Germany in this time and space, strictly speaking, had already developed three tanks of about 50 tons before the completion of the prototype of the E-50 project. At first, the www.biquge.info was a 45-ton Panther and a 56-ton Tiger, and then a shrinking Tiger was created in the accumulation of technology of the Panther and the Tiger, the Tiger G tank, and the E-50 is the fourth tank of about 50 tons.

With the experience and technology accumulated from the previous three tanks, as well as sufficient resources and technical support from France (the French also developed two 30-ton tanks, the B1 and SAU-40, before being defeated by Germany, and had considerable technical accumulation), the E-50 project progressed very smoothly, and the first prototype was built in early June 1943.

The prototype, known as the E-50-0 tank, was produced by MAN (Germany's Mercedes-Benz, MAN, Porsche, Henschel and France's Renault all participated in the bidding, so there will be five E-50 prototypes), and it is not the same as the E-50 that has historically remained on the drawing board. Because what Hersman is asking for is not a small number of "black technology tanks" that can turn the unfavorable situation around, but the E-50 tank sea that can crush the Soviet Union!

The point is not how awesome the combat effectiveness of this tank is, but ...... Sea!

It's right to drown a heavy tank of the JS series with the E-50 sea.

Therefore, the current E-50-0 model is also a "shrinkage cargo", with a total combat weight of only 50 tons, and there is no legendary external disc screw suspension device, but adopts the torsion bar suspension system that has been used since the No. 3 tank, and at the same time abandons the overly complex and heavy staggered load wheels, and adopts the design of 6 pairs of load wheels - 6 pairs of load wheels can support more than 50 tons of weight, which is also because the German non-ferrous metal bottleneck has disappeared, and higher quality load wheels and suspension torsion bars can be produced.

The design of the transmission system and gearbox of the E-50-0 model is also a great improvement over the "Tiger", "Panther" and "Shrinking Tiger", from the front to the rear, which is similar to the design of Soviet tanks in this regard. However, the E-50 drivetrain and transmission are based on technological advancements that do not pose a difficult handling or compromise on reliability.

The E-50-0 is powered by a Maybach HL230P30 engine with only 720 hp (better than its historical counterpart), resulting in a maximum speed of 46 km/h.

The E-50-0 car, on the other hand, saves a lot of weight on the wheels and transmission layout, so it can achieve satisfactory protection with a combat weight of 50 tons. The armor of the upper and lower hulls of the front has reached an inclination of 120mm/30 degrees, which is equivalent to the vertical armor defense capability of 138mm, and is equivalent to a thickness of about 160-175mm if converted to homogeneous steel plates.

The E-50-0 had 125 mm thick turret armor, 150 mm gun shield, and 60 mm side and rear armor (the rear of the body side was the same as the rear of the turret side). For a combat weight of 50 tons, it is considered very strong.

In addition, the firepower of the E-50-0 is also expected, and it is equipped with an 8.8cm KwK43L/71 gun, which is powerful enough to destroy the frontal armor of any known tank!

And after joining the E-50 project in the UK (home), a new type of armor-piercing projectile under development was also taken out - a shell-out armor-piercing projectile! It is estimated that the armor-piercing efficiency of this armor-piercing projectile will be increased by more than 50% compared with the same caliber hard-core armor-piercing projectile.

If the E-50 tank can use 88mm caliber armor-piercing shells, then the theoretical armor-piercing ability will be able to sweep all possible American and Soviet tanks in World War II.

"Although the Army is more important than the Navy," Hirschman continued, continuing the armaments meeting, turning to the Navy after talking about the Army's key projects (not just the E-50), "but the Navy's existing shipbuilding program will continue, and it will expand on that basis!" ”

"Expand?" Commander-in-Chief of the French Navy, Jean. Admiral Sur understood German, and as soon as Hersmann had finished speaking, he asked, "Do we have so much fuel to expand the fleet?" ”

"Nope." Hersman replied, "It is impossible to expand the size of the fleet on the existing basis, but a system of reserve ships can be created." ”

"Reserves? Reserve some of the warships that have been built? ”

Hersman replied: "Yes, like the Army Reserve Tanks, the Air Force Reserve Aircraft." ”

In fact, the navy also has a "ship reserve", but it is generally not a reserve of new ships, but a reserve of old ships -- it is just reluctant to throw it away. Because the thinking of the navy is different from that of the army and the air force, they do not yet have the concept of fighting a war of attrition, and they do not have the idea of treating expensive ships as expendables at all.

However, Hersman and most of his staff members were from the army and air force, and their brains were different from those of the navy, so in the face of the shortage of oil and the sufficient production capacity of ships, some people soon put forward the concept of "reserve ships".

Before Olga returned to Petrograd, the "Reserve Ship Program" had been in place for a long time - a plan that was originally intended to suppress the United States in the Atlantic and could still be used.

And as part of the "reserve ship program", the German Naval Armaments Agency has also developed several dumpling ships that can be mass-produced.

Among them, the "Kesselring" class aircraft carriers, the "Munich" class air defense cruisers, the 1936 Type D destroyer and the Type 21 submarine are the most important.

At this time, two staff officers of the German Naval Armament Bureau sent the materials of the four types of dumpling ships (boats) prepared to the naval personnel of various countries present.

The design of these four "dumpling ships" has long been completed, and all of them have already begun to be produced in Germany.

"Why is this aircraft carrier so slow?"

"Light cruisers are also slow ......"

"And the destroyers, oh my God, this is probably the slowest destroyer I've ever been to."

"The Type 21 submarine is quite fast."

Originally, they thought that the fourth-class dumpling ship (boat) that the Germans had mysteriously held out should be some kind of advanced thing, but when they got the design data, they took a look at it...... Oh, and it's not a complete disappointment, at least the Type 21 submarine is a good, good thing!

However, the "Kesselring"-class aircraft carriers, the "Munich"-class air defense cruisers, and the 1936 D-type destroyers are all out-and-out backward products, and there is no black technology except for strong anti-aircraft firepower.

And the most unbelievable thing is that these three dumpling ships are actually outdated slow ships.

Among them, the "Kesselring" class light aircraft carrier, with a standard displacement of 15,000 tons, can accommodate 48 Fw-190T and Fokker Zero D...... This is still decent, but the maximum speed of this aircraft carrier is only 26 knots per hour, and the maximum power that the power system can output is only 66,000 horsepower.

The standard displacement of the "Munich" class air defense cruiser is only 6000 tons, and the anti-aircraft firepower is quite sufficient, with 12 128mm high-level dual-purpose guns (6 twins), 16 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns (8 twins), 16 20mm Erlikon anti-aircraft guns (single), and very advanced radar and fire control systems. There is no need to say about anti-aircraft fire, but the maximum speed is also 26 knots......

The 1936 Type D destroyer was also a monster with strong anti-aircraft firepower and slow speed, with 6 128mm high-level dual-purpose guns, 12 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns (6 twins), and 14 20mm Erlikon anti-aircraft guns. But a small boat with a standard displacement of 2,500 tons is actually only 26 knots slow...... Such a slow destroyer, let alone World War II, is rare even in World War I.

"Gentlemen," Hersman interrupted the conversation with a smile, and then crossed his fingers to talk about the advantages of a slow ship, "there are many advantages to slow sailing, such as saving money, time, and fuel, and it is also beneficial for the fleet to fight at sea for a long time. ”

Like automobiles and airplanes, the most expensive thing on a ship is the power system, for example, if the 66,000-horsepower boiler and engine of the "Kesselring" class are replaced by 130,000 or 140,000-horsepower equipment, the cost will be much more expensive.

And more horsepower also means longer to build, because the hull is easy to build, but the engine is harder to build. For the European Community, which has most of Europe's shipbuilding capacity, it is not difficult to build a large number of hulls of 15,000-ton, 6,000-, and 2,500-ton military ships, although not as fast as the United States, but not by much.

However, the manufacture of engines is not so fast, it is a delicate work, and if the output power of the ship is doubled, it means that the need for more engines is also doubled. In this way, the hull of the ship has to wait for the engine, which is very detrimental to the pursuit of shipbuilding speed.

And slower speeds also mean that it is easier to reach the optimal economic speed – that is, more fuel-efficient. In addition, the low power of the power system also means that it is smaller, so that there is more space to store fuel, food, fresh water and ammunition, the ship's sustained combat capability will be greatly increased, and the need for supply ships will be greatly reduced.

According to the requirements of the German Navy Command, the fleet consisting of aircraft carriers of the "Kesselring", anti-aircraft cruisers of the "Munich" class and destroyers of the 1936 D type could sustain 10,000 nautical miles at a speed of 18 knots and 16,000 nautical miles at a speed of 12 knots.

In other words, when fighting in the Atlantic, they do not need to carry supply ships at all, which can save a lot of shipbuilding costs and fuel consumption. (To be continued.) )