.“ The geography is truly unique, and it's no wonder it's one of the biggest and best naval bases in the Baltic Sea and even in Germany! ”

From the lighthouse overlooking the harbor of Königsberg, Prince Hirohito expressed this sentiment.

Indeed, Königsberg Bay is located in the southeastern part of the Baltic Sea, looking across the Swedish coastline, and although it is not a necessary route for passing ships, the fleet stationed here can quickly move out of the central Baltic Sea, and if the fleet has sufficient strength to control the entire central Baltic Sea.

Topographically speaking, Königsberg Bay is an almost completely enclosed narrow triangle with a length of about 80 km, 35 km at its widest point and only 10 km at its narrowest point. The two pine-forested sandbars, Cape Kursh and Cape Vesling, were a natural barrier between the harbor and the Baltic Sea, and there was only a narrow passage more than 1,000 meters wide between the two sandbars, which were guarded by fortified batteries on each side of the channel, and which could be retracted and retracted, all of which made any ship or fleet trying to force its way into Königsberg Bay think twice.

There are two main ports in the Königsberg Bay: Pilau Harbour at the entrance to Königsberg Bay, which has numerous deep-water berths and is home to both the German Baltic Fleet and the Pilau Fortress, Germany's premier coastal defense fortress. Another port is the port of Königsberg, located southwest of Königsberg, which was the shipbuilding center of East Prussia and an extremely important commercial port. The port area of the port of Königsberg is divided into the northern military district and the southern civilian zone, the Königsberg shipyard, the port garrison and the airfield are all located in the northern military district, and the commercial port and the repair dock for ordinary ships are located in the southern civilian zone.

"Can we go over there and have a look?"

Hirohito refers to the northern shipbuilding area of the port of Königsberg.

After whispering discussions, the head of the Königsberg Navy, Rear Admiral Alexander the Great Schkelz, commander of the port garrison, and Rear Admiral Dominique Lorenz, commander of the Baltic Fleet, agreed to the Japanese request for a visit, but the Japanese entourage was not allowed to move around the shipbuilding area at will.

Hirohito agreed to the terms of the two German generals, but on the way to the shipbuilding area, he glanced at the Japanese naval officers accompanying him. Königsberg is one of the rising stars in the German shipbuilding industry, where Germany's first anti-submarine destroyers, the best submarines, and most of the aircraft carriers came from, and intelligence officers from various military powers wanted to infiltrate this dragon's den. Unfortunately, the entire Königsberg district and even East Prussia have always been heavily guarded, and it is even more difficult to steal confidential technical information.

After half an hour's walk, Hirohito and his entourage were led by the German side to the military district in the northern part of the port of Königsberg, only to see that the military area was protected by a heavy barbed wire fence, behind which were a series of guard towers and observation towers, and a patrol unit with wolf dogs.

Before entering the military zone, Hirohito glanced up at the three flagpoles at the door, one of which was a black, white and red German flag. One is the black vulture crusade flag, and the other is the imperial flag of the German Empire - a blue background, a silver sword, a golden shield, and on the shield are helmets, cannons, eagles and dolphins, which are also the flags of the former princes of East Prussia.

Walking along the straight and wide concrete avenue of the military district, the group soon came to the shipbuilding area. As far as the eye can see, there are a staggering number of docks built along the coast, and on the easternmost side are a number of small and medium-sized docks, each of which contains a ship under construction, some of which have just laid their keels, and some of which have already taken shape. Some are just more than 2 meters tall and less than 50 meters long. Some are large ships close to 3 meters high and 100 meters long, and some are light ships such as destroyers, and there are about 50 of them.

Over here. Hirohito didn't find what he was looking for, and the dockyards were at best more uniform and more numerous than the Japanese shipyards. A little further on, the number of workers gradually increased, and the docks were larger than the previous ones, most of the ships under construction were medium-sized ships 150 to 200 meters long, but it seemed that there were more than just cruisers, there were about 20 of these docks, eighty percent of which were under construction, and only four or five were empty.

Along. The German entourage had no intention of introducing the Japanese, and they walked forward with their heads held high, while Hirohito and his entourage followed as slowly as they could.

Further west in the medium-sized docks, the waters have darkened, and the docks are obviously larger, but the operating rates of the docks have dropped considerably. After walking for a long time, Hirohito saw three 10,000-ton ships under construction, and from the hull of the ships, they all looked like large freighters rather than battleships.

Hirohito counted 17 large dockyards in total. That is to say, if it is necessary and if the capital, manpower, and material resources are sufficient, the construction of 17 10,000-ton warships can be started at the same time.

After walking through these docks, the two German generals in front exchanged a few words, and then asked a major to go to the back and tell the Japanese: "Ahead is our aircraft carrier construction area!" ”

This remark immediately excited the Japanese visitors, but the excitement lasted only a few seconds before the empty slipway in front of them was gone.

"What about aircraft carriers?" Hirohito's attendant even shouted.

The German major squinted at him, "Don't you know the Washington Naval Treaty?" ”

The Japanese suddenly realized that according to this international naval treaty, Germany can only have 5 aircraft carriers, the Super Duck Mother has been given to the Japanese Navy, only the Lisa and the Prince were completed before the war, and the subsequent construction of the Zeppelin, Tirpitz and Ruprecht have been launched last year, that is, in 1917.

"It seems that the Germans complied with the naval treaty!"

The Japanese attendant who asked the question just now whispered beside Hirohito with some embarrassment.

Hirohito was noncommittal, but continued to move forward with some disappointment. Although there was a lot of uproar some time before the "Kemal" incident, when the Turkish government jumped out and announced that it was an aircraft carrier they had ordered from Germany, the countries were dumbfounded - according to the Washington Naval Treaty, the Turkish Navy has a quota for the construction of three aircraft carriers, but so far they have not built one. Although the displacement of the "Kemal" was obviously "exceeded", since it had been launched, the countries did not offend the Germans and Turks too much, and the matter was not over.

Before he stepped out of the large dockyard area, Hirohito saw a row of curved greenhouses painted in the same dark green as the surrounding environment. After pondering for a while, he thought it was supposed to be a German submarine dock, but the Germans didn't seem to be planning to take them there.

"Your Highness, please go this way!"

When they were still 1 kilometer away from the greenhouses, the German naval lieutenant was in front of the Japanese, stretched out his left hand and signaled them to turn north.

"Why don't you go over there?" Hirohito's chamberlain asked unceremoniously.

The German major told them: "There is a fuel depot over there, there is nothing to see." And it's very dangerous! ”

"Fuel depot?" The chamberlain, who was not yet thirty years old, had apparently been in the palace for a long time, and his expression and tone of voice were very unkind to non-royal personnel.

The German major didn't mind, and patiently explained: "Yes, the flammable and explosive fuel depot is full of heavy oil!" ”

The attendant looked back at Hirohito, and Hirohito's gaze was fixed on that side.

"Please!" The German major again asked them to go north.

In this case, Hirohito was not able to force himself to go over to "visit", so he walked in the direction guided by the Germans with a stinky face. However, just after the group had turned a corner, two Japanese naval officers who followed behind pretended to boo while the Germans were not paying attention. In fact, he quietly broke away from the team.

Hirohito and his entourage continued on their way. They have walked at least 5 kilometers from the beginning to the present, and it is not a comfortable thing to blow the sea breeze in this big winter. But the Japanese were worried that they would miss something important by riding in the car, and the Germans were happy to let them get tired early, so no one stopped driving.

After walking for about a quarter of an hour, the group came to a curved factory shed that was also gray but much larger. The Japanese were told that this was the workshop for the production of carrier-based aircraft for aircraft carriers, and they could go in and visit it.

At this time, the expressions on the faces of Hirohito and his attendants finally soothed a little. Led by a German technician who could speak Japanese, they couldn't wait to enter the workshop, but the two German generals and other German ** officers did not follow in, they just stood outside the door and rested.

The Japanese can't do that much. As soon as they entered the door of the workshop, the rows of planes and aircraft parts lit up their eyes. What made them even more happy was that right next to the aircraft production line, several technicians were discussing something around a table, and there were still many technical drawings on the table!

As a matter of fact, the two types of aircraft were not unfamiliar to the Japanese officers and men who had studied on the German Super Duck Mother, also known as the Fengxiang. The two-wing Seahawk fighter-bomber and the two-wing Swordfish torpedo aircraft were the main force of the German Air Force in the raid on Pascalvlo, and they were also the most deployed aircraft on German aircraft carriers in the war. However, the Japanese did not know that these planes had become training aircraft for training new pilots in the German Navy, and as for the more advanced new carrier-based aircraft, they were afraid that they would only see them on the battlefield.

After slowly circling the huge workshop, Hirohito's entourage deliberately pretended to be curious to crowd around the German technicians, and took advantage of the language difference to cause a small "confusion". Although the confusion quickly subsided, the Japanese also took the opportunity to take a few technical drawings, and such shoddy methods made their little leaders secretly cool down for a while. It's just that when they bring the drawings back home and have them seen by the experts, they will be sad to find that the Japanese experts have come up with the same drawings by disassembling and studying several aircraft on the Super Duck Mama.

When the Japanese walked out of the production workshop, the German ** officials waiting outside were chatting and smoking, but Hirohito's face quickly became gloomy, because he saw a group of German soldiers walking towards this direction with his two "straggled" entourage.

At this time, everyone's eyes were focused on the group of soldiers, especially the two extremely embarrassed Japanese.

After communicating with the leading non-commissioned officer, General Schkelz walked up to Hirohito, "Your Highness, your people got lost just now, but fortunately our soldiers found them and sent them back in person!" Please remind your entourage that the people who follow us closely during the visit should not get lost again! ”

Hirohito didn't speak, but his face was very ugly. When the two disgraced naval officers walked back with their heads down, Hirohito snorted coldly, and the eyes of the two people suddenly showed a look of guilt and sadness.

After this little farce, Hirohito was in no mood to continue visiting, and the group just walked forward with their heads down. After three hours, they had finally turned most of the Northern Military District, and after visiting the Airship Base of the Baltic Fleet, they found that the train they had been on was waiting for them on the tracks ahead.

"If Your Highness thinks you can end your visit here, then please get in the car, and then we will visit the port of Pilau!" General Schkelz pointed to the train and said, "But if Your Highness still wants to see more, it is okay to continue visiting here!" ”

Hirohito shook his head and boarded the train first.

Only half an hour later, the train took them to the home port of the German Baltic Fleet. To the surprise of Hirohito and his entourage, all the capital ships in the Baltic Sea were docked, waiting for them to review at the pier, and in the rumbling cannons, Hirohito and his entourage finally found some VIP feelings. After reviewing the Baltic Fleet, they were also allowed to visit the Pilau Fortress. This fortress built on a sandbar is far larger than people think, 3 main batteries and 9 sub-batteries are located on both sides of the channel, and there are hundreds of fortress guns of large and small calibers inside, but the Japanese also noticed that the defense here is not invulnerable, on the one hand, many fortifications are strong but have been some years, on the other hand, there are many anti-aircraft guns, machine guns and machine guns, but there are less than 20 real large-caliber fortress guns.

That evening, Hirohito and his entourage stayed at the Royal Hotel in the center of Königsberg, where the top aristocratic suites and excellent service drove away their tiredness, and the crown prince fell asleep early, deciding to recharge his batteries and see more during his visit to the aircraft design and manufacturing base the next day. As for his entourage, some went to bed early, and most recorded what they saw and heard as soon as possible.

That night, the German aircraft carrier "Ruprecht", which had been completed but not yet put into active service, quietly slipped back to Königsberg Bay, and in fact it had been hiding more than 20 nautical miles from the port under the escort of two destroyers during the visit of the Japanese.