However, if the performance of structural steel is greatly improved, in order to fully explore the potential, many German warships built and even already built by Jihua should have to change their design, so the German side will soon send a group of top domestic large warship designers and alloy steel experts to study new design solutions with Chinese metallurgical and materials experts, which is exactly what Hu Weidong expected. For China, which has no ability to design large and medium-sized warships at all, even a second-rate German warship designer is enough to become a qualified teacher. In addition, Hu Weidong can also try to influence the design of those warships that the Germans failed in history, and create a little more trouble for the United States and Britain, "In the process of China's rise, for all countries that are stronger than us and have the possibility of potential conflict, there is a chance to pit, and if there is no opportunity, the opportunity to create a pit must also be pitted"

At this time, the two "Bismarck-class" battleships, which were famous in history, had already been launched, so it was impossible to make major changes in design, but after replacing them with new armor and installing a radar system produced in China and a "phalanx" close defense system (customized according to the requirements of the German side) according to Hu Weidong's proposal, the ship's comprehensive strength was still greatly improved, and the large-caliber anti-aircraft guns equipped with proximity fuse shells greatly improved the air defense capability of the two giant ships.

After Hu Weidong pointed out several fatal weaknesses of the historical Bismarck-class battleships in the design drawings, the rigorous and serious Germans immediately carried out the test, and the results shocked them, but also deeply rejoiced, and for Hu Weidong, the German warship designers no longer dared to treat him as a layman, which cleared the way for Hu Weidong to persuade them to accept some advanced design concepts of later generations.

During the test, the Bismarck-class battleships successively revealed that the main turret armor was weak, and the ammunition of the large-caliber anti-aircraft guns lacked protection and was piled together, which could easily cause a martyrdom in the event of an attack. Heavy dome armor is of little significance in actual combat, as a torpedo attack on the rudder position will easily cause the rudder wheel to jam, and warships that cannot turn will inevitably become targets for enemy ships and aircraft. There are a number of major shortcomings, such as the serious shortage of anti-aircraft firepower and the unreasonable deployment of anti-aircraft firepower. Some of these shortcomings relate to the overall design, such as the rudder problem, which is difficult to solve fundamentally, but the flexibility and flexibility of the Chinese made Hu Weidong come up with a clever solution

His proposal was to install a four-door "phalanx" near the rudder. On the one hand, this is because the torpedo planes attack at a very close range, and the "phalanx" with short range but extremely powerful firepower is like shooting targets against them. On the other hand, even if the enemy plane is lucky enough to drop a torpedo and hit the rudder, it can intercept the torpedo with the "phalanx" fire at the sea. In addition to the oxygen torpedoes of the devil BT, the speed of aviation torpedoes is not very fast, generally only more than 30 knots, and it is not even comparable to a high-speed cruiser, if the Bismarck-class battleship escapes at full speed, the relative speed is only a few knots, and it looks as slow as a snail on the sea surface. With the ultra-high rate of fire of the "Phalanx", the possibility of destroying it in advance is still very high. Taking 10,000 steps back, even if there is only a 50% interception success rate, it is equivalent to an extra life for a Bismarck-class battleship, if it can reach 75%. then there are three more lives. Considering that the probability of a torpedo hitting the rudder would not have been very high, and that the Bismarck-class battleships had been strengthened tenfold by the addition of "phalanxes" and gyroscopic sights (all close fire guns), this trivial arrangement was enough to make the threat of torpedo bombers to the Bismarck-class battleships very small

The problem of the main turret armor and dome armor can be solved in the process of replacing the new armor, which can also free up a lot of load and space, and make it possible to add turrets and more anti-aircraft guns to large-caliber anti-aircraft guns

It is also worth mentioning that in addition to these specific design flaws, the design concept of "comprehensive protection" of Bismarck-class battleships is also obviously behind the times, because with the development of structural science, even if the key protection method is adopted, the sinking resistance of large warships is still extremely strong, and there is no need to add too much unnecessary load for this, and even affect firepower and maneuverability. And with the development of armor-piercing jishu, in the case that the overall displacement cannot be increased unlimitedly, "full protection" actually becomes "total non-protection", even if the sinking resistance is good, what is the use of a warship that has lost its combat effectiveness? However, with the adoption of new armor steel, "comprehensive protection" has become "comprehensive protection" in the true sense of the word. However, Hu Weidong knows very well in his heart that the balance broken by the super era armor jishu will eventually be restored, and there will still be a trade-off when the time comes, and in a broad sense, the design idea of "key protection" can even be used in those thin-skinned warships after the war, so whether it is a warship built for the Germans, or those self-made, he still strongly chose the design concept of "key protection", in fact, even now, in the case of the same armor material, to "comprehensive protection" The comprehensive performance of warships designed by the concept is still not as superior as that designed according to the concept of "key protection."

After so many modification projects, even with Germany's industrial strength, it will take at least half a year to complete, plus the necessary work such as sea trials, one year is at least, which undoubtedly reassures Hu Weidong, and there is no need to worry too much about the comprehensive cooperation between China and Germany coming to an abrupt end because of Germany's war at the beginning.

In fact, even if these major modifications were not carried out, just replacing the Bismarck-class battleships with 381mm armor-piercing shells (Note 1) specially designed by Hu Weidong, proximity fuse anti-aircraft shells, gyroscopes equipped with each near-fire gun, advanced shipboard radar, and supporting command instruments were enough to raise the comprehensive strength of the Bismarck-class battleships to the level of the Iowa-class battleships in late World War II in history. After these more substantial modifications, the Bismarck-class battleships have become a sea fortress that has never been seen before in history, and because of the postponement of the European war, there were two ships as soon as they came out

Note 1: In order to avoid too much leakage of Jishu secrets, and in order to avoid the early layoff of battleships, Hu Weidong only skillfully integrated the Jishu that Germany has now mastered (including the Jishu transferred by the Red Party), and raised the armor-piercing ability of the Bismarck's 381mm main gun to the same level as the 406mm main gun of the American Iowa-class battleship (this is actually very large, and the 381mm armor-piercing bullet originally used by the Bismarck-class battleship was a light bullet, The rate of fire is fast, but the power is much lower than that of ordinary 381mm armor-piercing shells. Although it is not invincible, it is enough to avoid the embarrassment in history where the main guns of the Bismarck hit the battleship George V but could not penetrate its main armor (to be continued). )