But Ze City, the docks of Shuoxiao Shipyard are crowded with people.

Out of eager hope that the navy of his country can subvert Britain's current maritime hegemony, the launch of each battleship has become a major concern for Germany in recent years. Today, the launch ceremony of the Oldenburg not only attracted tens of thousands of civilians near Danze City, but also many royal nobles including Emperor William II also appeared at the ceremony.

Chen Tian and his party came to the viewing platform directly in front of the dry dock. In the center of the viewing platform was William II and the Queen, on the left were nobles and cabinet ministers, on the right were Crown Prince Prince, Chen Tian, ​​Tirpitz and other generals with outstanding status. The Oldenburg, whose hull had been basically completed, was lying quietly in the dry dock, with a huge colorful ball hanging on the ship. After a while, the emperor opened it himself to send blessings from the people of the whole country to the Oldenburg that was officially launched.

At this time, the emperor and the queen had not arrived yet, and only the Prince had already taken the seat.

"Your Highness, long time no see!" Chen Tian and Lisa walked up to them and greeted them.

"Jiji, long time no see! I miss you so much!" Although Chen Tian had stretched out his right hand, the prince still gave him a bear hug. People around him who were not familiar with the situation were happy about the intimacy of the two young princes.

However, at this time, the prince came to Chen Tian's ear and left a meaningful sentence, "I remember that His Majesty's transfer order was officially issued half a month ago. I didn't expect you to come back so soon! Yes, it seems that you have prepared for a long time and are well-informed!"

"Your Highness, Prince, I..." Chen Tian originally wanted to explain, but then he thought it was useless to explain to him, and he might get darker and darker. At this time, the Tirpitz and his wife also came to the seat, so he simply took Lisa to greet them.

"His Prince, Prince, hello!" Tirpitz said hello to Chen Tian and his wife with a smile on his face. The launch of this new warship made him feel refreshed.

"His Excellency the Navy, the empire's navy has become stronger and stronger under your leadership. You are really admirable!" Chen Tian still admired the Navy Secretary very much, and he also supported himself in the development of the Baltic squadron and submarines. After taking his seat, the two of them started chatting enthusiastically.

It turned out that shortly after the Nassau-class battleship started construction, it was learned that the British Navy was building a dreadnought with a 13.5-inch caliber main gun. The German Navy began to feel that the 280-mm main gun loaded on its battleship was insufficient, so it decided to build four new Helgolan-class battleships with a 12-inch (305mm) main gun. This class of ships was named after four regions of the German Empire, namely the Helgolan, Osterfrieslan, Thuringian, and Oldenburg. Oldenburg was the last to be launched.

The Helgolan-class battleship has a displacement of 24,700 tons, a length of 167.20 meters, a height of 28.50 meters, and a width of 8.94 meters. It is equipped with 15 Sulzer-Sonnycroft coal-fired boilers, three-seater and four-cylinder reciprocating steam engines, with a power of 28,000 horsepower, 3 axes, 2 rudder parallel configuration, a maximum speed of 21 knots, a range of 5,500 nautical miles/10 knots, and 2,700 nautical miles/20 knots. The main gun is 12 305mm/50 times the caliber, and there are 3 double-mounted turrets at the beginning and end of the battleship, which are distributed in a font shape. There are three chimneys on this class of battleships, which is also the only desperation ship in the German Navy with three chimneys in the class except for the old battleships.

While the launch ceremony had not yet begun, Chen Tian told Tirpitz about the British battleship he had seen on the way.

"If I'm not mistaken, it should be two of the three St. Vincent-class battleships that Britain just completed last year and this year. It seems that they have officially entered service!" After hearing Chen Tian's description, Tirpitz's face became obviously gray.

"Although the St. Vincent class battleship belongs to the same level as our Helgolan class battleship, our Helgolan class will not be completed until at least next year. The Oldenburg ship in front of us will not be in service until the next year. In comparison, we are much slower than Britain!"

"So that's it!" Chen Tian has always known that the construction cycle of large warships is very long, but he did not expect that it will take one to two years to officially enter the battle sequence after being launched. However, after this Helgolan-class battleship is put into service, the British Navy may have newer and stronger warships, and the German Navy will be chasing again.

"His Excellency the Navy Secretary, I am forgiving, why do we always wait for the British to build new warships and then modify our own warships according to their designs, so that we will never surpass them!" When Chen Tian expressed his thoughts, Tirpitz was not surprised, he just sighed helplessly.

"Your Highness, everyone knows this principle! But with our current steel smelting technology, power technology and design capabilities, all we can do is to minimize the gap with the British!"

"But..." Just as Chen Tian wanted to continue speaking, warm cheers came to the surroundings. It turned out that the emperor and the queen had already arrived at the viewing platform, and the warship launch ceremony was announced to begin.

All presenters stood up to pay tribute to the emperor and the queen, and then played the national anthem of the German Empire. After introducing the basic situation of the warship, the emperor threw a bottle of champagne to the bow of the ship. After the bottle was broken, the wine fragrance overflowed and the wine spray splashed. After the emperor finished the bottle throwing ceremony, all presenters paid attention to the new ship and applauded warmly. Then the cable was cut off, and the battleship slowly slid into the water under the flying colorful flowers and ribbons. Finally, the emperor also delivered a brief speech, encouraging the people of the whole country to work hard to build a powerful German Empire.

"Hissing Minister of the Navy, I hope to have a good talk with you!" After the ceremony, Chen Tian stopped Tirpitz and wanted to continue their previous topic, but the emperor summoned them immediately.

Chen Tian and Tirpitz followed the emperor's guards to the special train outside the shipyard, where the emperor and the prince were already waiting for them.

"This time I came to you and just wanted to have a chat!" The emperor signaled them to sit on the chair in front of him, and the guards quickly brought the brewed coffee.

"Jiji, I heard that your submarine sank a Turkish cruiser, which also put Türkiye's shipping on the Aegean Sea in a difficult situation."

Chen Tian knew that the emperor’s casual chat was not so casual.

"Yes, Your Majesty! I have asked Captain Philip, the commander of the submarine force, to report to the Admiralty!" Chen Tian passed the emperor's ball to Tirpitz.

"Your Majesty, Captain Philip's report is being studied by the Admiralty Department. I believe that a document will be compiled soon and handed to you!" Tirpitz quickly drove the ball out.

"No need! We already know the detailed process, but I think the efficiency of the Admiralty needs to be strengthened in the future!" Prince suddenly intercepted the ball and made a beautiful long pass counterattack. Tirpitz frowned in dissatisfaction.

"Don't mention this matter anymore. Now I want to hear your views on weapons like submarines. Although we have been building battleships with all our might, the damn British warships are still increasing at twice our speed. If this continues, we will never be able to surpass them unless we have newer weapons than them! I mean, is it possible for submarines to fight battleships?" William II confiscated the ball steadily. Although everyone here only said one thing, it seemed that they had played a fierce game.

"Submarines can be used to attack opponents or block the opponent's sea transportation, but I'm afraid they cannot face the opponent's warships head-on!" Chen Tian had the most say in the submarine, and Tirpitz also nodded in favor.

"I think only battleships can fight the battleships! Submarines will come up in two hours to change their anger! It's too easy to be discovered and eliminated by their opponents. I think they can only come out at night to bully unarmed cargo ships!" Prince looked very professional, but his eyes suddenly lit up and said something that made Chen Tian almost bleed: "I have a good note, convert our battleships into submarines, so that they can appear in front of the enemy's battleships without knowing each other and catch them off guard!"

This time even the emperor gave him a blank look. It seemed that this guy didn't know anything about the ship.

"Although the submarine is not the nemesis of the battleship, that does not mean that only the battleship can solve the battleship!" Chen Tian glanced at the emperor, and he looked expectant.

"Airplane! We can drop bombs and torpedoes with planes!" Chen Tian thought this was a very simple truth, but it seems that people in this era are strongly skeptical about this view.

"Your Highness, can a small plane really sink a battleship?" Tirpitz couldn't imagine what kind of scene it was. On one side were tens of thousands of tons of steel objects, on the other side were wooden-skinned planes, why did the plane win?

The emperor also shook his head and said that he could not understand. The prince, who had just been hit, sat quietly on the side, and it seemed that he could not understand even more.

"Your Majesty, give me a few months, and I will prove it to you!" Chen Tian had no choice but to use facts to prove it, but there are no ready-made weapons now, and he still needs some time to study and experiment.

"Okay! I hope to see what you mentioned as soon as possible. You can apply for the funds from the Admiralty!" The emperor was still a little interested in his thoughts, and this time, Chen Tian finally didn't need to pay out his own pocket.

Chen Tian looked at Tirpitz, and he nodded gently to express his support.
Chapter completed!