Jochen received a report the next morning that Tirpitz was still having breakfast when he arrived.

"Alfred, sit down and have something to eat?" Jochen beckoned, and when he saw Tirpitz nodding and smiling at the squire who had saluted him as he entered, he knew it must be good news.

"Thank you, Your Majesty, but you don't need to." Tirpitz excused himself with a smile: "It seems that I came at the wrong time to disturb His Majesty's meal." ”

"It's better to hear the good news early in the morning than anything else." Jochen said with a smile, then turned to the attendant beside him and said, "Bring some drink for Your Excellency the Chief of the General Staff." ”

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Tirpitz nodded slightly in thanks, then whispered to the squire, "Old. ”

The attendants in the Charlottenburg palace knew the habits of the chief of the general staff of the Navy, nodded slightly, and then bowed and withdrew.

"If you don't mind...... Jochen raised his right hand holding the knife slightly, "You say, I'll listen." ”

Although it is a little rude to still eat breakfast while listening to the reports of his subordinates, he does not need to be too polite to a close minister like Tirpitz.

"Of course, Your Majesty." Tirpitz took out the report and read: "At 22 o'clock on August 23, near the mouth of the Irbe Strait, the airship unit of our army carrying out the task of laying mines encountered an attack by the surface ship unit of the Russian Navy. Fortunately, our airships did not suffer losses, and they observed 3 explosions on the water, and it was probably the Russian ships that broke into the minefield we had laid, causing them to trigger the mines. ”

Swallowing the food in his mouth, Jochen asked, "Do you know the type, number, and type of ships of the Russians?" ”

"I'm sorry, Your Majesty, but the report is vague about the details of the Russian fleet. According to the report, the Russians implemented very strict light control until the Russians voluntarily turned on the searchlights. It was only by our airship that they were discovered. In the event of an attack afterwards, the airship was in a hurry to disengage, so it did not carefully observe the Russian ship. However, judging from the observation of the airship at high altitude after the explosion on the sea surface, there should be about 4 ships searching on the sea surface, which should be small and medium-sized surface ships. Tirpitz said.

Jochen nodded. Motioning for Tirpitz to continue, he lowered his head and continued to deal with the food on his plate.

"According to the information we had before the war, the battleships of the Russian Baltic Fleet were in Helsingfors, the armored cruiser fleet and the destroyer corps were in Reval, in addition to the reserve fleet of light cruisers and some small ships in Kronstadt. These ships contain the main force of the entire Baltic Fleet, so the Gulf of Riga should be filled with destroyers or minelayers. Of course, we cannot rule out the possibility that the Russians made a secret transfer. Tirpitz analyzed.

The squire pushed the door open and walked in, and Tirpitz shut his mouth and nodded to the squire after the cup was placed in front of him. Jochen put down the cutlery in his hand. He wiped his mouth with a napkin, then motioned for the attendant to take everything away.

After the chamberlain closed the door, Jochen said: "The Russians have evacuated Libau, fearing that we are attacking from land, but we have not made any action for so long, so there is no need to secretly transfer the fleet to strengthen the Gulf of Riga." However, it is clear that this encounter is due to the actions of the Russians, and we must pay attention to it. ”

"The encounter took place at the exit of the Irbe Strait into the Baltic Sea, which is less than 10 nautical miles away, this is not a patrol fleet, and the Russians obviously want to enter the Baltic Sea, and the purpose is naturally to get us in trouble." Tirpitz smiled slightly: "Fortunately, they failed. ”

"Yes. Thankfully, they failed. Jochen laughed and said, "Whether they want to come out and attack our route with Sweden or they want to carry out offensive mines, we don't have enough troops to stop it." But I didn't expect that. The Russians decided to take the initiative in such a short period of time, and it seems to me that they should have waited at least a little longer, to make sure that we did not make a big move in the Baltic and that their own defense system was largely completed. ”

"After all, the commander of the Russians is that Essen." Tirpitz sighed. During the Russo-Japanese War, Essen's combat operations with the armored cruiser fleet were also studied, analyzed, and studied within the German Navy as a classic example of engagement, so Tirpitz was well aware of what a good enemy Essen was: "Fortunately, we struck before them. ”

"Our offensive mine-laying operations must continue, and the intensity needs to continue to increase. It was pure luck that the Russians were able to bump into each other this time, and we can't have that luck every time. Jochen muttered, "But after this time, the Russians may be wary of our aerial mine-laying, and it is very risky to continue to let the airship carry out mine-laying missions." ”

The airship flies at a very low altitude during the minelaying mission, making it extremely vulnerable if the Russians take a targeted countermeasure. The losses of the airship troops could be significant.

Laying mines at higher altitudes is not feasible. Later generations used aircraft to carry out large-scale offensive mines, which were also airdropped at the lowest possible altitude, and the main purpose of the parachute carried on the mines was to reduce the initial speed of the mines brought by the aircraft to fly forward, but not to reduce the falling speed of the mines. Use a parachute to drop mines at high altitudes, and the parachute will be blown away by the wind and don't know where it will go.

"The General Staff has also taken this into account, but the number of one-time mines laid by airships is what we urgently need now, and we can only take a certain risk. We can only let the airship lay mines on the outer side of the Baltic Sea as close as possible to reduce the possibility of encountering Russian patrol ships, and after the minefield slowly takes shape, we can expand it inward little by little, and increase the number of drifting mines, so as to reduce the possibility of Russian patrol ships approaching the minefield at night. Tirpitz said there was no better way for the Navy to do it now.

"That's the only way it can be, we can't let the Russians take the initiative in the Baltic, then we have to take some risks."

"Your Majesty, if you can get the army to take Libaud, and the navy can use Libao as a base to carry out operations, then the problem will be much simpler." It was good news, but thinking too much would only make the mood worse, so Tirpitz made a joke.

Of course, it's not exactly a joke, after the occupation of Libau. The Irbe Strait was within the range of the twin-engine bombers of the German Air Forces, and four bombers were available at the exit from the Gulf of Finland, which made it possible to lay mines by aircraft. But now from Memel, the twin-engine bombers can't fly back and forth, and the number of 4-engine bombers is not enough, plus it is not known when to take Libau. So Tirpitz's joke was really just a joke at this point.

However, this joke still made Jochen, who was still worried about the loss of the airship force, let go of the problem and made the same joke: "If the Russians attack from land and are defeated by the army in East Prussia, then I think it should not be difficult for the army to give Libau to the navy next year." ”

"Then I can only hope that His Excellency Essen will not cause us too much trouble before we receive this gift." Tirpitz laughed.

But before Admiral Essen could continue to make trouble for Tirpitz, he was now in big trouble.

"Can you explain to me why 3 fleet mine-strike ships of the Gulf of Riga Defense Fleet sank at the mouth of the Irbe Strait!" General Konstantin yelled at Essen, who had reported his losses, and the angry general's foaming stars sprayed on the face of Essen, who was standing there being trained.

In the early hours of the morning, I was woken up from my sleep by the ringing of the telephone, and heard the news that the commander Colonel Yevgeny had lost 2 Ukrainian-class and 1 Hussar-class among the 8 fleet mine-striking ships scheduled to carry out the offensive mine-laying operation. Essen knew that General Constantine would inevitably be thunderous and furious. And now that I am standing in front of General Konstantin, I feel that there is a thunderstorm.

"Our mine-striking ships were carrying out patrols between Riga and Libau as planned, but they strayed into a minefield laid by the Germans in the Irbe Strait, which led to the loss of three mine-striking ships." Essen opened his eyes and said nonsense.

"Are you fooling me? Admiral?! The Navy has already abandoned Libau, what other patrol tasks ?! Konstantin said angrily: "I should have said very clearly that the navy is forbidden to have any offensive behavior, and you are disobeying my orders by letting the fleet go out without permission?!" ”

The charge of disobedience could not be allowed to be carried out, and Essen could only continue to insist: "Because of Libau's position, the navy did fear that it would be attacked by the Germans and evacuated. But the Navy did not give up on Libau, and all the naval personnel in the port were not evacuated. Since the Germans have not moved all the time. The Navy judged that the German Navy did not have enough forces in the Baltic direction to launch an attack on Libau from the sea, and therefore decided to resume routine patrols of the coastline between the Gulf of Riga and Libau. ”

Konstantin stared at Essen fiercely, he knew that the admiral in front of him was not a peaceful person, this operation was obviously an action of the other party's own initiative, but now he gave an explanation that he couldn't fault anything, and he naturally couldn't send an admiral to a military tribunal based on just guesswork.

"The main task of the Baltic Fleet is to ensure the maritime defense of the Gulf of Finland and Riga. To ensure that the Germans could not attack from the sea, and now the Gulf of Riga defense fleet was sunk by mines laid by the Germans on its own doorstep! This is a dereliction of duty on the part of the Navy! You are the commander of the Commander! Konstantin changed direction and continued to attack Essen.

"Yes, that's my responsibility." Essen actually nodded in recognition, but before Konstantin could answer, he immediately changed the subject: "I think the main reason for this problem is that the range of activities of our patrol ships is limited. As a result, the control area was too small, which led to the fact that the Germans caught the flaw. I beg His Excellency the Admiral to approve the expansion of the Baltic Fleet's activities, and the dispatch of more ships by the Navy to monitor all waters and put an end to German mine-laying operations. ”

Essen was also taken aback by the news that the Germans used airships to lay mines, and then he had to admit that the method of airship laying mines was indeed very effective. Airships can go deep into their own defense areas to lay mines without being obstructed by minefields, and airships fly faster than ships, so they move faster, the shorter the window period for their own detection, and each airship carries no less than a fleet mine-striking ship, which is indeed an excellent way to lay mines quickly.

The only drawback is that it is very easy to detect and be vulnerable to attack when flying at low altitudes, but the short window of detection mentioned above can effectively compensate for this problem. If it hadn't happened to be hit by the lightning strike fleet this time, half an hour earlier or half an hour later, the Germans would most likely not have been detected. Then, when the time comes, after the ship strikes a mine, it is likely that he will still not know what method the Germans used to lay mines in front of their own homes.

If you want to break up the German mine-laying operations, you must expand the patrol range of the ships and intercept the German airships in low-flying conditions, otherwise the Germans will really block the Gulf of Riga and the Gulf of Finland with mines......

"No way!" Konstantin categorically rejected Essen's request: "All ships are not allowed to enter the Baltic Sea in the sphere of activity!" ”

"Your Excellency, if you don't stop the Germans from laying mines......," Essen shouted

"The task of the navy is to prevent the Germans from landing in the direction of the Gulf of Riga or the Gulf of Finland, aren't you also carrying out mine-laying operations, and together with the Germans, all areas are blocked with mines, and the Germans will not be able to enter?" Konstantin said.

In response to Konstantin's suggestion, Essen was eager to put his fists on the face of this general who didn't understand anything, clenched his fists tightly, and endured the anger in his heart, Essen made the last effort: "If all areas are blocked by mines, then the maritime connection between the Gulf of Riga and the Gulf of Finland will be cut off, and if the Germans launch an attack on the Gulf of Riga, the main forces of our army in the Gulf of Finland will not be able to reinforce in time." ”

"Doesn't your Navy have minesweepers? It should not be difficult to secure a passage along the coastline from Reval to the Muhu Strait. Konstantin said unceremoniously: "From now on, without my orders, if the Baltic Fleet loses any combat ship for any action, I will send you to a military court!" Do you understand? ”

It seems that Tirpitz's troubles, Konstantin helped him out. (To be continued.) )