While the British were in a dilemma about what to do with the Spey fleet, the Germans were having a headache with the same problem.

Although the Navy trumpeted the brilliant victory of the Far Eastern Fleet, the General Staff of the Navy was not so optimistic about the future journey of the Far Eastern Fleet.

In any case, however, the Far Eastern Fleet had achieved a brilliant victory, so although the senior officers of the Navy were somewhat worried about the future of the Far Eastern Fleet, they were not as gloomy as the British.

"The British now have only one 5th cruiser squadron left in South America, and this little force cannot stop Spee."

The Navy's external propaganda is the work of the Navy's office, and publicizing the victory of the Far Eastern Fleet and stirring up the people's enthusiasm for war is an easy and flattering task for the Navy's office. Therefore, Admiral Müller said more easily: "Originally, we still need to worry about Port Stanley blocking Spee's access to the South Atlantic, but now the British have to worry about whether Spee will go to trouble Port Stanley." ”

"I'd rather not have this victory." Herzendorf was not so happy: "The Far Eastern Fleet that arrived at Walvis Bay was much more valuable than the Far Eastern Fleet that took out a few old cruisers and tens of thousands of troops of the British." ”

"If Spee can reach Walvis Bay, then the British will be finished with the West African route." Tirpitz did not say the opposite this time: "Our two light cruisers can stir up the panic of the entire Indian Ocean, and the Far Eastern Fleet will definitely do better." ”

Although Tirpitz's risk fleet theory has always been based on the decisive battle of the fleet, and for this purpose, the construction of ships other than the capital ships of the German Navy has indeed been suppressed to a certain extent, but this does not mean that Tirpitz has despised other naval strategic ideas and tactical applications.

Especially since His Majesty the Emperor is very concerned about the use of new technologies and the study of supporting tactics, Tirpitz will not go against the emperor's preferences if it is enough to be on the "flattering" standard.

According to the Paris Declaration signed in 1856, privateers are illegal in international law, so only the navy's cruisers and auxiliary ships can engage in maritime operations, so the operation of breaking diplomatic relations is often called "cruiser warfare".

Therefore, Tirpitz, who had conducted an in-depth study of how to play the role of these non-capital ships, also had his own plan for the "cruiser war" of the German Navy.

Herzendorf, who commanded the heavy cruiser Hansa to 3,000 nautical miles during the Citis incident and won a complete victory in the confrontation with the Royal Navy cruiser, also attached great importance to the use of speed. If he and Tirpitz were in a different position, he would probably become the Fisher of the German Navy, who advocated that the German Navy should only have large cruisers and not battleships, which was the biggest reason why he and Tirpitz became dissidents.

This time, however, his opinion coincided with that of Tirpitz.

In the eyes of both Tirpitz and Herzendorf, Spee should not have any fight until he arrives at Walvis Bay, and must ensure that his position and course are not revealed.

After arriving safely at Walvis Bay, they relied on the well-built maintenance facilities there to ensure the combat effectiveness of the ships, and then broke into pieces and radiated the entire South Atlantic and Indian Oceans, completely disrupting the shipping lines of the British. If necessary, it can be broken into parts, and after assembling the main combat ships of the two sub-fleets of the Far East and Africa, the British will break their teeth on any hard-hitting action.

The threat of a "cruiser war" supported by overseas bases and an isolated fleet on the seas is not at all comparable, even if the fleet has already won a brilliant victory.

"How much do we know about the mobile forces that the British have at their disposal on the African side?" Tirpitz asked after a moment's thought.

"What can be determined at the moment is that only two Minotaur class and two city class ships are operating in South African waters." Herzendorf immediately replied that he had memorized the information of the British: "In addition, there are 1 Minotaur and 1 Kent and 2 City in the Indian Ocean. ”

"If that's all there is, Paschwitz won't be able to handle it." Tirpitz said to himself.

In addition to the Stralsund, which was in the Indian Ocean at this time, the African Fleet now under the command of Vice Admiral Hubert von Leber Paschwitz has 2 Ron-class, 2 Marquis Bismarck-class, 1 Karlsruhe-class, 1 Magdegerburg-class, 2 Bremen-class, plus 2 Nymph-class destroyer lead ships that were sent to the African colonies as fourth-class cruisers, a total of 10 combat ships that can operate in the depths of the South Atlantic, although the performance of the ships is not as good as Spee's Far East Fleet, But a fleet of this size is not something that the British can easily gnaw on.

"Yes." Herzendorf responded. Although he was only talking to himself, with Tirpitz's voice, everyone in the whole conference room could hear it, and Herzendorf, Müller, and Pol, who were familiar with Tirpitz, knew that this "evil old soldier" was probably trying to make trouble as soon as they saw his demeanor.

Herzendorf, who felt that Tirpitz was thinking about something, had some bad premonitions, so he added: "But it cannot be ruled out that there are ships drawn from other regions by the British, and reinforcements from France and Japan cannot be ignored." ”

"They'll grab our two light cruisers in the Indian Ocean first, and then talk about how to deal with Spee. And as long as the African fleet and the Far Eastern fleet can smoothly converge, then they are not to worry. Tirpitz was not worried: "So I think the time is ripe for an attack on the North Sea blockade." ”

The content suddenly came to such a big jump, and for a while everyone didn't follow Tirpitz's train of thought.

After a short silence in the conference room, Herzendorf straightened out Tirpitz's logic: "Do you think the British will draw battle cruisers from the mainland to deal with Spee?" ”

"We can recognise the role of Spee when he arrives at Walvis Bay, and the British can recognise the threat to the West African route. If they want to keep the West African route, then they have to take out Spee before he reaches Walvis Bay. What would you decide if you were Fisher? ”

Herzendorf, who also believed that large cruisers were the perfect mobile combat force at sea, naturally knew that the British "naval fighter" would make such a choice.

"But Jericho won't necessarily agree." However, Herzendorf was also well aware of the character of the British commander of the Grand Fleet.

"Then add some more weight to the scales."

"You want the African Fleet to take the initiative to meet the Far Eastern Fleet?" Herzendorf, who understood Tirpitz's calculations, finally understood where his uneasiness came from: "Are you forcing the British to draw battle cruisers from the mainland?!" ”

Such a large fleet dispatch must not be concealed from the British, and it is not difficult to guess the movements of the fleet, what other task than to meet Spee is necessary with such fanfare?

Herzendorf suppressed the urge to scold and asked: "Are you using the African Fleet and the Far East Fleet as bait to create conditions for attacking the North Sea blockade?!" ”

"That's right." Tirpitz unabashedly admitted.

"The blockade attack operation has not yet been passed!" Herzendorf shouted, "You are shameless in order to achieve your own ends. ”

"As long as you can serve the overall strategy, there is nothing you can't do." In the face of Herzendorf's accusations, Tirpitz did not quarrel with him as he did in the previous meeting, but calmly explained: "So I want the British to think that they can destroy the Far East Fleet and the African Fleet in one fell swoop, and completely eliminate the threat on the West African route, so that there will be enough bargaining chips for the commander of the Grand Fleet to make up his mind." ”

Tirpitz did not know that Fisher gave the Scharnhorst-class "quasi-battle cruisers" in high esteem, nor did he know that the Royal Navy judged that their armored cruisers would be unilaterally slaughtered in a long-range artillery battle with German ships, and did not know that if the battle cruisers were not dispatched, the British would give up treatment on the safety of the West African routes. Therefore, in his opinion, without the support of the base, the Far East Fleet, which can only rely on logistics ships and cannot act alone, will face the encirclement and interception of the Royal Navy after revealing its position.

Even if the Scharnhorst-class had the upper hand in the battle with the British armored cruisers, even if it could inflict heavier losses on the British, as long as the Spey fleet suffered heavy damage after engaging the numerically superior British fleet, then even if it could reach Walvis Bay, the war as a cruiser would be lost.

Because the core of cruiser warfare is to dismantle and contain a large number of enemy ships, consume the combat capability of its fleet, and threaten its sea lines of communication, reduce its maritime transportation capacity, and thus weaken its war potential.

The sinking of some of the British's combat ships could not achieve this purpose, and if they were seriously damaged in the engagement, Walvis Bay, after the German Navy's key construction, had good ship maintenance capabilities, but did not have the ability to overhaul combat ships, then in fact, the Far East Fleet had lost its value in cruiser warfare.

Moreover, in Tirpitz's eyes, the cruiser war is also for the service of the decisive battle of the main force, if it is not aimed at the decisive battle of the main force, then the significance of dispersing and pinning down the enemy ships and depleting the combat capability of their fleet does not exist. So in this case, it was a good thing to make the Far Eastern Fleet, which had greatly diminished value in the cruiser war, a decoy to attract the battle cruisers of the Royal Navy.

Tirpitz's argument is cold, but correct. Historically, Spee's fleet has only sunk and captured a total of 5 merchant ships, and this is only a casual result, although it won a brilliant victory at the Battle of Coronel in the battle with the British Royal Navy combat ships, but was soon wiped out at the Battle of Falkland. The Royal Navy solved this problem once and for all with less than 10 combat ships, including 2 battlecruisers.

The Emden, which broke away from the Far East Fleet and carried out cruiser warfare in the Indian Ocean, captured 33 merchant ships totaling 70,360 tons in a hundred days of combat operations, and once reduced the traffic in the Indian Ocean to 22% of peacetime, and restrained 78 ships of various types of the Entente countries that came to search for them!

The destruction of Spee's Far East Fleet, the most powerful overseas combat force of the German Navy during World War I, also meant the loss of the main combat force of Germany capable of carrying out cruiser warfare against British maritime shipping.

Of course, the outcome of cruiser wars without overseas bases is basically the same, but it is clear that if they could be dispersed and carried out cruiser wars, then Spee's fleet should have played a more important role in World War I, rather than a brilliant but brief crossing of history like a meteor.

However, this view is obviously not acceptable to people calmly.

"You're sending our fleet to death! You are a crime against the Imperial Navy! ”

"Doing nothing is a crime against the Imperial Navy." It's not that Tirpitz couldn't understand Herzendorf's anger: "Don't just think about defending your own old troops, the Far Eastern Fleet is also my old troops, but now is not the time to talk about love!" ”

Herzendorf, who had forgotten about this stubble, did not know how to refute it for a while.

Tirpitz, who seized the initiative, opened his voice and shouted: "As long as the British can come out and fight us, everything can be sacrificed!" Now the opportunity to create this condition is here, do you catch it or not?! ”

"......" was only cautious and not cowardly, and Herzendorf finally compromised: "I catch." "At the end of the day, he's only against risk-taking, not against a decisive battle.

"If you really want to help the Far Eastern Fleet and the African Fleet solve the troubles, then you should agree to the operational plan of the attack on the North Sea blockade line. If Vice Admiral Hipper's 1st Reconnaissance Fleet had been able to stab the British in the eyes of the Grand Fleet, Jericho would have been more opposed to the transfer of battlecruisers. Although the words are true, Tirpitz who still comes to say this at this time makes people always feel that he is getting cheap and selling well.

Herzendorf, who was angry and didn't want to pay attention to him, didn't bother to speak.

"I think we should wait for the reaction of the British before making a decision." Müller offered a compromise opinion, because if the British had decided to draw battle cruisers against Spee, it would be the worst news for the Far Eastern Fleet, but then the African Fleet would no longer have to be thrown out as a bargaining chip.

"If we do nothing and just wait for the reaction of the British, then we will not be able to do anything!"

"What if Jericho doesn't take the bait?".

"What else do you have to worry about Naspee and Paschwitz?" Tirpitz looked at the head of the naval office with a "are you stupid" look: "If the British have a bad brain, maybe we can have another victory." ”

If the British wanted to block the convergence of the two fleets without sending a battlecruiser, it was probably really a brain caught in the door, and they let their little maneuvering force in the southern hemisphere to send them to their death.

Knowing that he had asked a stupid question, Müller had to shut up.

Ingnoll's attitude was inclined to himself, and Herzendorf compromised, because His Majesty the Emperor was concerned about the outcome of this meeting, and Ball would never make a casual statement, and Müller's attitude Tirpitz did not bother to care.