"And what is it for, in terms of ship size, firepower, and armor layout?"

A slender rear admiral spoke up to the questions of everyone in the room: "The ship's waterline is as long as 210 meters, which will greatly increase the structural weight of the hull, and even if it can reduce the navigation resistance at high speeds, it will still be worth the loss." Keep in mind that the ship was not designed to reach a speed of 34 or 35 knots, and the speed of 30 knots did not require such a slender line. In addition, it doesn't even use the classic underwater reverse protrusion structure, which I think was the ingenuity of your Brom-Forss shipyard! ”

He took a deep breath and added: "In terms of firepower, the ship is also obviously weak, and the four twin 128mm guns on both sides can only play half of the firepower on the single side, which is only equivalent to the firepower of a destroyer. And in terms of armor protection, its configuration is also very puzzling to me. If the ship does not have much tonnage to lay armor, so that the vertical protection is only the level of anti-destroyer shells with an outer 40 mm waterline and an inner layer of 40 mm TDS, then why does it have a horizontal armor thickness of 75 mm? Even 203 mm to defend against heavy cruisers can be achieved with only 60 mm at normal engagement distances. ”

Fang Yan had a smile on his face, and calmly explained: "Honorable General, I think the three questions you raised can be summed up in one reason, that is, the positioning of aircraft carriers in maritime operations. ”

"The unique value of an aircraft carrier over a traditional gunboat lies in the aircraft it carries. As long as there is no storm, rain and monstrous waves, the aircraft carrier can send carrier-based aircraft into the air; If the aircraft carrier carries more aircraft, the commander will be able to send more aircraft for search and reconnaissance while ensuring that he has sufficient spare forces at his disposal -- and the final reconnaissance effect is undoubtedly directly proportional to the number of aircraft dispatched. Whether it is looking for enemy transport ships in the vast ocean, or discovering the enemy's main fleet approaching us, an aircraft carrier with a larger number of carrier-based aircraft can have a great advantage. The difference between a 4-plane search and a 10-plane search is something I think you know better than me, who has little experience. ”

Fang Yan said unhurriedly: "Therefore, the technique of reversing the protrusion cannot be used on the aircraft carrier. This reduces the width of the hull on the water and thus the hangar area, which is directly related to the number of aircraft that are important to the carrier. This is how the ship's total hangar area of nearly 3,000 square meters was realized. When the reconnaissance plane discovers the target, the aircraft carrier will inevitably dispatch aircraft to carry out a preemptive strike against the enemy's merchant ships or warships, which requires a longer flight deck to prepare a large number of aircraft in order to release a more powerful attack wave. The ship's huge waterline length was established for this purpose. Its flight deck is 220 meters long, and it can fly more than 40 planes at a time, and if Lady Luck is not on the side of the French, this wave of attacks can take away about 80,000 tons of merchant ships, which is more efficient than any gunboat! ”

"So, you've cut down on the gunner's armament and vertical protection for the carrier, making it a type of ship that specializes in long-range strikes." Raeder, who was sitting silently at the top, suddenly spoke.

Fang Yan nodded and said, "That's right. Aircraft carriers themselves are not born for artillery warfare, and the pursuit of artillery combat capabilities is completely unnecessary; We already have the Königsberg-class light cruisers and the 10,000-ton pocket combat cruisers, which are fully capable of protecting aircraft carriers at night and during bad days when aircraft cannot be dispatched. As for its armor protection, it is also laid purely to resist the air attack of enemy carrier-based aircraft. The 75 mm horizontal armor is to protect against aerial bombs, the air-liquid-air three layers have an underwater depth of 4 meters, and the 40 mm highly elastic armor on both sides of the core module is to protect against aerial torpedoes; As for the 40-mm waterline armor, it was to protect the reserve buoyancy of the aircraft carrier from fragments from the explosion of a near-miss bomb. Therefore, it is only 2.5 meters high, but its length covers the entire length of the waterline of 210 meters. ”

Fang Yan's gaze gradually turned solemn, and said, "Only by specializing in one domain can we achieve our specialty." This is an eternal and immutable law in the world of shipbuilding technology. Taking the 10,000-ton pocket battle cruiser that we are about to launch as an example, if it wants to achieve an overwhelming superiority over heavy cruisers and give it the strength to engage regular capital ships, then it can only meet the requirements for the single-shot power of armor and artillery at a great sacrifice of speed and the number of guns, and ultimately the combat mission on both sides cannot be effectively achieved. The same is true for new warships such as aircraft carriers. The installation of heavy guns and thick main armor will inevitably lead to a geometric reduction in its aerodynamic performance, and this unremarkable mediocrity is precisely the design mistake made by the capital ships of the former High Seas Fleet. ”

Hearing these words, the venue fell silent again. It is true that the pursuit of perfection is an inevitable trend of the arms race, but it must also be combined with objective technology and the economics of war. Moreover, today's German Navy is far from being able to solve the problem by simply enlarging the tonnage, and has to make trade-offs in many places. Looking at Fang Yan, who was standing in front of the stage with a great temperament, Berner already understood that William's bid would fail again; However, he did not feel discouraged in his heart, but because of Fang Yan's in-depth analysis and positioning of warships like aircraft carriers, his heart became sudden. Berner realized that it was not enough to have a design technique for the open hanging, and that he had to have a clear positioning of the target warship in order to make use of these technologies.

At this point, the outcome of this technical exchange is basically out of suspense. In the final offer, Brom-Foss offered an even 3.5 million marks less per unit than Wilhelm Shipyard: although they both had a standard displacement of 13,000 tonnes, the latter included a 150-mm twin-mounted turret, various servo machines, expensive case-hardened armor, and a more powerful power pack, all of which were quite expensive. As for Fang Yan's design, all these parts are relatively cheap structural steel, and the price naturally has a lot of room to fall. In fact, it is precisely for this reason that the tonnage cost of an aircraft carrier is much cheaper than that of a cruiser: the historical price of a 14,500-ton Baltimore-class heavy cruiser is $33 million, while the Essex-class aircraft carrier, which is almost twice as large in tonnage, only costs $38 million per ship!

Although the formation of combat effectiveness of aircraft carriers is not something that can be completed by building a hull, and the navy has to pay for the purchase of carrier-based aircraft and training pilots, and the cost will definitely not be less, this has nothing to do with Fang Yan. Satisfied, he boarded the train back to Kiel and resumed his work as an ordinary naval lieutenant, continuing to build up his strength. Fang Yan had already calculated before the design that as long as the wing folding technology of the carrier-based aircraft passed, this aircraft carrier with a 3,000-square-meter hangar was enough to accommodate 3 squadrons of aircraft, plus a part of the deck mooring, the maximum carrying capacity of more than 60 aircraft was definitely not a problem!

"Escort the fleet." The corners of Fang Yan's mouth quietly flashed with a cold chuckle.

On May 19, 1930, shortly after Fang Yan returned to Kiel, the first 10,000-ton armored ship codenamed A was finally announced to be launched at the Kiel Shipyard. The launching ceremony was undoubtedly far more grand than the groundbreaking ceremony two years ago: even the President of the Republic, Hindenburg, who was 84 years old at the time, was present and delivered a solemn and dignified speech. As the planks at the stern of the ship were lowered, the tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians present were able to witness its naming - Germany. This can also be seen how much the German military has placed great expectations on this first capital ship built after the war. Champagne is smashed, wine foam is sprayed, colored flags are flying, and cheers are boiling; The 182-meter-long steel body of the "Deutschland" slowly slid from the slipway into the water, stirring up thousands of waves and white waves. Suddenly, time seemed to go back to 20 years ago, in that great era when the German nation strode into the sea, the launch of every capital ship was a festive moment for the people to celebrate!

According to the latest developments of the Ordnance Bureau, they have completed almost two-thirds of the development of the 283-mm L45 quadruple turret. After two years, this type of turret will inevitably be able to be built and equipped on this class of warships. Hearing the news, Raeder's heart was excited, and he looked forward to the future a little more. The biggest difficulty in implementing this level of Pocket Patrol was the quadruple turret, and now it seems that as long as the technical department is given enough pressure and time, no problem is an unsolvable obstacle.

"Your Excellency, do you see? The High Seas Fleet is about to be resurrected. Raeder's gaze was a little foggy, and there was a bit of hoarseness and excitement in his murmuring voice. The marshal in his mouth is Tirpitz, who once single-handedly built the High Seas Fleet, and at this moment Tirpitz has completely become an old man in his last years, and it is estimated that he will come to the end of his life in a few years. However, his heart of the ocean was completely inherited by the high-level leaders of the prime-age faction represented by Raeder and the hot-blooded young people of Fang Yan's generation. The launching of the Deutschland was only the starting point for the full revival of the fleet, and the limits of the Treaty of Versailles were by no means insurmountable; As long as there is a sea, the industrious and tenacious Germans will not succumb to the "divine right of destiny" of the Anglo-Saxons to occupy and monopolize them!