Chapter 2430 Meeting with Sher II
"Before the decisive battle, the High Seas Fleet still had a large number of pre-dreadnoughts and armored cruisers. However, after the war, the entire armored cruiser unit was wiped out. The former dreadnoughts must also be decommissioned, which means that at least 10 warships above 10,000 tons will be missing. In the future, the High Seas Fleet will be responsible for the defense of the North Sea, the Baltic Sea, the Atlantic Ocean, and even the Indian Ocean, and we only have 18 capital ships. You should be very clear about what this means, right?"
"Besides, what I can't understand the most is that if you and the top management of the empire are unwilling to expand the main fleet, why do you mention in the plan that at least 8 ships should be built? Now the entire empire's high seas fleet is talking about it. Talking about this matter, if it is canceled at that time, it will definitely be a heavy blow to the morale of the Navy.” Scheer also has his own reasons.
Is what Sher said right? How much is reasonable, after all, after the Great War, the future construction of the German Navy must be aimed at the direction of the actual number one navy. A challenge to the future US Navy and Japanese Navy!
The United States across two oceans needs to face enemies in both the Atlantic and the Pacific. And the pressure on the German Navy is not small. He must ensure absolute sea dominance in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, and also suppress the British Royal Navy living at his doorstep!
With the further expansion of German colonies, facing Germany, which has half of its African colonies, the task of the navy has changed from a simple duel of battleships in the North Sea to ensuring the safety of Germany's sea lines of communication and combating potential enemies within the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Give a fatal blow. Both of these tasks require the Imperial Navy to maintain a certain size. It may be possible to allow some of the warships in the Imperial Navy to become old, but they must not be easily retired. This is to ensure the size and establishment of the fleet.
In fact, to be honest, the size of the High Seas Fleet is really not enough. After all, in that decisive battle that shocked the world, Germany also lost a lot of light cruisers and destroyers. At that time, the number of light cruisers and destroyers was definitely not enough to maintain a scale commensurate with a global empire. Small quantity is one aspect, and quality is another aspect. After all, more than half of German destroyers are designed and built for North Sea operations.
What Scheer said made sense, but what Ruprecht said made no sense? Obviously not! Just imagine, just after the war, both the Army and the Air Force were drastically reducing personnel and armaments. The Navy instead increased the Naval Air Force and expanded the Marine Corps! Crown Prince Ruprecht managed this matter under considerable pressure! Seeing that the navy has added an additional department and the scope of involvement is getting bigger and bigger, what will the army think? What would the Air Force think? Everyone's military expenditures are being drastically reduced, and personnel are being largely retired, so the size of the navy is booming? There is no such reason!
Therefore, purely from the perspective of politics and balancing domestic factions, the Navy must also reduce military expenditures! And how to reduce it? There are two main ways to deal with it, one is to deal with a large amount of surplus materials, and the other is to reduce the armament of capital ships!
The first thing to be dealt with was a large number of submarines, which were directly handed over to the U.S. Navy, and the "workers" of the German Navy went with the submarines. The Americans can produce flat-panel destroyers, but the number of submarines is still relatively small, and what is even more lacking is professional submarine officers. So many German naval officers took their submarines to the United States as instructors.
Then there are some obsolete battleships that are dealt with, including the few remaining pre-dreadnoughts and armored cruisers. The performance of these warships has fallen behind, and the greatest significance for the navy may be to maintain the establishment and use them as training ships.
After the imperial government introduced a new naval capital ship expansion plan, although the navy felt a little pity, it still agreed to the retirement plan.
However, now that the Navy has removed a large number of warships from the battle order, Ruprecht suddenly told Scheer that the number of new capital ships will not be many. It is no wonder that Scheer will be angry at this time, but this is There is no way, because the crown prince also has a purpose in doing this, and today, before going to the port of Kiel, the crown prince met with Scheer to discuss this issue! The crown prince really didn't deliberately deceive the navy!
"I didn't say that the empire will not build new battleships for the navy, but the number is relatively small. Don't be so excited. The fleet renewal plan of the navy in the future will be huge, but in a short period of time, the navy needs to be patient." Facing Scheer, Ruprecht's words were very euphemistic. It's not that he can't be offended, but because Ruprecht really regards Scheer as a friend and as the head of the German Navy in the next ten years!
"Even if the update speed of the capital ship is slow, we must ensure the staffing of the fleet. People can wait for the ship, but the ship cannot wait for people." Facing the softened crown prince, Scheer couldn't continue talking. After all, Scheer understands very well. On the issue of the navy, Crown Prince Ruprecht has done his best. When other military branches are laying off personnel on a large scale, the reduction of the navy's personnel is not large except for personnel due to injuries and deadlines. Large, the smallest of the three services, the additional naval aviation and expanded Marine Corps leave a back door for future naval expansion. This is not easy.
And to be honest, the crown prince's attitude towards Scheer is really good. Although Scheer is an admiral of the navy, it is not enough to face a figure of the level of Crown Prince Ruprecht. If the German high-level ranks a seat, Scheer's status is not even as good as the current Prime Minister of Bavaria! People respect you, invite you here, and explain to you for a long time, that is to save face, otherwise, on this issue, the Crown Prince does not need to explain so much to Scheer, just talk about the result. Anyway, the imperial government is also responsible... So, after calming down, Scheer needs to discuss with the crown prince how to solve this problem.
"The organization problem is easy to solve. The future Pacific War will be fought for at least two years. Many of us can join the U.S. Navy as volunteers. Of course, try to keep them from participating in combat missions. For those who want to retire, we can also You can go, in short, do as much as possible according to their wishes."
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