Battle of the Third Reich

Xu Jun is not very good at economic and financial aspects, but some of his men are experts who are proficient in this way. Schacht and Funk have proved to Xu Jun that they have enough ability to do the job, and the German economy is at the end of the war. After that, stability was quickly restored, and there was no financial shock caused by the entry of a large number of war dividends.

The German government announced last month that the value of the mark will continue to be fixed at the original exchange rate. This is exciting news for European financial markets. I don’t know how many financial experts are relieved.

In the past, whenever the large-scale war between European countries ended, there was a redistribution of power and wealth, which was also a gluttonous feast for war brokers and financial scavengers. It's just that this time the German financial beasts have long been worn by the Nazis. In Germany's fanatical political atmosphere, there is no room for war brokers. Germany's giant family businesses and consortia have been controlled by the Nazi government. Hitler removed the biggest obstacles for his successor and laid a highway to the dictatorship.

"Our progress in the United States is very smooth, they are full of enthusiasm for this plan, there are only some procedural issues left, I believe that it should be possible to sign the final agreement later this month." Viscount Wood took up the hand Glass pot, poured himself a cup of black tea.

"We provide the technology and they are responsible for manufacturing. I don't see any reason for the Americans to refuse." Admiral De Lapold's face had a confident smile on his face.

"The US Navy's previous shipbuilding plan has now been attacked by conservative members of the Senate. From these people's point of view, this plan is part of Roosevelt's "war conspiracy"." Raval sneered with a sneer on this issue On, he despised the ignorant group of Yankees from the bottom of his heart.

"Because of this, many ship platforms on the east and west coasts of the United States have been vacated, and our orders are extremely attractive to shipbuilders." Viscount Wood picked up the delicate silver clip on the plate and picked up a white piece of sugar from the sugar dish. Sugar cube.

Xu Jun knew that the US Navy’s current expansion plan would not be affected too much for the time being. At most, the budget for the new fiscal year would be reduced to some extent, but not all of the Senate and House are political animals. They You won’t see the threat in the Pacific Ocean.

However, the possibility of large-scale military expansion and preparation as Roosevelt came to power is almost non-existent. After all, the status of the US Navy in the country is not as high as in the middle and late World War II.

The situation of the US Army is also very bad. After losing the "war threat" on the European continent, the security of the United States has been guaranteed, and life has returned to a peaceful era of singing and dancing.

The US Army’s weapons replacement program was stranded with the cancellation of the British government’s order.

The accumulation of artillery and firearms in the domestic stockpile is so huge, why should the American people pay for new weapons. "You said these weapons are old and worn out? Then why did the British want to accept these tatters? Do you dare to say that there is no deal or collusion with the British?"

The US Navy also has its own troubles. In order to maintain the size of the fleet, mainly to retain experienced sailors, they have to continue to keep a batch of old ships in the establishment.

More importantly, the United Kingdom’s once largest maritime threat, the British Royal Navy has been hit hard, and with the British national strength, it is difficult to return to the old scene.

The conservatives who are trying to restore "glory isolation" are ecstatic. Their political slogan is "American supremacy." The decline of the British Royal Navy gave these politicians an excellent reason. The tonnage of the American Navy has already ranked first in the world. First, for a long time to come, there will be no force in the Atlantic direction to challenge US sea power. There is no need to add more warships in this direction. If it is really necessary, it should also be placed on the mainland. the other side.

As a result, most of the large and small shipbuilding companies on the east coast of the United States have been idle, and it appears that this depression will continue for a while.

Just as the shipbuilding industry on the east coast of the United States looked at the imminent sorrow, the former rival British came. They were like angels descending on this land that once hung the rice flag, and brought an amazing scale of ships. Shopping list.

Britain once had the largest commercial fleet in the world, but after the brutal Atlantic submarine battle, this fleet has now shrunk to about 70% of its original size, and many of them need to be sent to the shipyard for overhaul due to various reasons. .

This situation has affected the blood transfusion capacity of Britain. The wealth and resources they searched in various colonies can only be hoarded in warehouses in the port area, and there is not enough capacity to send them back to the mainland. So they need the United States to build a batch of transport ships for them, but also make special modifications to make them suitable for sailing in the tropical waters of Asia.

Britain itself is a major shipbuilding country, but at this time the production of domestic shipyards has become saturated, because in addition to building merchant ships, they are now working hard to repair and build military ships.

In addition to those warships that were damaged in the war, there are some salvage ships that have been salvaged again. Nowadays, as long as this ship proves to have repair value, the Royal Navy will never give up any chance.

For example, the "Hood" sinking near Dunkirk, with the efforts of the naval engineers of the three countries of Britain, Germany and France, this battle patrol was successfully salvaged and straightened. Red Bank, returned to build the pontoon of her John Brown Company.

The damage situation of this battle patrol was not as serious as everyone thought. The Royal Navy guessed that she would capsize in such a short period of time, which should be caused by the chaos of the damage control system, except for a few penetrations caused by concrete damage bombs. The naval investigators also found that more than half of the water injection valves in the dozen ballast tanks and the bottom ammunition depot on her right were opened.

At that time, the firepower of the German heavy artillery was beyond imagination. The battleships of the peers were shot and sinking one after another. The officers and soldiers responsible for the loss of control in [Hood] were not improper because of panic.

However, the number of survivors of the Hood was not large. The senior officers including the captain were all killed at the time. The divers of the German Navy were also in the armored control tower of the Hood. They searched for Captain Cole and several senior The body of the officer, most of whom survived were sailors on duty on the upper deck. The highest rank was only a captain. No one could say what happened.

The repair and reconstruction of this battle patrol is a huge project and a severe test of the British Royal Navy’s shipbuilding technology, but the Royal Navy seems to be very confident. The [Hood] has become like one of their Believe in the totem, in order to return this battleship to the naval sequence, they will not hesitate even at the highest price.

Information about repairing warships has been classified as top secret, and only the British and French and German governments and high-level navy are informed. Previously, the British Navy’s secrecy work was done like a colander, and even a Japanese spy with its own dry food appeared. Now it is cleaned up with the help of the Germans. Xu Jun hopes that they will keep these secrets at least for a year. .

In addition to general cargo ships and oil tankers, there are a number of special ships in the British order. The most interesting thing for Americans is a high-speed marine supply ship.

This ship uses a lot of "advanced technology" that the United States has confirmed as "beyond this era", so that this supply ship can supply the target ship at sea while it is sailing, which will greatly improve the flexibility of the supply work. At the same time, it also guarantees the survivability of both sides of the battlefield.

At the time, most of the marine supplies between ships could only be carried out under calm sea conditions after the two sides stopped the ship. This is often the most vulnerable stage of the warship, because it takes a certain time for the ship’s power to be boosted again. When attacked, the ship can only honestly be the target, and it is impossible to evade maneuvering, especially when it comes to a sneak attack by a submarine or aircraft, it is almost equivalent to being sentenced to death.

How could the British not know what Americans think, "Do you want technology? Then let's cooperate."

The United States will build eight high-speed supply ships of the type named "Drian" for the British Navy, and also permit the United States to build two similar supply ships on its own in the form of a permit. In the American style, the above technique is equivalent to giving away in vain.

The British will not tell the US Navy that this ship is actually based on a high-speed transport ship developed by the French Navy. After joining some of the "advanced design" of the German Navy, it was made after the integration and optimization of the British Navy’s shipbuilding experts. .

This is a trial product of technical cooperation between European navies and the wisdom of the navy technicians of the three countries. They chose to build this ship in the United States. In addition to the fact that no country can vacate the berth, it is because all the ships used in the design of this ship It is a metric system. Americans must go through a lot of conversions if they want to build, and after this "cooperation", I believe that they should be more proficient when building other European-designed ships in the future.

PS: Thank you for your support, the author will continue to work hard.