ps: If you want to hear more of your voices and receive more of your suggestions, search for the WeChat public account "qdread" and follow it now to give more support to "Sub-Eagle Flags"!

After months of debugging and running-in, the German and Austrian Navy's long-awaited "Markensen-class battlecruiser ship finally officially joined the naval sequence. △↗

As the only newly started first-class main warship after the outbreak of the war, the "Markensen-class" battlecruiser combines Germany's latest military technology and design ideas, basically representing the highest achievement of Germany's shipbuilding and industrial technology. Because the British controlled Gibraltar, the Austro-Hungarian Navy's range of activities was limited to the Mediterranean. Due to the excellent performance of the two "Radetsky" class battle cruisers in the early stage of the war and also to go to the Atlantic to fight, the Austro-Hungarian Navy also ordered two battlecruisers of the same class from the shipyard in Lübeck in early 1915.

The German Navy ordered 5 ships at one time, two of which were built by the Brom Fox Shipyard, and the remaining one was built by Danze's Shuox Shipyard, Wilhelmshaven Royal Shipyard and Beihai Shipyard. In fact, with the two warships of the same class ordered by the Austro-Hungarian Navy, the Beihai Shipyard was responsible for the construction of three main ships of the same class.

The initial design of the German Navy was to have four dual-mounted 350mm main turrets the same as the "King-class". However, due to the information on the construction plan of some of the latest "Hood"-class battlecruisers started in the UK, the German Navy finally decided to use the same 380mm main gun of the "Istrian Grand Duke" class that the Austro-Hungarian Navy was testing at the time, and the main turret also adopted the same front-and-back 2-3 joint arrangement.

Due to the increase in the weight of the main turret and the strengthening of the armor, the design standard displacement of the "Markensen" class reached 35,600 tons and the full load displacement of 42,100 tons, surpassing the Austrian-Hungarian Navy's "Austrian" class battleship, becoming the only main battleship of the German and Austrian Navy with a displacement of more than 40,000 tons.

Because the Markensen class adopts the battlecruiser type, it has a length of 230 meters and a width of 31 meters. The power system uses 32 oil-fired boilers, and the power system is four Sophomore steam turbines, with a maximum power of 97,000 horsepower and a designed speed of 28 knots.

In actual tests, each ship can run a maximum speed of nearly 29 knots, while two Austro-Hungarian warships using Islay steam turbines can actually run a high speed of 29.2 knots.

Although they achieved good results in the Battle of Skagrak, the British Royal Navy did not suffer much damage, and their local fleet remained intact. After the Battle of Skagrak, most of the main ships of the British and German fleets were repaired in the shipyard for more than half a year, and the main ships of the seriously damaged German battlecruiser fleet recovered their vitality after eight months of overhaul in the shipyard.

During this period, General Speer was promoted to Marshal of the Armies and Minister of the Navy, General Scher became the commander-in-chief of the Navy, and General Hippel became the new commander of the German High Seas Fleet. General Sorochin was transferred back from Turkey to replace Hippel as commander of the cruiser.

However, after Sorochin took office, although the German cruiser had recovered its vitality and the main warships were completely renewed from the inside out after overhaul. However, due to the United States' participation in the war and the expeditionary fleet consisting of eight battleships to protect the British mainland, there was no chance of performance.

In the current North Sea, 70% of the world's battleships are concentrated here.

As the former commander-in-chief of the naval army, Austria-Hungarian Emperor Lee Haydn personally rushed to Lübeck to attend the entry ceremony of two new battle cruisers.

This is not the first time that the Austro-Hungarian Emperor has seen his new battle cruiser, but as the boss behind the Beihai Shipyard, he will still be proud of one of the most powerful warships in the world built by his shipyard. Compared with the dark gray paint used by German warships, the two Austro-Hungarian War Tournaments used wartime blue and white camouflage paints. Although it makes people feel less majestic and solemn, they are still a maritime killer that can destroy everything.

Admiral Verennik went around and returned to Germany to serve as commander of the Austro-Hungarian Atlantic Fleet. Compared with other battle fleet commanders, he had more experience in combat with the British and was indeed the best candidate for the commander.

Accompanied by Verennik, Li Haydn boarded the battlecruiser "Grand Duke of Frederi" named after the first Austrian-Hungarian Navy Commander-in-Chief of the Austrian Empire during the reign of Queen Teresa of the Austrian Empire, and inspected the officers and soldiers on the ship. Most of the naval officers serving on the two warships were experienced officers and sailors drawn from the country, and only a small number of new recruits. After more than three months of running-in training, the officers and soldiers were able to operate the warships skillfully, and each of them could master the operation skills of two or three positions.

Behind this battlecruiser are the "Maximilian Grand Duke", "Radetsky" and "Franz Grand Duke". In comparison, the "Radetsky" with a displacement of only more than 23,000 tons looks smaller than the "Maximilian Grand Duke" in front.

According to the combat plan formulated by Austro-Hungary and the German Navy, after the "Markensen" class, the battle cruiser will move to Saint-Nazell in France and use it as a base to enter the Atlantic Ocean at any time, threatening the safety of British routes. Compared with the relatively narrow North Sea exit, the French coast is long and in an era when the aircraft's range and performance are still very limited, it was impossible for the British to blockade the Bay of Biscay.

With the signing of the Treaty of Brest, the war on land has basically ended. Although the German and Austrian and Turkish coalition forces in North Africa and the Middle East are still fighting with the British, the scale of the battle has become very small. The main force of the British army retreated to India and Persia, leaving only a few divisions in the Middle East and North Africa. All the German and Austrian coalition forces have to continue to advance and eliminate them.

The two newly launched battlecruisers still need some minor modifications at the end, and it takes about two weeks to a month before they can truly embark on the journey of war.

After the end of the French Battle, Admiral Sorochin commanded the battlecruiser fleet to carry out several attacks on the British coast and routes, but the results were not great. Five Queen Elizabeth-class battleships in the British fast fleet, which had a speed of 25 knots, pose the greatest threat to the battlecruiser fleet. There were two times when Sorochin almost fell into Betty's trap, but they were all escaped by Admiral Sorochin, who was more guerrilla tactics.

The British battle cruisers were not scary, but their new battleships were completely incomparable to Japanese. The "Queen Elizabeth" class can be said to be one of the best comprehensive performance battleships in the world. In comparison, the German Navy's "Bavarian" class battleships are basically unable to keep up with the pace of the battlecruisers because their speed is only about 23 knots.

Before the aviation age came, battlecruisers were definitely a terrible maritime weapon. The problem was that the British weak protection and fatal design defects caused their performance evaluation to be low in naval history. However, with the continuous increase in the speed of battleships, battlecruisers seemed to have no need to exist.

The British have now loosened. Under the mediation of the Americans, the representatives of Germany, Austria and Britain and the United States have made preliminary contact in Switzerland. However, the bottom line of negotiations between the two sides is huge. Germany and Austria hope to reach a ceasefire agreement based on the actual military control of the two sides, but the British demanded that Germany and Austria retreat to the pre-war border.
Chapter completed!