The Rise of the Empire

"Everyone, we have already assumed the British naval strategy and tactics. In addition to the powerful Royal Navy battleships, we also need to pay attention to those auxiliary warships. These guys whose offense and defense cannot compare with capital ships but are super fast are The eyes and ears of the British Grand Fleet are the noose for them to hang Germany." Then, His Royal Highness pointed to the coast of Germany and the northernmost point of the North Sea in the distance with the putter in his hand.

"The British will use a fleet of light cruisers to carry out approaching reconnaissance on us, and use high speed to monitor every move of the imperial navy. Whether it is our main fleet sailing or mobilizing, as long as we appear on the open sea, it will be very difficult. Avert their eyes. If we are going to carry out a large-scale operation, then this blockade of light cruisers must be broken!"

"To fight against this blockade, it is possible to use capital ships, but it is difficult to catch them, and the cost is too high. So, what I mean is to use light cruisers as the main force, and gradually weaken them under the cover of our main fleet The British light cruiser force, thereby weakening the opponent's detection capabilities. Paves the way for us to launch a large-scale operation."

"Secondly, our light cruiser has another goal, which is to act at the northern end of the North Sea at the right time, attack the British blockade, and cover our submarines, disguised assault ships, or disguised transport ships entering and leaving the North Sea at the right time, the British It is impossible to use their capital fleet to carry out this blockade mission. Only camouflage cruisers or old cruisers."

"This is the opponent our cruiser needs to face, the opponent's light cruiser, destroyer, auxiliary cruiser and some merchant ships!" Prince Ruprecht delineated the goal.

"And you're going to redesign the cruiser standards of the High Seas Fleet this time, aren't you? If I'm not mistaken, you will definitely allow our light cruisers to overwhelm our opponents in terms of performance, and even reduce the number?" Tirpitz asked road.

"That's right, in my opinion, the light cruiser design of the High Seas Fleet is worse than the original battleship design, so it must be overthrown and restarted!" His Royal Highness nodded and said.

If the small water tube boilers and defenses of the German main battleships are commendable, but the firepower coffee table is a bit more, then the German light cruiser is a comprehensive coffee table! Especially the light cruisers of the German Navy before the war can be described as a tragedy.

For example, everyone knows the Emden, a star warship with a total tonnage of 70,360 tons that dangled at sea for more than 100 days and captured 33 merchant ships. What is the final outcome? In the battle against the British armored cruiser Sydney, Emden lost 7 officers and 129 soldiers and 65 people were injured in exchange for 16 shells that hit the opponent, 4 people were killed and 17 were injured. Great results".... Ah, very good.

Some people may have said that the combat effectiveness of the two sides is completely unequal. The light cruiser Emden has a normal displacement of 3,664 tons and a heavy load of only 4,268 tons. The Sydney has a normal displacement of 5,400 tons, and its heavy-load displacement has reached the 6,000-ton mark. The gap in tonnage naturally leads to a gap in armament and defense.

This is very reasonable. The tonnage of the two sides is indeed a little different. Well, let’s talk about warships with similar tonnages at the same time. For example, the German light cruiser Karlsruhe. The design tonnage of this light cruiser It is 4,900 tons, and the heavy-duty tonnage is 6,191 tons, which is at the same level as the British armored cruiser Sydney. But when it comes to performance, except for the speed, this thing is not as good as the Sydney.

Compared with firepower and defense, the Karlsruhe has 12 105MM artillery pieces, the armor belt is 60MM to 18MM, the cannon cover is 50MM, and the conning tower is 100MM. Armor deck is 40 to 60MM. And what about Sydney? They have 8 6-inch L45 guns and 4 3-pound guns. The waterline armor belt is 50MM, and there is also a dome armor, of which the inclined part is 25MM. The vertical part is 40MM to 15MM. The conning tower is 102MM.

Overall, the firepower of the Sydney is an absolute advantage. In terms of armor, the vertical armor has an advantage, and the horizontal armor is a bit of an advantage for the Karlsruhe. Overall, Sydney is better. The most unbearable thing is the firepower. In the Emden era, the German light cruisers had 10 105MM guns. After the tonnage increased by more than 1,000 tons, two 105MM guns were actually added. This is simply unbearable.

And this battleship also broke a record, that is, it was the only German cruiser that was not sunk by a British warship, because on November 4, 1914, this battleship actually blew itself up! The cause of the explosion is unknown, it is said that there was an accident with the unstable packaged smokeless powder, which then affected the ammunition depot.... Then 263 officers and soldiers of the entire ship were killed, and only 146 survived.

The real master of the German light cruiser still has to look at the Emden II. This warship with a displacement similar to Karlsruhe has almost the same defense, tonnage, and speed as the latter, but it is equipped with eight 150MM cannons at the same time. Both firepower and defense are considered good among warships during the war. But like capital ships, the Germans woke up too late.... Too few in number and too late in service.

Like capital ships, cruisers as auxiliary battleships also need to be redesigned. If historical limitations are considered, armored cruisers such as Emden 2 can be considered worthy of the design level at that time, but unfortunately, the Germans are facing. The powerful British navy, if you don't open it up, how can you deal with the British?

But to be honest, the design of light cruisers requires more level than the design of capital ships, because the tonnage of the former is relatively not rich. Given the tonnage of 30,000 tons for the Bavarian Design Bureau, it is completely possible to design a warship that can suppress the queen. Armor, protection, and speed can be well balanced, but light cruisers are different. Their tonnage is too small. Generally, the heavy load tonnage is only 6,000 tons, and the standard displacement is only about 5,200 tons.

However, the first thing a light cruiser needs is power. According to the phenomenon, a warship with a standard displacement of only 5,200 tons needs a rated output of 31,000 horsepower, while a warship of 26,000 tons like the Hindenburg needs an actual output of more than 90,000 horsepower. . The tonnage of the latter is about 5 times that of the former, but the horsepower is only 3 times that of the former. The cost of power must be indispensable.

But in history, the tonnage of light cruisers and battleships is similar, or even lower. Emden is just under £300,000. Karlsruhe is about 400,000 pounds, and these are tricky. The power system needs more money than the capital ship, but the overall cost per ton has not increased, so the question arises, how do these money remain. …

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