At this moment, Captain Raeder was standing in front of the slipway, wearing a fancy suit, sunglasses, a sun hat and a mask, and his fully armed appearance made it impossible to see his true white face. The purpose of this was to keep it secret, and the German Navy sent a small captain to supervise the construction, also so as not to attract the attention of the outside world.

Secrecy was the first rule in the construction of the four warships, the slipways were tightly sealed on all sides, high steel walls were erected at all costs, and everything from the steel mill to the parts manufacturing plant to the shipyard was supervised by the Department of Naval Intelligence. The construction of four large warships requires many links, and there are too many places that can leak secrets, and once the secrets are leaked, it can only be claimed that China is building four battleships for its own navy, not for Germany.

Watching the battleships turn from steel plates to steel monsters, Raeder couldn't calm down every time he saw them, and would silently read the ship's performance data in his mind. Temporarily named the G-class battleships, they belong to the category of Gotogaku ships, and although they are slightly smaller than the Gotake-class super battleships, they are definitely ahead of the dreadnoughts of the British.

The G-class battleship has a standard displacement of 29,150 tons, a full load displacement of 33,020 tons, a length of 195 meters, a width of 27.6 meters, a draft of 9.2 meters, a main engine power of 75,000 horsepower, a speed of 25 knots, and a cruising capacity of 8,600 nautical miles / 12.5 knots. Eight twin fifteen-inch/42-caliber main guns, twelve six-inch secondary guns, and four 533-mm torpedo tubes. Shelter armor belt 152-330 mm amidships, stern 101-152 mm, upper main armor belt 152 mm, main deck armor 63-127 mm, frontal transverse armor 152 mm, longitudinal waterproof compartment partition 101-152 mm, turret armor 330 mm front, sides 279 mm, roof 114 mm. Command tower armor 279-76 mm.

It is conceivable that these four battleships, once in the North Sea, would lead the German Navy to completely tear apart the encirclement of the British, and at this stage there would not be a single battleship that would be their opponent. Since entering the era of the Wuyue ship, countries have been desperately building new battleships, and Germany and Britain are once again on the same starting line. The former Gotsugaku ships, which were huge in number of the British, became antiques in front of the Gotsugaku, as evidenced by the defeat of the expeditionary fleet.

Fortunately, when the Wuyue ships built on the German Navy have not yet been completed, the four Wuyue ships built by Huaguo are about to be launched. If they return home, the German Navy will surpass the British Navy for the first time in history, and it will be worth more than a year and a half of Raeder's time in China.

"It's still a month before they're in the water, so don't worry, Mr. Raeder, would you like to have a coffee in my office?" Captain Li Cha, the liaison officer of the Huaguo Naval Intelligence Department next to him, said.

"Oh. Thank you very much, please! "It took more than a year for Raeder to become fluent in Chinese, and most of the credit went to the Chinese partner.

In the cool room, a cup of coffee calmed Raeder's mood: "I can't help but admire your country, which can not only produce such a miraculous appliance as air conditioning, but also complete the construction of four battleships in a year and a half. Both the German nation and the Chinese nation are the smartest nations in the world! ”

"It's over, air conditioning is still too expensive, and I heard that the production cost is very high. The shipyard had a lot of money, and it was not bad for money to buy a batch. The average person still can't afford this kind of electrical appliance. Moreover, most of the country's resources are now used for the development and construction of the north, the Philippines and other places, and not much is allocated to the luxury of air conditioning, which has led to an increase in costs. ”

"Captain Richard told me that it was okay to do this? Not afraid of divulging secrets? "The sense of secrecy has been deeply rooted in Raeder's bone marrow, so after hearing Richard's words, he sensitively thought about leaking.

"Newspapers and broadcasts are public, and there is no need to keep them secret. Besides, how can this kind of development and construction at the national strategic level be covered up, those who are interested only need to explore it slightly. We know that at present, China's focus is on economic construction, and the relative resources invested in the military field will be reduced. Richard had an indifferent expression.

"I'm afraid that the British spies will notice the difference between the production and consumption of steel in China, and thus discover the construction of these four battleships."

"The agents of the Bureau of Investigation will teach them a lesson, not to mention that. I heard that you will be transferred back to China the day after tomorrow? Don't wait until the day the battleship is launched before leaving? ”

Raeder shook his head helplessly and said with a wry smile: "I didn't expect to transfer me back at this time." Maybe when the construction supervision work is completed, there will be higher-level people to take over the rest! ”

Two days later, Captain Raeder did take the cruise ship back home, but what made him feel better was that he was on the first "President" of the presidential cruise ship, the latest luxury cruise ship ordered by the Huaguo Ocean Shipping Company.

"From a backward and closed country to the world's largest cruise ship, it only took seven years for China, when can Germany's own shipbuilding industry reach this level!" Raeder sighed and boarded the cruise ship with tourists going to the Americas and Europe, and the Huangpu Wharf in Shanghai was crowded with people seeing off the cruise ship.

He is one of the few passengers who go to Europe, and most of the people on this president are businessmen, migrant workers, etc., who go to the United States, and the close economic and trade exchanges between China and the United States have created an increase in the volume of transportation between the two sides, but there are few exchanges with Europe because of tensions. The three president-class cruise ships ordered by the ocean shipping company will all be used for the American route and the Philippine route, but the construction of these three cruise ships has caused strong dissatisfaction with the Navy, who believes that in the current situation of resource constraints, the three super cruise ships will thin the resources of the Navy, and the current route does not need such a huge and luxurious cruise ship. Ocean shipping companies compromised with the Navy, so there would be only one presidential cruise line.

The world's largest title is well deserved, and the appearance of this President has caused a worldwide shock, just like a super battleship. The British shouted that the world's largest cruise ship should be built by the British, and that the launch in China was another challenge to Britain's maritime supremacy. The naval battle was lost, and now the focus of the competition between the two sides has shifted to the civilian sector, and whoever can build a larger cruise ship will be able to gain more prestige.

With a total length of 269 meters, a width of 28 meters, a standard displacement of 46,328 tons, a waterline-to-deck height of 18.3 meters, a power of 59,000 horsepower, a speed of 24 knots per hour, and a capacity of 3,600 passengers and crew, the power plant includes two reciprocating four-cylinder three-expansion steam engines and a low-pressure steam turbine driving three propellers.

Vice Admiral Tirpitz and Vice Admiral Moltke Jr., who came on a German cruise ship, waited helplessly outside the port, waiting for the beautiful President to leave the port before entering the port.

In the sky, seven F01 fighter modified performance aircraft flew over the President, and seven ribbons flew in the wind behind the fuselage, while a large amount of colored paper was sprinkled, echoing the tens of thousands of balloons released from the port.

"It's just a cruise ship, the Chinese don't need to be so ostentatious!" Moltke made no secret of his envy and jealousy.

Tirpitz's expression was different from Moltke's frivolity, and his face was serious, and he thought more from it: "It's not surprising that Hua Guo has proven its strength by defeating the expeditionary fleet, and they have the confidence and ability to show their strength. And this is still the world's largest cruise ship, which shows that they are fully capable of building more super battleships. ”

"Germany will one day reach this height, and I believe that this day will not be far away, and when the four battleships return home, we will have the strength to challenge the British!"

Tirpitz could only regret Moltke's ignorance, how could this lieutenant general understand the helplessness of the Navy? After entering the era of Wuyue ships, the British arrogantly clamored that Germany would build one Wuyue ship, and Britain would build two, and China would build one Wuyue ship, and Britain would build three. Even China and Germany together were not rivals in the British shipbuilding industry, and the previous naval battles of China only relied on the advantage of giving priority to the construction of Wuyue ships, and faced the British fleet of former dreadnoughts to achieve victory. Once the British built a large number of Wuyue ships, Hua and Germany were by no means his opponents.

"Vice Admiral Moltke Jr., do not forget why we are here, not only to receive four battleships, but more importantly to solve the problem of insufficient resources in Germany."

Since the signing of the Sino-German Secret Treaty, Germany has been ecstatic to receive a large number of technical data, combat vehicles and airplanes from China, but after research, it is found that it takes not only a lot of time but also a lot of resources to transform these technologies into industrial production. Battleships, chariots, and airplanes needed more steel, and power those weapons needed a lot of oil, which Germany lacked. Steel is a little better, Germany is second only to the United States in steel production, but oil, rubber, etc. need to be completely imported, and once the war starts, Germany will collapse because of the lack of those resources.

As soon as he said this, Moltke reacted immediately, and then became very helpless, before he still scoffed at tanks and other armored forces, but the Chinese Army proved the strength of armored forces with actual combat, and the cavalry in the German Army seemed to have lost its role overnight. Most of Moltke Jr. and other army generals became staunch tank factions, but these steel monsters were monsters that devoured resources, and with Germany's small territory, it was really impossible to afford. (To be continued.) )