Iron Sonata of World War II

德国新航母的核心舱防护体系同样延续自“德意志”级装甲舰：动力舱和弹药库上方被厚达80毫米的均质水平装甲所覆盖。舷侧的垂直防护则由30毫米剥被帽装甲、200毫米发泡水泥层、130毫米表面硬化钢板（水下部分逐步削薄到90毫米）构成的倾斜20度的剥被帽体系承担。水平装甲两侧各通过一段具有18度下俯角的130毫米均质钢板与舷侧垂直装甲顶端相连接。核心舱的前后两端被130毫米厚的垂直装甲横壁封住 从而形成完整的装甲盒结构。装甲盒内部又被8道60毫米的装甲墙隔开，形成九个相互独立的装甲区。

On the basis of retaining the 90 mm to 30 mm thick underwater armor belt of the "Deutschland" class armored ship, the underwater protection system of the new aircraft carrier has further expanded the defense depth, forming a structure composed of empty tanks - liquid tanks - air tanks. The three-layer structure composed of the cabin, and the ammunition depot part also uses a three-layer bottom.Among them, the space between the outer empty cabin and the two bottom layers is filled with foam rubber, which greatly enhances the protection effect against torpedoes.

Such a rigorous protection design makes the core area protection of the new aircraft carrier reach the highest level of an aircraft carrier of similar tonnage: not only can it withstand the eight-inch naval guns of the heavy cruiser at a normal engagement distance, but the horizontal armor can also block bombers at 1000 1000 lb (454 kg) armor-piercing bombs dropped at a height of 450 meters, and underwater protection can withstand torpedoes equivalent to [-] kg of TNT.

Chapter 221 First Attack

In addition to the solid protection of the core cabin, in order to protect the main and auxiliary rudder rooms, the transmission shaft and the buoyancy reserve of the battleship, the new aircraft carrier also has a section of auxiliary armor boxes at both ends of the main armor box.The front and rear auxiliary armor boxes are composed of side armor and dome armor. The thickness of the side armor is 60 mm, and the thickness of the horizontal part in the middle of the dome and the inclined parts on both sides are both 80 mm.

The inclined part of the dome has an inclination angle of 68 degrees and is connected to the bottom of the side armor, so that the side armor and the inclined part of the dome are superimposed on the trajectory of the incoming shell, and together constitute the vertical protection of the auxiliary armor box system.In this way, although the height of the bow and stern auxiliary armor box is relatively low, the protection strength is close to that of the main armor box.

In this way, the combined length of the main armor box and the front and rear auxiliary armor boxes of the new aircraft carrier exceeds 190 meters, accounting for more than three-quarters of the total length of the ship, protecting nearly 90% of the ship's displacement.Inside the main armor box and above the wheelhouse, there are also anti-caving wall panels with a thickness of 10 to 20 mm to prevent fragments from intruding into the core cabin and the wheelhouse.

The above-mentioned protection designs make it possible for new aircraft carriers to face enemy attacks in the future. Although the flight deck and hangar may still be destroyed by dive or horizontal bombing, resulting in the decline or loss of aviation operation capabilities, it is not easy to lose speed.That is to say, under normal circumstances, even if a new aircraft carrier is hit by a 1000-pound bomb, a 450-kilogram torpedo, or a 203mm naval gun, there is a high probability that it will be able to leave the battlefield at high speed.

As for abandoning the armor protection of the flight deck and hangar, it wasn't because Helena didn't want to make a difference in this regard.It is because according to the estimates of the designers, if the armored aircraft deck is to be used while ensuring the protection strength of the core cabin and the seaworthiness in high sea conditions, and to ensure sufficient aviation operation capabilities, a standard displacement of more than 35000 tons may be required to dispose of it. down.In this way, instead of focusing on one thing and losing another, it is better to bet all the treasure on the protection of the core cabin.

This conclusion of the engineers is generally in line with the practical experience of the previous plane. The number of armored aircraft carriers built by Britain in the previous plane was not small, but only two ships with standard displacement built after the war could basically achieve a balanced performance in all aspects. Up to 38000 tons of "Eagle" class aircraft carrier.As for other armored aircraft carriers with a displacement of less than 30000 tons, there are all kinds of obvious shortcomings.For example, the normal carrying capacity of the "Glorious" class aircraft carrier with a single-layer hangar is only a pitiful 30 aircraft, and another example is the height of each hangar of the "Resentment"-class aircraft carrier with a double-layer hangar, which is only a shabby 4.3 meters.

It is a pity that under the funding file of the British Labor Party government, the two most perfect armored aircraft carriers, the "Eagle" and "Ark Royal", turned out to be the last type of aircraft carrier built by the United Kingdom that can take off and land conventional fixed-wing fighters. .In the future, the UK will only have vertical/short take-off and landing aircraft carriers available, basically completely abandoning the ability to conduct independent ocean-going operations from the United States, so that the British Royal Navy feels abnormal when dealing with countries with weak air forces like Argentina. strenuous.This is probably the so-called "enemy at the Palace of Westminster", right?

Although due to the consideration of engineering technology span and performance balance, the new aircraft carrier that the Germans planned to build did not become the armored aircraft carrier that many military fans liked in later generations.However, compared with other aircraft carriers in the previous plane that also adopted the core cabin protection idea, the protection level of the new aircraft carrier is still good. They played back and forth.To be more precise, except that the level of protection of the ammunition depot of the new aircraft carrier is not as good as that of the "Xianghe", the protection capabilities in other aspects can reach or exceed the level of the "Xianghe" class of the previous plane.

Especially the protection strength of the power compartment, the new aircraft carrier is much stronger than the "Xianghe" class in the previous plane.After all, the vertical protection of the power cabin of the "Xianghe" class is only 46 mm of side armor, and the horizontal protection is only a combination of 65 mm thick main horizontal armor and 25 mm thick anti-caving armor.As for the horizontal protection of the ammunition depot, Helena must admit that the 132 mm thick horizontal armor of the ammunition depot of the "Xianghe" class aircraft carrier, coupled with the design of the 25 mm thick anti-caving layer, was indeed a leading level during World War II on the previous plane. The presence.This is also unmatched by the combination of 80mm main horizontal armor plus 20mm anti-caving layer above the ammunition depot of the new German aircraft carrier.

All in all, compared with the "Xianghe" class protective aircraft carrier recognized by the previous plane with a higher design level, although the protection of the ammunition depot is not as good, the new German aircraft carrier has a more balanced protection design and a more comprehensive protection range.Horizontal protection and vertical protection, power cabin and ammunition storage, drive shafting and wheelhouse, and even the waterline integrity and displacement maintenance of the bow and stern are taken into account.

This can also be regarded as a trade-off in the face of different threats and different strategic situations.After all, the types of threats faced by German aircraft carriers are more diverse than those faced by Japan, and once the power compartment of a German ship is damaged or the shafting and wheelhouse are destroyed, the consequences are not necessarily much better than the detonation of the ammunition depot, but the former is He died at the moment of the gorgeous fireworks, and the latter died slowly after being surrounded by a group of Royal Navy warships.If you don't believe it, you can refer to the death methods of "Bismarck" and "Scharnhorst" in the previous plane. They were all beaten to death after the power system was damaged and they were chased by powerful opponents.

If Helena's requirements for the speed and protection of the new German aircraft carrier are different from those of the classic aircraft carrier designs in the previous plane, they generally follow the normal design ideas.Then Helena's requirements for the aviation operation capabilities of the new aircraft carrier are very different, and even a bit eccentric.

Helena did not require the new aircraft carrier to have deck protection like the British aircraft carrier in the previous plane, nor did it require the new aircraft carrier to have a two- or even three-story hangar like the Japanese aircraft carrier in the previous plane, nor did it require the new aircraft carrier to have The carrying capacity of the American aircraft carrier on the last plane is as large.Helena believes that the normal carrying capacity of the new aircraft carrier (most of the hangars are accommodated, and a small number of decks are moored), as long as it can reach the level of 60 to 70 aircraft, it will be satisfactory.

However, Helena has very high requirements for the ability of the new aircraft carrier to dispatch fighters in a single wave. Although the standard displacement of the new aircraft carrier is 5000 tons smaller than the "Essex" class of the United States on the previous plane, Helena requires Under the same circumstances, the number of carrier-based aircraft dispatched by the new aircraft carrier in the first wave must be more than 20% higher than that of the "Essex"-class aircraft carrier on the previous plane, which is almost equivalent to using all the attacking aircraft on the aircraft carrier at once Sex is all released.

Of course, Helena's request also comes at a price. For example, after the "Essex" class with a normal carrying capacity of nearly a hundred aircraft flies the first attack wave, it can immediately lift the aircraft in the hangar to the deck and start Prepare to launch the next wave of attacks.After the new aircraft carrier planned by Helena completes a full-deck attack, the remaining aircraft may not be able to make up the next attack wave. If you want to launch the next attack wave, you must wait for the upper wave aircraft to return and refuel. The bombs take off again, this preparation time will be so long that most admirals will give up their plans to launch a second wave of full-deck attacks.

Chapter 222 Carrier Hangar

Since Helena's pursuit of the new aircraft carrier's strike capability is mainly focused on the single-wave dispatch of the aircraft carrier rather than the total aircraft capacity, the new aircraft carrier did not choose double-layer or even three-layer hangars in the design of the hangar. A relatively simple single-story hangar.Helena believes that by improving the utilization efficiency of the hangar space and optimizing the turnover speed of fighter jets between the hangar and the deck, it is enough to make up for the disadvantage of the single-story hangar in terms of parking area.

However, unlike the American aircraft carrier that also likes to use a single-layer hangar in the previous plane, the hangar and flight deck of the new German aircraft carrier participate in the overall longitudinal bending of the hull as part of the hull structure, rather than like the previous plane. Like the previous American aircraft carrier, the hangar and flight deck are purely used as the load on the hull structure.This load-bearing hangar not only improves the longitudinal structural strength of the aircraft carrier, but also saves nearly a thousand tons of hull structural weight.

The hangar of the new aircraft carrier is 180 meters long, 22.5 meters wide and 5.4 meters high.There are four horizontal fire doors that can be opened and closed in the hangar, which divide the hangar into five independent fire compartments from front to back.When a fire breaks out in one part of the hangar, these fire doors can be closed to prevent the fire from spreading to other areas of the hangar.The first compartment in the front of the hangar, the third compartment in the middle and the fifth compartment in the rear are each equipped with a large elevator for the turnover of fighters between the deck and the deck.

In order to improve the single-wave attack capability of carrier-based aircraft, the flight deck of the new aircraft carrier is quite large compared to its tonnage.The length of the flight deck has reached a maximum of 258 meters, and the maximum width has reached an astonishing 39.5 meters in this era.This is mainly because the new aircraft carrier comprehensively uses the overhanging design of the fully enclosed bow and stern flight deck, which maximizes the length of the flight deck; The width of the deck.

Compared with the classic fleet aircraft carriers during World War II on the previous plane, the length of the flight deck of the new aircraft carrier even exceeds the 257.5 meters of the Japanese "Xianghe" class aircraft carrier with a larger tonnage than itself, and is second only to the American "Essex" aircraft carrier. The 263 meters of the Sri Lankan class aircraft carrier.The maximum width of the flight deck exceeds that of almost all World War II aircraft carriers on the previous plane. Only the Japanese "Shinano" with a standard displacement of 62000 tons was refitted from the hull of the third ship of the "Yamato" class battleship. The USS aircraft carrier can be compared with it.

In this way, when preparing for a full-deck attack in the future, the new aircraft carrier can stagger the carrier-based aircraft into five rows.The "Essex"-class carrier-based aircraft with a maximum deck width of only 33 meters can only be arranged in four staggered rows on the deck at most.With the same deck length, this alone allows the new aircraft carrier to have a maximum number of sorties of more than 50 fighters in a single wave, which is higher than the "Essex" class aircraft carrier of the previous plane. about a quarter.

In order to further liberate deck space, the new aircraft carrier also integrates the bridge with the chimney, and arranges it on the floating structure in the middle and front part of the starboard side of the battleship. The chimney is inclined 25 degrees outward at the top of the bridge to reduce the impact of smoke exhaust The interference of carrier-based aircraft taking off and landing is also the successful design experience of Japan's "Flying Eagle" and "Taiho" class aircraft carriers in the last plane.Although similar to the "Xianghe" class aircraft carrier in the previous plane, the design of letting the chimney bend downward near the deck can also achieve a similar purpose, but this will increase the possibility of seawater flowing into the chimney in high sea conditions, and it is not suitable for use in the North Sea. regional use.

In addition, Helena also gave up the practice of installing large-caliber anti-aircraft guns at the front and back of the bridge, and arranged almost all anti-aircraft weapons on the ear towers one level lower than the flight deck.This is because although the arrangement of large-caliber anti-aircraft guns at the front and rear of the bridge can take into account the air defense on the left and right sides and improve the utilization efficiency of air defense firepower, it will also take up a lot of deck space, and the muzzle shock wave will also seriously affect aviation operations on the deck.When the "Essex" class aircraft carrier in the last plane was rebuilt, the four twin 127mm naval guns at the front and rear of the bridge were removed to expand the usable area of ​​the flight deck.

Three large elevators are responsible for the turnover of carrier-based aircraft between the flight deck and the hangar, which is also a feature and ingenuity in the design of the new aircraft carrier.The front of the three elevators is an inboard elevator, which is arranged on the right side of the deck at the front of the bridge.The other two are side lifts, one of which is located in the middle of the starboard side behind the bridge of the aircraft carrier, and the other is located in the rear of the port side of the aircraft carrier.The lifting capacity of the three elevators is 25 tons, respectively corresponding to the No. [-] fire compartment at the front of the hangar, No. [-] fire compartment in the middle and No. [-] fire compartment at the rear.

The inboard lift at the front of the aircraft carrier is in the shape of a vertical rectangle with a length of 24 meters and a width of 11 meters. It can lift or recover up to four carrier-based aircraft at a time.Since the elevator is arranged vertically to the right, and the flight deck of the new aircraft carrier is relatively wide, even when the elevator is in operation, there is still a take-off channel on the left side of the flight deck for fighter jets to take off.This avoids the situation where the carrier is completely unable to take off because the forward elevator is hit or fails.

If the inboard lift at the front is still optimized on the basis of the commonly used design of World War II aircraft carriers in the previous plane, then the design of the two side lifts in the middle and rear of the new aircraft carrier can be called very ingenious up.Because these two lifts are not only a platform for lifting the carrier-based aircraft, but also a cover that can be opened and closed for the side hatch of the hangar.With these two lifts, the hangar of the new aircraft carrier can be switched between open and closed.

We know that an aircraft carrier with a side lift must have an opening on the side of the hangar for the carrier-based aircraft to enter and exit, and when the fighter is not turning over or warming up in the hangar, the side opening can be sealed with a rolling door to resist the waves. invasion.However, if the weather conditions are particularly bad, the sturdiness of ordinary rolling shutter doors is questionable.In the face of the seven or eight-meter-high waves that often appear in the North Sea, the side shutter door of the American aircraft carrier is even in danger of being smashed directly. It is not a joke that the waves rush into the hangar. The reason why the UK has not been cool with side lifts for quite a long time.

Yet the advantages of side lifts are so obvious that it would be difficult for any carrier designer to resist its temptation.On the one hand, the side lift reduces the openings on the deck, which is conducive to improving the structural strength; on the other hand, the side lift does not occupy the space inside the hangar, which is conducive to increasing the carrying capacity; third, one side of the side lift faces the sea, As long as the main landing gear of the fighter does not exceed the edge of the elevator, the side elevator can lift and lower the larger aircraft.

In order to give full play to the advantages of the side lift and prevent it from being driven into the hangar by waves under high sea conditions, Helena designed a foldable side lift based on the experience of later generations.This kind of lift can work like an ordinary side lift at ordinary times. At this time, the hangar of the aircraft carrier is also open. As long as the rolling door of the lift is opened, the fighter can even complete the warm-up in the hangar.And if encountering bad sea conditions, the lifting platform of this kind of elevator can be folded upwards, and the opening of the side of the aircraft carrier is completely sealed, so that the aircraft carrier hangar is in an airtight state.

Of course, the side lift in the folded state cannot be used to lift the fighter plane, but if the sea conditions are so bad that the hangar must be adjusted to a closed state, then it is actually impossible for the fighter plane to continue to take off and land.From this perspective, the foldable side lift can perfectly balance fighter turnover efficiency and high sea condition adaptability.Although the upper limit of the structural strength of this kind of lift is not high, the planes during World War II are not as heavy as later generations, so Helena doesn't need to worry about this at all.As for why the front elevator still retains the inboard lifting structure, it is because the front of the hull is easier to surf than the middle and rear, and the hull of more than [-] tons is not enough to completely overcome this problem, Helena has to make a compromise .

Near each large elevator of the new aircraft carrier, there are also two small elevators with a lifting capacity of 10 tons. Generally, one is used for ammunition delivery and the other is used for other logistics transportation.The three sets of lifts are set up reasonably, occupy less hangar area and have higher turnover efficiency, making the usable hangar area of ​​the new aircraft carrier excluding the lift opening reach 3786 square meters.

This is already a pretty good level among aircraft carriers that used single-story hangars during World War II. After all, even the "Essex"-class aircraft carriers with a displacement of nearly 5000 tons have a usable hangar area of ​​only 3948 square meters.If it is considered that the aspect ratio of the hangar of the new aircraft carrier is smaller, and the too slender hangar of the "Essex" class affects the utilization rate of the area, the number of aircraft that can actually be packed in the hangar of the new aircraft carrier may still be "Essex". Sykes" class.

It's just that the sea conditions in the North Sea do not allow too many fighters to be moored on the deck, so the new aircraft carrier can only carry 68 aircrafts under normal circumstances. The existence of the cover fleet returning home.However, Helena believes that for the British Royal Navy with a strong family background, running after teasing is the correct way to open up German aircraft carriers in the future.

Chapter 223 Firefighting Measures

Although the hangar and flight deck of the new aircraft carrier are not covered with heavy armor, this does not mean that Helena has completely given up treatment for the parts above the core cabin. At least Helena is still very concerned about the matter of fire prevention and explosion suppression.After all, in the Pacific War on the last plane, there were many cases where the US and Japan were injured and the aircraft carrier was seriously injured or even sunk due to the failure of fire control, while the probability of this happening on other conventional ships is relatively small of.

This is because the main fuel on other surface warships is heavy oil, which is usually stored in compartments on the side and bottom of the warship, which is not so easy to be hit.In addition, heavy oil is viscous and has low volatility, so it is difficult for heavy oil to be ignited under normal conditions (heavy oil in the boiler needs to be preheated first, and then ignited after being atomized by the injector), Even if it is barely ignited, it will not flow around like light oil, so the fire on conventional battleships is relatively easy to control.

In contrast, the firefighting work on an aircraft carrier is much more troublesome. Helena believes that at least the following three factors determine that aircraft carriers are not only easier to catch fire than other surface warships, but also more difficult to control the fire after a fire occurs. The larger the size, the greater the potential damage caused by the fire.

First of all, there are many types of combustibles on the aircraft carrier and they are very dangerous.The combustibles on the aircraft carrier include not only heavy fuel oil for self-driving, but also a large amount of aviation gasoline for aircraft use.Aviation gasoline is not only a flammable and flowable liquid, but also has strong volatility. When the oil vapor in a specific area reaches a certain concentration, there is even a danger of explosion.In addition to aviation gasoline, the same flammable hydraulic oil is also a considerable hidden danger for some aircraft carriers that use hydraulic catapults.

The second is the wide distribution of combustibles on the aircraft carrier.Since carrier-based aircraft refueling must be carried out in the hangar and flight deck, the aviation gasoline stored on the aircraft carrier cannot stay in relatively safe underwater oil tanks forever, and must be pumped to the hangar and flight deck through various pipelines. These oil pipelines must pass through every cabin of the aircraft carrier to reach the flight deck, which further increases the difficulty of fire prevention work.

Finally, it is difficult for the combustibles on the aircraft carrier to avoid intersection with the ammunition.The ammunition of conventional warships is stored in a well-protected constant temperature ammunition depot, and it is strictly separated from other flammable materials to avoid being killed by fire. Depots and decks, where aviation gasoline delivery lines, various hydraulic mechanisms on catapults and elevators, and even fuel-filled aircraft are potential sources of ignition.As a result, as long as one of the ammunition and various flammable liquids has an accident, the other is likely to suffer.

During World War II on the last plane, a series of well-known warships including Japan's "Canglong", "Kaga", and "Taiho", as well as the American "Yorktown" and "Lexington" The sinking of all aircraft carriers is more or less, directly or indirectly, related to the loss of control of the fire on board.Therefore, in Helena's eyes, the importance of fire prevention work to the survivability of an aircraft carrier is no less than the direct resistance to aerial bombs and torpedoes.

In order to improve the aircraft carrier's ability to prevent and control fire, on the one hand, it is natural to improve the safety awareness of the crew and enhance the crew's damage control skills, but the good fire prevention design of the battleship itself is also one of the most basic guarantees for the fire prevention capability of the battleship.In this regard, Helena still has many advantages. Many of the key design elements of aircraft carrier firefighting stored in her brain are lessons learned by the navies of various countries in exchange for blood and lives during wars and peace in the last plane.

Helena's specific measures include dividing the entire aircraft carrier deck into eighteen grids, and each grid is equipped with a pop-up foam decontamination nozzle group, so that the entire deck is under the protection of the foam nozzles, and the deck The decontamination nozzle groups are also arranged in high density at intervals of about three meters on the edge.Each decontamination nozzle group is composed of a flowering water mist nozzle and a straight-line nozzle. These two nozzles are arranged in a staggered manner, so that any position on the deck is under the common protection of the two nozzles.

In addition to these fixed deck sprinkler systems, there are also 2500 fire hose gun stations distributed on the deck. The layout principle is that any position on the deck can be taken care of by two to three fire hose guns at the same time.In order to support the fire prevention work in a certain area at any time, there are always two fire rescue vehicles on the flight deck. Each vehicle is equipped with a 300-liter water tank and a [-]-liter foam fire extinguishing agent tank. The rescue vehicle can participate in the fire fighting work through the water cannon installed on the front of the vehicle and the fire hose that can be pulled out from the rear of the vehicle.

In addition to the perfect deck fire protection system, the new aircraft carrier has also done a good job in hangar fire protection.Not only are independent sprinkler facilities and fire pipe gun stations installed in each fire compartment, but also multiple sets of forced ventilation systems leeward from each other are installed as a backup means of natural ventilation.There is also a shock wave vent on the outer wall of each hangar's fire compartment, so that when an explosion occurs in the hangar, the shock wave will break through the cover of the shock wave vent and release the energy to prevent the suffocation from causing greater damage .

In order to prevent the ship from being hit and cause oil and gas leakage, Helena asked the designers to reduce the rigid connection between the aviation gasoline pipeline and the hull as much as possible. Oil and gas alarm.This is a sensor with tin oxide semiconductor as the core component.When the concentration of oil and gas in the surrounding air changes, the surface of the element will undergo a redox reaction, which will cause a change in the resistance value. When the change reaches a certain value, the alarm device will be triggered, so that the crew on board can take timely countermeasures.

In addition to the above places that are visible to the naked eye, Helena has done her best in the invisible places like the formula of the fire extinguishing agent.In this era, German chemists have discovered that quaternary ammonium compounds have a good bactericidal effect, but in Helena's eyes, quaternary ammonium compounds have other magical effects.

After years of experiments, Helena finally urged the technicians to come up with an aqueous film-forming foam fire extinguishing agent, which contains 6% quaternary ammonium salt cationic fluorocarbon surfactant.This fire extinguishing agent can quickly form a water film on the surface of hydrocarbon liquids, thereby isolating the leaked fuel oil from the air, thereby stopping the combustion process.Even better, the water film formed by the fire extinguishing agent on the surface of the gasoline can prevent the gasoline from volatilizing for about an hour, which buys time for the damage control work.

It is worth mentioning that the Ship Construction and Engineering Bureau also tried to sell aircraft carrier fire-fighting technologies to Japan, including water film-forming fire extinguishing agents, oil-gas warning devices, and automatic sprinkler systems, but the Japanese Navy finally chose to give up obtaining this technology. technology.This is because although Helena agreed to sell, she bit down 2000 million yen and refused to accept the counter-offer, and this price was half of the cost of the "Cangryu" class aircraft carrier that had just started construction for the Japanese Navy!Spending half the money of an aircraft carrier to buy a set of fire suppression and explosion suppression technology is obviously not worthwhile in Japan.

Although Helena cheated Japan's money more than once, but this time Helena vowed that the offer of 2000 million yen was definitely the last conscience in the industry.However, Helena is almost used to this. In the German-Japanese military technology exchanges on this plane, it seems that most of Germany's more conscientious technologies were not sold because Helena's quotation was too high.

These conscientious technologies that have not been sold also include the three-base propellant technology containing dipropylamine neutralizing agent, which can not only improve the launch performance of ammunition, but also keep the propellant of large-caliber artillery in a stable state for a long time, while Japan Long-term storage of the double-base propellant used will decompose nitrogen dioxide, which will accelerate the decomposition of the propellant, resulting in continuous accumulation of heat, and in severe cases, it will cause the ammunition to explode.However, because the German side called a high price of 4000 million yen, the money can almost buy half of the "Nagato"-class battleship after deducting the inflation rate, so the Japanese side finally chose to give up.

Chapter 224 Taking the Stage and Singing

The main self-defense weapon of the new aircraft carrier is eight double-mounted 60-fold 130mm high-level dual-purpose guns produced by Rheinmetall. This naval gun is the same model on the 36500-ton high-speed battleship under construction. The standard large-caliber anti-aircraft gun prepared by the German main surface warship on this plane.Eight twin-mounted naval guns are distributed in groups of two and two on the four ears on the front and rear sides of the aircraft carrier, so that each side of the aircraft carrier can obtain eight 130mm naval guns in the outer anti-aircraft fire configuration. The layout of the large-caliber anti-aircraft guns is exactly the same as that of the British "Glory" class aircraft carrier in the previous plane.

中层防空火力主要由每舷六座双联装博福斯70倍径40毫米高炮承担。该款高炮是博福斯早年推出的56倍径40毫米高炮的深度改进版本，初速从881米每秒提高到了1012米每秒，单管射速也从每分钟120发提高到了每分钟150发。得益于初速和射程的增大，精度和射速的提高，70倍径新炮的对空杀伤概率几乎比56倍径的老版本翻倍。

In order to compete with the Bofors 70-caliber 40mm anti-aircraft gun, Rheinmetall also took out a dual-mounted 72-caliber 60mm anti-aircraft gun to participate in the bidding, and vowed to Helena to ensure that the ammunition belt under the high-speed fire rate can be completed on time. Intensity issues.However, due to the large size of the 60mm antiaircraft gun and the insufficient space on the edge of the aircraft carrier deck, Helena finally dismissed Rheinmetall's plan expressionlessly, only saying that if their 60mm antiaircraft gun can pass the military's Reliability testing, in the future, they can consider using their products on high-speed battleships with relatively abundant space.

Although Helena has made detailed plans for almost all aspects of Germany's future new aircraft carrier: from underwater line shape to power plant, from hangar layout to deck design, from armor protection to fire prevention and explosion suppression, from air defense armament to fighter configuration, but Helena took a relatively cautious attitude towards the three major carrier-based aircraft take-off and landing technologies, the beveled deck, optical landing aid, and steam catapult, which were the favorite of the senior traversers.She didn't ask designers to apply these technologies to the new aircraft carrier immediately, but asked them to leave room for future improvement of these technologies.

Helena's caution is not because she doesn't know the value of these three technologies to aircraft carriers. In fact, Helena has already started to conduct a large number of land-based experiments on these three technologies long before the construction of naval aviation was put on the agenda.However, the land test cannot completely simulate the situation at sea. If you want to truly apply these three technologies to the aircraft carrier, there are actually too many technical difficulties to overcome. Done.

For example, many traversers feel that the technology of the inclined deck is too simple. Isn't it just to draw an oblique landing runway on the basis of the original straight-through deck?After all, in order to improve the interest, many military science books of later generations attribute the invention of the beveled deck to the flash of inspiration of the British naval colonel named Carmel, as if the technicians before Colonel Carmel I didn't think of the idea of ​​the angled deck, it was entirely because my brain was too dead and I didn't turn around.

However, scientific and technological progress in reality is not a novel. The flashy golden ideas of geniuses are indeed valuable, but there is often a long distance between these ideas and the actual usable technology.For example, the angled deck seems to just stagger the landing runway of the carrier-based aircraft and the axis of the aircraft carrier by a certain angle, so that the carrier-based aircraft is not easy to hit the fighters parked on the front deck due to landing mistakes, and if the landing hook is not hooked and blocked If the cable is used, the aircraft can also accelerate the go-around and attempt to re-land.From this point of view, the angled deck can indeed greatly improve the safety of fighter landings in theory and improve the efficiency of deck operations.

However, the real situation is that the angled deck brings not all benefits to the landing of fighter planes.For example, when a fighter plane is about to land on an ordinary straight-through deck, the flight direction of the plane is basically the same as that of the aircraft carrier.That is to say, ideally, when the aircraft is approaching the aircraft carrier, the position of the aircraft carrier relative to the aircraft only changes on the flight axis of the aircraft, and the pilot can easily align the aircraft to the runway.

When the fighter plane is about to land on the inclined deck, there is an angle between the landing runway that the plane is aiming at and the direction of travel of the aircraft carrier, which causes the position of the aircraft carrier relative to the aircraft to change not only in the flight axis direction, but also in the wingspan of the aircraft carrier. upward change.If the pilot, based on the experience of landing on the straight deck, simply keeps the aircraft heading straight on the runway axis during the descent, by the time you reach the angled deck, you will find yourself far off the angle The middle line of the runway is up.

It is precisely because Germany has never had an aircraft carrier platform that can verify carrier-based aircraft take-off and landing technology, the success of the land test cannot guarantee the same success on the bumpy carrier platform.Therefore, even though Helena knew the direction of future development of aircraft carrier take-off and landing technology, she did not dare to force designers to directly adopt technologies that have not been fully tested and verified.What's more, Helena has a lot of experience in the design of inclined decks stored in her mind, which is mainly the experience of the jet aircraft era. It is really unknown whether it can adapt to the piston aircraft with relatively low takeoff and landing speeds.

In Helena's view, the top priority at this stage is not to rush to apply insufficiently proven new technologies to new aircraft carriers, but to allow the German Navy to have a batch of usable aircraft carriers as soon as possible.Because only after having an available aircraft carrier platform, can the experience of aircraft carrier operation be accumulated.Only with the experience of operating an aircraft carrier can new technologies such as angled decks, optical landing aids, and steam catapults have a place to be verified.

Chapter 225 Highlighting the Fan Cage

While Helena and the designers were working on the detailed design of the new aircraft carrier, the negotiations between Germany and the United Kingdom on the future naval tonnage were coming to an end.The next work is mainly to discuss in more detail the proportion of the tonnage of each ship type to the total tonnage under the framework that the total tonnage of the surface warships of the German Navy does not exceed 35% of that of the Royal Navy.

Germany does not want to build its own navy according to the British ship structure. After all, under the influence of Helena's butterfly effect on this plane, the "Washington Treaty" allows the British Navy to have cruisers with a gross tonnage of up to 35 tons, including 15 20-ton heavy cruiser and [-]-ton light cruiser.Therefore, the Royal Navy has the largest cruiser fleet in the world. The mission of this cruiser fleet is to safeguard Britain's huge overseas colonial interests.

If Germany distributes tonnage to various ship types in full accordance with the proportion of the British, the German Navy will have a share of 12.25 tons of cruisers, but Germany, which has no overseas colonial interests, actually does not need so many cruisers.More importantly, according to the British ship structure, the tonnage share that the German aircraft carrier can obtain will be less than 5 tons. This tonnage is absolutely impossible to complete the planned four 22500-ton aircraft carriers.Therefore, Germany hopes that on the premise that the total tonnage of surface warships does not exceed 35% of that of the United Kingdom, the United Kingdom can allow the German Navy to allocate the construction tonnage of warships of each class on its own.

After months of bargaining, the British side finally decided to agree to this request from the German side. After all, this request does not affect Britain's absolute maritime superiority over Germany.Even in the eyes of some in the British Navy, the German representative's public statement that he did not want to build more cruisers was a friendly signal.After all, in the last World War, the cruiser fleet led by Earl Spey once disrupted the British maritime transport line.

Now that Germany is ready to voluntarily abandon the ocean-going war of breaking diplomatic relations, this undoubtedly makes the United Kingdom very satisfied.After all, Britain at this time did not feel that Germany would threaten itself by building more battleships and aircraft carriers with the tonnage that originally belonged to cruisers.Compared with battleships, Britain's current battle line has a total of nearly two hundred 15-inch cannons, which are enough to tear any challenger into pieces, and the current attack power of aircraft carriers is still very limited.

Therefore, in the "British-German Naval Agreement" drawn up by the two parties, this text statement was added: "The German government is ready to immediately build naval warships in accordance with the 35% quota. Adjustments are made to the specific construction numbers of each class of ships, for which purpose each class of ships will not violate the provisions of the Naval Treaty, and any increase in the number of ships of one class will be compensated by a decrease in the number of ships of other classes."

The "British-German Naval Agreement" on this plane was finally signed on April 4, almost two months earlier than the historical signing date.The Germans are naturally very satisfied with this result, because the signing of this treaty means that the provisions in the "Treaty of Versailles" on restricting Germany's arms construction have actually become a piece of waste paper.The British are also very satisfied with this result, because after using the treaty to suppress Germany, which has much stronger industrial strength than itself, now they can finally concentrate all their energy on the upcoming London Naval Conference and focus on dealing with the U.S. The sea power of countries such as Japan and Italy has expanded.

The French, as British allies, were shocked and annoyed by Britain's unilateral lifting of the restrictions imposed on Germany by the Treaty of Versailles.Although the French have long realized that Germany will get rid of the restrictions of the "Treaty of Versailles" sooner or later, this is also the direct reason why France has started construction of the "Maginot Line" since 1928.However, in the previous perception of the French, the process of loosening Germany should and must be led by the French. The French believe that only in this way can France obtain the greatest political benefits while preventing Germany from getting out of control.

What makes France most unacceptable is that not long ago, France also pulled Britain and Italy to form the so-called "Stresa Front" to jointly put pressure on Germany's overstepping of the Treaty of Versailles.France's original intention was to put political pressure on Germany to ask Germany to come up with a bargaining chip for reciprocal exchange. It turned out that Britain had already sold itself for a good price, which made the French feel that they had been betrayed.At this time, Britain's interest in containing France has clearly surpassed its interest in containing Germany.

Since France, which lost the support of Britain, could not suppress Germany alone, the French had no choice but to face the fait accompli that Germany had formally broken through the treaty restrictions, while speeding up the construction of the "Maginot Line" on the border between France and Germany. .In order to complete the defense line estimated to cost up to 50 billion francs on time, France, which has been hit hard by the economic crisis, had to bite the bullet and invest two-fifths of its military spending in recent years on the construction of the defense line.

Just as Helena had expected, on the day when Britain and Germany signed the "British-German Naval Agreement", the first two new aircraft carriers, under Goering's repeated urging, were launched in Burun, Hamburg. • Laying of the first keels at Voss and Deutsches Werft in Kiel.According to the shipyard project schedule, it will take at least one year and ten months for the two sister ships to complete the construction of the shipyard. As for the formal formation of combat effectiveness, it may take a longer run-in time.

The next No. [-] and No. [-] ships are expected to start construction at the end of this year or early next year. The reason why they did not start construction at the same time as No. [-] and No. [-] ships is because the current large-scale warship construction capabilities of major German shipyards are relatively limited. However, there are still vacancies in docks and berths, but skilled workers who are capable of building large warships cannot be cultivated out of thin air.

The absence of capital ship-class warships for more than ten years has greatly reduced the skilled workers in the German shipbuilding industry. Now Germany can build two 36500-ton battleships and two 22500-ton aircraft carriers at the same time. Helena saves the result of skilled workers as much as possible.After all, workers who are competent in the construction of civilian ships may not necessarily be able to meet the construction standards of large warships.

It is a very difficult task to retrain the workforce and improve the shipbuilding facilities, which has also pushed up the cost of shipbuilding in Germany to a large extent.Although the problem of this plane has been alleviated under the operation of Helena, except for submarines, which are suitable for large-scale industrial production, the cost of building other ships in Germany is still more expensive than similar ships built by Britain. It's just not as exaggerated as the previous plane.

Chapter 226 May Day Celebration

After the dust of the "British-German Naval Agreement" has settled, Labor Day is approaching. Shortly after the Nazi Party came to power in 1933, Hitler made May 5st of each year a statutory holiday, and invented a paid leave system for workers.Therefore, since May 1, 1933, Germany will organize large-scale celebrations on Labor Day every year.However, Hitler's motivation for giving this big gift to the workers was not pure.In addition to trying to win over more of the working class, the Nazi Party used the celebration of May Day in 5 as a tool against political opponents.

In fact, before May 1933, there were many trade union organizations in Germany.Some of these trade union organizations were under the control of the Nazi Party, but there were also a considerable number of trade union organizations under the leadership of the German Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party.Although at this time the Nazi Party had pushed the German Republican Social Democratic Party out of the Congress through the "Congress Arson Case", the Nazi Party was still quite coveted and afraid of the trade union power in the hands of the German Republican Social Democratic Party. The event became a bait set by Hitler, with the purpose of exposing the trade union organizations controlled by the German Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party.

This bait offered by Hitler was something that the Social Democratic Party of the German Republic could not refuse, because if they refused to participate in the national statutory Labor Day celebrations, it would greatly damage the appeal of the party organization among the workers.However, the trade union organizations controlled by the German Republican Party and the Social Democratic Party had just celebrated Labor Day on May 5 with the workers' organizations controlled by the Nazi Party.The next day, May 1, their trade union offices were occupied by SA and union organizations controlled by the Nazi Party.

Only a few days later, these trade union organizations originally controlled by the German Social Democratic Party were forcibly merged by the trade union organizations controlled by the Nazi Party. This merged trade union organization was the "Labor Front" announced on May 1933, 5. It uses a black swastika surrounded by a gear pattern on a red background as its flag.Since then, the "Labor Front" has become the only legal trade union organization in Germany. As of the beginning of April 10 on this plane, the number of members of the Labor Front has exceeded 1935 million.

The leaders of the German Republican Party and the Social Democratic Party were instantly stunned by the fact that the trade union organization they controlled was forcibly merged into the Labor Front by the Nazi Party.After all, the relationship between these two political parties and trade union organizations is like that between the giant Antaeus in Greek legend and his mother, the goddess of the earth, Gaia. Can continue to fight with the power gained from Mother Earth.But the giant Antaeus also has a fatal weakness, that is, as long as his soles are separated from the ground, he cannot continue to gain strength from his mother.

The Nazi Party forcibly merged the trade union organization originally controlled by the German Social Democratic Party into the "Labor Front", which was tantamount to depriving the German Republican Social Democratic Party of its connection with individual organizations, and it was tantamount to letting Antaeus' feet off the ground.This caused the KPD and the Social Democratic Party to immediately fall into an unprecedented organizational crisis, and the degree of harm was even far greater than that of being expelled from the Reichstag by the Nazi Party.

What makes the German Republicans and Social Democrats even more sad is that because the "Labor Front" has indeed fulfilled its original promise to let every worker have a job, the workers' sense of identity and belonging to this new trade union organization has been greatly enhanced. Even those workers who had misgivings about the Labor Front have now become loyal supporters of the organization.

Leveraging the wind of the so-called "economic miracle", the Nazi Party developed more than 70% of Germany's working population into members of the "Labor Front" in just two years.This is not because the workers' ideological consciousness is too low to be deceived, but because in the severe economic crisis, the precarious workers just want to have a stable job.

However, the propaganda machine controlled by the Nazi Party will not let go of such a good opportunity for propaganda. Every time when he speaks at a rally of the "Labor Front", Dr. Goebbels always does not forget to ask triumphantly: "When did you do it for a few years?" What are the trade unions led by the KPD and the Social Democrats doing when they stand in line for hours in the cold wind for a measly piece of relief bread?"

For Goebbels's propaganda, Helena generally scoffed secretly. After all, many of the economic reform proposals she put forward to Moustache can be traced back to the Social Democratic Party member who just died in 1932. He was also a student of Engels and the entrusted executor of his will - Edward Bernstein.It is worth mentioning that Bernstein was also a pioneer of post-war European social democracy, but because Bernstein opposed the judgment that capitalism would collapse in the short term, and advocated changing socialism from the goal itself to moving in this direction Therefore, Bernstein's faction has been criticized as "revisionism" by the Soviet Union and other countries.

In fact, a considerable part of the economic policies formulated by the Nazi Party on this plane came from Helena's summary of the successes and failures of the post-war economic policies of the Social Democratic Party on the previous plane, but the tendency towards nationalism was stronger.What's more interesting is that since the mustache Nazi party has never regarded itself as Marxism, and Helena is also a pragmatist who uses whatever tricks are easy to use, it is a coincidence that the German government made a decision in the decision-making process. There are a lot less unnecessary disputes between parties, anyway, it is impossible for the Social Democratic Party to come to ask for intellectual property fees.

Since 1933, the celebration of Labor Day has become an annual repertoire in Germany.It may be used as a means for the Nazi Party to demonstrate its mobilization strength internally and externally, or it may be to satisfy the vanity of the top Nazi Party leaders, including Hitler. Every May Day celebration is always held on a very large scale. Come is no exception.

Although there is still more than a week before May 5st, the National Leader of the Labor Front, Robert Ley, and the Propaganda Department, Joseph Goebbels, have already started their activities, and the streets and alleys of Germany will soon be filled with Nazi party flags The flag of the Labor Front and the walls of many landmark buildings have been painted with brand-new slogans and huge posters.

In the past month or so, after repeatedly deliberating Helena's proposal to allow workers to use future overtime hours to increase the capital and share of the company, Hitler finally made up his mind to reform.He has decided to use this reform as a Labor Day gift to more than 2000 million members of the "Labor Front" across the country, and announced this reform measure at the opening ceremony of the Labor Day celebration.And Helena also said very faithfully that she would donate two-thirds of the technology shares she holds in major domestic companies to the "Labor Front" organization to assist in the completion of this reform.

Chapter 227 Cutting the Cake

As early as a few months before the German government officially announced the reform measures to the whole country, many capital groups in Germany already knew the general plan of the reform.A considerable number of capitalists approve of Helena's plan, because this plan has indeed reduced their short-term financial pressure, allowing them to spend more funds on updating fixed capital instead of paying workers' wages, which is conducive to strengthening the future of enterprises. market competitiveness.

Of course, a small number of capital groups also have criticisms about Helena's reform plan.Therefore, before the reform measures were officially announced on May 5, Hitler’s head of state office had received at least dozens of lobbyists sent by capital groups, and the reason for their lobbying was nothing more than feeling that they had cut too few parts of the new cake. up.

First of all, some capital groups feel that although the new plan reduces the current labor cost of the company, it can indeed improve the competitiveness of the company, but the price is that the labor front must take away the future growth of the augmented shares, and they feel that all capital growth of the company They are all fruits of hard work.Now that the Labor Front is going to take a sizable chunk out of the capital growth part of the company, they naturally feel as though their stuff has been taken from them.

For example, although Farben Chemical Group did not directly oppose this reform plan, its chairman of the board, Carl Bosch, told Helena in private: "After accepting the share expansion of the Labor Front, our company can indeed free up funds. More coal liquefaction plants and more man-made fiber production lines are being built. But thinking about how much of the future profits of these new plants will be given to the labor front, I feel that I am being exploited by the workers.”

Carl Bosch's words made Helena extremely anxious on the spot, so that she didn't know where to start to refute for a while.After all, Carl Bosch, as the chairman of the board of directors of the largest monopoly industrial group in the world, pitifully told Helena that he would soon be exploited by the workers. It is almost doubtful whether letting workers work overtime for free is the correct direction of reform.

There is another point in the reform plan that some capital groups have concentrated on complaining about. While the shares of the Labor Front have the same income rights as the shares of other shareholders, they do not need to bear the same risks.For example, according to Helena's reform plan, when the company fails to manage well and goes bankrupt, the labor front has the highest priority to dispose of the company's remaining assets.If necessary, the so-called "collateral deprivation" can also be carried out. That is to say, when necessary, the labor front can even apply to bypass all creditors and claim assets that have been mortgaged by the company, even if the creditor is a commercial bank.