The Third Reich in Desperation

Even if the Soviet Navy wants to install its own anti-aircraft guns in the future, the traditional 37-40mm caliber anti-aircraft guns still take up a lot of space, and it is difficult to add more.As for the Dashka 14.5mm heavy machine gun, the 20mm machine gun can be decorated, but the effect is...

All in all, when the Peter the Great faced an air attack, it was quite difficult to evade the air attack because of the long hull and inconvenient steering.Especially when facing tricky aviation torpedoes from various angles.

Moreover, the underwater defense of this ship is very weak, and the division of the power system is also tricky.

The excellent design is that each boiler and turbine are arranged in an independent watertight compartment, and the layout of the boiler room and the engine room is staggered, which can further improve the vitality of the power system.But the Peter the Great, which has been manipulated, has no reasonable arrangement for subdivision at all!

As for the horizontal armor, although the top-thin and bottom-thick layout can play the role of taking off the quilt to a certain extent, it can increase the equivalent thickness, but facing the armor-piercing bombs dropped by the "famous German Stuka" dive bomber at a large angle, this This layout is not as reliable as a single layer of large thickness horizontal armor.Of course, in the face of large-caliber naval artillery shells hitting from a long distance, such horizontal armor is also difficult to parry.

Since the armor-piercing projectile can penetrate two layers of armor in turn and reach the core cabin, the Scharnhorst, which was the prototype of the Peter the Great in history, was also shot through, but because the armor-piercing projectile penetrated the armor and penetrated the hull all the way into the sea. The good luck of the armor-piercing projectile survived.However, most warships were not so lucky. For example, the sister ship of the Scharnhorst, the Gneisenau, could only remain paralyzed in the port after being attacked.

Generally speaking, this is a top battleship of World War I that looks beautiful and has outstanding firepower and speed in actual use.

However, it does have many loopholes.These loopholes were not obvious in the early days of World War II, and they would only be known when they were hit by a torpedo or encountered the enemy's naval aviation.

Of course, when the Soviet Union attacks Finland in the future, this ship can still crush such small countries with little strength.Use the long range of the L50 to suppress the Finns, and if it is used well, Britain and France will exclaim that they are invincible.It's a pity that it is unknown whether the Soviet Navy wants to get it or not.

From a German point of view, the Peter the Great is more of an experimental ship, used to verify the effect of various subsystems installed.For example, how to use the Italian power system, and how to use the German high-temperature, high-pressure, strong-circulation boiler to increase power and so on.

In other words, how to better improve the power system, how to bring out the advantages without acclimatization, this is the importance of verification technology.After all, verifying something with someone else is less distressing than verifying it with your own ship.

As for the 12-inch main gun, this is also an experiment made by the German Navy for large-caliber guns.

More importantly, this kind of naval gun has high requirements on industrial hard power. Even if it gets the technology, the Soviet Union may not be able to manufacture it by itself.

There are still many things to be verified. The design of the welded hull and the integration of armor into the structure are new technologies even for Germany and Italy.It’s great to have such a large ship for the Soviet Union to practice. If there is no problem, I am the world’s number one in technology in Greater Germany. If there is a problem, I have not used the ship for 20 years after World War I. You have to understand, anyway, you don’t have to pay for it yourself.

At the request of Reinhardt, the Peter the Great switched to four-axis according to the Italian designer's suggestion and improved the propeller layout, which will be much better than the traditional German three-axis.This also allows stubborn German designers to have a new understanding of Italian shipbuilding technology after seeing the results, and promote the future technological integration of the two countries.

As for the 150 and 105 secondary guns on the Peter the Great, they are actually helping the German Navy clean up its inventory.These two types of secondary guns that can only attack the sea will have limited use in the future. Compared with the dual-linked high-level and dual-purpose 128mm guns installed on the other two battleships that "reasonably should be given to the Soviet Union", Reinhardt is more concerned not on.

As for Zeiss optical instruments, it is also accumulating experience for Germany's own future naval warfare equipment.

By the way, the Peter the Great can be counted as a battlecruiser or a fast battleship, and it is in the same category as the historical Scharnhorst.It's just that compared with the historical Scharnhorst, it has a lot more problems.

Chapter 148 Not even touching the edges

Standing on the conning tower of the Kent-class heavy cruiser USS Suffolk, Joseph encountered the first unexpected situation in a year of patrolling.

He was a commodore in the Royal Navy, leading a small squadron consisting mainly of a heavy cruiser.The usual task is to go around the colony and show off the naval power of the British Empire.

But this time, he had just finished a colony tour and encountered a different situation.

A major staff officer under Josepha ran over in a panic not long ago and handed him an urgent report, claiming that an unidentified warship appeared ahead.For the small team under Joseph, this is no joke.

Is this a French warship?Or German?Or it might be the second-rate navy of Denmark, the Netherlands and other countries.

However, in any case, the formation in Joseph's hands couldn't give people enough confidence. After all, they only had one heavy cruiser and three destroyers.Such a formation is fine for patrolling a declaration of force, but it is a little bit reluctant to use it for a big fight.

"According to the statistics from the League of Nations, we are the only ones that will pass through this sea today in formation, and other countries have no patrol routes that coincide with ours." The major's staff reported anxiously.

"What are you panicking? If there is no statistics, it does not necessarily mean that the other party will threaten us. I don't think any country has the courage to go to war against the Royal Navy." Joseph, who graduated, did not show any panic.

Calmness is the basic quality that every commander of the Royal Navy should possess.Even if the sky is about to collapse in the next second, the commander of the Royal Navy should not panic.

This is the foundation of the British Empire's dominance of the sea, and it is the tradition of the Royal Navy!

Looking at the staff officer who lost his composure in the sudden incident, Joseph frowned, and secretly decided to turn around and kick this waste out of his formation, and transferred to land to watch the harbor.The fleet of the British Empire needs no cowards.

"Give me an order. The ships will follow behind the flagship and approach each other at a constant speed. I want to see what the beginning of this unidentified warship is?" Joseph, the commander of the formation and the captain of the Kent-class heavy cruiser, quickly An order was issued.

"Right rudder 150 ticks, move forward at a constant speed."

"The ships spread out and kept a distance of 4000 meters from the flagship."

Immediately, this fleet with a heavy cruiser as its flagship began to change direction and approach the unknown warship in the distance under coordination.

Josepha made this decision not because of courage and curiosity, but because of his positioning of his own responsibility!

In the eyes of Joseph, the formation he leads is not just a vase for showing off.It has sufficient strength and mission!

Under the restrictions of the "Washington Naval Treaty", the Kent-class heavy cruiser relied on sacrificing protective armor (the waterline protective armor belt was only 25 mm), and was forced to equip four dual-mounted 4 mm main gun turrets, four 203 mm Secondary battery, 4 quadruple 102mm torpedo tubes.

In addition, the Kent-class heavy cruiser is also equipped with 8 Royal Navy boilers and 4 steam turbines, with a total power of 80000 horsepower and a speed of up to 31 knots.

With such firepower and speed, the warships under his feet were only able to worry about the defense power of the Kent class.

Coincidentally, at the beginning of 1938, all Kent-class cruisers were equipped with an armor belt with a width of 1.8 meters and a thickness of 110 mm, and the ship commanded by Joseph was no exception.

Therefore, the Kent-class heavy cruisers of this small team are no longer the "cripples" with empty firepower but no defense, but "super heavy cruisers" that are slightly closer to the level of battleships in a sense.

On the other hand, if Josepha pretended not to see it today and let the unknown warship leave in the distance, it would be a loss of information that might be crucial to the Royal Navy. In the future, it will also be a breach of responsibility.

Leaning up, even if it is possible to fall into a trap, it is not hesitating.The British Empire does not lack such a small team. If by sacrificing oneself, one can discover some potential threat and find out a country's bad intentions for the British Empire, then this sacrifice will be a profitable business. .

What's more, the other party may not appear here just to ambush him.It is also possible that he just collided with a secret sea trial of a certain country.

"General, the opponent has only one warship!" As the distance approached, the major staff officer who gradually saw the true face of the unidentified warship Lushan came to report to Josepha again.This time, he completely lost the urgency he had before.

Obviously, the major already understood that his side would not be at a disadvantage.He was even a little ashamed of himself, ashamed for his previous panic.For a moment, he actually forgot what was standing behind him, but the British Empire was the most powerful empire in the world on which the sun never set!

It is different from the French who are self-proclaimed as the number one army in Europe.The vision of the British Empire is not limited to Europe.And the confidence of the British Empire to intervene in the world depends on the world's number one Royal Navy!

As a member of the Royal Navy, the Major found himself to have virtually nothing to worry about.Is there any country capable of challenging the British navy?

He was just distracted by today's unusual change, and he can guarantee that he will never show such an ugly appearance again next time.

With a smile on the corner of his mouth, Joseph closed his eyes and nodded, and said calmly, "Got it."

Josepha actually noticed all the changes in the major's staff.However, at this moment, Joseph was in no mood to pay attention to him.

Originally, the staff officer had a good impression in Josepha's mind. During the monotonous maritime patrol time in the previous year, the major staff officer also had a lot of daily exchanges with Joseph to pass the time.During the chat, many seemingly unique insights of the staff left a good impression on Josepha.

But I didn't expect that when encountering such an unexpected situation, the major who usually talks so much would appear so...

Perhaps, the navy of the British Empire has not been tempered by war for too long.Too many officers graduated from military academies, although their official positions are getting bigger and bigger, their knowledge is still only in books.But those generals who experienced the gunfire and blood of the last war are getting old...

Josepha suddenly felt that, as the captain of a destroyer in the last World War, he had an extremely heavy responsibility after having experienced the magnificent Battle of Jutland!

"General! It seems that the other party is coming from a new type of battleship, a model we have never known!" The major reported again, interrupting Joseph's thoughts.

"Battleship?" Josepha slowly opened his eyes, frowned slightly as he watched the unidentified warship gradually approaching in the distance.

If it is a destroyer or a cruiser.Then Joseph can easily conclude that he ran into an ordinary sea trial of a new Norwegian, French, or German ship.But it doesn't matter, even if it is a cruiser, there is nothing worthy of the British Empire's attention.

However, a secret appeared here, a new type of battleship, what does it mean?

This may be that a certain country has begun to challenge the British Empire, and has begun to take action secretly.