After the wedding, Oscar and Princess Gundelinde started their honeymoon trip. They went south from Berlin, passed Kingdom of Bavaria, and went to Switzerland. Although Alps in this season is not as beautiful as in winter, it has a unique flavor.
Half a month later, Oscar and Princess Gundelinde returned to Berlin. It's not that Oscar doesn't want to play outside for a while, but that he is too busy. In addition, the current international situation is becoming more and more tense, and war is about to break out, which forces Oscar to focus more on official duties.
Although, Oscar remembers that it was still a few years before the war broke out. What he was not sure about, however, was whether war would still break out during that period after he had changed history. Therefore, Oscar has a sense of crisis. He hopes that German Empire can be as fully prepared as possible before the war breaks out, so that he can change the outcome of the war.
"Dear, I'm going to German Shipyard tomorrow. I'll stay there for about two days." Oscar looked at his parents and children with an apologetic look. They were newly married and he had to go on a business trip, which was really inappropriate.
"It's okay, dear, go and do your business!" Princess Gundelinde behaved very generously. She knew that with Oscar's identity and status, she had too many things to do, and it was impossible to stay with her all day long. Princess Gundelinde is very satisfied to have such an excellent husband as Oscar. After all, marrying a talented Crown Prince is better than marrying a playboy, right? What's more, she is very likely to become Empress in the future, which is undoubtedly every woman's dream.
Oscar and Grand Admiral Count Tirpitz took a special train to German Shipyard. Although Grand Admiral Count Tirpitz kept trying to trick Oscar on the road and wanted to know what Oscar's so-called secret weapon was, Oscar was very tight-lipped and did not say a word on this issue. This made Grand Admiral Count Tirpitz very dissatisfied, but there was nothing he could do about it.
"Crown Prince. Now Imperial Navy's strength is growing very fast. However, Britain people are also building warships crazily. The gap between us and Britain people has not been able to widen." A trace of worry flashed in Grand Admiral Count Tirpitz's eyes.
Oscar nodded. "Your Excellency, it is simply unrealistic to compete with the Britain people in ship building speed, or to compare with them in the number of Capital Ships people. The only thing we can do is to overwhelm the Britain people in terms of single ship performance. In this way, we will be able to defeat them and win in future naval battles."
"That's true, but if Britain people have too great a quantitative advantage over Capital Ships, our chances of winning will not be too great." In Grand Admiral Count Tirpitz's view, quality advantage is very important. But equally, numerical advantage is also indispensable. Quantitative changes often lead to qualitative changes.
"Well, so we need to prepare some secret weapons for the navy to improve the navy's combat effectiveness as much as possible." Oscar said.
Oscar knows that Capital Ships of German Navy cannot be more than British Navy. Therefore, he can only use other methods to weaken British Navy's strength. For example, use a submarine or aircraft carrier Carrier-based aircraft to attack Capital Ships of British Navy, further weakening British Navy's strength. In this case, the pressure on German Navy will be reduced a lot during the decisive battle at sea.
Grand Admiral Count Tirpitz nodded, and he couldn't help but look forward to the secret weapon Oscar said.
Now German Navy already has two levels of Capital Ships and one level of Battlecruiser. 'Nassau-class' Battleship, 'Wittelsbach-class' Battleship level one 'Blücher-class' Battlecruiser has entered service one after another, and 'Moltke-class' Battlecruiser and 'Kaiser-class' Battleship are both under construction. In particular, 'Moltke-class' Battlecruiser has completed most of its construction and is expected to be ready for service next year. And 'Kaiser-class' Battleship will also be put into service on a large scale from the end of next year to the beginning of the next year. This will greatly enhance the strength of German Navy.
"Your Highness, do you have any ideas about the construction plan for the next level Capital Ships?" Grand Admiral Count Tirpitz asked.
Through the construction of successive stages of Capital Ships, no one within the Navy raised objections to the design of Oscar. Even the experts at Naval Technical Committee stopped talking nonsense.
Oscar thought for a while, then nodded. "For the next level Capital Ships, my idea is to further increase the displacement of the battleship, so as to carry a larger caliber main gun and have thicker armor."
"A larger caliber main gun? 'Kaiser-class' Battleship and 'Wittelsbach-class' Battleship and 'Moltke-class'Z Battlecruiser are all 343mm Main Gun, is it possible that Capital Ships will be equipped with 380mm Main Gun from the next level?" Grand Admiral Count Tirpitz asked.
Grand Admiral Count Tirpitz knows that Oscar has always been fond of increasing the caliber of Capital Ships's main gun. Otherwise, the main gun caliber of German Navy and Capital Ships will not be increased to 343 mm. I am afraid that at this time, the caliber of German Navy and Capital Ships is still 280 mm or 305 mm.
"Well, 380mm Main Gun, that is inevitable. Krupp Company has already started research in this area at my request. It is expected that we should be able to make breakthrough progress next year. Our next-level Capital Ships can start construction next year. In this case, there is still enough time." Oscar said.
Grand Admiral Count Tirpitz nodded, of course he would have no objection to this. The stronger the navy is, the more comfortable he, First Sea Lord, will be.
Oscar is also secretly thinking about starting from the next level Capital Ships to build Capital Ships equipped with 380mm Main Gun. In this case, if the war still breaks out in 1914, German Navy will have Capital Ships equipped with 380mm Main Gun. Even the second-level equipment 380mm Main Gun, Capital Ships, will be put into service soon. As for British Navy, I'm afraid there will be no Capital Ships equipped with 381mm Main Gun by then. By that time, German Navy will have a greater advantage.
After the special train arrived at German Shipyard, Grand Admiral Count Tirpitz walked directly to the slipway. He couldn't wait to see what the secret weapon Oscar said was.
However, after seeing the true face of Lushan, Grand Admiral Count Tirpitz couldn't help being dumbfounded.
"Your Highness, isn't this a submarine? Is this the secret weapon you talk about?" Grand Admiral Count Tirpitz couldn't laugh or cry.