Chapter 18: Shock (for collection)
What was placed in front of William II was the exterior drawing of the new battleship drawn by Qin Tian. This new battleship, although still on paper. However, the shock brought to William II was not lacking at all.
Although William II was not from the navy, it was with his support and support that the German navy began to develop rapidly. This makes William II considered half an expert.
"The battleship designed by Oscar is different from the previous battleships! The secondary main guns are cancelled, and all heavy guns are used, and they are still triple-mounted main guns." William II frowned.
The battleships that the German Navy has built and is under construction all have main guns of two calibers. Moreover, they are basically dual-mounted main guns, and triple-mounted main guns have never been tried.
For the German Navy, full-heavy artillery and triple-mounted main guns are new things. Not to mention that the power used by this battleship is still a combination of heavy oil boilers and steam turbines. The German Navy has also not tried this.
However, William II saw the uniqueness of this battleship.
"This type of battleship seems to be more powerful than the existing battleships. Once it is built and put into service, it will be of great benefit to the improvement of the German Navy's strength." Wilhelm II murmured. Of course, these technical difficulties are not so easy to overcome. But this does not prevent William II from being able to see the advanced nature of this new type of battleship. He has a vague feeling that such battleships are the trend of future battleship development.
"Essen, check to see if Marshal Earl Tirpitz is still there. If he is, let him come to see me right away." William II hesitated for a moment before making up his mind. If this kind of battleship is to be built, it must be approved by the Marshal Earl Tirpitz. Of course, William II also wanted to know from Marshal Earl Tirpitz whether construction of this type of battleship could start and whether they had the technical conditions to build it.
"Yes, Your Majesty." Essen von Jonalet immediately went to find someone.
Ten minutes later, Marshal Earl Tirpitz came to William II's office.
"Your Majesty, you are too busy for the empire. You don't even have time to attend the Christmas dinner." Count Tirpitz greeted Marshal as soon as he met him.
William II waved his hand, but he was very pleased.
"Now is the time when the empire is facing a huge crisis. I have to devote all my energy to state affairs, banquets and the like. After defeating our enemies, there will be plenty of time."
"Your Majesty is wise!" Marshal Earl Tirpitz praised.
"Your Excellency, Marshal, take a look. This is a Christmas present from Oscar. It is said that this is a battleship designed by him himself. It is an unprecedented new type of battleship that is different from all our previous battleships." William II Some proudly said.
If Qin Tian's design proves to be successful, isn't it superficial that Qin Tian is also a genius in battleship design? This naturally made William II's face bright. It is undoubtedly a surprise that his son, who he has always looked down upon, has such great talent!
"A new type of battleship designed by Prince Oscar?" Marshal Earl Tirpitz's eyes lit up. If he still sneered at Qin Tian before, then after the conversation at the dinner party, his perception of Qin Tian has fundamentally changed.
Marshal Count Tirpitz immediately came to the desk. When he saw the blueprint of the battleship on the desk, he was also shocked.
"Three triple-mounted main guns, canceled the secondary main guns, and canceled the collision angle of the bow and the torpedo tube. The layout of the hull is more compact." Marshal Earl Tirpitz saw it all at once. The difference of this new type of battleship.
King William II nodded: "That's not all. In the notes, Oscar also thinks that this kind of battleship should use a combination of heavy oil boiler and steam turbine to increase the speed of the battleship to more than 21 knots."
"Heavy oil boilers and steam turbines? Although we have research in this area, we have not achieved much results. Especially steam turbines, except for the British who have experience in using them on large warships, other countries have no such research experience." Marshal Count Tirpitz frowned.
"Your Excellency, Marshal, is this new type of battleship much more advanced than the existing battleships?" William II asked.
Marshal Earl Tirpitz nodded: "The layout of all heavy artillery is indeed refreshing. However, secondary main guns are still very important in naval battles. The Sino-Japanese naval battle of the Sino-Japanese War undoubtedly proved this point. All heavy artillery As for the artillery, I am afraid that the firepower of the battleship cannot be guaranteed."
The Tsushima naval battle has not yet begun, and the development of battleships by various navies is still in the groping stage. Even the British dare not assert the development direction of the navy. Before the dreadnoughts, they also built a large number of pre-dreadnoughts equipped with secondary main guns.
"As for heavy oil boilers and steam turbines, although we still have technical bottlenecks in this area. However, we can completely replace them with coal-fired boilers and triple-expansion reciprocating steam engines. At most, this will affect the speed of the battleship to a certain extent." Marshal Count Tirpitz continued.
King William II nodded lightly: "Why does Oscar think that battleships with all heavy artillery are the future development direction?"
"Your Majesty, this may be His Highness's own opinion. At the dinner, His Highness and I also chatted for a long time. I have to admit that His Highness has a very clear understanding of the future international situation and the development direction of the navy. I know. He is even more foresighted than many high-level officials in the empire. Perhaps, this time, his proposition is really right!" Marshal Earl Tirpitz praised.
Wilhelm II was taken aback for a moment, and he did not expect that Marshal Earl Tirpitz would be so optimistic about Qin Tian.
"Essen, go find Oscar, I want to ask him what he thinks." William II ordered.
"Your Majesty, I'm afraid His Highness the Prince is no longer in the banquet hall. Not long after our conversation ended, he left. He doesn't seem to like such an occasion. This is unique among the princes and even the younger generation. Young There are very few people who can endure loneliness like this.”
King William II was taken aback for a moment, and then said: "Even if he has already fallen asleep, wake him up."
"Yes, Your Majesty." Essen von Jonalet nodded, and immediately sent someone to find Qin Tian.