In an instant, it was 1942.

At the beginning of the new year, the Austro-Hungarian Emperor led a large group of senior admirals to Trieste to inspect the production of the most important shipbuilding base of the empire.

After the rapid development during the First World War and the decades after the war, Trieste has a total population of more than 3.5 million, which is larger than Vienna, and has become a mega modern port city on a par with London, Hamburg, Marseille and Genoa. Since then, even the most familiar people will find Trieste unfamiliar, and although the old town has remained the same, the high-rise buildings that stretch along the Bay of Trieste towards the Istrian peninsula are no longer recognizable from the green mountains and clear waters of the past.

Looking out of the driving window, Elijah Royal Estate extends several tens of meters to the waterfront, which has become a large seaside park. The red royal cliff villa on the top of the hill has been eclipsed by the wind and sun, and it already looks a little dilapidated. Since the death of Lady Golden twelve years ago, the Emperor has rarely come to live in this royal cliff villa, because the city has become increasingly noisy and has lost its former tranquility, and on the other hand, the Emperor is reluctant to arouse his sadness here.

Although it was at war, the whole empire did not feel much of the tension of the war, and the German cities in the north were occasionally visited by American and British bombers, but the whole of Austria-Hungary and Italy were outside the range of American and British attacks. Apart from some restrictions on supplies, Trieste as a whole still looks as bustling as it was before the war, and there are no lights at night.

The convoy drove along the coastal road into the office area of the Royal Naval Shipyard, and outside the shipyard office building, Dr. Pratt, who was in charge of naval shipbuilding, and a group of senior management of the shipyard were already waiting outside the building. Although the Royal Dockyard was only the second largest shipyard in the Empire. However, as the backbone shipyard of the Imperial Navy, the Royal Shipyard of Trieste is still in a priority position in the field of military ships.

Knowing that the purpose of the Emperor's visit was the Imperial Navy's latest shipbuilding program, Dr. Pratt invited the Emperor, Admiral Horty, and a group of Imperial Admirals to the shipyard's conference room after a brief welcoming ceremony.

"The future at sea lies in aircraft carriers!" This creed was widely accepted by the Austro-Hungarian navy's top brass before the war, and in several large-scale naval battles that followed. The aircraft carrier also really showed that it had an unrivaled advantage against the battleships.

Before the war, the Austro-Hungarian Navy began construction of six "Romanian-class" heavy aircraft carriers and six improved "Graf? In 1941, the construction of four more "Romanian-class" and six "Zeppelin-class" aircraft carriers began, and in 1942 the budget for the construction of six more heavy aircraft carriers and six medium aircraft carriers was prepared.

Now, at the beginning of the year, the Royal Shipyard was able to alarm the Emperor and so many high-ranking naval officials, and there was not much reason for him to make serious changes to the Navy's shipbuilding plans.

Generally speaking, the Navy pays more attention to the application and research and development of new technologies than the Army, but in times of war, due to the longer construction period of naval ships. Moreover, in order to meet the needs of large-scale mass construction, unless the navy determines that the performance of the ships is outdated and can no longer meet the needs of naval warfare in those years, it will not make serious changes to the design scheme of the ships.

But now, the "Romanian-class" aircraft carrier is still the best aircraft carrier in the world, and the "Zeppelin-class" aircraft carrier built in batches by Germany, Austria, China and Italy is also excellent in naval warfare.

But now, what is the reason why the emperor summoned the top of the navy to the Royal Shipyard at the beginning of the year?

"This is the supercarrier I mentioned!" As the group entered the conference room, Dr. Pratt pointed to a strangely shaped model of an aircraft carrier on the conference table. Tell everyone.

“…… The class is 316.8 meters long and 37.5 meters wide. With a draft of 11.5 meters, the flight deck has been added with a 12-degree beveled landing zone due to the latest results, with a maximum width of 76.8 meters and a standard displacement of 60,000 tons and a full load displacement of about 78,600 tons. The power plant consisted of 4 steam turbines and 12 boilers. The main engine is 4 reduction gear turbines, 4 shaft propulsion, with a total output of 210,000 horsepower and a speed of 32.5 knots. …… In addition to the flight deck, the take-off area on the flight deck is equipped with 2 steam catapults of the SK-2 type. Four lifts with a load capacity of 20 tons, three on the starboard side and one on the right side of the stern parking area. It can carry about 160 to 180 aircraft. 2 catapults and 4 lifts are guaranteed to catapult 4 aircraft per minute from the aircraft carrier, and of course catapults are only used when necessary! ”

Dr. Pratt proudly introduced his masterpiece, some of which were inspired by a conversation with the Emperor, and the latest beveled flight deck was the result of the Admiralty's tests on the aircraft carrier "South Tyrol", which showed that the beveled flight deck could greatly improve the take-off and landing efficiency of aircraft carriers and effectively reduce flight accidents when aircraft landed on aircraft carriers.

The latest aircraft carriers built in 1941 have begun to prepare to be equipped with this new type of flight deck, and the naval shipbuilding department is urgently revising the original design scheme, which will have some impact on the construction period of the new aircraft carrier, but will greatly improve the combat efficiency of the aircraft carrier in the future.

Although this aircraft carrier is said to be an improved version of the "Romanian class", it cannot be compared to the upgraded version of the "Romanian class", its fuel reserves are 70% more than the "Romanian class", the aviation gasoline storage is twice that of the Emperor class, and the endurance has reached an astonishing 15,500 nautical miles. On the other hand, this class of aircraft carriers even canceled the 8-seat twin 105 anti-aircraft guns that were standard on Imperial aircraft carriers, and only equipped with anti-aircraft guns on the trail.

"The available practical experience shows that an aircraft carrier can never become a separate combat ship, otherwise a light cruiser or even a large destroyer will be able to pose an adequate threat to it. Aircraft carriers must form an air fleet with them as the main force in combat, and other escort ships of the entire fleet will provide air defense protection for them, and they basically carry a large number of carrier-based aircraft, which can provide long-range defense for the entire fleet. Therefore, in comparison, large-caliber anti-aircraft artillery has become dispensable equipment, so that it can be equipped with more 40 mm, 25 mm and other small and medium-caliber anti-aircraft artillery, and can still provide more powerful air defense support. ”

Noticing Marshal Holty's frown as he looked at the heavy anti-aircraft weapons that were missing in the four corners of the model, Dr. Pratt quickly explained.

"Doctor, whether the large-caliber artillery equipped on aircraft carriers will be canceled must be based on the investigation report of the Naval Armament Department!" Marshal Holty said that in fact, the Navy's shipbuilding department has discovered this problem, and the large-caliber anti-aircraft artillery equipped on the aircraft carrier is almost just an ornament, and it has also squeezed the rich hangar space on the aircraft carrier, and the large-caliber anti-aircraft artillery on the aircraft carrier has been abolished in the future, and the well-informed Dr. Pratt must be taking advantage of this loophole.

"Well, this design is very good, and this is just a newly completed design, if the naval shipbuilding department has an opinion on this, you can propose modifications when the drawings are reviewed." The emperor relieved Dr. Pratt of the siege in a timely manner, and it can be seen that Helton Lee was very satisfied with the design of this aircraft carrier, which resembled the "Kitty Hawk class" of the United States in later generations.

"However, Your Majesty, the Imperial Navy's shipbuilding plan can no longer be changed, otherwise it will have a very adverse impact on the course of the war." Commander-in-Chief of the Navy Hans. Admiral Frankl said, standing aside.

"Slipway 3 at Islaia Shipyard and Royal Navy Shipyard has just been renovated and has not yet been built on new ships, and it is fully capable of starting construction of two such supercarriers at the same time. And without affecting the construction plan of the Navy's aircraft carriers, I think that the larger the newer aircraft carriers of the Imperial Navy, the better. Vice Admiral Wrangel, director of the Navy's shipbuilding bureau, explained, "This has already been coordinated with the shipyard. ”

"Well, I'm not against the plans for the construction of new ships, supercarriers are not only very important for the Navy, but will have a profound impact on the entire war situation, in short...... They need to be built faster, and I don't want them to be put into service until the end of the war. Marshal Horthy said.

This is a very important question, and how long this war will drag on is actually impossible for even Helton Lee to predict. (To be continued......)