Chapter 48 Shipbuilding Business (4)

Since the United Group paid for it, many other things had to be changed according to the president's requirements: for example, the 13.2mm anti-aircraft machine guns became 12.7mm United machine guns, and the radio stations on them became United Telecommunications products. In 1926, United Radio Company entered the field of wired telephones in addition to traditional radios and radio stations, so United Radio was separated from United Electric and became two subsidiaries, United Radio and United Communications, collectively known as United Telecommunications. Betty naturally became the head of this section and the only female executive in the United Group. However, she is now married and has matured a lot, so no one has said anything about this.

Originally, the development of Telecom Italia could have been carried out step by step. At this time, only key government positions and wealthy people could use telephones. However, under the strong promotion of Contini, this demand was completely released. He promoted telephones in government agencies and schools like he promoted radios last time. In addition, all new houses built by the United Group, whether in the Leader New Village or the high-end residential area, were equipped with telephones, basically one per unit.

As a result, the number of telephones in cities such as Milan, Rome, and Genoa increased rapidly, from a few hundred to several thousand. There was an urgent need to update the equipment, so the carrier telephone technology (opening 4 telephone lines on a pair of copper wires) that appeared in 1918 and the crossbar telephone exchange (invented by Sweden) that appeared in 1923 began to be introduced to Italy and took root. With the efforts of German and Italian engineers, "independent innovation" products will soon appear.

Whether there is a telephone in the apartment is the first sign that the products of United Real Estate are obviously different from other residential buildings. The second sign is whether there are stylish and shiny aluminum alloy doors and windows. The third sign is whether the community has professional security and service personnel - these value-added contents make the residential prices of United Real Estate higher than other communities and still popular among the middle class. It is said that United Real Estate will soon launch the fourth significant difference: it is preparing to build 10-12-story high-rise buildings equipped with elevators.

Because of these investments and innovations, United Real Estate is doing very well this year. Not only has the profit soared, but it has also increased the market influence of United Finance. Most of the mortgage loans for these houses are issued through United Bank, which has promoted the progress of various industries including glass, water pipes, paint, cables, etc. When United Steel goes into production at the end of the year, the large amount of rebar and other construction steel materials used can be produced and sold by itself. It has received praise from the president many times and is said to be expected to be rated as a Class A enterprise by the end of the year.

The German mercenary officers, including Dönitz and others, were also settled in a place similar to the Leader's New Village. The only difference is that the security is stricter. Their only feeling is that Italians will enjoy it - but it is still quite comfortable to live in it.

However, Dönitz was not in the mood to think about whether the living conditions were good or not. He was attracted by the blueprint. After carefully examining it, he asked, "Are you going to build a large number of these submarines?"

"Mass production is impossible because the price is high and it is the first time to build it. The estimated cost of a single ship will exceed 3 million US dollars. Even if it is mass-produced, it will be difficult to be less than 2 million US dollars. Unless we find more economical raw materials and equipment for manufacturing, it is impossible to mass-produce - 5 such submarines are equivalent to 1 Caracciolo class. How many traditional naval commanders do you think are willing to spend so much money on submarines?"

This made Dönitz depressed: not only Italy, but Germany was almost the same. The commanders of the surface fleet were desperate to develop the main warships and did not take submarines seriously at all.

"But don't worry, we have placed an order for 4 ships. The first two ships started construction in October last year, and the other two ships will start construction in the second half of next year. The United Group is responsible for paying half of the money, so I have a lot of say. You have a lot of time to verify and use it. I have two positionings for this submarine: first, it is the regional leader and acts as a command submarine; second, it is a supply replenisher and acts as a cow submarine."

"Cow?"

"This batch will have a modification in the future, which will increase the amount of fuel, food, and torpedoes to provide supplies for other small and medium-sized submarines. It will not perform combat missions itself - only retains a very weak self-defense capability." Contini smiled, "I know that the German Navy usually uses merchant ships disguised as supply ships, but this process is full of risks and can be easily discovered by the enemy, especially when it may collide with the enemy at any time. Even neutral freighters, if supplied by submarines, will not only be more concealed but also more flexible and convenient - in an emergency, submarine officers and soldiers can also achieve partial rotation! "

Dönitz said excitedly: "This is a genius idea. I will carefully consider how to use it in the new tactics. This means that our tactics will have more room for maneuver!"

"I personally think that the medium-sized submarine scheme designed by Mr. Bernatis may be more suitable for large-scale batch construction. Of course, his current design is still a bit large, which is caused by the power of the diesel engine..."

The surface displacement of this submarine is 1060 tons, and the underwater displacement is about 1250 tons. It is equipped with 2 100mm47-caliber deck guns, 8 21-inch (533mm) torpedo tubes (4 bow and 4 stern) and 4 13.2mm anti-aircraft machine guns. The torpedo carrying capacity is 12 (can be increased to 16 if necessary), in addition to 300 artillery shells and 3000 machine gun shells.

After Contini intervened, more drastic changes were made. The surface displacement was cut from 1060 to 870 tons, the underwater displacement was 1040 tons, one of the two deck guns was cut, the machine guns were replaced as usual, and the ammunition carried was reduced accordingly. When making these adjustments, Contini was benchmarking Germany's most famous and most built Class VII submarine, but the Class VII submarine only has a displacement of 769 tons. Relatively speaking, after adding this 100 tons of displacement, the crew's cabin and maintenance system can be better used - Contini believes that this is conducive to further enhancing combat capabilities.

The power is still a combination of 2 diesel engines + 2 electric motors, with a single output power of nearly 1,500 horsepower. The battery pack is divided into 132 units and is propelled by two four-blade propellers.

The design of this submarine is still being further improved, mainly by integrating the opinions of two naval experts. At present, the Italian Navy generally believes that the hull part of Cavallini's design is superior. He has a saddle-shaped water tank and a cylindrical pressure hull with excellent performance. The hull is supported by a large number of cylindrical steel beams (reinforcement rings), each steel beam is about 500mm apart, and riveted steel plates are attached to the steel beams (each steel plate overlaps the adjacent steel plate). The pressure hull is made of nickel steel, 18 mm thick in the middle of the boat and 16 mm thick at both ends. Maximum pressure that can be tolerated. The outer hull is made of 7 mm thick steel plates, and fuel and ballast water are stored between the inner and outer hulls. The entire pressure hull is divided into 5 main parts plus the control room.

Starting from the stern, the first compartment is the stern torpedo compartment (including the electric motor), followed by the engine room, control room, officers and non-commissioned officers' living area and the first battery compartment, and finally the bow torpedo compartment and the second battery compartment. Above the control room is the command tower. Each watertight compartment can withstand 40 atmospheres of water pressure. The reinforced watertight compartment can provide better safety, and the maximum designed diving depth is 140 meters.

After Contini intervened, another requirement was added to the design: the main components of this submarine should be transported by rail.

"Railway transportation? What does this mean?"

"The first is the need for combat, and the second is the need for production." Contini smiled, "There is no direct waterway between Germany and Italy. If you want to realize cross-border dispatch of submarines, you must detour through the distant North Sea and the Mediterranean. I think it is not economical - it is better to transport the submarine parts and personnel by rail. It only takes 20 hours from Berlin to Rome by train. I think it will take less than 10 days to assemble a submarine with all the components - this is more convenient and safer than cross-sea dispatch; as for the second, it is the specific application of your wolf pack tactics in production!"

"Production application of wolf pack tactics?" Dönitz was a little confused, "What do you mean?"

"It's very simple, if all the main components can be By transporting by rail, it means that as long as the final assembly process is at the seaside, the other production processes can be carried out inland or even underground! After all, there are only a few submarines manufactured in seaports. If every industrial city can manufacture qualified submarine components, doesn’t it mean that there are docks and workshops everywhere in the country? It can not only speed up the pace of production and improve efficiency - one is that one factory produces all components, and the other is that one factory is only responsible for producing 1-2 components. Which speed do you think is better? It is also conducive to concealment and dispersion - in the past, to disrupt submarine production, it was enough to destroy the docks and shipyards, but now it is not possible. The production network covering the whole country must be destroyed, or at least the key nodes must be destroyed. How easy is it?" Contini Xiaoxiao, "So my attitude is very tough. Don't keep tinkering with multiple models. We should try to concentrate the advantages on one or two models, enhance versatility, and simplify production requirements."

"Will the bureaucrats in the Ministry of the Navy listen to you?"

"They will." Contini made a gesture of counting money with his hand, "This submarine now costs 1.5 million US dollars (1926 US dollars), and mass production can be reduced to 1.2-1.25 million US dollars. If you use my method to strengthen production, national or even multinational cooperation, the cost may be reduced to 1 million US dollars. I told the bureaucrats in the Ministry of the Navy that if they want to build 200 ships in the future, I will pay half of the money! It's just 100 million US dollars, I can afford it!"

" Oh my god, 200 ships!"

"Actually I wanted to say 400 ships, but I was afraid of scaring them, so I cut it down by half. The remaining half will depend on whether I can make enough money." Contini smiled, "I suggest you design the wolf pack tactics based on the scale of 300 ships!"

"That's no problem, but President, why do you want to do this? Wouldn't it be better to keep $100 million for yourself?"

Contini smiled, "You definitely don't like to hear lies, and telling the truth seems too vulgar. I just want to say one thing: I just celebrated my 23rd birthday and entered my 24th year. Don't underestimate the ambition of a young man. He is now the president. Will he only be the president for his whole life?"

"Oh!" Dönitz slapped his forehead, "God, I forgot you are only 24 years old!"