In September 1939, in the misty drizzle of the Mediterranean summer and autumn season, nearly 4,000 naval officers and sailors lined up on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier "Macedonia" docked at the outfitting dock of the Royal Shipyard in Trieste.

Emperor Friedrich, dressed in military uniform, was in high spirits with Field Marshal Horthy and Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, Hans. Admiral Frankl inspected the officers and men serving on the aircraft carrier and gave a brief speech to the entire ship.

“…… We don't want to see war, but we are not afraid of it. The British, the French have been trying to dominate Europe and re-enslave the peoples of Europe, and the Russians have even more ambitions than they were in the Tsarist period. They have been trying to incite the narrow national sentiments within the empire, intending to dismember the empire into weak states that are at their mercy. Under the banner of the Empire, the rights and interests of the peoples of South-Eastern Europe, including the Balkans, were protected, and our merchants roamed the world freely, and no one dared to oppress and rob their property. It is because behind them there is a powerful empire that is the duty of the imperial army to guarantee the life, property, and freedom of every one of our citizens throughout the world. In 1928, the Empire surpassed the British Empire to become the third largest industrial power in the world, and seeing the strength of the Empire, the British and French were filled with envy and resentment in their hearts. Instead of looking for reasons for their own development, they blamed their decline on the rise of the Second German Reich and Austria-Hungary, which was the main reason why they were so eager to provoke and participate in this global war. They are trying to dismember and weaken us through war, so that our mighty empire and people can be relegated to a small divided nation that they support and enslave.

To this, our answer is: no, never! This time they completely miscalculated, and this time we are going to defeat them again. Just like the last world war. But we will never tolerate their ambitions again, so that they will forever stop their attempts to enslave Europe!

……

May our brave soldiers, under the guidance of the Imperial Banner, forge ahead on the battlefield in the future, and defeat and destroy any enemy who dares to oppose us! Achieve one great victory after another! ”

The emperor's speech simply repeated the war propaganda of the imperial propaganda department. The Empire's propaganda for the war deliberately exaggerated the ambitions of Britain, France, Russia and other attempts to dismember and weaken Austria-Hungary in order to provoke hatred among the people at home against Britain, France and Soviet Russia.

Standing on the deck of the "Macedonian" aircraft carrier, this huge ship with a standard displacement of 43,200 tons looked as if it was standing on the roof of a huge seven-story flat-roofed building, and indeed did not have the shocking feeling brought by the large-caliber naval guns on a battleship, but Lechelton and the senior generals of the Austro-Hungarian Navy knew it. This large aircraft carrier, which is not impressive, is enough to bully and crush a powerful fleet of two or three battleships at will.

After a long construction process of three years, the four "Romanian" class aircraft carriers began to enter service one after another, and the "deception tactics" played by the Austro-Hungarian Navy in 1935 still had a certain effect, and all countries were involved in the battle ship construction race during this period, and there was no extra money to invest in the construction of aircraft carriers. During this period, the British only started to build one aircraft carrier, and the Americans only built two light aircraft carriers with a displacement of about 10,000 tons, and the Japanese Navy simply did not have the strength to build new aircraft carriers. Although they also have the most 8 aircraft carriers in the world.

The ships of the Romanian class have a displacement of about 43,000 tons and a length of 273 meters. The width is 33.6 meters, the flight deck is 296 meters long, the width is 38 meters, and the maximum draft is 11.6 meters. The power system consists of 12 high-pressure steam boilers for the Navy and four steam turbines with a total power of 200,000 horsepower. It has a design speed of 32 knots, a range of 11,200 nautical miles, and four diesel engines as auxiliary power generation.

The Romanian-class ships have a closed bow extended flight deck, a double-deck hangar, and the number of standard carrier-based aircraft has reached 126. The crew is 3,896 people. Anti-aircraft fire consisted of 12 single-barreled 127-mm anti-aircraft guns, 28 quadruple Israya 40-mm anti-aircraft guns, and a number of twin 25-mm anti-aircraft guns and 12.7-mm anti-aircraft machine guns.

Such a heavy aircraft carrier cost up to 120 million kroner, but compared to the "combined forces" class battleship, which cost up to 210 million kroner, the aircraft carrier is undoubtedly much better than the battleship.

After a brief induction ceremony, the Emperor attended a small banquet at the Admiralty, where he exchanged views with his trusted senior admirals on the main naval strategies of the future empire over the fine red wine from Dalmatia.

"Our current campaign objectives are threefold: first, to stop the invasion of Soviet and Russian troops on land, and to maintain the situation in the Don republics and the Caucasus Federation. Secondly, in the Far East, the Chinese army is currently encountering unprecedented difficulties due to the cutting off of our material support routes, but with China's current industrial capacity, which is sufficient to compete with the Japanese on land, our goal now is to open up as many links as possible with the Far East. Third, the main objective of the Navy's first step is to gain control of the Indian Ocean, and we will gradually erode the rights and interests of the British in the world's oceans, both inside and out. The first objective of the campaign was to first open up the maritime link between the Mediterranean and East Africa, and then to cut off the sea lanes between the British and India. ”

"In fact, the British have lost absolute control of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, their naval strength has gradually shrunk, and it is not very difficult for us to seize control of the Indian Ocean. The main problem lies in the Pacific region, where the strength of the Japanese Navy is not weaker than ours. In fact, the Austro-Hungarian Navy does look down on the declining Royal Navy now, Horthy said.

"Don't forget the United States behind the British and the Japanese, Japan's limited industrial capacity cannot withstand the long-term attrition of the war, and I dare to conclude that in the next few years, the Japanese navy will actually not be able to build some new warships, and when the warships they now have are exhausted, their war will be over." "When we enter the Pacific, there is a high probability that we will have a direct conflict with the United States. The German navy had the upper hand over the British, and I think we should be able to force the British to surrender within two years, so that the war would be much easier. ”

"The main focus of the German Navy at the moment is on the blockade of Russia in the Baltic Sea, and at the moment there is no clear operational plan in the North Atlantic. They were planning a decisive battle at sea with the British. ”

"They had thought too well, but the British should not be doing their best now except for the attack on their homeland, and the decisive battle at sea envisaged by the Germans would probably fail. Fortunately, we will not worry about the supply of supplies because of the current naval blockade for the time being. Lechelton raised his glass, "I believe that one day our merchant ships will sail unhindered on the oceans of the entire world, toasting to the victory of the navy!" ”

"Cheers!"

……

In this regard, the generals of the Imperial Navy appeared to be full of confidence. (To be continued......)