In the city of Danzig, the docks of the Shuoxiao shipyard are crowded with people.

In the hope that their navy could subvert Britain's current maritime supremacy, the launching of each battleship has become a major event of national concern for Germany in recent years, and today's launching ceremony of the Oldenburg not only attracted tens of thousands of civilians near the city of Danzig, but also many royal nobles including Kaiser Wilhelm II.

Chen Tian and his entourage came to the viewing platform in front of the dry dock, in the center of the viewing platform were Wilhelm II and the Empress, on the left seemed to be the nobles and cabinet ministers, and on the right were the crown prince Prince and his wife, Chen Tian and his wife, Tirpitz and other high-ranking generals. The Oldenburg, whose hull construction was almost complete, was lying quietly in the dry dock, with a huge colored ball hanging from the ship, and after a while the emperor himself opened it to send the blessings of the whole country to the officially launched Oldenburg.

At this time, the emperor and empress had not yet arrived, and only the princes were already seated.

"His Royal Highness the Prince, long time no see!" Tatsuten and Lisa walked up to them and said hello.

"Gigi, long time no see! I miss you so much! Even though Chentian had already stretched out his right hand, the crown prince gave him a bear hug, and the uninformed people around him were happy at the closeness of the two young princes.

However, at this time, the crown prince leaned into Chen Tian's ear and left a meaningful sentence, "I remember that His Majesty's order was officially issued half a month ago, but I didn't expect you to come back so soon!" Yes, it seems that you are prepared and well-informed! ”

"His Royal Highness the Prince, I ......" Chen Tian originally wanted to explain, but in a blink of an eye, he felt that it was useless to explain to him, maybe it would get darker and darker. At this time, the Tirpitts also came to their seats, and he simply took Lisa to greet them.

"Your Royal Highness, Madame Prince, hello!" Tirpitz greeted the couple with a smile on his face, and the launch of the new battleship refreshed his whole body.

"Your Excellency, the Imperial Navy has become stronger and stronger under your leadership, you are truly admirable!" Chen Tian still admired the Minister of the Navy very much, and he was quite supportive of himself in the development of the Baltic Detachment and submarines, and the two of them chatted with great interest after taking their seats.

It turned out that shortly after the construction of the Nassau-class battleships began, and learned that the British Navy was building dreadnoughts with 13.5-inch guns, the German Navy began to feel that the 280 mm guns on the battleships were not powerful enough, and decided to build four new Helgoland-class battleships with 12-inch (305 mm) main guns. The class was named after the four regions of the German Empire, namely the Helgoland, the Ostfrisland, the Thuringia, and the Oldenburg, with the Oldenburg being the last to be launched.

The Helgoland-class battleship has a displacement of 24,700 tons, a length of 167.20 meters, a height of 28.50 meters, and a width of 8.94 meters, and is equipped with 15 Sulzer-Sannikrovt coal-fired boilers, three four-cylinder reciprocating steam engines, with a power of 28,000 horsepower, a parallel configuration of 3 axles and 2 rudders, a maximum speed of 21 knots, and a cruising range of 5,500 nautical miles/10 knots, and 2,700 nautical miles/20 knots. The main guns are 12 305mm/50 times caliber, and the battleship has 3 twin turrets at the bow and stern, which are distributed in a zigzag pattern. This class of battleships had three chimneys, and it was the only dreadnought in the German Navy to have three chimneys in the first class, apart from the old battleships.

Before the launching ceremony began, Chen Tian told Tirpitz about the British battleship he had seen on the way.

"If I'm not mistaken, it should be two of the three St. Vincent-class battleships that Britain just completed last year and this year, and it seems that they are officially commissioned!" After listening to Chentian's description, Tirpitz's face turned visibly gray.

"Although the St. Vincent-class battleships are of the same class as our Helgoland-class battleships, our Helgoland-class will not be completed until at least next year, and the current Oldenburg will not even enter service until the year after next, compared to which we are already much slower than the British!"

"I see!" Chen Tian has always only known that the construction cycle of large warships is very long, but he did not expect that it will take another year to two years after launching to officially enter the battle sequence, but after this kind of Helgoland-class battleship is put into service, the British Navy may have newer and stronger warships, and the German Navy will have to catch up again.

"Your Excellency, with all due respect, why do we always wait for the British to build new warships, and then we modify our own warships according to their designs, so that we can never surpass theirs!" Tirpitz wasn't surprised when Chentian spoke his mind, he just sighed helplessly.

"Your Royal Highness, everyone understands this truth! But with our current steel smelting technology, power technology and design capabilities, all we can do is to minimize the gap with the British! ”

"But......" Just as Chen Tian wanted to continue, enthusiastic cheers were remembered all around, and it turned out that the emperor and empress had already arrived at the viewing platform, and the launching ceremony of the battleship was immediately announced.

All those present stood in salute to the Emperor and Empress, and the national anthem of the German Empire was played. After introducing the basic situation of the battleship, the emperor threw a bottle of champagne into the bow of the ship, and the bottle burst with the aroma of wine and splashed wine droplets. After the Emperor finished throwing the bottle, all the attendees saluted and applauded the new ship, and then the cable was cut and the battleship slowly slid into the water under the fluttering flowers and ribbons. Finally, the Emperor gave a short speech in which he encouraged the people of the country to strive to build a strong German Empire.

"Your Excellency, I hope to have a good conversation with you!" After the ceremony, Chen Tian stopped Tirpitz to continue their conversation, but the Emperor summoned them.

Chentian and Tirpitz followed the emperor's guards to the special train outside the shipyard, where the emperor and the crown prince were already waiting for them.

"I just came to you this time to have a casual chat!" The Emperor motioned for them to sit in the chairs in front of him, and the guards quickly served the brewed coffee.

"Gigi, I heard that your submarine sank a Turkish cruiser and put Turkish shipping in the Aegean Sea in a difficult situation for a while."

Chen Tian knew that the emperor's casual chat was not so casual.

"Yes, Your Majesty! I have asked the commander of the submarine force, Captain Philip, to report to the Admiralty about the detailed operation of the submarine force this time! "Chentian passed the Emperor's ball to Tirpitz.

"Your Majesty, Captain Philip's report is being studied by the Admiralty, and I believe that a piece of information will be sorted out and handed over to you soon!" Tirpitz quickly kicked the ball away.

"No need! We already know the details, but I think the efficiency of the Admiralty needs to be strengthened in the future! Prince suddenly intercepted the ball and countered with a beautiful long ball, and Tirpitz frowned in frustration.

"Don't talk about it again, now I want to hear what you think about the submarine weapon. While we've been building battleships at full strength, damn the British are growing twice as fast as we are, and we'll never be able to overtake them unless we have newer weapons than them! I mean, is it possible for submarines to be used against battleships? "Willem II confiscated the ball in a secure manner. Although everyone here only said one word, it was as if a fierce game had been played.

"Submarines can be used to sneak attack opponents, and they can also be used to block opponents' sea transportation, but I'm afraid they can't confront the opponent's warships head-on!" Chentian has the most say in the submarine, and Tirpitz also nodded in agreement.

"I think only battleships can fight against battleships! The submarine will come up for a gas change in two hours! , it is too easy to be discovered and eliminated by the opponent, and I think they can only come out at night to bully and bully unarmed freighters! Prince looked very professional, but his eyes suddenly lit up, and he said something that made Chen Tian almost spurt blood: "I have a good note, convert our battleships into submarines, so that you can appear in front of the enemy's battleships unnoticed, and catch them off guard!" ”

This time, even the emperor gave him a blank look, it seems that this guy doesn't understand anything about ships.

"Although submarines are not the nemesis of battleships, that does not mean that only battleships can solve battleships!" Chen Tian glanced at the emperor, and he looked expectant.

"Airplanes! We can drop bombs and torpedoes from airplanes! Chen Tian felt that this was a very simple truth, but it seemed that people in this era were strongly skeptical of this view.

"Your Royal Highness, can a small plane really sink a battleship?" Tirpitz's mind couldn't imagine what it was, with tens of thousands of tons of steel on one side and a wooden-framed and skinned plane on the other, why the plane would win.

The Emperor also shook his head and said that he could not understand, and the Crown Prince, who had just been hit, sat quietly on the side, and it seemed that he would not understand it even more.

"Your Majesty, give me a few months, and I'll prove it to you!" Chen Tian had no choice but to prove it with facts, but there were no ready-made weapons now, and he still needed some time to study and test.

"Alright! I hope to be able to see the results you said soon, funding you can apply to the Admiralty! The emperor was still a little interested in his thoughts, and this time he finally didn't need Chentian to pay out of his own pocket.

Chen Tian glanced at Tirpitz, and he nodded lightly in support.

"I'd love to see how ants eat elephants, so remember to ask me to see them when the time comes!" Prince said with a smirk as he left.