Chapter 484 Midway-class aircraft carrier

The aircraft carriers that the Germans were going to buy were provided by the Vanguard, and at once there were 2 of them.

Meng Xiang produced 3 Royal Arks in one go. The performance of the Ark Royal is also not bad, but the Vanguard does not need so much for the time being, because Meng Xiang has added 2 more aircraft carriers, 1 Essex-class aircraft carrier, and 1 Midway-class aircraft carrier.

The Essex-class aircraft carrier has won the bid for the US Navy's aircraft carrier program. This does not affect Meng Xiang's private production. As a famous meritorious aircraft carrier in World War II, even though it was the largest number in the entire World War II, none of them were sunk. In addition to the huge strength of the U.S. Navy, the performance of the Essex-class aircraft carrier is also very good.

In addition to more watertight cabins to ensure its chances of survival, the more than 100 carrier-based aircraft on top of it also ensure its powerful attack power. The Americans also knew the goods, so they chose it and opened an order for 2 ships at once. The Lexington-class and Yorktown-class aircraft carriers are still under construction. It is also considered to be able to open an order for 2 ships at once, because the global strength is relatively poor, and more importantly, the Americans have not started the war machine at this time, otherwise it will not only be a matter of 2 ships.

These are all produced in advance without faults, and through a little camouflage and transformation, concealment, and using this Essex-class aircraft carrier as a training ship, it is still inconspicuous.

Including the Midway-class aircraft carrier, it was also used as a training ship.

In fact, the navy is similar to the air force, and it also requires a lot of training before it can grow up. But the navy is also a gold-eating beast, similar to large ships such as aircraft carriers and battleships, and a single docking action may consume several tons of fuel. Plus all kinds of repairs and wear and tear. Training alone sinks a lot of gold to the bottom of the sea.

At this time, a large part of the primary training ships were sail training ships, which could not only save money, but also temper the courage to fight the waves. And Meng Xiang rummaged through the base, but he didn't see a single sail battleship. Because the base started from the First World War, at that time, who still produced sail warships? Helplessly, the training ships of the vanguard army were extravagant real warships from the very beginning. Even the primary training was some of the ships of the First World War.

Repair and attrition, there is a shipyard repair function. At this time, only on the coastline controlled by the domestic joint theater, there were scattered ports such as Qinhuangdao, Tangshan, Tianjin, Yangjiaogou, Longkou, Penglai, Yantai, Weihai, Rushan, Qingdao, Rizhao, and Lianyungang. Among them, there are two shipyards built in some places, and there are as many as 15 at this time.

Usually, there is not so much production, there is a surplus of production lines, and there is no problem with maintenance.

In addition, the oil in this era is indeed more affordable, and the United States and Britain have imposed a ban on the vanguard army, so that the supply of oil is not a problem. What's more, in order to completely solve the problem of oil seeds, the production scale of Yumen Oilfield was expanding at this time, and the Zhongyuan Oilfield in Puyang, Henan Province was also set up by sub-bases and secretly exploited. When the time comes, the farms that are classified as the vanguard army, as soon as the people are moved away, the camouflage function will be activated, and if no one disturbs them, they will not be discovered by outsiders for the time being.

After solving the problems of maintenance and fuel, the Pioneer Army was able to have such a luxurious training ship. In order to better and faster adapt the Pioneer Army's navy to ships, Meng Xiang directly used those advanced ships for internship training. Under the inexhaustible production of the base, it is normal to take out a few aircraft carriers as training ships for those rookies to train.

But the Midway-class aircraft carrier, which is the largest aircraft carrier in the world at this time, is really too extravagant. Before the Shinano-class aircraft carrier sold to the devil came out, the Midway-class aircraft carrier was the largest, and it was also one of the most powerful aircraft carriers in World War II.

It's a pity that when it entered service, World War II had already ended a month. Just because of this month, it did not enjoy one-sixth of the discount, and even if the cost of hundreds of millions of dollars was reduced to one-fifth, it would be a big expense. Meng Xiang considered that he had no possibility of upgrading tenfold in a short period of time, so he gritted his teeth and produced the Midway-class aircraft carrier.

The Vanguard Army lacked naval personnel and could not pursue quantity, so Meng Xiang could only work quality. As a correction of some of the shortcomings of the Essex-class aircraft carriers, the Midway, since it was produced at the end of World War II, the Americans must have received a lot of experience in fighting in the Pacific.

It's a pity that the timing of the presentation of the Midway is too inappropriate, just when the propeller aircraft finished the swan song of World War II and the jet began to rise. In this way, some modifications need to be made again to adapt to the growth of the times. But some of the designs considered for propeller aircraft have been finalized, lacking room for upgrades, and finally becoming a bit of a chicken rib in the shadow of the Eagle and the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. Only three ships were built, and after a few trips of soy sauce around the world, they slowly grew old.

With the base, Meng Xiang allowed this Midway-class aircraft carrier to come to the world five years ahead of schedule.

In addition to being a bit out of time, the Midway aircraft carrier also had some other shortcomings. It's wet, it's crowded, it's overly complicated.

Because of its heavy loads, the bow of the ship often crashes into large waves. And his low freeboard made the aircraft deck and aircraft hangar often flooded, and the stability became worse. Part of this is the use of new and large aircraft and the transformation brought about by new weapons. In the original design, this problem was not really prominent. Even if some of the standards are exceeded, they can be adjusted by reducing the load.

You must know that the US aircraft carrier Midway is equipped with a large number of anti-aircraft weapons to carry out suicide attacks on the Japanese. In Meng Xiangxin's fleet adjustment, a large number of air defense cruisers and destroyers were placed to share the pressure of the aircraft carrier, so that the sharp side of the aircraft carrier's attack was relieved.

The reduction of part of the allocation also correspondingly reduces some personnel, which greatly reduces the number of large designs. Such problems are not only present on the Midway aircraft carriers, but even the Essex-class aircraft carriers are more than half of the design, making them crowded. This was mainly due to the addition of various anti-aircraft weapons to the Japanese suicide planes.

After making corresponding adjustments, a large part of this problem can be solved. Because of the racial gap, Americans feel cramped and crowded, and they feel worse about Chinese people. The rest of the conditions are a little worse, and for the hard-working Chinese people, the roots are nothing. These are much better than those canned food silos in China. No one is as picky as the Americans.

Of course, it has other problems, but it is undoubtedly Meng Xiang's best choice at this time. In the early days of the Pioneer Army, the navy would still be mainly coastal garrison, and it would not reach the realm of the blue ocean navy. Therefore, its defects of poor wave resistance are also acceptable. And the combat power and protection of a Midway surpass the aircraft carrier Essex, even if the price is a little more cost-effective.

Since the vanguard army does not give much consideration to the issue of transport and escort, the power of large aircraft carriers is still more cost-effective than those cheap escort carriers.

As for its complexity, it ignores Meng Xiang, who has the base maintenance, and has the automatic repair of the base, and is never afraid of complexity. Just like Summy, like the Leopard tanks that were being installed in the army at this time, these complexities did not affect their excellent performance.

"In a few years, I will have to choose it." Meng Xiang looked at the Eagle aircraft carrier that was in the production catalog and shook his head with a wry smile. As the aircraft carrier Eagle, which was commissioned in 61 years, the base is already ready for production. In addition to the lack of some functions such as electronics due to space-time technical barriers, it can still be made. It's a half-crippled product, but it's better than nothing.

However, what makes Meng Xiangdan hurt is its cost, which was already 2.5-280 million US dollars, and then a double price, spanning the base cost of 500 million US dollars, discouraged Meng Xiang, who was accustomed to cheap goods in the base. His current vault can't build two, let alone a half-wreckage.

Therefore, the appearance of the Midway-class aircraft carrier at this time not only makes it easy to wear the crown of the king of aircraft carriers, but also becomes the main choice of Meng Xiang's aircraft carrier for a period of time in the future.

"She's definitely the best aircraft carrier in the world! There is no doubt about it! Bao Yaoping exclaimed, when he saw the Midway-class aircraft carrier, his heart was already fascinated by this huge aircraft carrier, and immediately put the complaint that the Royal Ark-class aircraft carrier under his command was towed away, "I must be the captain of this battleship!" It's okay if it's temporary, even if it's three days, no, one day! ”

"Don't worry, Commander, let's take turns as a temporary captain for a while. When the time comes, it is necessary to select the best candidates. Li Dayan squinted at the huge aircraft carrier while smiling at a cigar in his mouth.

Because his two eyes are particularly big, others changed his name of Li Dayan to the nickname of Li Dayan.

"As long as you can be the captain of an aircraft carrier, it's not bad." Wang Xiu said lightly.

Among the six aircraft carrier captains trained by the Vanguard Army in the first batch, in addition to the three clone captains with two dragons and one phoenix, Wang Xiu, Li Dayan, and Bao Yaoping are the three most prominent ordinary naval captains. Among them, Bao Yaoping is brave in battle, dares to fight, has a bold personality, and likes to fight and disagree; Li has a strong eye for the overall situation and is good at making decisions; Wang Xiu is thoughtful and strategic.

Among the thousands of students, the phrase "Wang Mou Li is not convinced" has been widely spread.

Thanks to the attraction of the Zhenyuan and several cruisers, the old-fashioned naval bosses of various departments did not mix too much with the aircraft carrier. As a new combat system, aircraft carriers need to be rearranged, and it is also a process of reshuffling, so those who emerge are newcomers who do not have many sets. That is, it can be regarded as Meng Xiang's tomorrow system.

But even if it's tomorrow, these novices don't have much opportunity to get involved in the political game at this time. So they also don't know much about the placement of aircraft carriers. However, Wang Xiu still had a lot of doubts and worries about the sudden emergence of two more aircraft carriers in the vanguard army and the withdrawal of two Royal Ark-class aircraft carriers.

The Midway-class aircraft carrier has a larger tonnage, with a full load of more than 50,000 tons, and there are even more such operators. It required more than 3,000 people to operate, and when it was finally completed, the number of people who needed to operate it spanned 4,000. Previously, there were only 1,200 to 1,650 people on board the Ark Royal-class aircraft carrier. It took more than a year for the three Royal Arks to train 8,000 people. And the establishment on the Essex-class aircraft carrier also needs more than three thousand people.

It is not easy to barely drive three aircraft carriers, and the five at this time simply do not have so many operators.

In the final trade-off, Meng Xiang finally abandoned the Ark Royal-class aircraft carrier, but the result is that the Ark Royal-class aircraft carrier is still much worse than the Essex-class and Midway-class, especially in the future, the battlefield of the Vanguard Navy is the Pacific Ocean, which the Essex class adapts to, rather than the North Sea or the Atlantic, which the Ark Royal is more suitable for.

In addition, the Essex-class and Midway-class are both made in the United States, and some standards have also been figured out, and the future is still the world of American aircraft carriers, and adapting to American standards as soon as possible has also saved some trouble.

In the end, in order to save time, Meng Xiang used the Essex-class as a training ship and let the Ark Royal withdraw. Of course, this will not be wasted. Since the Ark Royal is more adapted to the North Sea and the Atlantic, Meng Xiang doesn't mind letting them show off their skills there and pry into the corners of history. So he took the initiative to find the Germans.

The cost of the Zeppelin aircraft carrier cost more than 90 million marks, and the two aircraft carriers, which are obviously somewhat similar to the Ark Royal, only cost 120 million marks in total, and they are still bartered. Can this not tempt the Germans? The condition of the ship, which they have checked, is almost brand new. These boats don't have as many spare parts, so they are repaired and are almost as good as new.

"We need these ships even more!" Meng Xiang's answer was clear, with the support of informal allies.

"We'll remember this friendship!" Kahn had become one of the representatives of the German side of the Vanguard Army, dealing mainly with copycat companies and the Vanguard Army.

The two aircraft carriers had already been acquired by the Germans under the name of a copycat company, but they did not catch up with the prelude to the Sea Lion program.

On July 10th, Lao Xi couldn't wait to announce the sea lion plan.

The next day, the elite infantry division of the 13th Division had already arrived on the eastern shore of the English Channel.

Meng Xiang didn't expect Lao Xi's movements to be so fast.

When the French surrendered, it wasn't just that the Germans were safe. The occupied areas need to be taken over, looted for supplies and wealth, some vetoers need to be suppressed, and the puppet regime transition needs to be coordinated. These problems are more of a headache than war.

There were still more than two million captives to be disposed of, of whom nearly two million were French alone. Some of them needed to be released, but most of them had to remain in the camps for a while, which was also a guarantee that the Germans would ensure the friendly behavior of the French government in the next step. In this way, the lives of more than a million prisoners of war were pinched in the hands of the Germans, and the weakness of France can be imagined. But so many prisoners of war are not simply sent a few people to watch, and they also need to be guarded by a large army.

Europeans also have a stronger sense of state and nation, and resistance organizations are layered in various places. These are not all at once peaceful. Lao Xi detonated the sea lion plan in advance, and he also planned to quickly solve the loss of the British, kill the chickens and monkeys, and eliminate all the noise. In the face of violence, although the truth is still the truth, those who hold the truth sometimes need to bend down.

The sub-base in Greenland is already operational. Taking advantage of the oil resources there, the list of weapons sold by copycat companies is constantly increasing in new quantities. And these weapons, which avoided the British directly from the north, were delivered to the Germans.

It was with some support from the copycat company, the Germans, who had the strength to respond quickly, instigated the Sea Lion project in advance.

However, when the 13 infantry divisions arrived, in the face of the tight garrison of the British on the other side of the channel, the army generals complained one after another.

"We couldn't get to shore without removing the flies from the lost heads. Know that their bombs, or the shells they guide, could blow up a transport ship full of elite Imperial soldiers at any moment. ”

"If there is no way to deal with the British planes and the garrisons on the seashore, the soldiers of the Empire will walk into a huge meat grinder, and it would be like killing them again if we were to send them there."

In the original history, the Sea Lion Project was like a farce, without regular landing ships, it was difficult to climb to the sky under the intensive fire of the British. The later Normandy landings were also successful by hitting the holes in the German defense, and even then it was a loss.

There are so many difficulties for a Taiwan to rush to the shore and land, not to mention that the Germans are facing Great Britain, a world power.

Even with the regular landing ships provided by the cottage company, it would take a lot of lives to fill the land for landing, so the army was still reluctant. They racked their brains and thought about it for a long time, and felt that it was still necessary to use the navy and air force to completely clear the British positions in the beach-grabbing position first, and then the issue of landing the army.

At this time, the English Channel was still full of mines, which left the navy with room to operate, and the air force was left to do so.

In this regard, Goering also took over all the preludes to the Sea Lion plan, but the early effect was not very good, and the British defense was still solid.

By this time, the aircraft under his command had already spanned a thousand fighters and 1,500 bombers. Air bases scattered in Denmark, Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, northern France, etc., which are closer to the UK. And by this time there were only more than five hundred fighters left in the hands of the British. More than 300 fewer than the original. This is mainly due to the recent high losses.

Since the beginning of the war, the air war between the Germans and the British has not stopped. Especially after the surrender of France, the Germans did not stop attacking British ports and other facilities.

The Germans, after cooperating with copycat companies, made the aircraft much more advanced than the original. This gave them the upper hand in the battle with the British, and their lost planes were quickly recouped, with no less than 500 aircraft supplied by the copycat company alone. This allowed the Germans to gain an inexhaustible advantage.

But the British were still stubborn and could always intercept the German bombardments with precision. This made the Luftwaffe seem to have the upper hand, but it was slow to open the situation, so that the army refused to brave the British fire.

"It seems that the intelligence of the sky is true, the British have set up a radar." Lao Xi was also very anxious, and he was slow to threaten the British and enter a war of attrition, which was not very beneficial to Germany. He hoped that the British would surrender soon, but the British became more and more courageous.

"How's the radar information you got from the sky?" He asked.

"The British built a string of radar stations in the south and east!" Himmler replied with a blank face. On the radar problem, this is a mistake by the fat man. The Germans had been fighting for so long, and some pilots had already reacted, and they heard the orders given by the British Air Force command organ from the ground in the air battle very skillfully and accurately, so they realized that they had a high-tech device on the ground that could control and understand the dynamics in the air, and they expected that this was an advanced electronic device.

And these statements, Ge Fat did not pay attention to them.

"The construction of our radar station will take some time!" Himmler made a point of emphasizing the word "us". He also took the opportunity to learn a little, the Germans had long discovered the radar, but it was shelved and not used. And this decision was also made by Ge Fatzi. He didn't mind making this fat man ugly again.

Lao Xi looked up at him, but he didn't look at Goering. About the radar, the Vanguard has already reminded them once. Copycat companies have also used to sell radar equipment. At that time he asked Goering, and Göring just didn't care, and he missed an opportunity to learn more. However, he did not reprimand Goering. Although Ge Fat Man has many shortcomings, his loyalty to him is still enough. Some things that are not suitable for him to make a move, Ge Fatzi is undoubtedly the best candidate.

This is also why there was always someone around the previous emperor. Politics is dirty, and there is always a need for blackfaces to contrast. Moreover, Goering spared no effort in the growth of the Luftwaffe, and his ability was still very strong, and he could also balance the forces below.

Lao Xi can't do without him at this time, so naturally there won't be much.

However, this radar still needs to be solved as soon as possible.

"Isn't it a copycat company that has a very effective radar equipment?" After thinking about it for a long time, Lao Xi decided, "Let's use theirs first!" ”