Just as British agents deployed in Egypt and spies mobilized personnel according to London's instructions to prepare for the support of Libyan tribal armed forces, Contini was inspecting the United "Sea Floating Airport", first to understand the training of carrier-based pilots, and second to continue to exchange in-depth ideas on aircraft carrier construction with designers.

During this period, in order to complete the design drawings of the Aida special cruise ship as soon as possible, designers from the large and small joint shipyards, including the ship designers dug from Contini from Germany, were working hard on this warship. They had to explore Italy's own aircraft carrier design based on the use of the warship, existing problems and directions of improvement, which obviously also required communication.

Although Contini had determined the main technical indicators and rough sketches of the Aida last time, it was easy to determine these. It was much more difficult and complicated to really design an aircraft carrier. Just considering the details and drawings is a difficult task. In addition, he also had to answer some "questions" that seemed meaningless: For example, why should the island be placed on the right? Is it not okay to put it on the left?

This question is actually difficult to answer. From the logic and theory of shipbuilding, it is okay to put the right and left sides, but the pilot has a characteristic. When encountering problems, he instinctively chooses the left bias. As for why there is such a tendency, he can only explain it subconsciously. So Contini replied humorously: "Will you hit the left or turn the steering wheel to the right when you encounter danger in driving?"

However, he couldn't answer the second question: Italy and Germany drive on the right, and the driver's seat is on the left, so it seems natural to dodge to the left. The question is that British cars drive on the left, and the driver's seat is on the right, so why dodge to the left?

These problems can only be explained by forcibly using the president's preferences. This also leads to the need to select a few flexible and quick-responsive young engineers to follow Contini and listen to the president's ideas about design at any time. Then they translate this idea into professional terms and pass it on to the designer. This task is usually done well by young Italian men, better than their German counterparts.

In fact, this is a relatively stupid method. The best way is to issue a bid by the Italian Navy to invite the British and American shipyards to provide Italy with aircraft carrier construction, and draw inspiration from the design drawings submitted by them. If possible, go and see the current aircraft carriers and construction situation of Britain and the United States.

However, Contini knew that this was impossible. First, if the Italian Navy entered the aircraft carrier field with a high profile, it would trigger the Mediterranean to confront the French. Second, with the British and American personality of not seeing rabbits and not showing off their eagles, they would inevitably conduct various test experiences on aircraft carriers ordered by Italy and were taken away by Britain and the United States. Italy could only pay for this; third, in this way, the Italian designer's ideas will be guided by Britain and the United States, which is very unfavorable for Italy.

As both aircraft carriers, the requirements for Italian aircraft carriers are obviously different from those of Britain and the United States:

Taking the range as an example, the area of ​​the sea area that Italy needs to cover is not large, just the Mediterranean bathtub. Although Contini also emphasized the ability of aircraft carriers to use in the Atlantic Ocean, in the final analysis, there is no need to use aircraft carriers like Britain and the United States that can run 9,000-12,000 kilometers at any time. The indicator he gave to the Ada was enough to meet the 6,500 nautical miles/18 knots of range.

Taking cost as an example, Italy can accept a high-volume design. Because Italy has limited shipbuilding capabilities, it is impossible to pile up dumplings during wartime, and can only rely on pre-war accumulation. A higher unit price does not hinder construction and cannot be built anyway. However, the small amount of construction will in turn increase construction costs;

Taking survival as an example, because Italy cannot replenish a lot of war damage during wartime, every warship is very valuable. Contini emphasizes the survival, self-defense and protection capabilities of warships. Not only was it designed as a large, heavy armored aircraft carrier with an initial design of 30,000 tons and armed reinforcement, but it also cut off part of the range and added all the excess weight requirements to the protection. The thin-skinned, fragile and easy to sink and easy to build is not Italy's development direction.

Although Italy doesn't build many, Contini believes that it is appropriate to build a few more before the war. Italy's only advantage over Britain and the United States is that it can be free from the restrictions on national defense costs. At worst, he can spend a few more money, so he must strengthen the shipbuilding capabilities of domestic shipyards. The shipbuilding business is gradual and cannot be achieved overnight.

In order to strengthen the strength of the small United Shipyard, Contini tried every means to establish a good relationship with the large United Shipyard and was ready to take the other party down at the appropriate time. On the other hand, he waved his checkbook to take over the old German shipyard Volkeng Shipyard, which has been in trouble in recent years, and turned it into a German branch of the United Shipyard. It is the first step for United Group to go abroad for expansion and mergers and acquisitions.

Volkeng Shipyard has built many famous warships in history and is also the main shipbuilder of the Chinese Beiyang Navy, especially the two giant ships of Dingyuan and Zhenyuan at that time. However, it is undeniable that the infrastructure of the factory is indeed a bit outdated, and it becomes unscrupulous in the face of the increasing tonnage of ships. In addition, the location of Szczechin in the Baltic Sea is relatively remote and it is difficult to attract outstanding talents. After entering the 1910s, facing the rapid advancement of dreadnought technology, we can only stare at and anxiously. Although a new branch was established in Hamburg, it was obviously not urgent. In the final battle, we could only build some small and medium-sized ships such as destroyers, light cruisers, submarines, etc. The large battleship of the German Navy was completed in Germania and other shipyards.

Although there are also many successful products, with the end of World War I and the German maritime forces entered a vacuum period, the Volkeng Shipyard became worse and harder and lived a hard life. After the crisis in the Ruhr area, the old shipyard was in a struggle and was originally going to sell it to other German companies, Germanic shipyards, and Hamburg Shipyards all expressed interest, but they were not as generous as Contini? More importantly, Contini said that not only did the shipyards accept all the shipyards, but they also said that no experienced and skilled employees had to be fired, and that all of them were retained and selected to select a group of Italian companies would have a significant increase in salary.

The other two shipyards have over-staffed personnel, so how could they dare to promise such a thing? So two months ago, Volkeng Shipyard officially became a member of United Group and is considered a subsidiary of United Shipbuilding.

Contini not only attracted the personnel and technical accumulation of the shipyard, but more importantly, he fell in love with the submarine design and construction capabilities of the Vulkeng Shipyard, which is being replicated in the shipyard. At the same time, he may invest in expanding the ship platform and dock of the Vulkeng Shipyard, and he will still prepare to build large ships in the future.

In order to maintain friendly relations with the German business community, he apologized for his behavior of robbing love, and the President was too lazy to mediate through political and diplomatic means. He used the gold and dollar stick very poorly and threw out two tanker orders in one go: suitable for use in the Mediterranean region, can achieve a capacity of 20,000 tons, with a maximum speed of no less than 16 knots, and a range of no less than 8,000 nautical miles at an economic speed of 10 knots. The two shipyards of Germania and Hamburg were independently designed. Whose design is more valuable in use, and whose ship has a better overall cost-effectiveness, will be used for batch construction in the future (the design plan is free). This time, the order will be one for one.

The 20,000-ton oil tanker is still a new thing for Germany. The originally noisy German shipyard and the Hamburg shipyard immediately went crazy to discuss and design. They are not stupid and would calculate how big the next batch construction business is: Italy's oil in North Africa will be calculated in tens of millions of tons. Assuming 10 million tons/year transportation volume, it will take an oil tanker to complete the 1,500 nautical miles of Benghazi to Genoa for a 1,500 nautical miles of Benghazi to Genoa. It takes as fast as 16 days to complete the fastest return journey. It is extremely efficient to perform 20 transportation tasks a year. After a simple calculation, in order to meet the 10 million tons of oil transportation task, such a ship requires at least 25 such ships. This is a huge number. It is enough to support the existing ships of the two companies. Besides, who stipulates that North Africa can only produce 10 million tons a year, and what if it rises to 20 million tons over time?

Several domestic shipyards in Italy also received similar orders: several key shipyards each have a 20,000-ton design and construction order. There are also shipyards in the UK, the United States and even France who came to take the initiative to do business, but Contini politely declined: What a joke, everyone is only seeing the United Group's tanker. This is of course very important, but the president wants to escort the aircraft carrier in the future and transform the aircraft carrier. The tanker said that it is only one layer of window paper between them and simple aircraft carriers. How can it stimulate Britain, France and the United States? He sent orders to the country in a hope of improving their design and construction capabilities. Whether to make money or not is not considered at all. This is the true face of the National Policy Group.

These happy shipyard owners have no idea how big the President’s appetite is: 25 ships, 30 ships! Contini is thinking of 120 ships!

To be precise, he wanted to stockpile 120 20,000-ton tankers before the war started. On the one hand, the United Group with this scale and size can effectively monopolize the Mediterranean shipping industry. On the other hand, in his mind, the total crude oil supply required by Western Europe in the future should be more than 30 million tons. If not more are built, how can we have the opportunity to cope with the damage and the need to pull out military transformation? With the shipbuilding capabilities of Italy and Germany, it is difficult to supplement during the war, and a batch must be stockpiled before the war.

It is impossible to hoard warships. Hoarding large tankers that are easily transformed into aircraft carriers will not attract attention. There is currently no policy or political risk: Everyone knows that United Group will produce a lot of oil in the future. Isn’t this just ready-made transportation demand? A 20,000-ton tanker is generally economical and affordable than a 5,000-ton small tanker, right?
Chapter completed!