On June 4, 1935, the Anglo-German naval negotiations were officially held in London. At the outset of the talks, the German delegation demanded that Britain accept the 35 per cent ratio, otherwise it would refuse to negotiate. Fearing that the refusal would cause Hitler to withdraw his offer and then offer a higher asking price of 35 percent in the future, the British accepted it the next afternoon. On 18 June, the Anglo-German Naval Agreement was signed: the treaty stipulated that Germany could have no more than 35 percent of the total tonnage of the Commonwealth Navy with surface ships and 45 percent of submarines. And with the necessary and prior notice, the total tonnage of the submarine can reach 100% of that of the British. In return, Germany promised to abandon unrestricted submarine warfare.

With a flash of radio waves, the news soon reached the capital of Berlin. When Raeder and the other top sailors learned that Britain had signed a naval treaty with them, their ecstasy almost erupted like lava. Although the Navy began to violate the Treaty of Versailles as early as the Republic, it was greatly exacerbated during the two and a half years of Hitler's rule; But these are at best small unilateral actions carried out in private, and every step taken involves huge risks and pressures from abroad. This time, however, has a very different meaning. The Entente's most important member, Great Britain, had approved the expansion of the German navy, which undoubtedly freed the German navy from its chains, allowing them to pursue their ambition of a second high seas fleet with open arms!

At present, the German Navy has only 135,000 tons of first-line warships, while the Commonwealth has a 1.15 million ton lineup, which allows German shipyards to double the size of their own navy at full capacity. Factoring in the amount of concealment, it would be no problem at all to be on par with the French and Italian navies. And since Germany has not joined the two key arms limitation treaties that limit the performance of individual ships, and at the same time, it does not need slag light cruisers to maintain the sea lines of communication between the colonies and the mainland, and its fleet combat effectiveness will be much higher than that of other opponents of the same size!

The French government was furious at the unilateral compromise made by Britain to Hitler: because Britain had not informed France in advance, and Britain had made this move. It was undoubtedly the unleashing of the German war machine, which France had been planning to destroy since 1919, and made France sit on the back of the old adversary and come back to life. What made France even more angry was that the day the British naval treaty was signed coincided with the 120th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo; Does this mean that Britain behind Wellington and Germany to which Blucher belonged once again united to lash out at Napoleon's France?

In the face of France's ranting accusations that almost flipped the table in diplomatic rhetoric, Britain, which is the best at selling out its teammates, refuted them one by one. First of all, since the ratio of light ships to the British was close to 1:2 rather than 1.75:5 for capital ships, the total tonnage of the new German navy was still less than that of France. Secondly, France at the time of the signing of a mutual assistance agreement with the USSR last month. Likewise did not care about the feelings of the United Kingdom. Finally, since France had not reacted to Germany's previous blatant build-up of its army and air forces, what right did it have to blame the naval pact between Britain and Germany? There is no doubt that what Britain wants is a balance in the situation on the European continent; As long as it is a thorn in the way, no matter who it is, it will be removed without hesitation!

The increasingly prominent contradictions between Britain and France have undoubtedly greatly affected the attitude of the small countries on the European continent that live on the side of the line. Belgium was originally the closest ally of the "Little Entente" and France, and in 1923 it also occupied the Ruhr area of Germany together with French troops; However, now seeing that Britain and France were gradually fighting each other, the Belgians, who felt that the limelight was wrong, decided that they could no longer continue to hang on the tree of France, so as not to stand on the opposite side of Britain and Germany and become cannon fodder used by Paris. It didn't take long. Belgium announced its withdrawal from the alliance with France and maintained its own neutrality. France's continental alliance system also opened a gap after the rapprochement between Poland and Germany, and now only Czechoslovakia in the southeast of Germany remains. It is also willing to advance and retreat together with France.

Ribbentrop had not yet returned from London, and the impatient German navy had already begun to carry out its long-planned expansion. By the middle of 1935, the German navy's top brass had already prepared everything for a major build: the design of all types of warships was completed. The raw materials and workers needed for the construction of the battleship were also on standby in the shipyard. Schacht's Ministry of Finance and Ley's Labor Front have prepared tens of millions of dollars in earmarked funds, and the number of students enrolled in the navy's specialized academies has also surged sharply, and a large number of young people who are in good health and tenacious and persistent. Soon it poured into the curtain of the navy.

As the absolute giant of the German shipbuilding industry, Brom-Foss has won a huge contract for the construction of hundreds of millions of marks in almost a day. In the list of long-term ships signed by the Navy and shipyards, two heavy battleships with a standard displacement of up to 45,000 tons, two large fleet aircraft carriers of 30,000 tons, eight armored destroyers of 3,000 tons, and 16 medium submarines of 850 tons are prominently visible. And that's just the number of warships to be started in 1935. At this time, Fang Yan's concept of military expansion had been recognized by the top brass of the Navy, and almost all of the shipbuilding documents signed by Raeder were in line with his wishes. Of course, all of these warships concealed their true displacement from the outside world, and the concealed quota of two battleships reached as much as 10,000 tons. After ten years of operation, this tonnage trick has been played by the German Navy to the fullest.

Although for the German Navy, the start of construction of this wave of nearly 200,000 tons of warships has been a leap forward in the expansion of the lineup; But in Fang Yan's eyes, these ships were still far from enough for the war that was about to break out. If nothing else, the number of aircraft carriers of the new fleet will not satisfy him, considering that there will almost certainly be a naval confrontation between Germany and the United States in the future, it is obviously extremely necessary to have sufficient aircraft carrier reserves!

In addition to this, the German Navy needed a large number of specialized ocean-going supply vessels that could provide vital fuel supplies to the fleet deep into the North Atlantic. Large warships of more than 10,000 tons can ensure superior endurance, but the six Königsberg-class light cruisers and the armored destroyers that are about to start construction can only sail at a cruising speed of 6,500 nautical miles; And the latter is undoubtedly an indispensable barrier and escort for the entire fleet. If there is a supply ship that can follow the fleet, then the fleet's combat radius and cruising time will be greatly improved.

Considering the limited funding of the current German Navy, Fang Yan planned to use civilian ships that did not belong to the military to realize his idea. These civilian ships were built according to the standards of warships at the time of construction, and there was room for modification in the design in advance; In this way, when the war requires, these civilian ships can be transformed into the ships needed by the military in a very short period of time, and can be integrated into the war machine of the navy to contribute to it. Although these converted warships are not as good as the main combat ships of regular design, their most important advantage is that they are built without military funding, and at the same time conceal their true intentions to expand the army, both of which are obviously extremely attractive to the current German Navy!

Historically, there have been many cases of doing this. In World War II, in order to make up for the lack of its own aircraft carriers, Japan built several ordinary large ships that seemed harmless to humans and animals in various names; By the time the war broke out, these ships were quickly converted into aircraft carriers and played their role to a considerable extent. Compared with the Japanese Combined Fleet, the German Navy had a shorter preparation time and a scarcer number of ships, and it was imperative to strengthen its own strength with converted civilian ships.

What makes Fang Yan feel happy is that there is now such a large order for the construction of civilian ships. This order came from the National Socialist veteran Robert? The Labor Front, under the command of Ley, demanded that the Brom-Foss shipyard build eight mail ships, including two ships with a displacement of 25,000 tons. On 2 May 1933, the National Socialist Party outlawed the trade unions and incorporated all the workers of the country into the "Labor Front" established by the National Socialist Party, which was run by one of the few highly educated members of the party, Ley. In order to win over the workers, Ley set up an organization that "gained power through joy", that is, through extremely low prices, workers could enjoy high-class entertainment such as watching dramas, operas, listening to music, hiking and traveling; Vacationing abroad is undoubtedly the most important part of this.

This time, the ships that Ley asked the Brom-Forss shipyard to build were the product of allowing workers to travel to Norway, England, Spain and other countries for vacation. Fang Yan was ready to make a fuss about these ships, turning them into fast and slender quasi-aircraft carriers, or large supply ships with wide bodies and fat bodies. In this way, when war broke out, the German Navy would be able to successfully harvest a number of warships with considerable combat effectiveness in a very short period of time, and this efficiency could not be compared with the newly built ships in any case!

Under Fang Yan's appearance, Ley readily agreed to this proposal. As a veteran of the National Socialist Party, he was well aware of the young man's unique relationship with the Führer, and Walter, now the deputy minister of the economy, and his father, Rudolph, who controlled a terrifying business empire, a force that even the deputy leader Hess did not dare to touch. Since the other party's request is not excessive, it is obviously an ideal choice to sell the other party's favor. (To be continued.) )