"Smack." With the soft sound of the paper slamming on the table, Tirpitz finally put the required information in front of Qingying. He pulled a chair and sat down at the table, and said, "Your Highness, these are the three blueprints given by the Kiel shipyard. According to your Highness, they are all designed to reach a speed of 20 knots, and the difference is mainly reflected in the aspect of artillery. ”

Tirpitz slowly unfolded the roll of paper in front of him for Qingying, and said: "At present, armored cruisers have developed greatly compared with a few years ago, and Britain, France, the United States, Russia, Japan, Italy and other countries have built or started a large number of installation cruises; In order to make the battleships more effective against these large secondary ships, the Great Powers almost all began to equip their new battleships with secondary guns with the same firepower as armored cruisers. The British were armed with 4 9.2-inch guns on the Edward VII-class battleships, the Americans had 8 8-inch guns on the Virginia class, the Italians had 12 8-inch guns on the Elena class, and the Borodino we built for the Russians had 8 10-inch guns. However, after careful analysis by the naval department, it was found that Germany did not need to add a second class of main guns like other countries. ”

"Huh?" A smile appeared in Qingying's eyes, but she asked, "What is this for?" ”

Hearing Qingying's question, Tirpitz, who had been led by his nose for a long time, finally got some comfort in his heart, he smiled slightly, and his words carried a bit of smugness: "This is because the battleships of our German Navy are very different from other countries. At a time when the great powers all used 12 inches as the caliber of the main guns of battleships, we took a unique approach and chose the 11-inch main guns with a smaller caliber; This sacrifices the power of a single shot, but results in a significant increase in rate of fire and projection. For those foreign battleships, because the rate of fire of their 12-inch guns was only 1.2 rounds per minute, it was almost impossible to hit the patrol, so it was necessary to install small-caliber guns with a fast rate of fire as a response; The rate of fire of our German 11-inch guns can reach 2.5 rounds per minute, which is twice that of those 12-inch guns, and the number of main guns is still two more than those battleships, so there is no problem of insufficient fire density. In that case, what are we doing with the secondary main gun? ”

"However, there are more armored cruisers than battleships now, and the threat of enemy armored cruisers must not be considered, right?" Qingying asked softly.

Tirpitz nodded: "Of course, Britain and France each have a large number of armored cruisers, and attacking the enemy's armored cruisers must also be considered by us. After taking into account the power of a single shot and the density of the barrage, the Navy decided to achieve this by increasing the number of 11-inch guns for the battleship. Thanks to Krupp's excellent artillery casting skills and turret ammunition delivery system, our 11-inch guns have achieved a 10-inch rate of fire; So in essence, the 11-inch gun we used was a compromise between the firepower of battleships and armored cruisers, and it was not much different from the secondary main gun! This is also a choice made by our German Navy in light of its own situation, which is completely different from that of other powers. Speaking of this, he glanced at the young man in front of him, and said with some confusion: "Does Your Highness think that we should also be equipped with a second-level main gun?" ”

Qingying shook her head slightly, a heartfelt smile on her face, and said, "Admiral Alfred, you and your navy have made the most correct response under the impact of emerging things. Not to mention that our old 240 gun with a diameter of 40 times is completely unusable, and Krupp Military Industry needs to re-develop a new type of artillery. So General Alfred, can you tell me how many 11-inch guns the Navy is preparing to equip with the new battleships? ”

Tirpitz said: "Because the approach we have taken is very different from that of other countries, there is no experience to draw from; In order to determine the number of main guns needed for the new battleship, the Admiralty, in conjunction with Krupp Heavy Industries, conducted a three-month simulated firing experiment. The final results show that although our 11-inch gun can reach a rate of fire of 2.5 rounds per minute, it still needs 6 guns to achieve a more effective hit at the current engagement distance of more than 4,000 meters. If the number reaches 8, then it will have a rather desirable striking effect; And if the number of main guns can be 10, it can inflict a devastating attack on enemy ships! Therefore, according to this conclusion, the scheme given by the Kiel shipyard was equipped with more than 3 main turrets in order to get enough hits in naval battles. ”

Tirpitz spread out the drawings and said, "Your Highness, please take a look." Scheme A was to elongate the hull of our Vicchelsbach-class battleships and install an additional twin turret in the amidships; The 4 main turrets are arranged in the front 1 in the middle and 1 in the rear, and the 2 turrets in the stern are naturally carried with the help of the long bow tower. The broadside fire of the scheme reached 8 main guns, and the effect of striking at the enemy was undoubted, and the price paid was relatively small; However, in order to ensure the firing range of the amidship turret, the designers vacated a large area on the deck, which made the battleship, which was not on the deck area even more stretched. In addition, this plan has not gotten rid of the legacy of fleeing warships, and our German Navy is no longer the coastal defensive navy it used to be, and our combat style must change from defensive to offensive. Tirpitz pointed to the two main turrets at the rear and said in a slightly dissatisfied tone.

Looking at Tirpitz's unhappy expression, Qingying knew what this guy was thinking. With the completion of the Kiel Canal and the great expansion of German financial resources, Tirpitz's requirements for warships have also risen to a higher level, in addition to the premise of superior performance, the appearance of the shape should also be as good as possible, this extremely compressed tonnage and poor and ugly design has been difficult to enter his eyeballs. Qingying snorted, noncommittal, and said, "What about the design after that?" ”

"Plan B still has four main turrets, but with the same layout that I originally proposed. Your Highness may not know that before the 'lead duck' under His Majesty proved to be viable, we had already approved another design plan, which was to equip the next class of battleships with 4 9.4-inch guns and 18 6-inch guns. Although this design was later replaced by the existing six 11-inch guns, the idea of raising the main turret in the bow was not broken; This time, the designers found the design drawings of the year from the archives, and finally made this situation as seen by His Highness. ”

Tirpitz smiled and said, "The biggest difference between this ship and the previous plan is that the main turret it added is not placed in the amidships, but in front of the hull. The forward bridge was raised by one level, allowing the additional turret to be installed at an altitude of 7 meters, thus achieving the same firepower in the bow as in the stern. Compared to the previous design, it has a large deck area, and the forward firepower has been increased to four, and all the main guns can fire a salvo at the same side. Of course, there is a price to be paid for raising the turret, which has a displacement of almost 400 tons more than the previous one, and the estimated purchase price of a single ship is also 550,000 marks higher. ”

Looking at the plan of the bow on the drawing, Qingying's eyes showed a look of surprise, he didn't expect that the German designers would really realize Tirpitz's idea and complete the backpack layout in the bow. But after thinking about it carefully, Qingying was relieved. Historically, the 10 German dreadnoughts equipped with 240 mm main guns all had twin main turrets in the bow of the ships raised one layer on the basis of the foredeck, forming a strange situation where the main guns were on the top and the secondary guns were below; If you put another turret in the normal position on this basis, then it is really easy to achieve a piggyback layout in the bow of the ship!

Do you want to use this layout?

Qingying gently rubbed the smooth page with her hand, and began to think quickly in her heart. To be sure, this Bavarian layout was not unremarkable during the First World War, but you should not only choose the best one based on the experience of later generations, but also consider the situation in other countries. Historically, with the advent of dreadnoughts, the number of battleship main turrets instantly doubled; Due to the lack of experience in installing these turrets, the British, who were the first to eat crabs, also took a lot of detours in this field, and only after building 10 dreadnoughts of 305 guns in a row did they come up with a design with a full central axis arrangement on the "Orion" class super dreadnought. If they had chosen this layout, it would have been possible for the British to follow suit; Once the British made the Dreadnought from the very beginning into an Orion-like layout, it would obviously be a disadvantageous situation for the German Navy!

At this thought, Qing Ying shook his head slightly and said, "I personally don't agree with this kind of bow piggyback layout. Because the price paid for raising the gun mount is not reflected in the battle line at all, but will make the center of gravity of the battleship rise, and the stability will be greatly affected. What's more, 550,000 marks is not a small amount, it can almost buy a mass-produced large torpedo boat. ”

With that, Qingying put the page aside, looked down, and a design of 5 turrets appeared under it. He looked at it for a moment, his brow gradually furrowed, and after a while, a smile crept up his face.

"It seems that I only remember Von der Tann, but I have forgotten its improved version of Caesar......"

Thanks to the book friend Fengyu Xunlu for his reward, the number of collections this week is dismal, so let's give the author a little motivation