Chapter 2640: Adjustment of the U.S. Navy 2

However, allowing this battlecruiser to serve would be irresponsible for the lives of naval officers and soldiers. As well as crimes against the country, as a naval personnel who has experienced brutal fighting on the front line, we have a very clear understanding of the Japanese fleet's naval gun damage capabilities. Even our first super-dreadnought battleship has 12-inch armor protection. It can't withstand the attack of 15-inch naval gun at all. The Japanese Fuso-class battleship may only need one well-timed salvo to deal with a battleship with this level of defense. Even the New Mexico-class 13.5-inch vertical armor belt is not enough. Colonel Leahy said.

"We can try to improve our defense," Roosevelt Jr. said.

"If it is still a vertical armor belt, then we must ensure that the armor thickness is more than 14 inches, and and means doubling the thickness of the armor belt. As you know, the length of the armor belt of the Lexington-class battleship is very large. Every additional inch For the side string armor, we have to add at least about 320 tons of weight. (Historically, the Gangu Super class seems to have added 225 tons for every inch of additional armor.) And this does not include the support results and other weight increases caused by it."

"If you still insist on improvement, then the conservative increase in light armor weight will exceed more than 2,000 tons, and this is only to ensure the side strings, and does not mention horizontal armor defense. In this way, our warships are likely to face serious threats Excess weight and airworthiness issues,” Colonel Leahy said.

"So what are the Navy's ideas?" Roosevelt asked.

"Our opinion is to improve the South Dakota-class battleship. We can use most of the hull, then remove the No. 3 turret and change it into a power cabin, equip it with more boilers and a larger engine unit, and at the same time extend the bow to make the hull more suitable for high speeds. . In this way, we can make this battleship run at a speed of more than 26 knots. We can get a serviceable fast battleship at a very small cost. If we can arrange the armor belt to be inclined, then it will be even better Okay." Colonel Lacey's plan was almost a replica of Magiffin's original suggestion.

"However, changing the design takes time, and what we lack most at the moment is time." Roosevelt Jr. said.

"From a purely military perspective, the safest way at present is to outsource new warships while maintaining cooperation with the German Navy. If Germany still maintains the deployment of four Bavaria-class battleships in the Pacific Theater, then we can outsource at most Four fast battleships can form an absolute advantage over the Japanese fleet, and four Bavaria and four Helgoland-class battleships can completely compete with the current Japanese fleet head-on," Colonel Lacey said.

"However, it is still the Germans who dominate the fast fleet." Roosevelt Jr. said thoughtfully.

"Diplomatically, there is no way we can disengage from the Germans now," Secretary of State Lansing said.

"So who will take command of this fast fleet? What we want to build is a fleet that can perform tasks independently.

Rather than a German addition. According to the navy's battle report, the German fleet showed uncooperative behavior in the final stage of the battle, right? The German fleet did not participate in the final battle. "Roosevelt Jr. said.

"I did not participate in the final decisive battle, but one thing that needs to be explained is that the German fleet had used up all its ammunition at this time. Our liaison officer Nimitz in the German fleet can confirm this. Moreover, the battleship was seriously injured." Colonel Leahy frowned. He was very dissatisfied with this political slander.

"The cost of hiring the German fleet to fight for the United States is very high, not only economically, but more importantly politically. The Germans have used their military advantages to make things difficult for us more than once. This is intolerable to the United States. The first step we take may be difficult, but the road ahead will be smooth!" Roosevelt Jr. said.

"So what do you think?" Colonel Leahy asked.

"We can buy more and stronger fast battleships. Not only can we buy them from Germany and Austria-Hungary, but we can also consider buying battleships from France or Italy. We have more choices than the Japanese. The French have Brestany. -class battleships and the Italian Calacciono-class battleships are both good choices," Roosevelt Jr. said.

"The Brestany-class battleship? Isn't this a slow battleship? And as I said, the United States Navy will no longer accept battleships with armor thickness less than 12 inches. And do we still need to equip a 340MM artillery?" protested Colonel Leahy.

"The French said that they can reduce one turret to accommodate more powerful power. And they are willing to enhance armor protection. As for artillery, they can replace the French 340MM artillery with our American 14-inch artillery. As for the Italian Calagiono-class I think battleships are a very good choice. They have the same guns as the Bavaria-class battleships and are faster at the same time." Roosevelt Jr. said.

"Sorry sir, one thing I need to correct is the 15-inch L40 artillery used by the Italians. Although the speed is very fast, the defense still needs to be improved. After all, the thickness of their side armor is almost the same as that of our sunk warship. However, Compared with what the French call the battleships improved by Brestani, I think the Italian battleships are barely acceptable." Colonel Leahy also made concessions.

"Is an Italian-only Calacciono barely acceptable?" Lansing asked.

"Yes, if it were entirely our choice, then we would rather choose the German Helgoland-class battleship than the Karadjono-class battleship. First of all, the Helgoland-class battleship is an existing battleship. We will directly It can be used as soon as we drive it back. If we don’t like the 350MM artillery on it, we can directly replace it with our 14-inch artillery. There are no technical problems or construction period problems with this."

"But the Calacciono-class battleship is different. Their fastest progress has just been launched and is being outfitted. According to the Italian Navy's past speed, the outfitting of the battleship may take 2 years! 2 years later , we already have better self-produced fast battleships, the war may have been over for a long time, what use do we need this battleship?" Colonel Leahy asked rhetorically.

In fact, according to the most reliable and economical method within the navy, it is naturally to increase transactions with the Germans, use 4 Bavarias and 2 Helgolands as the main force of the fast fleet, and then survive the gap period before the fast capital ships enter service. . But obviously, the government doesn’t think so!

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