One day at the end of July, in the German Kiel and Horwald Shipyard, tens of thousands of Germans came in the scorching sun to witness the official service of the "Bavaria". It is the first German super-dreadnought, Bavaria-class ship. Its main gun caliber jumped from the 12-inch (305 mm) king-class 1 to the threshold of 15-inch (380 mm).

With the service of the "Bavaria", the embarrassment of the world's number one navy without a super-dreadnought has become history.

Unlike most German politicians and ordinary military and civilians who are almost full of confidence, those with discerning eyes like Xia Shu know that the German Navy's "world number one" is not only unsteady, but also somewhat unworthy of its name. After those disastrous naval battles, the British Navy handed over many ships due to the London Armistice Agreement. On the world's naval rankings, ranked by the total naval tonnage, the former world's first almost fell out of the top ten. Although the German Navy paid a heavy price for victory, the main ship's outstanding resistance to sinking and the naval gross tonnage was only slightly reduced. Therefore, it moved from the world's second place to the world, becoming the coveted world number one. However, in 1916, Germany, the world's first pair of the United States in the second position, only had more than 20,000 tons of lead. With the huge gap in the shipbuilding industry and overall national strength between the two sides, the Americans could throw the German emperor's fleet out of the street with a little effort.

The Germans should be grateful that as the war ended, the Americans slowed down the construction speed of the main ships, but this was by no means a problem of production capacity or funding. The US Navy actively learned from the naval warfare experience in the war and improved the ships that were being built while building, which delayed the original construction period. If these ships were put into service as scheduled, could the German Navy continue to maintain its first name?

Among the guests invited to watch the ceremony, there was a foreign monarch who was highly respected and loved by the German people. He was a member of the Hohenzollern royal family and His Majesty Joachim, the King of Ireland who made great contributions to the strategic construction of the German naval force and war strategy.

Sitting in the front row of the viewing platform, Xia Shu looked at the brand new "Bavaria" with a complex mood. Its service should have become the world's first super warship equipped with 15-inch main gun, provided that it was built and put into service before the British Queen Elizabeth class. However, the construction period of the "Bavaria" gave way to the overall strategic situation under the will of Xia Shu. During the War, the long-standing and powerful Horwald Shipyard took on several main ships of the German Navy.

In order to get the active warships back to the combat sequence as soon as possible, the shipyard drew a lot of people from the construction team of the "Bavaria". Steel components that belong to the general standard were also given priority for repair ships. Based on these factors, the construction period of the "Bavaria" was postponed for several months, and then it learned from naval combat experience to make design improvements. During the sea trial, power problems arose. As a result, its service time was more than half a year later than the first ship of the British Queen Elizabeth-class.

If the war had not ended, this time difference would have an immeasurable impact on the maritime confrontation between the two countries.

Since the gap has been created, it is better to catch up than blame others. Fortunately, the victory of the war has allowed Germany to escape the previous difficulties. Even if there is no super-dreadnought, the German navy can make up for it with its strategic deployment, number of ships and combat psychology. The scene of dealing with the British-Ai fishery dispute not long ago is the best proof.

In any case, the service of the "Bavaria" is a milestone for the German Navy to enter the era of super fearlessness, and it has epoch-making significance in the military field. Since the Bavarian class is later in service than the Queen Elizabeth class, the tonnage is 2,500 tons more than the latter, and the construction cost is 30% higher. The paper performance is better than this innate opponent. The second ship of the same level, the Baden, has completed all the installation projects and is undergoing sea trials and adjustments. In another month or two, it can be included in the battle sequence of the German Navy. If the British and German navy conflicts again, the world may witness the confrontation between the super fearless ships.

German senior executives warmly invited Xia Shu to come, not just to thank him for his contributions in the design and construction process of Bavaria, but to discuss how to deal with new challenges. According to the intelligence obtained by intelligence personnel from the UK, at the request of the British Navy, the New York shipyard under the name of the US government has secretly completed the design of the Super Queen-class battleship. The standard displacement of its design is 45,000 tons. Once in service, it will become the largest warship of this era.

What worries the Germans is that the design plan submitted by the Americans to the British Navy reached a near-perfect level. The four dual-mounted 45-diameter 16-inch main guns provide first-class firepower. The powerful power system can drive the warships to sail at an extremely fast speed of 28 knots with an output of 150,000 horsepower. The main armor belt, turret front and command tower armor thickness is 14 inches.

Such a super queen, even if she faces two or even three German dreadnoughts, has enough strength to beat them up, and has a clear advantage in fighting the Bavarian class one-on-one.

This seems to be an unrealistic plan, but Natsuki knew that the current best shipbuilding level could meet this "crazy plan". The 15-inch naval gun has been equipped at Queen Elizabeth-class, and all performances have basically reached the design level. The Americans designed a 35-diameter 16-inch cannon in 1902. When Britain and Germany competed to climb the high ground of the 15-inch naval gun, the US Navy directly challenged the 45-diameter and 50-diameter 16-inch cannon. Shortly after the war, the 45-diameter cannon was successfully developed, and the prospect of the 50-diameter cannon is also very optimistic. This means that as long as the Super Queen built by Britain took out old capital starts construction in the United States, there will be no technical problems with the use of the 16-inch main cannon. The Germans' research and development and design of the 16-inch naval gun has only really started recently. Even if the R&D process is surprisingly smooth, it will take two years to get mass production.

In terms of power, a three-cylinder heavy oil boiler with small water pipe technology and a mature steam turbine can provide sufficient power output. If the key protection characteristics continue, it is not a problem to assemble the main armor with a thickness of 14 inches.

In the old historical time and space, the "Hood" which started construction in 1916 is an ideal technical reference.

In Xia Shu's view, as long as the United States and Britain do not use aircraft carriers as the focus of development, the allies will still have an opportunity to take advantage of the future naval war. However, German Emperor William II and his naval staff do not have such vision. The victory of the war has made their self-confidence unprecedentedly expand. They are ambitious to dominate the ocean like Britain for hundreds of years. The German economy has seen explosive growth this year due to the large amount of war reparations and overseas colonies. According to this trend, the national finances can soon get rid of the burden of vigorously developing arms before the war. The optimistic situation has allowed the country's decision makers to dare to invest huge amounts of money in naval construction.

Under the urging of the emperor, the naval proposal to add new ships was finally approved by the German Parliament, which means that Germany will start construction of five Markens and five Super Bavarian classes in the next three years, and the total investment of ten super warships will exceed 700 million marks. What comforts the German Chancellor of the Finance Department and the members of the parliament are that the old enemy France has been trampled under his feet, and Tsarist Russia can only survive. The German Army's funding investment has dropped significantly compared to before the war, thus providing financial space for the crazy expansion of the German Navy.

The Markensen-class design plan was finally set to have a standard displacement of 37,000 tons, equipped with eight 15-inch main guns, and a speed of 28 knots. The design standard of Super Bavaria is at least the same as that of the British Super Queen. Under the same technical conditions, the Germans are very confident to win by relying on the "human" factor.

The Markensen-class design, which was previously decided, was an improvement plan completed by the Irish ship design agency under the leadership of Xia Shu. It has a standard displacement of 35,000 tons and a triple-mounted 14-inch gun. The advantages are balanced performance, suitable for a variety of maritime tactics, and the construction cost is relatively reasonable. Now, at the request of the German Emperor and the senior management of the German Navy, the German naval ship designers hurriedly made a correction and basically finalized it and sent it to Xia Shu for technical inspection. Although the revised design plan does not have major technical problems, it has lost the aura that once made Xia Shu very satisfied. Moreover, this practice shows impetuousness and lacks the true foundation of a major power, which has triggered a profound reflection on Xia Shu.

Seeing that the German Emperor was anxious to get angry, Xia Shu took the opportunity to offer suggestions. Germany had many docks that meet the modern technical standards. If you want to catch up with the pace of the United States and Britain, you must fully mobilize the country's shipbuilding resources, battleships, cruisers, torpedo boat destroyers and various military auxiliary ships to advance simultaneously. Orders for large and medium-sized civilian ships will be handed over to Ireland to resolve, and the funds provided to Ireland's shipbuilding industry are sufficient, so the Irish government will have the conditions to launch the follow-up projects of heavy cruisers and aircraft carriers as soon as possible.

Anyway, the German government did not need to pay extra money, and William II agreed readily. At this time, the Germans' work efficiency was once again reflected. A few days later, the German government's industrial and trade department provided a list to the Irish government. After the two sides agreed, the Germans sent two trucks of technical information to start construction of six 10,000-ton ocean freighters, ten 10,000-ton ocean tankers and three large cruise ships within 10 months, and the orders for subcontracted to the Irish people.

Upon hearing this news, Ireland's shipbuilding industry was full of joy from top to bottom.

Since he had promised German allies to start construction of new heavy cruisers and aircraft carriers as soon as possible, funds were the first problem to be solved. The two paths of foreign loans and issuance of government bonds have their own advantages and disadvantages. Based on his judgment on the domestic economic situation, Xia Shu fought against the opposition and decided to borrow money from the Consortium of the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden. As soon as the Dongfeng arrived, the No. 2 heavy cruiser and two 20,000-ton aircraft carriers, which had already determined the design plan, were immediately started to be built at the Royal Limerick Shipyard.
Chapter completed!