One day in December 1908, Wilhelmshaven, Germany.

In the middle of winter, the drooping clouds give people an inexplicable sense of oppression. The biting cold wind whistles by, and ice residue and snow can be seen everywhere in the shade. Even so, Xia Shu, who is outdoors, still feels a warm feeling in his heart, because he is standing on the battleship Nassau, which has confirmed the blueprint of his own design and is very different from the historical original.

This is the first dreadnought of the German Navy, anchored at Caesars Pier adjacent to William Shipyard. It is larger than the surrounding German warships. The 11-inch naval gun equipped in triple-mounted manner looks particularly powerful. Since the four main turrets occupy the main space of the front and rear decks, the tower bridge and the triangular mast are relatively backward, two chimneys and four double-mounted secondary turrets are slightly crowded in the hull...

Even though they are full of expectations for their country's first dreadnought, the German senior management has to wait patiently for several months. Due to the adoption of a series of new technologies, the main body of this new German warship still needs to undergo corresponding equipment debugging and technical modification after completion, so scaffolding, riveter and some equipment components can be seen on its deck, and the ship emblem has not been painted on the bow side.

Amid the sound of light military music, two officers wearing German Navy's long-clad winter clothes raised the German Navy's Black Hawk Iron Cross flag on the bow flagpole. Standing on the upper deck with Xia Shu to witness the flag-raising ceremony was his boss Reinhardt Schell, the first battleship commander of the first battleship, who served in the Alsace, delivered a satisfactory answer to his superiors with his outstanding performance in training exercises and visiting cruises. He was promoted to brigade general and won the first new ship.

As for the honor of captain of the battleship. As for the excellent performance during the time of serving as combat staff officer in the Alsace, he still broke through the full score range. With his extraordinary identity background, he was promoted twice within two years and became the youngest major officer of the German Navy. Because he did not want to become a puppet of the drawing board, he repeatedly declined the appointment of Tirpitz's chief shipbuilding designer, and only accepted the appointment of the chief technical consultant of the navy. Then he resolutely came to this dreadnought, designed by himself, and served as Schell's chief of combat staff.

After the flag-raising ceremony, Scher gave a brief speech to the first batch of officers and soldiers who boarded the ship. The battleship was organized to 1,000 people, and the commissioning process usually required only two-fifths of the qualifying force. Based on the importance of the new warship, the Admiralty Department equipped it with three-quarters of the qualifying force at one time, namely 30 officers and 720 sailors. They will be familiar with the new warship in the next few months so that it can form combat effectiveness as soon as it officially enters service.

Since the Alsace is still a battleship serving in the main fleet, the transfer of Natsuki and Scher was a separate mobilization and did not involve other officers and sailors on the ship. Among the first crew members of the Nassau, about half of the people came from retired Saxony-class ironclad ships (according to the German Navy Act, with the entry of new alternative ships, these old warships that reached the service period were either retired or sealed, or resold and dismantled), and the other half were newly trained non-commissioned officers and recruits who were recruited in the fall.

Thanks to its large tonnage and size, the crew of the Nassau has better living conditions than the previous German warships, which is also in line with a concept that Xia Shu clearly proposed when he formulated the design plan: use the best software and hardware conditions as possible to ensure the morale and confidence of the crew. Because there are still many equipment in the debugging stage, the crew of the Nassau has a lot of spare time in addition to the daily necessary exercises and cleaning work, and bridge and football have become the most passionate leisure activities for officers and soldiers. Xia Shu, who was selected for the best team of the Navy Football League for three consecutive years and won the assist king twice, became the absolute core of the new team, and devoted some energy to the team building and training competitions. More often, he either went to Kiel to perform his shipbuilding supervision function, or stayed quietly in his cabin to read and write, condensing his personal experiences and thoughts into textual language.

"On the Survival of Ship in the Age of Full Heavy Artillery", this is the first work of Xia Shu's "Home Life". It systematically analyzes the huge changes brought by the full heavy artillery warship to the naval combat mode, and carefully calculates the angle of the artillery shells in long-range artillery battles, explaining that the long-range artillery fire of the full heavy artillery warship will pose a fatal threat to traditional warships with heavy waterline armor and light deck defense. This means that when facing the former dreadnought, it is not just the difference between the number of artillery and the thickness of the armor, but the design mechanism and defense exist.

The overall disadvantage of the concept. The work quickly caused heated discussion after it was published within the German Navy. After reading it, the head of the navy Tirpitz immediately instructed the naval technical department to conduct a comprehensive inspection of the active battleship, improve and strengthen the technical defense defects and damage pipe arrangements. At the same time, it was required that the work be printed into a brochure, and the Navy Staff Department, the High Seas Fleet Command and the Navy ship design department each handed in a book, and even regarded some outline clauses as the design and construction guidelines for subsequent battleships.

Following the sensational "On the Survival of Ship in the Era of Full Heavy Artillery", Xia Shu published "On Heavy Artillery Storm" within the Navy, and conducted a detailed analysis and discussion on how to exert the firepower efficiency of full heavy artillery warships. It quoted the test data of Krupp's naval guns during the research and development. A large amount of computational analysis also improved Xia Shu's ballistic theory level from the academy level to the quasi-expert level. Moreover, this article first proposed the concept of "universal command system for all ships" in the German Navy, which became an important guide for the development of the German navy's main ships.

In addition to such works that systematically expound views, Nakaki also provided some medium and short articles for German naval journals. "The cornerstone of the Navy", "The Marine Blockade", and "Thirty Meters Underwater" have all become recognized masterpieces by the Navy. The reputation of "Hohenzollern's genius" has expanded from ship design to the fields of technology, tactics and even strategy.

At the same time, the Nassau's test and adjustment work is also in an orderly manner. The commissioning of a new warship covers power, navigation, weapons, communications and other aspects, and it usually focuses on testing its reliability and stability. Just after the New Year, the Nassau conducted its first trial sailing in the sea. The new combination of Schultz-Sunnycroft coal-fired boiler and the Parsons steam turbine was quite eye-catching, with an overload output of 29,500 horsepower, and a test speed of 21.05 knots, which is much higher than the design speed of 20 knots. For such a result, the person who is most happy is Xia Shu. For a moment, he felt that nothing in the world is more wonderful than seeing his own design from a boring and monotonous line chart to a majestic real thing!

Backed by the will of the imperial rulers and the Navy Amendment Act, the German Navy is building a new warship at an unprecedented speed. The Nassau class has not yet been put into service, and the new Helgolan class has started construction. It is regarded as an improved model of the Nassau class. Stimulated by the news that the British Navy adopted 13.5-inch naval guns on the new battleship, the German emperor finally gave up his beloved 11-inch naval guns and ordered Krupp to develop a new 12-inch caliber naval gun, and asked the new warships to equip such naval guns on the new warships. The German engineers responsible for the design of the warships were caught off guard. Fortunately, their "Hohenzollern genius" was quite convincing.

Words changed the German Emperor's rash decision. In order to ensure the design and construction progress of the new warship, the Helgolan class finally used the same 45-diameter 11-inch gun as the Nassau class. The armor-piercing projectiles it fired were sufficient to penetrate all British active and under construction battleship armor at combat distance. The full central axis configuration of the four triple main guns will continue the terrifying firepower of the Nassau class, and the added weight will be used to strengthen the battleship defense, including increasing the front and gun seat armor from 10.6 inches to 11.8 inches, and the waterline armor from 11.8 inches to 13 inches. These will play a crucial role in future actual combat.

During the commissioning and modification project of the Nassau before service, the German Navy started a new battleship, which was truly enough to match the British battle cruiser's "Von der Tann". It made significant improvements on the basis of the quasi-war patrol "Blüchel", equipped with three triple-mounted 11-inch naval guns with a standard displacement of 20,000 tons, using improved super-effect steam turbines, and four-axis propulsion (German battleships during World War I all used three-axis propulsion, and the battle patrol was four-axis), and the highest designed aviation

The speed reached 27.5 knots, and the comprehensive defense capability was improved by a level compared to the Blücher. Although the firepower standards were very close (only the diameter of the barrel), the von der Tann was two completely different fast warships from the Schonhorst class during World War II. The length of the two ships was 50 meters different and the width was three meters different. Therefore, the former looked more solid and the freeboard was also higher than the criticized Schonhorst class. In addition to the lack of speed and endurance, its airworthiness performance was better.

The Germans were confident in building the first two-class dreadnought and battle cruiser, and the British leader was equally determined. By early 1909, four Palerofon-class Palerofon-classes had been completed and put into service. This was the world's first-class batch-built dreadnought. Its main structure continued the design of the Dreadnought and made some improvements. As the Palerofon-class improved model, all three Saint Vincent-class battle cruisers were launched, and the trend-leading Invincible Class battle cruisers were close to serving. The improved model of the tireless class had been established. The first ship started construction at the Davenport Shipyard in February 1909.
Chapter completed!