The adventures of Prinz Eugen and the young engineer Volume 1.

No. 4 Chapter 10

Arriving at the naval base, the young engineer and Prinz Eugen's arrival was expected. Parking the bike on the side of the drill square of the base, they saw Wiedling, the Konteradmiral and Graf Spee at the entrance to the headquarters building. Walking over to them the young engineer was wondering what was going on. "Good morning you two." Wiedling greeted the two. Prinz Eugen and the young engineer both saluted the Konteradmiral and afterwards shook hands with Wiedling. "Good to see you as well." The young engineer returned his friend's greeting. "I am sorry to interrupt, but I would like you all to follow me to my office. There are things we have to talk about right away." The Konteradmiral interrupted the two engineers. The latter both nodded and they as well as the two Shipgirls followed the Konteradmiral. Entering the office, Admiral Hipper already awaited them. Not saying a word they all sat down at the conference table and waited for the Konteradmiral to speak. Their commander sat down and took off his hat before looking them all in the eyes. "A lot has happened recently. Due to that I asked all of you to come here so that I can inform you all about the things that concern you." The Konteradmiral opened his monologue and briefing. "The first change will concern Wiedling and therefore all of you. Our good old friend here will leave us for the naval engineering academy in Wilhelmshaven, where he will take over as instructor and teacher to the coming generations of naval engineers." He stated and Wiedling nodded confirming what had been said. "That means that we need someone to fill the position of lead engineer of the cruisers and overall lead engineer for this base. Due to the lack of age I can not assign our other cruiser engineer to be overall head engineer, but you will be put in charge of all the heavy cruisers of our base. Graf Spee's engineer will be promoted and become the base's new overall lead engineer." He explained further. "That means that you will take care of the rigging of Prinz Eugen, Admiral Hipper and Graf Spee from now on." Addressed the Konteradmiral the young engineer now directly. "Next to that there is also another change coming to this base. Due to a breakthrough in technology, we will soon be able to field new Shipgirls. The idea is that they will most likely be assigned to this base, since their sister ships are based here and we have the personnel with the most specialisation on their riggings basic mechanics here. This will mean that there are going to be a lot of changes ahead of us. I expect that the engineering team for our cruisers is going to be up to the task. The issue is that we will most likely not be able to get new engineers at hand. That said, we are expected to be able to handle this situation without an issue." He concluded his monologue. "Do any of you have any questions?" He asked into the round of his listeners.

The others all looked to their superior, taking in what he just told them. "Well, it is not really a question but rather my conclusion to the current events." Wiedling opened the conversation up. "I did not really choose to leave, but I am getting too old to properly do hard work myself. The only way the Marine lets me stay is by becoming a teacher to new and upcoming engineers. At least I will be able to give them some of my practical knowledge on the way so that new engineers will have at least some applied experience." He explained. "Don't worry about it. I am happy to know that others will be able to learn from you as well. You have been a great teacher to me and I would say every other engineer and mechanic on this base." The young engineer assured his friend. "And who is supposed to keep my rigging in order now?" Hipper asked disgruntled. "If I understood it right, that will be part of my responsibilities now." The young engineer answered her question. "Your responsibility?!" Hipper asked angrily. "How? You are already Eugens mechanic. How are you supposed to keep two riggings up to the same standard of operational readiness?" She asked, annoyed. "I will manage somehow. Your and Prinz Eugens rigging are quite similar thankfully. Working on that of Graf Spee will be interesting." He replied. "Where there is a will there's a way." Added Prinz Eugen who switched the topic. "So what is going on with cruiser reinforcements? I have not heard from Blücher in years. Is she returning from her station in the antarctic?" The youngest of the three cruisers present asked about her third sister. "Not quite." The Konteradmiral answered without giving a satisfying answer. "I thought your subordinate would have already told you about it." He added. Which made Prinz Eugen look at her mechanic with a questioning expression. "Anyways. What I am about to say has to stay between us. Until it is publicly announced, this is a state secret." Explained the Konteradmiral. "Yesterday a research team around our former engineer Fritz Mahler managed to awaken two new Shipgirls. They awakened the cruiser Mainz. The original design of the cruiser Lützow and Seydlitz. As well as the Flugzeugträger Weser." He announced. Otto Wiedling, Prinz Eugen and Admiral Hipper all remained silent, an expression of surprise on each of their faces. "Why did no one tell me before? I, as the leadship of the Hipper Klasse should have been there to see how my sisters are doing!" Hipper exclaimed, smashing her fist on the table in annoyance. Prinz Eugen in turn smiled. "Sounds like I will get to see and meet my other little sister two fold. That will be very entertaining." "They managed to awaken not just a Shipgirl but two?" Otto Wiedling asked, surprised. The Konteradmiral nodded. "Indeed, although concerning the details, I think our freshly promoted lead cruiser engineer knows more about that story." The Konteradmiral added.

All eyes now concentrated on the young engineer. The latter quickly became uncomfortable with everyone wanting to hear from him. Scratching the back of his head he smiled uncomfortably before giving them an answer. "To be honest, we just did about the same as I did with the rigging refit. We let two Wisdomcubes be absorbed into the hull and the hull of Seydlitz apparently made up the two ships. Seydlitz in her original concept with 15cm guns and the converted carrier Weser. I have no idea why two of them came into existence or exactly how that process is happening. I think Fritz and his team are trying to figure that out at the moment." He explained himself. "To think that you didn't tell me yesterday. Here I was thinking you were an open book to me." Prinz Eugen teased him. Wiedling only nodded in acknowledgement and did not bother the young engineer further. He would definitely ask about it all at a later point, the young engineer thought. Admiral Hipper in turn had a frown on her face, crossed arms in front of her chest and apparently tried to ignore the young engineer with her demonstrative turn of her head away from him.

"Anyways. Now that we all are up to date, I would suggest that you all get going and ready for the coming changes." The Konteradmiral wrapped up the conversation, getting their attention back to the matters at hand. "The near future will hold a lot of unforeseen events ready for us. We have to be prepared for the worst and hope for the best."

The End.