Tyranny of Steel

Berengar stood within the war room that existed within his imperial palace as he gazed upon the map which represented the ongoing war in the Indian Subcontinent. In a corner of the room, an intelligence operative decoded a message that was sent by field agents regarding the movements of the Bengal Army. They used an enigma machine to properly translate the transcript before handing it over to the Kaiser.

Upon seeing this news, Berengar sighed before pulling out a long stick which he used to push the wooden pieces which represented the Bengal Army, and their Japanese allies into place. The Bengal Army had moved into the eastern Ganga dynasty, and within three months, they had succeeded in capturing the territory. Currently, their forces had split into two armies, one moving towards the Kakatiya Dynasty while the other was pushing into the lands belonging to the Chandrapur. 

To Berengar, who had subjected all of Europe to his influence, he knew how easy it was for a semi-modern army to trample over medieval dynasties. Thus, he was honestly surprised that it had taken them three whole months to defeat the Gangas. If he were in Asha's shoes, he would have finished such a conquest in a matter of weeks. 

This was not the only news he had received from the radio operator. After moving the pieces which represented the Bengal Army into their newest positions, he turned to the Pacific Ocean, where he shifted a few ships that represented the Imperial Japanese Navy. It would appear that they were beginning to establish contact with the region that was once known as the Philippines during his past life. 

The latest intel on the Imperial Japanese Navy proved that they had several destroyers in their fleets. Though they were completely lacking in larger warships, for the time being Japan had been able to produce a few small steel vessels, though what capability their radar and sonar had achieved that was still unknown. 

These destroyers did not at the moment pose a problem for Berengar's Sixth Fleet, which was stationed at the German Naval/Air base in Singapore. However, the presence of inter-war era warships was slightly concerned to the Kaiser, who felt an increasing desire to modernize his navy. 

It was because of this, and the recent development in missile technology, that Berengar decided to take a step back from the operation room and head towards his office. The look on his face was enough for anyone of his subordinates to know not to interrupt him. 

After shutting the doors behind him, Berengar quickly got to work on the basic design of a new type of warship. He would submit these designs to his shipyards, where his maritime engineers would work alongside his rocket engineering department to create the perfect guided missile cruiser.

In his past life, the united states had begun producing guided missile cruisers shortly after the Second World War. However, these were big, clunky warships outfitted with large guns and surface-to-air missiles.

These vessels were essentially nothing more than retrofitted heavy cruisers from the second world war. Though Berengar could follow this path with his heavy and bulky battlecruisers. It was ultimately not the design he wanted. After all, those massive warships still had a role to play in the upcoming war with the Empire of Japan. 

Essentially, what Berengar had decided to use as the basis for his new class of guided missile cruisers, whose intent was to act as escorts for his carriers. Was the Leahy-class cruiser, used by the United States Navy during the Vietnam war of his past life. 

This was a steam-powered warship, with two steam turbines, two shafts, and four boilers. Giving it an impressive speed of 32 knots, with an even more impressive range of 8,000 nautical miles. The large guns of earlier warships had been completely stripped away, allowing the vessel to be much more compact in size with an overall length of 162m. 

Berengar designed the ship to make use of his nation's latest developments in sensors and processing systems, including a missile fire control radar. The armament of this vessel included two surface-to-air missiles, four anti-ship missiles, one anti-submarine missile system, six torpedo tubes, and two point defense systems modelled after the m61 Vulcan cannon.

Though the ship was utterly lacking in cold war era technology like computer systems and weapon control systems. As Berengar had yet to invent such technology. Because of this, most of these weapons were manually operated in some way. Should his scientists develop such technology within the next three years, they would be retrofitted to include them. 

Berengar had decided to name this Guided Missile Cruiser as the von Lötzing-class Cruiser, after his first Grand Admiral Emmerich von Lötzing, who was still a man of great renown within the Kriegsmarine despite retiring from his military position and taking a political role. 

Immediately after designing his von Lötzing-class cruiser, Berengar pulled out another sheet of paper and began to draw the blueprints for a guided missile destroyer. Like the previous design, this vessel was open to interpretation from his naval engineers, and any changes necessary to complete the requirements would be welcome.

Germany had yet to transition away from steam turbines on warships. In fact, until Berengar's scientists invented nuclear power, he intended for all of his warships to continue to operate with steam turbines. Thus, the basis for this guided missile destroyer was the US Navy's Charles F. Adams-class destroyer, which was also used during the Vietnam war of his past life. 

Destroyers were naturally smaller warships than their cruiser counterparts and because of that, this vessel had an overall length of 133m. Like the von Lötzing-class cruiser, it used two steam turbines, two shafts, and four boilers, giving it a high speed of 33 knots with a range of 4,500 nautical miles. 

Just like the guided missile cruiser he had just designed, this ship would make use of the most advanced sensor and processing systems that the German Empire had at its disposal. As for its armament, it made use of one dual mounted missile launcher, which he intended to carry dual-purpose missiles capable of both anti-ship and anti-air roles. 

The other major armaments on this vessel were two 5-inch guns modelled after the mk 42 US Naval guns. This weapon had both anti-ship and anti-air capabilities, making it ideal for a carrier escort. This vessel also had one anti-submarine missile system, as well as four torpedo tubes, and two anti-submarine torpedo tubes. 

Berengar had marked this vessel as the Ritter von Bettinger-class Destroyer, after Admiral Reitz Ritter von Bettinger, who defeated the Crusader navy on the coast of Naples, during the German-Catholic War. 

With these two warships, Berengar felt that his carriers would be well protected against any and all threats that Japan could possibly field against him. The best news about these vessels is they were much smaller than battleships and battlecruisers and, because of this, he could produce many more of them during the same amount of time it took to build one Linde-class Battlecruiser.

This would essentially allow Berengar to create enough of these warships in time to replace his Battleships, and battlecruisers within his Carrier Strike Groups. As his intention was to use his carriers to project air superiority over the skies of the islands that his marines would invade, while using the older battleships and battlecruisers to annihilate the Japanese Fleet. 

It was only after Berengar placed down his pen that he felt secure about the upcoming war with the Japanese Empire. The presence of inter-war era warships made him feel dread over the prospect of losing a carrier. Nothing would be more humiliating, as such vessels were built with substantial cost. In fact, there was a smug grin on the kaiser's face as he leaned back into his chair and voiced his thoughts allowed.

"In two to three years when this war begins, I believe Empress Itami Riyo will be quite shocked to see the power of my Navy. As for what I should do with my old destroyers, I suppose they can escort my merchant fleets."

Immediately after saying this, he stamped his approval on the designs and sent them to his various Naval Shipyards. It would be up to his shipwrights and his missile engineers to figure out how best to turn these blueprints into a reality. However, Berengar was certain that within one year, the first batch of these vessels would enter production across all shipyards.