bookpower Chapter 257
Chapter 257
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In late August 1923, Hans, West Prussia.
A black Mercedes-Benz sedan drove into the gate of the Vulcan Shipyard in West Prussia.
Founded in 1851, the Vulcan Shipyard is one of the earliest and largest shipyards in Hans.
This shipyard is a famous shipyard in Hans. From the beginning of its establishment, it began to build ironclad ships for the German Navy, from the first steam ironclad Dievenow in 1852 to later battleships and even aircraft carriers.
At this time, Hans’ only type of battleship, the Bismarck-class battleship, was built at the Vulcan Shipyard.
Although from the perspective of strength, the Hamburg Shipyard located in Hamburg, the headquarters of the German army, has more advanced technology and stronger construction capabilities, and in the original history, the Bismarck-class battleships were also built in the Hamburg Shipyard, but Mainz did not give the construction task of the Bismarck-class battleships to the Hamburg Shipyard.
And the reason for this is actually only one, that is, the Vulcan Shipyard in Stettin, West Prussia, is much more hidden than the Hamburg Shipyard in Hamburg!
Stettin is located in West Prussia, far away from the Sun Never Sets and the Fairy Tale Country.
After the Polish people in the east were defeated in the German-Polish War, they were expelled from the Pomeranian region, which made Stettin within hundreds of kilometers around There is no threat from enemy countries, and it is extremely difficult for the enemy to infiltrate here!
Hamburg is located on the edge of the North Sea, and there is frequent maritime trade, so a large number of ships enter and leave Hamburg every day.
In addition, the North Sea has always been the territory of the Sun Never Sets, so they often send water reconnaissance aircraft runways to Hamburg for reconnaissance.
In this case, the Hamburg Shipyard can’t hide any secrets at all, let alone building a 40,000-ton battleship. Even a submarine of several hundred tons will probably be discovered by the British as soon as it is put on the slipway!
Moreover, everyone knows the strength of the Hamburg Shipyard, so the British have the most spies in the Hamburg area. The number of spies around the Hamburg Shipyard may exceed three digits. In this case, even if the SS strengthens the protection of the Hamburg Shipyard, it is difficult to completely eliminate the enemy’s infiltration and reconnaissance!
On the other hand, there is no such problem in the Stettin area!
Speaking of which, the Vulcan Shipyard is also relatively famous in the Celestial Empire. After all, the main battleships of the Beiyang Fleet, which was once ranked seventh in the world, were produced and launched here. The
Vulcan Shipyard produced nine battleships such as Zhenyuan, Dingyuan, Laiyuan, and Jiyuan for the Qing government, supporting the main framework of the Beiyang Fleet!
In the 1880s, the Beiyang Fleet was the undisputed first fleet in the Far East.
However, after the 1890s, with the rapid development of warship technology in various countries and the emergence of rapid-fire guns, the warships of various countries ushered in revolutionary changes.
However, the Qing government was obsessed with the false prosperity of peace and prosperity.
It was not enterprising despite the reputation of the first fleet in East Asia.
As a result, after the 1890s, it was quickly surpassed by the navy of the foot basin!
During the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the strength of the Beiyang Navy of the Qing government and the state of warships were actually behind the navy of the foot basin.
It was not surprising that they lost this battle, but it was still a pity.
After all, this defeat in 1895 burned the efforts of several generations of the Celestial Empire for decades, causing the Celestial Empire’s navy to completely collapse.
It was not until more than 100 years later that the Celestial Empire’s sea was rejuvenated and began to revive.
Standing in front of the brand-new Bismarck ship, Mainz sighed slightly.
Back then, when Li Hongzhang and his colleagues saw the Zhenyuan and Dingyuan ships, they probably felt the same as I do now!
“General, we used the segmented construction technology you mentioned, and built different segments on different slipways, which greatly increased the construction speed. It took only ten months to complete the construction process of the main hull. It was just put together on the slipway at the beginning of this month. We are currently preparing to carry out the outfitting of weapons and equipment and internal debugging. It is estimated that it will be ready for sea trials next year!”
The director of the Vulcan Shipyard looked extremely excited. This was the first battleship built by Hans since 1918, and it was an epoch-making super-large main battleship!
The tonnage of this battleship exceeded that of any battleship of any country in the world at that time.
Even the so-called BIG7 battleships of the British Empire, the British Empire, and the British Empire were not as big as the Bismarck and the Tirpitz!
The heavier tonnage and larger size gave this battleship more ample internal space, allowing them to install thicker and stronger armor.
The armor of the Bismarck-class battleship was very thick and used the latest carburizing steel technology.
This technology was the most advanced technology of this era, especially Mainz also used With the help of the system, alloys were added to the carburized steel of the German army, which turned it into alloy carburized steel!
This kind of steel is a special steel with extremely strong hardness after quenching. 100 mm of alloy carburized steel is equivalent to 130 mm of ordinary steel. Moreover, the addition of alloys, especially titanium alloys, has not reduced the ductility of this carburized steel, and even improved it. The increase in ductility reduces the difficulty of armor attachment and the risk of armor fragmentation.
The Bismarck-class battleships attach great importance to armor protection. In addition to the 320 mm dome armor, at the request of Mainz, anti-torpedo armor for torpedoes was also installed below the waterline, which can withstand the impact of 50 mm caliber torpedoes!
The 320-meter main armor, with the support of alloy carburized steel, is equivalent to 420 mm of ordinary armor. The design with an inclined angle makes the protection of the Bismarck-class battleship exceed the actual armor thickness. This thickness of armor is enough to withstand the bombardment of 406 mm cannons at a distance of 15 kilometers!
In actual combat, unless the battleships of both sides face each other, it is impossible to enter the combat zone within 15 kilometers, because in this area, warships of any country cannot withstand the enemy’s bombardment. As long as they are hit by a shot, they may be sunk.
Therefore, after the caliber of the battleship’s main gun exceeded 380 mm, the distance of the battle between the two sides rapidly expanded, from the initial 10 kilometers to 15 kilometers, 20 kilometers and even 5 kilometers!
During World War II, the Hood battlecruiser that was sunk by the Bismarck was in 2 At a distance of 3 kilometers, the Hood fought with the Bismarck, and fought all the way to 1 kilometer. Then, the Hood was hit by a salvo from the Bismarck in the ammunition depot, and it quickly sank to the bottom of the sea within 2 minutes, becoming the first battleship to be sunk since the war began!
In fact, the Hood was sunk because of bad luck. It was very dangerous to be hit directly at this distance. Not to mention that the Hood with thin skin and big fillings could not bear it, even if the Bismarck was hit by a single shot, it would probably not be able to bear it. However, the Bismarck was at least a serious battleship, while the Hood was a battlecruiser that sacrificed its protection in pursuit of speed.
Although in terms of tonnage, the Hood was only slightly smaller than the Bismarck, and its firepower was even stronger, but the gap in protection performance became their Achilles heel. They did not have the capital to dare to compete with the main battleships like the Bismarck!
It was also because the Hood was hit by a single shot that the battlecruisers that emerged during World War I completely fell into decline. All countries realized the weaknesses of battlecruisers, so they stopped building and developing such warships, and replaced them with faster high-speed battleships!
However, after the rise of high-speed battleships, they had lost the ability to fight with enemy battleships with bayonets, and could only be humiliated to become the sword-carrying guards of aircraft carriers, using the hundreds of anti-aircraft guns on the deck of the battleships as meat shields and amulets!
The era of battleships is gone forever! _Feilu reminds you: Three things to do when reading-