The blue sky is clear, the white clouds are flying, and the blue sea surface is sparkling, flowing out of clear and translucent colorful arc light. In Wilhelmshaven, the German Imperial naval base, a steel giant ship like a floating island in the sea is quietly moored in its berth; The jet-black cannon slanted into the sky, reflecting a dazzling light in the sunlight.

On top of a tower with a great vantage point, Tirpitz, Secretary of State for the Navy, was looking excitedly at the behemoth ship in front of him, and his face, which had been slightly aged by the passage of time, had already smiled like a blooming daisy. Tirpitz saw Tirpitz as a sight to behold: a majestic bridge, a towering chimney, and a jungle-dense jungle of heavy cannons on the majestic hull, like spears and halberds. As the largest and most complex war machine ever built by mankind, this beautiful gesture of perfectly integrating war violence and artistic aesthetics makes everyone who appreciates its style can't help but be enthusiastic and excited!

"After three years and two months of construction, the battleship Deutschland finally showed her true colors. Although she was quietly launched in the cold winter fog at the beginning of last year, and there was no exception to hold a completion ceremony for her a few days ago, this did not prevent her from reaching the pinnacle of the world's ships with her unparalleled combat effectiveness. ”

The familiar voice sounded in his ears, and there was a trace of magnetic Xuan in Yu Qingyue. Tirpitz turned his head, and saw the tall young man also looking down at the huge gray ship below him with a smile on his face; The bright morning light shone on the side of his face, and the light flowed, making his entire face look like a jade carving. Shine brightly. The corners of Qingying's mouth were hooked. In a calm tone, he said leisurely: "Even the Intrepid that the British have hyped up to the whole world. The vast majority of its real performance is far from being comparable to the warship we built. ”

Seeing the confident appearance of the person in front of him, Tirpitz was slightly puzzled in his heart, and couldn't help but speak: "Your Highness, why is this?" Although the British Dreadnought could only use 8 main guns on the same side, less than our 10, their main guns were one size larger than ours; And in the field of naval guns, the caliber increases by 1 inch. All of them mean that the power will be increased by leaps and bounds! Otherwise, the Empire would not have been forced to condescend in pursuit of superior 305 mm naval guns, and sent technicians to join the development of artillery led by the Austro-Hungarian Skoda Military Industry. Considering the pros and cons of speed and protection, I think our ship is on the same level as the British Dreadnought. ”

Qingying smiled and shook her head, "General, we can't be fooled by that old guy Fisher's high-profile shouting. Although from the dreadnought, the British have also understood the core essence of the efficient use of tonnage of the battleship, but once refined to the specific performance, the British still built a useless barbarian due to the inherent limitations of the design concept and the technical disadvantages of the subsystem. Qingying sorted out her thoughts. He then explained his knowledge to Tirpitz in detail.

"True, in order to guarantee the accuracy of dispersion and the life of the barrel. The muzzle velocity of the final production 283 mm L47 gun was reduced from 880 m/s to 840 m/s; But even so, the 332kg new armor-piercing projectile equipped with a soft-headed quilt cap easily penetrated the 250 mm of Krupp's secondary hardened armor at a distance of 10,000 yards at the test site. When the hard cap armor-piercing projectile in the laboratory is successfully developed, its armor-piercing ability will be greatly improved. High-speed and heavy-shell small-caliber guns with the advantage of artillery shells will gain armor-piercing capabilities that are not inferior to ordinary guns of larger calibers; In this regard, the armor-piercing comparison of the 210 mm and 240 mm guns developed by the Reich in the last century is the best answer. Therefore, I have great confidence that the 283-mm guns of the German class have a better penetration depth than the British 305-mm heavy guns. Qingying said without the slightest hesitation. Historically, the German Navy relied on the advantage of hard shells to make Nassau's main guns penetrate more than the original British dreadnought 305; And this time, the power of the main guns of the German class has reached the level of the historical Moltke, and there is no reason not to form an advantage over the British artillery!

Tirpitz glanced at Qingying with some suspicion, the performance of the British 305-mm naval gun is not known to the world, where does this young man's strong confidence in his own gun, which is even smaller than one caliber, come from? However, out of inexplicable trust in the young man's always accurate intuition, Tirpitz reluctantly accepted Qingying's view. If you deduce it according to common sense, the kinetic energy of the British 305 mm L45 naval gun will be 15%-20% higher than that of the German naval gun. Even if the artillery skills of both sides are the same, the advantage that Britain can take advantage of in the case of 8 to 10 is very limited, not to mention the advantage of the German 283 mm naval gun in terms of rate of fire? At the current engagement distance of 6 to 7 kilometers, the rate of fire is also an extremely important factor!

"In terms of protection, the Deutsche class has formed a comprehensive crush on the Dreadnought. The 280 mm thick main armor belt is 5.2 meters high, stretching from the freeboard of the main body of the battleship to 1.6 meters underwater, and covering 65% of the length of the entire waterline, which is a comprehensive heavy armor defense that no capital ship in the same period can do! In order to prevent the penetration of the core compartment by shrapnel of the battleship's artillery shells that could be penetrated by the possible penetration of the main armor, the thickness of the ship's main horizontal armor was increased to 70 mm, and the thickness of the entire horizontal armor exceeded 90 mm; This, combined with a 50-mm dome with coal bunkers as a buffer, constituted absolute protection against enemy shells in an engagement. In addition, the 300 mm thick front of the main turret, the conning tower, and the 280 mm thick main gun mount are also immune to the penetration of most shells. In terms of underwater defense, it has a subdivided watertight cabin and a highly elastic homogeneous steel with a depth of 4.5 meters and a thickness of 40 mm; This armor absorbs the impact of a torpedo explosion and minimizes damage to warships. Qingying said unhurriedly. In fact, the reason why Qing Ying did not make changes to the defense system of German warships during World War I was largely due to the British scum shells. The inferior shells of the British, which were either deep and low-worn, or exploded at the slightest touch, did not need to be tilted inwardly or stripped of the hat gods; Conventional vertical armor also increases the probability of shell resistance compared to inverted armor by increasing the contact area of the shell.

Tirpitz nodded, expressing absolute agreement with Qingying's words. The high freeboard design adopted by Britain in pursuit of excellent global seafaring capabilities, the more demanding heavy guns on board, and the large water-tube boilers with high weight and low efficiency all greatly squeezed the displacement of the battleships, and this became the fundamental reason why the defensive area and armor thickness of the British battleships were greatly separated by the German ships.

"The only thing that this battleship is inferior to the Dreadnought of the three elements is its speed. The measured power of 23,400 hp can only guarantee a stable speed of 20.3 knots, which is about 15% short of 21 knots. At that time, it was thought that this was already extremely fast, and it could be called the first in the world on a par with Italy's Margaret; However, the appearance of the dreadnought made its proud speed instantly unworthy, and it could only meet the minimum requirements. In addition, the violent vibration brought by the three reciprocating steam engines at high speed will also greatly affect the shooting hit of the gun at this time, and the fuel consumption at high speed will also increase suddenly. Tirpitz pursed his lips with a little regret, but his words contained more joy and happiness. Although the reciprocating steam engine is slightly inferior to the steam turbine at high speeds, it has a great efficiency advantage at low speeds. In addition, in the decisive battle of the fleet, in order to ensure accuracy, the speed of both sides will not run fast, so the battleships equipped with reciprocating machines can also go to the front line without pressure. Compared with the large number of "former dreadnoughts" that the United States, France, Russia, Italy, and the great powers, including the British themselves, declared obsolete on the slipway, Germany, which began to build such cutting-edge battleships equipped with all-heavy guns and with a speed of more than 20 knots since 1903, was obviously extremely lucky!

"A huge tonnage with a standard displacement of 16,750 tons and a full load displacement of 18,800 tons, a majestic hull with a total length of 146 meters, a width of 25 meters, and a depth of 12 meters; The terrifying firepower of 5 twin 283 mm L47 main guns and 10 single 150 mm L45 secondary guns split the mountains and ground, covering a large area of 280 mm armor on the freeboard part of the entire main body, which was as solid as a mountain; Add to that a blistering speed of nearly 20.5 knots, and it's a gorgeous work of art that will be mesmerizing! Qingying's eyes looked at the main battleship in front of him with a little fiery, and said hesitantly: "Its completion means that our German Navy has officially entered the world's first-class from Taoguang Yanghui; And the Russians, the French, and the self-proclaimed gentleman old robber across the Channel, will also face up to and listen to our demands out of fear of this big gun in the hands of the Empire! Tirpitz smiled and nodded.

The sun is warm and the sea breeze is light. On the mast of the battleship, which was nearly 40 meters above sea level, a black vulture cross battle flag fluttered in the wind, hunting and flying under the rising sun in the east. Seeing this scene, Qingying smiled at the corner of her mouth and grasped it on her right; Now he finally has the core power to change the national power of the German Empire! (To be continued......)