Chapter 376 Aircraft Carriers

In the original timeline, the German Grand Admiral, Raeder, formulated the ambitious "Plan Z". It included 10 battleships, 3 battlecruisers, 4 aircraft carriers, 8 armored ships or heavy cruisers, 44 light cruisers, 68 destroyers, 90 torpedo boats, and 249 submarines. (Data often changed according to the changing situation of the war).

As a result, the overly ambitious little mustache, Hitler, actually approved this plan. In July 1939, the construction of the H-class giant battleships with a displacement of up to 62,500 tons began. However, when Germany suddenly invaded Poland in September, Britain did not remain silent as it did when Czechoslovakia was annexed by Germany. Instead, Britain immediately declared war on Germany and sent an expeditionary force to the European continent. Hitler had to order the suspension of Plan Z, and even all the large warships under construction in the plan were canceled.

By 1942, the German Navy's large surface vessels were few and far between. Some senior German naval officers, led by Raeder, had already felt pessimistic about the situation. The ambitious aspirations of Plan Z gradually faded away.

The Battle of the Barents Sea at the end of that year was the last straw that broke the camel's back. The "Admiral Hipper" and "Lützow" ("Deutschland" before being renamed to "Lützow") were accused by Hitler of cowardice. He completely lost confidence in Germany's large surface warships and even threatened to dismantle all surface warships and melt them down to build tanks. Raeder was relieved of his duties.

Thus, the prominent figure in the German Navy departed from his stage in a melancholy manner, and the German Navy's combat focus shifted entirely to underwater operations. However, even Dönitz's submarine warfare could not save Germany. With defeat and surrender, the road to rebuilding the Kriegsmarine came to an abrupt end.

Now, with the complete occupation of Iceland by the German army and the establishment of military bases on the island, present-day Britain finds itself surrounded on three sides. The proud Royal Navy fleet has become a shrinking turtle, confined to ports, which is quite embarrassing.

In contrast, Germany not only continuously launches warships from its own shipyards but also gradually integrates the shipbuilding industries of various European countries. The German Navy has even proposed a new shipbuilding plan with a total number of ships reaching several hundred.

Wilhelm specifically intervened and prioritized the construction of aircraft carriers.

Nowadays, there are three aircraft carriers nearing completion in German shipyards, while the four semi-finished aircraft carriers received during France's surrender have also entered the trial phase.

In fact, France already has several existing aircraft carriers, among which the most famous is the "Béarn" aircraft carrier.

This is a behemoth converted from the "Normandie" class battleships of World War I. With a full load displacement of 28,900 tons, it is close to the "Essex" class fleet carriers built in large numbers by the United States during World War II. However, it still retains many characteristics of early aircraft carriers. For example, the "Béarn" has a total of eight 155mm naval guns installed around its hull, with 6 dual-purpose 75mm and 8 dual-purpose 37mm guns on each side, and four torpedo launchers at the bow. With so many guns and torpedoes, it could arm a light cruiser. It can be seen that the French mentality is still in the era of giant ships and big guns, and their understanding of the new naval warfare mode is not sufficient. The "Béarn" is more like a cruiser with aircraft-carrying capabilities than an aircraft carrier.

Even if Wilhelm doesn't mind this hybrid, it's impossible to incorporate it.

Because during the execution of "Operation Fish" in France, the "Béarn" was one of the ships transporting the gold.

Due to France's surrender to Germany, the "Béarn," after transporting the gold, had nowhere to go, and the captain declared allegiance to de Gaulle, which made Wilhelm quite disgusted.

Furthermore, France also has the "Commandant Teste" aircraft carrier, but it's just a seaplane carrier, capable of carrying only 26 seaplanes. Although the career of this aircraft carrier is quite interesting (to prevent capture by the Germans, in November 1942, the "Commandant Teste" was scuttled in Toulon Harbor, but it was salvaged by the Italians in May 1943 and transferred to Germany in September 1943. The "Commandant Teste" ultimately did not escape the fate of being captured by the Germans. In August 1944, it was sunk by bombs dropped by Allied airstrikes, and salvaged again in February 1945. Finally, the "Commandant Teste" was dismantled and sold in May 1950, ending its ordinary yet extraordinary life). However, Wilhelm is not desperate enough to be interested in such a weakling of an aircraft carrier and decided to leave it to France.

Together with the two aircraft carriers that Wilhelm didn't intend to transfer to the Soviet Union, the German Navy will soon have 10 main aircraft carriers.

The Soviet ambassador has come to urge several times, but each time he has been sent away by various excuses from Ribbentrop. Wilhelm knows that when Ribbentrop's excuses run out, both sides will probably turn hostile.

Building a modern aircraft carrier is a time-consuming and laborious endeavor. The U.S. Nimitz-class aircraft carrier took seven years to build, the Russian Kuznetsov-class took nine years, and the French Charles de Gaulle took eleven years.

Moreover, even when the aircraft carrier is completed, it cannot immediately enter combat; it still needs one or two years of trials.

Compared to modern aircraft carriers of the future, the speed of construction of aircraft carriers during World War II was astonishing. For example, Japan built 25 aircraft carriers in less than 10 years. The fastest construction by the United States took only 10 days to assemble an aircraft carrier; they built 150 aircraft carriers in just four years.

The main reason for this is that the technological content of aircraft carriers during World War II was quite low, probably not even one percent of modern aircraft carriers of the future. Their construction speed was naturally very fast.

During World War II, aircraft carriers were so simple that they could even be built and converted on cargo ships. Moreover, the carrier-based aircraft were very "rudimentary." Compared to the advanced fourth and fifth-generation fighters of the future, the propeller-driven aircraft of World War II were almost like putting piston engines into airplane shells, adding mechanical transmission mechanisms and a few simple instruments to get them airborne.

Modern aircraft carriers are completely different. They are not just aircraft launching and landing platforms; they are combat command centers. They can be seen as floating fortresses, a collection of advanced technology. Compared to aircraft carriers of World War II, they are not in the same category at all. Of course, their construction difficulty is also very high. Apart from complex systems such as aviation electronics, propulsion, communication, and self-defense, just the deck alone is enough to deter many countries. The aircraft carrier deck not only faces harsh maritime weather conditions but also needs to withstand the impact of carrier-based aircraft, the scorching heat of the afterburners, and possible artillery attacks during wartime. Therefore, it requires specialized deck steel for construction, and globally, only a few major military powers have the capability to manufacture it.

Therefore, it can be simply understood that the difficulty of constructing aircraft carriers is proportional to their combat effectiveness. If the aircraft carriers of World War II were to confront modern aircraft carriers, no matter how many there were, it would not be enough.