Chapter 813: Preliminary Preparations
"My people got a message by chance. Pen | fun | pavilion www. biquge。 Info They saw four battleships in Liverpool with almost identical shapes, two huge turrets at the bow and tail in preparation, and next to this battleship, there were two fast ships, and a large crew was assembling cargo. This was three days ago. The prince said.
"A battleship with 2 turrets in the nose and in the tail? Or 4 ships?! "General Pol immediately understood the identity of the other party, this is the British Queen Elizabeth-class battleship! Because of all the current British battleships, the only battleships with two turrets at the end and two turrets at the end are the Queen Elizabeth-class fast battleships and the revenge and battleships, as well as the Tiger!
The British dreadnought battlecruisers had two turrets diagonally across the central axis, dreadnoughts and super-dreadnoughts had 5 turrets, and the likes of Lion and Princess Celestia had one turret in the middle. None of these ships correspond to the description of the appearance, and after excluding most of the ships, then the range of these 4 ships is very small. You can continue to exclude.
4 Revenger-class ships are out of the question, because now the British have only 1 Revancher-class ..... service. Even if one more has just been commissioned recently, there will be no 4 revenge-class battleships, as for the tiger? This is really very thought, if everyone is at sea, separated by more than ten kilometers, it may confuse the tiger and the queen, this is understandable. But in the harbor, there is 1 tiger next to the 3 queens, and if you can still get it wrong, it can be called a chattering ....... General Bohr was convinced that the intelligence officers of the German Navy would never make such a mistake .......
"Well, now we think about it, why did these 4 queens leave the Grand Fleet in Liverpool? Of course, some might say that he may be maintaining. But from the point of view of common sense, these 4 warships would be better on the east coast of England, and considering the two high-speed merchant ships next to them, I think the queens are going to go far away. This is also an important reason for me to remind Su Xiong the day before yesterday. ”
"But we still need to verify, don't we?" Pol said with some weakness.
"Verify? Rest assured, in the Shetland anchorage, the British will place four replacements that look exactly like the Queen. Some information we have to get through other sources. The prince said angrily. To be honest, the prince really didn't have too high expectations for the intelligence capabilities of the German Navy, and historically, the leak of the code made the Entente know everything about the German Navy.
The most unbearable thing is that the Bold is super dreadnought, and after the mine striked, the British specially made a fake Bold in order to prevent this information leakage. A gag order was also issued to the media. However, the Germans obtained information and even photographs. But the Germans thought it was a trick ...... the British.
"So how are you going to verify this information?" Admiral Ball's face was even more embarrassed.
"It's very simple, just 2 hours ago, I sent a telegram to General Su Xiong, and he and his attack ship will pay attention to the abnormal situation in the Indian Ocean and find a way to contact us as soon as possible. And the Americans are also willing to help, they have camouflaged reconnaissance ships in the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, which may not be detected in a short time, but if the British want to avoid all eyes, it is also impossible. ”
There were only two theoretical routes for the British fleet to go to the Indian Ocean, to go to the Atlantic, to go around Africa and then enter the Indian Ocean, and if the British really went like this, they still wanted to catch 2 fast battleships that had just left the port in the Indian Ocean? Wash and sleep, the British ships may be in worse condition than the Suchon fleet, and the first thing they will do when they arrive in the Indian Ocean is to go to Bombay or another big port to make a "big sword". As for why Su Xiong can? Nonsense, Su Xiong's fleet caught slow transport ships with a speed of no more than 10 knots. The British caught fast battleships that soared 25 knots away, can it be the same?
Then the other road is the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, and the Indian Ocean, which are very close, and you can go to the Indian Ocean without maintenance. Therefore, it is natural for the prince to make more preparations on this route. As for how Thomas and Su Xiong played hide and seek after he arrived in the Indian Ocean, the prince also gave some hints, but whether he can play well depends on Su Xiong's level......
"Okay, I'll help you solve this problem, then you have to do the other problems below, first, I need to know the situation of the British in the North Sea blockade line, this situation can only be collected by camouflage ships and submarines, and handed over to you to do."
"Second, the fleet can take some action in the Baltic Sea in the near future, and we want to make the British feel that the Imperial Navy should cooperate with the Eastern Front to launch a counteroffensive against Russia, and the greater the momentum, the better! Of course, there is this opportunity to consolidate our offensive minefields. Suppress the transport lines of the Russians. It's also good. ”
"Thirdly, after receiving the exact news that the queens have gone south, and after the submarine cordon has been deployed in the northern waters of Britain, the Hipper's fleet can regularly go around the southern ports of England, and it is okay to lay mines and bombard the ports without any problems. We want to make the British aware of our activity. ”
"Isn't that dangerous?" General Pol said with some concern.
"We can consider adding another battleship to General Hipper, it seems that the battleship Baden has just finished training, so let's allocate it to General Hippel first." The prince thought for a moment and said.
"But how much difference can there be between only 5 ships and 6 ships?" Pol said with some annoyance.
"The difference is very big, in fact, 5 ships are quite stable, and the maximum number of troops in Betty's hands is two battle cruiser formations, that is, 6 ships. The Grand Fleet will inevitably leave a battle patrol formation, and the queens have left the North Sea, and we are very stable in 5 to 6. With the addition of a Bavarian-class battleship, it would be even more fine, at least no problem with evacuation. Hipper said.
In fact, after the Battle of Helgrain Bay began, the Grand Fleet was still 130 nautical miles away from ......the battlefield. As long as it is determined that the Grand Fleet is in the Shetland Islands, then this naval battle can knock out the Grand Fleet. Hipper only had to face the Betty fleet, and with great confidence in his own capital ships, Hipper thought that 5 to 5 or 5 to 6 was fine, and adding the most powerful Baden, it was actually a bit too much.
"How to arrange it, you do it, I need you to do these three things. We are an offensive operation, and if we can't get all this information, it's not going to be easy. In addition, the submarines that went out will also take a break after they come back, and we will use them in the next stage. The prince said.
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