"Well, that's a problem." Jochen nodded: "If the four warships are replaced with twin 380mm turrets in the future, then the current 16 turrets and 48 naval guns will all have to be removed." During the renovation, the Navy will lose the combat capability of 4 battleships, and this is not enough, and how to place these turrets and naval guns is also a huge problem. ”

The design of the new battleship is based on the Helgoland class, and the speed, protection, endurance and other indicators are exactly the same as the Helgoland class, but the hull is appropriately enlarged, and the design standard displacement has been increased by more than 2,000 tons.

The standard of recoil for the turret mounts of the new ship and the dimensions of the ammunition magazine were designed exactly in accordance with the needs of the 380-mm naval gun. The diameter of the new twin-mounted 380 mm naval gun turret seat was required to be carried out in accordance with the existing three-pack 305 mm naval gun turret standard at the beginning of the design, so the new ship will not need to do any hull modification in the future to directly replace the twin 380 mm naval gun turret.

However, the future processing of the triple 305 mm naval gun turrets as a transition became a difficult point, 16 turrets and 48 naval guns were not a small number, and these turrets and naval guns did not stay long in the hull of the new ship before they all had to be replaced, so to speak, all of them were brand new, which annoyed Tirpitz quite annoyingly.

"Yes, Your Majesty, the cost of these turrets and naval guns alone is higher than that of the first half of a battleship, and the current idea of the Navy is to seal these naval guns and turrets as a backup for wartime repairs." Tirpitz also expressed his frustration with the Navy's decision.

It will continue to cost maintenance when it is mothballed, and even if it is damaged in battle, it will not need so many spares, and the artillery barrel navy will have spare supplies. And if the battleship is damaged and needs to replace the entire turret, it is a question mark whether it will be able to return to port alive, right?

However, this was also a solution that the navy could not do, after all, the Second German Reich did not occupy the coastal areas of Norway and France like Nazi Germany in World War II, so there was no need to build coastal fortifications such as the Atlantic barriers, which cost money but did little to come. Besides, if you have money, you have to use it to build warships to strengthen your offensive capability, and you don't need to follow the example of the Nazi German Navy in World War II, which can only shrink back and build a defensive line.

And leave it to the army to make the train artillery. Don't even think about it, this is the navy's naval gun, even if it is used as a shore defense artillery, it will be under the control of the navy, and what is the matter with handing it over to the army?

"Well, I remember that the newly designed large cruisers of the Navy still used triple 305-mm naval guns, right? Wouldn't it be possible to transfer these guns and turrets to the new ship? Yochen asked.

Jochen's idea is very good, the Moltke-class large cruisers that have now begun construction still use the design of four twin-mounted 305 mm naval gun turrets, and the large cruisers of the German Navy can basically be regarded as the high speed of battleships under construction, so although the focus on defense design is used to reduce the displacement to achieve the purpose of reducing the cost, the Blücher and Moltke large cruisers are larger than their prototype ships Deutschland-class and Nassau-class. Also more expensive.

As a result, when it came to the Helgoland class, which used 12 305-mm naval guns and had a standard displacement of nearly 25,000 tons, the German Navy found that if it was designed at high speed, the displacement and cost of the new ships would reach a jaw-dropping level.

However, the continued use of the four-twin turret design is obviously not much different from the Moltke class, and the German Navy still hopes that the new ship can use a triple turret. In order to save money, the German Navy had no choice but to subtract one turret from the Helgoland class and change it to the design of three triple turrets, and then comforted itself: "No matter what, there is one more gun than the Moltke class." ”

But the benefits of this design are now being revealed. The new ship can use the turrets removed from the battleship. Three large cruisers can completely absorb 9 turrets and 27 naval guns, which is more than half.

But there are so many good things in the world. Tirpitz immediately poured a basin of cold water over him.

"I'm afraid I'm afraid it's too late for ships 1 and 2, Your Majesty." Tirpitz responded: "The new ship is scheduled to start construction in 1912, and the outfitting will be carried out after launching, and the guns will have to be in place by the end of 1913 at the latest, and according to our plan, the battleship will replace the guns at the earliest in early 1914, and the removal of the battleship's guns will inevitably affect the speed of construction of the new ship." Tirpitz paused: "But the words of the No. 3 ship should be in time." In this way, you can use 3 turrets, which is not much, but it is also a saving money. ”

"Then let's arrange it first." Yochen thought about it, and it seemed that there was no better way, so he dealt with it according to the Navy's idea. It's better to save a little than not to save at all.

In the final analysis, it is because of lack of money, Germany is not the local tyrants on the other side of the ocean, and those Yankees really explain to people what it means to be rich and capricious. Now if nothing else, the Americans are also developing their own 356-mm naval guns, and the Americans' deep-hole processing technology at this time is not up to par, and their current technical capabilities are not as good as those of Italy.

But local tyrants have a way to do it, and that is to throw money. Just to make 10 14-inch gun barrels on Nevada-class battleships, 226 gun barrel billets were scrapped, and the finished rate of 14-inch naval guns of the Americans at this time was less than 2%. However, the local tyrants didn't care, and the 14-inch naval guns of the New York-class, Nevada-class, and Pennsylvania-class 3-class battleships were stacked with this less than 2% yield.

This problem was not solved until the outbreak of World War I, because the United States contracted a lot of large-caliber artillery manufacturing orders for the British Navy and Army at that time, the British had to provide several sets of special high-precision deep-hole boring machines in order to help the Americans meet the technical standards, so that the United States deep-hole processing technology was able to break through, and then the yield of 356 mm 50 times the diameter naval guns used on the New Mexico class increased to nearly 14%.

It was this kind of taking money that allowed the Americans to build a third-most powerful navy in the world with insufficient technical conditions.

On the other hand, if you look at the current German Navy, it is really a mark that is eager to break in half. At the beginning, the parliament approved a whopping 1.2 billion marks to build a ship, which was a lot of money, but now it doesn't seem to be a lot. The cost of each Deutschland-class battleship is only 32 million marks, while the Helgoland class has risen to 42 million marks, and the planned cost of the latest battleships is more than 50 million marks, and there will be an additional cost to replace the ship's guns in the future.

This increase in costs stretched the Navy's budget, so the price of half a battleship was not a small amount. However, it is not possible to throttle expenditure, so we must quickly open source.

"Your Majesty, now that the British are starting to build super dreadnoughts, in order to fight them, the performance of our warships must also be improved, and the improvement of the performance of a single ship will inevitably lead to an increase in prices." Tirpitz spoke with a high-sounding face, as if the price of new warships was entirely due to the British: "So I would like to submit to Congress an amendment to the new Navy Act." ”

"From my personal point of view, I naturally support it, but one year ago, you said in front of me, the prime minister, and the chief of the army staff that the navy does not need to increase funds for the time being." Jochen said with some embarrassment.

The parliament has just approved an increase in the investment of the army from this year, and it seems that it is difficult for the navy to ask for money, especially since Tirpitz himself said it in person in front of the emperor, if Goltz thinks that the navy is red-eyed and resolutely opposes, even if Jochen expresses his support, it is difficult to say the past.

And Jochen thinks that there is not much point in increasing the funds, if the war still broke out around 1914, the current funds are still enough, it doesn't matter if the cost of a single ship rises, it is okay to dismantle the east wall and make up the west wall first, anyway, once the war starts, the follow-up funds of all the warships under construction can not be given to you?

"Your Majesty, I did say at the time that there was no need to increase the size of the fleet, just to maintain the current speed of shipbuilding. However, now because of the increase in the cost of a single ship, we can no longer maintain the current scale of building five capital ships per year, so we need to increase the amount of funds, rather than our navy to continue to increase the number of ships. Tirpitz said with a look of course.

"Haha, so you're waiting for us here." Jochen laughed: "According to you, even if your navy starts construction with a cost of 100 million marks, the warship council will have to allocate funds to you?" ”

"If there is a real need to build such a giant ship, then it must be that our enemy has the strength to fight without building such a huge ship, and I am sure that the council will agree to our construction plan at that time." Tirpitz was serious, but looking at his shaky beard knew he was joking.

"I'm still saying that, I'm personally fully supportive. However, there may be some opposition from the Congress, and your Navy will have to solve these problems on your own when the time comes. Jochen said that if the navy tosses it by itself, it will not have much impact on whether it succeeds or not.

"Yes, Your Majesty, I don't think there will be much resistance from the Parliament, and this time the British have done us a favor by promoting their super dreadnoughts so highly, and it is estimated that there will be a lot fewer opponents.

We will also make more preparations, and the Naval Office and the Naval Alliance will continue to ferment the news of the British's super-dreadnoughts, and plan to submit a new amendment to the "Navy Act" to Parliament next year, and there will be basically no problem if there is more support. Tirpitz reported to Jochen.

"You've thought it all through." Jochen Jochen laughed, and then joked, "You should write a letter thanking my cousin, he has done you a great favor." ”

Tirpitz also laughed when he heard this: "I am afraid that His Majesty George V will not be happy to receive my letter, and then we may really have to build a super warship that costs 100 million marks." ”

"Hahahaha," Jochen laughed happily. (To be continued......)