Mediterranean hegemon

The United Group is not the only one striving to develop large tanker fleets. European oil demand increased significantly after World War I, coupled with the loss of tankers due to unrestricted submarine warfare during the war, major oil companies are rapidly expanding their tanker fleets. The shipbuilding market is booming as never before. Mexico's Eagle Petroleum Company lost many oil tankers during the war. For this reason, they formulated a huge five-year oil tanker expansion plan, planning to build 25 brand-new oil tankers, including the largest six at the time with a deadweight of 19,000 tons. oil tanker.

However, this plan was not completed after it was proposed. Out of concerns about the nationalization of Mexican oil, Eagle Company was sold to Shell Oil Company. This is also the secret of why the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company was eager to get a share of North African oil and did not do so. , they were left behind in the market competition.

After merging with Eagle Company, Shell became even more ambitious. In 1920, they ordered a package of 23 oil tankers with a total tonnage of 134,000 tons from the British shipyard. The following year, they placed an additional order for 9 oil tankers with a total tonnage of 45,000 tons. In the following two years, they also ordered 23 tankers from the United States. The shipyard has ordered 17 oil tankers, and 5 of them were built by two British merchant shipyards in Hong Kong. The total tonnage of all oil tankers is nearly 300,000 tons. However, in order to put them into use quickly, Shell Oil prefers small-tonnage oil tankers. , my favorite is the 5,000-7,000-ton oil tanker.

The Anglo-Iranian Oil Company also announced an order for 22 oil tankers of more than 10,000 deadweight tons in 1921. Their idea was closer to Contini's idea: a single oil tanker would have a high load capacity and use a more advanced steam turbine instead of a triple expansion type. The steam engine is used as power to reduce vibration and improve propulsion efficiency and speed.

As an important subsidiary of Standard Oil after the spin-off, Standard Oil Company of California ordered 11 12,000-ton oil tankers a few years ago; Standard Oil Company of New Jersey has always been a leader in the transportation and refining of oil and supplied oil to the United States 5 years ago. The local Newport News Shipyard has ordered two oil tankers with a capacity of 10,000 tons, which shows that American shipyards also have the ability to build large oil tankers.

None of them are as ambitious as Contini: Not only did they start building 20,000-ton oil tankers, but the target was 25-30 ships (the actual target was 120 ships). However, Italian shipyards are very grateful to Contini: Without these orders, they would be left behind in the shipbuilding race. Now that they have orders from United Group, they don't have to worry about whether they can get orders from United Group in the future. They can still take orders from other oil companies. Therefore, various manufacturers stated that they would strive to build the oil tankers requested by the president in early 1929, but they were still waiting to seize the market.

Although the construction cost of oil tankers of the same tonnage is much lower than that of warships, and the technical threshold is not as high as that of battleships, 20,000-ton oil tankers are also a new thing, and the cost of mass construction is at least 4 million US dollars. The cost of building them individually like now is even more High, 120 lines is at least 500 million US dollars in total investment (constant price). If amortized over 20 years, the annual depreciation alone will be a big hole, but Contini’s account is not calculated that way: build a batch first to accumulate experience. In the future, large-scale construction will have to be postponed until after the economic crisis in 2029. At that time, not only will the construction cost be much cheaper, but it will also stimulate employment. It is a very good ideal choice. Together with roads and railways, Italy's entire transportation and material transportation system will be improved by several grade.

In his eyes, although 120 ships may seem scary, compared with the number of more than 500 T3 tankers built in the United States in history, it is simply not worth mentioning.

In addition to establishing a first-mover advantage by starting first, what is more important is that it can improve its technical strength and be able to build 20,000-ton oil tankers. In the future, there will be opportunities to build 25,000-ton and 30,000-ton aircraft carriers. Aircraft carriers do not necessarily have to be armored aircraft carriers! At the same time, with this tonnage construction capacity, it is logical to build other large ships. As for some Italian shipyards envisaging taking on foreign orders, it is basically impossible. The upcoming great collapse and depression will face all shipyards and oil companies. Tightening, at that time there will be another trend of shipowners abandoning ships.

Leo bluntly criticized this expensive construction method and believed that Shell Oil Company should learn from Shell Oil Company to build 5,000-7,000-ton oil tankers to quickly form a merchant fleet. Contini smiled and said to him: "Don't worry, these 5,000- We will have a lot of 7,000-ton ships in a few years. At that time, oil fields will produce a lot of oil, and they will be very flexible and convenient to use. "

"Why?"

"It's very simple..." Contini blinked, "After we build the 20,000-ton oil tanker, we can start a price war. Do you think it is cheaper to transport a 5,000-7,000-ton oil tanker or a 20,000-ton oil tanker?" Are the freight rates for tonnage tankers cheaper? After the price war, it will be a winner-takes-all world.”

Leo was truly defeated: If you can't get back the interest and sunk costs of building so many ships, you still want to start a price war? Wouldn't it make things worse?

"You can't just focus on the ship, you have to look further and focus on the supply chain. If one day we have a conflict with Great Britain, if I have control of the tankers on the Mediterranean route, once I cut off this route, What do you think will happen?”

Leo cried out in horror: "Are you going to go to war with Britain in the future?"

"Who can say what's going to happen in the future? At least we should have the final say in the Mediterranean. Besides, the British are not easy to deal with, and they are always rude when they come and go. I have to prepare some materials for them..." Contini smiled, " I never want to go to war, but if war is necessary to achieve my goals, I will never back down.”

Just as he arranged for Göring to serve as the commander-in-chief of HNA and allowed Germany to send designers to see the design ideas of the Roman floating airport, after all this trouble, the German Navy, which has the potential to build aircraft carriers, will still want to build those large and unsuitable aircraft carriers. battleship?

If he's lucky, I'm afraid the entire war thinking will be rewritten. He has the final say on matters in Italy with great confidence. Although he doesn't have the final say on matters in Germany, he can influence those who have the final say, such as Goering. Speaking of Mein Kampf, which has just been printed and has become an instant hit across Germany, the preface was written by Contini himself. He spoke highly of the feats of National Socialism and the Munich Revolution, and said in the tone of a prophet: " I believe that Mr. Adolf Hitler, who has always held high the banner of National Socialism, will complete his redemption of Germany and truly make the German people feel proud and glorious." Hitler wrote many times in his book about Contini's love for him and his country. The influence and help to the National Socialist Party, whether it is the theoretical inspiration of the Three Flags or the meticulous help in all aspects such as funding (only the provision of weapons is omitted), is an honorary leader that must be written into the party constitution. Now all Germany knows that the president and Adolf Hitler was a comrade and a brother.

The first stage goal of the shipbuilding industry is oil tankers, which has already been launched. In addition to the oil tankers, the memorandum locked in the president's safe registers the second goal of the shipbuilding industry: building standardized cargo ships!

When considering data design, members of the "Hearts of Iron" expert team never simply look at whose weapons are better. No matter how good the weapon is, it will not work without quantity in a world war. Contini, like Hoffman, is very concerned about the United States in the war. The free wheel/victory wheel system in China is full of envy and admiration, thinking that it is this thing that determines the success or failure of the European war! When the construction speed of American freighters exceeds the sinking speed of German submarines by three times, the war will be lost without having to fight.

In the same way, Germany and Italy, as countries with relatively scarce resources, will inevitably need a large amount of material imports. These standard freighters will play a decisive role in the future, but it is still early for the time being. We will wait until the tanker matter is settled before considering starting, Contini I think I still have a little time, and then the German and Italian shipyards can start up together and sprint with all their strength. This is also a good way to get out of the Great Depression...

As for the third stage goal of shipbuilding, he came to the conclusion after thinking hard that building submarines must be done on a large scale.

Judging from war experience, to contain the United States, we must block the European bridgehead of Great Britain. To block this bridgehead, we must first strangle Britain's sources of supplies. However, with the strength of the German and Italian navies, they can barely maintain parts of the Mediterranean and North Atlantic waters. It is no longer easy to gain advantage. It is not even possible to talk about using a large fleet to break diplomatic relations. All we can rely on is flying, diving, and speed, and the first one to bear the brunt is the submarine.

There is also a very interesting reality from a historical perspective: when the German submarines achieved great results, they lacked enough submarines; when they finally had enough submarines, the improvement of anti-submarine technology and the boom of American shipbuilding capabilities had caused Germany to lose forever. This possibility.

Contini discussed a hypothesis with his old friend Hoffman more than once: If Germany and Italy had 300 or even 500 more advanced submarines when the war started in 1939, what would the world be like?

Hoffman shrugged: "Perhaps Churchill won't be able to win the battle to defend Britain at all, because they have no oil, and the British are more miserable than us. Germany at least has coal-to-liquids to survive. What kind of technical reserves do the British have? No, the plane cannot move without oil, and the Royal Navy can only live in Italy in 1943. Oh, I forgot one thing, of course you have hundreds of thousands of tons of oil hidden in the Alpine caves! The probability is relatively small, and my American cousin is going to end immediately.”

Contini is convinced of this, so the third most important goal in his shipbuilding undertaking is the submarine joint group's standard document, which says it is a special submarine sightseeing tour boat.

Now he is very close to this goal: Volcan Shipyard has complete and advanced submarine construction experience, and the submarine cave and shipbuilding facilities set up by Small United Shipyard in Venice are almost completed. More importantly, he has brought a batch of submarines from Germany. The first name of a naval officer, mainly a submarine officer, made him happy. It turned out to be Karl Dönitz.