Eugen. In the end, the Americans made them all hedgehogs, so that they could finally take charge of the air defense operation, but compared to the Atlanta-class air defense light patrol with only 6,700 tons of standard platoon, the waste is still not too terrible!

In fact, even the Atlanta class is far from being fat and thin in terms of performance indicators. Her main armor was 95 mm thick and her deck was only 32 mm, which was clearly a sign of a clash with enemy light ships. This is evidenced by the two quadruple 533-mm torpedo launchers it is equipped with. Since Fang Yan had insight into all the elements, he naturally did not allow the German Navy to make further detours, and this time he finally had the right to speak on the air defense light patrol, so he would never give in again.