As for destroyers, they have always been large: the mainstream tonnage of destroyers in World War I was only more than 1,000 tons, and it was expanded to 1,500 tons during the war, and now 2,500 tons has become the standard configuration of destroyers, and the standard displacement of French fantasy-class, German Hedgehog-class, and American Keeling-class destroyers all exceeds this number. The traditional navy can be classified as cruisers if it is more than 3,000 tons, and now how can anyone play light cruisers under 5,000 tons?

Hoffman's idea is very new, but it must be tested first, at least the content is not unreasonable, and the designers had to put away the infinite expansion ideal of the "10,000-ton air defense cruiser" and study the "multifunctional future destroyer" in a down-to-earth manner.

The navy was attacked with two rounds of design intentions, and the actual head of the navy, Field Marshal Dönitz, was also anxious, but he knew that it was useless to be in a hurry, and there must be a steady, proper, and reliable construction idea as a guarantee, and the head of state had clearly stipulated that the navy should have great development, and that it would expand its fleet, warships, and bases, and that once it took a fork in the road, it would be a loss and waste at the least, and the navy would be ruined at the worst, so it was impossible not to be cautious.

The only thing that makes Hoffman happy is that the Type 23 submarine is being built and improved in an orderly manner, and the Type 30 super submarine is expected to complete its first ship in April, and he is very satisfied with this, Germany is still unique in the field of submarines.

Unlike the Naval Armaments Conference, the afternoon meeting on armor finally relieved Hoffmann: the experts reported that the composite armor was beginning to show its eyebrows, and the results of the range tests were clearly displayed.

As the world's largest army power, Germany has always led the trend of the times in the field of tanks, and at the same time, it is also the country with the deepest sense of urgency. Even if the mainstream weapons represented by the Tiger 2, Tiger 3 and Leopard have significant advantages over the equipment of other countries, they still do not give up the research and development progress of the next generation of tanks. According to the original plan, the E45 project was to build a prototype car by 1946, but Hoffman proposed that the new generation of main battle tanks no longer distinguish between heavy and medium, and that it was necessary to integrate the defense + firepower level of heavy tanks and the mobility and production cost of medium tanks.

Finally, I hope that Maybach will get the 850 hp HL245 engine out, although the maturity problem is not small, but at least with the gradual improvement, the problem will always be solved, so that the mobility indicators have been initially solved, and now the problem is armor and artillery.

In fact, Hoffman has already selected the type in Hoffman's mind, that is, the L7, but he can't say this, because the L7 is still lying in the British laboratory is just a blueprint, at least until the end of next year, there is no hope, but the artillery problem is the least troublesome among many problems, and the use of German 128mm can actually be a big deal to re-change the E45 into E50, and this tonnage loss is still within the range that can be tolerated.

The most important thing is composite armor, he brainwashed the designers from the time he crossed it, emphasizing that composite armor is not to find the material with the strongest defense ability under the same thickness, but to find the material with the strongest defense ability under the same weight. Once or twice, everyone was still at a loss, and the designers finally realized that they were only in the traditional fields such as new alloys and rare alloys at the beginning, always thinking about what rare formula to use to strengthen the current surface and re-strengthen the nickel-chromium alloy armor, where to think of other crooked ways?

It was not until the experiment of ceramics and fiberglass that Germany's exploration of composite armor was right, and it was found that the effect of fiberglass was better, and the bullet resistance of fiberglass plates of the same thickness was not as good as that of armor steel of the same thickness, but the bullet resistance of fiberglass plates of the same weight exceeded that of armor steel of the same weight, and the key to limiting the mobility of tanks was the weight-to-power ratio rather than the thickness-to-weight ratio.

With this layer of window paper pierced, the follow-up will be easy.

The drawings that the designers took out this time are closer to the E50, using a 128mm tank gun, the defensive ability is comparable to the Tiger 3, the volume is slightly larger, and the weight is reduced from 58 tons to more than 52 tons after using composite armor.

Due to the upgrade of the power system, the designers made a bold innovation this time, abandoning the heirloom of the German tank staggered overlapping load wheels, and changing the running gear to 7 load wheels on each side, 7 torsion bar springs, 5 hydraulic shock absorbers, 4 carrier pulleys, 1 front induction wheel with track adjuster, 1 rear driving wheel and 1 track arrangement.

Seeing Hoffmann studying the modeling, Speer deliberately pointed out: "This is the unanimous idea formed by Rheinsteel, Rheinmetall, Henschel, Porsche, Maybach and the General Directorate of Army Weapons Design after many discussions, and everyone believes that if the weight is to be reduced while maintaining the defensive capability, it is no longer possible to use staggered load wheels and apply the newer chassis and travel system"

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Hoffman read part of the design of the Leopard 1 tank completed in the 60s from this drawing, but now it is still a bit far from the Leopard 1, more like a transition between the fusion of the Tiger 3 and the Leopard 1, which is quite different from the historical E50 design.

"I think it's okay, as long as you can maintain a reasonable walking gear, you don't have to use the staggered load wheel design, I have heard the front-line generals complain that in order to serve this set of staggered load wheels, the maintenance troops are busy until late at night every day, if it is not for our army has been firmly grasping the initiative on the battlefield, the situation is not optimistic." Hoffman first fully affirmed the innovation, and at the same time proposed, "You still have to be bold, such as two-way stabilization, infrared systems, micro radar warning devices, etc., can be boldly put in, do not worry about the rising cost, in the future, the annual output of tanks will not exceed 10,000, and the unit price is acceptable." ”

"What is the approximate price you can accept?"

"I think 70.8 million Reichsmarks/vehicle is acceptable." After mass production, the Tiger tank cost less than 270,000 Reichsmarks, and the latest Tiger 3 tank cost only 500,000 Reichsmarks, and many people were relieved to hear that Hoffman agreed to raise the price to 70.8 million marks.

"Hopefully I'll see the prototype before Christmas 1946, that's the biggest requirement I can get on schedule."

Just as he was about to discuss the situation of other follow-up armaments, Chief Adjutant Dahlges hurriedly walked in: "Führer, there is an emergency situation that needs to be reported that Japan had a major earthquake in the East China Sea yesterday, and the scene was tragic and the losses were huge.

Hoffman knew that there was indeed a major earthquake in Japan in 1944, but he couldn't remember when, but now he understood it and asked, "What are the specific requirements?"

"The Navy has lost a large number of factories, including the Nagoya Aircraft Factory, and hopes to support a number of machine tools and industrial equipment, and at the same time ensure the priority supply of Japanese aircraft in the next three months, especially now that the Combined Fleet is operating in the direction of Hawaii, and the urgent need for air forces Japan has also proposed that the Galapagos Island, which they currently occupy in Central America, will be given to us, and they will only borrow it temporarily."

"I can promise that we still have a batch of British planes in our hands, including Spitfire, etc., if Japan doesn't mind, we can provide them in advance, and as for the carrier-based aircraft and engines that Marshal Hori urgently needs, we will also ensure the supply" Hoffman thought for a while, "Our army still has a certain amount of spare capacity in transportation capacity after the end of the South African campaign, and can send supplies to the designated place where Japan wants to arrive, provided that the Japanese Navy must send warships to escort it." ”

After Hoffmann's reply, Speer asked: "Führer, of course you can sell things to Japan, but how can you calculate the money?" Japan now owes us almost 30 billion marks, when will this account be collected? ”

"Don't be in a hurry, didn't Japan give us half of New Guinea to the east? I estimate that the western half is also soon, and then the island of Timor is estimated to be these two days, and as for the southern part of Indochina, which the French are bent on, I also have great expectations," Hoffman smiled, "Besides, didn't Marshal Hori give us the Galapagos Island?" ”

"Will Japan fight the U.S. military to the end?"

"Maybe, maybe not, we always have to do our best to help someone in Japan to pay and help us fight the Americans, why not?"

"Did the Germans agree to our request for emergency help?" On the Yamato, a preoccupied Horikichi asked Chiaki Matsuda that the Tokai earthquake had a great impact on him.

"Yes, the carrier-based aircraft will be guaranteed to be supplied, and the Army Airlines can first provide us with a batch of British Spitfires and promise to help us send them to the designated location, the first batch includes 300 aircraft, 20,000 tons of aviation fuel and 500 engine parts." Ryunosuke Kusaka smiled, "Sir, the Germans still seem to be very interesting."

"It's interesting enough, but we're also interesting enough, Galapagos Island will be released." Horiyoshi sighed leisurely, "The Germans want us to continue fighting the Americans." ”

"But they don't want to, can we stop fighting?"

Horikichi smiled bitterly: "That's the problem, whether the Germans support it or not, we have to grit our teeth, and now that we have support and materials, we don't even have an excuse to shirk."

Everyone at the scene knew that the army had sent reinforcements three days ago, and it would not work at all if they didn't fight. Now that the Combined Fleet has taken the Aleutian Islands, the three flight divisions are fighting against the American forces on Oahu every day, and it is said that they have exhausted each other's temper, and the next attack on other territories in the Hawaiian Islands is ready to be launched.

"Pass my order to launch a landing operation on Lanai on time on December 15 to cut off the connection between the enemy's Oahu and Hawaii Island," Horikichi smiled slightly, "I know that Oahu is well defended, but I'm afraid that the other islands may not be, right?" ”

"Sir, is it permissible for naval artillery to suppress and attack the surrounding islands of Maui and Clokai?" Shima Kiyoei was the first to gear up, "I can't wait to teach American ghost animals a lesson with 460mm naval guns!" ”

"Agree to the request, and carry out deterrent artillery bombardment after the successful landing of cover, but the shells should be used sparingly, and you will open up when the supplies come up."

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