For the extra commander of the Mediterranean Fleet, Li Le also has his own preferred candidate. When the two of them talked about this issue, Li Le mentioned the name of one person: "I think Lindemann is a good choice. ”

This Lindemann, whose full name is Ernst? Lindemann had just been promoted to rear admiral two months earlier.

Originally, he was only a naval colonel, and was responsible for commanding the battleship Bismarck, serving as the captain.

In the real history, as a representative of the German Navy, he experienced the glory of the Battle of the Danish Strait with Lütjens, and also ushered in the final end together.

As the captain of a battleship, he showed due combat qualities and faithfully carried out the Navy's battle plan.

Therefore, Li Le felt that promoting such a commander who had "died once" could be more assured in terms of loyalty.

Of course, what the traverser knows, others don't know. Therefore, Li Le's personnel selection can only be described as confused in the eyes of others.

It can be said that in this selection and appointment, Li Le seems to be in a bit of a hurry. Lindemann didn't have enough experience, and it seemed a little too hard to be the commander of the fleet.

Raeder's intended commander was a bit more senior in terms of age, but after hearing the Führer's opinion, he decided to support the young commander named Lindemann.

The German Navy was not as powerful as the Army, and in fact, before Hitler came to power, the German Navy seemed to foreign countries to be a joke.

Subsequently, because of the support of the National Socialist Party and Hitler's flexible diplomacy, the German Navy began to develop out of nothing.

Because of this, the German Navy was deeply branded with the Führer, and the interior was full of personality cults for the Führer.

And now, the German navy defeated Britain and received a direct two-fold expansion of the British navy, becoming a world-class naval power, which is also the credit of the Führer's tactical reform.

In the view of German Admiral Raeder, his achievements today are inseparable from the cultivation of the Führer.

So there was no reason for him to refuse the Führer's request, even if it was a wrong one.

Although he felt that the appointment of Lindemann, the captain of the battleship, as the commander of the fleet, was a bit hasty, but on second thought, the appointment of the Führer was indeed not very important.

The current Mediterranean Sea can already be said to be the inner lake of the Axis group. The ships of the Third Reich sailing here can already be said to be almost risk-free.

The Italian Navy had a huge fleet in the Mediterranean that had lost its opponents, and the French Navy had a fleet here.

Both countries were now allies or client states of Germany, and the security of the German fleet could naturally be said to be without any problems.

At this time, the German Mediterranean Fleet was dispensable in itself, and it was not so intolerable to appoint an admiral who lacked the astonishment and qualifications to command such a modest fleet.

So Raeder once again chose to back down, deciding to continue to obey the Führer and put Ernst? Lindemann pushed to the position of commander of the Mediterranean fleet.

"My Führer, General Lindemann, is a suitable person, but he is slightly lacking in rank......" Raeder said to Li Le.

He was ready to give Lindemann a promotion favor at this time, so that the commander of the Mediterranean Fleet would continue to be under his control and influence.

The German Mediterranean Fleet was now just a showcase, and although there were such behemoths as the battleship Warrior, it could be described as poor and white.

Originally, the German Mediterranean Fleet had only a small force equipped with outdated French torpedo boats and a few old destroyers.

Now it only took one day to change the shotgun and have a battleship, so to speak, there is no difference from starting from scratch.

Naval construction takes time, and Lindemann spent most of his time training a fleet.

At most, it is not a lot of work to take on some anti-submarine tasks and watch that the French fleet does not make any trouble.

In such an unimportant but boring job, Lindemann must have Raeder's full support, so he will inevitably become an existence that Raeder can control.

On the other hand, he has repeatedly compromised like this, which is also increasing his bargaining chips.

The Führer, of course, was willing to put a obedient general in the position of commander-in-chief of the Navy.

For the Führer himself, it is important to have a general who can fight on the front line and achieve victory, but it is also indispensable to command the whole situation and obey his subordinates.

Therefore, as long as he obeys the Führer's words, he, the commander-in-chief of the navy, can continue to be in office.

As the head of the empire, of course Li Le would not mind that his subordinates had some of their own thoughts, he was very satisfied with the performance of Raeder's "upper path", nodded in agreement and said: "You are very right, I think it is very necessary to give him a proper promotion." ”

Lindemann's promotion was thus finalized, and the rest of the matter was relatively easy to solve. Raeder was going to leave 200 Danish and Norwegian volunteers of appropriate age to join the 3,000 young men on the German coast specially granted to him by the Führer and train them to become naval sailors.

The sailors will be trained in surprise training over the next month, and then assigned to serve on warships to fill the gap in the Navy's understaffing.

Even so, the shortage of naval personnel is still huge, and the navy will need to continue to train another 5,000 personnel in the future to support the scale of the existing naval fleet.

With the addition of these 5,000 men, the German fleet was able to barely enter the operational state. And that's not even counting the naval aviation, and the Marine Corps, which needs men.

If we add shore-based patrol units, as well as the logistical support units and supporting command structures that provide services to these units, the additional 20,000 personnel in the navy may not be enough.

Unlike the Army, the Navy is a high-tech branch of the armed forces, and the training cycle of personnel is longer, and the number of professionals required is also larger.

The good news is that the navy of the Third Reich will not face a large-scale naval battle anytime soon, and as long as it does not cause trouble in the Indian Ocean or the east coast of the United States, no one will disturb the expansion of the German navy.

This news was the best news that Raeder could think of right now, because there were so many headaches.

The previous cruise ship was converted into an aircraft carrier, and the progress of the project was quite fast, and this aircraft carrier will be incorporated into the Mediterranean Fleet according to the plan, but there is not a single superfluous person in the professional aviation force.

Lindemann had to rely on himself to strengthen the Third Reich's Mediterranean fleet, Raeder thought to himself.

"In the future, the Navy will focus on strengthening anti-aircraft operations and anti-submarine warfare, and you will personally supervise these two projects." As a prophet who traveled back in later generations, Li Le's tactical predictions were very accurate.

In the future, he has seen the terrible submarine force of the US Navy, and he has also seen the strength of the US Navy's aircraft carrier force.

It was because Japan did not attach importance to anti-submarine warfare that the United States eventually cut off its supply lines, which led to the collapse of the Pacific defense line.

The Third Reich is not the landlocked empire that did not have much maritime transport in the past, and the importance of the Mediterranean route is self-evident.

If the United States and Germany enter a state of war, the possibility of the US Navy going hunting in the Mediterranean is not impossible.

Therefore, Li Le ordered Raeder to pay attention to anti-submarine warfare, and at the same time to improve the anti-aircraft combat capability of the Imperial fleet.

Counting on crushing the United States in the number of aircraft carriers, or on par with it, Li Le did not have confidence. After all, the United States did not have a natural land threat, and Germany was fighting a decisive battle with the Soviet Union.

With the containment of the land, it is unrealistic to want to compete with the United States for hegemony at sea. What Li Le can do is to defend the Atlantic Ocean and let the United States stir up the situation in Europe as late as possible.

Moreover, in terms of performance indicators such as the range of carrier-based aircraft, Germany cannot be compared with the United States and Japan for a while.

Therefore, in terms of confrontation with carrier-based aircraft, the German naval aviation was naturally on the defensive. This is related to the design concept and the foundation of scientific research.

It is almost impossible to produce a carrier-based fighter with a huge range and excellent performance in a short period of time, and the choice of trade-offs and obvious weaknesses such as the Zero battle is not the best option for Germany.

Under such a premise, finding a way to use the existing weapons and equipment to win the Atlantic naval battle, which is not superior, is the topic of Raeder's next research.

"I will send another 1,000 apprentice pilots from the Air Force to join the Navy for carrier-based aircraft training." Li Le said to Raeder.

From the 21st century, Li Le, a traverser, still firmly believes that the best way to fight carrier-based aircraft is to have his own carrier-based aircraft unit.

Even in the 21 st century, when missile performance is very mature, the standard for judging the strength of the navies of various countries is still the carrier-based aircraft and the aircraft carrier fleet that carries these carrier-based aircraft.

Under this premise, Li Le's main support to Raeder was to help Raeder strengthen his naval aviation as much as possible.

Raeder also knew that the Führer was firm in the role of naval aviation, and in the last few important naval battles, the USS Zeppelin had indeed shown its formidable offensive capabilities.

With only about 40 Stuka C-based carrier-based attack aircraft, the British Royal Navy was overwhelmed.

It is not difficult for him to imagine that after having five aircraft carriers, the number of such carrier-based attack planes will be expanded to 200, and what kind of attack capability will he have against the sky.

Maybe the future will really become the world of naval aviation, although he doesn't want to admit it, but Raeder has already churned in his heart.

So he got up gratefully and thanked the Führer: "Thank you for your support for the construction of the Navy!" My Führer! Raeder will always be your most loyal follower! ”