The Rise of the Third Reich

"Future customers?" Dr. Eisenberg was stunned again and again, "Lieutenant Colonel, we want to sell aircraft carriers? This may not be easy, right?"

International arms trade has always been political. If it was the German Empire before World War I, of course it could sell whatever it wanted, and other countries had no right to interfere and dared not interfere. But now the Baltic Republic building a 7,500-ton small aircraft carrier by itself may be a big problem. Who dares to buy it if it wants to sell it?

"We don't sell ships, we sell technology!" Hersman explained with a smile, "Doctor, you just build it, and build a light aircraft carrier with international advanced level. The FK-BF consortium led by Mr. Focke will then come up with aircraft that can take off and land on this aircraft carrier, including carrier-based fighters, carrier-based bombers and carrier-based torpedo attack aircraft. In this way, we will prove the advanced nature of German technology, and then there will be a big cooperation project."

What Hersman said sounded a little fresh in 1919, but it is too common in international arms trade and cooperation in the 21st century. The United States and Russia both like to play this trick. They take a blueprint and fool people all over the world, asking others to pay to cooperate with them to develop new weapons. In fact, they are using other people's money to accumulate their own technology!

And Hersman is also thinking about this now! He knows that the naval aviation of the Third Reich in history was a big tea table. Although two aircraft carriers were started, none of them could be put into use until the defeat. Not only the aircraft carriers were tragic, but also the aircraft attacking the ships were a big tragedy.

In World War II, the German Air Force was not weak in air combat, ground bombing and attack. But once they arrived at the sea, the Germans were at a loss. Not to mention defeating the British mainland fleet, they couldn't even deal with the British Mediterranean Fleet... If the Japanese Combined Fleet's air force went to the Mediterranean, even if they couldn't defeat the British Mediterranean Fleet (this possibility is really small), they could still fight a fair fight, right?

The reason why the German Air Force was so weak in naval operations, in addition to the fact that Fatty Go did not pay attention to it, was probably because it was bound by the Treaty of Versailles for a long time after World War I, which made it impossible for Germany to accumulate naval aviation technology.

Historically, countries like the United States, Japan, and the United Kingdom, which have relatively strong naval aviation forces, did not become rich overnight. Instead, they accumulated step by step, and it took more than 20 years to build a strong naval aviation force.

Including aircraft carriers, carrier-based aircraft, carrier-based pilots, armor-piercing bombs, airborne torpedoes, and various tactics of ship attacks and sea search, all require a process of accumulation and improvement.

Looking at the performance of various branches of the German military in World War II, the weakest must be the naval aviation (as a branch of the military, there is no such thing). Therefore, in line with the idea of ​​​​filling what is lacking, the first technology tree that Hersman has to open is the naval aviation.

It is not necessary to build a huge aircraft carrier formation in one step, but only to improve the technology of the naval aviation step by step and not fall behind. The first thing is to build a training aircraft carrier with low technical difficulty and investment. Then find a way to cooperate with Italy or the Soviet Union to further develop related technologies.

"Lieutenant Colonel, then the cost of this experimental aircraft carrier..." Dr. Eisenberg looked at the "Work Plan" in his hand and asked, "If I remember correctly, the Courland Defense Force does not have a navy yet, right?"

The Courland Defense Force not only has no navy, but also no independent air force, only a small army aviation team. After all, this "little East Germany" is still a newly established agricultural country, and the economy is still very difficult.

"The Courland Defense Force does not have a navy. The funds for building this aircraft carrier are advanced by the Economic Promotion Company and the Industrial Committee."

This "experimental aircraft carrier" has no armor or weapons, so the construction cost will naturally not be too high. One or two million gold marks should be enough. The income from the reselling of Russian and Hungarian antiques by the Economic Promotion Company in the past two years alone can build one.

And with this ship, Hersman can fool the Soviet Union and Italy to jointly develop it...

"While building an aircraft carrier, the research and development of carrier-based aircraft must also keep up." Hersman continued. The 1920 Work Plan did not mention the development of carrier-based aircraft, but it proposed the establishment of an aviation committee affiliated to the Industrial Promotion Committee.

"The development of carrier-based aircraft is mainly the responsibility of the aviation committee." Hessman paused, "But this project is a cooperation between the navy and the air force. The aviation committee should work closely with the Caesar Shipyard and the navy. Colonel Raeder, why don't you join the aviation committee?"

The clear distinction between the navy and the air force was a common problem for Germany and Italy in World War II. The Nazi and fascist air forces often restricted naval aviation and held all the aircraft in their hands, which severely suppressed the development of naval aviation. On the contrary, Japan, which did not have an independent air force, developed a very strong naval aviation. And Hessman now wants to pull Raeder into the aviation committee, with the purpose of cultivating a group of naval aviation talents in advance.

"What? You want me to join the Aviation Committee?" Raeder, who had a tanned skin and a very handsome appearance, looked like an old-school naval figure, and was stunned when he heard this. "But I can't fly a plane!"

"Actually, I can't fly a plane either," Hessman, who was also preparing to be a member of the Aviation Committee, said half-jokingly, "Let's learn together. Mr. Fokker said it's easy to learn to fly a plane."

Anthony Fokker also said, "It's very easy to learn, much easier than flying a ship."

"Really?" Redel said, "Then I'll find more naval officers to learn how to fly airplanes."

There are too many skills to be overwhelmed, but the unemployment problem among German naval officers is worse than that of the army! Isn't learning to fly a plane and then getting a job at an airline a way out?

"Okay," Hessman replied with a smile, "the pilots and crew of the carrier-based aircraft on this experimental aircraft carrier will be handled by Navy personnel."

"Okay, thank you." Redel smiled, "You have solved some problems for us."

Now at least three to four hundred naval officers and petty officers can find work! Hessmann thought: These people will become the aircraft carrier faction of the German Navy in the future, right?

…

The first Roermond Arms Conference lasted all day and ended at dark. The key issues discussed, in addition to moving the Caesar Shipyard to Courland, investing in the construction of the experimental aircraft carrier "Riga", and forming an aviation commission, were how to keep a number of large German companies engaged in the military industry from going bankrupt. , the methods are nothing more than moving factories abroad, providing low-interest loans, transforming the production of civilian products, etc.

Hersman did not express any further opinions - the Germans have done well in similar matters historically, and there is no need for Hessman to add anything. As for cooperation with Soviet Russia, the most it involved in 1920 was negotiations and preliminary preparations, and it is estimated that large-scale development will have to wait until after 1921. In Hessman's memory, the Soviet Union's New Economic Policy was implemented in 1921. Only then did the Soviet Union's finances and economy improve significantly, and only then was it possible to launch large-scale cooperation with Germany.

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The first update is here, and then I’m asking for a bunch of collections.