"General, Commander Magifin's urgent telegram." A secretary sent a telegram to Chief of Naval Operations Benson's desk, then turned to leave after the latter signed for it.

"What is this guy doing? Let me guess. Do I want to resupply or do I have to arrange for new officers who are ready to be replaced? Or something else? Benson said to himself as he browsed. For the person of Magifin, Benson and even the US Navy are very entangled. First of all, Ma Jifen is really a person who does not understand politics, and in terms of command and management, Ma Jifen's behavior is impeccable, and he can be called the best commander in the entire US Navy, but he does not understand, he does not know that the war will ultimately serve politics, and he does not know that he must take care of the interests around him in everything he does.

Not to mention anything else, because of the problem that the 14-inch 50L gun was too big, in the end Majifen decided to remove all the 14-inch 50L guns and replace them with 14-inch 45L guns, and said that he would refuse to accept the new 14-inch L50 gun until the walk problem was solved! This made him offend a large number of people! The logistics department and the ordnance department all the way up to the arms dealers almost offended a clean! If it weren't for the fact that he was missing now, Majifen probably wouldn't have been able to be the commander of the U.S. fleet in Europe. Moreover, many people in the US Navy believe that Magifen wants to avoid confrontation with China in his bones, and although the Saipan incident has made the Americans completely abandon their attempt to further infiltrate Southeast Asia, some politicians who still intend to move westward are still very dissatisfied with him.

"Dear General Benson, the future of naval warfare. I have a bold guess, although there is not enough evidence to prove it, but I think it is to prevent some tragic events from happening. We should discuss the changes in the maritime strategy of the Entente in this case. ”

"Since the Battle of Jutland, the dreadnoughts of the German High Seas Fleet have not been seen again, and according to the industrial strength of Germany, with the support of China, these warships were completely repaired in a few months, but even in the most difficult moments of the German Navy. The Hipper's fleet was heavily damaged, General Essen attacked the German military port, and 4 Bismarck-class battleships were not put into service. These dreadnoughts did not take part in the battle. That is, these ships have been in the shipyard for a full year or so, and this time is enough time for something to happen, such as the improvement of the battleship. Especially the refinement and upgrading of the main gun. ”

"This is not nonsense. The German dreadnoughts are built with reference to the Longxing-class battleships in Huaxia, and the Longxing-class battleships in Huaxia can replace the triple 12-inch main guns with the twin 14-inch main guns, so the German battleships also have this potential, or the problem of changing guns has been considered when they were built. During the year, the German dreadnoughts did not participate in the war, and were they refitting their guns? In order to cope with the unprecedented pressure on the British Navy if the Germans replaced six dreadnoughts with six super-dreadnoughts armed with eight 350mm guns, I propose to reconsider the naval strategy agreed upon by both sides and to concentrate forces in the North Sea to lure the German High Seas Fleet into attack. Inflicted heavy losses in one fell swoop, and then moved south to deal with the Italians. In the letter, Majifen elaborated on his views. And put forward his own point of view for this.

"If I hadn't looked at the signature, I would have thought it was written by an Englishman." Looking at Majifen's telegram, Benson instinctively felt a trace of dissatisfaction, as mentioned earlier, the military must ultimately serve political and national interests. It is a good idea to concentrate forces against the adversary, but why did the American fleet have to enter the North Sea and fight the German High Seas Fleet with the British? Rabbits bite when they're in a hurry! As long as the situation in the North Sea can still be controlled, the Americans mean to let Britain and Germany slowly consume in the North Sea first, and then the US Navy will concentrate its forces and break up the Italians together with the French Navy. After all, according to the analysis of the US Navy Department, in addition to the 15-inch naval guns, the general 14-inch 45L class guns will not pose much threat to the standard battleships of the US Navy, and the risk of facing the Italian fleet is much smaller than facing the German fleet, and the United States supported France's proposal to solve the Mediterranean problem first, and it will not be isolated in the internal meetings of the Entente in the future, and in order to open up the connection between France and North Africa as soon as possible, France must also support the Americans in some things!

On the one hand, let the British and Germans stumble, and consume Britain's maritime power. On the other hand, what a good calculation to have the support of France politically! How could it be possible to change because of a letter from Magifin? Then the success of the US government and the British government in bargaining for months was all down the drain in a short time? Let's not say whether this is true or not, even if it is true, the US Government will definitely not agree to change the plan, even if the British have the same viewpoint, to persuade the Americans to change their strategy, the Americans will not agree, according to the plan of the Americans, no matter what, let the Grand Fleet and the High Seas Fleet fight first!

However, Magiffen's proposal did sound the alarm for the Americans, so the US Navy top brass also made a special analysis of the possibility of replacing the guns of the dreadnoughts of the German High Seas Fleet. First of all, it is technically possible to reserve space for a larger turret in the later stage when building a ship, after all, there are a lot of facts, for example, this is the case in Huaxia. Secondly, in terms of time, I haven't shot for more than a year, and if I stay in the dock, I can complete the replacement of guns during this time.

But all this is theoretical, if you consider the deployment of German resources in wartime, this plan seems to be a little unrealistic, first of all, although the German Navy won a big victory in the Battle of Jutland, but still suffered heavy losses, especially the existence of the turret as a bomb magnet, the number of losses is more, and the main force of Germany's super dreadnought is the main gun of the 350L45 level, so that the German naval arsenal production of heavy artillery must first make up for the losses of the Battle of Jutland, in the following year of fighting, The German High Seas Fleet was not idle, and the attendance rate was quite high, so the damage and wear of the guns were also relatively serious. Add to this the fact that in order to compensate for the artillery losses in the Battle of Jutland, this amount will be quite significant.

Secondly, according to intelligence, it was already quite difficult for Germany to complete 4 Bismarck-class battleships in this year, and all resources and manpower were tilted towards these 4 steel behemoths. Moreover, the replacement of artillery also involves turrets and various servo equipment, and a turret weighs hundreds of tons, which requires a large number of factories to cooperate with each other to complete the replacement of artillery. In this case, in the eyes of the Americans, the German Navy simply does not have the ability to equip these dreadnoughts with 32 350L45 main guns while making up for the battle losses and on the other hand, and on the other hand, they are capable of getting new ships. In other words, there is no possibility that Majifen's vision will be realized.

But what is the actual situation? How did the Germans deal with this? The Americans guessed correctly, if it was purely based on Germany's production capacity and wartime resources, such a job would indeed be difficult to complete, but in fact, thanks to the excellent overall planning and the cooperation mechanism within the Allies, the Germans still completed the dreadnought firepower upgrade plan very smoothly!

First of all, in terms of artillery production, long before the war, the Allies had unified the artillery specifications, and everyone used a 350MML45 main gun, that is, in addition to Krupp, the Andor Skoda Gun Factory in Italy and the world-famous Škoda Gun Factory in Austria-Hungary could also produce such artillery. Compared to the German High Seas Fleet, which was at war as a whole, the Italian and Austro-Hungarian fleets were much easier! Two fleet battles were fought in 3 years, so their production capacity is absolutely surplus.

If the artillery problem is solved, then the remaining various accessories servos and optical instruments or something will be better solved, and even the armor steel can be shipped to Europe by the ships of Huaxia! On the whole, the logistical pressure on the German Navy was not great, so in this case, the Germans relied on the strength of Italy and Austria-Hungary, as well as foreign aid from China, to accomplish this task, which was unlikely in the eyes of the Americans. The Allies did not know about the unified artillery specifications within the Allied Powers, and even in various documents, the Italian and Austro-Hungarian warships were known to have 356mm guns, and on the surface, the weapons specifications within the Allied Powers were not the same. In fact, in fact, in addition to naval guns, the specifications used in various land artillery and light weapons are indeed different, so the Americans did not take this into account.

Therefore, after some analysis by a bunch of people, the US Navy believes that the Germans do not have enough resources and manpower to complete this huge work, and even if the Germans do, they will change one or two ships at most, which will not have any fundamental impact on the war situation, so everyone can rest and continue to plan according to the original plan, the Americans and the French will sweep away the Allied fleet in the Mediterranean, and the British will only have to stare at the high seas fleet. Moreover, the US government also deliberately "reminded" Majifen not to spread his "baseless" speculations around, let alone let the British know about it, and to do their own business and not care about anything else.

"If the British knew that an American fleet commander would say such a thing, then we would be quite passive diplomatically and politically, and we would not have to work for the British because of an unrealistic speculation, would we?" President Wilson said to Benson.

"I knew that this was the result." Looking at Magifin, who looked a little depressed, Sims said with some schadenfreude. He didn't have any special opinion about Majifen, but as an American, he didn't want to revolve around the British baton, after all, the American fleet arrived in Britain, because of the difference in strength, he could only obey the arrangements of the British, and in the Mediterranean, the Americans were the maritime bosses of the Entente!

Thanks to the book friend zhouyu1976 for the reward, and the book friend Lonely Medusa for the monthly pass support ~~~. (To be continued......)