Two days after Gu Xunlei left Zhoushan, the German naval delegation arrived in Zhoushan, this time it was not Raeder who led the team, but a middle-aged general, and later Tan Renhao learned that this is the father of the German Navy's famous "wolf pack warfare", Dönitz, who led the German submarine against almost the entire British and French navies.

The relevant reception work was quickly arranged, and the commander of the Imperial Navy submarine force was responsible for receiving Dönitz, and Tan Renhao was only responsible for arranging other visiting German generals and officers. Of course, Tan Renhao didn't know that Raeder had also arrived in Zhoushan, but Nie Renfeng personally went to greet him, and he didn't let Tan Renhao interfere.

Within two days, naval delegations from the Persian Empire and other countries also arrived in Zhoushan, and Tan Renhao was busy for two days and finally settled these guests. Zhoushan is also lively, many guests have been settled in the city of Zhoushan, the military police of the Navy Command have taken over the security of Zhoushan City, and thousands of Marine officers and soldiers are responsible for maintaining order on the island and protecting the safety of these visiting guests. That is, in the evening of that day, Tan Renhao received a call from Gan Yongxing before he was ready to go home to rest, and then rushed to Gan Yongxing's office.

"Headmaster, you're there too?" After seeing Nie Renfeng sitting on the sofa, Tan Renhao was a little surprised.

"yes, just rushed back." Nie Renfeng glanced at Tan Renhao and asked him to sit down, "Redder is also annoying enough, for two days, he has been mentioning the matter of assistance." Fortunately, at least he needs to go and get some rest. ”

Gan Yongxing walked over with a teacup. "The Germans have always been very steady, and this time Raeder is anxious to make good on our promises, it seems. They also couldn't sit still. ”

Tan Renhao took the teacup handed by the chief of staff, and he also had a general understanding of the situation in the German navy, and Raeder came to the door at this time. Not only did the German Navy need it, but Raeder also needed those capital warships that the Don Empire promised to provide to the German Navy.

In this war. The position of the German Navy has always been awkward, and it is almost insignificant in the German army, ranking last among the three German armies, and even less valued than the air force that has been established for less than 20 years. The first was that the German Navy was incapable of breaking the blockade of the British and French navies, and the second was that the German navy was unable to break the will of the British and French to resist. Of course. It would be completely wrong to place the blame only on the Navy, which was not taken seriously in terms of resources or national strategy, which led to a situation in which the German Navy, despite its ambitions, was unable to achieve its ideals.

In the early days of the war, the German Navy's exploits were still obvious, especially the success of its submarine forces in the North Atlantic, which almost completely disintegrated Britain. But later, with the entry of the United States into the war and the mobilization of American industry, a large number of "10,000-ton standard freighters" were put into the North Atlantic route. This not only made up for the previous losses, but at the end of '24, the United States produced more deadweight tons of cargo ships than those lost in the North Atlantic.

In other words, the blockade of German submarines was not able to completely destroy Britain. And with more and more freighters appearing on the North Atlantic route, Britain is receiving more and more aid from across the Atlantic!

In addition to the large number of standard freighters produced by the United States to make up for the loss on the route, from the middle of 24, the United States converted a large number of old freighters into escort aircraft carriers and put them on the North Atlantic route to provide direct cover for the transport fleet. Since April 25, the US Navy has deployed more than a dozen escort aircraft carriers in the central waters of the North Atlantic Ocean for a long time to carry out anti-submarine hunting missions.

In addition, a large number of long-range anti-submarine patrol aircraft and destroyers were put into the North Atlantic theater, and German naval submarines could no longer move freely in the North Atlantic. To make matters worse, by the mid-25s, the U.S. Navy had improved anti-submarine tactics, and German submarines would have to pay an even heavier price if they were to achieve their previous records.

From the beginning of Germany's entry into the war in 21, in 22 years, a submarine of the German Navy could be exchanged for at least 150,000 deadweight tons of merchant ships. '23 was the peak of Germany's submarine record, with an average submarine capable of destroying at least 240,000 dwt of merchant ships before it was sunk. In '24, that number dropped to 180,000, still higher than in '22. In the first three quarters of '25, that number fell to 80,000 tonnes and continues to decline. In other words, Germany's submarine forces were already fighting a war of attrition with the enemy. According to the statistics of the German Navy itself, if the exchange ratio cannot reach 100,000 tons, then the significance of submarine breaking operations will be extremely small.

This is not just a problem for German submarines, but for the entire German Navy. If only submarines are used to disrupt the lines of communication in the North Atlantic, the results achieved are minimal, and the most effective way should be to cooperate with submarines and use the fleet to drag down the US and British navies, disperse their naval resources, and better cover submarine activities. So, this is a problem for the entire German Navy, whose fleet has so far been unable to break the blockade of the British Navy. At the same time, it is also a problem for the whole of Germany, although France is on the verge of defeat, but as long as Britain is holding out, then Germany has to watch out for its own back.

The German General Staff had already come up with a preliminary plan for an attack on Britain, and the whole plan was divided into two stages. In the first phase, strategic bombing will be the mainstay, which will destroy Britain's industrial and military infrastructure and disintegrate Britain's ability and will to resist.

The second phase of the operation had to land on British soil, but there was a problem with this, that is, as long as the British Navy still existed, as long as the British Air Force was not defeated, then it would be impossible to land on British soil!

In fact, there was only one way to defeat Britain, and that was to prevent the United States from continuing to provide strategic assistance to Britain and cut off the North Atlantic route so that the American fleet could not reach Britain. Strategic bombing could destroy Britain's industrial base, but it could not destroy the British maritime lifeblood. As long as the United States remained providing strategic assistance to Britain, the British Air Force would not have been defeated, the British Navy would not have been defeated, and the German Army would not have been able to cross that narrow channel and land on the island of Great Britain. And to destroy the seablood of Britain. It is necessary to mobilize the navy, not only submarines, but also the fleet. In summary. It is necessary to seize sea supremacy first, and then think about defeating Britain. Think about it in another direction. As long as it seized sea supremacy in the North Atlantic, Britain was bound to lose.

This was the problem of the German Navy, which, with its current strength, could not have taken away sea supremacy from the British, or even posed any threat to the British Navy's supremacy in the North Atlantic. Even now all the cutting-edge warships of the British Navy have gone to the South Atlantic.

However, the two "Bismarck" class battleships of the German Navy were still in the dockyard for repairs, and they could not be completed at all in the short term, and the German Navy's fleet did not even have the ability to cross the Danish Channel.

This is also the reason why both Raeder and Dönitz came to Zhoushan, and Germany needed the Tang Empire's land assistance, especially the main warships promised by the Tang Empire. Raeder even secretly stated that the German Navy could buy warships from the Don Empire, that is, use the shipbuilding capabilities of the Don Empire to build battleships, aircraft carriers, heavy cruisers and other capital warships for the German Navy. In addition, the German Navy could also arrange for officers and men to come to the Tang Empire for training. Then in the areas controlled by the Tang Empire, or in the territory of the Tang Empire, an expeditionary fleet of the German Navy was to be organized, and this fleet was to be set off directly from the Pacific Ocean. Return to the Atlantic and challenge the British Navy.

"These have been confirmed, and the German Prime Minister has also expressed the hope that we can share a group of shipbuilding capabilities. To build a strong fleet for the German Navy, they will provide all the costs of building warships, buying combat aircraft, ammunition supplies, and training the officers and men of the fleet, and are even willing to buy a fleet from us at the settlement price of international trade. Nie Renfeng crossed his hands, "But the problem is that we don't have the extra construction capacity at all now." Our battleships were parked on all four large slipways capable of building battleships, and the slipways for building aircraft carriers were also in use. If a new shipyard is built, then it will take at least a year. Even if we had a spare slipway now, it would take a year to a year and a half to complete the construction of the battleship. And that's not counting the time spent designing the battleship in accordance with the requirements of the German Navy. If all this is taken into account, then perhaps in three years the German Navy will get the ships they are asking for. ”

"But the problem is that in three years, maybe the German Navy will not need warships." Tan Renhao frowned slightly, "As it is now, even if the war is not over in three years, we will not be too far from victory." ”

"yes, so we had to find an alternative.

Nie Renfeng looked at Gan Yongxing.

"We have considered several options, including selling our old warships to Germany, handing over the fleet in the South Atlantic Theater to the German Navy, or lowering construction standards to speed up construction, but none of them can balance the interests of both of us at the same time." Gan Yongxing took out a document, "However, maybe there is a way to solve this problem." ”

Tan Renhao took the document, hesitated for a moment, and then opened it. When he saw the two photos and the contents inside, he immediately looked up at the principal and the chief of staff in surprise.

"It's something we've only recently come up with." Nie Renfeng also looked at Tan Renhao, "The German Navy's requirements are urgent, and we don't have any extra warships to provide to the German Navy." Of course, it has not yet been concretely determined, and we have not provided any relevant information to the German Navy. ”

"That is, you haven't decided whether to do it yet?"

"Yes, we have to think about all aspects of the impact before we make a decision." Gan Yongxing replied to Tan Renhao's question, "The plan was put forward only the day before yesterday, and now many details have not been resolved, so we have not disclosed the relevant news to the German side in advance." After we have worked out the details and decided on a solution to the details, we will decide whether to supply Germany with these two warships. Moreover, we are not sure whether it can be done or not. ”

Tan Renhao nodded slightly. "So, is there anything else we can do about it?"

'There are many other ways to deal with this, and I have discussed this with the Prime Minister. According to the Prime Minister, the needs of the allies are met first, and of course, the premise is that we can meet the needs of the allies. Nie Renfeng let go of his hands, "So, we must first determine whether these two warships can meet the needs of Germany, and whether the related problems can be solved." If the final answer is no, we will consider other options. ”

"But the German Navy ......"

"That's why we haven't revealed the news for the time being." Gan Yongxing looked at Tan Renhao, "Only the three of us know about this matter now, that is to say, this is a top-secret document of the Imperial Navy. ”

Tan Renhao sighed secretly, now he knew the reason why Gan Yongxing called him.

"Renhao, in the past few days, I have asked Yongxing to arrange for someone else to be in charge." Nie Renfeng laughed, "You hurry up and deal with this matter first, and if you have any needs, you can come to me directly." How many days do you need? ”

"This ......" Tan Renhao didn't even have a clue, how could he determine the time?

"The specific requirements are not high, but you have to determine the feasibility of the plan." Gan Yongxing also laughed, "Is two days enough?" ”

Tan Renhao shook his head, in two days, even if he didn't sleep, he wouldn't be able to complete this task.

"Then three days, you will be given three days at most." Nie Renfeng stood up, "In four days, I will discuss with Raeder about aiding the German Navy, so I need to know if the plan is feasible before that, and if not, then we have to prepare an alternative." ”

"Okay, I'll do my best." Tan Renhao didn't want to delay any longer.

"As soon as there is progress, I want to report to the chief of staff, of course, the sooner the better." Nie Renfeng stood up, "Remember, the news must not leak out, and the fourth person must not be allowed to know about this matter until we make a specific decision." ”

Tan Renhao also stood up. "Principal, Chief of Staff, then I will take my leave first, and I will submit a report as soon as possible."

After leaving Gan Yongxing's office, Tan Renhao immediately called Du Xing over, and he had to stay in the headquarters to work overtime.