At three o'clock in the afternoon, Natsuki arrived at the Imperial Navy office on time, the aroma of coffee in the round table hall was strong, and all the familiar faces were mixed with expressions of joy and entanglement. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

As usual, Natsuki silently walked to the far end, shaking hands with the officials who stood up to greet him in the middle.

"You're all here!" As soon as the Secretary of State for the Navy, who was sitting in the middle of the room, spoke, the conference hall was so quiet that you could almost hear the heartbeats of the people.

"In the morning I met with His Majesty the Emperor, who expressed his deep satisfaction with the adoption of the amendments to the Navy Law, and at the same time expressed great concern for our new battleship project. He hoped that we would be able to make use of the German nation's talent in mechanical engineering to design and build powerful warships that would attract the attention of the world, and that the Imperial Family and all the people would be our strong supporters. ”

After a high-sounding opening, Tirpitz quickly got to the point:

"The latest information we have received shows that the new British warships under construction are planned to be equipped with 10 main guns of the same caliber and the same calibre, and they will be arranged in the exact same twin turrets, and these guns have the ability to fire salvos at the same target, and the attack power at medium and long distances is unprecedentedly powerful. Yesterday I thought about it all night, and I felt that the most important question now was not to confirm whether this information was true, but whether it was necessary for us to adopt a unified main gun design on the new first class battleship. ”

No one interjected, every pair of ears listened intently.

Tirpitz went on to add: "According to the same intelligence, the standard displacement of the new British battleship was about 1. 8 to 1. Between 90,000 tons, the combat displacement is bound to exceed 20,000 tons, which is larger than any active battleship. ”

This time, the chairman of the Royal Navy's Technical Committee, the highly respected Feng. Count Warren spoke: "A year has passed since the Battle of Tsushima, and we have studied it very comprehensively and thoroughly. In that naval battle alone, the battleship's large-caliber guns did play a decisive role, but it seems too early to conclude that the way in which large-caliber guns were paired with medium-caliber rapid-fire guns was outdated. If the new British battleship is indeed equipped with five main turrets with a displacement of nearly 20,000 tons, then its speed and protection will not be significantly higher than that of previous battleships, and may even be inferior. ”

Someone at the round table nodded, and most remained silent.

In order not to "go astray" of this crucial discussion, Natsuki decided to give some reminder to these engineers and naval officers with first-class professional qualifications but lack imagination: "I would like to interject that I personally have information that the British have two technologies that deserve our attention: the Parsons steam turbine and the ship-wide fire control system." The former dramatically increases power output at the cost of consuming a lot of fuel, which means that larger ships can achieve higher speeds than ever before; The latter is suitable for centralized command of ship guns of the same type, which is conducive to increasing the density and hit rate of artillery fire at medium and long distances. ”

His own views were decisively and unequivocally refuted, Feng. Count Warren asked rhetorically, "Is there indeed a source of information that Your Highness is saying, or is it just the rich imagination of a genius?" ”

Natsuki looked at the old earl, who was already in his old age, and replied calmly: "Thanks to the speedboat trade all over Europe, I have established credible personal relations with some well-informed people, and the news they have dug from British shipbuilders has a high degree of credibility, and the British have indeed experimented with their Parsons steam turbines on large ships, which is one of the main reasons why I strongly recommended the installation of the same type of equipment on our large cruisers two years ago." As for the ship-wide fire control system, I can be sure that the British have put a lot of effort into it, and its role is like equipping the artillery command with a group of staff officers who are skilled in calculating ballistic parameters, although it is not enough to trigger a technological revolution, and it will be a great improvement over the traditional measurement and control mode. ”

Facing the Prussian prince, who was only a quarter of his age, Count Warren was not angry: "Even if it is true that as His Highness said, we are still not sure of the actual effect of the steam turbine, the unified main gun and the fire control system of the whole ship, who can say that the British spent a lot of money to build it must not be a failed battleship?" ”

In the past, Natsuki only proposed some improvements when the overall design of the ship had been determined, but as he grew older, accumulated experience, and the countdown to the war, he felt that he had the ability and the need to participate in the construction of the German Navy in a more direct way. In the face of Feng, who has a high prestige in the field of German shipbuilding. Count Warren, Natsuki did not put on an aggressive posture, nor did he make any intention of backing down: "If we can be 100% sure, we don't have to bother discussing it here." In the absence of an accurate prediction of the future, many things have to be risky. ”

The crowd was silent.

Chief Engineer of the Technical Committee of the Royal German Navy, succeeding von. Bruckner, who was recognized as the best candidate for Count Warren, said: "His Highness's attitude reminds me of the large cruiser projects C and D two years ago, when we were all amazed, and I wonder if His Highness will come up with a surprising general design this time." ”

"His Majesty the Emperor did not appoint me as the chief designer."

Although Natsuki smiled and shrugged his shoulders when he said this, he put on a naughty boy's posture, but the weight of his words was not light, and Bruckner, who had a big back comb, changed his face suddenly. He will eventually realize that the kind, gentle, patient and meticulous little prince in the past has grown up, is a tiger, and will one day show an inviolable domineering tiger might. Moreover, background determines strength, even if the talent is peerless, it is impossible for Bruckner to wrestle with the emperor's favorite prince.

With his aura overpowering Bruckner, who is first-class but not stable enough, Natsuki still maintains his peace of honor and disgrace, and he looks around at everyone: "In order to provide you with reference, I brought some interesting gadgets today. ”

In a routine with distinct personal characteristics, Natsuki left the table and went to the window, whistled, and then returned to his place as if nothing had happened. After about five minutes of curious waiting, two royal attendants entered the chamber carrying a large leather suitcase that looked rather heavy, and they carefully placed it on the floor as if it were an antique, opened it, and brought the contents to the table.

The chests contained neither gold nor treasures, but delicate models of ships. They are the size of a champagne bottle, the details and the paint finish are exquisite, the main and auxiliary turrets, the open gun mounts, the rudder and the propeller can be rotated, and the barrel elevation angle and antenna retraction are all made according to actual data. In terms of workmanship and quality, they are not inferior to the design models used by the Navy's technical department for initial evaluation.

"They were the work of the most skilled carpenters at the Royal Friedrich Shipyard and included the world's most iconic battleships of the last decade: the Dreadsome, Duncan, Rapid and Edward VII of England, Indiana, Chilshaji, Illinois and Maine of the United States, Petropavlovsk, Peresvet and Borodino of Russia, Mikasa, Katori and Satsuma of Japan, and Charles of France. Martel, Emperor Charlemagne, Queen Margaret of Italy and, of course, our Wicchersbach, Braunschweig and Deutschland. ”

As Natsuki listed the provenance of the ship models one by one, the two royal attendants arranged them neatly, and 20 beautiful warships with masts and flags lined up in a beautiful goose-shaped formation on the large round table. Finally, Natsuki nodded to his helpers, and they worked together to put the 21st model on the table. Its appearance caused the Navy officers to stretch their necks one by one, and several of them sat far away, their butts already off their chairs.

(End of chapter)