In the first week of September 1934, two huge warships flying the black, white and red tricolor arrived at the Kilruth Naval Base on the west coast of Ireland, and although the press had been given a gag order to make no reports on the visit of the two new warships, tens of thousands of people were moved by train from Limerick, more than 70 kilometres away, to stay outside the security cordon at the Kilruth Naval Base, just to get a glimpse of the glory of "European Power". Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

The so-called "European power" is an impromptu sentiment of Kaiser Wilhelm II at the celebration party, which means that the two highly-anticipated new battleships embody the best of European technology and industry. As the Hohenzollern royal leader said, the Germanian-class construction was the largest and most expensive mechanical project ever built in Europe, and it would have been difficult for the Germans to accomplish this feat without the power and strength of Europe.

After four long years of construction and 11 months of commissioning and running-in, the two Germania-class battleships finally joined the German Navy's combat sequence, and the Allied camp had two more weapons to dominate the sea and deter the stubborn enemy. At present, the Allied forces are echoing each other on the two fronts in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and the strategic situation is very good, but the Western Allies have failed in their repeated attacks on Bermuda, and the main Japanese navy has not taken advantage of the Hawaiian Islands.

The Germania level determined the design plan, and Natsuki participated in the whole process as a special adviser invited by the German royal family; the launching ceremonies of the Germania and Friedrich Wilhelm II, both in his capacity as Allied monarchs; During the sea trials of the two ships, he went to Germany several times to attend technical meetings...... It can be said that he has a part in the creation of these two new battleships, but back at the beginning of the evaluation of the necessity and technical standards of the new battleships, Natsuki was opposed to the construction plan of the German Royal Navy Technical Committee, and he tried to persuade the German top brass to focus their limited resources and efforts on the technically mature ship models, but unfortunately Wilhelm II did not adopt them. Since the German Navy's military expenditure had reached the limit that the government could afford in peacetime, the construction of two Germania-class ships led to the cancellation of the construction of the fourth ship of the Mackensen-class battlecruisers, and the scheduled construction of ships No. 3, No. 4, and No. 5 of the Count Tirpitz-class battlecruisers were all postponed indefinitely -- judging from the course of the Azores campaign, if these four powerful battlecruisers were added to the combat lineup of the Allied fleet, the initial battle would not have been so difficult, and perhaps Natsuki would not have had to intervene, Beinke would be the victor in this battle.

As the person outside of the German Navy who knew the technical data of the Germania-class battleships best, Natsuki personally visited the Kirruth Naval Base and boarded the ship. Due to the greatly enhanced electronic and air defense configurations, the standard displacement of the Germania class has increased from the original plan of 54,108 tons to 55,354 tons, and the full load displacement has increased to 62,479 tons, surpassing the Lexington-class battlecruisers of the United States to become the largest combat ship in history.

Following the usual twin-mounted gun configuration since the end of the last war, eight 18-inch guns of 45 times diameter were used - a masterpiece of Krupp Arms after ten years of successful development. Considering the increase in the combat distance, this type of gun has been determined as a medium-speed standard shell scheme since the beginning of the design, and the muzzle kinetic energy is 4% higher than that of the same caliber main gun equipped with the North Carolina-class battleships of the United States, and the power of a single shot is completely inferior to various 16-inch naval guns in service, and the use of the new hydraulic system ensures the maximum firing of 2 rounds per minute of the Germania-class twin-mounted main gun and the maximum rotation speed of the main turret of 4 degrees per second, making the new capital ship of the German Navy comparable to the North Carolina-class of the United States in terms of firepower and fire control.

In the eyes of the layman, the biggest highlight of the Germania-class battleships in terms of firepower is the use of the 18-inch main guns that the German Navy is looking forward to, and in the eyes of the insider, the Lorentz-IID fire control radar is the real weapon to bring about qualitative changes, it uses the top electronic detection and mechanical computing technology in Europe, not only the theoretical data is extremely dazzling, the test situation is also convincing, especially in the case of dense fog weather or night engagements can reflect their extraordinary value. In addition, radar fire control was also used for the first time in anti-aircraft weapons, and the Germania class canceled the previous German battleship auxiliary armament of 150 mm secondary guns, 88 mm high-level dual-purpose guns, 37 mm anti-aircraft guns, 20 mm machine guns, 12. The five-level configuration of the 7-mm machine gun has been simplified to a three-level configuration of 127-mm high-level dual-purpose guns, 37-mm anti-aircraft guns, and 20-mm machine guns, and four sets of radar fire control systems are used to guide the firing of 12 127-mm twin-mounted secondary guns divided into four groups, which greatly improves the operational efficiency of the air defense system.

In terms of protection, the 55,000-ton Germania class is more than a star and a half stronger than the 45,000-ton North Carolina. Considering that the best armor steel in the United States and Germany was at the same level during this period, the armor thickness and protection design were the key factors that determined the level of protection, the overall protection of the Germania class adopted the same "safe" structure as the German class, and the main ammunition depot, boiler room, engine room and other important parts were placed under the complete protection of composite horizontal armor and inclined broadside armor, and the standard for broadside armor to resist attack was raised from 16 inches to 18 inches, and the underwater protection system was five compartments and three layers of bottom. Horizontal protection is designed to resist high-altitude dive bombardment of 1500 kg armor-piercing bombs and large-angle bombardment of 18-inch naval guns, and the anti-sinking performance has been further improved on the basis of the German-class battleships, while the twin main gun configuration is conducive to improving the protection and survivability of the main turret although it sacrifices fire density and unit output. As for the much-criticized seat protection problem earlier, after the baptism of the Great War, it has been properly solved in the Bavarian and German classes, and it is even closer to perfection in the Germania class.

Compared to the German-class battleships, the only performance that the Germania class has declined is tactical mobility. In order to meet the strong protection standards and ensure the firing stability of the 18-inch main gun, on the premise of not reducing the endurance and seaworthiness and not increasing the large aspect ratio of the hull, the German designers had to "make a cut" from the power of the battleship - the Germania class adopts the same power structure as the German class, with a maximum power output of 160,000 horsepower, but because of the significant increase in tonnage, the design speed of the battleship has dropped to 27 knots. Although the "Germania" ran out of 27 in the state of overload of the main engine during sea trials. 8 knots, but it will definitely not be able to play at such a level under real combat load.

The Germania had been in service for less than three months, and the Friedrich Wilhelm II had been inaugurated last month, and the two new battleships were temporarily assigned to the Allied Task Force 10, which was scheduled to complete its plans in Ireland and then leave for the Azores to prepare for battle, at which time all ships would be under the command of Beinke for the third and largest attack on Bermuda.

The man who commanded the 10th Task Force on the Germania was from the same German royal family as Natsuki, and was currently the hottest admiral in the German Navy, but his reputation was not created by victory, but by the bravery on the battlefield and the active momentum of official public opinion.

In Natsuki's five-star general spectrum, the two-star Prince Oldenburg is still much worse than the four-star Bernke, and when the German crown prince and the head of the navy asked for his opinion, Natsuki always raised euphemistic objections in the tone of protecting the heir of the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg, and repeatedly said that Beenke is the most senior naval commander at present, and his stability may be the key factor leading the Allied navy to the other side. These remarks and opinions inevitably reached the ears of the nobles of the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg, some felt that it was reasonable and some were dissatisfied, and it was an indisputable fact that Friedrich August II, the Grand Duke of Oldenburg, who was over eighty years old, was in poor health, and August, as the first heir to the throne of the Grand Duchy, was indeed not suitable to risk his life on the battlefield. In fact, long before the outbreak of the war, Reinhardt-Schell intended to transfer him to a civilian position, but he could not resist his strong desire to lead the army to fight, so he had to allow him to continue to command the battle patrol formation, as a result, the first Battle of Flores was almost killed, and the generals of the German Admiralty and the Naval Staff were shocked into a cold sweat, and then tried their best not to let him take risks on the front line of the battlefield, and during Natsuki's tenure as the commander of the Allied fleet, he was only assigned to escort the guard or land on the island to support these relatively safe roles, The task of venturing deep behind enemy lines was more often left to generals with no special backgrounds, such as William Martial and Gunther Lütjans.

When August von Oldenburg arrived with two Germania-class ships, four Confederate-class aircraft carriers built at the Irish shipyard were on standby, all of which had been built before the war, two were ordered by the German Navy, one for the Irish Navy, and one was originally built for the Ottoman Navy, which was later transferred to the German Navy on a remunerative lease basis by agreement between the German and Turkish governments, to be returned to Turkey after the war, and once lost in the war, It was compensated by the German Navy after the war with ships of the same type or higher rank.

In the Atlantic theater, the Battle of the Azores has become the ultimate swan song of fleet artillery warfare, and naval aviation has laid the foundation for the transformation from a supporting role to a leading role with an indisputable performance, and now the US and British fleets have 7 battleships and 3 battlecruisers in the Atlantic, more than the 5 battleships and 1 battlecruiser of the Allied Navy, but they are inferior due to the double inferiority of the number of aircraft carriers and the quality of carrier-based aircraft pilots -- including auxiliary aircraft carriers converted from standard freighters, the number of Allied aircraft carriers put into operation has reached 41, Covering the front line of the battlefield, the island bases, and the rear supply lines, only to wait for the reinforcements of the 10th Task Force to arrive, the more defeated and courageous Beinke will launch a third attack on Bermuda.

(End of chapter)