In the autumn of 1926, in the Azores with war clouds, tens of thousands of officers and men of the American and British fleets were waiting for the British Home Fleet and the Gibraltar Fleet to come to the aid as soon as possible. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

The two British fleets were stagnant because the British government was afraid of war and the officers and men were afraid of death. Since the signing of the Treaty of London, the whole country of Britain has looked forward to the day when it will wash away its shame, but the more it endures humiliation, the more it suffers from gains and losses. After the coup d'état in Portugal, the main ships of the British Gibraltar fleet rushed to the waters of Lisbon, where they encountered the German Atlantic Fleet led by the new battle cruiser "Tirpitz". The two fleets were evenly matched, and the outcome of a head-to-head battle was unknown, but the German fleet had a slight advantage in overall speed and adopted a strategy of entanglement. After receiving the order to go to the Azores, the British Gibraltar fleet had to watch out for the German fleet that was closely following on the one hand, and on the other hand, it was disturbed by the news that the Spanish army was massing troops in Gibraltar and that the German army had entered Spain through France.

Almost at the same time, the British Home Fleet encountered similar troubles. Before it could sail out of the English Channel, it was "blocked" by the Allied fleets of Germany and Ireland. The Germans had the "Deutschland" and "Prussia", two newly commissioned super battleships, the King-class dreadnoughts that had made great achievements during the Great War, two German aircraft carriers and an Irish aircraft carrier, and were able to receive land-based aircraft support from military bases in Ireland and France.

In such a situation, if the two British fleets were to sail to the Azores recklessly, in the event of a war breaking out on the voyage, their fleets would face the superior Allied fleet far from their own bases and allied fleets. After a fierce battle, the two sides may not be able to decide between the two sides, but the injured ships of Germany and Ireland were able to quickly withdraw to their bases on the Atlantic coast, and the damaged British ships either chose a safe route with a long range or ventured through the sea controlled by enemy ships and aircraft, and the chance of secondary damage was much greater than that of the opponent, which was obviously a very unfavorable situation, so the commanders of the two British fleets invariably made a conservative choice.

In this way, the 1st and 2nd task forces, which accounted for half of the strength of the German Navy, stared at each other in the Azores for more than a week with the American and British fleets, and finally a storm ended this military confrontation that attracted the attention and amazement of the whole world. In the eyes of the vast majority, the Germans were undoubtedly the big winners in this dispute, pulling Spain and Portugal into their military camp in one fell swoop, and gaining the strategic initiative in the Atlantic by taking the Azores in one fell swoop. However, this move also allowed the British to tie up the Americans as they wished, and after the forcible occupation of the Azores by Germany, anti-German sentiment among the American people was at an all-time high, prompting the US Congress to change its long-standing policy of non-alignment and approve the government's military alliance agreement with Britain. From this time on, the United States and Britain, which have far-reaching ties, officially joined forces, and the American war machine also entered full speed forward in the frenzied call.

The naval military confrontations in the Azores, Portuguese waters, and the English Channel have given people a taste of the hegemony of the world's top three naval powers. Any detachment participating in the confrontation alone would be enough to crush the main fleets of second-tier naval powers such as Soviet Russia, Italy, and Austria-Hungary. At the same time, the confrontation between the top battleships also evoked people's infinite reverie, this time, the German German class and the British Britannica class faced each other on the occasion of saber rattling, the German Tirpitz class played a majestic role in front of the British admiral, and the Colorado class, which was unique to the US Navy, also got the opportunity to make its debut, countless good people speculated about their performance in actual combat, and a French writer's "If War Breaks Out on This Day" quickly became an article in the newspapers of various countries. In the Frenchman's vision, the United States, Britain, Germany and Ireland fought an unprecedented and tragic battle in the Atlantic Ocean, and in the end all four were defeated, but the German camp was won by the preemptive strikes of Italy and Austria-Hungary. In the final fantasy, the French describe the landing of German troops in Britain and the sweep of Britain, which provokes strong resistance from the British, and as a result, this guy who has made a lot of money for his manuscript is murdered at home, and he dies before he can enjoy the benefits of fame.

Aside from such vignettes, authoritative figures on the international situation have predicted that although the two camps have avoided a major war, the struggle for the Azores has only just begun, and the fuse for the outbreak of the next war is likely to be the extremely important Atlantic Islands.

The German top brass is well aware that the United States is very unwilling to let the Azores fall into the hands of the Allies, and they also know that the US military has been carrying out military planning in response to this situation for many years. Thus, while the Germans were finishing the rounds of the coup d'état by the Portuguese army and the cross-border operation of the Spanish army, the Germans intensified the occupation of the Azores - the members of the Reichstag happily approved a special military expenditure of 200 million marks for the expansion of the defenses in the Azores and the construction of a new military airfield, all required to be completed within three months. Given the Irish's experience and skill in building fortifications and modern airports, nearly half of the work was handed over to the Irish construction team, and the price was much higher than normal, which made many Irish military officials happy.

However, Natsuki was not so happy about the process and outcome of this dispute, he intended to let the Irish Navy stay out of the matter and wait to see how the situation changes, but in order to achieve a decisive effect, the German high-level asked the Irish Navy to go all out without negotiation, and showed the Irish Navy's mobilization ability and all its family resources in front of the world in advance. The Irish fleet, which appeared at the mouth of the English Channel that day, had the modernized battlecruiser Belfast, the 14,000-ton Scharnhorst-class armored cruisers "Celtic" and "Long Live Liberty", the 15,000-ton standard heavy cruisers "Ruger" and "Dagda", the 20,000-ton standard aircraft carrier "Ulster", four 6,000-ton standard light cruisers, and fifteen destroyers of 1,000 to 1,500 tons. The tonnage of these ships alone has reached 150,000 tons.

Compared with the British and German navies, the strength of the Irish Navy is much weaker, but it has also become a naval force to be reckoned with in European waters -- its total tonnage has quietly climbed to the eighth place in the world, second only to Germany, the United States, Japan, Britain, France, Italy, and Russia, and it has two "stunts" that are unique to Europe: one is weapons technology, and the other is a talent reserve.

Weapons technology is the top aviation and underwater technology. In recent years, a number of outstanding designers have emerged in Ireland, and the King of Ireland, who is known as the "genius of Hohenzollern", is himself a first-class expert in this field, and Ireland's aircraft and submarine development has always been at the forefront of the world, and the carrier-based aircraft carried by the only active "Ulster" and the 17,000-ton training aircraft carrier "Angus" are the latest models in service. Should the war call for it, the Irish aviation industry was able to provide Ireland and its allies with a large number of new warplanes in a relatively short period of time.

At the same time, Ireland's submarine manufacturing and Germany's diesel engine technology combined, dedicated one after another excellent performance submarines, in the face of the recognized technical level and cost-effective advantages, even the German Navy has nearly one-third of the active submarines purchased from Ireland, small European countries and Latin American countries have also ordered a lot of submarines from Ireland. Taking advantage of this convenience, more than half of the more than 40 submarines equipped by the Irish Navy are new models built in recent years, and their overall combat effectiveness is no worse than that of the Italian Navy, which has more than 100 submarines.

Talent reserve refers to the reserve of technical personnel in the military field with unconventional standards. Since the beginning of the 20s, Ireland's military education system and the level of military treatment have gradually improved to the world-class level, and the quality of technical officers and non-commissioned officers has been greatly improved compared with the previous period, and their salaries have even exceeded those of the wealthy United States, which has enabled the Irish army to successfully obtain and retain a large number of outstanding talents. Taking pilots as an example, the active combat aircraft of the Irish front-line troops are maintained at about 200, plus 200 trainer aircraft, but they have nearly 1,000 active pilots, and all pilots have more annual flight time than Britain and Germany. In addition to being part of their own active forces, many Irish pilots serve as flight instructors in allied or neutral countries on official assignments, and countries with weaker financial conditions welcome this high-level flight instructor who does not need to be hired at their own expense. In addition, the well-developed Irish aviation industry has absorbed around 1,200 retired pilots, providing a valuable reserve for the Irish Air Force.

Unless the situation requires it, the edge cannot be fully revealed, this is Natsuki's consistent attitude. In the current Azores crisis, although the strong performance of the Irish Navy has the benefit of enhancing the country's prestige and national confidence, it has really reminded the United States and Britain that in order to bring down Germany, on the road to Berlin, we must first remove Ireland, a stinking and hard stumbling block. Ireland is surrounded by the sea, with a precipitous coast, strong and well-armed, but it is ultimately a small country with a population of less than five million, a limited military base, heavy dependence on imports for raw materials, and a highly concentrated industrial economy in the capital, Limerick. As long as the British were used as an offensive pedal to commit heavy troops, it did not seem too much effort to level the island nation.

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