The Rise of the Third Reich

"Haha, even Halsey was caught by us."

Hearty laughter echoed in the general staff of Zossen. Hessmann, who had just received the final confirmed result report—sinking all nine super battleships owned by the U.S. Navy—could not help but laugh.

Now the balance of power on the Atlantic-Caribbean battlefield has undergone fundamental changes, and Germany's advantage has been completely established. This advantage is not entirely reflected in the number and quality of capital ships owned by the European Community Combined Fleet, but is based on an epoch-making weapon and missile that the United States does not have at all.

When the nine American super battleships faced the two German missile ships, they had no ability to resist at all. In just a few minutes, three of the four powerful Iowa-class battleships were basically paralyzed. One of them was sunk on the spot!

This kind of advantage can no longer be compensated by the numbers of Americans. The current situation is like that of Western colonists with strong ships and powerful artillery attacking a weak ancient eastern country. They only need to invest a small amount of troops to defeat them. It can conquer or defeat ancient powers with absolute numerical superiority through epoch-making technological advancement.

Facing the German anti-ship missiles, American battleships and cruisers were completely useless, just like using machetes against Mauser rifles.

Moreover, Germany now has not only remote-controlled guided missiles for anti-ship, but also missiles that can be used to attack ground targets. The missiles that just attacked Port of Spain on the island of Trinidad were four V1B missiles launched from the Kesselring-class aircraft carriers "Anthony Fokker" and "Max".

Yes, missiles were not only installed on battleships and heavy cruisers, but also on aircraft carriers!

Of course, not all aircraft carriers of the European Community Joint Fleet are equipped with missiles. Only a small number of "Kesselring" class aircraft carriers are equipped with missile launchers.

Moreover, the missiles installed on these "Kesselring" class aircraft carriers are not the expensive "Reaper" series of remotely controlled missiles, but cheap V1B missiles. This missile is produced by Volkswagen. The "V" stands for not revenge, but the first letter of "Volks" (National, Volkswagen).

Just like the cheap cars produced by Volkswagen, the V1B missile is also a cheap missile. The engine used is not a turbojet engine (the engine used in Death 1) or a rocket engine (the engine used in Death 2), but a low-cost pulse jet engine with a simple structure, and it can also use low-grade gasoline as fuel.

In addition, the navigation system used by the V1B missile is also very simple. It is not a TV remote control guidance, nor a radar guidance. It relies on a gyroscope, a magnetic compass and a barometric altimeter to control the missile's flight.

Of course, the principle of cheap but not good also applies to black-tech missiles. Cheap V1B missiles have a series of shortcomings such as slow speed (cruising speed 644 km/h), poor reliability (often falling while flying), insufficient navigation accuracy, and insufficient thrust during launch.

Therefore, this weapon cannot be used for precision strikes, and it cannot be carried by bombers (it is prone to accidents). Its tactical value is not very high, and it is just a low-cost strategic deterrent weapon.

Therefore, for a long period of time, the German military looked down on V1 missiles and did not purchase large quantities of equipment. It was not until the war against the United States was put on the agenda that it began to pay attention to V1 missiles. A carrier-based version of the V1 with an increased range has also been developed, which is the V1B cruise missile with a range of 500 kilometers.

Due to the insufficient thrust of the V1B cruise missile, it cannot rely on its own pulse jet engine for launch and can only use a catapult for ejection. The gunpowder catapults used on battleships and cruisers to eject Ar196 seaplanes are not powerful enough and are not safe enough for V1B missiles. So the V1B was loaded onto the aircraft carrier and launched using the hydraulic catapult on the aircraft carrier.

The aircraft carriers "Anthony Fokker" and "Max", which originally belonged to the 5th Fleet and were temporarily assigned to the 30th Task Force, are equipped with catapults that can be used to eject V1B cruise missiles. Moreover, hundreds of V1B missiles are stored in the hangar, which can be tested with live ammunition at any time.

After the overall situation of the Battle of Bermuda was decided, Hersman ordered the aircraft carrier "Anthony Fokker" and "Max" to launch dozens of V1B missiles towards Port of Spain.

"Report, the Submarine Command just called. Their submarine U-2519 observed several moderate-intensity explosions in Port of Spain at around 12 noon today, Guyana time."

At this time, one of Hessmann's adjutants brought news that the V1B missile hit the target.

"This is another piece of good news!" Hessman clapped his hands and said, "We now not only have anti-ship missiles that dominate the Atlantic Ocean, but we also have aircraft missiles and ballistic missiles that can be used to attack the United States.

There is not much time left for Americans now! "

"Ballistic missiles?" Halder seemed to hear something, "Marshal of the Empire, are you going to install A-7 rockets on the aircraft carrier?"

The A-7 rocket is the latest result of the rocket research project led by Dr. Werner von Braun. It is an improved version of the A-4 rocket successfully developed in 1942. The rocket's take-off weight reaches nearly 20 tons, its maximum flight altitude reaches 100 kilometers, and its maximum flight speed exceeds Mach 5.

According to Dr. Braun's report, if the A-7 rocket is equipped with a warhead of about 2.5 tons, it can achieve a maximum range of 400 kilometers!

The weight of the Heisenberg device tested in the Algerian desert in June 1944 was 4.5 tons. Although there is still a 2-ton gap between the two, this gap cannot be made up. Because the Heisenberg device was only the beginning of the atomic bomb, the design was very primitive, and sufficient safety factors were left in all aspects to ensure the success of the explosion, thus adding a lot of unnecessary weight.

If we can spare dozens of kilograms of plutonium-239 for nuclear testing, it will be possible to reduce the weight of nuclear bombs to less than 4 tons or even 3 tons in 45 years. The A-7 rocket also has room for continued improvement. It is entirely possible to come up with a ballistic missile that can carry more than 3 tons of warheads in 45 years.

So the problem now is to find a suitable launch platform for the A-7 or A-8 ballistic missile.

Because the range is only 400 kilometers, land-based launches cannot hit the US emperor, so they can only be launched from the sea.

And what could be used as a sea-based launch platform... was definitely not a submarine in 1944. A-7 is a liquid rocket and requires a long time to prepare before launch. It takes several hours just to determine the coordinates and prepare the launch platform. In addition, refueling also takes 15 minutes. Moreover, alcohol, oxygen and hydrogen peroxide used as launch fuel are high-risk chemicals, and it is too dangerous to put them in a submarine with a small space.

Therefore, submarines are not considered, and the space on ships such as light cruisers and destroyers is not large enough, so they cannot be considered either. There is enough space on heavy cruisers and battleships, but using heavy cruisers and battleships to carry ballistic missiles requires major changes, which is very troublesome.

Therefore, large armored aircraft carriers are the best choice. Firstly, the space on the aircraft carrier is large enough to place ballistic missiles; secondly, the armored aircraft carrier has an armored flight deck that can withstand the high temperature during rocket launches.

However, the German Navy does not have many armored aircraft carriers, only 10 in total, and they are all protagonists on the battlefield. It is impossible to enter the factory and convert them into "missile aircraft carriers."

Now, because the three large armored aircraft carriers of the German Navy were damaged to varying degrees in the Battle of Bermuda and must be repaired in the factory, this is an opportunity.

"Marshal Admiral," Hessman said, "Now that the three ships of Zeppelin, Prussia and Bohemia are returning, perhaps two of them can be converted into missile carriers to serve as carriers for A-7 or A-8 missiles. "Sea launch platform."

"Take out two armored aircraft carriers?" Redel frowned when he heard this, "Is one not enough?"

"Of course it's not enough." Hersman shook his head and said with a smile, "The offshore platform for launching missiles is related to whether we can force the United States to make the greatest concessions. It is necessary to add more insurance factors. How about taking out the Zeppelin as well? , can be used as a test platform...The Zeppelin will be used for missile launch tests before the Prussia and Bohemia are completed."

"Take the Zeppelin away too?" Redel was a little confused. "Then the 2nd Fleet doesn't have an aircraft carrier?"

Now that Seidlitz and Sekt have been abandoned, the Second Fleet only has three aircraft carriers: Zeppelin, Prussia and Bohemia.

"It doesn't matter," Hessmann smiled. "There will be new Seidlitz and Sekt soon. In addition, we can send two Kesselring-class ships to the 2nd Fleet."

The new Seydlitz and Sekt refer to Zeppelin (B41 type) No. 9 and 10, which have been named before, but in order to commemorate the heroic sinking of the Seydlitz and Sekt (they are also The earliest fleet carriers of the German Navy), Hersmann and Raeder had already discussed renaming those two aircraft carriers Seidlitz and Seeckt.

Seeing that Redl wanted to continue arguing, Hersman shook his hand and smiled: "Admiral, the control of the sea in the Atlantic already belongs to us. The Americans will cherish their remaining naval battleships very, very much, so don't worry too much about the U.S. Navy." . What we need to think about now is how to let the American people know that their homeland is not safe, and if we want to attack, we can attack!"