Faced with the German High Seas Fleet, an unprecedented enemy, the British formulated a relatively detailed combat plan before the war began. Taking into account the minefields along the German coast and the powerful German High Seas Fleet, the British gave up their usual near-shore strategy

In the blockade plan, the huge British Grand Fleet was divided into three groups. Among them, the main fleet, dominated by elite super-dreadnoughts and dreadnoughts, was stationed in the north of England, and would patrol the northern North Sea at an average frequency of twice a week in order to meet possible attacks.

Sortie of the German High Seas Fleet.

A fleet consisting mainly of submarines, torpedo boats, destroyers and pre-dreadnoughts is deployed in the English Channel to provide protection for the passing British fleet. The size of the last fleet is completely disproportionate to that of the previous two fleets, and that is Harwich Port

Deployed light cruiser

The foreign fleet is composed of high-speed and elite light cruisers. Their mission is to operate in the southern part of the North Sea, maintain reconnaissance and contact with the German fleet, and wait for opportunities to gain some advantages. If there is any chance of encountering a hard fight,

You can also choose to flash people.

As a result, shortly after the war began, the Harwich fleet first sank two torpedo ships on the first day of the war, and then sank several trawlers and minelayers within a week. The activities were quite frequent.

In the days that followed, the German light cruisers also tried to fight the Harwich fleet, but the light cruisers sent

The foreign ships only have 10 to 12 105mm rapid-fire guns, while the Harwich fleet only has 10 140mm guns. The firepower of the two sides is obviously not on the same level. The two sides fought once, and the German light cruiser Ariadne was damaged instead. So.

Harwich is now more confident in his fleet!

Originally, the loss of a few small ships and the damage of a light cruiser were nothing to the huge High Seas Fleet. But it depends on when. For example, now, Count Spee has not only caused chaos in the Far East, but also the whole army.

, and even destroyed the Port of Perth. Even the Turks bombed the Port of Karachi. The takeaway exchanged an old-fashioned cruise ship for a new-model cruise ship. It made a small profit.

A handful. The German High Seas Fleet, the most powerful among the Allied Powers, not only failed to achieve any decent results, but also allowed others to fight several times in front of its own home. Although the losses were very small, among the piles of victory reports,

Such a record is tragic! It is not possible to go to the Kaiser for such a trivial matter, but Tirpitz is still on time to show off his troops and others. This cannot be allowed to continue like this! What about taking the initiative as promised?

Originally, according to Scheer's plan, he wanted to wait until the four König-class battleships and the fifth fast battleship Lütsov were put into service before fighting. In this case, according to the intelligence of the German Navy, there was a gap in the fleets between the two sides, especially the fast battleships.

The gap will be minimized. Hipper will have 5 to 7 fast battleships. Compared with Betty's 8 battleships, he will have an absolute share

What an advantage! After all, among these 7 battleships, except for 2 equipped with 9 12-inch guns, the remaining 5 are equipped with 8 14-inch guns. More importantly, two of them are relatively slow.

The protection of the battleship truly reached the standard of a battleship. And when the four Königs-class ships were put into service, in Scheer's view, it was okay to go out and have a head-on conflict with the British Empire.

However, the plan could not keep up with the changes. When the British fleet outside the West Wall repeatedly succeeded, Hipper decided to go out and wander around. Without asking for great achievements, he would first stop the mouths of the superiors. The British reconnaissance operations were still relatively detailed.

They made a rough statistics and analysis of the German navy's mine-laying situation, and then determined the location and direction of the channel that the other party might have reserved. However, this kind of reconnaissance operation was impossible.

All the reserved waterways were explored, and when Hipper led four fast battleships through the Kiel Canal and Helgoland Bay, they took a waterway that was not controlled by the British. At this time,

A British light cruiser formation was waiting on another channel, so Hipper's fleet accidentally avoided the surveillance of the British light cruiser, and then went around behind the opponent inexplicably!

When several huge figures appeared behind them, the British immediately thought they were their own and sent out light signals to identify them. Facing the signals from four light cruisers in the distance, Hipper immediately

The reason for recognizing the opponent is very simple. Today's fleet identification signal is not played like this! And this time Hipper also responded in a rather sinister manner, and then continued to approach. When finally, the two sides approached

At about 10km, the British finally saw the looming German naval flag clearly in the morning fog.

At this time, it was obviously very late! Four fast battleships fought against four light cruisers. How could this happen? In less than 20 minutes, the four British light cruisers were torn apart by fierce gunfire.

It fell into pieces! As a result, the German High Seas Fleet, which had been in a bear market, finally gained strength. It swept away the decline of the past few weeks, and this further encouraged the idea of ​​taking the initiative within the German Navy. Encouraged by the results of this battle, the Germans

Start thinking about making more proactive and bold plans!

The Germans were happy, and the British were depressed. Especially the loss of the Harwich fleet made the British Admiralty doubt its own plan in advance, that is, whether the German fleet could really be killed simply by relying on the close reconnaissance and vigilance of light cruisers.

What about limiting it to Helgoland Bay? From a strength perspective, this is obviously impossible.

In the one-third of an acre of land in front of someone's house, a few light cruisers obviously can't do anything. As long as the German fleet dares to attack, this seemingly beautiful cordon will immediately be shattered, and Germany will not even need to attack with the main fleet.

The nearly 30 various light cruisers in the High Seas Fleet can kill the Harwich Fleet several times!

Now the Germans have kicked back the ball kicked by the British. You bet I don't dare to move out easily. But in fact, I not only came out, but also came out with the battleship, leaving you as a small fish at the door of my house.

After picking up a few shrimps, what will you do next? Should you send a more powerful fleet to continue to maintain close reconnaissance and vigilance, or will you give up the southern part of the North Sea? And this problem is definitely a problem for the British.

A very difficult question, because no matter which choice you choose, it is not a foolproof solution.

If a more powerful fleet is sent into the Helgoland Bay, if less is sent, there may be a risk of being defeated one by one by the German High Seas Fleet. However, if the entire fleet is stationed at the doorstep of Germany, this is really impossible.

The only thing Jericho can think of at the moment is

The solution is to let Betty command the battlecruiser formation to take over the Harwich fleet to maintain pressure on the German Navy. As for what to do if the opponent's High Seas Fleet comes out? Then we can only dodge. At least Betty's fleet is faster than the German High Seas Fleet.

About 4 to 5 knots higher.

If you choose to retreat at the first time, there shouldn't be a big problem. Of course, there is a lot of fog in the North Sea. If you accidentally bump into the German main fleet in the foggy weather, there is really no way you can do it, so Jerry

Coe suggested that Betty try her best in case of bad weather.

The quantity is more conservative, and Betty is assigned 4 light cruiser squadrons and destroyer squadrons to ensure that his search range has no blind spots. From this perspective, Jericho has done his best, and the rest depends on God’s will and

The technical and tactical level of the British Royal Navy has improved.

And if close-in reconnaissance is given up, the German High Seas Fleet will be equivalent to gaining control of half of the North Sea. The German Navy can have a larger mobile air force, and maybe even go to the British mainland, and submarines can even fly around.

Navigating on the water in the southern part of the North Sea increases mobility and endurance. This is unacceptable to the British Royal Navy. The British fleet not only has to ensure that the Germans do not escape from the North Sea, but also ensures coastal security.

It's all right, but the more tragic thing is that places such as Helgoland Bay in Germany are suitable for minelaying and can be defended with mine arrays. However, the British coastline is too long, and there are not many places suitable for minelaying. If you want to maintain the safety of your homeland,

They must also rely on the Grand Fleet. Therefore, the Grand Fleet must not give up the entire southern North Sea easily. After much deliberation, the British decided to adopt Betty's suggestion and send a group of battle cruisers to replace the light cruiser formation to monitor the German fleet.

But what the British didn't expect was that the German fleet moved closer to the battlefield, and most of the fleet headed for Wilhelmshaven. This fleet not only included the dreadnought fleet that was already in service, but also all the quasi-dreadnoughts and quasi-dreadnoughts that could be counted in the German Navy.

With a large number of auxiliary battleships, it can be said that the Germans have gathered all their elites. They are like a taut spring, always ready to deal a fatal blow to the opponent. As the commander of the fast fleet, Hipper began to want to combine the two

Helgeland class

Two fast battleships built in the name of "battleships of the same class" were incorporated into their own fleet. Although these two battleships are more like the slender Caesar-class battleships, not many people still think that this is a fast battleship because of its

More length

Closer to a battleship than a battle cruiser, (for example, historically the length of the Lion battle cruiser was longer than that of the Queen Elizabeth class. The length of the Queen Elizabeth class battleship was 196 meters, the length of the R class battleship was 190 meters, and the length of the Lion battle cruiser was

213 meters!)

As for Hipper's request, Scheer ignored it at first. Just kidding, before the four König-class ships entered service, the German High Seas Fleet gave you 6 of its 16 dreadnoughts and super-dreadnoughts.

There are only 10 ships. Although there are already two König-class battleships in service at this time, Scheer at this time does not look like he will

His trump card was prematurely exposed to the sight of the British spies in Wilhelmshaven. He planned to destroy the four König-class battleships at the critical moment! The British were caught off guard, so the training of the four König-class battleships was all in

The Baltic Sea campaign strives to be concealed, and when the King class is fully formed into an army, it will be the time for Scheer to officially draw his sword!
Chapter completed!