Jochen was not dissatisfied with the design proposed by the Naval Technical Committee, but given the situation that the Scharnhorst class had to face in history, the current design was somewhat inadequate.

What about the strength of a battle against the invincible level on paper? The ships of Spee's fleet in the Battle of Falkland were no longer in the best condition, and it was basically impossible to get out of the way once they were caught up by the British battlecruisers.

Jochen has always believed that the design of a sabotage ship must follow two principles: either it can run, or it can fight.

But considering that the Spee fleet was going to run all the way back from the Far East, even if it could run again, it would not be able to run fast at that time. It's good not to be caught by the British at that time, but if you are caught, you will definitely not be able to escape. Then you can only let the battleship be able to fight, but as an armored cruiser, no matter how much you can fight, you will have a head, and against a battlecruiser that is one level higher than you, you will fall behind in any case.

Therefore, Jochen was quite resistant to the design plan of the super armored cruiser in front of him, and the resistance in Jochen's heart naturally appeared on his face, which made Tirpitz, who had been paying attention to the expression of the crown prince, chuckle violently in his heart.

Tirpitz immediately asked cautiously, "Does Your Highness have any opinion or dissatisfaction with this design?" ”

As soon as Tirpitz said this, everyone in the conference room immediately focused their eyes on Jochen, the top of the Navy was quite calm, but the designers of the Naval Technical Committee were a little nervous, if their design was vetoed by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, then where would their face hang?

Joheng, who came back to his senses, glanced at the expressions of everyone in the conference room, realized that his expression might have frightened people, and immediately comforted him: "This design is very good, there is no doubt that once this type of battleship is built." It will surely become the best warship of its class in the world. This design is the perfect display of your outstanding talents, and you can be proud of it. ”

As he spoke, Jochen's gaze swept to Poper, who was sitting on the side, and Poper saw His Royal Highness's gaze sweeping, nodded slightly in understanding, and then continued to make a deferential gesture.

Since this layout was first proposed on the new battleship designed by Poper, how could Poper not have a version of the armored cruiser in his hands. When he was selling armored cruisers to the Russians, Popper had already designed a further five-seat twin-mounted main turret slump straddle layout.

Of course, it is not possible to speak out now to discourage the enthusiasm of the designers of the naval commission. Pooper also understood that he had only come up with those designs at Jochen's suggestion.

And now he is only responsible for the design of the battleship, and the cruiser design work is lost to the Naval Technical Committee, and even the design of the Ron class is only enlarged by the Naval Technical Committee on the basis of the Bismarck-class designed by itself, and he has not interfered at all, so there is no need for him to show this face now.

Jochen's words made the faces of everyone in the room slightly darkened, but Jochen continued: "Although the design itself is very good, it can indeed achieve an overwhelming advantage over the same type of warship in the world. But technology is advancing. The appearance of our new battleships will make all the capital ships of the countries that are still lying on the slipways obsolete in an instant.

In the future, we will also have to face the reality that the warships we build are outdated before they are launched, so we must not only consider whether the current design is advanced and powerful, but also whether the warship will be advanced and powerful after 5 years or 10 years of service.

Our new battleships are designed to reach speeds of up to 21 knots, and our newest heavy cruisers are only 2 knots faster than battleships! And it is foreseeable that in the future, our cruisers will have to face opponents with faster speed and stronger firepower, and then it will mean that the warships we are building now, which cost a lot of marks, will fall into an embarrassing situation that cannot be defeated in just 5 years.

I do not expect our warships to still lead the world in terms of performance indicators after five years, because such a high-tech requirement without considering the actual situation will inevitably have a bad impact, but I also cannot accept that our warships will be eliminated after five years. It took a lot of designer's effort. The situation in which the battleships of the sweat of the builders and the funds of the imperial treasury fall behind after 5 years must be avoided! ”

Jochen's words silenced the entire conference room, and no one could guarantee that his design would still perform well five years later. Ultimately as the moderator of the meeting. Tirpitz asked, "Then what do you think needs to be improved in this design?" ”

Jochen was also unceremonious, borrowing a famous quote from the historical Fisher: "It makes no sense for a cruiser to be 1-2 knots faster than a battleship, a dirty bottom will immediately reduce the speed, and an advantage of more than 4 knots will make a real difference!" ”

Fortunately, Jochen has not yet nerved, and if he had asked for a speed advantage of 6-7 knots according to Fisher's original words, it would have driven all the designers present crazy.

In the end, Jochen chose to make the battleship more capable of running rather than fighting, because of Germany's current superiority in power technology. Increasing speed is less expensive than increasing firepower, and the technical risk is slightly smaller, so from a safe point of view, Jochen decided to increase his speed.

None of the people in the room objected to Jochen's opinion, after all, everyone here knew well that the plan to design a battleship with a speed of 21 knots was clear. No one would dare to argue with Jochen's assertion that the current design is not fast enough, but how easy is it to increase the speed of the current design by more than 2 knots?

So the general director of the design scheme, the designer of the Naval Technical Committee, Bruckner, put forward his opinion: "Your Highness, your opinion is very enlightening, but now to increase the speed of this design by more than 2 knots, the requirements for the power system are very high.

The current speed of 23 knots requires more than 30,000 horsepower, and it takes at least 40,000 horsepower to reach 25 knots, which requires a larger power compartment to install more boilers, and the pressure of the main engine at such a high speed is also very high, and the cost of the warship will also increase. ”

"The boiler can choose the latest Admiralty oil-coal mixed boiler, which is about 10% more efficient than the ordinary coal transfer boiler, and the main engine uses Siemens' steam turbine, and one of the Rohn class has also chosen to use it? The main gun in the middle was removed so that the space freed up was used to lay out the power system. The removed main gun is placed in the bow and turret No. 1 to form a knapsack, which will also lengthen the hull and increase the aspect ratio. Jochen immediately raised the building.

It is also Jochen's requirement for the fourth ship of the Ron class to install a steam turbine for testing, otherwise it has been used on small and medium-sized ships, and no matter how much it is tested, it will not be effective to actually use it on large ships.

Historically, the German Navy had already used steam turbines on battle cruisers, and there were still a large number of people who were skeptical. It wasn't until the battleship Caesar's long-range trials, which began in December 1913 and sailed all the way to South America, that the advantages of the steam turbines in long-term high-speed operation and post-voyage dismantling and maintenance were silenced.

Therefore, Jochen also decided to simply send the fourth ship directly to the Far East Fleet after it was built, and use the same long-voyage test to prove the superiority of the steam turbine.

It's just that people are not as good as heaven, and the construction plan of the Scharnhorst-class suddenly disrupted Jochen's rhythm, and Jochen had to rudely demand that the new design must use a steam turbine.

Of course, Jochen's proposal would not make the professionals on the other side bow down immediately, and Bruckner immediately retorted: "Your Highness, the oil-coal boiler has not been used on any warship at all, and its specific effect is not known at all.

And steam turbines, although they were used on destroyers, collars and light cruisers, and achieved good results. However, it was never tested on any large ship, and the Ron class installed steam turbines for testing.

However, in the case that the fourth ship of the Ron class has not yet been launched and has not received any numbers, it is also unknown how the steam turbine will be used on such a huge warship, and with such a high speed requirement.

The realization of the piggyback layout of the front main turret will also increase the weight of the front of the hull, raise the center of gravity, and make the resilience of the bow worse. Such a design solution is too risky. ”

"Kerosene co-fired boilers are more efficient and have a higher calorific value. It is true that this new type of boiler has not been used on any ship, and the excellent example of the use of steam turbines on small ships makes us look forward to its use on large ships.

Now that our new warships have more demanding requirements in terms of performance, isn't it time to boldly use new technologies to meet the requirements?

As for the change in the center of gravity caused by the piggyback of the front main turret, isn't that also a problem that the designers need to solve? Moved the main turret position. The ease of the power system and the better range of the No. 2 turret made it worth the extra cost. Jochen replied earnestly, and then his tone changed.

Johen said with a little ridicule: "Isn't the tail piggyback layout adopted by our navy always said that this is an escape layout?" Isn't it still said that such a layout will affect the morale of the soldiers? Wouldn't we have given us a chance to make amends? ”

In fact, the statement that the rear main turret is mostly an escape layout and affects morale is pure nonsense. It was a common phenomenon to use the natural drop of the bow tower to form a knapsack in the early days of dreadnoughts, such as the British Neptune and Colossus, and the German Caesar, Moltke, and Cedritz.

So Jochen's words were a joke and livened up the atmosphere, but providing a better range of fire for the No. 2 turret was something that Bruckner had to pay attention to.

Bruckner basically accepted Jochen's opinion, but Tirpitz had something to say: "Your Highness, if you follow your request, many parts of this design plan will need to be reversed, I am afraid that it will be too late in time, and the price will exceed the budget, and Bruckner also makes sense, many new technologies are too risky to use rashly without being proven."

Why don't we wait for the fourth ship of the Ron class to be put into service, provide a number of tests, and use the oil-coal boiler on small ships? ”

"Alfred, if according to your plan, then these requirements will not be applied until at least 2-3 years later in the design of the next class of heavy cruisers, and by that time the technical indicators are estimated to be raised again. There is no need to worry about delaying the plan, the Navy was not ready to start construction of a new heavy cruiser next year, giving the Navy's technical committee a year to revise the design plan.

In the following year, the Navy was only going to start construction of two large ships such as battleships, and when the time came, two heavy cruisers would be built, and only two heavy cruisers of this class would be built, and then it would be decided whether to continue the construction according to the actual use of the project after completion. In this way, the budget pressure on the Navy will also be reduced, right? ”

Once these two ships are built, a new member of the cruiser family should make their debut, and there will be no more heavy cruisers to be built, so it is worth investing a little more in these two ships to make her better.

These two ships will also become the last two members of the German Navy's family of armored cruisers. (To be continued......)