Chapter 9: The Unstable Youth (5)

  "Gentlemen, battlecruisers or dreadnoughts were never an option! Because we have no other choice!"

  The Battle of Dogger Bank on 14 November proved the value of battlecruisers.

  First, the speed advantage of the battlecruiser played a decisive role in this chaotic melee caused by intelligence errors. It should be noted that even in the shallow waters of the North Sea, the main fleet and the fast fleet could still maintain a distance of three to four hours.

  From the time the raiding force was spotted until two hours after the start of the naval battle, only Admiral Hipper's three battlecruisers were able to reach the scene in time, while Admiral Scheer's six powerful battleships were unable to reinforce due to their speed.

  The British were no exception. To strengthen the intercepting fleet, three Orion-class battleships joined the battlecruiser squadron. Whether this move was a stroke of genius or a costly mistake would be clear after the naval battle. In the battle, the three dreadnoughts could not keep up with the fast fleet's rhythm, and Beatty had to let them take on the task of encircling and intercepting from behind. Even so, they still took more than an hour to catch up with the Von der Tann, which was overloaded and exceeded 27 knots in speed. When Admiral Hipper's two Derfflinger-class and Seydlitz arrived on the battlefield, the advantage of the battlecruiser's speed was even more pronounced, and the invincible Lützow soon sank.

  Secondly, the Battle of Dogger Bank confirmed that the German battlecruiser's emphasis on defensive strength and main gun caliber was a correct design concept. Although Moltke, Von der Tann, and Blücher were pre-Dreadnought type battlecruisers with many unreasonable designs, their 250mm waterline belt armor (Moltke had 270mm main armor), focused protection, and sealed compartment design gave them strong defensive capabilities. In contrast, the Invincible-class and Indefatigable-class battlecruisers of the same period only had a 6-inch (about 152mm) waterline belt armor, while the famous Lion-class battlecruiser and Tiger, equipped with 15-inch main guns, only had 9-inch (229mm) main armor. It was precisely this strong armor protection that allowed the raiding fleet to withstand over two hours of encirclement by eight capital ships, earning Moltke, whose turrets were completely destroyed, the reputation as an "unsinkable ship".

  Third, the sea battle proved the strength of the post-Dreadnought battlecruiser, although the post-Dreadnought battlecruiser's top speed and endurance were not as good as those of British battlecruisers, but with the help of its thick armor, it could knock down super-dreadnoughts.

  After the Battle of Dogger Bank, three reinforced Derfflinger-class battlecruisers with 350 mm waterline belts could ignore the British Orion-class super-dreadnoughts' mere 12-inch (305 mm) main armor.

  In contrast, the British had a universal armament of 13.5-inch (343 mm) guns, with even the Tiger-class battlecruisers mounting 15-inch guns; their top speed was also generally one knot higher than that of the German battlecruisers at 26.5 knots. However, this could not be the greatest reliance for the British.

  Fourth, the naval battle exposed the importance of the main fleet's scouting force. Admiral Jellicoe's cautious personality was a good opportunity for the British to annihilate the German High Seas Fleet's first scouting force, but David Beatty's First Battle Cruiser Squadron was either separated or heavily damaged, and the collapse of the scouting system made it impossible for the British to assess the number and strength of the German reinforcements, so that the loss of the main fleet's eyes and ears was also one of the negative factors.

  The Scharnhorst-class battlecruiser was expensive to build, but facing the British peak of battleship construction, using fast battlecruisers to charge at large fleets is undoubtedly more cost-effective than simply competing with main battleships.

  "Three Mackensen-class battlecruisers and two enhanced Bayern-class battleships would suffice. Although we have a quota for seven capital ships, during the war the army is a bottomless pit, and the Bavarian-class battleship under construction, Hindenburg, the converted Deutschland, and numerous light vessels will undoubtedly divert considerable resources, not to mention the British long-range blockade. Germany does not have many resources to waste, so it's better to maximize their use rather than trying to get everything."

  "Commander, as a ship inspector officer I have to remind you that even with five main force ships we may not be able to complete on schedule..."

  "No, it can be completed!" Wang Haitian raised his head confidently and said: "Because this is a beautiful misunderstanding!"

  ****

  The lengthy naval conference ended, and under Wang Haitao's insistence, the three Mackensen-class battlecruisers were approved. The High Seas Fleet, which had been wavering in its ocean policy, for the first time made breaking through the distant blockade of the Grand Fleet by means of a series of raids, cruiser warfare, and even main fleet battles a tactical objective, and clearly defined blockading British sea transportation lines and weakening and destroying Britain's wartime economy as strategic objectives.

  Of course, the famous Saxon-class super dreadnoughts were also a product of this compromise and turning conference. To this, the designer of the Navy Design Department, Kleiben, wrote in his private diary:

  November 19, 1914, clear

  Apart from the reconstruction of the Deutschland-class cruisers, design work on the Mackensen-class battlecruisers, Strassburg-class (originally K?nigsberg-class) and K?ln-class light cruisers, as well as follow-on designs for several destroyers and submarines, there were not many design tasks given to the Navy Design Office by the Empire in 1914.

  To speed up the construction period, we used old boilers and steam engines on the German cruiser, which greatly reduced the renovation period of the German cruiser. It is expected that by the end of this year, the original Greek cruiser Salamis, the new German cruiser, will be launched; The design task of the Mackensen-class battlecruiser is also nearing completion, a new generation of warships with a construction cost of ￡2.9 million, exceeding 35,000 tons standard displacement, 27.3 knots top speed, four twin-mounted 380 main guns and 350mm main waterline belt armor make it the most powerful warship in German history; The design task of the Strasbourg-class light cruiser has been completed, to commemorate the Strasbourg light cruiser that sank in the Battle of Heligoland Bight, we decided to name this standard displacement of 5440 tons, top speed of 27.5 knots, equipped with eight SKL/50 type 150mm main guns, excellent performance light cruiser as Strasbourg-class. As for the improved version of the Strasbourg-class light cruiser, the K?ln-class, its shipbuilding funds will not be allocated until next year, and there is still plenty of time.

  In November of the war, the design department, which had always been busy with tasks, suddenly became relaxed. This leisure in the aftermath of the war made me feel uncomfortable. Due to my newborn son Klaus being too noisy at night, I sat at my desk in the morning with a cup of coffee, half asleep, when the office door was burst open and Admiral Hugo von Scherzer, the new Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Reinhard Scheer, the new Commander-in-Chief of the High Seas Fleet, and Vice-Admiral Franz von Hipper led a young man in with great fanfare.

  I took a closer look and found that the young man was not a good guy, but rather General Heiti-Seliam, who made everyone in the Navy's design department fear him like a tiger and hate him to the bone.

  In 1897, Sielem presented "On the Asymmetric Warfare of the Battleship Era", which mentioned all-heavy artillery, perfect cruisers, watertight compartment design and key protection concepts, as well as new tactics for submarines, airships and aircraft. Sielem's insight was too advanced to be blamed by the naval authorities as outstanding science fiction, but his paper moved the iron man of the navy - Tirpitz, who ordered the naval design department to track these technologies. From the perspective of the naval arms race, Sielem's contribution is not overestimated, but these beautiful theories are not gospel for the naval design department, remembering countless days and nights of hard discussion, red eyes, broken pens, discarded drafts piled up like mountains, and designers with more white hair.

  On November 19th, Xi suddenly stormed into the naval design office, with no one knowing how many designers' bodies were trembling and souls crying.

  "My Teutonic needs to be refitted, don't try to fool me with the construction period and old boilers, I know that the Teutonic has left a lot of room for improvement, its maximum speed must exceed 26.5 knots!" The devil Silim's first requirement made everyone breathe a sigh of relief, the remaining funds from 1914 and the funds about to be allocated in 1915 suddenly made the financially conservative Navy Department become rich, it was no longer a secret that replacing the boilers and steam engines would not make major changes to the Teutonic's design drawings.

  "Please ensure that the Mackensen-class battlecruiser design task is completed by the end of November, I need it to appear on the Blohm + Voss shipyard's slipway before the end of the year!" The second requirement from Devil Sylar was not unreasonable either, as the design drawings for the Mackensen-class battlecruiser were basically complete, with only a bit of finishing work left.

  "Finally, the High Seas Fleet needs a battleship even more powerful than the Bayern class!" The devilish Zeilm's third requirement made all designers' hearts thump inexplicably.

  "General, what's our budget?" Designer Brooklyn attempted to sidetrack Zaylem's maddening brainstorming with a question about expenses.

  "At least ￡50 million!" The demon Xialae's face was expressionless, and he stretched out a finger to add lightly: "Of course, I'm referring to the cost of a single ship!"

  ￡5 million! Taking into account inflation and other factors, that's 110 million Imperial Marks! To think that the Defflinger-class battlecruiser, which was criticized by the army for being a waste of money, only cost ￡2.77 million! Everyone's breathing became heavy, I even heard Brooklyn swallow his saliva.

  Designing a perfect warship is the ultimate dream of every designer, but reality can never carry dreams. The meager naval budget and the poor situation of the ocean fleet force naval designers to make painful choices between speed, range, defense and firepower, designing conservative, short-legged, slow-moving German-style battleships.

  Now, a single-ship price of ￡50 million is enough to make every designer worship the devil Silim, and I have secretly decided to call him the undefeated Ares!

  "Is there... is there anything else you'd like to know?" Brooklyn's body shook, holding onto the corner of the desk, and stammered out: "For example, tonnage, firepower, speed, cost, and range?"

  "Gentlemen, the sky will be its limit!" Devil Sylarim, oh no, undefeated Ares calmly returned to the way.

  After one vote, the naval bigwigs left, and the designers were overjoyed. A project that had been shelved by the Navy's design department as a Saxon-class super dreadnought was put back on the agenda.

  Of course, I wasn't blinded by the Navy Department's lavish spending. I still have many doubts, such as how the Navy Department convinced the highest military command to agree to build the ultimate battleship instead of a more powerful battlecruiser like the Mackensen class? With our scarce resources, can we complete these two super-dreadnought projects? If not, wouldn't that be the greatest waste of resources?