In the autumn of 1907, the Portsmouth Military Port in England.

Under the guidance of two barges, the German battleship "Alsace" flying a black, white and red flags steadily approached the dock. Nominally, its trip was to participate in the traditional exchange between the British and German navies in the field of artillery, but everyone could see that the Germans had interrupted this exchange for three years and now they have taken the initiative to restore it, in order to see the honor of the Fearless. Since its sensational debut in the celebration parade of King George V's 42nd birthday, the British "Fearless" equipped with full artillery has quickly become the focus of attention of the navies of various countries.

According to the experience of Japan-Russia naval battle against the Mahayana, the naval power of this new type of battleship far exceeds that of traditional battleships that used to use two-stage main gun configurations, and is generally considered to be a revolutionary initiative of the naval development. The home port of the British local fleet and the port of the Fearless, Portsmouth quickly became Jerusalem, which attracted diplomatic officials and naval visiting groups from all over the world to come for a "pilgrimage". Some people joked that in Portsmouth, now, can find half a dozen military spies in any café.

After more than a month of external viewing and secret exploration, the German military decision-makers finally put down their high-end airs and sent a suggestion to the British Navy to resume artillery exchanges. They clearly stated that the last exchange was when the British ship visited Germany, and this time it should be when the German ship visited Britain.

The British Navy gave a positive reply without any haste, but they invited the German ship to visit the Dover military port and arranged for ships from both sides to hold artillery exercises near the Dover Strait. Germany then appointed Prince Heinrich, the commander of the High Seas Fleet, to negotiate. Through the German Prince, who was quite popular abroad, the British Navy reluctantly agreed to change the exchange port to Portsmouth. Next, the German Navy carefully chose a warship like the "Alsace" that was not too new, not too long, not too strong or too weak, carrying more than 600 crew members and nearly 100 naval officials, staff and engineers to the UK.

At this time, Xia Shu was still serving as the staff officer of the "Alsace" as the rank of lieutenant of the navy.

"Five double-mounted main guns, three central axles are arranged, and two separate parts are side by side... Three-legged masts, shooting command room, island bridge... The hull is about 160 meters long, the ship is about 25 meters wide, and the aspect ratio is 6.4 to 1... There is no turret-type secondary gun, no stylized secondary gun, and all small-caliber single-mounted secondary guns are all externally... The appearance is atmospheric and concise, and the actual performance is unknown."

Behind the bulletproof observation window of the command room of the Alsace bridge, Lieutenant General Friedrich von Ingnor, then chief of staff of the German High Seas Fleet, murmured as if he was murmured to himself, and his deputy, Captain Hahn Heidlink, faithfully recorded it.

The gray-painted Fearless battleship was quietly anchored there on berths less than 500 meters apart. The Battle of Tsushima three years ago shocked the world and also allowed the navies of various countries to see the inevitability of a warship revolution. Over the past three years, the debate over new warships has never stopped. When people realize that the British navy is once again at the forefront of technological innovation, the debate has a realistic reference, and the British's almost airtight confidentiality measures have really aroused people's appetite.

One day the truth will be placed in front of you without any concealment, and there will inevitably be a strong sense of shock in your heart.

In amazement, someone found important content in his memory and sighed: "Everyone, think about the conceptual model produced by His Highness Prince Joachim a year ago. Do you think this is incredible? It is hard to imagine how His Highness obtained the precise data that the British regarded as absolutely confidential?"

If this is said from others, Xia Shu will most likely regard it as a compliment and ignore it, but William Gudessa is a different matter. He is the best expert in gun structure and ballistics in the German Navy. He is straightforward, diligent and dedicated, and once questioned the new battleship proposal proposed by Xia Shu in public. After understanding and accepting the new design concept, he became a loyal supporter of Xia Shu. It was with the efforts of a group of ship engineers such as Gudessa that the German first dreadnought was finalized in December 1906. The first ship laid a keel at the Royal Shipyard in Wilhelmshaven on February 3 of the following year, and the construction code-named "ersatzbayern". Most of its technical details are loyal to the overall design proposed by Xia Shu.

As the officer with the lowest rank in the command room, Natsuki stood tactfully in the corner, and when Gudessa's praise came out, he inevitably became the focus of the audience's attention. Facing the eyes of everyone, he stopped the sketches that were almost completed, and humbly dedicated the honor to the unknown heroes who fought in the field of intelligence. In later films about the two world wars, Allied intelligence personnel always showed themselves with agility and courage. In contrast, German spies were all dull and incompetent, especially those who wore black windbreakers and cruel but clumsy "Gestapo" left a deep impression on people. In fact, although the German spy agencies failed to achieve victory in affecting the strategic pattern, they were not all mediocre people.

German military intelligence activities should be traced back to 1740. With the consolidation and expansion of the kingdom, King Frederick II of Prussia established the first intelligence organization for military needs. Thanks to the rigorous dedication and outstanding organizational talents of the Germans, this intelligence organization developed rapidly and made great contributions in previous wars. At the beginning, the German intelligence organization was not a full-time department. For example, in mid-1866, the intelligence department was also responsible for political and propaganda work, and the scale was quite small, with only a few dozen intelligence personnel. By the mid-19th century, William I realized Germany with the assistance of the iron-blooded prime minister Bismarck.

The unification of his country and led his country to become one of the European powers. During this period, the German intelligence organization developed greatly. William I appointed William Stiebel, the head of an intelligence organization with special talents. This name was often mentioned repeatedly in later spy history, and the spy industry praised it as "half God". Germany gradually set up a dense network of spies in hostile countries such as Britain, France, Russia and other countries and border areas, just like tentacles extending into various fields of these countries to understand their various aspects. The most convincing example of this period was that the French map drawn by the German army at that time was more accurate and detailed than that of France itself!

Another ship design master of the German Navy, Erich Dawson, is also a hardcore supporter of Xia Shu. He said in a tendency: "Those cannons should be 12-inch caliber! Look, everyone, its turret arrangement makes only 8 main guns in the entire ship that can be used to attack the same target at most. In contrast, how wise the design of the main turret is arranged in the full axis! I believe that the volley of the entire main gun will soon become the development trend of the main ships of various countries."

With the support of the German royal family and naval decision-makers, Nakashu's dreadnought design was finally implemented, but not everyone was convinced. When voting for the design plan, some senior naval officials chose to abstain. In the naval design department, many supporters of the "six-turret design" also objected to the full axis configuration of the main turret. They felt that the overall strength of the German navy could not surpass Britain in a short period of time. Once the two countries go to war, whether it is a small-scale naval battle or a decisive battle in the fleet, the German main battleship will inevitably face a situation of fighting with less and more. In this case, the six turrets that can "fire in all directions" are more practical than the four turrets that "fire on the same side".

Dawson's words just now were obviously targeting these stubborn minorities.

Among the people present, some people immediately looked very unnatural.

"Well, objectively speaking, the advantages and disadvantages of ship design need to be tested by practical testing before they can truly draw conclusions. For example, before the Russian-Japanese Naval Battle, many people praised the Russian Borodino-class warships, thinking how powerful it is. What is the result?" This tone was tactful, but the content was unambiguously refuted by naval engineer Fritz Waldman, who is a first-class expert in German naval ship armor and a friend of naval chief designer Bruckner.

Logically speaking, a warship with roughly fixed total tonnage has a pair of contradictory existence, and increasing the firepower configuration will inevitably reduce the weight of the armor, and vice versa. According to theoretical calculations, the weight of the four triple turrets is lighter than that of the six double turrets of the same caliber, but Waldman is a supporter of the design of hexagonal turrets. His reason is also very simple: the double turret is mature, with balanced offense and defense. The triple turret is still a new thing, and it is hard to say whether there are fatal weaknesses in defense. In order to be safe, the first-class new warship should not risk equipting with a never-used triple turret while trying to use the full-heavy artillery design and steam turbine power.

In Xia Shu's view, one of the big reasons why some German naval designers are resistant to triple turrets is that the British, who are at the forefront of technology, have not yet come up with a successful example. In fact, the research on the triple-mounted large-caliber main guns by Italian and Austro-Hungarian designers at the same time has entered the actual stage, and the main guns are both 12 inches in diameter, and the turret weight and structural complexity exceed the 11-inch main guns scheduled for the German new warships. History has proved that they all achieved satisfactory results in the end.

"If a navy only knows how to pursue trends, imitate and improve, and cannot create trends and lead the times, even if it can build a huge scale with its manpower and material resources, it will be difficult to truly enter the top ranks."

Hearing Dawson's words, Xia Shu suddenly felt that it expressed his thoughts. Shortly after the Fearless, Britain began to build their first-class battlecruiser, the Invincible. A few months later, the British Navy started to build the second-class battleship Bellerofeng class. Taking advantage of the construction experience of the Fearless, these battleships and battlecruisers were more aggressive. When they were completed and put into service, the British Royal Navy will use these epoch-making new warships to form the top priority that stands out for the great powers.

Naval combat force. With this information, the decision makers of the German Navy were feeling in scrutiny. The General Office of the Imperial Navy clearly required the naval design department to complete the design of the German first-class battlecruiser before mid-1907. As the British Navy strictly blocked all information about the new warship, the German engineers could not obtain further parameter information. While feeling the stones crossing the river, they came up with an enhanced version of the large cruiser design, which is the historical "Blüchel".

In order to prevent the German Navy from taking another historical detour, Xia Shu volunteered to Tirpitz to be responsible for the design of the new German fast warship. In the hottest months of 1907, he temporarily left the "Alsace" and headed for the Naval Technical Committee in Kiel, leading a design team composed of 12 ship engineers and multiple technical drawing personnel to work day and night. After nearly 60 days and nights of efforts, the German Battle Cruise design equipped with four dual-mounted 280mm guns and a new steam turbine was released. Its standard displacement is 16,000 tons, its full load is 18,600 tons, and its tonnage and size are smaller than that of the British Invincible Class, which is a pocket version of the battle cruiser. Because it is planned to install an impulse steam turbine, the space and weight saved to enhance defense, Xia Shu designed the "Blüchel" still has a better survivability than its innate opponent and the Invincible Class.
Chapter completed!