The morning sun is rising, the morning light is all over, and the Kiel shipyard on the Baltic Sea coast is already a boiling scene of people and colorful flags. The 100,000 citizens of Kiel crowded the open space outside the cordon, looking with excitement and fanaticism at the seven-story tall figure in the middle of the slipway; It was only through the visible behemoth that the German people really felt what their country had achieved. Even from a few hundred meters away, people can still clearly feel the majesty, strength, and strength revealed from its 206-meter-long and 32-meter-wide steel body. Some old people who have witnessed the history of the development of the High Seas Fleet are even more agitated and choked up: Compared with the capital ships built by Germany 20 years ago, the size and tonnage of this giant ship are several times larger.

On the makeshift viewing platform, more than a dozen reporters are fiddling with their cameras and spinning them; From time to time, a brilliant white magnesium light is lit up, which freezes the prosperous scene in front of the camera into an eternal light and shadow. In the core seats in one row, the handsome Qingying and Tirpitz, the father of the gray-haired ocean fleet, were already the first to take their seats; Looking at the unprecedentedly large ship under them, both of them showed a mixture of relief and emotion in their eyes.

"Your Excellency, time flies. When we were here to witness the launch of the first decisive battle, it seemed like yesterday. Qingying spoke softly, and his words couldn't help but reveal a hint of melancholy that matched the age of his soul. Tirpitz smiled and said, "Thanks to God's grace, our youth and enthusiastic efforts have not been in vain. Today's launch of this new battleship is the pinnacle of our business: it is the display and carrier of the current control of the seas by the German Reich. Any power will have reverence and fear for Germany in front of it! ”

Qingying smiled. The original faint desolation in my heart. And all of them disappeared with Tirpitz's words. Feeling the boiling and enthusiastic cheers of the crowd below, a sense of achievement and pride from his heart came to his heart.

Two years earlier, in early October 1912, Qing Ying had been instructed to start planning for the next class of battleships: due to the great success of the previous King class, Qing Ying was prepared to continue with the general design of the King class, using only the latest improved equipment for the power and auxiliary engines. According to the experience of later generations, the 15-inch naval gun was absolutely sufficient during World War I; Even after 20 years, it is possible to greatly increase the penetration of armor by replacing the shells. And in this plane. The 380-mm heavy gun, jointly developed by Krupp and Skoda, is even more superior than the historical products of the same caliber; From the comprehensive consideration of the cost and construction period of the battleship, Qingying had every reason to run this gun through to the end of the German capital ship of World War I.

However, plans to work behind closed doors will eventually be shattered by external pressure and demand. In November of the same year, German intelligence brought shocking news from London: the British Navy had become impatient with the current long and stalemate arms race with Germany, and was determined to launch a super-battleship to achieve absolute suppression of the imaginary enemy. According to relevant intelligence, the standing displacement of this new ship will surge from 30,000 tons of the Queen Elizabeth class to a terrifying 45,000 tons, and the firepower will be increased from 8 doors and 15 inches to 12 doors and 16 inches in one fell swoop! Once such heavy ships are put into active service, the current ships of the German Navy will be reduced to toys in the hands of Godzilla; Its crushing advantage in performance is no less than the dreadnought of the year!

As for the question of whether Britain could build such a large ship, the German Admiralty gave a positive answer after a little consideration. Current. Several of the UK's core shipyards have huge slipways over 260 meters long, which can theoretically build even 60,000 tons of ships. And back in 1908. The British started construction of an Olympic-class cruise ship with a displacement of more than 50,000 tons, and there were no obstacles in terms of tonnage alone. As for the 16-inch naval guns it was preparing to equip, the German Admiralty also believed that this was most likely not groundless; In some respects, the British military industry has surpassed Krupp in the field of artillery research and development, and the current German Navy has never fallen behind in the caliber of artillery only by virtue of joint research and development with Skoda.

Although the German Navy was alarmed and outraged by Britain's forced increase in the tonnage of its capital ships in disregard of the normal accumulation of experience, there is no doubt that it was also forced to follow in the footsteps of the other side and greatly accelerate the current shipbuilding race. The German Navy was quick to come up with performance indicators for its new capital ships. In terms of firepower, the new ship should be equipped with no less than 10 400-mm main guns, and the caliber of the main guns should ideally reach the same 420 mm as the army howitzer "Big Belta"; In terms of defense, the core compartment of the new ship must ensure full immunity to its own artillery at normal engagement distances. In terms of speed, the new ship must also have a design speed of 25 knots no less than that of the King, so that it can operate in formation with the kings.

For all designers since the Qing Dynasty, they are undoubtedly facing a serious challenge. Previously, the largest ship they had completed was only 28,000 tons of the King-class, but now they had to suddenly increase the displacement by two or three grades: according to the performance requirements put forward by the Admiralty, Qing Yingluo estimated that the new ship would have at least 5,000 tons more displacement than the King-class. And if you take into account the future use of ships of this class, their seaworthiness, endurance, and additional horizontal protection will also leave redundancy, which will undoubtedly cause a further sharp increase in the displacement of the warship.

After working tirelessly day and night, Qingying finally unveiled his final design in February 1913. In order to reduce the risk of research and development and at the same time ensure the construction schedule of the battleship, the main gun caliber of the new battleship was selected at a slightly smaller 400 mm. The power of this caliber of artillery can be easily used even during World War II, and there is no need for Qingying to seek too much for the sake of face. The technicians of Krupp and Skoda, who had just completed the test firing of the 380-mm naval gun, did not have time to rest, and immediately devoted themselves to the development of a new naval gun: according to the requirements put forward to them by Qingying, the new 400-mm L45 naval gun must have a kinetic energy of no less than 310 megajoules, and the barrel life in this case needs to reach 300 rounds. In addition, the longitudinal dispersion of the three-gun salvo of this type of gun is also limited to 1% of the range, and Qingying does not want to see the dispersion accuracy of his capital ship in a tragic situation like that of his American counterpart.

Due to the choice of a slightly smaller caliber 400-mm gun, the number of its carriers had to be ensured. After much consideration, Qing Ying equipped his battleship with 4 triple guns of this type, with the standard classic shì knapsack arrangement of the former 2 and the rear 2. At present, on the viewing platform, Qing Ying's eyes are the four giant round holes on the deck of the battleship below: each of them is close to 13 meters in diameter, and once it is equipped with the majestic triple 400mm main gun turret in the final outfitting, the battleship's outstanding ship quality is about to be revealed!

In order to reduce the vicious expansion of the displacement caused by this superior firepower of almost twice that of the King, Qing Ying decided to compensate for this by making drastic files in both the height of the turret and the weight of the turret: as usual, he chose a long bow type with the rear deck down one floor for the new warship, and greatly reduced the height of the turret carried by the most heavy bow B, so that it could only fire forward at an elevation angle of more than 5 degrees. The protective shape of the main turret is still the most scientific Yamato style: the front is a 420 mm thick and 45-degree inclined surface-hardened armor, and the top armor is 170 mm and 2-degree inclined, which has a considerable defensive capability even in the face of new 16-inch shells thirty years later. The turret was armoured by 200 mm on the sides and 120 mm at the rear, minimizing unnecessary weight redundancy of the main weapon system.

In terms of secondary guns, Qing Ying rarely did not use the light and cheap 150mm L42 gun profile, but chose to arrange a total of 8 twin 128mm L45 pseudo-turrets on both sides. In response to everyone's incomprehensible doubts, Qingying put forward this explanation: due to the continuous increase in the distance of naval battles, it is difficult for the 150-mm secondary gun to play due to the lack of effective range. Instead of increasing the caliber of the secondary guns and going the old way of the dreadnought, it is better to reduce the caliber of the secondary guns and return to the original all-heavy gun essence of the dreadnought. The rate of fire of the 128-mm gun was more than twice that of the 150-mm gun, and if combined with some mechanical lifting and loading, it could play several times the role of the second-gun of the large-caliber gun in the full-time passage of the anti-destroyer.

Although the designers had many doubts about Qingying's innovation, out of trust and respect for him, Qingying's plan was still understood. On the amidships deck of the Bavaria, which is about to be launched, there are four small seats with a diameter of more than 3 meters on each side. In order to resist future threats from the air, he had to lay the foundation for the new ship's high-level dual-purpose guns in advance, and the choice of twin 128mm turrets was almost the best solution for air defense in history. If not, how could he, as a staunch BB party with loyal and pure aspirations, get these barbarian weapons that go against orthodoxy?

In terms of protection, the armor of the Bavarian class has been further optimized compared to the King class. (To be continued......)

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