"Gentlemen?"

Colonel Bruckner glanced at the members of the council, as if to inform them that the bullets were loaded and ready to fire. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

The first to question the Friedrich shipyard's bid was naval weapons specialist Goodsa. According to the performance indicators proposed by the technical committee, the new cruiser should be equipped with at least 10 105 mm naval guns and two 450 mm torpedo tubes, and the design submitted by the Friedrich shipyard was three twin 150 mm guns - the technical committee originally returned it on the grounds that it did not match the bidding requirements, but Natsuki seized on the word "at least" to make a fuss, insisting that the six 150 mm naval guns were more than 10 105 mm naval guns in terms of power and range, intimidated by his royal background and the preference of the top echelons of the navy. The Technical Committee reluctantly accepted this explanation.

"The fully enclosed turret provides good defense for the gunner, and the vertical feed channel is both protective and efficient, and they are the standard design for large and medium-sized ships in various countries, but please note that they are large and medium-sized ships. For a lightly armed cruiser with a displacement of less than 4,000 tons, this tight protective design is like allowing the archer to put on a cavalryman's cuirass, which looks good, but does not have very real benefits. Moreover, the overall firepower of the six 150-mm guns is not much stronger than that of the ten 105-mm guns, and the flexibility and damage resistance are not as good, but the cost is more than 30% higher. ”

William. Gudessa, who had just turned 50 and was a leading expert in gun construction and ballistics, had served in the Army Artillery Corps, but because he was a farmer, he was an artillery second lieutenant until the age of 35. He was diligent and studious, and was admitted to the Royal German Academy of Artillery and the Technical University of Munich, became a doctor of engineering at the age of 42, and transferred to the naval department that year, and in just eight years he went from lieutenant to general, and also won the Medal of Honor three times -- this is unimaginable in the German Army, where sixty percent of the generals come from aristocratic families, and in the German Navy, only five percent of the generals have aristocratic blood.

In Natsuki's impression, Gudesa was a loyal and simple man, and today's words still do not lose his upright nature. With the limitations of the times, it was indeed difficult for him to guess what form the naval battle would take in a few years, and what kind of isolation the German Navy's foreign ships would be. The two small cruisers that were about to be finalized were the historical Dresden-class, and the second ship, the Emden, was a lone hero at sea during the First World War. Under the siege and pursuit of many ships of Britain, Japan, Russia and other countries, he set an astonishing record of intercepting 23 Allied merchant ships, sinking one Allied cruiser and one destroyer, and won the respect of the enemy without killing a single prisoner, and was finally defeated by the more powerful British cruiser in a glorious battle.

With the superior vision of the traverser, Xia Shu narrated: "Dear Admiral Goodsa, your description is very apt, and it does feel redundant to equip a small cruiser with a fully enclosed turret, but as I have always proposed, we should be forward-looking in designing and building a warship, and should give as full consideration as possible to the users of the warship, that is, our brave and loyal naval officers and men. Actually, my focus is on naval warfare seven or eight years later, when the colonial cruisers of the belligerents will generally have a displacement of four or five thousand tons, armed with at least 150 mm guns, probably as many as we have now armed with 105 mm guns, and since the two caliber guns are so far apart in range, the enemy does not even have to think about protection, but directly opens the engagement distance and takes advantage of the range advantage to take out our cruisers without much effort. Seven or eight years, gentlemen, these two German cruisers, which were only about six years old, apart from the time required for their construction, should not they be active in the front line, defending German rights and interests in the Baltic, the North Sea, and even more distant colonial waters? ”

"Forward-looking", a very connotative word, has become the most odious reason in the eyes of the experts of the Technical Committee of the Royal German Navy. Who can argue with an acknowledged genius about something that hasn't happened yet? What's more, this guy has repeatedly seized key opportunities, and proved his incomparably superior foresight with indisputable facts!

Gudsa retreated with a blow, and it was the naval torpedo specialist Gunther who took the "battle flag". Lieutenant Colonel Kemp, his doubts point to Natsuki's design of a torpedo tube that is different from the conventional water torpedo tubes, which can be easily destroyed in an artillery battle in the open air, and placed underwater to greatly reduce such concerns.

"I must admit that this is a design that stands out as much as its pros and cons." Natsuki responded in a candid tone, "The advantage is that the cruiser does not have to fire torpedoes head-on at the target, and when the enemy is not aware of this configuration, it can be taken by surprise in battle." The downside is that it's really susceptible to being affected in artillery battles, and bad martyrdom is possible. ”

"At the same time, it also loses the concealment of the launch." Lieutenant Colonel Kemp, who had a big goatee, made an additional addition to the disadvantages of the torpedo tubes on the water.

"In fact, the presence of bubbles makes what we usually call concealment lose its greatest significance." Natsuki argued, "The installation of underwater torpedo tubes in the bow will cause a certain amount of navigation resistance, which is also an impact that cannot be ignored. Based on the factors that exist on both sides, I still prefer to place the torpedo tubes on the deck in a non-critical position. ”

Lieutenant Colonel Camp said he would reserve his opinion, and in the following questioning, the technical commissars, who are proficient in power engineering, electrical equipment, and optical equipment, made their moves in turn. No matter what tactics they adopted, Natsuki calmly resolved them one by one, and the atmosphere of the meeting was always kept at a relatively appropriate temperature.

"So, the most important question." Colonel Bruckner said slowly in a low tone, "I would like to ask Your Highness, as the operator and chief designer of the Friedrich Royal Shipyard, what advantages do you think a shipyard that has never built a modern cruiser compared to other large shipyards?" ”

Talents, technology, equipment, funds, these are directly related to the quality of shipbuilding, the conditions of the major shipyards are only strong or weak, Xia Shu skillfully avoided the "trap", he gave Wiesel a look, and the uncle took out a thin document from the briefcase he carried. Before showing it to the committee members, Natsuki reminded the gentlemen, in the tone of Bruckner's opening remarks, that what they were about to see was a secret of another country, and that each one of them must keep his mouth shut and not divulge a word to anyone unless it was in the national interest of his own country.

After the committee members agreed, Natsuki unfolded the line map of warships, which did not belong to the German Navy, and then introduced: "This is a new type of cruiser in the outfitting stage of the Swedish Navy, with a design displacement of 4,300 tons, equipped with four twin 152-mm main guns and 14 57-mm rapid-fire guns, and a design speed of 21. 5 knots, cruising range of 8000 nautical miles, and can carry another 100 mines. Except for the slight inferiority in speed, its main performance is significantly better than that of cruisers of the same class in various countries. We had done several simulations before, and in different naval battle environments, two Königsberg-class could barely compete with the Swedish cruiser, and the not-so-good news was that the British were also preparing to build such a high-power cruiser. ”

Once he suddenly came up with a design plan, and once he brought in a model of a warship, Natsuki's two earlier whistles left a deep impression on the members of the technical committee and some naval officials.

Before the committee members could refute, Natsuki took a distinct offensive stance: "Of course, we can comfort ourselves by saying that the German cruisers do not need to protect the long sea lines of communication like the British Navy, nor do they need to stubbornly defend the territorial waters like the Swedish Navy. ”

Sweden is no longer the Nordic hegemon of the Thirty Years' War, but it still has a strong defense industry, especially in the fields of shipbuilding and guns, thanks in large part to the Forbos company, founded by the explosives king Nobel. With the company's high-quality steel and artillery, Sweden was able to build cruiser-class combat ships on its own – the new cruiser was shrouded in mystery until it was officially commissioned and unveiled to the public, while the German navy kept a close eye on the moves of the major naval powers and paid little attention to the actions of the Swedish navy, and after the disastrous defeat of the Russian navy, they further reduced the East Sea Fleet (also known as Germany's Baltic Fleet) to strengthen the high seas fleet. Therefore, the technical committee members and naval officials present were all very unfamiliar and curious about the technical information provided by Natsuki, and after they carefully studied the technical structure of the new Swedish cruiser, they had to admit that it was indeed difficult for two 3,400-ton Königsberg-class to beat a 4,300-ton Swedish cruiser.

Having the upper hand in momentum, Natsuki further argued: "We have every reason to believe that in the next ten years, the progress of power machinery will make a big step forward in the speed of ships, that is, in a few years, the 4,000-ton cruiser can have the powerful firepower of the Swedish cruiser in front of us, and have high speed and defensive performance, and no matter how hard we try, the ships that are being built now will not be able to have an advantage in speed." If we want to maintain a chance of winning in an unpredictable naval battle, we must have some bold and reasonable ideas. ”

Natsuki proudly declares: "The greatest advantage of our shipyard at Friedrich is that we have this reasonable foresight and can put it into practice." ”

The members of the technical committee began to discuss with each other, and Prince Heinrich also turned his head sideways and whispered to Bruckner for several minutes, and when they finally quieted down, the prince looked at Natsuki with a look of approval: "Friedrich Shipyard has won the order to build the colonial-type cruiser 'Arrow', and on the premise of satisfying the performance of the order, you can give full play to your strengths, and I hope that in two years, we will be presented with a perfect 3,600-ton cruiser." ”

Natsuki smiled confidently: "We will never let you down. ”

(End of chapter)