"Isn't that easier said than done? It is quite difficult to get the Royal Navy to acquiesce in this situation, unless ....... Xu Jie sneered

"Unless what?" Tirpitz asked.

"Unless the Kaiser's fleet has the opportunity to inflict heavy damage or even destroy the British Royal Navy in the Battle of the Grand Fleet." Xu Jie said coldly. "Only two countries with similar strength can consider using politics to solve the problem."

"This is indeed a rather difficult thing to do, and in terms of the total tonnage of the fleet, it is difficult for any country to pose a mortal threat to the British Royal Navy on its own." In this regard, Tirpitz is still very self-aware.

"If we look at the tonnage alone, Germany really doesn't have a chance, but we should put aside these superficial phenomena and focus on substance. We have to understand what difference there is between the composition of the British fleet and the composition of the fleet that Germany will need in the future. Xu Jie said as he took a plate of dim sum.

"In addition to ensuring victory in the decisive battle at sea, the British Royal Navy also had to ensure that there was a sufficient number of escort fleets to maintain the security of the sea lines of communication, so part of its tonnage was used for decisive battles at sea, and the other part was to build all kinds of cruisers to deal with the raiders and raiders of the Empire." Xu Jie took out some large pieces of pastries and small pieces of biscuits from the plate and continued: "The total amount of this plate of snacks is very large, just like the British fleet, but only these big ships can be used for the decisive battle. As he spoke, Xu Jie pointed to the cake in it. And those small ships were too vulnerable in the Grand Fleet engagement. It doesn't play a critical role. Xu Jie pointed to the grapes again and said.

"You mean that, relative to Britain, the German Navy, because it does not have a vast overseas colony, can build less or no ships for escort and devote all its energy to the construction of capital warships?" Tirpitz's keen mind captures the key to Xu Jie's words.

"That's what it means, if you can't break out of the North Sea, no amount of warships will be of any use. Germany is a country in the middle of the European continent, and even if His Majesty the Emperor decides to lean towards the navy, the army is still the focus, so Germany will not be able to spend more resources and money on naval construction than Britain. Therefore, it is only possible to concentrate on building a strong decisive battle to the fleet in order to have any hope of victory. Xu Jie replied.

"But deciding the direction of naval construction is only the first step, what type of warships to build, what kind of performance to highlight is another key issue. What would you think if you were to become the head of the Naval Shipbuilding Department? Xu Jie asked rhetorically.

"For a weak navy, it is necessary to strengthen the advantage in the quality of warships. The protection performance of the battleship is the first, the overall margin of the battleship, the armor protection must be paid attention to, and at the same time, because it is really fighting in the North Sea, the endurance of the battleship can be reduced, but considering the harsh sea conditions in the North Sea, the stability of the battleship should be appropriately strengthened. As for speed and firepower, they can be appropriately weakened. Tirpitz thought for a moment and said. This is basically the idea of building ships for the High Seas Fleet in the future. It seems that long before he came to power, he had thought deeply about the development of the Navy.

"You're right, as a weak navy, it's necessary to strengthen protection and pay attention to the performance of a single ship, but you should note that this only guarantees that your ship has a greater chance of surviving in a naval battle, and you can't win a naval battle by relying on these alone, and winning a naval battle requires your ship to have enough firepower to crush the enemy, and you need to be able to seize your position before the engagement to gain an advantage. Therefore, too much protection will not give you an advantage. Xu Jie couldn't help but shake his head and said.

"But as a ship designer, you should understand that every performance of a battleship is piled up in tonnage, and in this regard, there are no tricks." Tirpitz said with some excitement.

"That's right, you're right, so, in addition to having a group of high-quality designers, the battleships of the German Navy need to have a larger tonnage on warships of the same class, and I personally think that five 12,000-ton warships are more powerful than six 10,000-ton warships. For example, a 12,000-ton battleship may be able to resist the enemy's main gun fire, while a 10,000-ton battleship may not be able to withstand it, this is the difference. A 12,000-ton warship may be equipped with a larger caliber of main guns than a 10,000-ton warship, which is a qualitative difference, and a good design can indeed save considerable tonnage. I believe that with the tonnage of the battleships enlarged and with sufficiently good designers, the quality of the capital ships of the German Navy will surpass the navies of other countries. Xu Jie said with a smile. Xu Jie said that there is a sufficient historical basis, in World War 1, the German King-class battleship was 25,000 tons of displacement, while the Byrne-class battleship was 28,000 tons, and other performance was basically the same, but the King-class firepower was only 10 12-inch guns, while the Byrne-class had 8 15-inch guns, and the firepower was 2 grades worse!! As for the design, the 32,000-ton Scharnhorst battlecruiser in World War II could not defeat the French battlecruiser Strasbourg, with a displacement of only 28,000 tons. …,

"But in terms of naval warship design, Britain and France are stronger than us, and since we can think of things, they must also be able to think of them, so if Britain and France want to, their warships will be better than ours." Tirpitz said with a slight mockery.

"It seems that you do not fully appreciate what I have just said, for Britain he is a global sea power, so he must require his warships to have enough range to conquer the seas. Therefore, some of the tonnage had to give way to endurance, and in addition, in order to be able to catch those high-speed attack ships, the British had to strengthen their firepower. Third, in order to make the deployment of its fleet more flexible, the British fleet must maintain a certain number, in this case, the British Navy will definitely not pursue the combat capability of a single ship, plus the tonnage that must flow out for ocean operations, the single tonnage of the British capital warship will not be too high. And they put more emphasis on speed, firepower, which will be somewhat weakened relative to defense. Xu Jie said sternly.

Historically, before the British Navy came out of the Queen Elizabeth-class battleships, the British guns were larger in caliber and higher speed among battleships of the same class, and the protection was far inferior to that of German battleships. EVEN IF THE SUPER DREADNOUGHT SIDE ARMOR OF THE 13.5-INCH MAIN GUN REPRESENTED BY THE BATTLESHIP, THE IRON DUKE IS SAID TO BE 305MM, BUT ONLY AT THE WATERLINE IS 305MM, AND THE MAIN THICKNESS ON IT IS 229MM, AND AT THE SAME PROTECTIVE HEIGHT, THE GERMAN KING-CLASS BATTLESHIP IS 350MM. The British Iron Duke-class battleships were only equivalent to the protection standards of the German battle cruisers of the same period. If the German King-class battleships replaced 10 12-inch guns with 8 14-inch guns, they could easily get the Iron Duke while keeping the cost and tonnage basically the same. However, based on the fact that the progress of artillery research is too backward (the 15-inch gun came out too late, and the 14-inch gun was not equipped at all). As a result, as a King-class battleship that served after the start of World War 1, it could only carry the 12-inch naval guns that had been used as early as the Helgeland class to the battlefield of the Battle of Jutland, if the King-class Caesar-class was a 14-inch gun, the Betty fleet was likely to not be able to escape at all, and it was possible not to be completely annihilated before the arrival of the Grand Fleet, even if it was as strong as the Queen, it was difficult to say that it was successful under the attack of the 14-inch guns with absolute superiority in numbers.

"I understand what you mean, but it is difficult for a battleship to be the best in all aspects after all, and even if it does, the cost will be too great." Tirpitz has agreed with Xu Jie's idea of increasing the displacement of a single ship and designing a balanced performance. But he is also very aware that even with a high level of designers and an appropriate increase in tonnage, it is difficult to achieve excellent performance in all aspects, and even if it does, it will be too costly. This is true, for example, the average cost of the Queen-class battleships of the British Royal Navy was 2.65 million pounds, while the cost of Hood was as high as 6.02 million pounds, and even according to the comparable cost, Hood was as high as 4.4 million pounds. What Hood gets, on the other hand, is only 5 to 6 knots. And this speed, in the battle line, will inevitably be dragged down by the speed of other warships, so that it is difficult to exert it.

"So there is no need for any warship to strive for perfection in all aspects." Xu Jie said with a smile. "The main fleet I envisage will be composed of two types of warships, each with its own focus."

I'm going on a business trip tomorrow.,Maybe the update isn't very stable.,But I won't let you suffer.,At least two more today.,If you give a little bit of strength.,I'll be three more~~