Tirpitz didn't know that on the other side of the Channel, Churchill was feverishly selling high-speed battleships equipped with 15-inch guns to Asquith, and he now looked at the huge ship model in front of him with a sad face: "Your Majesty, it seems that you have premeditated." ”

Jochen smiled slightly: "This is natural, and now in all of Germany, only my shipyard can build such a huge ship with all its might." ”

"No wonder you didn't get any other orders after the Argentines launched their warship, and the vacated slipway was intended for this one." Tirpitz said that the German shipyards on the North Sea and Baltic coasts are now all building large ships, while the shipyards on the Mediterranean coast, although less burdened, are clearly not capable of building such giant warships.

"That's right, after the launch of the Argentine warship, both slipways were completely inspected and equipment updated, and now the shipyard, which does not have any large ship construction tasks, can be fully assured of the construction of both ships. As for the funds, I can let the Navy owe it first, and count one of them into next year's budget, and you will pay it back to me when the time comes. Jochen smiled and spread his hands: "It's just that we can't let our new prime minister know about this." ”

"Yes, if the Prime Minister and the Parliament knew about it, it would definitely cause a lot of trouble." Tirpitz looked at the model with a complicated face and whispered, "After all, this is a huge ship that is close to 80 million marks a piece." ”

Churchill guessed correctly, the Germans did have to reduce the number of ships built because they wanted to improve the performance of the single ship, but he could never have imagined that the Germans would raise the cost of a single ship to nearly 80 million marks, or 4 million pounds, from a few months ago.

"Your Majesty, the 1912 shipbuilding plan submitted by the Navy was rejected by you?" Tirpitz asked in a tone of disbelief. After the person in front of him became emperor, this was the first time that the navy's shipbuilding plan was vetoed.

"That's right, I vetoed it, I don't think this plan can be implemented smoothly, and the Navy needs to make a comprehensive adjustment to it." Jochen crossed his palms and put his arms on the table and nodded earnestly.

"Your Majesty, what do you think should be done?" Tirpitz asked. His Majesty's advice had always been correct, and Tirpitz was more than happy to adjust his plans according to His Majesty's wishes. But Jochen's words made him not calm.

"It is necessary for us to reduce the number of new ships to be started." Jochen began, "And I think we'd better stop the construction of battleships. ”

Tirpitz's eyes widened, as if he didn't know the person in front of him at all: "Your Majesty, you want us to stop building battleships?" ”

For Tirpitz's expression, Yochen could only sigh helplessly: "Alfred, the cost of the four battleships we started this year has been as high as 56 million marks, and the cost of the four ships has almost used up all the capital ship construction funds of 230 million marks, and the budget of that large cruiser can only be diverted from the total budget of the navy for other projects." How are you going to fill the gap of more than 40 million marks next year? ”

"But even this can't stop the battleship construction program, ah, the gap between us and the British is ......"

"The gap between us and the British is that we have the advantage." Jochen interrupted Tirpitz.

"Although we are smaller than the British in terms of quantity, we have an absolute advantage in quality." Jochen is confident: "Krupp has already completed the production of the first 380-mm naval gun, and Skoda will soon start full-scale production." And they had already promised that by 1914 they would come up with enough barrels and turrets for the East Prussian class for modification. We will have 12 battleships armed with 380 mm guns by 1916, so the gap between us and the British in terms of battleships is not very big! If there is a fleet showdown, we will not be left behind! ”

The Orion-class super-dreadnought was downgraded to dreadnought, and orders for Chile and Ottoman Turkey were lost. The Canada and Ireland super-dreadnoughts will likewise not appear in the Royal Navy's sequence. The high-end combat power of the Royal Navy's Grand Fleet, which is missing 6 super-dreadnoughts, has dropped a lot all of a sudden.

In 1912, only one King-class battleship and two D-Vorringer-class battlecruisers were started, and in 1913, only one Bavaria-class battleship and one D-Verblinger-class battlecruiser were started, and in 1913, only one Bavaria-class battleship and one D-Verblinger-class battlecruiser were started, and both battleships were built after October, which directly led to the fact that both ships could not catch up with Jutland.

The reason for this is simple: Germany has no money. But the reason for this lack of money is not because of the increase in the unit price of ships. Rather, it is because Germany is suffering from a major economic crisis. The current economic crisis is not the periodic economic weakness of the capitalist world, but a deliberate sniping by man-made people.

In the second Moroccan crisis of 1911. Originally, the French had openly torn up the General Protocol of Algehiras, which had been signed in 1906 when Germany had made concessions during the first Moroccan crisis, and had sent troops to Morocco and sent a note to other countries demanding that they withdraw all their military forces in Morocco.

This annoyed Kaiser Wilhelm II, who had been forced to back down five years earlier, and after unsuccessful diplomatic negotiations, the German Navy sent the small cruiser Berlin and the gunboat Leopard to the Moroccan port of Agadir in the name of protecting the German diaspora. Although there were not many German expatriates in the port of Agadir at the time, neither ship combined exceeded 5,000 tons. The small fleet, which did not add up to 500 men, did not have any capacity for military intervention, and at best it was a sign of Germany's intransigence.

Moreover, this kind of behavior was very common when the great powers were dealing with colonial affairs at that time, and the scene of the Anglo-French crisis in Fashoda was much more than this. Moreover, the Germans believed that since the French could have occupied Oujda under the pretext that the French doctor had been killed in the city of Marraka, Casablanca under the pretext that the French workers had been killed. This time it is to occupy the capital Fez under the pretext of protecting the diaspora, so what does it matter that the Germans sent two ships to Agadir in order to protect the diaspora? I haven't occupied it yet?

But the Germans paid dearly for this action. The British and French media fanned the flames, suggesting that Germany was drawing its sword against France, and the British government began to issue war threats against Germany. The financial circles in Britain and France took advantage of the news that war might break out to short German bonds and equities with all their might. The Berlin Stock Exchange posted a 30% one-day decline, fears of war and stock market crashes led to a run on gold, and the German central bank's gold reserves fell by 20% in a month, almost leaving Germany with a heavy blow to the gold standard.

In the face of such actions by Britain and France, all walks of life in Germany strongly demanded that war be launched to relieve the pressure and wash away the humiliation, but Wilhelm II's forbearance again caused Germany to lose face again in the Moroccan crisis. Not only did Germany have to recognize Morocco as a real French colony, but it also had to pay for the country's severe economic crisis.

As a result of the economic crisis and the need for revenge against France, the investment in the navy had to be drastically reduced, and as a result, the German navy had to use small 305 mm water pipes against the Royal Navy's large 343, 356, and 381 mm pipes at Jutland.

However, the situation was very different now, and after this defeat, Jochen thought that his battlefleet could go head-to-head with the Royal Navy's Grand Fleet without losing the slightest. However, even if the battleships equipped with 380 mm guns were to be built, it would be difficult to quickly distinguish the winners and losers in the battle with the Royal Navy. In the first big scene like Jutland, the whole family went together, and both sides had more than 20 battleships into battle, and the huge number made it almost impossible for the battle to become one-sided. Second, the battleship is not a crispy battle cruiser after all, and the fact that there is no battleship sinking on both sides of Jutland is the best evidence. Therefore, if you want to break the stalemate of equal forces, then you need to continue to increase your chips elsewhere, that is, to strengthen the strength of the reconnaissance fleet.

"Compared to the strength of our current battlefleet, the gap between our reconnaissance fleet and the British is much larger." Jochen slowly analyzed Tirpitz: "The British now have more armored cruisers than we do, and it is foreseeable that they have obviously also installed their 343 mm guns on this kind of battleship, and we are absolutely inferior in firepower. ”

"So you mean to stop building battleships and go all out on large cruisers." Tirpitz somewhat understood: "After the quantity and quality of battleships have been able to achieve our goal of deterring the British, we must make up for the shortcomings in large cruisers." ”

"Yes, but not exactly." Jochen smiled and nodded, then shook his head again: "The level of protection of our large cruisers is not inferior to that of battleships, and we asked for large cruisers to join the battlefleet to increase their strength. Then if we can quickly crush the forward fleet of the British, then our large cruisers can join the fleet decisive bell, then the numerical superiority of the British in continuing to build battleships and thus being pulled away will be erased again. ”

"If we want to do what you say, then our large cruisers will not only increase in number, but also surpass the British in firepower." Tirpitz thought, "...... that way," and before he could finish speaking, Tirpitz looked at Jochen with a shocked expression.

"Looks like you've thought of it too." Jochen said with a smile: "This is also the reason why I asked why the number of capital ships should be reduced, after all, the cost of a large cruiser equipped with 380 mm naval guns is too expensive." (To be continued.) )