Chapter 2431 Meeting with Sher III

"I am afraid that the problem of fleet construction will not change in the last 6 years. To be more precise, we may not even have a new battleship in service within 5 years. Of course, there will be ships under construction on the berth. Yes. Aircraft carrier? It depends on the situation, if necessary, it may be converted into a civilian ship." Ruprecht gave Scheer a bottom line.

"Will there be no battleships in service within 6 years?" Scheer touched his chin and fell into deep thought. As the current leader of the German Navy, he still has a good understanding of the construction cycle of warships. The construction speed of warships in peacetime will be relatively slow. Moreover, the new battleship must be larger in terms of tonnage, estimated to be more than 35,000 tons. And considering the problem of insufficient funds, the construction period will definitely be delayed. During the war, the construction time of the Bavarian class can be compressed within 2 years. Now, if the first-class battleship equipped with 16-inch main guns is completed, the estimated construction period will be 4 years. about. (From commencement to service.)

"Your Highness, can you give me the details? If the expected first batch of eight fast battleships cannot be completed, what is the lower limit? What is the upper limit?" Scheer asked.

"At least two ships, at most four ships. And there may be six ships under the name of newly built battleships." Ruprecht thought for a while and said.

"Okay, thank you for your sincerity. Forgive me for being blunt, I understand why we only have 4 ships at most, but we have to start 6 ships? And in the establishment table, our first batch is 8 ships, and the second batch may be 8 ships. There are 6 more?" Scheer frowned and said, after all, once the battleship starts construction, it means a lot of money, and it is estimated that the conservative price of the new battleship will be around 5 million pounds. Is it not a waste that work has been started, but it is not intended to be finished?

"How do you think the major powers will treat the navy after the Pacific War ends?" Ruprecht asked.

"Although I don't know what the outcome of the future war between the United States and Japan will be, I can conclude that Japan will not be completely defeated. After the war, the confrontation between the United States and Japan in the Western Pacific will last for a long time. And this kind of confrontation is very likely It will cause a new wave of arms race." Scheer thought for a while and said.

"But a long-term naval arms race is a huge burden for any country. You are the commander of the navy. You know how much the empire allocated for naval construction every year ten years before the war started, and you also know how much national debt was issued for it!" said the Crown Prince.

"But in terms of the national strength of the United States, if it simply faces Japan, then maybe the United States will bear a certain amount of economic pressure, but in the end, they can crush Japan! Even if Japan is spared in this war, the result will only be Two, one is that the economy has been dragged down by the long-term arms race, and the other is to admit defeat!" Scheer said.

"If it's just the United States and Japan, then this will naturally be the result. But the Americans still have a potential enemy. I don't think you think that the friendly relationship between the Empire and the United States will continue to be maintained? The relationship between Germany and the United States The foundation was Britain, and now the British have fallen. Germany has ascended to the throne of world hegemony. The United States is a double-headed eagle, and he is staring at the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean at the same time." The crown prince said.

"If this is the case, the Americans may compromise with us, right? The two sides signed an agreement to jointly limit the size of the navy, but if the two most powerful sea powers first proposed to limit armaments, then other countries must also participate. Japanese, The British, the Austro-Hungarians, the French and maybe even the Italians," Admiral Scheer said.

In fact, restricting naval armaments did not come after the Washington Treaty in history. In fact, before the First World War, when the United States and Germany felt a lot of pressure due to the naval arms race, they did consider giving in to each other.

Compress the naval fleets of both sides to a range that both sides can bear, but in the end, this effort failed because of the pursuit of tonnage by both sides. The British insisted that the tonnage ratio of the capital ships of Britain and Germany should be 2:1. But the Germans believed that the tonnage of their capital ships should reach 70% of that of the British, so the talks finally fell apart.

And on this plane, before the war, the two countries also discussed the issue of restricting naval armaments. However, this time the difference between the two sides does not lie in the tonnage. In terms of proportion, on the dreadnoughts that are actually useful, the tonnage gap between the two sides will be very small. After all, the British have a lot of dreadnoughts. What really made this negotiation fruitless was the limitation on the performance of German warships! The British asked Germany to keep only 4 Bavarian-class battleships, but Germany finally refused!

"Yes, after the war, the best outcome for each country is to sign a naval armaments treaty that can limit the vicious expansion of each other's navies. This treaty will stipulate the tonnage, technical performance and replacement principles of all types of warships. There may even be Relevant supervisory agencies, and the most important basis for fleet restrictions are the status of each country and the naval power in its hands. We must strive for an advantage, and if we want the other party to be afraid, then it is undoubtedly very important to have goods in hand or to have goods soon of."

Ruprecht has made it very clear that the extra warships and the planned second batch of fast battleships are just bargaining chips that can be exchanged for benefits at any time! Tell the Americans that the German Navy also has huge plans, don't go too far! Otherwise, everyone will be violent together!

If we say that facing Japan alone, the Americans have the confidence to violently die, but facing Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire? Hehe, Americans at this time really don't have the confidence! After all, the future of Germany will be much stronger than before World War I! Then add an equally powerful Austro-Hungarian Empire! The Americans absolutely dare not shout out to Germany and Austria that you build one capital ship and we will build two. The reason is very simple. After the Pacific War, the Americans must also consume a lot!

As for Germany and Austria, if there is no war now, if you have money, hurry up to farm, why build so many warships if you have nothing to do? Therefore, it is enough to obtain a dominant position through negotiation, and there is no need to fight the Americans to the end. Even if we really want to compete with the Americans, it will be nearly 20 years later, right now? There is no rush at all!

"I've already told you what needs to be said, and you must know it in your mind. After all, this matter will probably happen before you retire. You don't want to get a stain on your back before you leave the navy, do you?" the crown prince said half-seriously and half-jokingly .

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