Scheer sat in the office of the German Minister of the Admiralty. He ushered in his peak! With more than ten years of front-line career and 5 years of bloody battles, countless steel and blood paved his way to promotion. Now he was almost out of the German High Seas Fleet, at its most glorious moment, not only because they had acquired the same tonnage as the British Fleet, but more importantly, because Schell could command a very large fleet with the High Seas Fleet at its core and the rest of the Allied Powers as its arms. And with the implementation of the plan of the German fleet to the south, the Allied fleet will completely turn me into a fist, using the Mediterranean Sea as a base and radiating the whole world!

Rights and responsibilities coexist, and while enjoying great glory and rights, Marshal Scheer also needs to face more and stronger challenges! He was very aware that the Allied fleet was actually lucky in World War I, whether it was the beginning of Italy and Austria-Hungary joining forces to inflict heavy damage on the French fleet, or the United States was unable to enter the war because of selfish interests, these reasons allowed the Allied powers to drag down the powerful British Grand Fleet on two fronts. However, there will only be one such opportunity, and the United States, Britain, France, and other countries that have suffered losses will not give Germany such a chance again, and once the war resumes, the Allied fleet will probably face a blow from the Allied fleet.

Scheer's biggest concern is the United States, a powerful country with industrial prowess that no other country can match. If you simply build ships, I am afraid that Germany and Austria-Hungary are still not opponents of the United States, and the treaty restricts Germany, but it also ties the hands and feet of the Americans. If once the war starts, over time. The Entente's superiority in the overall size of the Navy would have grown. Therefore, in the future campaign layout, Scheer still tends to accumulate a lot of advantages in the early stage of the war. The term of the treaty is 12 years, during which time. The central issue of the German Navy was how to build the warships stipulated in the treaty, and how to use them well! As for the future? Then the next minister will be in charge.

"In a future naval battle, the strength of both sides will not be determined by how many warships our navy has, but how many warships we can mobilize in this battle. The Indian Ocean is different from the North Sea, in future wars we need to carry out mobile operations on a large scale, time is of the essence, life is victory, so we must make our fleet suitable for future wars. High speed and range will be something we have to consider. Our two newly built battleships will reach a speed of about 27 knots, while the minimum speed of aircraft carriers will be more than 30 knots, and cruisers will be faster. Well now. Isn't it time for us to think about what to do with our ships that fought so well in World War I? For example, the King-class battleships, for example, the Bismarck-class battleships. Scheer said at a naval conference.

"According to the terms of the treaty, our three King-class battleships need to remove the turrets in the middle, and the free space can be used for power systems. It's a big project. However, upon completion, they will reach a speed of at least 27 knots or more. An official in charge of technology replied.

"The king had to change, but what about the Bismarck-class battleships? Their speed is still too slow, and over time and the aging of power, their speed will be even slower to the point of slowing down the fleet. Scheer asked, looking at a room full of officers.

"Bismarck-class battleships were 15-inch guns. And two of them have just entered service. An officer whispered. This would have cost us eight 15-inch guns. Another officer said with some concern. The King-class was changed, first of all, this is stipulated by the treaty, and it will not work if it is not changed, and it is also because the power of the 14-inch heavy guns of the King-class battleships is too limited. The German Navy of the future will not count on them. But the 15-inch guns of the Bismarck-class battleships were different. Many German naval top brass still had great hopes for him.

"A weapon that doesn't work, no matter how powerful it is. After the improvement, the speed of our fleet can be increased by more than 2%. This has a big impact on the tide of the battle. And the weight savings can be made to other changes, such as increasing the level of defense, such as increasing the underwater lightning protection salient. In short, I believe that after the improvement, the comprehensive combat capability of the Bismarck-class battleships will be greatly improved, and I don't think you will think that the current Bismarck-class battleships can withstand the attack of 16-inch guns, right? If we insist on changing for the sake of those two guns, and increase the thickness of the armor, the speed of this battleship can only be described as turtle speed. And the range is not enough for it to fight in the Indian Ocean. At this moment, a voice was on Scheer's side, and this person was Raeder.

Raeder was not only the presiding officer of the air cruisers, but also a supporter of the high-speed fleet, believing that only by maintaining a high-speed fleet could Germany cope with the industrial and general superiority of the Allies. And compared to Scheer, Raeder went further than him in that he required the battleship to be able to fight the aircraft carrier formation, providing night combat and melee protection for the aircraft carrier. "Aircraft carriers are powerful, but this strength has a premise, that is, they are outside the strike range of the enemy's guns, and in order to cope with possible night battles and close combat, I think that battleships are needed in the aircraft carrier fleet to provide cover. And in order to be able to accompany the aircraft carrier, the new warship must be fast. And the endurance must also be increased, which can support the fleet for long-term high-speed maneuvers. Otherwise, the effectiveness of the fast fleet will be greatly reduced. ”

Although there were various objections within the German Navy, the rapid development of the German Navy was carried out with great difficulty, first of all, the remaining three King-class battleships began to be improved, and the middle turret was removed and replaced with a new power plant. The weight savings will add anti-aircraft guns, underwater mine protection salients and some other equipment. At the same time, the original oil-coal mixed boiler was replaced by a heavy oil boiler, and the fuel tank was also rearranged. The two battle-hardened Bismarck-class battleships will also enter the dockyard after the King-class refinement to undergo similar modifications.

Schell's idea was not only popularized within the German Navy, but even influenced Austria-Hungary, which was able to negotiate a tonnage of 150,000 tons of warships. There were two ideas in the Austro-Hungarian Admiralty about building new battleships, one was to build slow battleships like the Colorado, which were of lower tonnage, had 8 to 9 16-inch guns, and were lower and cheaper. The other is to build fast warships like the Tianjin-class battleships in China. Of course, there will be an increase in prices and tonnage. The controversy ended with the intervention of the German Navy.

Germany said it would provide Austria-Hungary with the power systems of the new warships at cost and provide technical support to the Austro-Hungarian Navy on the condition that it build two pure fast battleships equipped with nine 16-inch guns. Its speed must be at least 27 knots. And the range must reach the standard of 15 knots and more than 12,000 nautical miles. For this kind of construction, Austria-Hungary naturally had no reason to refuse, and happily agreed to the other party's request.

After taking over Austria-Hungary, Germany began to contact the Italian navy, hoping that the new Italian warships would have a high speed and range. This time, Italy's reaction made Germany very dissatisfied, Italy first said that as an ally, Italy was obliged to guarantee the interests of the Central Powers in the Mediterranean, but at the same time hoped that Germany would respect Italy's choice and interests.

"Germany and Austria-Hungary received rich Eastern Europe, even Turkey got a piece of the pie from the Caucasus and Ukraine, and we? Our interests have never left the Mediterranean, so why does our fleet have to have such a large range? The Italian Navy is in the service of Italy's national interests, and this is in the first place. The cost of building a warship with a long range and speed is something we have to consider. Germany can pay for Austria-Hungary, so who will pay for us? In an informal setting, an Italian officer complained.

In the face of the uncooperative attitude of the Italian Navy, Germany did not have a good solution. After abandoning Italy, the German Navy refocused its attention on Spain and Turkey. Because their tonnage is scarce, and the main battleships are relatively new. Therefore, there is no problem of zài upgrading in the short term. But after all, these countries need to build new light cruisers, destroyers and submarines. Germany also did not give up on these aspects, especially submarines. Spain served as the western gateway to the Mediterranean and could directly threaten the existence of the Entente's Atlantic routes. The Germans helped Spain plan and design a new generation of ocean-going submarines. According to the Germans, this new submarine could well have gone from Spain to the offshore waters of the United States, and then back to the Mediterranean Sea and then to the Indian Ocean! Of course, this is an exaggeration, but its battery life is really amazing. The Germans even began to design submarines and supply ships to supply ocean-going submarines, which could carry large quantities of fuel and weapons, further increasing the endurance of submarine forces. This inevitably attracted the attention of the Entente and Huaxia.

The Germans were busy integrating the various forces within the Allies, and the Entente were not idle, the British began to build their own first-class capital carriers with the help of Huaxia, and the Americans were reformulating their strategic plans. The British feared that the Germans' next attack would be the South Asian subcontinent, while the United States feared the German Navy's attack on the Atlantic route and the Panama Canal. After all, if Britain is finished, then the whole of Europe will be under the control of the Allies, and the United States will be prepared to fight on two battlefields at the same time in the future, one is to ensure the safety of the Atlantic transportation line and at the same time use France and Britain as a bridgehead to withstand each other's attacks, while the other direction is the South Asian subcontinent, what the United States needs is a strong Britain, not a Britain that only has no colonies.

Thanks to the book friend zhouyu1976 and the book friend hukaikaka for the tip~~~, and the book friend ranky for the monthly pass support ~~~. (To be continued......)