The Rise of the Third Reich

Strictly speaking, Germany in this time and space had developed three tanks of about 50 tons before the prototype of the E-50 project was completed. At first, there was the 45-ton Panther and the 56-ton Tiger. Then, based on the technical accumulation of the Panther and the Tiger, the Tiger G tank was developed. The E-50 was the fourth tank of about 50 tons.

With the experience and technical accumulation of the previous three tanks, as well as sufficient resource supply and technical support from France (the French also developed two 30-ton tanks, the B1 and SAU-40, before being defeated by Germany, and had considerable technical accumulation), the E-50 project was promoted very smoothly, and the first prototype was built in early June 1943.

This prototype, called the E-50-0 tank, was taken out by MAN (Germany's Mercedes-Benz, MAN, Porsche, Henschel and France's Renault all participated in the bidding, so there were 5 E-50 prototypes), which was also different from the E-50 that remained on the drawing in history. Because what Hessman asked for was not a small number of "black technology tanks" that could reverse the unfavorable situation, but a sea of ​​E-50 tanks that could crush the Soviet Union!

The key is not how powerful this tank is, but... the sea!

It is right to use the E-50 sea to drown the heavy tanks of the JS series.

So the current E-50-0 type vehicle is also a "shrinking product", with a combat weight of only 50 tons, and there is no legendary external disc spiral suspension device, but it adopts the torsion bar suspension system that has been used since the No. 3 tank, and at the same time abandons the overly complex and heavy staggered road wheels, and adopts a design of 6 pairs of road wheels - 6 pairs of road wheels can support a weight of more than 50 tons, which is also because the bottleneck of non-ferrous metals in Germany has disappeared, and higher quality road wheels and suspension torsion bars can be produced.

The design of the transmission system and gearbox of the E-50-0 type vehicle has also made great progress compared with the "Tiger", "Black Panther" and "Shrunk Tiger", from front to rear, which is similar to the design of Soviet tanks in this regard. However, the E-50 transmission system and gearbox are based on technological progress, and will not bring any difficulties in operation, nor will it affect reliability.

The engine of the E-50-0 vehicle uses the Maybach HL230P30 engine, which has only 720 horsepower (better than the same engine in history), so the maximum highway speed is only 46 kilometers per hour.

The E-50-0 vehicle saves a lot of weight in the road wheels and transmission layout, so it can achieve satisfactory protection performance with a combat weight of 50 tons. The armor of the upper and lower bodies on the front reaches 120mm/30 degrees, which is equivalent to 138mm of vertical armor defense capability. If converted into homogeneous steel plates, it is approximately equivalent to a thickness of 1.

The front armor of the E-50-0 vehicle's turret is 125mm thick, the gun shield is 150mm, and the side and rear armor is 60mm (the thickness of the side and rear of the body and the side and rear of the turret are the same). For a combat weight of 50 tons, it is very strong.

In addition, the firepower of the E-50-0 is also exciting. It is equipped with an 8.8cm KwK43L/71 gun, which is powerful enough to destroy the frontal armor of any known tank!

And after the UK (mainland) joined the E-50 project, it also took out a new type of armor-piercing projectile under development - armor-piercing shells! It is estimated that the armor-piercing efficiency of this armor-piercing projectile will be more than 50% higher than that of hard-core armor-piercing shells of the same caliber.

If the E-50 tank can use 88mm armor-piercing shells, then the theoretical armor-piercing capability will be able to sweep all possible US and Soviet tanks that may appear during World War II.

"Although the army is more important than the navy," the armament meeting chaired by Hessman continued. After talking about the army's various key projects (not just the E-50), he turned to the navy, "but the navy's existing shipbuilding plan will continue, and it will be expanded on this basis!" "Expand?" Admiral Jean Soul, the commander-in-chief of the French Navy, understood German. He asked a question as soon as Hessman finished speaking, "Do we have so much fuel to expand the fleet?" "No." Hessman replied, "The fleet cannot be expanded on the existing basis, but a reserve ship system can be established." "Reserve? Reserve some of the built warships?" Hessman replied: "Yes, just like the army reserves tanks and the air force reserves aircraft." The navy actually has "ship reserves", but generally does not reserve new ships, but reserves old ships - they are reluctant to throw them away. Because the navy's thinking is different from the army and the air force, they do not have the concept of fighting a war of attrition yet, and have no idea of ​​treating expensive ships as consumables. However, most of Hessman and his staff were from the army and air force, and their mindsets were different from those of the navy. So when faced with the problem of insufficient oil and sufficient ship production capacity, someone soon proposed the concept of "reserve ships".

Before Olga returned to Petrograd, the "reserve ship plan" had been implemented for a long time - this plan was originally used to suppress the United States in the Atlantic, and it can still be used now.

As part of the "reserve ship plan", the German Naval Armament Bureau also developed several dumpling ships that can be mass-produced.

Among them, the "Kesselring" class aircraft carrier, the "Munich" class air defense cruiser, the 1936 D-type destroyer and the Type 21 submarine are the most important.

Two staff officers from the German Naval Armament Bureau sent the prepared information on the four types of dumpling ships (boats) to the naval personnel of various countries present.

The designs of these four "dumpling ships" have long been completed, and they have all begun production in Germany.

"Why is this aircraft carrier so slow?"

"Light cruisers are also slow..."

"And the destroyer, gosh, this is probably the slowest destroyer I've ever been on."

"The Type 21 submarine is quite fast."

The naval personnel from various countries present started talking about it. Originally, they thought that the fourth-level dumpling ship (boat) that the Germans had secretly created should be some advanced and incompetent thing. But when they got the design data and took a look... Oh, it's not that either. Completely disappointed, at least the Type 21 submarine is a good thing, a very good thing!

However, the "Kesselring" class aircraft carrier, the "Munich" class air defense cruiser and the 1936 D-type destroyer are all out-and-out backward products. Apart from powerful air defense firepower, they do not have any black technology.

The most incredible thing is that these three types of dumpling ships are actually outdated slow ships.

Among them, the "Kesselring" class light aircraft carrier has a standard displacement of 15,000 tons. The hangar can accommodate 48 Fw-190T and Fokker Zero D... This is still quite satisfactory, but the maximum speed of this aircraft carrier is only a mere 26 knots. , the maximum power that the power system can output is only 66,000 horsepower.

The standard displacement of the "Munich" class anti-aircraft cruiser is only 6,000 tons, but the anti-aircraft firepower is quite sufficient. There are 12 128mm high-level and flat dual-purpose guns, 16 Bofors anti-aircraft guns (8 twins), and 20mm Oerlikon anti-aircraft guns. 16 doors (single installation), and also has very advanced radar and fire control systems. There is no need to mention the anti-aircraft firepower, but the maximum speed is also 26 knots...

The 1936 D-type destroyer was also a monster with strong anti-aircraft firepower and slow speed. It had 128mm high-level and flat dual-purpose guns, 12 Bofors anti-aircraft guns and 14 Oerlikon anti-aircraft guns. But a small boat with a standard displacement of 2,500 tons can only reach a slow speed of 26 knots... Such a slow destroyer is rare even in World War I, let alone World War II.

"Gentlemen," Hessman interrupted people's discussion with a smile, and then talked about the advantages of slow boats with his fingers, "There are actually many advantages of slow sailing, such as saving money, time and fuel, and there are also It is conducive to the fleet’s long-term operations at sea.”

Like cars and airplanes, the most expensive thing on a ship is currently the power system. For example, if the 66,000-horsepower boiler and turbine of the "Kesselring" class are replaced with 130,000- or 140,000-horsepower equipment, it will cost a lot. It's much more expensive.

And more horsepower also means that it takes longer to build, because the hull is easy to build, but the turbine is difficult to build. For the European Community, which owns most of Europe's shipbuilding capabilities, it is not difficult to build a large number of hulls for 15,000-ton, 6,000-ton and 2,500-ton military ships. Although it cannot be as fast as the United States, it is still possible. Not much slower.

But the manufacturing of turbines is not that fast. This is a delicate job. If the output power of the ship is doubled, it means that the number of turbines is also doubled. In this way, the finished hull has to wait for the engine, which is very detrimental to the pursuit of shipbuilding speed.

Moreover, the slower speed also means that it is easier to reach the optimal economic speed - which means it is more fuel-efficient. In addition, the low power of the power system also means a small size, so that there will be more space for storing fuel, food, fresh water and ammunition. The ship's continuous combat capability will be greatly increased, and the need for supply ships will be greatly reduced.

According to the requirements of the German Naval Headquarters, the fleet composed of "Kesselring" class aircraft carriers, "Munich" class anti-aircraft cruisers and 1936 D-type destroyers can sail continuously for 10,000 nautical miles at a speed of 18 knots, and can sail continuously for 10,000 nautical miles at a speed of 12 knots. Continuous sailing of 16,000 nautical miles.

In other words, when fighting in the Atlantic Ocean, they do not need to carry supply ships at all, which can save a lot of shipbuilding expenses and fuel consumption.