Under the leadership of Prince, Chen Tian and his entourage came to the Schuter-Lonz company located on the outskirts of Hamburg. There are huge semi-cylindrical buildings on the flat ground, and the airship is built and assembled inside.
"This is building an airship ordered by our army. If the funds are sufficient, we will order more!" The prince took other people into one of the greenhouses. Standing in front of this kind of building looked so small, Chen Tian has It feels like a giant castle.
It seems that the skeleton of the airship has been completed, and countless workers are busy installing the airbags and shells of the airship. On the ground on the side are two external pods and several engines.
"His Royal Highness, how could the skeleton of this airship be wooden?" Chen Tian always felt that this airship was a bit strange. After observing for a long time, he discovered that the keel was wooden. In his impression, the Zeppelin airship should be aluminum keel. Yes, he had seen a picture of a wrecked airship before. After the airship burned, there was still a huge skeleton.
"That's it. Zeppelin's airship uses aluminum keel, while Schütte-Lonz uses wooden keel! Although wooden keel will increase the weight of the airship, the cost is much lower! The same is 1,000 Wanmark, three airships with aluminum keel can be built, while five airships with wooden keel can be built!" Prince's words also represent the Army's attitude towards the number of airships, compared to Tirpitz's Admiralty Most of the purchases are Zeppelin's aluminum skeleton airships.
"The pursuit of low cost and high quantity is also a good way!" Chentian felt that airships were rarely attacked at the beginning of the war, and pilots were easier to train. It would be a good choice to use a large number of airships for long-range high-altitude bombing. Most of the reconnaissance and battlefield support tasks are just left to the aircraft.
Everyone was visiting and listening to the introduction of the accompanying technicians. After all, they were 230 meters long, 23 meters in diameter, 26,700 cubic meters of hydrogen storage, and 2 tons of deadweight. It took them a while to walk from the head to the tail of the airship.
Prince suddenly leaned to Chentian's ear, "With these airships, we can bomb Paris!"
"And London!" Chen Tianshun said this, but found that Prince's facial expression had become a little weird.
"Do you think we will go to war with the British?"
This sentence is a joke for the people of the earth decades later. Now only three years after the outbreak of the Great War in 1914, the German crown prince is full of confidence in the neutrality of the British. Then he told Chentian in a very serious tone:
"They are our cousins on the other side of the strait. Although we are now competing fiercely with them, it is just a competition. I don't think they will or dare to stand on the side of our enemy when the war breaks out!"
After knowing him for more than 20 years, Chentian gradually got to know the German crown prince. Not only was this guy born with a fox noodle, skinny like a wicker, and frail, but also Chilean was mediocre, arrogant, conceited, short-sighted, and elusive. He liked to do amazing things like his father.
"His Royal Highness, don't trust the British too much, we can only trust our country!" Chen Tian has no way to explain to him the future results. Maybe the world has deviated from the original trajectory with his arrival, but Britain and France European powers like Russia are pursuing a balance of power in Europe. They will never tolerate the emergence of Germany's dominance. Germany has developed to such an extent that it has been unable to use politics to expand its strength. The conflict of national interests makes A world war a few years later is inevitable. The rising Germany will either defeat its opponent to lead Europe, or be defeated and suppressed by its opponent.
"If there is a war, we cannot defeat their navy, and the fleet will be trapped by them in the harbor!" Prince shook his head with a pessimistic expression.
Chentian didn't say any more. He just wanted to end the visit soon and meet another person, a man who will play the most important role if Britain and Germany go to war-the German Navy Minister, the admiral who has just been appointed commander of the German High Seas Fleet. Lpitz.
"I don't want Germany to be at war with Britain. What we have to do is to greatly strengthen the German navy so that the British can think twice when taking hostile actions! But as far as I know, the army will adopt the Schlieffen plan to take a neutral Belgium. Attack on France. In 1904, Prime Minister Biro reminded him of Bismarck's warning that material victory would win public opinion, but moral defeat would lose public opinion, and the invasion of Belgium would add another helper to the anti-German forces. I don't have the right to interfere with the army's affairs, but my navy and I have to be prepared to fight the powerful British navy!" Whether the German navy can confront the British navy is anxious.
Chentian felt that if this continued, coupled with the Kaiser's care for precious warships, the history of the German Navy as an "existing fleet" would repeat itself. It seems that I have to teach the soul of the German Navy a lesson.
"Your Excellency, if our main battleship is at war with the main force of the British fleet, how great do you think we are to win?"
"What? Their battleship is almost twice ours, and we are bound to lose!" Tirpitz gave the answer without hesitation.
"Then if we introduce their main fleet into the ambush circle of dozens of submarines and hundreds of aircraft, how much do you think their main fleet will lose?" Chentian knew that the Kaiser would not firmly support unrestricted submarine tactics. Using ambush tactics to severely damage the British navy in World War I, the German navy will have the hope of victory.
"This one..."
"If we plan to sacrifice all submarines and aircraft and use hundreds of torpedoes against them..."
"At least half of their warships can be consumed, and our sea power will be able to compete with them. If they block their maritime transport, then the British Navy will undoubtedly lose!" Tirpitz jumped happily like a child. Up.
"Great! Great! I want to make a wonderful plan. I want German warships to sail freely in the English Channel and all over the world! Your Royal Highness, you are a genius!"
Chentian smiled. For the German Navy, what matters is not whether there are dozens of submarines and hundreds of aircraft, but the confidence, the confidence to defeat a powerful opponent.
Ten days later, Prince and Chentian handed over the airship and aircraft carrier's role description and development plan to the emperor. Among them, Prince proposed to build 200 zeppelins in the next 5 years, and Chentian proposed to build 6 seaplane carriers and 3 aircraft carriers in the next 5 years.
One month later, the emperor and the minister of the navy announced that the shipbuilding plan was revised again, reducing one-fifth of the battleships in the original plan, and the money saved was used to build airships and aircraft carriers. After that, the Cabinet approved the purchase of 120 Zeppelins for the Army and 50 Zeppelins for the Navy, which were produced by Schutter-Lontz and Zeppelin; approved the Navy to purchase 6 seaplane carriers and 1 aircraft carrier. Chentian's brother Nissberg Shipyard is responsible for the construction.
The British government welcomes Germany's move to cut its battleship construction plan. They believe that Germany's move has put Europe in a more peaceful atmosphere. At the same time, their huge naval expenditure has long been criticized by all quarters in their country. It can correspondingly reduce its own shipbuilding plan to reduce financial pressure.
After receiving large orders from the Navy, Chentian's shipyard began to get busy. In recent years, the scale of the shipyard has continued to expand. At present, it has tens of thousands of skilled workers and the ability to build ships of 100,000 tons per year. In order to actively prepare for war, the shipyard has stopped accepting orders for ordinary freighters and is fully committed to building seaplane carriers, aircraft carriers, and submarines. And a few destroyers and torpedo boats. In addition, Chentian exchanged an existing seaplane carrier in the Baltic Squadron with Tirpitz's High Seas Fleet for a cruiser.