.“ In two weeks' time, our detachment will be on its way to the Far East, and the Norfolk will be among them! ”

When Chen Tian and his party were about to board the ship to visit, the old man Fora looked at the brand-new warship and said.

"Oh! A long voyage, a first for it! ”

Standing in front of the gangway, Chen Tian looked up at the tall bridge and mast of the 22,000-ton heavy cruiser. If there is any difference between this battleship and the American warships built before, the tower-high tower bridge and the fortress-like command tower are the biggest difference from the outside - the previous American large warships did not have a high bridge design, but in terms of hull proportions alone, such a tall and large bridge covered with thick armor is absolutely "unprecedented"!

For such a question, which was more like talking to himself, Old Man Fora chose to be silent. At this time, the officers and men of the U.S. Navy on the ship had already finished lining up, and the white military uniforms on each of them were so clean and tidy, as if they were wearing brand new clothes for the first time, and they also set off the newness of this warship just right!

This is a brand new battleship that has been in the water for just over 1 year and has only been in service for 4 months! A new hull, a new turret, a new gun, a new bridge, a new boiler, a new engine, everything on the ship is brand new, even the Star-Spangled Banner on the mast......

"Your Majesty, it is really an honor for the officers and men of this ship to be here!"

After a clumsy welcome speech, the captain who looked like an old sailor led Chen Tian and his entourage to board the newest warship in the United States, although it was only a little famous in the United States for the time being, but it received a lot of attention. Guangchentian received reports related to it, there were original materials submitted by the intelligence department, and there were also research and analysis reports from the naval technical department, although such a warship itself would not change the current situation in North America, but it received very good comments from German technical experts.

"A defeated country, which had suffered a heavy blow socially, economically, and industrially, built a battleship worthy of the Scharnhorst class, the best German heavy cruisers, in the fourth year after the end of the war. The United States is truly impressive! ”

This is Chen Tian's thoughts, after seeing the scene of San Francisco, and then looking at these energetic and high-morale American sailors in front of him, he is even more firm in his opinion - the Americans have not been defeated, and most of them are waiting for the moment of re-emergence. In this world, it is not the Japanese, who are suffering severe blows, Russia, which is in a state of division, or Turkey, which is very dependent on Germany economically and militarily. Not to mention China, which is quite backward in terms of economy and industrial base, Chen Tian has always felt that there are two biggest enemies of Germany, one is that the Germans themselves are going to extravagance, ** and decline, and the other is revolution, and now, I am afraid that this point of view will have to be slightly revised.

A warship that is no more than 200 meters long did not take too much time for Chen Tian and his party, with the current relationship between Germany and the United States, Chen Tian does not need to be too concerned about his own security issues, he can pay more attention to this warship that has been praised by German naval technical experts.

The standard displacement is 22,000 tons, equipped with three triple 280 mm guns, and the maximum range is 10,500 nautical miles at a maximum speed of 33 knots and a cruising speed of 15 knots. The Norfolk is almost a replica of Germany's most famous Scharnhorst-class heavy cruiser – with the same main gun configuration, similar tonnage and seafaring capabilities. Even their appearance has a lot of similarities, and it is no wonder that the specialists of the technical department of the German Navy, when they first received photographs and line drawings of the "Norfolk" from the intelligence services, thought that the Americans had "copied" their work. However, after careful study, the experts came to the following conclusions:

This is by no means a simple imitation.

Although the Americans' "Norfolk" is similar in appearance to the German Scharnhorst class, its above-deck buildings are tighter and more compact, and the purpose of this design is not only to reduce the defense area and improve seaworthiness, but also to show the Americans' good ambition and confidence in the accuracy of the main gun, anti-aircraft firepower, and damage management; The tall bridge means that the main gun has a long range, and at the same time, it also puts forward higher requirements for measurement, ranging and shooting command technology; From the layout of the "Norfolk" and the current armor material technology and welding technology of the US Navy shipyard, it is speculated that the ship's defense capability should not be lower than that of the Scharnhorst class, such as a Norfolk class and a Scharnhorst-class head-on encounter, the biggest advantage of the Scharnhorst class is that the first-class commander and excellent sailors, but the Americans are very likely to make up for their weaknesses in personnel quality through rigorous training, exercises, and even actual combat.

Thinking of this, Chen Tian suddenly asked the captain who looked like an old sailor in English:

"A great warship. Officers and sailors too, it's just that everyone still lacks some experience, especially real combat experience, isn't it? ”

Old man Fora obviously didn't expect Chen Tian, who had been talking to him through an interpreter just now, to come to such a hand, and at this moment when he was stunned, the American captain with the rank of commodore replied:

"No, Your Majesty, I'm a veteran of a formal naval battle, and although I haven't been on this ship for long, I'm already proficient in manipulating everything here!"

"That's good!" Chen Tian deliberately didn't give Old Man Fora a chance to speak. He then asked, "I dare say that your shooting skills must be the best in the entire Pacific Fleet, right?" ”

In front of Chen Tian's thumb, the captain who looked like an old sailor smiled "hehe", he didn't notice the look of the old man Fora on the side, and said proudly: "Your Majesty has won the award!" Such results can be achieved thanks to the naval technical experts, if not ......"

"Yes, if it weren't for their systematic technical guidance to our grassroots officers and soldiers, we wouldn't have made such great progress!" Old man Fora finally couldn't help but interrupt the captain's answer, and used his presence to "tamper" with the captain's original intention—the new command instrument designed by the technical experts gave them great help.

Chen Tian easily saw through the clumsy performance of Old Man Fora, but he still said very politely:

"I see! If you have the chance, you will definitely ask them to go to our warship to guide you! ”

The old man of Fora agreed kindly, but as soon as Chen Tian looked away, he glared at the captain fiercely, the captain who was originally a little complacent was actually not stupid, but the other party's special identity and the temperament of dominating the world made him have some illusions. After that, no matter what kind of question Chen Tian asked, he would ask for his opinion from the old man Fora before answering.

This situation was completely expected by Chen Tian, and in order to give the naval technical expert dressed as a personal attendant more time to observe the battleship up close, he still used the excuse to go around the ship for nearly half an hour. After that, they drove to the San Francisco Naval Shipyard, which is only a dozen kilometers away from the fleet anchorage, which is one of the important shipbuilding bases on which the US Pacific Fleet depends, and is currently building a sister ship of the "Norfolk" and another new class of warships.

If the "Norfolk" is an excellent warship built by the US government after the war by integrating the existing technical forces, then the new first-class battleship that started construction four months ago is a challenge to the existing shipbuilding strength of the United States, and it is also a touch to the bottom line of the "Atlanta Treaty" -- this is a battleship with a standard displacement of 30,000 tons proposed at the beginning of the first-class design, and it is called a battleship to the outside world, but it is actually a new high-speed warship that is much faster than ordinary battleships and far more defensive than ordinary battlecruisers. In order to ensure that the tonnage does not exceed the standard, and to achieve high speed and strong defense capability, the problems faced by the Americans are also of special concern to all countries in the world, especially Germany.

In order to prevent the outside world from discovering the ship's construction situation too early, the US side has adopted a strategy of strict secrecy and intelligence confusion, that is, the designers and their families are completely isolated from the outside world, and only a very small number of high-level government personnel and senior naval officers have access to the relevant design materials, and deliberately disclose false information to intelligence personnel of other countries. As a result, even German intelligence, which claims to be the world's number one, currently has very limited information, and it is not even certain what kind of main gun it will be equipped with.

This time, taking advantage of the Kaiser's personal visit to the United States, the German Foreign Office made a special proposal to the US side to visit the San Francisco Navy Yard.

Half an hour's drive is not long, just between Chen Tian and the accompanying two technical experts talking, the convoy arrived at the extremely heavily guarded naval shipyard - there are dormitories, canteens, shopping malls and other facilities, technicians and their families live in an independent area, outsiders are not allowed to approach at all, and they can not leave at will, ordinary workers usually live near the shipyard, although they can enter and exit every day, but they must be subject to extremely strict inspections every day, And change clothes in a special changing area before entering the shipbuilding area.

For foreign spies, it is quite difficult to enter this shipbuilding area, not to mention that even if they wander in the surrounding taverns to try to obtain some peripheral information from the workers, it is often not possible, first, the shipyard authorities have issued tight orders to the workers, and second, most of the workers do not know the data of the ship, coupled with the large number of American counterintelligence officers and plainclothes police, this San Francisco Navy Yard has become a unique intelligence blind spot.

Now, Chen Tian and his entourage have the opportunity to enter the shipyard to find out, and the entourage, especially the intelligence officers and naval technical experts, have their eyes wide one by one. Although it has only been four months since the construction of the battleship began, experts can deduce many important things by analyzing its hull structure.