Chapter 93: Buying Scrap

At the naval shipyard in Kiel, Germany, Akado, accompanied by several naval generals, was touring the German Navy’s shipbuilding facilities. Here, two identical destroyers were being produced simultaneously using the latest modular construction techniques. These ships were known internally by the German Navy as the Z-class ocean-going escort destroyers.

Raeder was clearly very satisfied with the development speed of his forces. He had now phased out most of the old-style destroyers and torpedo boats, replacing them with twenty brand-new Z-class ocean-going destroyers. And this class of destroyer was still under continuous construction; the German Navy planned to eventually build a total of sixty-seven.

The recent economic crisis had caused the Allied Military Control Commission stationed at the port of Kiel to be downsized by half. Their attention was now mainly focused on the ever-expanding German Army and the emerging Air Force, while surveillance of the Navy had become almost optional.

The reason for relaxing the surveillance on the German Navy was mainly because the construction cycle for large warships was too long. Even if they gave up surveillance now, the German Navy would not have any battleships or battlecruisers launched within two years. So the Allied Military Control Commission boldly reduced its inspection forces at the port of Kiel.

Akado had reported to the British Navy and, after some haggling, had exchanged preferential policies such as food exports for the British’s understanding, allowing Germany to establish a limited submarine force at the Kiel naval base for what the Germans called “maritime self-defense.”

So recently, the German Navy had launched eight of the newest U-boat type submarines at the Kiel naval base in one go, using identical hull numbers to hide the seven submarines they already possessed, maintaining an underwater force of fifteen of the most advanced ocean-going submarines.

In addition, Akado also, with great interest, went to see the two new battleships custom-built for Britain, which had a strong German lineage. These two warships were rushed into production by Britain to cope with the Soviet battleships. They hoped to use them to resist the naval threat from the Soviet Union. However, recent intelligence showed that the Soviets were mass-producing and purchasing submarines, which was giving the British Navy a headache. They had no choice but to purchase ten old destroyers from the United States for escort duty.

Akado was very satisfied with the recent development of the navy. He also visited the workers’ canteen at the shipyard and the navy’s dormitories. Subsequently, he also inspected the air defense facilities around the naval base and watched the soldiers’ emergency air defense drill.

Of course, the main purpose of his visit to the port of Kiel this time was the issue of naval aviation construction. To prepare for equipping Germany with aircraft carriers in advance, Akado had deliberately prepared two HE-51 biplanes from the air force for the navy, to allow the navy to cultivate its own air force units.

“Admiral Raeder,” Akado said, plopping down onto a sofa used for receiving guests as soon as he returned to the naval command office. He had been walking all day, and although most of the time was spent in a car, he was still exhausted. “Have your men pour me a glass of Coca-Cola.”

“General, sir, I hear Coca-Cola is your business?” Raeder asked, turning back to Akado after arranging for his men to find the Coca-Cola.

“En! Yes! If you count it up, Coca-Cola is indeed a German company now!” Akado nodded, a hint of pride in his tone.

“General, you are betting the future of naval warfare on aircraft carriers and submarines. Isn’t that a bit too arbitrary? If you could allow us to build one super-battleship, I think the generals under my command would have more confidence,” Raeder said, sitting on another sofa beside Akado—Akado had not taken the host’s seat, and he would not sit there either.

“My arbitrariness is built on precise analysis and prediction of the future!” Akado glanced at Raeder and said with a smile, “So, Admiral Raeder, you don’t need to be too nervous. Facts will prove that my decision is completely correct.”

“Recently, our Japanese friends have been very interested in our shipbuilding plans,” Raeder said after some thought, reporting to Akado. “They are willing to share their naval aviation combat experience with us and are willing to support us with engineers to help us design the newest type of aircraft carrier.”

“And the price?” Akado asked, raising an eyebrow.

Raeder picked up a document from the table and handed it to Akado. “You can see their plan for yourself. It is said they need our tank design blueprints, some steel-making technology, and a large number of submarine engineers.”

“In their dreams! They want to exchange the blueprints for an outdated ‘Kaga’ aircraft carrier for so many of our top-secret blueprints and technical personnel! Have the Japanese gone mad thinking about money?” Akado contemptuously tossed the plan in his hand aside and sneered, “Do they think that besides their bullshit emperor, everyone else is a fool?”

“General, considering the practical aspects of naval aviation, the Japanese do have a lot of experience in this area. Perhaps we can learn from them…” Raeder asked Akado with a frown.

Akado waved his hand. “That bullshit experience of theirs is not even as accurate as what we can figure out ourselves! Learn from them? I’m afraid they’ll be the ones coming to learn from us by then!”

“Then General, our aircraft carrier design, should we refer to the Japanese Kaga?” Raeder finally asked.

“Refer to them?” Akado sneered. “Heh heh, have you ever seen an eagle ask a sparrow how to fly?”

“Our aircraft carrier! Must be built on the basis of modular construction technology. The tonnage should directly exceed twenty-five thousand tons, to be used as the core attack and defense force of the fleet!” Akado said, spreading his arms. “It will use a straight-through, full-length flight deck, equipped with only a small number of anti-aircraft weapons! It will be equipped with as many fighter jets and bombers as possible to serve as a long-range strike force!”

“General, sir! The bombs dropped by airplanes do not have enough speed, and their power is insufficient. It’s impossible for them to pose a threat to battleships. Although our fleet can take care of the opponent’s cruisers and destroyers, we will be chased around by the opponent’s battleships,” Raeder said helplessly, voicing his biggest concern.

Akado waved his hand and said with a confident face, “The Daimler-Benz company is developing a brand-new aircraft engine. The planes of the future will be faster, bigger, and more advanced. Aerial bombs will also reach 300 kilograms, even exceeding 500 kilograms! Moreover, the technology for aircraft to drop torpedoes will also become more mature and simpler.”

“My God! Is what you’re saying true?” Raeder asked, looking at Akado in surprise. “Then in that case, those battleships we are helping the Soviets and the British build now, are they not…?”

“I didn’t say anything,” Akado said, putting on a very solemn look.

“Yes, sir! And I didn’t hear anything,” Raeder said with a “hehe” laugh.

“Knock, knock, knock.” A knock sounded at the door. Anna walked in, her chin held high. “General, Merkel has returned from America. He says he has important matters to report to you.”

Akado nodded and looked at Raeder. “General, sir, I think I need to borrow your office to talk with my man about the business of the Greater Germany Party’s financial consortium.”

“No problem! Please, make yourself at home,” Raeder nodded and respectfully exited his own office. His adjutant, after bringing in two bottles of Coca-Cola, also followed him out.

“Anna! Our cause is getting more and more on the right track!” Akado said with a smile, picking up a bottle of Coca-Cola.

“Then I’ll offer you a small congratulations!” Anna also picked up a bottle of Coca-Cola soda and clinked her glass bottle against Akado’s. “Cheers.”

“Ahem! I’m not interrupting, am I?” At the door, Merkel asked with a wicked smile, deliberately coughing twice.

“You already know you’re interrupting us, so why don’t you get out quickly?” Akado said, pointing at Merkel with a laugh, making a joke.

Merkel was also very tactful. “Oh! Then I’ll be on my way out,” he said without hesitation, turning to leave.

Anna burst out laughing. Ever since she had been kissed by Akado, this sexy and beautiful female captain had begun to reveal her lively and cheerful side.

Akado, having failed to get the better of his subordinate, had no choice but to give up. “Alright! Get back here! Tell me about the results of your trip to America this time.”

“We went with three hundred million US dollars and were treated as saviors by many factories there,” Merkel said proudly, introducing the results of his trip to America. “We purchased all sorts of equipment, in quantities so vast you can’t even imagine.”

“Machine tools for processing screws, nine-tenths new, new machine tools without even a scratch on their corners! They were just treated as scrap metal and sold directly to us,” Merkel said, opening the leather briefcase in his hand and taking out stack after stack of documents.

As he introduced, he handed the documents to Akado to look at. “We signed cooperation agreements with four major American financial groups to provide us with at least three thousand various models of machine tools and over 400 units of precision processing equipment within a year. They also helped persuade about 120 senior engineers to immigrate to Germany.”

Akado frowned, but the corners of his mouth couldn’t help but lift up. He looked up at Merkel and asked with a smile, “Merkel, you also signed cooperation agreements for industrial raw materials? You ordered large quantities of non-ferrous metals from the United States? Well done.”

“We purchased rare metals such as molybdenum,” Merkel continued to introduce his trip to America with a smile. “We also bought up large quantities of oil and steel from American companies at rock-bottom prices.”

“How is the transportation work going?” Akado then asked.

“We have prepared about 40 Hercules-class cargo ships to travel between Germany and the United States. This is the largest transport force we can muster,” Merkel said with some regret. “Of course, if needed, we can also rent some Japanese and British cargo ships! Or just buy them outright.”

Akado laughed heartily. “I never thought that during a world economic crisis, we would actually have the spare cash to go buy all that scrap.”