When Zhang Tinglan arrived at the Huludao shipyard, there happened to be a behemoth, under the traction of the tugboat, slowly sailing into the port. At this time, it was dusk, and the huge black shadow of the battleship was like a mountain on the sea, majestic and majestic, and the small boats around it were like toys compared to them, small and pitiful.

This massive warship was the German battleship Baden, the second of the Bavaria-class battleships, which began construction in 1913 and was completed in 1915. Unfortunately, this behemoth, with a full load displacement of more than 30,000 tons, was still being tested at sea at the outbreak of the Battle of Jutland and was not able to participate in this battle.

After the Battle of Jutland, the Baden became the flagship of the German High Seas Fleet. After the defeat of Germany, the warship was seized by the British in Scapa Bay. During Operation Rainbow in 1919, German naval officers scuttled all the warships seized by the British, and the Baden was no exception.

However, just as the warship was about to sink, the British rushed back, and the battleship was towed to shallow water and ran aground, the only warship that ran aground among all the self-sinking warships.

The British even had to scrap a large number of their own warships, and this giant ship, which represented the pinnacle of Germany's shipbuilding industry, could only stay quietly by the sea. Originally, the British Jihua was used as a target ship by this warship, and at this time, the Feng army was eyeing this warship, and the British had promised to provide the Feng army with several German self-sinking warships, and the Baden was the largest of them.

The warship, towed by tugboats, crossed the English Channel, rounded the Cape of Good Hope, crossed the Indian Ocean, crossed the Strait of Malacca, and then headed north after a long sea voyage. Finally came to Huludao Port.

When the Baden entered the port, a large number of people had already gathered in the port, and Shen Honglie, with all the captains of the navy, as well as the main Jishu talents of the shipyard, all gathered in the port, looking forward to it.

Huludao Port did not have the ability to berth such a large warship, Shen Honglie personally organized personnel to temporarily build berths for the Baden, and finally when night fell, this huge warship stopped safely.

Xia Han and Wu Yulin, who were in charge of bringing the giant ship back, had already arrived at the port. Very excited to report the situation to Zhang Tinglan.

"Marshal, we've brought the Baden back!"

Zhang Tinglan said with a smile: "Everyone has worked hard, hurry up and tell me about the situation of this battleship." ”

Wu Yulin said with a smile: "Marshal, the Baden is a battleship completed by Germany in the middle of the war. It represents the pinnacle of German shipbuilding Jishu, with a standard displacement of more than 28,000 tons. The full load displacement is more than 32,000 tons. The maximum speed can reach 22 knots. When the warship sank by itself, it did not sink into the water, but only ran aground, so the equipment on board was basically well preserved and did not suffer any damage. ”

When Zhang Tinglan heard this, she immediately became interested. Hurriedly asked: "If there is no damage, does it mean that after repairing, you can go into battle?" ”

Xia Han's face showed embarrassment, and he said with a wry smile: "Old sir." It's almost done before we drag it back, but when we drag it back, it's not like that. The Baden was armed with a 380-mm main gun, which the British dismantled, and 10 of the sixteen 150-mm secondary guns were removed. The Zuihou British blew up the power system of the battleship again, and they were only ready to give us an empty shell. ”

Zhang Tinglan heard Xia Han's introduction, and a sudden thought flashed in his mind, and he actually had a feeling of being in a different world, no matter when the Chinese went to the sea, it was so difficult, and the great powers would obstruct it layer by layer at any time, and it had never changed.

"An empty shell is an empty shell, didn't you get the drawings from the Germans, all the jishu personnel, just use this empty shell to explore and figure out the key jishu, no matter how difficult it is, it can't stop our determination to go to the ocean!"

At this time, Shen Honglie and others also gathered over, listening to Xia Han's introduction, their faces all showed anger, isn't it a German broken ship, the British are so stingy, dismantling weapons, and blowing up the power system, they simply do everything, that is, they don't let the Chinese have large warships.

The purpose of this is also obvious, they want to dominate the sea and always reap the benefits of the Chinese. These admirals clenched their fists tightly. The more humiliating it is, the more you have to work hard, and the more difficult it is, the more you have to go down this road.

At a time when everyone is a little lost and resentful. Xia Han suddenly smiled and said, "Old sir, although the British are extremely cunning, we still have loopholes to exploit!" I bought off British officials. When the boilers were blown up, two boilers and a steam turbine were kept, and I got the drawings for the production of naval guns from the Germans, so that if we were willing to find the Germans to help, we would have a chance to restore the giant ship of the sea. ”

As soon as they heard Xia Han's words, everyone had a feeling that the mountains and rivers were full of doubts, and the willows and flowers were bright and another village. Zhang Tinglan patted Xia Han's shoulder with satisfaction: "Good job, sooner or later, one day we will make the British pay for today's carelessness!" ”

The Baden had a total of eleven Sunnikrovt coal-fired boilers and three steam turbines, and the British originally did not want to leave the Feng army behind. Xia Han bribed the official in charge of blowing up the ship, and during the blasting, he deliberately released water and saved two boilers and a steam turbine, which can be regarded as a blessing in misfortune.

Wu Yulin also said in the group: "Dashuai, although we currently do not have the ability to build warships and use boilers, but with this finished product, it will be much easier to imitate." And the biggest problem in repairing the power system of a warship is the transmission system, which requires the processing of huge parts, but fortunately, we already have a large forging press, this difficulty can be solved, and then get some jishu from the Germans to repair the Baden, it is not impossible. ”

Wu Yulin introduced with confidence, and Zhang Tinglan also led everyone to the front of this behemoth, looking at the mottled rust and scars on it, there was a stinging feeling.

"Director Wu, the power system needs to be reinstalled, is it necessary to cut the warship and then install the boiler in? Will this affect the performance of the battleship? ”

"The marshal is indeed a connoisseur, and although we are expected to repair the Baden, the service life of this battleship must be greatly reduced. It is even possible that the maximum speed for which it was designed may not be reached. ”

"Director Wu, have you ever heard the saying that you can't break or stand, in fact, for the Baden, this time may be a rebirth of Nirvana!"

"Marshal, why do you say that?"

Zhang Tinglan said with a smile: "I am not optimistic about battleships, Jishu is always improving, using cannons as the main combat weapon, which has been carried over from the era of sails." But now that airplanes are in vogue, and every day they are travelling, aircraft carriers are bound to become an important weapon. And even the new hegemon of the seas. ”

Regarding Zhang Tinglan's assertion, not many people present agreed with it, and all the major powers were focusing on the development of battleships, with larger and larger tonnage and stronger main guns. This kind of weapon that is in full swing has reached Zhang Tinglan's mouth. It will be replaced. No one could believe it.

Especially next to everyone, there is a huge battleship, although the main gun has been removed, but from the battleship, everyone can also feel the majesty of the strong sea hegemon, how can such a powerful weapon be replaced! If it weren't for the awe of Zhang Tinglan. Some people even have to come out and refute it directly.

Including Shen Honglie, there are some doubts, but Zhang Tinglan has long been accustomed to this kind of questioning, after all, many things that seem to be taken for granted in later generations. Before it happened, not many people were able to yujian, this is the so-called limitation of the times, and few people can jump out of the shackles of time and space like a time-traveler to guide the country.

"The navy is a high jishu branch, so we must pay attention to the progress of jishu, artillery, as the main weapon, in terms of range and power, has reached a limit, and there is not much room for improvement. But the airplane is different, this is an emerging weapon, the range can already reach hundreds of kilometers, and the possibility of improvement in the future will be greater. And the bombs dropped by the planes, in terms of power, were in no way inferior to the main guns of battleships, and they were more accurate. An aircraft carrier that uses aircraft as its main means of attack can launch an attack on a battleship at an extremely long distance, and the battleship's heavy armor will be nothing more than a turtle shell, and it will have no other use than to be beaten. ”

Everyone present listened carefully to Zhang Tinglan's words, although they were unwilling to accept the view that the battleship was outdated, they really couldn't find a reason to refute Zhang Tinglan.

Battleships pay attention to three elements, firepower, speed, and protection, and any excellent battleship is seeking a balance between these three. However, for an aircraft carrier, the aircraft can launch an attack from a distance of several hundred kilometers, and no matter how powerful the battleship's main guns are, they will not be able to hit this distance. And no matter how perverted the defense is, if you are blindly beaten, sooner or later there will be a time when it will be broken through.

Thinking of this, Shen Honglie and the others actually felt a chill on the back of their necks, it turned out that the invincible overlord they had always envied was so vulnerable. This sense of subversion is even more amazing than seeing the Baden.

"What the marshal said is good, but if you want to attack the battleship with an aircraft, there are still many difficulties to be solved, the most important thing is that the performance of the aircraft must be greatly improved, and the pilots must master the ability to attack surface targets."

"Chengzhang, what do you think of the speed of development of aircraft?"

When Shen Honglie heard this question, he hurriedly said: "It has been less than 20 years since the appearance of the airplane, and during this time, the airplane has simply undergone earth-shaking changes, which can only be described as a thousand miles a day. I estimate that in another ten years, fighters with a range of more than 1,000 kilometers will appear, and the bomb load will also be greatly increased, and it is definitely possible to attack battleships with aircraft. ”

Speaking of this time, Shen Honglie also had to admit that Zhang Tinglan's judgment was reasonable, the matter of war cannot be decided by emotion, as Zhang Tinglan said, we must keep an eye on Jishu's progress, so that we can keenly perceive the changes on the battlefield.

"Marshal, do you mean to directly go beyond the development stage of battleships and go to the aircraft carrier?" Wu Yulin asked tentatively.

Zhang Tinglan nodded: "We have a thin foundation, we can't waste energy, the cost of a battleship is enough to support twenty divisions, we can't afford it, so we must skip this stage of burning money and build an aircraft carrier directly." ”

"Marshal, since aircraft carriers are the future of the navy, we must keep this secret, the great powers are still building battleships, so let's let them go further and further down the wrong path. Although they have a thick foundation, they go in the wrong direction, and the gap with us will be narrowed quickly, and there is hope for catching up! Shen Honglie suggested.

"That's right, we have to develop our aircraft carriers before the great powers gap the importance of aircraft carriers." Zhang Tinglan smiled and pointed to the Baden: "We must work this warship, I dare to say that the Feng army got this warship back, but countries such as Britain and Japan will pay attention to how we use this warship and whether we want to repair the warship." ”

"The old chief is right." Xia Han hurriedly said: "On the way, the Japanese sent a lot of ships to keep an eye on them, perhaps they also found that the Baden was too badly damaged, so they did not stop it. However, with the careful eye of the Japanese, once we have a huge warship, they will definitely stop it. ”

"We might as well make a plan and change it to an aircraft carrier, and the upper deck of the warship, the power system inside, all have to be redesigned. Therefore, we generously dismantled the warship and pretended to completely scrap the warship, so as to dispel the suspicions of the foreign powers that we should repair the warship. ”

As soon as Xia Han heard Zhang Tinglan's idea, his mind was spinning rapidly, Zhang Tinglan was playing the trick of Ming Xiu plank road and dark Chen Cang, he suddenly remembered something, so he said with a smile: "Old sir, I think it's okay to do a fake show, in fact, the Germans still have four more advanced warships in their hands, if they can get their hands on it, the Baden can completely become a pile of scrap metal." ”

When Zhang Tinglan heard this, he hurriedly asked: "Xia Han, you carefully explain clearly, what other warships are worth using?" ”

"Sir, the Germans built the Mackensen-class battle cruisers, with a full load displacement of 35,000 tons and a speed of 28 knots, and there were four ships of this class, all of which were unfinished and still lying on the German slipway. If we dismantle the Baden and make the British mistakenly think that we just want scrap steel, then we can take the opportunity to tow these warships back, and then whether they continue to be built or converted into aircraft carriers, they will be better than the Baden. ”

As soon as Zhang Tinglan heard this, his eyes suddenly lit up, the aircraft carrier does not need too strong defense capabilities, because to help the aircraft take off, the speed requirements are still very high, and the Mackensen-class battle cruiser is 6 knots faster than the Baden, which can provide more lift to the aircraft, which has a serious impact on combat effectiveness.

"Xia Han, this idea you put forward is too good, we will immediately formulate a perfect jihua, and we must deceive the eyes of the British!" (To be continued......)