Amid the optimism of Hitler and other high-level leaders, this commander-in-chief meeting finally came to an end. Walking out of the gate of the Prime Minister's Office, the generals with their own tasks scattered and went to prepare for their own work.

Army Commander-in-Chief Brauchitsch was excited and couldn't wait to lay out the schedule for the newly organized 16 mechanized divisions; Chief of Staff Halder was full of ambition and prepared to formulate an unprecedentedly grand operational plan for the Eastern Front. Speeler's eyes were calm, as if he was thinking about how to attack to break up the British air resistance, while Keitel and other OK members began to comprehensively study the plan for the capture of Gibraltar, deducing all the means in detail several times.

Fang Yan stood at the door and was stunned for a moment, and then followed Raeder to board the marshal's car. First, this meeting was brought to him by Raeder, and second, the Navy was about to launch a new phase of Atlantic operations, and Fang Yan was quite confident to participate. Even if it is unlikely that Raeder will give himself another chance to make contributions on the front line, it is a sure thing to make a battle plan on the second line - you must know that Fang Yan was originally a staff officer, and this kind of work is very familiar to him. Fang Yan also very much hopes to achieve his goal by hiding behind the scenes.

"Jonas, the Führer has ordered the Navy to build a ship capable of carrying the army across the English Channel, and after much reflection, I have found that you are the only one who is the most suitable candidate for the chief division." Returning to the naval headquarters, Raeder immediately said to Fang Yan with a serious face. Seeing this solemn and somewhat sincere face in front of him, Fang Yan suddenly understood the reason why Raeder had been able to stand up to Hitler politically for so many years. This commander-in-chief is not only a powerful actor, but he also has no psychological burden when he turns his face in the dark.

"Between now and the beginning of May next year, we are left with less than 10 months to prepare. In such a short period of time, it is obviously impossible to build a landing fleet with large transport ships as the core. Therefore, it can only be done at the level of small transport ships and landing craft. In the future, all newly built landing ships of our army should have the ability to independently travel to and from the English Channel, so as to get rid of dependence on large transport ships. But this brings up another problem, which is that the draft and stability of the ship are not balanced. ”

Raeder's voice spoke calmly, and the reason he gave made Fang Yan feel a little agreed. Indeed, in a landing operation, the draft and stability of the ship are a pair of opposite attributes - the landing beach requires the ship to have as shallow draft as possible in order to get infantry and vehicles ashore as quickly as possible; When the ship is sailing in the strait, it needs a certain draft to maintain a stable altitude, otherwise there is a risk of being overturned by wind and waves. For the average designer, how to balance the trade-offs is indeed quite a headache. And Fang Yan has the model of the landing craft of the later generations in his mind, and only he can stand on the shoulders of giants and calmly give appropriate answers.

"In addition, you are also one of the few officers in the Navy who has studied army tactics. Your ships will be able to meet the needs of the army to the greatest extent, which will be especially important for future landing operations. Therefore, no one will be better suited to preside over this work than you. Raeder's eyes were full of trust and encouragement, and he said, "Although there is no shortage of difficulties in this design, if it were you, I believe that you will be able to overcome all the difficulties." ”

Faced with this situation, Fang Yan could only nod and agree. Raeder looked satisfied, and praised Fang Yan for his courage in taking on the task "concerning the fate of Germany", as if the design of a few landing ships with balanced performance could determine the course of the war. Fang Yan knew very well in his heart that this was Raeder's action formulation to imply that he would give up participating in the Atlantic Battle from a subconscious level - you have already carried the fate of the country on your shoulders, and you still want to be distracted? If Fang Yan had to mention it later, Raeder would immediately be able to use this as a breakthrough to make a fuss, and it would be Fang Yan's side who would suffer in the end.

Fang Yan's mind turned, and after a while, he already had a countermeasure. He opened his mouth to ask Raeder for permission, as if he was ready to devote himself to the design and roll up his sleeves to do big. Seeing Fang Yan like this, Raeder couldn't help but have some doubts in the surprise. However, he couldn't see what was wrong, and in the end, he had to follow Fang Yan's request and allow him to use all the design and production resources of the Naval Repair Bureau.

In the afternoon of the same day, Fang Yan returned to the Navy Repair Bureau, which had been absent for more than three months. Unlike the last time he was in charge, this time Fang Yan only carried the task of design, so the exquisite and luxurious desk has also become a simple drawing table. In this not very spacious room, the five elite engineers were already waiting eagerly, and after Fang Yan arrived, he didn't have any extra words, he directly spread out the draft of the white drawing, and used a pencil to draw and calculate it.

In view of the landing operation of the German army under the current situation, Fang Yan carefully weighed and believed that the landing craft with a displacement of about 200 tons was the most suitable choice for the main force. Although the LCVP boats of the later generations of American imperialism were extremely cheap and easy to obtain, their displacement of 12 tons could not withstand any slightly larger wind and waves; For Germany, which lacked large transport ships, this was clearly a significant and intolerable flaw. Due to the changeable weather in the English Channel, Fang Yan had to leave room for the seaworthiness of the landing craft. After all, no one can guarantee the weather and sea conditions during the landing, and if you blindly pursue only the cost performance on paper, then in the ever-changing wartime, there will inevitably be a high probability of bad things!

As for the further increase in the amount of water discharge, it will become more than worth the loss in terms of man-hour output. In fact, even if it was a 200-ton landing craft, Fang Yan felt that it was very stressful to mass-produce, and at this time, the US imperialists, who were racking their brains to recall the historical plane, adopted what methods to simplify production. In addition to this, there was a more important factor: the 200-ton landing craft could fit about 200 soldiers in its cabin, which is exactly the size of a full infantry company in the army. If the ship continues to be built, it will undoubtedly create an obstacle to the operational command of the landing force.

According to Fang Yan's plan, an infantry landing craft carrying 200 people is a more reasonable configuration. The remaining 100 tonnes or so of loading potential is used to transport cargo and control draft: when the ship is navigating the strait, the ballast is filled with seawater to improve stability; When it is ready for landing, the seawater is discharged to reduce the draft. In addition to carrying infantry, the boat can also carry artillery and trucks, which can meet all the requirements for the transportation of non-armored troops.

As for the landing craft carrying tanks, Fang Yan also intends to control the full load displacement to around 200 tons. A ship of this size is capable of carrying 5 Bobcats or 4 Snow Wolves, which is exactly the number of tanks in 1 armored platoon. When the landing craft ran aground on the beach, the heavy movable landing board in the bow was lowered, leaving the tank to wade at a depth of about half a meter, and the latter could pass without any preparation. Similarly, this tank landing craft can also be used to carry heavy guns, and only a heavy truck needs to be towed in front of it to get out of the warehouse.

After finding out the performance and positioning of the German landing craft, Fang Yan immediately started his mind and started the preliminary design with the LCI boat of the United States in the historical plane as the mother type. This vessel is widely purchased by the U.S. Navy: it has an unladen displacement of 240 tons, a full load displacement of nearly 400 tons, and a power system with two diesel engines with a maximum output of 1,600 horsepower, which can propel the ship at a speed of 16 knots. In order to completely get rid of its dependence on large transport ships, the Americans gave it an astonishing range of up to 4,000 nautical miles / 12 knots, and its loading capacity for fresh water and domestic supplies was extremely rich. In addition, the boat was armed with four 20-mm cannons in order to counterattack possible enemy aircraft.

It was clear that the range, self-sustaining ability, speed, and seaworthiness of this type of ship far exceeded the needs of the German army. What Fang Yan has to do is to file hard in these places to achieve the ultimate goal of cheap mass production. As time passed, the pencil lines on the white drawings became more and more dense and dense, and when the red afterglow of the setting sun shone obliquely on Fang Yan's face from the window, a well-organized sketch appeared in front of him.

"Gentlemen, please give me a rough calculation of its weight configuration and centering height, and see if there are any errors or omissions. I haven't worked in design for more than half a year, so it's likely that I'll make some mistakes because I'm not familiar with it. Fang Yan called a few engineers to his side, and his words were sincere and enthusiastic, "Of course, everyone can also discuss the concept and design details of this plan." After all, no one can think of everything. ”

A bald middle-aged man nodded reluctantly, his eyes still showing resentment. When a few of them received this design order today, they originally planned to discuss the performance positioning and technical details of the new landing craft with Fang Yan, but they didn't think that after the other party came, they didn't communicate with themselves and the others at all, and directly started work with the drawing board, which made the bald engineer's heart angry.

It is true that the young man in front of him is a well-known senior ship designer in the navy, but the landing craft to be designed this time is a new field that has never been involved before, and it is far from being comparable to those technically mature cruisers or battleships. If the other side is arbitrary and does not take himself and others into account, but this is a cause that concerns the lives of tens of millions of compatriots and soldiers, and even the fate of Germany, how can he behave so rashly and willfully?

Seeing the bald man's expression, Fang Yan immediately understood his thoughts, and felt remorse in his heart. In fact, Fang Yan didn't have the idea of emptying his eyes at all, he just wanted to complete the task given to him by Raider as soon as possible, so as to plug his mouth with his achievements, so that he would no longer have an excuse to idle himself. Now it seems that I may be a little anxious - even if there are ready-made goods in the United States to refer to in the future, I should carefully perform every step of the work. ()

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