"In addition to the aircraft carriers that can be basically completed this year, we have two cloud dragon modifications, and two big phoenix modifications are about to start construction. 5201314926" Sperer said viciously, "Since he likes bragging so much, I'd just add two cloud dragon modifications to see what the Americans do."

Hoffman knew that the Ministry of Military Affairs had always had doubts about the third and fourth Yunlong reforms this year, and believed that it would slow down the construction of the warships ahead, but with the victory of the Battle of Panama, Sperer seemed to be excited.

"I'm not crazy, really... there have been different situations in the past two months." Sperer explained. "The British and American bombings have been greatly reduced, and they are even close to them. The only place that is often bombed is Azores. However, there is no industry in that small land, so the domestic industrial production capacity has been maintained quite well. In addition, with the influx of shipbuilders in Spain and Portugal, the number of engineers and shipyard workers we need to invest in Italy has also decreased accordingly. The speed of workers returning from the army has exceeded the expected expectations, which is conducive to ensuring the construction of domestic warships. So I want to say that even if two more Yunlong modifications are started, we have no plans for construction of other main ships."

Redell had differences with the head of state on the shipbuilding plan. The old marshal hoped to start construction of another battleship, or 1-2 Hippel-class heavy cruisers to supplement combat losses. Hoffman believed that it was completely unnecessary and insisted on the absolute priority of aircraft carriers, believing that at most some air defense cruisers and destroyers would be enough.

"In this way, in 1943, a total of 6 new aircraft carriers were started, two of which were the powerful Dafeng modification (Yunlong's ship No. 1, the No. 2 has started construction, and the No. 1 of the Dafeng modification is planned to start in May). As for the gradual increase in Italian ships and shipbuilding capabilities in 1944, I think it is feasible to start construction of four Yunlong modifications in Italy and the local area. Maybe there is still a chance to start another Dafeng modification. In that case, 9 aircraft carriers will start construction in a year, not Japan. Can the Americans build 36? Of course, they have nothing to say to use escort aircraft carriers to make up the numbers."

Hoffman was convinced and showed a satisfied smile on his face: "Very good, so let's do it this way. 6 ships this year, and 9 more ships will be started next year. The navy is the top priority in the future. As long as it can break the blockade of maritime power in the United Kingdom and the United States, even if the Americans can mobilize 20 million troops, we will be as stable as a rock in Europe."

Of course, this is not a brag about Hoffman. He has thought carefully and had in-depth exchanges with several major generals such as Yodel. Everyone has agreed: as long as the British and American navies are not allowed to obtain absolute sea control, no matter how large the US Army is, it will be a deed that the United States and the European continent are not bordered. To send the army, it must land on the landing limit, and the landing limit will not exceed 300,000 people at a time. As long as the naval advantages of Britain and the United States are partially offset, these 300,000 people will be no pressure on the Third Reich. Moreover, before obtaining absolute sea control, Britain and the United States will never risk a 300,000 landing campaign.

Hoffman was very confident about this: in history, Britain and the United States waited until Germany retreated on the Eastern Front and fully grasped the Atlantic sea power, and did not dare to launch the Normandy Landing Campaign until June 1944. Germany's strategic situation is now much stronger than in history. I don't know how to achieve a large-scale landing campaign between Britain and the United States. It is probably a long way off to go. If you really want to log in, it is probably more reliable to restart the "Sea Lion Plan" at this stage than the Normandy Landing Campaign.

But neither of them expected that although Sperer made the boldest assumption, he still did not expect that the United States was determined to start construction of 24 Essex-class aircraft carriers within a year. He did not expect that in addition to starting construction of 2 Essex-class aircraft carriers every month, the General Committee of the Navy also arranged the construction of 12 independent class (or Curritak-class) aircraft carriers, so that the number of escort aircraft carriers is not much or no less is exactly 36!

This number exceeds Sperer's cognition and Hoffman's historical experience. It only depends on the seriously changed naval power comparison. In fact, after two major battles in Azores and Panama, the overall pattern of the world's naval has undergone drastic changes. Hoffman has not yet realized this clearly and completely, but the Americans have a deep pain: currently ranks by tonnage, the United States is still the first, but Japan has surpassed Britain to become second, and then Italy (fourth) and Germany (fifth).

Although Japan lost four aircraft carriers on Midway and two battleships in Panama, Britain lost all aircraft carriers by April 1943, and the battleships were only left with the pitiful two George V class and two Queen Elizabeth class. The effective tonnage dropped sharply. Now even the tonnage gap between Germany, Italy and Britain has been greatly narrowed. Although the United States lost more main ships than Britain, it used its terrible shipbuilding strength to make up for these losses. If Britain had not used a cruiser, auxiliary cruisers and destroyers to support the scene, just talking about the total tonnage of main ships above 10,000 tons, it was almost at the bottom among the five countries!

If the main battleship ranks, Japan can basically rank first, and it vaguely surpasses the United States.

Now Japan has two large and two small aircraft carriers (not considering Bolzano), which overwhelms the two major aircraft carriers of the United States (Saratoga and Essex); in terms of battleships, Japan still has two Yamato-class, one Nagamon-class and three King Kong-class battleship formations, the United States has two Iowa-class (the second ship New Jersey has just been in service and has not completed the sea trial yet), one New Mexico-class (New Mexico), two South Dakota-class and one North Carolina-class, California (Tennessee-class), and West Virginia (Colorado-class) are still under renovation and will be completed in June-July. In terms of battleships, the United States has the advantage, but the gap is very small than the gap after the Battle of Pearl Harbor; in the field of heavy cruisers, the United States no longer has a heavy cruiser, but Japan still maintains more than 10 ships, which greatly overwhelms the United States.

However, Japan's advantage window is very weak. After Essex and the Independence class continue to be in service in early May, the tonnage advantage of aircraft carriers will basically disappear. If the quality of carrier-based pilots is considered, Japan will still have an overall advantage.

Germany can defeat Britain in the battleship duel, and occupies third. In terms of aircraft carriers, Germany now has Skyhawks, and Britain only has Unicorns. The former has slightly stronger combat effectiveness than the latter. However, considering that Germany has also Zeppelin for maintenance and one ticket to transform aircraft carriers, the two Hegemonics under construction will not be in service until 1944, and its strength has steadily surpassed Britain; in terms of battleships, Germany now has two battleships, Tirpitz and Richelieu, the Strasbourg and two Schanehorst-class three battleships. Britain is two George V-class and two Elizabeth-class battleships. In terms of quantity and combat effectiveness, it is not as good as Germany. Even if it considers the unfinished ships on the ship platform, the Empire will be in service in a few months, and the Lion class will also have to wait until 1944; in terms of heavy cruisers, Britain is also slightly inferior to Germany, but the UK has accumulated huge accumulation in light cruisers, auxiliary cruisers and destroyers.

Taking these factors into consideration, even if the command ability is not taken into account, the naval combat power ranking of officers and soldiers should be Japan, the United States, Germany, Britain and Italy in the short term, and the United States, Japan, Germany, Italy and Britain in the medium term, and the United States, Japan, Germany, Italy and Britain in the medium term, have some naval advantages. It is just that the British and American navies have been in power for a long time, and countries, including the axis, have not yet realized this.

"I'll go and prepare supplies and ships as soon as possible," Sperer asked. "It will take 15-20 days for them to return to Italy."

"Ketel didn't say this just now. Horitiki said he would return to China on April 15, but now it's already past." Hoffman immediately called Dalgus, "Ask Marshal Keitel, where is the fleet now, when will it go back to Italy, and what are the subsequent arrangements?"

Half an hour later, Dargers walked in and whispered a few words in the head of state's ear. After a few words, Hoffman's face became very strange and wonderful.

"What's going on?" Spel keenly grasped the unusual emotional change.

"Hoteiki's main fleet returns to Azore at the end of the month, and then strive to set off from Italy around May 15th."

"It's time to go, and the Battle of Madagascar should come to an end, and we'll just go back to Japan together."

"This is not the key. The key is that the aircraft carrier formation led by Tsukahara is not with them. Now no one is on the mobile fleet. It seems that radio silence has been implemented."

"Radio silence? What does he want to do?" Spel was also shocked.

"I don't know very well. Hori Teiki gave a reference opinion and it is possible to bomb the East Coast of the United States! The specific goals are unknown, but I think there are only New York, Washington, Norfolk Naval Base, or Philadelphia, Boston and other places. There are actually not many options."

"Really?" Speer's face became rich in an instant, and finally couldn't help laughing. "I hope they can go to bomb New York. When they cast the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, the Rockefeller Center or the Brooklyn Bridge, the Manhattan Bridge, Roosevelt's expression must be very exciting."

"I almost forgot that you were an architect." Hoffman laughed, "Please give them a telegram and tell them the landmarks and suggestions that are worth doing this from a professional perspective. If you can take photos, it will be more perfect."

Spel's body leaned forward slightly: "Aren't you afraid of completely angering the Americans?"

"When they threw it into Ruhr, Berlin, and Frankfurt, they had already completely angered me! This was just the most insignificant revenge of the German people! Anything, even if it was only one, was more effective than piles of condemnation, protest, and abuse." Hoffman said with a cold expression, "Bismarck said that to solve major contemporary problems, we must rely on iron and blood. Although this sentence has been more than 80 years, it still applies today!" (To be continued.)

...
Chapter completed!