Transmigrated as the Crown Prince

The German minesweeping team worked hard for two days and finally cleared a channel to the port of Cobh, Ireland.

Several Liberty ships departing from the French port of Bordeaux entered Cobh Harbor.

During World War II, British transport ships suffered heavy losses due to the ravages of the German Navy's submarine force. For Britain, which relied on sea shipping, cutting off sea transportation lines was simply a noose that strangled the British Empire. After research, the most effective way to fight against German submarines is to build transport ships faster than German submarines can sink transport ships! (This conclusion still needs further research?)

The British Thompson Shipyard used the research results of the British National Physical Laboratory to design a non-mainstream ship shape that was rare at the time: the bow post was tilted forward, and the bottom of the ship was V-shaped instead of the most common U-shaped at the time. This type of ship has less resistance than a U-shaped bottom when sailing, thereby increasing the speed and being cheaper to build. According to estimates from Thompson Shipyard, the cost of such a ship can be controlled within 100,000 pounds. Because this type of ship was the first built by Thompson Shipyard, it is also called the Thompson type.

At that time, the British shipyards were busy building more important combat ships and could not afford to build transport ships. So the British wanted to entrust the United States to build transport ships and send an "Imperial Freedom" and the design drawings to the United States.

The United States has improved its design and extensively used welding instead of riveting (except for the rib parts). This has many advantages. First, it can greatly speed up the construction. Second, it can save steel and reduce the total weight. Welding a free ship can save about 200 tons of steel than riveting. Third, the United States also lacked experienced riveting at the time. Relatively speaking, welders with low technical content are easier to train and can get on the job faster, which is of great significance during wartime.

Because it was based on the design of the "Empire Liberty", and in February 1941, President Roosevelt announced in the "Fireside Chat" that a large number of new transport ships would be built to provide material transportation for the European battlefield. He said that these ships "will provide Continent brings freedom”. At the launching ceremony of the first ship, Roosevelt quoted a famous saying in a speech by Patrick Henry, a statesman in the American Revolutionary War: "Give me liberty or give me death." Therefore, this style of transport ship was named "Freewheel".

The design of the freewheel is very simple, but very practical. Compared with transport ships of the same tonnage, the cargo capacity is significantly larger. This is the advantage of the "freewheel". It has five cargo holds, three at the front and two at the rear, and can carry a total of 10,800 tons of cargo.

Typically, a Freeship can carry 2,840 jeeps, or 440 M3 "Stuttgart" light tanks, or 260 M4 "Sherman" medium tanks, or 525 M8 armored vehicles, or 390 half-track personnel carriers, or 425 5-ton trucks... their carrying capacity is quite amazing.

Accompanied by the roar of the engine, Jackal tanks one after another drove majestically out of the Liberty Wheel's cabin with their slender barrels high and headed for a nearby train station.

The armored forces' tanks and tracked armored vehicles are divided into two types of maneuvers: short-distance and battlefield combat maneuvers, which rely on the tanks and armored vehicles to move themselves. However, the tanks and armored vehicles' engines and crawler travel systems have a lifespan, and the costs and costs of tracked marching are very high. The tank engine's motorcycle hours are strictly limited, so try to save as much as possible. Therefore, long-distance road marches require the use of tank flatbed trailers, and longer-distance marches should try to choose rail transportation.

The Irish army has already gathered near the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland, gearing up and ready to go.

Ireland and the United Kingdom have been feuding for a long time. Now that there is such an opportunity to defeat the lost dog, not only young people in Ireland are enthusiastically signing up to join the army, but young people of Irish descent from all over the world are coming one after another to support Ireland. The number of people who came from the United States alone exceeded 10,000.

This really gave Roosevelt a headache. After all, these "Americans" were using German weapons to help the Irish fight the English. It was awkward no matter what they thought.

However, he could not order a ban on these people going to Ireland. After all, Roosevelt also knew that at this juncture, such an order would only arouse the resentment of many Irish descendants in the country, and might further reduce his low support rate.

"Have the British sent more troops to Northern Ireland?" Yannick asked about the situation in Ireland at a regular defense meeting.

Rundstedt replied. "Your Highness, it seems that the British have no intention of supporting Northern Ireland. They have even withdrawn many troops and weapons and equipment from Northern Ireland. Many people from Northern Ireland have also fled back to England."

As mentioned earlier, the British occupied Ireland as early as 1169 and began to dominate Irish culture and politics. In 1541, King Henry VIII of England immigrated to Ireland in large numbers from the British mainland in order to strengthen management. These immigrants were both English and Scottish. Most of them settled in the province of Ulster in the northeastern part of the island of Ireland, where they mixed with the local Irish.

As the British immigration team in Northern Ireland continued to grow, the number of local British descendants gradually exceeded the number of Irish people.

Now most of the descendants of these British people have to flee back to England. If they continue to stay in Northern Ireland, once Northern Ireland falls, these Irish people don't know how to retaliate against them.

Therefore, the port of Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland, is extremely busy these days, with everyone rushing to get on board. Fortunately, the distance between Belfast Port and Scotland is only 50 kilometers, and each ship can make several trips a day.

Army Aviation Commander-in-Chief Wolfram von Richthofen asked for instructions. "Your Highness, do you want to bomb the port of Belfast?"

Yannick thought for a moment and shook his head. "No, let them withdraw as much as possible. Reinhard, let our agents in Northern Ireland spread the news that the Irish intend to kill all these descendants of England. Let these descendants of England escape back to England as much as possible."

The current population of Northern Ireland is approximately one million, more than half of whom are of English descent. How much food would these hundreds of thousands of people need to eat if they fled back to England?

"It seems that there is no suspense about conquering Northern Ireland. I heard that the British fleet in Alexandria withdrew to India?" The remaining British fleet that had been huddled in Alexandria before Rommel arrived in Cairo had gone straight to India through the Suez Canal.

"I don't know if the British royal family will leave." In the original time and space of World War II, the German Air Force bombed London for eight months. The British royal family insisted on staying in London, and some royal members even joined the army. Although the symbolic meaning is greater than the actual, it has given the whole country a great influence. The encouragement of the British public is immeasurable.

I wonder if the royal family will stay in London this time. After all, once Northern Ireland falls, the royal family will have to take considerable risks if they want to evacuate.