At that time, the second question listed by Gan Yongxing is directly related to the interests of the empire, it can be said that this is a major decision that belongs to the commander-in-chief of the navy, and the chief of general staff to consider and decide, Tan Renhao still doesn't understand why Gan Yongxing asked him to think about this problem, but thinking that Gan Yongxing has been secretly helping him, if Tan Renhao wants to become the future commander of the navy, then he must first clarify the direction of the development of the navy, and the equipment system of the navy is a direct reflection of the direction of the development direction of the navy.

The centuries-old Imperial Navy adopted the principle of pragmatism in the development of equipment, that is, to build the most suitable warships according to needs, and never engage in any blind, flashy, or cost-effective weapons and equipment. It can be said that looking at the history of the development of the equipment system of the Imperial Navy for more than 300 years, we can deeply understand that the Imperial Navy is definitely a "realistic" army.

During the Age of Sail, the Imperial Navy ruled the seas of the whole world, and that was the first heyday of the Imperial Navy. In order to be able to safeguard the global interests of the Empire, and at the same time to deter any enemy who wants to challenge the Empire, the Imperial Navy has the world's largest number and most powerful battleships, as well as the most advanced and excellent cruisers in the world. It can be said that the greatest role at that time was played by the Imperial cruisers that sailed on every ocean in the world. These ubiquitous cruisers both symbolized and defended the interests of the Empire. It was also through the fleet of these cruisers that the empire established a wide range of colonies throughout the world, from which it reaped enormous economic benefits.

By the time of the ironclad era, the Empire was no longer the only naval power in the world, and its national power could not support the need to dominate the world's seas. More importantly, as more and more opponents emerge. Nor can an empire be openly hostile to all nations. In this context, the Imperial Navy first proposed the "two-power principle", that is, to have a powerful fleet capable of the combined strength of the two most powerful naval enemies, and to ensure that it could defeat both powerful enemies at the same time. The "two-power principle" largely maintained the position of the Imperial Navy and at the same time deterred all opponents. More importantly, in the war with Japan, it was precisely because the Imperial Navy had more powerful fleets than the two most powerful opponents that the Western powers did not dare to openly support Japan or take this opportunity to declare war on the Empire, thus maintaining the Empire's world hegemony for decades.

After the end of the First Global War. The empire's power has declined again, and its share of the global economy continues to decline. Unable to maintain a large fleet in accordance with the "two-power principle", the Imperial Navy sensibly acknowledged the change in strength and instead sought to build a fleet capable of meeting any enemy challenge. That's where it began. The Imperial Navy had to begin to pay attention to the tremendous impetus that technology brings. Arguably. In the middle of the twenty-year truce. The Imperial Navy gave birth to a large number of "technical" officers, and many new tactical theories appeared, such as the theory of aviation operations, the theory of submarine warfare, and various theories of tactical changes that might arise in future wars. Perhaps, a large part of these theories are absurd or unrealizable. But it was during this period that some advanced tactical theories emerged that eventually led the Imperial Navy to victory over an enemy much stronger than itself. 94048f

In three different historical periods, the Imperial Navy built its ranks based on the principles of doctrine. With the emergence of new weapons and tactics such as aircraft carriers, submarines, and landing operations, the future ocean battlefield will definitely be different from that in World War II. So, how should the Imperial Navy face the challenges ahead? In addition, with the end of the war, the world pattern will inevitably change dramatically. While some old threats disappear and new ones will emerge, how should the Imperial Navy deal with new threats in order to safeguard the interests of the Empire?

Any high-ranking leader of the Empire, the high-ranking figures of the Imperial Navy, will consider this issue, and the war has entered the final stage, these problems must be solved as soon as possible, and they must not wait until the war is over. Whether it is to deal with new threats, or to develop new technologies and tactics, it must eventually be implemented into the equipment system of the Imperial Navy. Therefore, when determining the equipment that the Imperial Navy will need in the future, it is necessary to take these factors into account in order to build a new equipment that can best meet the requirements of the new era.

In Gan Yongxing's document to Tan Renhao, two main points were mentioned: First, more and more new technologies appeared, which would inevitably lead to more advanced, even unimaginable new weapons. Second, with the end of the war, there will not be a second powerful opponent like the United States who can challenge the empire on the oceans in the world, so the imperial navy will face new challenges in the future, so what kind of challenge is this?

In terms of new technologies, Tan Renhao does not know a lot, since he left the equipment technology office, he has rarely participated in the research and development of new weapons and equipment, as well as the development of new technologies, and only occasionally can get the performance book of new equipment from Gan Yongxing, and first get new weapons and equipment. At that time, Gan Yongxing also had a sub-table in the document, which listed some important technologies that had appeared at that time or were being studied.

Among these technologies, the most important ones are nothing more than those ones, namely radar, rockets, turbine engines, radio guidance technology, infrared imaging technology, atomic energy, etc. And these technologies have either been applied in warfare, or they are already close to the level of application. Of course, not all of these technologies were taken seriously by the Imperial Navy and the Imperial Army. For example, the rocket, originally developed by the Germans, was only a tactical weapon in the Reich, used to supplement and enhance the combat effectiveness of artillery. The turbine engine, first developed by the British, was not used in the Reich at all (the Reich originally obtained the technology of freighter engines from Germany, and after defeating the British, it received the relevant British technology, and obtained the help of a group of British scientists and engineers, so after the war, the jet aircraft developed by the Reich used more British technology than German technology). Radio guidance technology has only been studied theoretically, and has not been tested in real combat as in Germany. Infrared imaging technology is only in the primary theoretical research stage. Of course, the most important of these is definitely atomic energy.

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It can be seen that in the case of strong national power, the imperial army still adopts the principle of pragmatism when it comes to technology. Any new technology will not be easily adopted by the Imperial Army until it is fully functional. For example, at that time, the jet fighter created by the Germans completely surpassed all the fighters equipped by the Reich in terms of performance, but the problem was that the jet fighter had a short range, difficult maintenance, high maintenance costs, strict environmental requirements, etc., and the result was not very good on the battlefield, at most it could only be regarded as an extremely good interceptor, and the Reich did not need an interceptor, because the Reich itself was not threatened. Against this backdrop, the empire only conducted theoretical and laboratory research on turbine engines, and did not have any plans to build jet fighters at all, but built more fighter lines, and built a larger number of piston fighters whose performance was almost to the limit.

In the words of the empire at that time, those weapons that looked advanced, but were immature, difficult to use on a large scale in war, and could not change the situation of the war because of this, were called "flower guns", which were all embroidered pillows, which were not easy to use. Of course, this does not mean that the empire will abandon the development and application of new technologies. It can be said that the empire never neglected the theoretical research work of new technologies, and at that time the empire had many laboratories and universities, which could conduct laboratory research. It's just that between research and mass manufacturing, the empire has adopted a very pragmatic policy. In other words, as long as these technologies are mature and have the ability to be used on a large scale, then the empire will be able to come up with new equipment that is better than its opponent in a very short period of time, and quickly put it into mass production, surpassing its opponents. It can be said that before the outbreak of the war, the attitude of the empire towards aircraft carriers is a vivid example.

Most importantly, it's not about modern technology. It's the pattern of the future. No matter how advanced the technology is, it must be adapted to political needs. It's like after the advent of nuclear weapons, everyone thought that they would completely change warfare, but in fact, after the war, because they did not meet political needs, nuclear weapons were never used in war. Therefore, it is certainly more important to understand the post-war world pattern than to create a few new weapons. To be precise, political needs are fundamental, and new weapons are merely tools to achieve political goals. If the cart is turned upside down. Even if there is a good weapon, what is the use?

It is not difficult to judge the post-war world pattern, after the defeat of the United States, the Imperial Navy has no real opponents, at least in two. Within thirty years. The Imperial Navy will not face a major challenge. Germany is a continental country. With Britain in the way, it is difficult to become a naval power. The Persian Empire is in internal and external troubles, and it is good to be able to solve the national conflicts at home, so how can it still compete with the empire? Japan is finished, and it may not be possible to recover for decades, and if the imperial policy is radical, Japan will not be able to become an imperial threat in the future. The United States will inevitably decline, and may even be dismembered. Lost the foundation of becoming a world power. And some other countries, such as Brazil, are unlikely to be rivals of the empire because they do not have the ambition to become a world power.

In this case, where should the Imperial Navy go? In fact, numerous examples of wars during the Great War have pointed the way for the development of the Imperial Navy. That is, when the Imperial Navy has gained domination of the seas, naval warfare will take place mainly at the junction of land and sea, and landing operations will be a major local aspect, in addition. Taking advantage of the long-range strike capability that the fleet has already acquired, attacking the inland from the sea will also become a major form of naval warfare in the future.

After clarifying the form of the future war at sea, then what kind of equipment the Navy needs, the question is easy to answer. Battleships were bound to withdraw from the arena of naval warfare, after all, their limited striking range was not suitable for future wars. Aircraft carriers will inevitably become the new hegemon on the ocean battlefield, but their performance must be improved, they must be more powerful, and they must be able to deal with targets at a greater distance. In addition, the status of the fleet will be reduced, after all, in the absence of opponents, the Imperial Navy does not need to maintain an overly powerful main fleet, on the contrary, the status of the landing fleet and the Marine Corps will definitely be improved, especially the ability to deliver from sea to land, which must be guaranteed, so that the Imperial Navy can cope with various threats and challenges around the world, keep the threat of war out of the enemy's country, and avoid the threat of the Imperial Mainland.

It can be seen from the fact that the Navy revised the warship construction plan for the second half of the 28th year at that time: when Xingrang Tan Renhao was thinking about this issue, the top brass of the Navy had already made a decision. At that time, a large number of warship procurement programs were canceled, and only those that were under construction, or had already begun to purchase spare parts, were retained. And the new construction focused on landing ships, as well as transport ships. The latter is only a supplement to the existing maritime capabilities to meet the needs of the war, and these transport ships will be sold and converted to civilian use after the war. On the contrary, it was impossible for landing ships to be converted to civilian use, and the Imperial Navy retained a large landing fleet not only to meet the needs of the war, but also to meet the new challenges faced after the war.

Gan Yongxing also gave Tan Renhao a copy of the preliminary report of the Navy's military budget for the 29th year, and found a key point, that is, in the 29-year budget, the Navy's scientific research has increased by three times, on the contrary, the cost of equipment procurement has been reduced by two percent. That is, the Imperial Navy was to be transformed from 29 onwards, gradually leaving the state of war and laying the foundation for post-war development

This is also the characteristic of the navy, because the equipment of the army is relatively easy to manufacture, so it is more flexible, from wartime to peacetime, from peacetime to wartime, it only takes a few months. On the contrary, the navy needs more time to transition between peacetime and wartime because of the long and expensive construction period of equipment. I am afraid that it is precisely because of this characteristic that the rector and the chief of staff will consider gradually returning the navy to a peaceful state before the war is over.

Obviously, at that time, Gan Yongxing asked Tan Renhao to participate in this kind of work of planning the future development direction of the navy, which was to lay the foundation for Tan Renhao to become the commander of the navy. This is just like Gan Yongxing asking Lei Shaoqing to go to the grassroots level for training, if Tan Renhao did not master the development of the navy, how could he lead the navy forward in the future?