The Rise of the Third Reich

On the same day that little Ribbentrop arrived at Georgetown Island, preparing to fight the American soldiers who might land there, Major Rudolf von Heinsberg-Hersmann was rushing to the port of Brest to report - —Rudolf, who had just returned from Japan, had just received a promising position as second aviation staff officer of the 2nd Fleet of the European Combined Fleet.

Generally speaking, the navy's fleet staff officers can only be appointed after graduating from the Naval Staff College (Naval University) and having considerable experience working in surface fleets and command organizations. However, the aviation staff is an exception, because the fleet aviation staff must have been the captain of the carrier air force and must be proficient in aviation operations. Most of these officers are naval aviation officers who have not formally attended a naval academy.

Because the German Naval Aviation has always been regarded as a branch of the Air Force, pilots and naval aviation officers are mainly trained and trained by the Air Force. The advantage of this personnel arrangement is that the German Air Force, which has 18,000 front-line pilots (captains), can provide elite pilots for the naval aviation at any time. After several months of training at the Naval Aviation School in Kiel Port, 30%-40% of these elites from the Air Force will be able to fly carrier-based aircraft on aircraft carriers. This ensures that the aircraft carriers of the European Community Joint Fleet can get enough and good enough carrier-based aircraft pilots, and will not encounter the dilemma of having an aircraft carrier but no pilots like Japan.

But everything has advantages and disadvantages. When the naval aviation and the air force are almost integrated, it is impossible for HNA officers to be proficient in fleet staff business. And officers with formal naval background, even if they have participated in flight training organized by the Naval Aviation School, Their proficiency in aviation warfare is far inferior to that of carrier-based aircraft pilots who were born in the Air Force.

Therefore, the fleet aviation staff responsible for communicating with HNA and the Navy has become a difficult position to do well. If this position is held by an officer with a background in the Navy, the carrier-based aircraft pilots below will regard him as a layman (actually a layman). However, if an officer with a background in the Air Force system is held, he is not proficient in naval warfare and fleet business.

Therefore, Germany's naval aviation and navy have always had problems with running-in. When Marshal Kesselring, the air force boss, took over as the commander-in-chief of the Atlantic Front, he took a harmonious approach and appointed officers with backgrounds in the navy and naval aviation as commanders of the fleet. First and Second Aviation Staff Officers - In addition to the chief staff officer, the fleet staff officers of the European Combined Fleet and the subordinate squadrons now have deputy positions, called second staff officers.

Although little Hersmann is young and has never attended the Air Force Staff College (after all, the legacy of the German Air Force is not long enough, and the Staff College has not been open for a long time, so most of the staff officers of the Air Force and Hainan Airlines have not attended the Air Force Staff College), but Judging from his resume, he is really the best candidate to serve as fleet aviation staff.

Although little Hersman is young, he is an old naval aviation veteran who has personally experienced two battles in the Hawaiian Islands and the Battle of Panama. He is also an ace pilot who has won the Blue Max Medal, and he also served as an official jet flight school. He is the vice-principal, and has also participated in the officer training class of the Kiel Port Naval School. He is very familiar with the rules and regulations of the navy.

However, the young Hersman, who holds a diploma from the military academy of the Navy, Army and Air Force and is well-informed, saw something in the bay of Brest Port when he flew to the Port of Brest on a Ju52 transport plane to take office on August 20. A strange battleship that I have never seen before.

This is a battleship!

Judging from the size and main gun caliber, it must be a battleship!

Its standard displacement must be more than 30,000 tons, and the caliber of its main gun is about 380mm. It seems that it should be a very powerful battleship.

However, the number of main guns on this battleship is a bit strangely small. There are only two twin main gun turrets, one each at the bow and stern. Behind the main gun turret at the bow of the ship, there is a bridge that is a bit too big - as if to make room for the expansion of the bridge, it takes up the position that could have been used for a main gun turret.

As a result, a large ship of more than 30,000 tons only has four 380mm cannons. Is this a waste of tonnage?

And this is not the strangest thing. What is most confusing to little Hessman is that there are a row of 10 pieces of steel on the side decks on both sides of the big ship at an angle of about 45 degrees forward (in the direction of the ship's bow). A big pipe with one end raised. It looks a bit like a torpedo launch tube from a distance, but it is definitely not used to launch torpedoes - there is no need to tilt the launch tube upward to launch torpedoes, and torpedoes are not rocket launchers.

"Rear Admiral, what kind of ship is this?" Little Hersmann pointed to the strange-shaped warship on the sea below and asked Major General Hans-Karl Mayer, the chief of staff of the 2nd Fleet who flew over from Berlin with him.

"This is the guided missile battleship Gneisenau," Rear Admiral Meyer said, "the flagship of the 201st Missile Ship Group."

"Missile battleship? It turns out that the Gneisenau was converted into a guided missile battleship..." Little Hersman took a breath. He had driven a missile. "Are those tubes filled with missiles?"

"That's right, they are all Reaper 2 TV remote-controlled guided missiles." Rear Admiral Meyer held out two fingers. "A guided missile battleship has 20 missile launch tubes and can launch 20 Reaper 2 missiles at a time."

The idea of ​​modifying guided missile battleships was proposed after the "Battle of the Ice Sea" in the North Atlantic in December 1942.

In that battleship fleet confrontation, the "Wilhelm II" class missile cruiser played a key role. This made the German Navy fully realize the great role of remote-controlled missiles in naval warfare.

Moreover, because the Barbarossa battleship was easily sunk by the Soviet-class 406mm cannon in that naval battle, the German Navy also realized the fragility of the "Barbarossa" class, "Scharnhorst" class and "Dunkirk" class battleships with a standard displacement of around 30,000 tons.

So after the "Ice Sea Battle", including the second ship of the Barbarossa class, the second ship of the Scharnhorst class, the Gneisenau, and the two Dunkerque classes, all started major modifications at the same time - according to the plan, they will be converted into "missile battleships" and "fleet command ships".

According to the German Navy's idea, these four "missile battleships" will each be equipped with 20 missile launchers (later converted into launch tubes) to launch remote-controlled guided missiles of the V series or the Reaper series. At the same time, they will also serve as flagships of the task force/battleship brigade.

In addition, the four "Wilhelm II" class missile cruisers (P class) also began to undergo major modifications in 1943. The two twin 280mm turrets and two twin 150mm turrets originally installed on the bow and stern were all removed and replaced with three triple 203mm turrets. Thus, it changed from an "armored ship" to a "heavy cruiser".

At the same time, the eight 533mm torpedo tubes and the missile launchers in the middle of the ship were removed and replaced with the same anti-ship missile firepower configuration as the "missile battleship" - also 20 "Reaper" 2 missile launchers!

After the "missile battleship" and "missile heavy cruiser" modification plan is completed. The European Community Navy will have 8 powerful "missile ships". If used in a concentrated manner, it can fire 160 2.5-ton Reaper 2 TV-controlled missiles at a time.

Theoretically enough to destroy an entire enemy fleet! However, it can only destroy enemy fleets within 30,000 meters under good visibility.

While Germany was working hard to build "missile battleships" and "missile heavy cruisers", the T-class missile boat plan, which was initially highly expected by Hessmann, failed.

This is because the jet engine used by the Reaper 1 missile (like the Reaper 2, it is an improvement on the Silver Reaper suicide missile) cannot be used on ships (the thrust and acceleration capabilities of jet engines are not as good as rocket engines). The HWK509 series rocket engine used by the Reaper 2 missile must use highly corrosive, highly toxic and highly explosive hydrogen peroxide as a propellant, so a special storage container must be used and the method of refueling before launch must be used. Such a set of equipment is huge and cannot be installed on a small ship of more than 1,000 tons - this is also the reason why the European Community Navy took out 8 large ships of 20,000 to 30,000 tons for "missileization" modification.

In addition to the major modifications of 4 missile battleships and 4 missile cruisers, the German Navy also launched a major modification project of the Deutschland-class armored ships 43 years later. 3 useless "Deutschland"-class armored ships were converted into heavy cruisers, and the 3 triple-mounted 280mm turrets were replaced with 3 triple-mounted 203mm turrets. At the same time, more advanced double-acting two-stroke diesel engines (diesel engines on P-class ships) were installed, increasing the power to 110,000 horsepower and the maximum speed to 32.5 knots, but the maximum range was reduced to 6,500 nautical miles/17 knots, the same as the Admiral Hipper-class heavy cruisers.

After this series of ship modifications, the German Navy had a total of 10 heavy cruisers of 3 levels in August 1944. If we add the 10 heavy cruisers of the French Navy (3 of which are the newly built "Saint Louis" class) and the 1 heavy cruiser of Spain (Canarias class), the current European Community Joint Fleet has a total of 21 heavy cruisers. Although not as many as the United States, the combat effectiveness is much stronger than that of the American heavy cruisers - the 4 "Wilhelm II" class missile cruisers alone have the power to sink several American battleships!

"Rudolf," when the plane landed at the naval airport near the dock of Brest Port, Rear Admiral Meyer said to little Hersman with some expectation, "If we want to form the 20th Task Force, we will all board the Gneisenau. At that time, you will have the opportunity to experience the battleship formation decisive battle in person, that is the real sea war!"