"According to the message from the German ambassador in Moscow, the Bolsheviks have prepared foreign exchange worth 50 million marks and various in-kind goods for the purchase of equipment from us and the redemption of prisoners of war. Within the next month, they will also guarantee to buy other items from us with the same funds. In the Charlottenburg Palace, Qingying said to the emperor sitting behind his desk with a smile, "Now I finally understand the feelings of those Americans." It is true that the benefits brought by this kind of war wealth are incomparable to any kind of normal business. ”

Listening to the other party's words, William's face did not show much joy. Although the arms sold by Germany to the Russian separatist forces were now two to three times the market price, and the "ransom fee" collected for the repatriation of prisoners of war was so expensive that it could be used to train a good pilot, in his mind, this was all turning the war reparations that should have been paid to Germany for free into a normal transaction. For the current chaotic situation in Russia, William is not at all as happy and happy as Qingying, who has the thinking of later generations; Now the only thing that made him feel that he could recover the loss of the reparations at a certain level was the gold in Kolchak's hand.

As if to see what William was thinking, Qingying immediately spoke: "Our convoy has sailed into the Indian Ocean and is now sailing towards Singapore, and it is expected that within a month, they will arrive at the port of Vladivostok in the Far East. Guarded by two light cruisers, the 50,000 Russian prisoners of war on board the troop carriers were unusually obedient and did not make any death-seeking rebellion. However, our two light cruisers, which were on escort duty, were not adapted to this kind of ocean travel, and they not only had to be refueled at sea frequently. Among them, the main gun of the bow of the Magdeburg was damaged in a storm. At the beginning of the design. These cruisers were all more endowed with the ability to fight in the North Sea. And not much attention is paid to its seaworthiness. ”

William's brow furrowed slightly, and the details of this ocean-going fleet came to his mind.

Three weeks ago, Kolchak, who had seized Siberia, had reached a huge arms purchase order with Germany: 250,000 rifles and 600 artillery pieces, including 250,000 rifles and 600 artillery, would be bought by the former, along with 50,000 captured Russian soldiers. At Kolchak's markup, these prisoners of war were all Russian prisoners captured by Germany in the Battle of Tannenberg. As the first troops to attack Germany in St. Petersburg in fulfillment of the Franco-Russian Entente, they were undoubtedly the absolute elite of the entire Russian army; It was only due to poor logistics that they were forced to march and fight bloodily for more than three days without any military rations, which led to the humiliating defeat they suffered in East Prussia a year earlier.

Because the amount of this batch of arms is very large. Coupled with the fact that there were more than enough fighting forces from the former enemy countries to form a military capital, Germany had to send escort ships for this fleet. With the decommissioning and dismantling of the old overseas cruisers in accordance with the Washington Treaty, the German Navy can only use light cruisers in the High Seas Fleet to undertake this mission -- after all, Germany's black-hearted arms sales are unacceptable, and the use of high-profile capital ships to escort ships is undoubtedly to draw hatred for itself around the world; Moreover, the use of capital ships to escort merchant ships in peacetime is undoubtedly suspected of overkill. In view of this, Germany finally sent its own active light cruisers.

However, these warships, which were not originally designed for ocean voyages, suddenly appeared in the face of the natural fury of the sea. Although the German cruiser with a low center of gravity would not have the tragedy of capsizing and sinking in a typhoon like the Fourth Fleet incident, it was inevitable that the deck would be soaked in sea water for a long time; As long as the wind and waves were a little stronger, the foredeck of the German cruiser was like Zeguo. And it is not difficult to understand that its single-armor plate guns, which are deployed in the open air, were damaged by the waves. You know, even the historical German battleship Bismarck. There is also a tragic black history of the No. A main turret rangefinder being damaged by the waves and finally having to be dismantled!

At present, there are a total of 20 light cruisers of 5 classes in the German Navy, and they are all designed to compete with British ships of the same type without exception; These ships are good at detecting dogfights, but ocean cruising is not their forte. Now Qingying admires the commander of the Russian Second Pacific Fleet, Rozhdestvensky, who was able to sail more than 30,000 kilometers to the Tsushima Strait with a Baltic warship, which in itself is a great achievement in navigation!

"Germany must build a cruiser fleet capable of cruising the world. For political reasons, capital ships, which are symbols of national strength, cannot be moved too often, and in many cases, the empire needs to use cruisers to demonstrate its power overseas. Now that we have colonies all over the world, we need an ocean-going fleet that is compatible with our identity to protect our own interests; Otherwise, Germany's maritime influence would be limited to the North Sea and the North Atlantic, and the large number of colonies to the south and east would not be able to take care of it. William looked at the young man in front of him, and suddenly his eyes flashed and said, "Ettel, isn't it you who presided over the design of the new cruiser?" Now you should have a preliminary planning plan, right? ”

Qingying nodded: "The just-concluded Washington Navy negotiations stipulate the maximum displacement and main gun caliber that a cruiser can have, and the Admiralty unanimously decided to use this upper limit as a performance indicator for the new cruiser. However, it will take some time for us to prioritize the development and design of some subsystems. ”

"Based on the designer's long-term theoretical research and the experience accumulated after repeated model tests in the pool, we found that the square stern can greatly reduce the sailing resistance of the battleship at high speeds of more than 28 knots. However, when it is below 18 knots, the navigation resistance of a ship using this stern will be significantly higher than that of a conventional stern, which will undoubtedly increase the fuel consumption of the warship in the cruising state. And for any warship, low-speed cruising occupies the vast majority of its service life! In order to solve the problem of increased drag of the square stern at low cruising speed, we are trying to add a stern plate to the stern to change the original mechanical flow field in this area. However, the size and location of this tail plate will take a considerable amount of time to determine. After all, the field is so difficult and complex that it would take at least months for designers and modelmakers to work non-stop. Facing William's puzzled gaze, Qingying immediately explained.

In addition, the bulbous bow, which has roughly the same role as the tail plate, is also a key issue in the current research of the design bureau. It can significantly improve the flow field at the front of the warship when sailing, and can play a significant role in reducing drag at both low and high speeds: from a certain distance, a battleship with a bulbous bow is equivalent to increasing the length of the waterline out of thin air, and this cost-effective design is well worth exploring. If we can fully grasp the essence of these two subsystems, then future high-speed ships are expected to achieve a leap breakthrough of 2 knots of speed on flat ground; For a high-speed battleship that costs a lot of money every 1 section, the significance will undoubtedly be revolutionary! Qingying said with some excitement. In fact, these two innovations were also a generous gift to German designers based on the results of later research. Relying on his achievements in fluid science, Qingying will soon show what it means to be openly open in the design of the new ship.

"In addition to the improvement of subsystems in fluid science, the military industry also needed time to develop a new quadruple turret. Although we had previously obtained the actual objects and drawings of the quadruple turrets that the French unfinished battleships planned to equip themselves, this turret was realized with the help of the saddle of two and two of the guns; This meant that two guns on the same side could only pitch at the same time, which affected the combat effectiveness of the battleship on a certain range. Now we need to split the layout of this saddle so that all guns can pitch independently; It will take quite some time to achieve this goal, and even the construction period of the warships themselves is still insufficient. As a result, the deadline for the final design of the new cruiser was significantly delayed. Qingying finally concluded.

Seeing that there were still so many difficulties in the design of the new cruiser, William couldn't help but feel a little anxious; Although the German navy has now acquired its rightful place in the battle of Guò, the influence of the Black Vulture Flag will remain limited to a corner of Europe for years to come. Seeing William's longing gaze, Qingying bluntly refused: because even if construction started now, the new cruiser would not be commissioned until midwinter 1916, two years later, at the earliest. Rather than starting a mediocre new ship with a hunger today, it is better to wait a few more months for a few more months in order to get a high-quality product with excellent performance in the future. Although those North Sea cruisers have a tragic ocean-going capability, they can barely make do with it today when the world's major powers are at peace, after all, the current task of escorting troop carriers to the Far East will not be the majority.

"Dear Caesar, our current research on these subsystems is not a drag on the German Navy, but an irreplaceable role for its future development. It is precisely because of our superiority in warship technology that the High Seas Fleet can defeat the Royal Navy in a decisive battle, and technological innovation has always been the core of the strength of the Imperial Navy! Looking at William, who was still a little unwilling, Qingying finally spoke, "You have waited for twenty years in order to realize the dream of blue water in your heart, can't you afford to wait for this year and a half now?" (To be continued......)

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