Chapter 140: submarine

  After the wedding, Qin Tian and Princess Gundlinde started their honeymoon trip. They traveled south from Berlin, passed through the Kingdom of Bavaria, and headed for Switzerland. Although the Alps in this season are not as beautiful as in winter, they have a special flavor.

   Half a month later, Qin Tian and Princess Gundlinde returned to Berlin. It wasn't that Qin Tian didn't want to play outside for a while, but that he was too busy. In addition, the current international situation is becoming more and more tense, and the war is imminent, which makes Qin Tian have to focus more on official affairs.

  Although, Qin Tian remembered that there were still a few years before the war broke out. What he wasn't sure, though, was whether wars would still break out at that time, after he'd already changed history. Therefore, Qin Tian had a sense of crisis. He hoped that the German Empire would be as fully prepared as possible before the outbreak of the war, so as to be able to change the outcome of the war.

   "Honey, I'm going to Deutschland Shipyard tomorrow, and I'll probably stay there for two days." Qin Tian looked at his parents and children with an apologetic expression. They were just newly married, and he was going on a business trip, which was really inappropriate.

   "It's okay, my dear, you can go and do your work!" Princess Gundlinde was very magnanimous. She knew that with Qin Tian's identity and status, he had too many things to do, and it was impossible for him to be with her all day long. Princess Gundlinde is already very satisfied to have such an excellent husband as Qin Tian. After all, marrying a talented crown prince is better than marrying a dude, right? What's more, she is very likely to become the queen of the empire in the future, which is undoubtedly every woman's dream.

  Qin Tian and Marshal Count Tirpitz took a special train to the Deutschland Shipyard. Although on the way, Marshal Earl Tirpitz kept telling Qin Tian what he wanted to know what Qin Tian's so-called secret weapon was, but Qin Tian kept his mouth tight and didn't say a word on this issue, which made him Marshal Count Tirpitz was very dissatisfied, but there was nothing he could do.

"His Royal Highness. The strength of the imperial navy is growing rapidly. However, the British are also building warships like crazy. The gap between us and the British has not been able to widen." Marshal Earl Tirpitz flashed in his eyes A trace of worry.

Qin Tian nodded: "Marshal, it is simply unrealistic to compare the speed of shipbuilding with the British, or to compare the number of capital ships with them. The only thing we can do is to overwhelm the British in terms of single-ship performance. People. Only in this way will we be able to defeat them and win in future naval battles."

   "It is true to say so, but if the British have too much advantage in the number of capital ships, our chances of winning will not be too great." In the view of Marshal Earl Tirpitz, the quality advantage is very important. But again, a quantitative advantage is also indispensable. In many cases, quantitative changes will lead to qualitative changes.

   "Well, so we need to prepare some secret weapons for the navy to increase the combat power of the navy as much as possible." Qin Tian said.

  Qin Tian knew that the German Navy could not have more capital ships than the British Navy. Therefore, he can only use other methods to weaken the strength of the British navy. For example, using submarines or aircraft carrier-based aircraft to attack the capital ships of the British Navy will further weaken the strength of the British Navy. In this way, the pressure on the German navy will be greatly reduced during the decisive battle at sea.

   Marshal Earl Tirpitz nodded, and he couldn't help but look forward to the secret weapon Qin Tian talked about.

  The current German Navy already has two levels of capital ships and one level of battlecruisers. The "Nassau-class" battleship, the "Wichersbach-class" battleship and the "Blücher-class" battlecruiser have been in service one after another, and the "Moltke-class" battlecruiser and the "Caesar-class" battleship are all under construction. In particular, most of the construction of the "Moltke-class" battlecruiser has been completed, and it is expected to be ready for service next year. The "Caesar-class" battleships will also enter service on a large scale from the end of next year to the beginning of the next year. This will greatly enhance the strength of the German Navy.

   "Your Highness, do you have any ideas about the construction plan for the next battleship?" Marshal Earl Tirpitz asked.

  Through the construction of several battleships in succession, no one in the navy raised any objections to Qin Tian's design. Even the experts from the Naval Technical Committee have no nonsense.

  Qin Tian thought for a while, then nodded: "The capital ship of the next level, my idea is to further increase the displacement of the battleship, so as to carry a larger caliber main gun and have a thicker armor."

"Larger caliber main guns? The 'Caesar-class' battleships, the 'Witchersbach-class' battleships, and the 'Moltke-class' battlecruisers all have 343 mm main guns. Is it possible that the next-tier battleships will be equipped with 343mm main guns? Is the 380mm main gun?" Marshal Count Tirpitz asked.

   Marshal Earl Tirpitz knew that Qin Tian had always had a soft spot for increasing the caliber of the battleship's main guns. Otherwise, the caliber of the main guns of the battleships of the German Navy would not have been increased to 343mm. I am afraid that at this time, the caliber of the German Navy's capital ships is still 280mm or 305mm.

"Well, the 380mm main gun is inevitable. Krupp has already started research in this area at my request. It is expected that breakthroughs will be made next year. Our next level The construction of the capital ship can start next year. In this case, there will be enough time." Qin Tian said.

   Marshal Earl Tirpitz nodded, of course he would not have any objections to this. The stronger the navy is, the more comfortable he will be as the Minister of the Navy.

Qin Tian is also secretly thinking, starting from the next level of capital ships to build capital ships equipped with 380mm main guns. In this way, if the war still broke out in 1914, the German Navy will have a first-level battleship equipped with 380mm main guns. Capital ship. Even the second-tier capital ships equipped with 380mm main guns will not be in service for long. As for the British Navy, I am afraid that there will be no capital ships equipped with 381mm main guns at all. By that time, the German Navy will have a greater advantage.

  After the special train arrived at the Deutschland Shipyard, Marshal Count Tirpitz walked directly to the slipway. He couldn't wait to see what the secret weapon Qin Tian was talking about was.

   However, after seeing the true face of Mount Lu, Marshal Count Tirpitz couldn't help being dumbfounded.

   "Your Highness, isn't this a submarine? This is the secret weapon you said?" Marshal Count Tirpitz couldn't laugh or cry.