On August 3, 1907, off the coast of the port of Trieste, a majestic ship was riding the wind and waves, and the bow of the ship like an axe split the rippling blue sea to bring out snow-white waves.

Walking on the spacious deck of the battleship, Jochen was full of ambition, while Ferdinand and Vice Admiral Haus, commander of the Croatian-Slovenian Navy, examined every corner of the battleship with novelty, and Vice Admiral Didrichs, commander of the Reich Mediterranean Fleet, answered questions for the two distinguished guests.

"Admiral Dederichs previously served in the Far Eastern Fleet?" Ferdinand asked Didrichs, who was accompanying him, "I heard that you were the partner of His Excellency Tirpitz?" ”。

"Yes, His Majesty Ferdinand." Diedrichs replied respectfully: "I have had the privilege of serving as a staff officer to His Excellency the Chief of the General Staff. ”

Since the Croatian Navy often dealt with the German Mediterranean Fleet, Vice Admiral House knew his colleague better: "Your Majesty, General Didrichs has personally experienced the naval battle of Nissin and the humanitarian rescue of the Philippines, and he has outstanding ability and experience. ”

"Admiral House was very praising that I would return to Germany at the end of my tenure in the Far East and then serve as a staff officer in the General Staff of the Navy, and because of the great prestige of His Excellency General Montecuccory, His Excellency Tirpitz hoped that General Montecukori would use his influence in the Kingdom of Austria to transfer him to the General Staff, and that I would be able to take over as Commander of the Mediterranean Fleet [I really feel a heavy responsibility, and I sincerely admire the excellent performance of His Excellency General Montecuccori during his tenure.] Didrichs was modest.

"The general is too modest." Ferdinand said with a smile.

Ferdinand stood on the deck and looked up, the towering bridge, the mast straight into the sky, and the black smoke gushing out of the chimney pulled a ribbon of smoke backwards, all of which made Ferdinand feel what a behemoth the battleship under his feet was, the largest and most complex warplane ever built in human history. Unparalleled construction technology allows these 20,000 tons of steel to gallop across the ocean.

The overall gray battleship looks very low-key, but it is full of a sense of heaviness and strength, which makes people have a fearless and indomitable enthusiasm.

"It's a masterpiece." Ferdinand could not help but sigh: "Everyone who sees her will be shocked by her figure, and today the German Navy has four such warships at the same time, and the whole world will be shaken." ”

"Thank you for the compliment, Franz." Jochen said with a smile. However, he himself knew very well that this was a specially arranged political propaganda, and the battleship under his feet was actually not completed. With the exception of the Deutsche built at the Kirgermania shipyard, which was actually completed today, the remaining three battleships did not really finish all outfitting work.

Although the General Staff of the Navy began to ask the shipyards to speed up construction when the British began to put pressure on Germany, the progress of the shipyards varied, so it was impossible to complete the work at the same time. Therefore, in order to meet the needs of publicity, except for the Deutschland, the remaining three ships are in an unfinished state and are open to the public.

After this publicity, except for the Deutsche who joined the Navy and began training, the remaining three ships had to continue to stay in the shipyard to continue to install the remaining facilities.

But because it is unfinished. However, it is only the bits and pieces of the ship that have not yet been installed in place, so it is completely invisible in appearance, and there is no problem with the ability to sail and shoot at all.

Because of this, the first navy of the Emperor Xià did not go to Kiel to participate in the real completion. The completion ceremony of a battleship with a special meaning and a ship named Deutschland. And the trip to Trieste to participate in the show of an unfinished battleship was quite dissatisfied.

However, since Jochen had to entertain the Croatian-Slovenian king and the commander of the navy, and it was also about ordering warships, the ceremony of the Deutschland could only be attended by the chief of the naval staff, Tirpitz.

"Your Majesty Joachim, this is indeed a very powerful warship." "But as a naval officer, I have some questions that I would like to be answered," House said. ”

"Your Excellency, General, please speak." Jochen nodded.

"Both the British Royal Navy and your navy have praised this new type of battleship, of course, so much firepower. A solidly protected battleship does outperform previous battleships, but is it an exaggeration to say that it can sweep all the old ships into the garbage? House asked, "I guess the performance advantage of this kind of ship is not just reflected in the stronger firepower and protection, right?" ”

As a professional, the question asked was very sharp, and the question made Didrichs couldn't help but look at his emperor.

House was keenly aware of the embarrassment in Diedrichs' eyes, and immediately said, "Of course. If this involves some core secrets that are inconvenient to reveal, then forget it, it's rude. ”

Jochen looked at House and hesitated for a moment before nodding to Didrichs, and then said: "Indeed, there is indeed a more important core technology that wants to give full play to the full performance of this kind of warship, and it is indeed extremely secret at this stage, but the trainees sent to our country by your country in the future will also have access to this kind of equipment, so I will not hide it from Your Excellency."

Otto, lead the way. ”

"Yes, Your Majesty." Didrichs nodded in agreement, and then made a gesture of please: "Your Majesty Ferdinand, Lord House, please go this way." ”

Led by Didrich, the group walked into the bridge, and in front of the hatch of a cabin protected by heavy armor under the command tower, Didrichs said very solemnly: "Your Majesty Ferdinand, Lord House, the cabin we are about to enter is the most core area that can give full play to the performance of this battleship, and it is the most secret technology of the German Royal Navy. ”

Seeing that Didrichs was full of solemnity, Ferdinand and House immediately promised that they would never reveal it.

In fact, there is no need to be so nervous, the equipment inside is not a glance, you can copy it after listening to the introduction, all the equipment in it is the product of countless uses, summarizations, attempts, and accumulation of the German Navy, which is also mixed with Jochen's mention and construction, if it is so easy to copy, then this is simply an insult to the IQ of the Germans.

Opening the heavily armored door, inside was a rather spacious cabin, filled with equipment that House had never seen before. He was amazed and asked, "This is here?" ”

"This is the fire control room of the battleship, which is the core area of the unified control of naval gun firing, and the equipment here is used to calculate the number transmitted by the ranging equipment of the firing command room at the top of the mast, and then derive the firing parameters of the naval gun, and notify each turret, and then realize the cabin for all the main guns of the whole ship to fire and correct." Didrichs explained.

"Because the unified ranging and calculation of the whole ship is realized, so as to give full play to the advantage of having more naval gun firing and correction, right? This is indeed a very different approach from the previous gunnery. House nodded.

Diedrichs continues: "The device works in such a way that the initial target parameters are obtained by means of a rangefinder on the ship, and then these parameters are fed into the device to estimate the course and speed of the target, and then a series of azimuth and distance numbers about the target are calculated by a mechanical computer.

Then, the calculated number jù is compared with the previous basic parameters, and the previous basic parameters are modified on the basis of the corresponding difference between the two, and then the corrected parameters are input into the device as the basic parameters to obtain a new calculated number jù. When the calculated number jù corresponds to the subsequent measured target heading and speed, the system is able to maintain tracking of the target.

Later, when the target's trajectory is mapped, its heading and speed changes are revealed, so that the operating parameters and status of the equipment can be reset.

The result of this calculation of the tracking of the target and the number jù will be used as the initial number jù of the ballistic solver, and the firing parameters of the naval gun will be obtained through the calculation results of the ballistic solver. ”

"And that drastically reduces the time it takes to make corrections." House said.

"Exactly. This will greatly improve the accuracy of the battleship's firepower, thus giving full play to the ship's firepower advantage. Didrichs replied.

In fact, the equipment in the fire control room of the German-class battleships was actually developed according to the idea of the Polun integrated fire control system MK-I.

Moreover, the German-class fire control equipment was more reliable than the Mk-I of Pollen, and the automatic plotting of the real track of the Mk-I of Polon was inflexible and difficult to handle, so the British Royal Navy did not have hope for this plotting method.

However, the real track plotting method is quite popular in the U.S. Navy, and although it is too complicated, this plotting method can provide a more detailed engagement panorama for each gun position of the battleship, so it can also be used as a tactical situation plotter.

Of course, compared to the more advanced MK-II, which can achieve automatic operation without human interference, it is still slightly inferior to the British, but even so it is still significantly ahead of the British.

Think about Reginald, the head of the Naval Ordnance Service? Colonel Bacon's strange belief that manually operated equipment was more reliable than complex mechanical processes, and that the Royal Navy ultimately chose Freginald's assistant Frederick? It is not surprising that Dreel, the Navy's own family, developed the Dreher fire control console.

Therefore, although everyone calls it a unified all-heavy gun battleship, the Dreadnought was not on the same starting line with the German class from the beginning, and what really determines the performance gap between the two is not the external performance of the gun caliber and armor thickness, but the internal is the real difference between the two.

The British, though, would not know this. (To be continued......) R1292