1855 United States Tycoon

Chapter 496, Tirpitz’s ambition (3)

What caught Tirpitz’s attention was a model of a large submarine. In this era, the general submarine’s displacement does not exceed 1,000 tons. Most submarines have an underwater displacement of less than 800 tons. The water displacement is naturally smaller, often only a little more than 600 tons. But this submarine has an underwater displacement of 1,400 tons and a surface displacement of more than 1,000 tons.

“Is this the submarine you designed?” Tirpitz asked, “how did you make it so big?”

According to the general view at the time, the navies of most countries only regarded submarines as auxiliary ships, not as combat weapons. If you ask the naval officers at that time, what can submarines do? They will probably tell you this answer:

“You can do reconnaissance work, such as squatting at the door of someone’s military port, counting how many ships have entered and how many ships have come out. For example, send some spies to the enemy’s territory, or for example…”

At that time, the naval officers seemed to be completely unusable for combat. Since it can’t be used for combat, it’s just squatting outside the military port to count, or sending a few spies ashore. How can it be so big?

“Ah, Mr. Secretary of the Navy, this is also a submarine of a foreign trade nature. Unlike ordinary submarines, this submarine is a complete combat ship. When our buyer buys this submarine, it requires this submarine to have the following properties: First of all , It must have the ability to stand by for a long time on the ocean, and its voyage must be long, so naturally it cannot be made too small. Secondly, they also require its surface speed to exceed ordinary merchant ships, which means that it must be at least 17 to At 18 knots, the underwater speed must be 9 to 10 knots. In this way, we can’t install a power system that meets this requirement for a ship that is too small. Then they have high requirements for military equipment. So look at this one. There are six large torpedo tubes in the front of the submarine, which can launch six 21-inch torpedoes at a time. This kind of torpedo is so powerful that it only needs to hit one to sink a large transport ship. In it There are also 4 large torpedo tubes in the tail. There are also 10 torpedo tubes in the boat. And compared to the battleship we saw earlier, it is more concealed and much cheaper. Used for harassment The supply line is no better.”

Scrooge deliberately said that “one hit can sink a large transport ship”. Lead Tirpitz’s thoughts to break the cross.

“But this thing still can’t compete with the fleet, can’t win the sea dominance. So in this sense, it still can’t compare with the aforementioned warship.” Tirpitz replied.

Scrooge nodded and said, “You are right. Due to the speed defect, the submarine cannot keep up with the speed of the surface fleet, which makes it impossible to complete the occupation if it is thrown into a naval battle. Not to mention the launching of torpedo mines. Basically, it can only be used for sneak attacks. Moreover, it has two functions to ensure the dominance of the sea. Ships cannot navigate freely. This kind of ship can at best destroy the other party’s right to sail freely, but it cannot guarantee the right to free navigation of one’s own side. Therefore, it can only be an effective supplement to sea power, and cannot replace surface warships. Especially the main status of battleships. But on the other hand, when a weak country is fighting a strong country, it is often unrealistic to seek to fully surpass its opponents and gain complete control of the sea. It only needs to have the ability to cause enough damage to the opponent. It’s enough to make the war initiated by the powerful country into a loss-making business.”

After hearing this, Tirpitz laughed. He thought about it and said, “It’s like the Boer War? But although the Boers resisted very firmly, they were still at a disadvantage in this war, and they might even be defeated. If the naval power is weaker than that of the United Kingdom, after the First World War, the United Kingdom may indeed have suffered heavy losses, but its opponents will have no navy at all.”

“But don’t you think that the British have gained more than the loss in this battle? The world’s largest power has fought so hard against a mere local power. Britain’s national deterrence has been severely devalued. I remember Lord Nelson once Before the battle, it was said, “Even if we are defeated, they will not have a fleet for a long time to come.” In fact, this situation is the same for a country like the United Kingdom. For a maritime power like this, they are in There are many interests on the sea, and these interests need to be maintained by their navy. But there are no few countries that covet his status. If a country’s fleet can be strong enough to exchange with the British fleet, it will make The remaining fleets of the British are no longer sufficient to suppress the fleets of other countries, which means that dominance of the seas will be transferred from the hands of the United Kingdom to other countries. For the United Kingdom, it can be said that the dominance of the seas is equivalent to life. In this case, the United Kingdom. Can you still accept such an exchange? I’m afraid that in this case, compromise is the only option, isn’t it?” Scrooge immediately threw out the poison that he had prepared.

The idea that Scrooge put forward was later the idea of ​​the German navy. The Germans have always built the navy based on this line of thinking. But for the United Kingdom, they naturally have another way of thinking, that is, the two evils are the lesser of them.

Regarding the simultaneous rise of the German navy and the United States navy, the British should first come up with a dual-power standard, that is, the British navy must exceed the sum of the world’s second navy and the world’s third navy. In this way, even if the fleet of the world’s second navy is exchanged one-on-one, the remaining fleet of the UK is still the world’s first. And if the so-called Lancaster formula is taken into consideration, it is impossible for the Second Navy in the world to have a 1:1 exchange ratio with him. This is like a group fight. If the individual combat powers of the two parties are basically equal, two people fighting two people may lose both, but 10 people fighting two people will never lose both. It will only destroy the two people who are one-sided, and the ten people. No injuries.

Therefore, as long as the size of the British navy can remain the sum of the world’s second navy and the world’s third navy, then the United Kingdom can still ensure the freedom to fight the world’s second naval power, and its navy can also have real deterrence. .However, it is very difficult for Britain to do this. The reason is very simple. It is because of the difference in industrial power. From the point of view of output value alone, Britain is no longer the world’s largest industrial country. Now not only the industrial output value of United States has surpassed that of the United Kingdom, but even the industrial output value of Germany has surpassed that of the United Kingdom. Under such circumstances, the British still want to maintain a naval force equivalent to the sum of Germany and United States. How easy is it to say?

But for Britain, this arms race is not without the possibility of victory. Even for the British, the earlier the arms race, the better, and the more intense the better. The reason is simple, because although the industrial output value of the Germans and the United States has surpassed that of the United Kingdom, the accumulation of wealth is far from comparable to that of the United Kingdom. It’s like a young man who has just worked, and his salary now is a little higher than that of an old employee who has been working for decades, but if he is rich, the old employee may be richer, because he has already gotten it. After decades of wages, more money has been accumulated. If this time the young man goes to spend money with the old employees, it must be the young man who went bankrupt first. Therefore, once the British find that Germany poses a threat to themselves, the best way is to immediately drag down the Germans through a high-intensity arms race and make Germany bankrupt in advance.

What about Germany? Is it possible that Germany will not respond to this arms race? If Germany can avoid overseas markets and expand overseas colonies, of course it can, but…

And for the British, he still has a way out of the arms race, that is, it is really impossible, and then only needs to suppress Germany. After all, United States is too far from Britain and separated by an Atlantic Ocean. Even if United States becomes stronger, Britain will not face the danger of subjugation. But Germany is different. If Germany develops well, Europe will definitely be unified. At that time, Britain, which is only a hundred kilometers away from the European continent, would be in danger. Therefore, for many years, the British national policy has always been that the British will fight whoever is the strongest on the European continent. In line with this principle, the British dragged the anti-French alliance to defeat France; in accordance with this principle, the British dragged the Anglo-French alliance to fight Russia; in accordance with this principle, it is now Germany’s turn.

“Your idea is very revealing.” Tirpitz said.

“Thank you for your compliment. In fact, this is not my own idea. This is the idea of ​​United States.” Scrooge continued to brainwash the German. “I have a friend named Mahan, who just recently I have completed an academic work called “The Impact of Sea Power on History 1660-1783″. I don’t know if your Minister has seen it. There are some United States navy ideas in it. In fact, the United States was established because of the establishment of the United States. A navy that allows Britain to pay a considerable price can complete the war against Spain without interference. You know, if we only consider Spain’s own power, we could easily defeat him decades ago. Finally, The British did not rush to intervene. This shows that our strategic judgment, that is, if our naval power can cause considerable damage to the British navy, it can force the British to give up interference in our actions. .”