Imperial Overlord

Regarding the development of the navy, Li Le himself knew that this kind of thing could not be rushed. This is not a military service that can be inflated by blowing a breath.

As the saying goes, ten years of army and one hundred years of navy. To make the navy have the strength to compete for the world, at least it takes decades to prepare - although a hundred years is a bit exaggerated, but the accumulation of decades of precipitation is still a process.

As for the means of stealing and cheating, it is not that there is no way, but after a quick success, a very heavy price has to be paid!

This is not an alarmist, but a real gap! Today, China also has aircraft carriers and destroyers, but everyone will clearly realize that there is still a gap between my country and the world's first-class naval powers.

The same is true of the German navy. At least in the face of the old naval power Britain, the German navy is insufficient.

Although a large number of cutting-edge warships have joined the sequence, when encountering the absolute numerical advantage of the British Navy, the German Navy can only avoid its edge.

It's not that the German Navy didn't want to fight, in fact they did fight to the last minute! In terms of the degree of tragicness, it is even higher than that of the Japanese Navy.

The reason for this is not the propaganda of German fans. Throughout the entire World War II process, the highest proportion of losses were the officers and soldiers of the German submarine force.

In addition, at the time of the surrender, almost all of the German naval surface ships were annihilated. Except for a few warships huddled in the port to contain their opponents, most of the warships were also sunk in overseas operations.

It is a pity that, apart from the impression that the submarine force made in World War II with its wolf pack tactics, the German Navy has always been a supporting role with few faces.

In the only few battles, the warships were sunk in exchange for the results, similar to the exchange of one mode for another.

To change the status quo of the German Navy, Li Le knew that there was still a lot to be invested in.

The only thing that makes him gratified is that 40 years later, the German Navy's wealth is still there, and transformation and development are still possible.

"I know your pressure! But for now, bear with this difficult time and wait for an opportunity!" Li Le softened his tone when he saw that Rader had agreed to his request, and comforted him.

The pressure on Rader now is not too great, because as the head of state who has been fighting for a while, the pressure on him has been withdrawn.

Without the urging from the head of state, Raidl actually meant to avoid war passively.

But being able to make the Führer force him to avoid the war passively also made Rader feel the Führer's understanding and support for the navy.

Combined with the transformation plan of the surface ship units specially approved by the head of state, it actually strengthened the combat effectiveness of the German Navy more than a little.

You must know that if it weren't for the fact that the German Navy couldn't compete with the Luftwaffe, and the heads of state and other high-level leaders preferred the dinosaur weapon of battleships, Germany's aircraft carrier dream would not be just a dream.

In addition, because of Li Le's order, the German Navy has not been free recently. They have found all resources that can be transformed and are working hard to realize their dream of an aircraft carrier fleet.

With the support of Li Le, Redel selected the heavy cruiser Seydlitz, as well as two cruise ships, the Elbe and Gneisenau, to be temporarily converted into aircraft carriers.

It is a pity that in the direction of shipbuilding, German engineers do not have the talent for tanks and aircraft.

The German ship designers who clicked the wrong technology tree, or said that the technology tree was crooked, could only use the most clumsy method to refit the few ships in front of them that were originally quite good.

It was still too late for Li Le to cross over. The other German aircraft carrier was dismantled into steel before June 1940, and used in other directions when 60% of it was completed.

Otherwise, Germany may have more aircraft carriers that can be put into combat in 1941, and it can also make Li Le's navy stronger.

But now... Li Le's aircraft carrier modification plan is very ambitious, but it is always a long way from his dream due to various technical reasons.

Redel felt a little embarrassed when he thought of this. His heroic naval expansion plan was difficult only on the aircraft carrier.

The German admiral sighed and said to Li Le: "The refit plan is actually not optimistic... My head of state."

He is really pessimistic about the naval aircraft carrier plan, and it is polite to say that he is not optimistic: "The conversion of the Elbe was not smooth, mainly because of the limitation of the hull, and the aircraft it carried was very limited."

This has something to do with the Elbe itself. The cruise ship is less than 20,000 tons, and it only has this volume after the refit.

At this size, the aircraft that can be carried is very limited. In fact, at the drawing demonstration stage, this light aircraft carrier has a maximum load of 30 aircraft.

Having said that, it is impossible not to mention the reasons why the British aircraft carriers during World War II had much less aircraft carrying than the American and Japanese aircraft carriers of the same period.

In a simple analysis, there are two main reasons for this situation - the first is because of different protection requirements, and the second is the special sea conditions of the Atlantic Ocean.

At the same time, British aircraft carriers adopted armored decks, which were more resistant to strikes than the wooden decks used by the Japanese Navy. But this design takes up weight and space, so the aircraft carries less.

The second reason is that because the Atlantic itself has high winds and waves, and the waves on the bow are serious, not all ship types are suitable for the Atlantic route.

Because of this, the British aircraft carrier, as well as the German Zeppelin aircraft carrier under construction, all adopt a relatively closed design, which has strict requirements on airworthiness and center of gravity, which wastes a lot of space for carrying aircraft.

The opposite example is the Japanese navy. The Japanese navy, which operates in the relatively calm Pacific waters, has a relatively high center of gravity and carries more weapons.

So much so that the ship capsized incident because of the overemphasis on carrying weapons. Such ships cannot fight in the Atlantic Ocean, or even if they can fight, they can only play half or even less than half of their combat effectiveness.

In order to adapt to the sea conditions of the Atlantic, the British aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, with a displacement of 27,000 tons, can only carry 72 aircraft (usually less).

The German aircraft carrier Zeppelin, which is now being refitted, has only 60 fighters (slightly more than expected) due to the removal of weapons and equipment such as cannons for flat firing.

Compared to the American and Japanese aircraft carriers of the same period, the aircraft carrying capacity of this class is indeed slightly less, but it is not much less.

The main reason why the aircraft carrier Zeppelin has a full-load displacement of more than 31,000 tons, but is still less than the British Ark Royal aircraft carrier is actually very simple: inexperience!

The German warship design was, frankly, not advanced during World War II, and even less experienced in building large ships.

This can be seen from the fact that large German surface ships have more or less some minor problems.

Considering the limitations of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany had no chance to design and build large warships until 1935, which limited the ability of German shipbuilding designers.

Under this restriction, the overall idea of ​​German shipbuilding has always continued the idea of ​​the era of the High Seas Fleet in World War I.

From the cross-class design to the destroyer, to the overall defense of the Bismarck battleship, it is the product of this idea...

Because of this, some people satirize the Bismarck battleship as the most powerful World War I battleship.

Influenced by the design ideas, the imagination of German designers is obviously not enough to design a warship that was not available in World War I, that is, an aircraft carrier.

So, in the end, although Germany also successfully built the Zeppelin aircraft carrier, the performance can only be said to be unsatisfactory.

From this point of view, Germany's Zeppelin aircraft carrier is a bit like today's Liaoning ship - everyone is crossing the river by feeling the stones~www.wuxiaspot.com~ to accumulate experience.

But to say that the German aircraft carrier Zeppelin is not as good as the opponent's Ark Royal is a bit wronged by this German Navy battleship!

Because of the different design ideas, the German Navy emphasized the guerrilla tactics of hitting and running, or in other words, guerrilla tactics.

Compared with the 31-knot speed of the Ark Royal, the Zeppelin aircraft carrier is designed to have a speed of 33 knots - at least it runs fast enough. In the face of the enemy's battleships and other ships, getting away is the last word, isn't it?

As for the transformation of cruise ships into aircraft carriers, German designers can only maintain the level of "this thing is barely usable".

Its experience and tactics are mature, and Japan and the United States, which are experienced in modification operations, are indeed much worse.

For example, the Elbe, which can only carry 30 aircraft after modification, cannot keep up with the speed of the professionally designed Zeppelin aircraft carrier.

The speed of another modified aircraft carrier Seydlitz is enough, but it can only hold 35 aircraft...

Therefore, in addition to the professional fighting Zeppelin aircraft carrier, the remaining aircraft carriers may only be used for training pilots except for robbery.

Li Le, who came from the 21st century, naturally would not make such a mistake. In fact, he refitted these three "second-tier aircraft carriers" for other purposes.

"My marshal! The Elbe's converted aircraft carrier is to be used for **** missions in the Mediterranean!" Li Le said his thoughts with a smile.

In Li Le's deduction, with the gradual progress of the war, the Axis countries have more and more maritime transportation lines, and they are becoming more and more important. How can they hand over their lifeline to their opponents?

On the one hand, the three modified aircraft carriers are to accumulate aircraft carrier design experience for German designers, and on the other hand, they are preparing for the Mediterranean **** battle.