"Alfred, although our new ships have abandoned a lot of area protection, the core parts of our ships are really designed according to the protection capabilities of the battleship, so although they are built under the name of heavy cruisers, it is not an exaggeration to call them high-speed battleships. And the invincibility of the British is an upgraded armored cruiser, how can its protection be on a par with ours? Jochen said lightly.

"So if the British, if they take advantage of the loophole and build not battleships, but this new type of armored cruisers, then their main fleet will be a bunch of eggshells that can be easily pierced by our battleships?" Tirpitz understood something.

"That's right, it's not for nothing that our new heavy cruisers are bigger and more expensive than the Deutsche class, they do have the ability to engage battleships, don't they?" Jochen said with some pride.

Before the completion of the newly started battleship, the new heavy cruiser will be the largest warship of the German Navy after it enters service, with a standard displacement of 19,300 tons, which is nearly 2,000 tons larger than the Invincible class.

And at this time, the level of protection of British battleships was indeed not too high, the thickness of the main armor belt of the historical Bellerophon-class battleships was only 10 inches, the thickness of the horizontal armor was 4 inches, and the front of the turret was 11 inches, and the horizontal armor of the St. Vincent class was reduced to 3 inches because of the increase in weight.

Therefore, the new heavy cruisers with key protection can indeed be worthy of the reputation that "the protection capability of the German battlecruisers is comparable to that of the British battleships" and "the German battlecruisers are actually high-speed battleships."

"Hearing what you say, I also kind of hope that the British will sign the treaty and let them take advantage of the loopholes." Tirpitz laughed.

"The British will definitely increase the number of their new armored cruisers." Jochen shook his head: "After they publicize their invincibility, we will advertise our new heavy cruisers, and they will definitely continue to build the same type of warships in order to fight us." However, if you want the British to abandon the construction of battleships, there is almost no possibility. ”

Tirpitz could only smile helplessly.

"By the way, Alfred, this international peace conference will not only end if we talk about disarmament, but also about the rules of naval warfare, and I hope that the Navy will cooperate with the Army." Jochen suddenly thought of something, and smiled slightly.

"The Navy is here to help." Tirpitz bowed in agreement.

In March 1908, the sun was shining outside Wilhelmshaven, and although the sea breeze still made Jochen's coat on the Hohenzollern (2nd generation) hunting, and the cold air still hurt a little on his face, it was rare to have such a good weather on the North Sea in March, and the Navy and Army had been waiting for a long time to find such a day with little wind and good visibility.

Jochen on the Hohenzollern insisted on standing on the platform above the bridge with the best view, despite the cold, so the group could only accompany the emperor to blow the sea breeze outside.

"I really didn't expect that what I had in mind on the spot, I actually waited for nearly 3 months to carry it out, it seems that I caused you trouble." Jochen said with a smile to the left and right.

"Don't dare, it's an honor for us to serve His Majesty, and such an experiment is just as valuable." Tirpitz, the chief of the Navy General Staff, and Gortz, the new chief of the Army General Staff, immediately responded respectfully.

Schlieffen, who originally wanted to go to war because of the French provoking trouble, changed his plan to stay in office for a year, and as the French relented, negotiations began in Berlin and he was absolutely resigned, and his successor was Colmar von der Golz.

As the most prestigious and capable person in the German Army after Schlieffen, it was natural for him to take over as chief of the General Staff. Historically, if it weren't for his opposition to the Schlieffen plan and his tough personality that Wilhelm II disliked, nothing would have been Moltke's turn.

As soon as Goertz took office, Jochen was given the task of formulating a plan for the west-to-east offensive under the pretext of "continuing to refine the Schlieffen plan and considering alternatives for the inability to implement the Schlieffen plan due to the international external environment." This touched Goltz to die as a confidant, and he also had great respect for Jochen.

"Your Majesty, the climate in the North Sea is terrible, the army has conducted several training sessions in the Baltic, and the effect is okay, why not conduct such a demonstration in the Baltic, or more appropriately, in the Adriatic?" Goltz asked with some doubts: "Even if it is today's weather, I am afraid the effect may not be very ideal." ”

"If you don't make a demonstration in the North Sea, then how can you put pressure on the British? Our purpose is to make it visible to the British. Jochen said with a smile, then raised his hand and pointed into the distance, "Here it is." ”

"It's spectacular." Tirpitz lamented: "There is no such thing as a spectacular spectacle in the navy. ”

"But the Navy's fleet is also a spectacular sight that people have to sigh at." Goltz smiled and complimented.

"That's different, in front of you, but it's a real sky fleet." Tirpitz shook his head and said, "Just looking at their huge size, I can't help but marvel at this incomparable power of the sky. ”

Although he knew that the qiē that was about to happen today was just a show, but when he really saw such a behemoth formation slowly flying in the sky, Tirpitz still had to sigh at this spectacular scene.

Flying in the sky in the distance are 8 huge gray airships, these 8 airships are the latest equipment of the army airship unit, with a length of 158 meters, a diameter of 14.9 meters, an airbag volume of 22,500 cubic meters, equipped with four 100-horsepower engines, a practical ceiling of 2,500 meters, and a payload of 9 tons.

In addition to a slight lack of engine horsepower, the 8 airships in front of them are not inferior to the M-class, the first main airship of Germany in World War I. The formation of eight airships did remind Tirpitz of a naval battleship detachment of eight in one formation.

Although the flight of the airship was still a little shaky under the wind of the North Sea, it was generally within the range of normal use. Jochen turned his head to the designer of the airship and smiled and said, "Being able to maintain enough stability in such a wind, Your Excellency the Earl, the performance of your airship has improved greatly." ”

A lighter-than-air aircraft like an airship can easily lose control in strong air convection, and the harsh climate has become the biggest enemy of airship use. But now, although these 8 airships are slightly shaking under the influence of the sea breeze, the basic navigation can still ensure a stable course and maneuverability. Even though it was deliberately chosen for good weather, the sea breeze in the North Sea in March was much worse than inland in any case, so the appearance of these airships was already commendable.

"Thank you for the compliment." Zeppelin smiled slightly, and then said very modestly: "However, today's weather is not often seen in the North Sea, so I have to admit that there are still many restrictions on the use of airships at sea, especially the demonstration that is going to be carried out today." ”

"Of course, I believe that the effect of these airships on land must be very satisfying." Zeppelin changed his words and added with some pride.

"Haha, the Earl is full of confidence in his work." Jochen smiled and said, "It seems that your business must be going very smoothly now, and DELAG's business must be booming too." ”

"Thanks to Your Majesty, my next step is to create a flying network that can cover the entire empire, so that more people can enjoy the fun of flying." Zeppelin replied with a smile on his face.

Thanks to Jochen's support and the support of a team of professionals, Zeppelin's path to success was much smoother than it was historically. In 1906, Zeppelin founded the Deutsche Airship Transport Company, or DELAG, which also kicked off the modern commercial aviation.

"Haha, Your Excellency the Earl, don't ignore the needs of the army because DELAG's business is too prosperous." Goltz quipped.

"Your Excellency the Admiral said with a smile, it is also a great honor for me to be able to provide perfect products for the army, how can I ignore it." Zeppelin said with a smile.

The huge formation slowly slowed down 10,000 meters away, and today's show was about to begin, and below this huge sky fleet, there were 3 warships moored there, which was what Yochen wanted the army and navy to show to the British, airships attacking warships on the sea.

There is such a clause in the rules of naval warfare formulated in the second Hague International Peace Convention in history: All signatory countries shall not use aircraft to bomb sea targets. Although this was ignored by all the belligerents in World War I, Jochen was prepared to use this opportunity to deceive the British.

In fact, the army and navy are very clear that airships are used to bomb ground targets, even if they are sea targets? Not to mention that it is difficult for a moving battleship to bomb accurately, it is the strong sea breeze that can make the airship fly crookedly.

So today I deliberately found a day with good weather, and the 3 battleships were quietly moored there as fixed targets, and the 1 Corolla-class light cruiser and 1 Lightning-class notification ship as target ships were all small ships with a tonnage of about 2,000 tons, and there was no strong armor protection at all, and only the 6,800-ton Frederick the Great could be regarded as a large ship in front of it. However, the condition of this former Navy ironclad ship, which was converted to a floating warehouse after retirement, is not good, and more importantly, all the watertight doors on the ship are open, which cannot prevent water ingress at all.

And for this day, the army's airship unit also practiced bombing floating targets in the Baltic Sea for a long time, and the army invested not only the eight giant airships in front of them, but also all the airships in the army's hands will take turns to fight, for an extremely spectacular show. R1152