"Alfred, our planes, no matter how cheap they are, are more expensive than our opponents, and it is too much of a loss to treat fighters as disposables in order to shoot down enemy reconnaissance planes, and as the performance of aircraft improves, the price will definitely become more and more expensive, and there is always a risk in making a forced landing on the sea, and pilots are worth more than planes, so I don't approve of this idea." Jochen said with a sigh.

Historically, the British used fighter jets as disposable items in World War I and World War II, but that was also for a reason, fighter jets during World War I could take off on very short platforms, so the British often built platforms on the turrets of their capital ships for fighters to take off.

At this time, the target of the fighter is also the German zeppelin whose price is much higher than its own, even if the results of this use are very few, but considering that the price of an airship at this time is hundreds of times that of an airplane, as long as there is a successful attack on the British, it will be earned, so this one-time use method is indeed popular for a period of time, but as the price of the aircraft is getting higher and higher, the take-off distance requirements are getting longer and longer, and the results of the war are not much, and finally the British still gave up this inefficient approach.

As for the World War II period, it was even more helpless, before a large number of escort aircraft carriers supported by the Americans, the British limited fleet aircraft carriers had heavy tasks and were simply unable to provide escort for the merchant fleet, so the air defense capability of the British merchant fleet was low. In order to improve the air defense capability of the merchant fleet, the British hurriedly equipped the merchant ships with catapults, and then let them carry fighter jets for one-time use, and in order to save time, the Air Force Hurricane MK.1 fighter was assigned to the ship with the number of Sea Hurricane Mk.1A after only a few modifications.

This type of catapult-mounted merchant ship was called the CAM, and it became the "escort carrier" of the British merchant fleet in the early days of the war. The British were also forced to act as an emergency in desperation, so there is no reference value.

Therefore, this method was rejected by Jochen without even thinking about it.

"And what about adding pontoons to fighters? And the recovery of aircraft can be handed over to non-combat ships such as seaplane carriers, so that the maneuvering of the fleet will not be affected. Seeing that one plan was rejected, Tirpitz immediately realized that there was no direct opposition to the second plan, and that there should still be hope, so he immediately asked.

But Jochen didn't give an immediate answer. Instead, he frowned and thought there. Although Britain, the United States and Germany have conducted research, these water fighters modified from existing models have not been put into practical use and mass production.

The only country that has put it into practice on a large scale is Japan, and a special model has been developed for this purpose. Of course, the Japanese are not so enthusiastic about water fighters because they are not completely brainstorming, but because there are certain considerations.

During the war of aggression against China, the Nakajima-95 water reconnaissance plane of the Japanese Navy was completely capable of fighting with the biplane fighters of the Guoguo Air Force by virtue of its excellent maneuverability, and also had the results of shooting down enemy planes. Therefore, the Japanese Navy came up with the idea of developing a specialized water fighter.

At the same time that the Kawanishi Company was asked to develop the 15 test water fighter, which later became the strong wind water fighter, the development of the Nakajima-2 water battle, which was based on the Mitsubishi Zero ship battle, which had already shown outstanding performance at this time, was also carried out at the same time.

The performance of the two types of water fighters is not bad, although the performance indicators of the Type 2 water battle are lower than those of the prototype Zero ship battle in all aspects, but after all, it uses the foundation of the Zero ship battle, so the effect against the US reconnaissance aircraft and bombers is okay, and the Zero ship battle is a mass-produced model of the Japanese Navy, and the supply and maintenance of parts for the Type 2 ship battle modified on this basis have maintained a very high level. Therefore, even in the later stages of the war, a certain rate of sortie was guaranteed.

The use of laminar flow airfoils and automatic air combat flap Gale is also quite good, and the Gale deployed in Ambon and Penang has also achieved results in shooting down B-24s and PBYs. However, compared with the development of land-based interceptors based on it, the purple electric reform. The performance of the strong wind is not a star and a half worse.

However, the Japanese navy was losing ground in the Pacific Ocean one after another, and the islands under its control fell into the hands of the Americans, and in the absence of conditions for establishing airfields, water fighters that took off directly from the surface could still play a certain role, and although they could not confront the US fighters, it was still feasible to deal with reconnaissance planes and bombers.

But this viability is now a big problem for Jochen. Although in the long run, it is obvious that water fighters are heresy, but at this time and then, the struggle for maritime air supremacy in World War I was to deal with reconnaissance planes, even if the British opened up and came up with torpedo planes. With the current technical level of German aircraft, it is not difficult to deal with it, and in the face of the regular fighters of the British Navy, German water fighters can also fight in a war, so that the water fighters are quite reliable in terms of ease of use, reliability and safety, which has become a big trouble for Jochen to deny this plan.

After thinking about it, Yochen spoke: "I am in favor of strengthening the combat capability of the water reconnaissance aircraft, after all, the water reconnaissance aircraft only rely on the rear-seat machine gun to defend themselves is too weak, your navy can ask for the development of a new reconnaissance aircraft equipped with a forward-firing machine gun, but I am against the use of special fighters to modify seaplanes." ”

"Majesty, why is that?" Tirpitz asked with some confusion that the development of a new water reconnaissance aircraft has naturally been put on the agenda for a long time, and with the entry into service of the new aircraft of the Army Air Corps, the Navy naturally does not look down on the Kingfisher, and it is not difficult to increase air combat capabilities in the research and development requirements of new aircraft, but what is the reason for opposing a special water fighter?

"The task of fighter jets is to ensure air supremacy, and their design should be based on the premise of engaging and winning with enemy aircraft, but the pontoons installed by water fighters increase the weight of the aircraft and increase the air resistance, which will affect the speed, climb, and range of the fighter jets.

Jochen's statement is naturally taken to extremes, and any fighter that only considers flight performance often has outstanding weaknesses. For example, the Zero ship battle with aluminum lighters was taken to the extreme, or the MiG-1 with the cockpit canopy had to be opened from the outside and the pilot could not parachute, and the Bf-109 with unreasonable landing gear spacing and frequent accidents when landing. But it was 1908, the engine power was low, and the canvas-skinned aircraft didn't need to think about bulletproof armor plates, self-sealing fuel tanks, and retractable landing gear, so there was nothing wrong with making every effort to ensure flight performance, and Jochen almost shouted the phrase "There is not a pound of weight left for ground attack".

"I understand what you mean, of course it's good to be able to ensure the best flight performance, but if we want to follow your requirements, we still have to use conventional take-off and landing aircraft, then the landing problem still can't be solved." Tirpitz asked, confused. The Navy is not stupid either, and it is certainly good to be able to use aircraft with better performance, but now the problem is that the risk factor is too high to use.

It is no wonder that the Navy will not be able to think of a solution for a while, inertial thinking and long-term cognition make them dare not imagine what it would be like for a ship to be completely devoid of a superstructure.

The British have the most extensive experience in the use of carrier-based aircraft in history, and the Royal Navy, which built and modified 10 seaplane carriers in the early stage of World War I and conducted routine take-off and landing tests on them, still could not think of a direct flight deck to solve the problem for a long time.

And the so-called aircraft carriers converted from the large light cruiser USS Furious, the Cavendish light cruiser, also have a two-stage flight deck in the front and rear, and the bridge divides the flight deck in two, with the front used for take-off and the rear for landing. It was not until the end of the war that the Argos, converted from a passenger ship, became the first flat-prototype aircraft carrier with a direct access to the flight deck.

Even with examples like the Argos, the British did not immediately realize that this was what an aircraft carrier should look like, and the Furious and Punishment (renamed Cavendish) retained their useless fore and aft flight decks until 1922.

So Jochen found himself that he didn't directly point out to the Navy what an aircraft carrier should be, I'm afraid this group of guys can really drag you for 4-5 years without figuring out the right direction.

After sighing, Jochen said helplessly: "If the plane will hit the superstructure when it lands, wouldn't it be better to tear down the entire superstructure?" Extend the flight deck to cover the entire hull so that there is no problem of planes crashing into the superstructure? And if the plane landed unsuccessfully, there was still enough length in front for him to take off again, and then make a second landing. ”

"Tear it all down? In that case, what should I do about the smoke exhaust? How to set up the flue? How to place the navigation bridge and compass bridge? And if there is no hangar, will all the planes be tethered to the deck when sailing? Tirpitz immediately erupted in a barrage of questions.

Tirpitz's questions were all to the point, and they were indeed a series of technical difficulties faced by aircraft carriers in the early days, but they were not at all a problem for Jochen, who knew the development of aircraft carriers by heart.

"Alfred, the advantage of using this straight-through deck covering the whole ship is not only to facilitate the take-off and landing of aircraft, as for the problems you said, there are ways to solve them, you may be more difficult to understand just by talking about it, you wait a minute." As he spoke, Jochen picked up the pen on the table. (To be continued......)