From to 1935 2020

The last stop of the Chinese delegation headed by Chairman Li Runshi before leaving the Soviet Union was the Black Sea Shipyard in Ukraine.

If there were no traversers to intervene, the Soviet Navy would have started the ambitious Red Navy plan in 1938. During this period, Stalin had a feverish mind and began to build battleships.A behemoth (Soviet-class battleship) with a displacement of more than 5 tons and a main gun caliber of 406 mm is planned to be built.It is planned to build four ships, which are scheduled to be launched in 1939, and will be completed and put into service before 1942. After the first two ships are launched, the construction of two more ships will start immediately. On July 2, 2, the first ship "Soviet" held a groundbreaking ceremony on the berth of the 1938 factory, but this was just a scene to please Stalin.The real work was delayed until January 7 before it officially started.In the following year, the sister ships of the "Soviet" class started construction one after another.

In history, the two battleships under construction only completed 20% of the progress and were suspended because of the war. After the war, because "the times have changed", they were finally reduced to the tragic end of target ships and blasting test objects.

In this plane, because of the traverser, the Soviet-class battleship was sentenced to death from the very beginning.Stalin turned a large amount of resources invested in battleships to destroyers, shallow water gunboats and landing ships, submarines, river gunboats and other weapons with a short construction period and rapid generation of combat effectiveness.To say that the biggest change is that the construction of the Soviet Union's first aircraft carrier began during this period.However, during this period, the large amount of productivity of the Soviet shipyards began to manufacture escort destroyers-not only for themselves, but more for the British.

Historically, the British exchanged a bunch of overseas island colonies and Americans for 50 outdated destroyers.Stalin was drooling looking at such a good thing, and he also wanted to make this money.According to his idea, as soon as Western Europe goes to war and Denitz's sea wolves are dispatched, the Soviets will come to the door by themselves, exchanging old and new destroyers with the British for a bunch of good things.

In terms of ship design, it is natural to cooperate with the "old friends" of the Soviets, the Italians and the French.When Huang Ke brought Li Runshi and other leaders to the Black Sea Shipyard, he happened to meet the destroyer, which had just started laying the keel two years ago, and was completed and launched today.The ship was designed by the French. It is an escort destroyer suitable for the sea conditions in the North Atlantic Ocean. The total tonnage is 2500 tons. In the past two years, the Soviet Union launched a total of 36 destroyers in one go, and twelve of them have already entered service. When Ke brought his people over, he happened to see the No. 13 destroyer was completed and put into service, and more ships will also be put into service in the next six months.

When Huang Ke brought the CCP delegation over, Lieutenant General Oktya Briski, commander of the Soviet Black Sea Fleet, warmly welcomed them according to Stalin's instructions.

When welcoming the CCP delegation, Huang Ke noticed that the members of the guard of honor wearing sea soul shirts on both sides of the port held the rifle in their hands, which was the AK47 assault rifle he brought to this world—to be precise, it should be called the AKM rifle.It is an evolution of the AK-47, but many people habitually call it Kalashnikov's AK-47.

And on this plane, the full name of this short-barrel assault rifle is AK37—the original plan was to call it SVT37, with Tokarev as its inventor, but Tokarev refused .In the end, Stalin thought about it and returned the gun to its original name.At the same time, find out the real designer of the gun, Kalashnikov, who is still a young student, and send him to a special school to focus on training as "compensation."

AK37 is currently only equipped with the Soviet Marine Corps and the elite troops in the Army.The reason affecting its large-scale equipment troops is mainly limited by the technical level of this era, and the production speed is relatively slow. As for the history that the Soviet Army did not welcome the SVT40 semi-automatic rifle and despised its troublesome maintenance, in the view of Stalin and Huang Ke , This is not a problem at all: AK series rifles do not have high maintenance requirements, and secondly, the maintenance of firearms is not easy. It is purely laziness of soldiers and insufficient training time.Now the Soviet Union began to prepare for war four years in advance.If the recruited soldiers say that it is difficult to learn how to maintain it after two or three years, all of them can be sent to the punishment camp.

When visiting the Soviet Marine Corps, Huang Ke saw a bunch of replicas of the advanced Soviet weapons he brought from later generations: the eternal classic PKM machine gun of the Soviet Red Army, and the RPD machine gun that only appeared in the late World War II. The PKM machine gun has achieved a perfect balance in terms of manufacturing cost, reliability, weight, firepower continuity, ergonomics, and shooting accuracy.

However, the PKM machine gun, which was well produced in the 70s, was placed in the Soviet Union in the 30s, and it was a thing with a very complicated production process.However, the performance of the gun was too perfect during the test, and a few were forcibly imitated. After being handed over to the troops for trial use, the collective praise was rave. Stalin thought that he "had enough time", and counted as many as he could build. With the idea, I ordered the factory to slowly produce in small batches to accumulate experience.What was really mass-produced was the RPD machine gun that was just equipped by the Soviet Red Army at the end of World War II.

When Huang Ke saw the PKM machine gun, Huang Ke thought of one thing maliciously: If the Germans who like to drill down on horns get this gun in the war, they will probably imitate it shamelessly, and then because of production difficulties, it will become another machine gun. A badass weapon.

According to Stalin's instructions, some ships of the Black Sea Fleet will set sail after May this year and be transferred to the Pacific Ocean.Some ships will berth in China for a long time.Stalin, who was already preparing to compete with the Americans for world dominance after World War II, has now begun to make military strategic arrangements.In the entire Soviet Union, although there was only one Soviet-class aircraft carrier of more than 2 tons built on the berth, the transformation of several coal carriers or cargo ships into aircraft carriers had already begun during this period.

In February [-], when Li Runshi and his party were about to return home from their visit to the Soviet Union to prepare for the "founding ceremony", on the other side of the world, US President Roosevelt already knew the news that the Chinese Communist Party was about to establish the country.

At this time, the United States is still arguing over whether to recognize this new red regime.

After the October Revolution, Western countries began to recognize Russia. In 1922, the Soviet Union established diplomatic relations with Germany, in 1924 with France, Italy, and the United Kingdom, and in 1925 with Japan.At this time, all major Western countries had established diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union. Only the United States had never recognized the Soviet Union, but it was delayed until Roosevelt came to power in 1933 before formally establishing diplomatic relations.

At the beginning of last year, Zhang Wentian secretly visited the United States with the Soviet art troupe. At that time, he was trying to test the attitude of the United States.On the matter of establishing diplomatic relations with the CCP, Roosevelt also showed an extremely positive attitude.

Compared with those younger generations (Truman, Eisenhower) who got carried away after the United States dominated the world, Roosevelt was a pragmatic but cautious president.Although China is a red regime, in the process of founding the country, due to the appearance of Huang Ke and various divine manipulations, plus the existence of DuPont, the pimp, the United States, the most powerful bastion of capitalism, several high-level rich men The consortium has actually formed a "no small friendship" with the CCP.

Establishing diplomatic relations with the CCP, there is not much resistance from the consortium, but anti-communist public opinion and traditional political forces are hindering, but these are not problems.

In the White House, Hoover told Roosevelt:

"Mr. President, we have received information that the official founding of the CCP will be on April [-] this year. And its capital will be Wuhan."

"It's not Peking?"

"According to the CCP's official statement, Beiping is seriously short of water, the climate is harsh, and there are too many antiquities, so it is not suitable for building a capital."

When Hoover was speaking, someone naturally took out a map, spread it out on the table, and then someone pointed out the location of Wuhan on the map.

"It is close to the Yangtze River waterway and connects the north-south railway.....The CCP established its capital in the south. It is obvious that Li Runshi puts the focus of future national development and expansion on the south."

When he said this, Roosevelt's left palm had already been lightly placed on the map of Burma, and his fingertips first drew a circle towards India, but quickly retracted it, and drew another circle in the area of ​​Annan and Thailand. made a circle.

Hurley said: "This is now the sphere of influence of the British and the French."

Marshall, Deputy Minister of War, said: "The CCP army has now forcibly occupied the northern part of Myanmar. It has made the British very nervous. Churchill has accumulated thousands of people in Myitkyina, where he is confronting tens of thousands of CCP soldiers."

Roosevelt looked at the map of India: "The British are afraid. They can give up Austria and the Czech Republic, and they can even endure being driven out of China by Li Runshi, but they will never tolerate losing the crown jewel."

Marshall said: "Recently, the British recognized the CCP regime on the condition that Li Runshi withdrew troops in northern Burma and recognized the Sino-Burmese border in the Qing Dynasty, but Li Runshi has always been tough."

Roosevelt sighed: "If I were Li Yunshi, I would not agree. After Hitler annexed Czechoslovakia, the whole world is now waiting for the war in Europe. Britain is caught in the quagmire of the European war and should not be distracted. But Li Yunshi should not order The army is in conflict with the British, what he is doing now is just occupying the attack points in advance, and waiting for the war in Europe."

When he said this, Roosevelt stretched out his hands and rubbed his swollen temples.

The statue that Huang Ke gave him last year was no longer in the office - according to American tradition, he was thrown into the warehouse and sealed up.The year is 1939, and Roosevelt's second term as president is coming to an end.He is now considering breaking with American tradition to start a third re-election bid.

During this process, if he makes any major changes in national policy, such as recognizing the CCP regime as the legitimate government of China, it will have unpredictable and serious consequences.

In his heart, Roosevelt planned to join the Soviet Union in recognizing the CCP regime immediately.He is very clear about the advantages and disadvantages of the United States. Although China and the Soviet Union look very powerful together, the overseas projection capabilities of these two continental countries are very poor.

If the United States wants to be on top of the world, the first thing to do is to smash the old colonial system established by Britain and France, and then fill in its own private goods.

In this process, the United States will encounter several obstacles in the future, and it also needs to combine vertically and horizontally to win over allies.

"How is the situation in Japan? Is their giant ship plan still going on?"

Hoover took out a stack of photos and put them on the table, "The guards there are very tight, and the top of the shipyard is covered. We still can't get definite information yet."

"A 460-ton giant battleship and a [-]mm caliber cannon! Have the agents of China and the Soviet Union penetrated Japan so deeply?"

Ross Bao snorted coldly, resting his chin with both hands, tapping each other lightly with the tips of his thumbs.The news of the two giant battleships "Yamato" and "Musashi" that Japan is secretly building was a "gift" secretly given to Roosevelt by the Soviet delegation at the end of the Six-Party Talks last year.

Its purpose is not to make the United States prepare for war as soon as possible, but to lead the development direction of the US Navy in a wrong direction, and even let the "Montana" class battleship come to the world in advance.

Then Hoover looked at Roosevelt, shut up and said nothing.In the past year, he has used a lot of manpower to verify this information, but due to the excellent secrecy work of the Japanese, no definite evidence has been obtained.

While Roosevelt squinted his eyes and thought, suddenly he slapped the table.

"Tomorrow, leak to the Washington Post that Japan is secretly building an eighteen-inch frigate. We should do something about it."

Roosevelt had long wanted to expand armaments on a large scale, but he was subject to too many constraints and it was difficult to pass the relevant clauses, but now he has found the best reason and helper.

Roosevelt wanted three presidents, and he could not do without the support of the military. It was time to find a reason to increase equipment for the navy.

PS: You people have killed the group chat again, the new group number is 683865767.

Chapter 312 Butterfly Wings

When the relevant data of the Yamato-class battleship, including the structure and outline sketches, were published on the front page of the "Washington Post", the U.S. Navy was ecstatic. Character.

The Japanese Navy took extremely extreme secrecy measures for the construction of the Yamato class. In addition to apportioning the budget funds of the entire ship to some empty shell ships during the design stage, they even blocked the Kure Naval Factory during the construction stage.

The data and performance of the entire Yamato-class ship were measured and calculated by the technicians of the Ship Administration Headquarters, and even the drawings were drawn on-site at the drawing factory in the Kure Factory.Such exaggerated secrecy means that many workers don't even know what kind of warship they are building.

Compared with the workers in the ship canal, the drawing office responsible for drawing the blueprints of warships is subject to stricter control.The original drawings of the Yamato were drawn by the Shipbuilding Department of the Kure Naval Factory. There are 31368 drawings for the entire battleship, 89 of which are the most confidential "military aircraft"-level drawings, 2255 "military extremely secret"-level drawings, and 4092 "secret" drawings. There are 24932 ordinary drawings for level drawings.

These drawings were actually drawn one by one by 500 drafting workers, covering the original drawings with photosensitive paper. At the same time, in order to keep confidential, the scale column of these drawings was all blank.These drafting workers start working at 7:6 am and leave work at [-]:[-] pm. They are under close surveillance by special high-level police and military police throughout the day. To enter the drafting station, they must wear a pass with their photo attached.

In addition, the drawings drawn every day and the discarded drawings must be registered in detail, and locked in a vault with double security after get off work. At the end of the month, the discarded drawings and wooden models will be centrally burned.

What is even more exaggerated is that in order to ensure that the construction of the Yamato class is foolproof, in addition to covering the ship canal, even the buildings near the shipbuilding canal have been controlled and transformed.For all the houses in the Miyahara area where the shipyard can be seen, all the windows on the sea side were forcibly sealed. For the railway passing through the Wuchang area, in addition to building baffles along the line, the trains were also required to keep the sea side closed when passing. The side curtains were lowered, and two military policemen were stationed in each carriage to strictly prevent passengers from peeping and taking pictures.

What's more, several mountains and civilian ports near Wugang were also closed, and military police guarded them 24 hours a day, and any intruders who appeared in the closed area would be tortured by the military police.

Because of Japan's strong domestic secrecy, the U.S. overseas intelligence agency spent a year without obtaining key physical photos, but only obtained some peripheral evidence to analyze the giant warship that Japan was building.

Although no definite data and evidence were available, at most there was only a sketch of the warship provided by the Soviets, but the ambitious Roosevelt and Harold Star, the head of the Naval Operations Department, were full of thoughts of "making money, making money". Ke still "tried" to believe it.

In 1939, the U.S. Navy was about to begin construction of the famous South Dakota-class battleships.

Due to the intensification of international tensions, Congress decided on June 1938, 6 to allocate funds for the construction of two more battleships of the same type.At that time the terms of the Second London Naval Treaty were in effect allowing for the installation of 25-inch (16 mm) guns on battleships, and since Japan and Italy had not joined the treaty until this time, the de facto standard displacement of new battleships It has also been automatically relaxed to 406 tons, but the US government believes that the navy is not really facing the threat of war, so they are not willing to really enlarge the battleship to this level, and the displacement is still limited to 45000 tons.

According to the plan, the first ship of the "South Dakota" class, the "South Dakota", will start construction at the New York Shipyard in July of that year, and will be launched on June 1939, 6.

The navy has long been extremely dissatisfied with the master of Congress for changing [-] tons into [-] tons, and forcibly shrinking [-] tons.In order to please the Navy, Roosevelt intentionally fueled the flames on the Yamato-class battleships. With his desperate advocacy, the whole incident instantly became the focus of news across the United States.

"A giant ship of 460 tons, a giant gun with a caliber of [-]mm."

Throughout February, American newspapers repeatedly hyped the threat of the "Yamato-class battleship", and this wind soon blew from the United States to Europe, and at the same time it blew to Japan.

With the secret support of public opinion and President Roosevelt, the U.S. Congress was forced to re-discuss the new ship construction plan proposed by the Navy. When the U.S. Navy made a move, the British also became anxious. Soon, the British pulled the Americans to attack the Japanese together. Press and ask about the situation of the battleship Yamato they are secretly building in Kure Port.

The so-called country is about to perish, and there must be evildoers. In the past ten years before the collapse of the empire, the British Empire even had a big problem with its traditional strength, the construction of naval battleships that once led the world trend.

The cause was that during the negotiation of the Second Naval Treaty, the United Kingdom urged members of participating countries to build miniaturized battleships with a displacement of 25000 tons and a 12-inch main gun; and a medium-sized battleship with a 14-inch main gun and a displacement of 28000 tons.

The British are very self-righteous: during the naval holidays, the British Empire spent a lot of effort to develop a very good 14-inch gun, the No. 14 1-inch gun of the same level in the world.He thought that with this move, the battleships of other countries could be restricted, and the advantages of the British cruisers would be fully utilized, which would be very beneficial to the empire on which the sun never sets with a long shipping line.In addition, except for the seven 406 battleships in the treaty era, the battleships in the hands of the British Empire are all 381 main guns, while the BB of the US Empire is 356, which is a big advantage here.

This kind of speculative thinking is extremely wretched. To paraphrase a sentence: At this time, the British Empire has long lost the prestige of the British Empire before World War I. You made one and I made two. up.

But this idea, with the London Naval Treaty, only the United States responded to it.Moreover, the United States considers that Japan and Italy have no intention of accepting the restrictions of the treaty, and there is also a Germany that has not participated in the treaty, so there is room for the choice of main gun caliber. On the "North Carolina" class battleship under design, 16 guns are reserved. The 14-inch main gun replaced the space of the 16-inch main gun, and then the [-]-inch gun was directly installed.

When the United States began to build the North Carolina-class battleship with 406 tubes, the entire British Empire, which had exhausted all its organs and shot itself in the foot, was already dumbfounded.In fact, the biggest victim of the naval holiday was the British Empire itself. The entire British shipbuilding industry, and even the artillery industry, shrank. The British Empire, which was able to manufacture 20-inch main guns (peeping ships) 18 years ago, can only manufacture 14-inch guns at this time.

If the British Empire can bite the bullet, spend more money, and reorganize the 16-inch equipment, the problem will not be too big.But where does the money come from?

In order to start the construction of new warships in early 1937, Churchill and others had to cancel the plan to give priority to the construction of battleships equipped with main guns with a caliber of 15 inches or more. In 1935, the British Navy selected a 14-inch main gun for the new battleship, so that the "George V" class could serve as soon as possible. Then, during the construction process, all kinds of demon moths flew together, and the progress continued to procrastinate.The North Carolina class of the Americans are all in service, and the first ship of the George V class is still resting on the berth.Mustache's plane flew to London to shit and piss, and the George V was still lying on the berth.When the German Bismarck set off, the George V and the second ship, the Prince of Wales (not fully built at the time), barely set off.

During this period, after hearing that Japan was secretly building an 18-inch, [-]-ton "seriously foul" giant ship, the British were also in a hurry.

Then the United Kingdom and the United States joined forces to put pressure on Japan, clamoring to go to Wugang Shipyard to inspect the "super giant ship" that was under construction and fouled.

"Baga, there are national thieves in the Admiralty, who leaked the information on the Yamato!"

Facing the pressure from Britain and France at the same time, Japanese Prime Minister Mitsumasa Yonei once again felt the humiliation of being pressed on the ground by a Western white man.

During this period, all he could do was to send diplomats to cry miserably, especially to Sir Pound, the British Sea Lord.The general idea is: my Great Japanese Empire has been tossed miserably by China and the Soviet Union in the past two years. Look at the United States next door: two North Carolina-class battleships on the berth are about to enter service, and there are four South Dakota-class battleships It will also be placed on the berth, and my little Japanese Empire, after the naval holiday is almost over, is so poor that it can only build a battleship...

The Japanese, who know that it is difficult to hide their behavior of exceeding the standard of building giant warships, are very clever in hiding themselves in the brighter sunlight: Japan, which builds a giant ship with the power of the whole country, is comparable to a large sum of money. With a wave, will the Great America of six (including two North Carolina-class) battleships be built on six berths at the same time?

"No matter how strong the Yamato is, it is only 21 tons, while the Great America next to it is a full 25 tons, and they are still clamoring to increase the tonnage of each ship to [-] tons. At least [-] tons of tonnage!"

In London newspapers, journalists who took money from the Japanese published the above-mentioned remarks in the newspapers to explain and cleanse the Japanese.

In fact, after the disastrous defeat of the Japanese in China, the whole country was impoverished by the British. The domestic prices are soaring, and the people are making a commotion. And Mitsumasa Yonei, who has just come to power for a year, seems to be the prime minister now. The position is lost... In short, the situation is as miserable as it can be.

The reason why Churchill ordered people to hype up the Yamato class was not because he was afraid of Japan. The reason was actually the same as that of the Americans.

Although Fatty Qiu had a lot of problems, he still knew what to do in his naval headquarters.The George V class was originally designed with twelve three-seat quadruple-mounted 14-inch guns, but it was forced to reduce to 10 guns in order to save budget because of the restrictions of the lords of the House.It is too late to temporarily replace large-caliber guns, but at least we must increase the tonnage of battleships and increase the number of artillery to twelve like the Americans.

As an outstanding actor and performing artist, Churchill said to all members of the House of Lords in a sad tone: "In the past ten years, the Ministry of Finance has been too harsh on the Royal Navy! The new warships built by the Americans are All [-]-inch guns, the Japanese are building huge ships with [-]-inch guns, only the poor Royal Navy is still using poor [-]-inch guns..."

With the help of Stalin, the traveler sent Roosevelt a piece of information, which immediately set off a small wave of "naval armament expansion" between the two major navies of the United Kingdom and the United States. The House of Representatives finally agreed to a plan to increase naval armaments.

As for Japan, which is known to be building a [-]-ton giant ship, during this period, the shipyards across the country were opened to allow the British to enter Japan for inspection—thanks to the fact that the construction progress of Yamato was more than half a year later than in history, It's just a battleship with a keel laid. What the British can see at this time is that it is a warship that "definitely exceeds the standard in terms of tonnage". At this time, I didn't care too much: because Japan is really poor to the extreme.Rather than worrying about the threat posed by a super giant ship built by Japan, it is more meaningful to be more wary of the rapidly rising red dragon in the northeast of India.

On the other hand, Roosevelt privately stated to the Navy: For the future "Iowa-class" battleship, his goal will be raised to a standard that can compete with Japan's Yamato-class!

However, according to the speed at which the U.S. Navy is building new ships, by the time construction of the Iowa class starts, Roosevelt’s two presidential terms have already expired. He said this, already faintly hinting to the people in the Navy: I will participate in the third presidential term. campaign.

When both the United Kingdom and the United States were talking about Japan's Yamato-class battleships, the top Japanese navy officials who were unlucky to be used as gunners kept scolding their mothers.

"The imperial kingdom really can't sink like this anymore."

In a kiosk shop frequented by Tokyo Marines, Yamamoto 56 said to his old friend Narumi Inoue with a sad face.

"Both the British and the Americans are clamoring to increase the navy's military spending under the guise of the giant ships of the empire, but we can't do anything right now."

After World War I, after the signing of the Washington Naval Treaty, Japan, relying on the world's third largest navy, once had the illusion of becoming a world "chess player".This illusion lasted for many years, until the disastrous defeat in the Chinese battlefield, and until the recent "Yamato Incident", the two suddenly realized that we were really just pawns.

After the defeat in the Chinese battlefield, Japan almost completely lost the Chinese market. Although China and the Soviet Union wanted to give Japan a hand through a trade agreement, Japanese industrial products during this period were synonymous with "inferior goods".The customs under the control of the CCP no longer leave Japan with the slightest chance of smuggling. They can only honestly export products to China by paying taxes through formal channels-but they cannot compete with "high-quality and cheap" American products.In the one year after the armistice, the total value of Japan’s trade exports to China was less than a quarter of what it was before the war, and the profit margin dropped significantly. Most of the market was taken up by the Americans. .The raw materials needed in Japan can no longer be "free" plundered from China, and can only be imported honestly at a cost. One entry and one exit have exacerbated the collapse of Japan's domestic economy.

"If Europe does not go to war, Japan will really be helpless!"

The two groaned.

The next day, Minet's cabinet, which had just taken office for less than a year, was unable to obtain a majority vote of confidence and was forced to resign collectively in April 1939.