Lee Hayden had a heated quarrel with the German Admiral Tirpitz.

As the largest shipyard in the Second German Reich, the North Sea Shipyard has received orders for the construction of only a few destroyers from the German Navy since its start in 18.98. In the eyes of the conservative Tirpitz, all of Helton's designs were too radical, employing many new technologies that he considered immature.

Although the Deutsche Sovereign, built by the North Sea Shipyard for the German Mail Line, won the Blue Ribbon Award in 1903, it still did not dispel the doubts of the German Admiral and Commander-in-Chief.

In 1904, in view of the successful construction of the "York" armored cruiser, the German Navy immediately decided to build two improved "Lune" class armored cruisers with enhanced firepower. In May 1904, the German Admiralty issued design specifications to the shipyards, stipulating that the new armored cruiser should have a displacement of 12,000 tons and be equipped with eight 210-mm guns.

The Beihai Shipyard completed the tender design of the new ship in September, basically applying the design scheme of the "Emperor" class armored ships already built by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but in order to improve seaworthiness and wave resistance, the shape scheme of the high freeboard and long bow was adopted. However, the German-style reinforced armor design allowed it to have a displacement of 13,700 tons, but the four 240 mm twin main turrets arranged along the central axis made its firepower far beyond the design standard.

When the proposal was submitted to the German Admiralty, it immediately caused great controversy.

Vice Admiral Dietrich, head of the ship's design department, strongly advocated the North Sea shipyard design, while the conservative Admiral Tirpitz opposed the less secure construction option.

Tirpitz was appointed Minister of the Navy by Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1897, and by 1903 the German Navy had 19 battleships, 8 armoured ships and more than 20 cruisers, surpassing France as the world's largest maritime power after Britain.

However, since the beginning of the 20th century, the progress of industrial technology has brought about more and more innovations and changes, which have had a profound impact on the strategic and tactical thinking of the navy. And as the supreme leader of the German Navy, Tirpitz has always been troubled by this.

Tirpitz has always advocated a cautious and conservative approach to the application of new naval technologies. Therefore, compared with other German industrial technologies, the German Navy has indeed made little contribution to the technological progress of the entire world's navies, and has always followed the British in keeping with the trend.

His plan to build a ship was rejected, and Lehi suddenly found his eldest brother, Kaiser Wilhelm II, in a rage.

He was annoyed that his idea of strengthening the German fleet had been thwarted by the conservative old fellow.

Although Wilhelm II was a half-naval enthusiast and not a stubborn and conservative man, he had a keen instinct when it came to the concept of warship design, probably because this naval enthusiast often flipped through publications such as the Ship Almanac and the Naval Lookout.

LeHayden described to him a very beautiful prospect: in front of a super armored cruiser with a displacement of nearly 14,000 tons, equipped with eight 240-mm guns, and a speed of 25 knots, nearly 30 armored cruisers built by the British Empire before were all rubbish, and they fell into the embarrassing situation of not being able to fight and run.

What kind of expression the British would have at that time, Lee Hayden was looking forward to it, and William wanted to see it.

Although he did not want to fight with the British, it did not mean that he did not want to see the British suffocated, on the contrary, he was willing to do anything that could disgust the British.

Provided, of course, that the British battlecruisers had not yet been built.

"You see, its armor is good enough to withstand the attack of the armored cruiser's 203 mm main gun, but its main gun is much stronger than that of the armored cruiser, and the weight of the armor saved is used to increase the power, which makes it have a velocity that exceeds that of all current armored cruisers. Think about it, if such two excellent cruisers gallop on the vast ocean, what else can be its opponent. With the battleship moving at a speed of less than 20 knots, even its shadow could not be seen. ”

"Haydn, I think you're targeting the British?"

"Oh, I don't deny that, we naturally aim to build the navy with the strongest country, don't we? Only in this way can we become stronger. ”

"Well, I'll do my best to convince General Tirpitz, though, it's tough." Wilhelm II frowned, Tirpitz was stubborn, and if he didn't get it right, he would pick on it, which was not what he wanted to see.

Lechelton was allowed to participate in discussions on the design of the new ship at the German Admiralty in the capacity of Honorary Field Marshal of the German Navy, which was nothing, and Wilhelm II was currently also the honorary commander-in-chief of the Royal Navy of the British Empire.

"First of all, I doubt the stability of the operation of steam turbines, this kind of thing has never been installed on large warships, and who knows what will happen. The Imperial Navy would never allow precious funds to be spent on the construction of useless test ships. "Tirpitz was the first to attack when he came up.

"Don't worry about that, we have almost a decade of experience in the manufacture of steam turbines, and we have successfully proven it on various ships. As for large ships, the "German Sovereign" has a displacement of 33,000 tons, and it successfully won the "Blue Ribbon Award" for Germany, I don't know if it is considered a large ship. To date, we have successfully installed steam turbines on four large mail vessels and have proven to be even more reliable than reciprocating steam engines. Oh, and its economic performance really needs to be improved. "I don't agree with the point that you will never allow precious funds to be used to build some test ships, technological progress is always achieved through constant testing and failure, and if we choose to avoid it because of the risks of new technologies, how can we make naval technological progress?" Except, of course, if they are not willing to follow behind others. I think a navy that can't even bear the risk of testing actually doesn't even have the need to build, and the warship may sink when it goes to sea, so we will keep it in the harbor? ”

Lechelton spoke harshly, and he wanted to force the old fellow, who had already hindered the development of German naval technology, to resign.

Seeing Tirpitz's old face flushed, Wilhelm II hurriedly came out to play a round, "Okay, there is no need to argue about this issue, the use of steam turbines is a plan I have made before." Now let's talk about the power system, is it an oil-fired boiler or a coal-fired boiler? ”

At this point, Heldon advocated the use of heavy oil boilers, while Tirpitz advocated the use of coal-fired boilers.

Heldon's idea was that oil-fired boilers were lightweight and heated up quickly, allowing them to achieve better acceleration and speed, while Tirpitz believed that Germany had no oil and that if the oil supply was cut off in wartime, the German navy would face a lot of difficulties.

"Isn't the use of low-temperature dry distillation technology the solution to the fuel problem?"

"The problem is that it's not economical." Tirpitz said the German navy needs to invest in two artificial oil plants, but usually leaves them idle or has been subsidizing their costs.

Neither of them could convince anyone, so they finally adopted a compromise plan, using kerosene mixed boilers, 6 of the 18 boilers using oil and 12 using coal.

Finally, there is the problem of armor, which Tirpitz believes is too thin, and the problem is that increasing armor will inevitably increase displacement, which in turn will drag down the speed. It seems to have fallen into a paradox.

"An appropriate increase in armor and displacement is acceptable, and the problem of speed caused by an increase in displacement can be solved by adding boilers locally." Vice Admiral Herlingen, the head of the German shipbuilding department and the chief designer of the naval vessels, proposed a plan to increase the hull.

This means that all the design has to be redone.

But the German emperor liked it, and anything as big as a qiē would suit his taste.

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