Chapter 586 Escort the Aircraft Carrier

The so-called container is to put the goods in the box. In fact, the container has been around for a long time. In 1801, Dr. Anderson of the United Kingdom proposed the idea of ​​container transportation.

Until the early 20th century, British Railways tried to pack furniture in wooden containers and transport them on railway flatbeds. After arriving at the station, cranes were used to transfer the boxes to carriages, which then transported the goods to their destinations. This new mode of transport has been promoted.

Around 1920, the New York Central Railroad and the Pennsylvania Railroad introduced 9-foot-long steel containers. Each railway wagon can hold 6 containers, each with a load capacity of 5 tons. With these containers, railroads are much more efficient and less expensive when transferring goods along the route.

During World War II in history, U.S. amphibious landing ships loaded trucks to perform beachhead landing missions. The military also uses small steel containers to transport soldiers' personal belongings.

However, in this era, the advantages of containers have not been reflected. It was not until later generations, when roads and shipping were combined together, that they really emerged. After being transported by sea, containers can be directly loaded into vehicles and arrive at the destination.

What are the advantages of containers? Of course, it is convenient for loading and unloading. This advantage can only be manifested when it is transported from sea to land. In later generations, it was done by American Malcolm McLean, so he is called the father of modern containers.

Therefore, at present, container transportation, although there is, has not risen on a large scale. The Lufthansa Shipping Company has realized the huge profits, so it wants to provoke this new transportation reform. However, this requires a large number of container ships. Therefore, the Lufthansa Shipping Company found the Newport News Shipbuilding Company in the United States to order a new type of container ships. Moreover, the demand is still quite large. ship!

This is normal, but when they took out the design drawings, Walter, the person in charge of the Newport News Shipyard, was shocked. This so-called container cargo ship is very similar to an aircraft carrier!

The top is a flat deck, and the ship island is arranged on the right side. Although limited by the displacement, the total length of this cargo ship is only 148 meters, but from the outside, it looks like an aircraft carrier.

At the same time, in the lower part, there is a layer, and there are elevators on the side. This is definitely an aircraft carrier, where is the so-called container cargo ship!

"This was designed after our careful consideration. In the lower warehouse, there are some valuable containers, and on the top, four layers of containers can be stacked. This way, it can maximize the efficiency."

"Can't you just pile it all on top?" asked Walter.

"We can think that when the sea is windy and waves are strong, the container may have the risk of falling into the sea water, so it is necessary to put the precious container below." Yat said.

"It turns out that it is." Walter nodded. "The power system you need is a bit too much, right? The speed of fifteen knots is not low for a transport ship. Why eighteen knots?"

"Actually, we originally wanted 25 knots, and we reduced it to 18 knots after considering the cost of construction." Yate said: "You should know that with the continuous progress of the times, the timeliness of cargo transportation has also been improved. It was mentioned that the speed should be as high as possible.”

Yate's answer satisfied the other party, and after discussing the details, the two sides finally finalized the preliminary framework for cooperation.

"As for the cost, we can pay 20% in advance, and after we get the cargo ship, we will deliver the rest. Anyway, our ships are not delivered together. We want to build one, and we will deliver one. We have already Can't wait."

The deposit is small, but as long as the delivery is fast, it will not be affected. One ship is delivered and the balance of the other is settled. It is also the most common situation in the construction of cargo ships. Anyway, the steel used in the construction of shipyards is only Just pay a deposit.

Once one is built, one is delivered, and the balance of one is settled. Such a plan is also normal.

"We ask for a 30 percent deposit." Taking this opportunity, Walter continued to increase the percentage.

"Okay, yes." Art agreed to the other party's request.

Looking at the ships being built outside, Art was in a great mood.

On the surface, he is the head of the Lufthansa Shipping Company, but in fact, he is serving the German Navy. Containers are of course the trend, but now, it is still dominated by the navy.

All German shipyards have already started construction. At the same time, after France is conquered, there will be French shipyards large and small, integrating French industry and the German navy, so that a large number of navy soldiers can be invaded.

However, this is still not enough!

The German navy wants to develop into an ocean navy in a short period of time, and finally have to compete with the US navy, they need a large number of warships!

Therefore, there are still some ships that cannot be built under German control. Among them, there is a special escort aircraft carrier proposed by President Cyric.

The current experience of the German Navy has shown the importance of aircraft carriers. At the same time, the construction of aircraft carriers is also quite complicated. In this case, it is imperative to develop an escort aircraft carrier.

Regular aircraft carriers are used to fight against enemy fleets, while escort aircraft carriers are mainly tasked with protecting merchant ships.

This kind of aircraft carrier does not need to fight with the main force of the opponent. It is generally deployed in front of the transport fleet, using carrier-based aircraft to scout, attack submarines, or guide surface ships to carry out attacks. In addition to escorting escort aircraft carriers, they also often undertake the task of transport ships.

Therefore, the escort aircraft carrier does not need to have strong protection capabilities, and it can be built according to the standards of civilian ships. However, it must have a sufficient number and can be built in large quantities.

The current container ship is actually an escort aircraft carrier. It is relatively small, with a full load of only 10,000 tons. The flight deck above cannot be made into an angled deck. At the same time, it has just satisfied the take-off and landing of carrier-based aircraft. , however, this is enough.

This idea of ​​Cyric, of course, was obtained from the Americans of later generations. This is simply the German version of the Casablanca-class aircraft carrier! Historically, Americans have built fifty ships in total, and the fastest one was even built in 76 days.

Germany has a vast ocean in the future, and there are a lot of maritime interests to protect. This kind of escort aircraft carrier is absolutely necessary, and it was built by the Americans. Although the price is slightly higher, this is definitely a piece for Germany. Something the Navy is proud of.