"High Seas - Freedom! (China) - Manufacturing Jingwei (1910-1914)"

【Super Dreadnought Age】

At the beginning of the 20th century, the two most powerful countries in Europe, the old British Empire and the emerging German Empire, were conducting a naval arms race at an unprecedented speed. The British took the lead in the development of dreadnoughts, and the founder of the dreadnought, the "Dreadnought", which had a great impact on the development of battleships in later generations, and the "Dreadnought", the first battle cruiser, were both the first to be built and put into service by the British, and the British gained a numerical advantage in the competition. However, Germany could always come from behind, maintain its quality advantage, and use limited funds to create as many main ships as possible. After the construction of four Helgolan-class dreadnoughts, the Germans decided to sort out their ideas and design a more powerful battleship. [..com]

As the naval technological revolution came, after the initial confusion, the major powers found their own development direction and devoted themselves to this unprecedented scale of chasing each other. In 1909, the British took the lead in building a new type of artillery with a power that surpassed their own country, which was the 305mm gun. The caliber of this type of artillery reached 343mm (13.5 inches), and the new type of battleship equipped with this type of artillery was later

Orion-class battleships will also start construction in the same year. This new type of battleship abandoned the previous layout of the British dreadnought main gun and instead learned from its opponent Germany to adopt a mid-line layout, but further adopted a back-loading layout at the bow. Because the performance of these warships is significantly higher than that of the British own dreadnought, because they are also called super dreadnoughts, most of the contemporary naval research community also use this kind of warship as the beginning of the world's super dreadnoughts.

[First and tail load layout, power and cost: Caesar-class battleship]

The British battleship with a standard displacement of 22,000 tons attracted the attention of all countries as early as March 1909, when the design was just beginning, but the concerns of various countries seemed a little different. The United States, Russia, France, Italy and other countries paid more attention to the 343mm artillery equipped on it, while the Germans were more concerned about the defense capabilities of this battleship. The Germans believed that when the technical level of the two sides was not very different, warships of the same tonnage must be strengthened on the one hand, and other aspects must be weakened. The standard displacement of the Helgolan-class battleship that Germany had started construction was comparable to the speed of the British newly built 343mm gun battleship, but the German battleship was only equipped with 8 305mm l50 guns, of which only the two 2-unit main guns at the stern were adopted as the descent of the ship shape of the long-shoulou building, while the British followed the

10 343mm l45 guns were arranged in the center line, and the back-loading layout was adopted at the bow. From this, the Germans inferred that the thickness of the main armor belt and the front of the British new battleship may be at most 12 inches, and the area will be very limited. The 305mm l50 gun equipped by the Helgolan class can penetrate it at exactly 10 kilometers, while the British 343mm gun cannot penetrate the 350 mm armor of the same part of the German ship at this distance. However, the British could exert 10 main guns at the same time on the side, while the Helgolan class had only 8. Considering the number of German ships, this would lead to Germany falling far behind the United Kingdom in terms of projection firepower on the side. Therefore, the Germans decided to improve a new battleship that could exert 10 main guns on the side as soon as possible on the basis of the Helgolan class.

At that time, the Germans had already had a ready-made battleship design that could play 10 main guns on the side, namely the Moltke-class. However, the designers understood that this Moltke-class design was actually quite failed, so the new design was soon released. This new design lengthened the battleship by 8 meters, imitating that the British also used a load-type turret at the bow of the ship. The defense indicators including the main armor belt and the main turret remained unchanged according to the Hullgren class. Correspondingly, the ship's standard displacement was amplified to 25,700 tons, which was the Caesar-class battleship.

Compared with the Helgolan class and previous German battleships, the biggest improvement of this German marine heavy infantry lies in its power. As we all know, Germany is a country with extremely rich coal resources. The high-quality coal buried underground in the Ruhr industrial zone has always been the only food for the high seas fleet before. However, coal-fired boilers have inherent disadvantages. The energy density of coal is limited compared to the fuel made of oil products. Navy ships in the coal-fired era had to free up huge space to store coal, which limited the various characteristics of warships.

Energy is improved. No matter how high-quality coal is used for the boiler, the annoying soot will always come uninvited and attach to the water pipes of the boiler, thereby reducing the thermal efficiency of the boiler. This is more obvious when the boiler is running at full load; after coal is burned, the cinder will be deposited in the boiler combustion chamber. Although all boilers are designed with slag discharge ports, this outlet is also easily blocked by cinder slag when running at full load. Therefore, warships using coal-fired boilers have to frequently clean the cinder attached to the water pipes and deposited at the bottom of the boiler.

The German Navy and the Technical Department are very clear about the inherent problems of coal-fired boilers, but Germany is an oil-poor country and all the oil needed depends on imports. Once a war breaks out, it will be difficult for Germany to obtain a stable source of oil. Therefore, although the technical department proposed a research plan to develop boilers specifically using heavy oil in May 1908, it was ultimately not favored by the Navy.

However, as a promising emerging fuel, heavy oil is ultimately one of the German naval fuels, starting from the Caesar class. Compared with the previous Helgolan-class battleships, the length and width of the main protection area of ​​the Caesar class have not changed. Apart from the 16-meter length of the protection transmission shaft, the remaining length is only 100 meters. However, in this 100-meter length, it is more than the Helgolan-class double-company turrets with a diameter of 9 meters, and it also needs to accommodate a stronger host to ensure that the warship can reach 21 knots, which is based on the power of the power.

The density requirements have exceeded the limits that a simple coal-fired boiler can achieve, and the requirements for new power are imminent. As a last resort, the Navy could only agree to the design party's suggestion to use three specialized heavy oil boilers for the new ship. These three boilers will work with 12 coal-fired boilers to provide driving steam for the steam turbine on the ship. In order to ensure that the main fleet has sufficient fuel supply at any time to carry out no less than 30 large fleet activities, the High Seas Fleet has established a special fuel reserve for the main fleet since 1909.

The introduction of liquid fuel allows the Germans to pay a smaller tonnage price to gain more power, which also has extraordinary significance for controlling the cost. However, the amplification of the hull and the improvement of performance will eventually lead to a price increase. Compared with the Nassau class whose first ship costs only 31.5 million marks and the Helgolan class whose first ship costs 37 million marks, the cost of the first ship of this class has increased to 45.6 million marks, and the difference in the cost can even be purchased a 5,000-ton light cruiser. This shows how quickly the cost of the battleship is, and how the naval competition is used to burn money, only economically dynamic countries are qualified to participate!

The first Caesar-class ship started construction at the Royal Wilhelmshaven Shipyard on September 11, 1909. A grand start-up ceremony was held on the day of construction. An uncontrollable smile appeared on the faces of everyone attending the ceremony, because their British opponents equipped with a 343mm main gun, but had not started construction for some reason (the latter will not start construction until November 29 of the same year). At 9:11 am, with the laying of the first keel, the celebration reached the highest level. People who shouted "God bless my emperor" and "Long live Germany" could not foresee it. At the same time 92 years later, the mood and feelings of the Americans on the other side of the ocean, at this moment, they were rejoicing at the powerful warships that the High Seas Fleet was about to acquire.

According to the manufacturing habits of German battleships, the ships of this class originally planned to build four ships, and at the speed of starting one ship in 1909 and starting three ships in 1910, a naval proposal in November 1909 gave birth to the fifth Caesar-class battleship, and inadvertently changed the fate of the original Moltke-class 3 ship Seedlitz. At that time, the Navy proposed to need a battleship with strong command capabilities as the overall flagship of the increasingly powerful high seas fleet, pointing out that the command ship was the Caesar-class, and reported an estimated cost of 45.4 million marks.

After fierce discussion, the additional budget for 1909 was barely passed, which was later the flagship of the High Seas Fleet. The battleship, which was the latest to be used for construction, started construction at the Volcan Shipyard in Hamburg on January 26 of the following year, and accidentally became the Caesar-class "Ship No. 2". Since the ship temporarily planned to add many flagship facilities during construction, the Volcan Shipyard pointed out that the original budget was 1.1 million mark short of the actual cost of the ship. However, the Navy proposed an additional budget to the parliament in February 1910 but was rejected.

At that time, the parliament felt that the situation in the continental region was becoming increasingly tense, so it was more like the army in terms of funding (the 1.1 million marks originally applied for for the Navy were finally allocated to the Army to purchase Maxim machine guns. This batch of machine guns played a huge role in the Battle of the Marne River, and it was also considered to be good steel on the blade). The helpless Navy had to squeeze out the funds from the existing allocations like a sponge. Even Tirpitz, who had a great influence among the top management, had to smile bitterly in the face of this situation. The 1.1 million marks came from the construction funds of the Seedlitz, which also led to the modification of the design of the Seedlitz (which was also mentioned in the previous article). In the end, the start date of the battlecruiser, which was originally planned to start construction on February 27, 1910, had to be postponed by 3 months.

As the only battleship built in the high seas fleet, the Caesar-class design is successful. We can think that when the Caesar-class started construction, it was the most powerful battleships under construction by countries around the world. The Germans surpassed Britain for the first time and the only time in terms of the number of latest battleships, and the quality was better, but the British decided to maintain their advantages on battleship cruisers. The first ship of the first class of more powerful battleships was built on the British islands across the strait on September 26, 1909.

It will be equipped with the most powerful 343mm main gun in Britain and has a maximum speed of more than 27 knots. According to the construction habits of British battlecruisers, three battlecruisers of this class will be built! Faced with this situation, the Germans were at a loss because the funds obtained by the German Navy can only ensure the construction of 4 main battleships every year, and only one of them is a battlecruiser. It is obvious that it cannot last long if you expect additional budgets. The limited funds must be used most efficiently, and the Germans must make a trade-off between battleships and battleships.

[1911 without battlecruisers and strategic battleships: King-class]

"Battleship or battlecruiser? This is a problem!" - Admiral Schell

Yes, this was a difficult problem for the High Seas Fleet in March 1911. At this time, there were only 4 regular battlecruisers built and under construction, while the United Kingdom had 9; in terms of the battleships built and under construction, there were 13 battleships built and under construction, while the United Kingdom had 18, of which 4 battleships started construction between January and February 1911 alone!

For the high seas fleet, the number disadvantage is a foregone conclusion. The problem now is only whether to prioritize the narrowing of the battleship gap or the number of battleship cruisers. At this moment, almost all the senior naval leaders firmly stood on the side of the battleship. As for the reason for this choice, we can see a few of the conversation records left by Tirpitz during a meeting with Scher on March 6, 1930:

Sheer (hereinafter referred to as Sheer): Marshal, in the last war (referring to World War I), the glorious record of the first reconnaissance team of the High Seas Fleet (i.e., the Battlecruiser Fleet) completely surpassed the main force of the High Seas Fleet (i.e., the Battlecruiser). If we have more battlecruisers, the course of the war will definitely be rewritten.

Tirpitz (hereinafter referred to as Tie): Yes, our battlecruisers are better than the same-term products of the UK, although we have fewer numbers.

She: If we could have used the cost of building the main battleships in 1911 to build four battlecruisers like the Seedlitz, we would have obtained 10 battlecruisers at the beginning of the war, so...

Ti: (Interrupted She) My friend, I know what you are going to say, in fact, the same thing Hippel and Sileme once told me. Yes, our Seedlitz is excellent. It is actually not just a battlecruiser, but a battleship disguised as a battlecruiser. However, the navy is one of the powerful institutions of the country, which means that the high seas fleet is the German fleet, and Germany is not the country of the high seas fleet. The development of the fleet must serve the national strategy. The problem that Germany faced at the time was: we must tighten our nerves, continue to expand our military power on a large scale, avoid provocations, and wait patiently until our naval forces are established, forcing the British to let us breathe peacefully.

She: You mean, the High Seas Fleet was not born with the purpose of war?

: (Silence for a long time) It is not just the high seas fleet. The strategy of the entire Second Empire designed by the emperor at that time was not for war. The thing that the British depended on to maintain their hegemony was maritime power, and Britain's maritime power was built on battleships. If we could reach or exceed Britain in the quality and quantity of battleships, we could force Britain to become our ally, or force Britain (silence)

She: Or force Britain to go to war with us, and then destroy us.

: Yes, the British chose the latter. To be honest, the emperor and I did not expect that the war between Britain and Germany would break out. According to the situation that year, if we could start construction of 4 battleships in 1911, the total number of battleships we built and under construction would reach 17, while the number for the UK was 18. Considering our advantage in battleship defense capabilities, although our ships might be completed for a few months at night, this power comparison would be enough to make Britain fall to us. Looking back now, Britain had already shown a reconciliation at that time, but my stupidity finally made this opportunity slip away (this matter will be mentioned below).

She: The marshal does not have to blame himself. The authorities are confused. Under the circumstances at that time, it is difficult for anyone to do better than you.

: No. This incident made me feel deeply guilty. If I could have half of the vision of the old prime minister Bismarck, I could avoid the tragedy. I could never forgive myself. It seems that this regret will be taken to another world by me.

She: (Crying bitterly) My Marshal!

(Tirpitz died of illness at home 20 days after this meeting. On the night before his death, he asked his family to move models of each ship of the First Reconnaissance Detachment of the High Seas Fleet into his bedroom; and Scher also died in the same year - author's note)

In order to force Britain to form a national strategy with which it is, the battlecruiser must make way for the battleships, which is Germany's choice. Build battleships, and are more powerful battleships! In the design room, based on the blueprint of the Caesar-class battleship, the blueprint of a new battleship with a similar shape is being drawn: the same layout, the same armor, the same speed, and the larger artillery; in the Krupp factory, technicians are speeding up to create and test more powerful 350 mm caliber artillery; in the parliament building, the naval executives confronted the members of the verbal battle for the construction cost of up to 50 million marks per ship. The high seas fleet was waiting anxiously, and the German emperor himself was waiting anxiously! The German emperor knew that these four unprecedentedly powerful battleships were not only powerful naval weapons, but also strategic bargaining chips for negotiations with Britain!

On September 6, 1911, the design of the King-class battleship was finalized; on September 28, 1911, the first 350mm gun in production was launched into the Krupp factory gate; on October 3, 1911, the first King-class battleship was put into construction at the Royal Wilhelmshaven Shipyard; in November of the same year, two ships of the same class began to be built; and in January 1912, the fourth ship also entered construction.

So, the British were scared! The four most powerful battleships made the British feel very confident. The Germans were building battleships at the same speed as Britain, and the German warships were even more powerful. This impression was like a ghost in the mind of every British. The British Empire, which showed a tired economy, was unable to do so in such a continuous and fierce shipbuilding competition! The British knew that if the momentum of the arms race could not be curbed, the economic vitality of the British Empire would be consumed bit by bit, and it was time to end this money-burning game!

Therefore, in February 1912, the British First Maritime Secretary Halldan visited Germany. On the surface, his mission was to discuss the establishment of a university committee, but in fact he brought the British-German naval agreement and the more important "neutral agreement" attached! This agreement stipulates that after the signing of the contract between Britain and Germany, "if either party involved in a war of aggression cannot be attributed to its aggression, the other party will at least remain friendly and neutral to the allies deeply trapped in it." Germany only

The price to be paid is to limit the development of the ocean navy, not participate in the anti-British alliance, and recognize each other's interests on the colonial issue. If Bismarck lived, he would definitely increase the amount with his hands and be glad that God would favor Germany. With the British neutrality agreement, even if France and Russia joined forces, it would not be possible to complete a successful strategic attack on Germany! As long as this agreement is signed and taken into effect, it is equivalent to Britain's recognition of Germany's position as the hegemony on the European continent!

Unfortunately, the German Emperor and his staunch partner Tirpitz, who expanded the navy, failed to see the bottom line of Britain. Just before Halldan arrived in Berlin, Germany's new round of naval expansion plan was newly released (in fact, this plan was too large and could not be implemented, and could only stay on paper, which was undoubtedly a bluff that forced the British to submit). This move completely annoyed Britain. From then on, the combat readiness of the British navy, which was originally limited to the British navy, became the national act of Britain. The British began to focus on combat readiness and never looked back, and peace completely disappeared at that moment. The strategic opportunity won by the construction of the King-class battleship also became a mirror and water moon at that moment.

When in March 1912, Britain announced that it would start construction of all four Iron Duke-class battleships this year and build the Tiger battlecruiser equipped with 381mm (15-inch) giant cannons and two new battleships equipped with 381mm giant cannons. All evidence shows that Britain began to prepare for the war with all its might. It was too late for Germany to finally realize the seriousness of the problem.

[Product of preparations for the UK: Deflinger-class battlecruiser]

The British were going to start construction of seven main battleships within a year! In March 1912, this news stimulated the nerves of the German Navy and His Majesty the German Emperor. Because what it conveyed was: The British were going to start war!

The Germans understood that they could not do anything. However, the tense army expansion made the Germans feel short of money. The German Navy knew that in 1912 it could still obtain enough funds to build 4 new battleships, but in the next 1913, the funds they received might only be used to build 3 ships, or even only 2 battleships. Since the current task is to prepare for war, every penny must be used to effectively improve the overall combat effectiveness of the German fleet. The Germans noticed that

Only one of the seven newly started British battleships is a battleship, and the remaining six are battleships. This account is obvious: the British battleship troops after obtaining the new battleship will have 10 battleships, and the British main fleet after obtaining the new battleships will have 24 battleships. Considering that the three battleships under construction by Britain for other countries may be requisitioned for Britain in wartime, the total number of British battleships is likely to be 27; and Germany has started construction in 1912.

A battleship means that only 3 more battleships can be started in 1912. If the money is used to build battleships, then Germany can only obtain 20 battleships in total, which is still a gap of up to 7 ships from the British, which is useless. If this money can be invested in the construction of three powerful battleships, Germany can obtain 7 regular battleships. If the quasi-war patrol is included, the total number of German battleships can reach 8 ships, considering the German battleships.

The combat power is generally superior to the British. In future battles, the German Battle Patrol team can defeat the British Battle Patrol team at a small cost. Once the battle patrol team fails, the British large fleet battleship troops will become deaf and blind, with a huge scale, but cannot respond effectively. Therefore, 1912 became the year when the German Battle Patrol construction started the most, and the battle patrol built this year was the Deflinger-class who made great achievements in future battles.

As a giant ship with a standard displacement of more than 31,000 tons, the Defringer class has the same hull and turret protection as the King class and the same 350mm main gun, but the number of artillery is reduced to 8. In terms of power, considering that it will encounter blockade in future wars and lead to difficulties in importing oil, the Defringer class has restored the coal-fired boiler. Under normal output, it can reach a maximum speed of 26.5 knots. High speed, heavy armor, and heavy artillery, all of which make Defringer the most powerful battlecruiser in the German Navy and even the world in the early stages of World War I (maybe it is more appropriate to call it a fast battleship).

In fact, as early as the end of 1911, the overall design of the DeFringe class had been completed. At that time, it was planned to fully equip the DeFringe class with an oil-fired boiler so that the ship could reach a high speed of 28.6 knots. For the above reasons, the design was ordered to be modified into a coal-fired boiler on March 6, 1912. Such modifications took one month at the normal speed, but with the unremitting efforts of the designers, it took only 10 days to complete. The first ship was started at the Bromforth Shipyard in Hamburg on March 30, 1912. By the end of that year, all three ships had started construction.

【Empty Year of 1913】

As the land military expansion and preparation for war was in full swing, the expansion of the German Navy's main fleet was a dazzling number in 1913 - 0 ships. No new battleships started this year, because all steel and workers were given priority supply to expand the land. Although the newly designed battleships equipped with 380mm guns held a groundbreaking ceremony in September 1913, the Bavarian-class ships, which had the fastest start, had to start construction on January 5, 1914, and it was obvious that none of them was completed when World War I broke out. Therefore, we will put it in the next part for more detailed explanation.

In fact, the German Navy had never received sufficient funds in its expansion before the war. People have made statistics that between 1907 and 1914, Germany's allocation for naval equipment construction was only 40% of the British Navy during the same period. However, when the war started, the Germans used such pitiful funds to build the world's second largest fleet, of which the number of main fleets exceeded 70% of that of Britain. By the time of World War I broke out in 1914, the High Seas Fleet had 5 battlecruisers, 1 quasi-battleship cruisers, 14 battleships, and a total of 20 battleships. Whether they were willing or not, whether they were ready or not, the High Seas Fleet had to embark on an unknown journey. Is the high seas free or imprisoned? History is waiting for the steel giants waiting for the high seas to give the answer with their own naval guns!

【Next Preview】

In 1914, the battle clouds spread across Europe. In the same year, Germany started to build its own battleship, the most powerful battleship in the Battle of the First World War. What is the ultimate work? Why did the direct descendant of the Deflinger battlecruiser become the most terrifying existence at the end of World War I? What impact did the experience and lessons of the Battle of Jutland have on the design of the main ships after the German Navy and the US Navy on the other side of the ocean? Please pay attention to "High Seas - Freedom! (Part 2) - Manufacturing Jingwei of the Second German Empire (1914-1918)" and its legend "Yangekis on the Sunset Coast - The Complete History of the Design and Construction of American Rapid Battleships"

【Copyright:go229】

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