Bismarck

"Eh? What do you mean?" I reached out and gently shook his hand, confused.

"We in the Navy now know that Captain Lütjens has a beautiful secretary, and everyone is very envious of him," Hyde said with a smile. "It is said that Miss Bismarck is a naval gunner engineer and is very capable. We have always wanted to meet her."

"Haha, Bismarck and the battleship Bismarck have the same name, but now she is the goddess of victory on our ship. How do you feel after seeing her?" Lindemann teased.

"It's more beautiful than I imagined. I think the staff will be jealous of me when I go back."

"Thanks for the compliment, Colonel Hyde," I said "sheepishly."

There is no such thing as a wall that is impenetrable. It is impossible for my existence not to be known. Fortunately, the captain thought more and asked someone to make a complete copy of my resume. Otherwise, I would be in big trouble now.

"Don't forget what you are here for, go and preside over the ceremony," said Lindemann

"Oh oh oh, I almost forgot." Hyde smiled embarrassedly, "Let's start now, I'll find you to chat later."

"Row"

The melody of "Germany Above All" was played again. Unlike the tragic last time, this time the song was full of hope for victory. In the sound of the majestic melody, Wolffarth walked to the front with a serious expression and respectfully took the flag and the Nazi swastika symbolizing U556 with both hands. Hyde slowly and firmly read out the documents of the Navy Department and its expectations for U556.

"For Germany!" Wulfarth took the flag and waved it vigorously, and the swastika flag fluttered in the wind.

"Long live Germany! Long live the Führer!" All the crew members shouted in unison.

"Bang!" A bottle of champagne broke at the bow, and the rich aroma of the wine spread with flying ribbons. The steel bolt was removed, the slide opened, and u556 quickly and smoothly entered the water along it.

The vastness of the Atlantic Ocean is waiting for it to conquer!

"Captain Wolffarth, I hope you won't disappoint the Führer." Hyde patted him on the shoulder.

"Colonel, I will fight for the Führer until the last moment!" Wolffarth said seriously.

"That's good," Hyde nodded. "The ceremony is over, go get familiar with your ship."

"Yes sir."

"This band is great, where did you get it?" Hyde looked at the band packing up and asked.

"Colonel Lindemann lent it to me," replied Wolffarth.

"Haha, Lindemann is such a warm-hearted person. This band is from Bismarck, right?"

"Yes sir."

"Okay, go ahead and do your work. I'm going to look for Lindemann," Hyde said.

"Yes"

After the ceremony, Hyde was invited to my boat. Although my boat was undergoing major repairs, the reception area on the upper deck was still intact and well soundproofed. The noise from the construction could not be heard after the door was closed.

"This time I came here mainly to check on the Bismarck's situation," Hyde said in the reception room.

"Oh, didn't the captain go to report? Why do you need to come over?" Lindmann asked. "By the way, has the modification plan for the Bismarck been finalized?"

"This is just by the way. Also, I came here to give the shipyard documents." Hyde smiled. "The head of state attached great importance to Captain Lütjens's suggestion and directly instructed the Navy Department to approve the modification plan. So we drafted a detailed plan overnight and prepared it for the shipyard."

"The Führer placed high hopes on the Bismarck"

"After all, it is the German flagship," said Lindemann. "It is not a good thing to be hit this time."

"How is the captain doing in Berlin?" I asked, handing Hyde a cup of coffee.

"I heard that Captain Lütjens was directly criticized by the Führer, and the Führer was very unhappy," Hyde thanked him and replied.

"Sure enough," I muttered. As a captain, how could I not be criticized?

Then, Hyde took out a work order and gave it to Lindemann. It was filled with a lot of additional modifications. I took a quick look and it seemed that everything I asked for was on it. Did they really spend a lot of money this time? A bunch of anti-aircraft guns, and mine protection facilities installed outside for me.

"So many?" Lindemann said, "Can we finish them by next spring?"

"It must be done," Hyde said firmly. "We will have the shipyard rush the work. We will have work to do tomorrow when spring comes."

"Where?" Lindemann said excitedly.

"Haha, dear Lindemann, I really want to say it, but unfortunately I don't know the details," Hyde smiled slyly.

"..."

After seeing Hyde off, Lindman came back with an envelope.

"Well? What was that time?"

"Wolfarth gave it to me. I haven't opened it yet. He said it was a thank you letter."

"open to take a look?"

"Ok"

Lindman opened the envelope in front of me and took out a piece of paper. There seemed to be a picture on it?

"Haha, this Wolfarth!" Lindemann glanced at him and laughed out loud.

"What does it say?"

"Ahem, let me read it to you." Lindeman held back his laughter. "I am U556 (500t), BSM (45000t). Whether in the ocean, river, or small ditch, as long as it is a place favored by the water god, I will help her big sister BSM. When BSM is attacked, I will drag it away from danger..."

Chapter 46: Black Technology, Proximity Fuze

Actually, I was very happy to receive such a letter of commitment. However, when Lindeman gave me the paper and I saw the picture on it clearly...

Fuck! This is the only sound in my mind

Is this Wolffarth a prophet?

"What's wrong?" Lindman saw that I looked strange and asked, "Is there something wrong with this paper?"

"Haha, I just think the painting is too ugly!"

"Ah? I think it's pretty. I heard that Wolffarth has also received training in painting," Lindman said with a smile.

It's abnormal that the painting is so lifelike! I want to cry but I can't. Look at the pattern in the painting. The big ship on the sea is me, of course. What about the biplane in the sky? It's exactly the swordfish that injured me! And the torpedo behind, Wolffarth even drew a line for it pointing directly to the stern of my ship, isn't it the thing that hit me fatally!

I have decided to put Wolffarth on the communication blacklist!

"Really? Maybe I don't know much about art. It's quite abstract if you look closely. Well, it's okay." I lied with my eyes open.

"Haha, I'll show it to the captain later. He's a very interesting guy." Lindeman put away the letter of commitment, then turned and walked out. I silently raised my middle finger - WTF

The shipyard was very efficient. The next day, the person in charge came to discuss with Lindemann about installing a torpedo protection layer. The modification plan they gave me was to add a small compartment below the waterline of the original hull and make it protruding, so that the torpedo would not directly hit my main armor belt, which was equivalent to detonating it in advance. In this way, since the power of the torpedo decreases with the distance, the damage to my main body will be reduced.

Of course, if the lightning-proof bulkhead is broken and water enters, it will also affect my buoyancy, so the bulkhead will inevitably be divided into small watertight compartments. Generally speaking, this is how the modification is done.

With the addition of a protruding part, the water resistance will definitely increase, and the deadweight will also increase, which should have some impact on the speed. We can only wait and see. There are gains and losses. According to my speed, even if it is slightly reduced, it is still much faster than ordinary battleships. I can still run away if I can't win.

The anti-aircraft guns I needed were also delivered to the dock in the next few days and were wrapped in oilcloth. Well, it was almost the same as expected, the army's 37mm anti-aircraft gun. I took some time to take a look, and it was indeed the kind of anti-aircraft gun I wanted.

I have never understood why the Army's 37 guns are automatic, while the Navy's are hand-pulled... Is it because they are unlucky? But it doesn't matter, I will install this thing soon. 16 brand new 37 guns are neatly stacked in two rows, with the muzzles facing the sky, looking very majestic. I excitedly touched it with my hand, haha, it feels very good~

In the next few days, the workers became busy again. They divided into two parts and started working simultaneously. Those on the deck began to dismantle my 37 hand-pulled cranes one by one and replace them with new ones. Those below the deck installed my armor plates first, removed the paint on the bottom of the ship and prepared to install a lightning protection layer. This project was quite large and we couldn't stop for more than a month.

Of course, I was not idle during this period of time. The proximity fuze was now my main research object. I would not be happy if I did not solve it. I stayed in my cabin and fiddled with it all day. I made one, and if it failed after testing, I would make another one. I did this continuously, regardless of the cost. Fortunately, the materials of the fuze were not complicated. They were mainly small things like magnetic induction coils. I could find a lot of them in the shipyard. No one would know if I took them. As for the shells, I had countless on my ship, so I did not have to worry about the supply.

"Bang——" A loud noise came from in front of me. I immediately soundproofed the room to prevent the explosion from being heard.

"Wtf" I coughed a few times and waved the air in front of me vigorously to disperse the smoke.

The scene in front of me was a mess... The wooden table had been blown away, and a lot of wood debris was splattered everywhere, along with my tool parts. My clothes were also torn into pieces by the fragments, almost naked... Fortunately, the door was closed.

I sighed... This time it was a success. No, it was just a half-success.

I was the only one who dared to put the fuze directly on the shell for the experiment. I smiled bitterly. After making the magnetic fuze again, I couldn't wait to take a few 37 shells from the ammunition depot to experiment. After removing the delay fuze of one shell, I carefully installed the magnetic fuze on it... As a result, at the moment when I opened the safety with great expectation, the shell exploded less than 30 centimeters in front of me. The air wave and fragments immediately covered my face, and the two spare shells beside it were also detonated.

Be thankful that I did not carry up the whole magazine of ammunition... the explosion of these three shells destroyed only my clothes and the interior of the room.

According to the principle of the proximity fuze, it relies on the centrifugal force of the rotation of the shell to generate electricity and detonate. It is impossible to simulate the rotation speed in the room, so I powered the fuze in advance, but how could it explode instantly?

Wait... I suddenly thought of something. The magnetic proximity fuze is ignited by sensing the surrounding magnetic field, but isn't my body a huge magnet? The proximity fuze should have sensed my magnetic field and exploded, so... if the crew fired this shell, it would explode first because of me before it reached the air. It was originally intended to blow up others, but in the end it blew up its own people. This is definitely a pitfall for teammates.

What should I do? Am I going to turn into plastic?

There must be something wrong. The fact that the Americans have this kind of fuse shows that they have solved this problem. It seems that we need to continue our research. However, this time it cannot be said to be a complete failure. After all, the rough prototype has been produced. All I have to do is to give it another insurance. It should not be difficult to do now that I know the direction.

Hey, let's clean up the room first and get on with it! But it seems like I need to get a few more sets of clothes, or - don't wear them?

In the next few days, apart from reporting to Lindemann as usual, I stayed in my room all the time, which made him very curious about what I was doing. I mysteriously said that I wanted to keep it a secret.

The days of drawing on blueprints are really not suitable for me, a former liberal arts student. I worked hard to draw the horrible engineering drawings. After racking my brains for several days, I finally thought of a little way and seemed to have touched the edge.

If I want it to not explode as soon as it leaves the barrel, I have to install a safety switch in addition to the safety. When it reaches the appropriate distance, the safety switch will close and the circuit will be connected. In this way, it will be normally affected by magnetic induction and explode normally when it contacts the enemy target.

This idea is not wrong, the question is what force should I use to connect the circuit? It seems that the only force I can use is centrifugal force...

Then I made a new fuze according to this idea. The new fuze has two switches. The centrifugal force will open the safety at the moment the shell leaves the barrel, and then the centrifugal force will close the remaining switch after it flies a certain distance. In this way, the circuit is connected and the fuze will be in working condition.

There shouldn't be any mistake... I took a shell, grabbed the warhead and the body with both hands and pulled hard, violently separating its head and body, then pulled out its fuse and replaced it with mine.

Hold your breath... Good, there was no explosion, I breathed a sigh of relief.

I made three more in a row, and then put them in a special iron box. I didn’t want the shells to explode when I went to find Lindemann later...

"Hey, Lindemann!" I stood on the deck holding a large iron box and shouted at the bridge.

"Huh? What's going on?" Lindman leaned forward from his ear.

"I want to find a place to experiment with my results. Are you free?" I said loudly.

"I'm free now, what are you going to do?"

"Come down first," I shouted

"and many more"

Soon Lindemann appeared in front of me and looked at what I had in my hand.

"You disappeared for a few days. What did you come up with?" He said with a smile. "Open it and take a look."

"You can't open it," I shook my head. "There are three shells inside. I'm not sure if it's stable. It won't be fun if it explodes."

"..." Lindemann looked at me speechlessly. "Another shell."

"I improved its fuse. I call it a proximity fuse," I nodded.

"Proximity fuze? What's the difference between it and a time-delay fuze?" Lindemann asked

I explained again how it works and the purpose of its development. "It will automatically explode after flying into a certain enemy area, and use fragments to kill the enemy at close range. In short, it plays a great role in enhancing anti-aircraft firepower."

"Is this true?" Lindman couldn't believe what I said. In this era, it seems that this can indeed be considered black technology.

"So I'm going to give it a try," I shrugged. "It's done for this purpose, and the result should be pretty close."

"Great!" Lindman praised. "You want to find a usable 37mm gun? The one on the ship is being repaired, so it's definitely not usable. But I know there are anti-aircraft positions around the shipyard, so it should be usable there. I'll take you there."

“That’s what I think.”

"But the consumption of anti-aircraft shells is very high. You can't make them all by yourself. How do you mass-produce them?"

“I have thought about this question,” I said with a smile. “I certainly can’t do it myself, but I can hand over the method and production process to the factory and let them help me do it. I think this invention will definitely be useful in the future, and no manufacturer will refuse me.”

"It's not just useful," Lindemann patted my shoulder. "If we deploy it on a large scale, our enemy's planes will be in big trouble when they see it."

"Haha, I thought so too," I smiled proudly.

ps: Bismarck has taken an important step in the use of technology, and the plot will continue to develop... Please recommend and collect

PS: The VT proximity fuse is not like what I described in the article. The proximity fuse in history used radio. Its principle is to transmit radio to determine the distance to explode. There is no such thing as radio silence... So there are major mistakes in the description in the article! It's just a novel, just read it! =. =

Chapter 47: Krupp Factory

It was not difficult to borrow the anti-aircraft guns around the shipyard. After Lindmann made a phone call to the garrison officer in charge of the Voss Shipyard, he was allowed in.

But as soon as I got off the boat, I saw a black car parked at the dock, and the person who walked out of it was the captain.

Hey, the captain is back!

"Hello, Captain," Lindman and I said in unison

He nodded, then looked at the iron box in my hand and asked, "What are you going to do?"

"During the few days you were away, I experimented with a new gadget and was about to go to the anti-aircraft position with Lindemann to try it out," I said.

"what?"

"New artillery fuses!" I said, "Captain, why don't you come with us and see how it works? I may need your help with something else."

"Bismarck replaced the time-delay fuse with something new, which seems to be called a proximity fuse, but I don't know the details," Lindmann added.