With joy and anticipation, Fang Yan threw his reply letter into the school's mailbox, and with the high efficiency of the German postal system, it only took one day to deliver it to Rudolph's hands. As for whether the cheap father Rudolph will accept his advice in the letter, Fang Yan is full of certainty: although the current Germany and the Soviet Union are in a rare honeymoon period, Rudolph himself does not have a good impression of the Red Soviet Russia, and compared with the old Ziano, who has an inseparable close relationship with him in business and is very likely to marry, the Bolsheviks who want to eliminate the capitalists are obviously not worth paying a trace of their own money!

After ending this little episode that surprised him a little, Fang Yan also adjusted his mind to a normal state and prepared for the final test of Milvik School. Since he entered the school in late March last year, he has been studying and living in this magnificent castle-like building for more than 10 months, and it is about to reach the end of the year. With the deepening of his professional level, the knowledge and skills that Fang Yan accumulated before entering the school have become less and less helpful to him; This has meant that he has to give his all in his studies in order to maintain his position in the previous trainings. After all, the people who can be admitted to the Milvik Military Academy are not mediocre talents, and those who are both talented and hard-working like Otto even account for the majority of this batch of cadets!

The spring breeze is green, the warmth is gradually born, and the time entered March 1927, Fang Yan finally ushered in the completion of his military academy in the study day and night. Although the usual performance of the 18 cadets had already been well understood by the officer instructors, because the last half of the fleet training period was the next year, there was no room for sloppiness, so the Milvik School still held a comprehensive final examination to comprehensively evaluate the quality of the cadets in all aspects. The content of the examination is also in line with the practical style that the German naval officer training institute has always adhered to, except for the limited copywriting answers, the vast majority of them are commanded and operated on warships; The whole exam lasted for nearly half a month, almost longer than the one-in-a-hundred entrance test. Through the test of dozens of projects, the ability of each student has been fully demonstrated, which directly determines the future internship and service positions of everyone.

Although the popularity of the book "The Revelation of the Rise and Fall of the German Imperial High Seas Fleet" brought Fang Yan a considerable amount of influence that did not belong to the military academy, with his extraordinary talent and continuous efforts brought by tenacity, Fang Yan still obtained the second place in the overall ranking in this final examination. Otto, who has a close relationship with him, won again after basic training this time, and three other sworn friends such as David also made it to the top half of the rankings. For this result, although Fang Yan had some regrets in his heart, he was also sincerely happy for his classmates and comrades-in-arms; He has gained enough inside and outside the military academy, and now it is time to give up half of his position and let others stand in front of the spotlight and embrace praise.

Combined with the professional tendencies shown by the students on weekdays, Fang Yan and others have also been determined for internship positions in the future. Otto was assigned to the central fire control room as a gun officer, while Fang Yan worked in the navigation room, where he had been in contact with a lot of navigation command more than a year ago; David and Finn were assigned to Communications and Maintenance, respectively, while Noah was given a position in the Power Division. Although the warships that the trainees interned on were different, each warship was a collection of all five organs; Its touch-by-kind characteristics make it easy for them to jump out of the inherent limitations of their own warships, and even if they carry out horizontal dispatch in the future, there will be no discomfort. Fang Yan understood that this day would not be far away: in two years at most, the four new cruisers that started construction last year would be completed one after another, and it was very likely that he would serve on the warships he designed.

However, now, Fang Yan could only go to the admiral of the old ship for a while. After all, there is only one Emden ship in the German Navy that was built after the war, and the rest are all old antiques that have been in service for more than 20 years. In the end, Fang Yan was unsurprisingly assigned to an internship on a former dreadnought, which was already the best treatment that a senior candidate officer of the German Navy could enjoy.

The sun was shining like gold, as if the whole of Wilhelmshaven was plated with a dazzling foil of light; Fang Yan, who was carrying his personal luggage, stood at the dock and looked at the "Silesia" battleship in the berth in front of him with some emotion. The Deutschland-class battleship, which began construction in 1904, was an early product of the Anglo-German naval competition: it had a standing displacement of 14,000 tons, a maximum speed of 18.5 knots, four 283-mm main guns and 14 170-mm secondary guns, and 240 mm of broadside armor at its thickest point. After all the cutting-edge dreadnoughts and battle cruisers were plundered by the Allied powers, this old ship became the main core of the German Navy. However, apart from being able to frighten the Polish Navy, which did not even have a few gunboats, this type of dreadnought could hardly be of any use, and could only take on the mission of friendly visits, routinely traveling among the Baltic states as ambassadors of peace.

There is no doubt that this old dreadnought is on the front line of naval warfare today, and it can only be to send heads to the other side; Fire support on the other side of the shore has become the only space where it can use residual heat. Historically, the prelude to Germany's attack on Poland was opened by the shore bombardment of its fellow ship "Schleswig-Holstein". However, this situation in which there were still dreadnoughts in service during World War II, and Germany was the only one among the major powers, which has to be said to be the sadness of the German Navy. Seeing the Second Empire relic in front of him, Fang Yan couldn't help but have a strong desire in his heart: he had to avoid the recurrence of this tragic situation in this plane, and let these old and fearless people who had already completed their historical mission go where they should go.

Under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, the German Navy could start construction of new replacement ships after the existing battleships had reached the end of their service life for 20 years, which meant that as early as 1924 the latter could build new ships for the more aging "Braunschweig" class. Until now, however, the German Navy was still exploring what performance the new capital ship should pursue: although its tonnage was limited to 10,000 tons, the caliber of the main guns was not, which gave it much more room for variability than the same tonnage treaty cruisers built by the major powers.

Even though Fang Yan had already touted Raeder's concept of decisive battle breaking, the Navy's top brass was still hesitant in repeated performance trade-offs, and this year's shipbuilding budget was only to build two more ships of the same class that started construction last year. Fang Yan, who learned of this situation, couldn't help but be slightly nervous: because as a time-traveler, he understood that the Weimar Republic had few years to live, and the upcoming world economic crisis would completely destroy the ruling foundation of this regime. Rather than allowing those fortunes to evaporate during the crisis due to austerity and recession, it is better to invest in the navy before it becomes a shipbuilding fund, leaving more money for the navy in the new war in the future. Historically, the Weimar government only built 3 10,000-ton armored ships before they died, while the Treaty of Versailles allowed 6; Considering that Germany quickly broke free from this shackle under the leadership of the new Führer after the economic crisis, the sluggishness and procrastination of the German navy during the Weimar era undoubtedly caused its expansion to be greatly hindered.

"It looks like it's time for me to try to speed up the process." Fang Yan muttered to himself after boarding the ship. He also had a mature plan in mind for the old and dreadnought replacement ship plan, and the only thing he needed to consider was how to explain his trade-offs based on the knowledge of later generations to the current German naval top brass in the middle of the times. However, this is not an easy task. Because this time Fang Yan is ready to involve the new ship in the field of aviation, carrier-based aircraft will become an important part of its combat effectiveness, but the current planes are still fragile kites with wooden skin, and no one believes in the promotion of aviation victory!

More crucially, the armed forces of Germany are currently prohibited from owning military aircraft. Although the German military did not strictly abide by the provisions of the peace treaty from the beginning, and has designed and built many experimental military planes in the Soviet Union, these are all small actions carried out in secret, and it is impossible to really put them in front of the stage under the direct gaze of Britain and France. If Germany had now blatantly violated the relevant provisions of the Treaty of Versailles, France would not have been the first to agree, and the consequences would have been extremely severe. After all, Britain and France, which have not yet experienced the far-reaching world economic crisis, and it is impossible for Britain and France, which are still strong, to pursue a policy of appeasement now!

Therefore, for a long time to come, Fang Yan's ideal warships will be greatly reduced in combat effectiveness due to the lack of carrier-based aircraft. And this situation is estimated to be difficult to accept by the Navy. However, even so, Fang Yan was determined to give it a try. After all, a warship with a declared displacement of 10,000 tons has too much room for use compared to the previous 6,000-ton cruiser, and it would be too wasteful if it was not equipped with a strong enough aviation force and still designed as a traditional gunboat. There are not many large ships in the German Navy, so each one needs to do everything possible to improve its combat effectiveness.

"For the time being, we can only take the curve to save the country, starting with Raider, who has a good relationship with me, and start with letters." Fang Yan rubbed his chin, and gradually had a preliminary outline in his heart. If he can convince Raeder to become an aeronautist, then he will be quite sure in this matter.