Iron Cross

"44 in common use + 4 in reserve, of which 32 are stored in the hangar, 12 are tied to the deck, and 4 are hung on the roof. It is planned to be composed of 20 Bf-21218 and 8 Ju-98..."

Hearing this number, Raeder breathed a sigh of relief. This number is not small. Thinking back to the original design indicator of the Count Zeppelin, there were only 42 aircraft. Hoffman desperately instructed the designer to modify and forcibly increase it to 58 aircraft.

"The design bureau has considered many ways to increase the number of aircraft, including redesigning the bottom compartment of the No. 2 turret, adjusting the power system and the position of the boiler, and even completely canceling the No. 1 turret and changing it to a complete aircraft carrier, but the time cost and economic cost are too high." Schubert explained, "The current reconstruction plan only takes 180 days (starting from February 1) and costs 27 million Reichsmarks. If it is completely rebuilt, it will take 450 days and cost 75 million - almost equivalent to building a new aircraft carrier. 85%, so it is not cost-effective. "

"The 12 aircraft moored include 8 Bf-21218. Before the development of the carrier-based high-speed reconnaissance aircraft is completed, in addition to water reconnaissance, the He-218 will temporarily perform the reconnaissance responsibility..." Schubert added, "This reconstruction has basically not increased the displacement of the warship, and the maximum speed remains unchanged at 29.5 knots, but due to the increase in aviation fuel, the endurance will drop from the original 7500 nautical miles/15 knots to 6200 nautical miles/15 knots. The design bureau believes that this reduction is acceptable. "

"His combat mission..." Wiesel paused and turned his eyes to Hoffman, "The Führer has different ideas."

"This is not an aircraft carrier for the main force or fleet decisive battle, although it seems to have a large number of aircraft. "Hoffman smiled, "I want to give it a special function, and it is very appropriate to describe it as a 'destroying aircraft carrier'. It will be dispatched together with the Strasbourg, a ship of the same class, and then equipped with 4 destroyers to complete the task of destroying commerce. His task is to first attack at a long distance The two ships can use their air force to take out the escort carriers of the British and American transport fleets, and then use their high speed to take out the escort warships and transport ships one by one. The two warships have 12 330mm caliber guns, and no cruiser can be their opponent. If they encounter battleships, they can also summon aircraft to destroy them. When facing possible air raids by enemy aircraft, its 20 Bf-219s can effectively perform air defense tasks. "

"Is there another one that will not be rebuilt?" Raeder clearly remembered that Hoffman said at the beginning that both warships should be rebuilt.

"Not yet, we have better goals, such as..." Hoffman said with a smile, "Jean Bart - the French have basically agreed to our negotiations on the Syrian issue, and both Jean Bart and Richelieu have the opportunity to be included in your command."

Raeder quickly calculated: According to the head of state's thinking, the Jean Bart, which is only 75% completed and has only one turret installed, will definitely be converted into a similar aviation battleship. If a fully repaired Richelieu-class battleship is added, it seems that the new battleship will be enough. Moreover, the Richelieu class is larger in size, better in defense, and has a larger displacement (up to 39,000 tons) than the Dunkirk class. The prospect of converting it into an aviation battleship is obviously more ideal - maybe there is a chance to catch up with the number of aircraft carried by the Zeppelin aircraft carrier.

Wiesel continued to report: "Once the Führer's angled deck idea was proposed, the design bureau thought it was feasible and a groundbreaking initiative. The two battleships we just bought from Japan will also be modified according to this idea. However, the Japanese warships' guns are not all concentrated on the front deck like the French warships, but are evenly distributed throughout the hull, so it will be a little more troublesome."

"First modify one Japanese battleship, and I will keep the other one for use..."

"Useful?" Raeder was a little puzzled.

Keitel, who was sitting next to him, whispered: "The Führer has been trying to win over the Turks recently. In view of their Black Sea complex, we sent them a Goeben in the last war. This time, we may consider sending the Hyuga, which is in better condition (the No. 5 turret of the Ise was blown up and has not been repaired)..."

Raeder was reluctant, but when he thought of the speed and age of the Hyuga, he felt that such an old ship could only undertake the escort mission, and it was impossible to use it for fleet combat, so he nodded mechanically.

"Compared with the Dunkerque class, the Ise class has its own advantages and disadvantages: the advantages are mainly two points. The first is that the displacement is slightly larger, which means that the aircraft carrier capacity may increase; the second is that the first two turrets are located relatively forward, which means that the length of the main deck after the reconstruction can be slightly longer, and more carrier-based aircraft can be moored than the Dunkerque under the same circumstances; the disadvantages are also two points. The first is that the ship is relatively old and some boilers need to be updated. But even after modernization, the maximum speed is difficult to exceed 26 knots unless we completely replace them with new ones; the second is that its six turrets are evenly distributed, unlike the Dunkerque class concentrated on the front deck, which will bring a larger amount of engineering." Schubert frowned and thought for a while, "At present, the design bureau has not yet conducted an on-site inspection. Under the premise of ensuring resources, manpower and other factors, the relatively optimistic estimate is that the project will take at least 270 days and cost at least 36 million Reichsmarks."

Everyone knows that the two warships were purchased for a total of only 67 million marks. Now it will cost more than half of the money to renovate only one of them. They are all stunned. In addition, the Dunkirk and the potential renovation and restoration of the Jean-Bart , it is estimated that the overall budget will exceed 150 million, and will be spent throughout the year. Coupled with the expenditure on purchasing warships, it will steadily exceed 200 million. Thinking of such a huge number, Redl turned his attention to Speer for help.

The latter comforted the Navy Commander-in-Chief: "The Japanese sent 80 tons of gold and hundreds of tons of other metals this time. The head of state agreed to use all this gold for naval military expenses - the estimated value is about 300 million marks. In addition, the Indians also It has promised to pay an additional 20 tons of gold after the war in India is launched. Therefore, the additional military expenditure of the Navy is expected to reach 375 million this year. In addition, the Navy is currently salvaging the stranded British and American transport ships in the Horn of East Africa. We value it at 125 million marks. In this way, the naval military expenditure will reach 500 million. The last income is from the Jews. Last year and this year, we estimated that we would get at least 400 million marks through this channel. According to the army, navy, air force, SS and General Security Bureau, On the principle of each receiving a quarter share, the Navy will be given an additional 100 million special military expenditures in addition to the normal budget for this year.”

At this time, 1 ounce of gold is 35 US dollars. The official price ratio between the mark and the US dollar is about 2.5:1, and the black market price ratio is 4:1 (the black market price of the Japanese yen during the same period is 4.2:1). However, based on the official German gold price, the mark to US dollar exchange rate It's about 3:1 - in fact, due to foreign exchange and gold controls, ordinary people can't exchange it at all.

"An extra 600 million yuan?" All the senior navy officials were overjoyed. Only Admiral Wetzel, who was in charge of armaments, had a wry smile on his face.

"What's wrong?" Redel was keenly aware of his old friend's expression and asked Weitzel in confusion, "You don't seem satisfied?"

"Because he still has a large number of warships to build, and the remaining money is simply not enough." Then Raeder and other senior naval officials saw Schubert come up with a second design - this time it was a quite satisfactory all-deck type. Standard aircraft carrier.

"This is a new design formed by the design bureau using the hull of the Zeppelin aircraft carrier and absorbing the Japanese drawings of the Taiho-class aircraft carrier. The power system and hull frame are similar to those of the Graf Zeppelin. The cabin layout and internal design are basically based on those of the Taiho-class aircraft carrier. class, with an estimated standard displacement of 33,000 tons, a hull length of 264 meters, a width of 31 meters, a main engine power of 200,000, a maximum speed of 34 knots, and an endurance of 8,000 nautical miles/18 knots.”

The Zeppelin aircraft carrier is slightly larger and has slightly more tonnage than the Taiho-class aircraft carrier. The thickness of the armored deck is not as good as that of the Taiho-class. This is simply because German designers are more conservative in cabin design and internal layout and use larger ships than Japan. The hull and more displacement only resulted in fewer carrier-based aircraft. Hoffman was quite dissatisfied with this and immediately negotiated with Japan to obtain the drawings of the Taiho-class modification. Of course, the Japanese design cannot be completely copied, because the sea conditions in the Pacific are relatively good. In order to balance the weight of the armored deck and keep the center of gravity of the whole ship stable, the side of the Taiho is 1.7 meters lower than that of the Chicheng (the drawings of this type were available in Germany before the war) - - There is no risk in doing this in the Pacific. In the rough Atlantic, the waves will be more serious. Therefore, the Zeppelin's 33,000-ton displacement hull structure must be used - a full 4,000 tons more than Dafeng, which is equivalent to enlarging it in a circle.

Compared with the Zeppelin, due to the absorption of the improved design of Taiho's internal layout, the new aircraft carrier's overall carrier-based aircraft has reached the level of 66 regular aircraft + 8 reserve aircraft on the premise that the thickness of the main armor belt on the deck is as high as 105mm. Still called the Peter Strasser.

"It is estimated that the construction period of the aircraft carrier is 36 months and the cost is 140 million Reichsmarks - excluding carrier-based aircraft. We will build it in local shipyards."

Redel muttered his dissatisfaction: "I remember that the total budget of the Zeppelin was less than 100 million, and Bismarck only spent 200 million Reichsmarks. Why is it so expensive now?"

"Your Excellency, Marshal, the Zeppelin has been repeatedly stopped and rebuilt, and the cost has already exceeded 110 million. This is the budget under the premise of canceling multiple 150mm naval guns. As for the cost of the Bismarck - the price index is now higher than in 1936. Quite a lot. If we build another one, it will cost an estimated 250-300 million. "

Redel was well versed in budgeting. He calculated it and immediately said: "If it is built in three years, the Navy seems to only have to bear 50 million per year."

"Yes, you calculated correctly, but there is more to come." Then, Schubert replaced the third design drawing.