Chapter 111: A Visit to the United Kingdom
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"The Führer has safely arrived at the heavy cruiser Hipper, and this ship has requested to be separated from the fleet."
"The request is approved, and I wish you a nice trip!"
After the briefing, the Hipper began to gradually pick up speed, cut out of its current channel, and headed for the British mainland at high speed.
Compared with the original history, although the current German accession to the "Washington Naval Treaty" led to the Hipper-class heavy cruiser becoming a type of treaty-type heavy cruiser, and the standard displacement was reduced from 14,247 tons to 12,000 tons (exceeding the standard by 2,000 tons), his armament was not weakened due to Lyon's relationship, and even partially strengthened.
Compared with history, its main gun was changed from the original four twin 203mm/L60 naval guns to three triple guns, so that after reducing the total weight, there was one more main gun, which made the firepower projection of the heavy cruiser Hippel increase instead of decreasing.
In terms of secondary artillery and anti-aircraft firepower, it adopts a combination of 6 Flak25A twin 128mm high-level dual-purpose guns + 12 Rheinmetall twin 75mm anti-aircraft guns named Flak30 + 10 twin 40mm anti-aircraft guns.
Such a powerful firepower configuration means that if it still adopts the hull of the previous generation, the tonnage will be much higher than that of the Washington Naval Treaty.
So in order to reduce the tonnage, at the behest of Lyon, the naval design team chose to control the length of the ship at 200m, which is 12.5m shorter than the previous one.
In terms of power, the Admiral-class heavy cruisers used the same scheme of 12 Wagner-type boilers and 3 Blom Wirth-type steam turbines as the previous one, with a total output of 132,000 horsepower.
The combination of constant power and reduced ship weight resulted in an extremely high speed, with the Hipper-class heavy cruisers reaching a maximum speed of 35 knots.
However, high speed is not necessarily good, for example, Lyon, which is now suffering from 35 knots.
"Führer, you, are you really okay?" Theodor, the captain of the Hipper? Bourchardi looked nervously at Leon and asked with concern.
"It's okay, what can I do?" Leon clutched the handrails in the room with both hands and said with a grim face.
"It's okay." Theodor nodded, "We'll be in British territorial waters soon, and we'll be able to land soon." ”
"Well, let's slow down a bit, then." Leon said with a serious face, "It is rude to break into someone's territorial waters at a speed of 35 knots after all. ”
"Well, Führer, you have a point." Theodor nodded, then saluted Leon and ran back to the bridge.
After a while, the speed of the ship slowed down.
Leon let out a sigh of relief, and his face looked slightly better.
"Poof." Sophia on the side laughed, "I didn't expect you to be seasick." ”
"Me, when did I get seasick?" Leon quibbled, "It's just that it's driving too fast and I can't get used to it......"
"Haha, if you're seasick, you're seasick, and you're hard-mouthed." Sophia laughed.
"Didn't I teach you a lesson in too long?" Leon smirked.
"You, don't be serious...... Sophia looked scared, "Today, this morning, I only ......"
Just as the two were laughing and flirting, there was a scathing knock on the door outside the cabin.
"Who?" Leon let Sophia go and asked helplessly.
"The Führer is me." Theodor's voice came in, "We're in British territorial waters, you get the captain's room." ”
"Okay, I'll come right over." Leon agreed, and then said to Sophia with his mouth: "You wait for me at night."
Sophia also responded with a smile and a mouth shape: I'll be afraid of you?
Walking out of the hatch, Leon saw that the sailors on board were busy hoisting the flag on the mast, and the Union Jack was flying on the mainmast.
The sailors on board also saw Lyon, and they stopped their work and saluted Lyon.
Leon smiled and waved at them, motioning for them to continue their work, and then followed Theodor to the captain's quarters.
"Long live the Führer!" As soon as they arrived at the bridge, all the officers and men on the bridge saluted Leon.
"Hehe, no need to be polite." Leon chuckled and waved them to get on with their work.
"Führer, the warship that greets us on the British side has arrived." Theodor pointed to a heavy cruiser not far away with a full flag and a gun raised, and in his right hand he held a wireless telephone and said to Leon.
Hearing this, Leon stepped forward and took the wireless telephone and said to the other end: "I am the President of Germany, Leon Andrés!" ”
"Hello, Mr. President!" A gentle male voice came from the other end, "This is Sir Charles Moulton Forbes, commander of the Home Fleet of the British Royal Fleet, saluting you aboard the London-class heavy cruiser, the lead ship of the London-class heavy cruisers!" ”
"Hello! Sir Forbes! Leon laughed.
"Mr. President, please come with me." Forbes went on to say mildly.
Leon handed Theodor back the radiophone in his hand, and then found a seat and sat down.
After Theodore took the microphone, he quickly determined the direction with the London ship, and then ordered all the main guns to be raised and followed the London to the British mainland.
After more than half an hour, the coastline appeared in front of everyone, and London was ahead.
The two heavy cruisers slowly docked in the port of London, Leon adjusted his clothes again, and then took Sophia in his arms, and walked off the warship with the "β" team and accompanying officers who accompanied him to protect his safety, and once again set foot on British soil.
Accompanied by the main guns fired in unison from the London, the new British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald greeted him with ceremonial staff.
"President Andrés, this is the first time we've met." MacDonald smiled as if his face was full of flowers, but in his heart he was thinking about how to pit Lyon and Germany.
Hehe, Britain is now in a deep economic crisis, and I'm worried that I can't find someone to pull it, I didn't expect you Lyon to come up by yourself, this time you can't scrape off a layer of German skin, I'll do it in vain in the first place! MacDonald thought.
Leon also warmly shook MacDonald's hand and smiled kindly: "It's a pleasure to meet you, Prime Minister MacDonald." ”
Laughing so much, I don't have a good eye when I see you, most of you want to find us Germany to pull you out of the pit of the economic crisis, if you can get your wish, I have been in vain for so many years! Leon is also playing his own little ninety-nine in his heart.
However, no matter what the people on both sides thought in their hearts, on the surface, the two sides finally met for the first time.
"I'm sorry, His Majesty George V has been unwell recently, so I can't come to greet Mr. President in person, so I can only greet you on my behalf." The representative sent by the royal family is still Prince Albert.
"I understand, I regret the health of His Majesty George V, but I am confident that everything will be fine." Leon said regretfully.
"Thank you, Mr. President Andrés, for your understanding." Albert laughed.
After a symbolic wait of a few minutes in the harbor, the British golden carriage specially used to welcome foreign guests arrived, and the salute rang out 21 times, and then Lyon, led by the two men, boarded the golden carriage and the crowd drove towards Buckingham Palace.