Chapter 2430： Meeting with Scheer II

"Before the decisive battle, the High Seas Fleet still had a large number of pre-dreadnoughts and armored cruisers. However, after the war, the armored cruiser squadron was annihilated. The former dreadnoughts must also be retired, which means that at least 100,000 warships over 10,000 tons are missing. ! In the future, the High Seas Fleet will simultaneously carry the defenses of the North Sea, the Baltic Sea, the Atlantic, and even the Indian Ocean, and we only have 18 battleships. You should be very clear about what this means, right?"

"Moreover, what I don’t understand the most is that if you and the empire’s high-level officials are unwilling to expand the main fleet, why did you mention in your plan that you need to build at least 8 ships? Now the entire empire’s high seas fleet is talking about it. Talking about this, if it is cancelled at that time, it will definitely be a heavy blow to the morale of the navy." Scheer also has his own reasons.

Is it reasonable to say what Scheer said? It makes sense. After the war, the future construction of the German navy must be directed towards the actual first navy. This is not just to say that you have fought the powerful British navy, but more importantly, you have to face it. Challenges to the future U.S. Navy and Japanese Navy!

The United States needs to face enemies in the Atlantic and Pacific at the same time across two oceans. And the pressure on the German Navy is not small, he must guarantee the absolute dominance of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, and also suppress the British Royal Navy that lives on his doorstep!

With the further expansion of the German colony, in the face of Germany, which owns half of the African colony, the navy’s task has changed from a pure North Sea battleship duel to ensuring the safety of German maritime communication lines and against potential enemies within the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Give a fatal blow. Regardless of these two tasks, the Imperial Navy is required to maintain a certain scale. It may allow some warships in the Imperial Navy to be old, but they must not be easily retired. This is to ensure the size and organization of the fleet.

In fact, to be honest, the current size of the High Seas Fleet is really not enough. After all, in that decisive battle that shocked the world, Germany also lost a lot of light cruisers and destroyers. It can even be said that even in the high seas fleet, the light warships are at their peak. At that time, the number of light cruisers and destroyers was definitely not enough to maintain the scale of a global empire. The small quantity is one aspect, and the quality is another aspect. After all, more than half of the German destroyers are designed and built for North Sea operations.

Schel's statement has some truth, but Ruprecht's statement makes no sense? Obviously not! Imagine that immediately after the end of the war, both the army and air force were substantially abolishing personnel and armaments. Instead, the Navy has increased the naval aviation and expanded the Marine Corps! Crown Prince Ruprecht got this deal done under considerable pressure! Seeing that the Navy has one more department and the scope is getting bigger and bigger, what will the Army think? What will the Air Force think? Everyone’s military expenditures are being cut drastically, and their personnel are being retired drastically. How is the size of the navy booming? There is no such reason!

Therefore, from the perspective of politics and balancing domestic factions, the Navy must also reduce military expenditure! How to reduce it? There are two main ways to deal with it, one is to deal with a large amount of surplus materials, and the other is to reduce capital ship armaments!

The first to be dealt with was a large number of submarines. These submarines were directly squeezed into the U.S. Navy, along with the submarines were the "workmen" of the German Navy. The Americans can produce flat-panel destroyers, but the number of submarines is still less, and what is even more lacking are professional submarine officers. So many German naval officers took their submarines to the United States as instructors.

The ones that were then dealt with were some obsolete warships, including the few remaining dreadnoughts and armored cruisers. The performance of these warships has fallen behind, and the greatest significance for the navy may be to maintain the establishment and use as training ships. After the imperial government introduced a new naval capital ship expansion plan, the navy felt a pity, but still agreed to the retirement plan.

However, after the Navy has eliminated a large number of battleships from the combat sequence, Ruprecht suddenly told Schell that the number of new battleships will not be many. It is no wonder that Schell will be angry at this time, but this is There is no way, because the crown prince also has a purpose in doing this, and today, before going to Kiel Port, the crown prince meets with Scheer, and this is the issue to be discussed! The crown prince did not deliberately deceive the navy!

"I didn't say that the Empire will not build new battleships for the navy, but the number is small. Don't you be so excited. The future fleet renewal plan of the navy will be huge, but in a short time, the navy needs to be patient." Scheer, Ruprecht is very tactful. It's not that I can't afford it, but because Ruprecht really regarded Scheer as a friend as the head of the German navy for the next ten years!

"Even if the battleship update speed is slow, we must ensure the staffing of the fleet. People can wait for the ship, but the ship cannot wait for people." In the face of the softened crown prince, Scheer could not continue to say something. After all, Scheer understood very well. Regarding the navy issue, Crown Prince Ruprecht has done his best. While other services are in the process of demobilizing personnel significantly, the navy’s reduction of personnel is not limited except for those who have reached the deadline due to injuries and illnesses. Large, is the smallest of the three services, and the additional naval aviation and expanded Marine Corps leave a back door for future naval expansion. This is already not easy.

And to be honest, the crown prince’s attitude towards Scheer is really good. Although Scheer is an admiral of the navy, it is not enough to face a figure of the level of Crown Prince Ruprecht. If the top German ranks, Scheer's status is not even as good as the current Prime Minister of Bavaria! They respect you and invite you to come over and explain to you for a long time. That is to save you face. Otherwise, on this issue, the crown prince does not need to explain so much to Scheer, just just say the result. Anyway, there are also imperial governments who are back... Therefore, after calming down, Scheer needs to discuss with the crown prince how to solve this problem.

"The issue of establishment is easy to solve. The future Pacific War will be fought for at least two years. Many of us can join the U.S. Navy as volunteers. Of course, try to keep them from participating in combat missions. For those who want to retire, also You can go, in short, do as much as possible according to their wishes."

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