"Easier said than done? It is quite difficult to get the British Royal Navy to acquiesce in this situation, unless..." Xu Jie sneered.

"Unless what?" Tirpitz asked.

"Unless the Kaiser's fleet has the opportunity to severely damage or even destroy the British Royal Navy in a large fleet battle." Xu Jie said coldly. "Only two countries with close strength can consider using politics to solve the problem."

"This is indeed a very difficult matter. In terms of the total tonnage of the fleet, it is difficult for any country to pose a fatal threat to the British Royal Navy by relying on its own strength." In this regard, Tirpitz is still very self-aware.

"If we simply compare the tonnage, Germany does not have a chance, but we should put aside these superficial phenomena and focus on the essence. We need to understand the difference between the composition of the British fleet and the composition of the fleet that Germany needs in the future." Xu Jie said.

He said while taking a plate of snacks over.

"In addition to ensuring victory in decisive battles at sea, the Royal Navy also needs to ensure a sufficient number of escort fleets to maintain the safety of sea lines of communication. Therefore, part of its tonnage is used for decisive battles at sea, and the other part is used to build various cruisers.

Go deal with the empire's plundering ships and raiding ships." Xu Jie took out some large pastries and small biscuits from the plate and continued: "The total amount of this plate of snacks is very large, just like the British fleet, but

Among them, only these large ships can be used in decisive battles." As he spoke, Xu Jie pointed to the cake. "And those small ships are too fragile in large fleet battles and cannot play a key role." Xu Jie pointed again.

He said, pointing to the grapes.

"Are you saying that compared to Britain, the German Navy does not have vast overseas colonies, so it can build fewer or no escort ships and devote all its energy to the construction of main battleships?" Tirpi

Ci's keen mind directly captured the key to Xu Jie's words.

"That's what it means. If you can't break out of the North Sea, no matter how many warships you have, it will be useless. Germany is a country in the middle of the European continent. Even if His Majesty the Emperor decides to lean towards the navy, the army will still be the focus, so what Germany can use will be used

The resources and money for naval construction will not exceed that of Britain. Therefore, we can only focus on building a powerful decisive battle fleet to have any hope of victory." Xu Jie replied.

"But deciding on the direction of naval construction is only the first step. What type of warships to build and what performance is another key issue. If your Excellency becomes the Minister of the Navy's Shipbuilding Department, what do you think?" Xu Jie

asked rhetorically.

"For a weak navy, the advantage of warship quality must be strengthened. The protective performance of warships is the first priority. The overall margin and armor protection of warships must be taken seriously. At the same time, because they are fighting in the North Sea, the endurance of warships can be reduced.

, but considering the harsh sea conditions in the North Sea, the stability of the warship needs to be appropriately strengthened. As for the speed and firepower, it can be appropriately weakened." Tirpitz thought for a while and said. This is basically the idea of ​​​​building ships for the High Seas Fleet in the future.

. It seems that he had already thought deeply about the development of the navy long before he came to power.

"You are right. As a weak navy, it is very necessary to strengthen protection and pay attention to the performance of single ships. However, you should note that this can only ensure that your warships have a greater chance of survival in a naval battle. By relying on this alone, you can

It is still impossible to win a naval battle. Victory in a naval battle requires your warships to have enough firepower to defeat the enemy, and you need to be able to seize your position as soon as possible before the battle to gain an advantage. Therefore, placing too much emphasis on protection cannot gain an advantage." Xu Jie.

He couldn't help but shook his head and said.

"But as a ship designer, you should understand that every performance of a battleship is based on tonnage. There is no trick in this regard." Tirpitz said with some excitement.

"Yes, you are right. Therefore, in addition to having a group of high-quality designers, the German Navy's warships need to have a larger tonnage than warships of the same level. I personally think that 5 12,000

A thousand-ton warship has stronger combat effectiveness than six 10,000-ton warships. The performance of a warship depends on the slight difference. For example, a 12,000-ton warship may be able to withstand the firing of the opponent's main gun.

A 10,000-ton warship may not be able to carry it. This is the difference. A 12,000-ton warship may be equipped with a larger-caliber main gun than a 10,000-ton warship. This is a qualitative difference. At the same time, good design can indeed save money.

Quite a tonnage. I believe that by enlarging the tonnage of the warships and having enough excellent designers, the quality of the German Navy's battleships will surpass those of other navies." Xu Jie said with a smile. Xu Jie said this with sufficient history.

According to the statistics, in World War 1, the German König-class battleship had a displacement of 25,000 tons, while the Byrne-class battleship had a displacement of 28,000 tons. Other performances were basically the same, but the König-class's firepower only had 10 12-inch guns, while the Byrne-class had 8

A 15-inch gun, the difference in firepower is 2 levels!! As for the design, the battlecruiser Scharnhorst with a displacement of up to 32,000 tons in World War II could not defeat the French battlecruiser Strasbourg with a displacement of only 28,000 tons.

It highlights the impact of design gaps on battleship performance.

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

said.

"It seems that you did not fully understand what I just said. For Britain, it is a global maritime power, so it must require that its warships have sufficient range to conquer the world. Therefore, part of the tonnage must give way to

Endurance, in addition, in order to catch those high-speed attack ships, the British must strengthen their firepower. Third, in order to make their fleet deployment more flexible, the British fleet must maintain a certain number. In this case

Under the circumstances, the British Navy will never pursue single-ship combat capabilities. Coupled with the tonnage that must be flowed out for ocean operations, the single-ship tonnage of the British main battleships will not be too high. Moreover, they place more emphasis on speed and firepower than on defense.

It has been weakened." Xu Jie said seriously.

Historically, before the emergence of the Queen Elizabeth-class battleships in the British Navy, the British had larger artillery calibers and higher speeds among battleships of the same class, and their protection was far inferior to that of German battleships. In the Battle of Jutland, they were instantly killed by various ships.

Needless to say, the battle cruiser. Even the super-dreadnought side armor of the 13.5-inch main gun represented by the battleship and the Iron Duke is said to be 305mm, but only one strip at the waterline is 305mm, and the main thickness above is 229mm, while at the same protection height

Above, the German König-class battleship is 350mm. The British Iron Duke-class battleship is only equivalent to the protection standard of the German battle cruiser of the same period. If the German König-class battleship replaces 10 12-inch guns with 8 14-inch guns, it can maintain

With the cost and tonnage basically unchanged, it was easy to defeat the Iron Duke. However, the artillery research progress was too behind (the 15-inch gun came out too late, and the 14-inch gun was not equipped at all). As a result, the King-class was put into service after the outbreak of World War 1.

The battleships could only carry the 12-inch guns that had been used as early as the Helgeland class to the battlefield of the Battle of Jutland. If the Königs-class Caesar class had 14-inch guns, the Betty fleet would probably not be able to escape at all.

, it is possible not to annihilate them all before the arrival of the large fleet. Even if it is as strong as the Queen, it is difficult to say that the transfer is successful under the attack of the 14-inch gun with an absolute advantage in quantity.

"I understand what you mean, but after all, it is difficult for a warship to be the best in all aspects. Even if it can be achieved, the cost will be too high." Tirpitz has already agreed with Xu Jie's balanced design of increasing the displacement of a single ship.

idea. But he is also very clear that even with high-quality designers and an appropriate increase in tonnage, it is difficult to achieve excellent performance in all aspects. Even if it is achieved, the cost will be too high. This sentence is indeed

That's right, for example, the average cost of the Queen-class battleships of the Royal Navy back then was 2.65 million pounds, while Hood's cost was as high as 6.02 million pounds. Even based on comparable costs, Hood's cost was as high as 4.4 million pounds. And what Hood received was only

It is a high speed of 5 to 6 knots. And this speed will inevitably be dragged down by the speed of other battleships in the battle line, making it difficult to exert it.

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