"Tycho is going to fight us to the end!" Scheer said as he looked out the window at the three King-class battleships of the Third Battleship Detachment of the German High Seas Fleet moored in Wilhelmshaven. It was the fleet he had relied on the most, but now? Hehe, they can only be considered third-rate among the German capital ships. This is undoubtedly a sad story for the King-class battleship, and for the German Navy, it is a portrayal of the growing strength! After several years of economic recovery, the Germans, who had already tasted the sweetness of sea power, began to work harder to expand their fleet! Although the army's military spending is also increasing, the army needs to devote a considerable part of its strength to maintain the management of the new territory, and those Russians are not honest. And the navy is different, they can renew their fleet with all their might. And when the Italian Navy began to exert force, the Germans also decided to exert it.

"Since Tycho wants to fight us, let him feel the power of the German Empire! It's just a small third-rate country. Although the failure of the last coup d'état was intentional on the part of the Germans, Tycho's attitude made Wilhelm II very dissatisfied! In his opinion, Tycho's approach was a complete break with the Allies! Italy's geographical location is important, and it must not fall into the hands of others, since the current Italian regime does not want to cooperate with Germany, then change a leader for him! And in order to advance this plan, the first thing Germany had to do was to do everything possible to facilitate the plan for the main force of the High Seas Fleet to move south.

The Germans did not rush to start construction of new warships immediately, but to increase the progress of refitting those warships left over from World War 1, first of all, the comprehensive improvement and upgrade program of the original Bismarck-class battleships, which was eventually abandoned by the German Navy. And with the removal of the first ship. The Germans renamed the four remaining battleships. They were named Bavaria, Baden, Saxony and Württemberg. The battleships of this class were also renamed the Bavaria-class battleships, and the name Bismarck was to be used on a newly built super-battleship in Germany. Four Bavaria-class battleships were moved into the dock one after the other to undergo a year-long overhaul.

Among the specific improvements included the following, the first of which was the removal of the turret in the middle of the hull and the replacement of the power compartment. All the boilers were replaced with coal-fired boilers, old pipelines were replaced, and a new generation of steam turbines was replaced, and it can almost be said that the power system of the battleship was replaced. The improved Bavaria-class battleships have a maximum rated power output of more than 125,000 horsepower, and the speed is expected to reach more than 28 knots.

In terms of protection, the main change of the Bavaria-class battleships is the increase in the strength of underwater defenses. In particular, in order to resist a bullet, the Germans made a heavy adjustment and added additional armor protection to the depth at which a bullet could easily hit in water. At the same time, anti-mine protrusions were armored on the sides of the hull to protect against increasingly powerful torpedoes. At the same time, the horizontal armor was appropriately increased.

In the end, nothing changed except for the fire system, and Germany had planned to develop a new 15-inch naval gun, after all, the Bavaria would remain the pillar of the German Navy for a long time. However, the 16-inch naval guns for the new ship and York-class battleships were ahead of the research and development priorities. At present, the Bavaria-class battleships can only make do with old guns. And after improvements. The tonnage of the new Bavaria-class battleships increased to more than 34,000 tons, turning from old battleships into fast battleships.

The improvement of the three King-class battleships and the two Caesar-class battleships was lagging behind, and the Germans were a little dissatisfied with these warships with only 14-inch guns and small hulls, and even decided to scrap the two Caesar-class battleships at the right time, and the three Kings were also included in the consideration of decommissioning, so they were not in a hurry to change. That's why Scheer had mixed feelings when he looked at the three Caesar-class battleships in the harbor. The German Navy invested more on aircraft carriers than on battleships!

Immediately after the commissioning of the two 15,000-ton aircraft carriers Blucher and the Von der Tann, the German Navy began to prepare for a second class armored aircraft carrier. These two ships were named after the Moltke and Goeben. (According to the Germans.) The future aircraft carrier was named after the battlecruiser that sank in World War 1 in honor of the heroes and battleships who did not see the end of the war. Originally, the completion of the first class of aircraft carriers would have allowed the German Navy to gain a lot of experience, but with the increase in tonnage. The Germans also had more and more choices, so much so that they were somewhat confused, and Kaiser Wilhelm wanted the German Navy to have a supercarrier like the Fury-class aircraft carrier, which he believed was the only warship in the world that could match the current status of the German Empire! "The tonnage of the new aircraft carrier should not be less than 35 thousand tons, and his performance should surpass the British Fury-class aircraft carriers!" In his instructions to the Admiralty, the Kaiser wrote:

And when Schell and others received the Kaiser's instructions, they could only smile bitterly, because he knew that Wilhelm, a "wayward child", had a stubborn temper again. Germany only has a total of 120,000 tons of aircraft carrier tonnage, and Britain and the United States have to use battleships to change it because of economic problems. However, because of the huge tonnage advantage in Huaxia and the principle of having the strongest combat effectiveness under the restrictions of the treaty, the standard displacement of the German second-class aircraft carrier on paper is less than 25,000 tons. And this class of aircraft carriers will become the backbone of the German Navy's treaty apparatus. After "assuring" Wilhelm that with the shipbuilding capacity and design level of the German Empire, it was possible to rank 25,000-ton aircraft carriers on paper to the level of British Fury-class aircraft carriers. The Kaiser finally accepted this number, and hinted that this class of aircraft carriers could be built with 2 first, and if possible, 2 more!

"It doesn't look like this treaty will last long." At the end of his meeting with the Kaiser, Schell sensed a problem. That is, His Majesty's patience with the treaty is close to the limit, and if you add 4 25,000-ton aircraft carriers, then it means that the tonnage exceeds the standard. Perhaps when the fourth aircraft carrier is completed, it will be the day of the abrogation of the treaty! Adhering to the German Navy's principle of emphasizing attack and defense. The German aircraft carrier of the second class chose the armored aircraft carrier scheme of a single-story large hangar with a ticket. Originally, the German designers planned to choose a double-decker hangar, but the Kaiser demanded that the deck of the aircraft carrier have the largest possible protective area, more than 100 aircraft, and good sea trials!

UNDER THE TONNAGE LIMIT, THE GERMAN DESIGNER COULD ONLY CHOOSE THE "CHEAP" WAY OF DEALING WITH THE TICKET, AND FINALLY LET THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER HAVE A LARGER DECK (250 METERS * 29 METERS) BETTER DEFENSE (THE ARMORED DECK PART IS 80MM THICK) AND MORE THAN 100 AIRCRAFT (HANGAR AREA 170 METERS * 23 METERS), AND IN TERMS OF ELEVATOR ARRANGEMENT, THE GERMANS ACTUALLY ADOPTED THE LAYOUT OF HISTORICAL ESSEX, WITH TWO LIFTS ON THE CENTRAL AXIS AND A SEPARATE LIFT ON THE SIDE CHORD. And when Xu Jie saw this ship, he mistakenly thought it was an armored deck-type Essex-class aircraft carrier! Of course, the specific tonnage depends on the situation, anyway, it is 25,000 tons on paper! According to the plan, it was decided to build two ships first, and whether to start construction and the remaining two ships will be determined according to the situation.

While the Germans were busy building aircraft carriers of the second rank, they also began to implement the "aircraft carrier" reserve ship program. Germany plans to build two cruise ships with a standard displacement of 35,000 tons. The hulls of the two ships, named Bremen and Europa, will be built exactly to the standards of warships, not only in terms of subdividing compartments like warships, but even in some parts that are not easily changed after completion (such as underwater mine armor) directly using armor steel. AND THE UPPER DECK OF THE ENTIRE CRUISE SHIP IS FULLY STRAIGHT-THROUGH, SO THAT IT CAN BE CONVERTED INTO A HANGAR AT ANY TIME, BECAUSE AFTER ALL, IT WAS BUILT IN THE NAME OF MERCHANT SHIPS, SO IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO REALIZE THE ARMORED DECK, AND GERMAN FINALLY PLACED THE 100MM THICK ARMOR PLATE ON THE PRESET HANGAR DECK. And as a large ship of more than 30,000 tons, in the future, this aircraft carrier will have a super large deck of 270 meters * 32 meters! The length of the lower hangar will be close to 190 meters! And the ship also has a rated output of 150,000 horsepower, and can drive a high speed of more than 31 knots if necessary! According to the plans of the Germans, the two cruise ships could be converted into two large fleet aircraft carriers in 4 months, if necessary. According to Schell: "Germany is actually building 4 aircraft carriers at the same time!" ”

Of course, the completion of these two warships is inseparable from the support of the state, whether as a transport company or a shipyard will never be without the construction of such ships, after continuous bargaining between the three parties, the German government finally said that it will bear 60% of the construction cost. And the only condition is that in the event of war, the two cruise ships must be returned to the military.

At a time when Germany was aggressively expanding its capital ships, the construction of cruisers was not pulled down. THE AIRCRUISER EMDEN, WHICH HAS SIX 240MM HEAVY GUNS AND AT LEAST 26 AIRCRAFT, IS NEARING COMPLETION. ARMOR PROTECTION IS STANDARD AGAINST 175MM CLASS GUNS. At the same time, 3 more orthodox heavy cruisers and 2 light cruisers began to be launched one after another. THE STANDARD OF FIREPOWER OF THE HEAVY CRUISER WAS 9 240MM GUNS. The paper displacement is 14,000 tons. THE SIDE CHORD ARMOR WAS 160MM THICK AND INCLINED 20 DEGREES. HORIZONTAL ARMOR 80MM. THE LIGHT CRUISER, ON THE OTHER HAND, HAD 9 175MM GUNS WITH A STANDARD DISPLACEMENT OF 10,000 TONS ON PAPER. THE SIDE CHORD ARMOR WAS 120MM THICK AND INCLINED 20 DEGREES. HORIZONTAL ARMOR IS BETWEEN 60 AND 80MM.

If the expansion of the Italian Navy has not yet been able to have much impact in the world, then the German Navy will increase the pace of expansion will attract the attention of the world, which is more like a signal, a signal that the treaty shackles are about to be broken and a new arms race is about to begin.

Thanks to the book friend zhouyu1976 for the tip~~~~. (To be continued......)