Wilhelmshaven, Germany.

The workers in the military port worked tirelessly day and night to shorten the construction period of the repair and maintenance of the battleships such as the "Elector" and the "Oldenburg" from 30 days to 22 days on the premise of ensuring quality.

After a 15-day vacation, the officers and sailors all returned to the fleet on time, and then they were busy adjusting the cannons, inspecting the equipment, and loading the ammunition and fuel.

Soon, the day of departure came.

February 10, 1915, overcast.

The low clouds gave a sense of unpleasant oppression, the quays were crowded with pedestrians and vehicles, and the vicinity of the viewing platform was deserted, with only a handful of soldiers and family members coming to see off the fleet, and few of them knew where the fleet was going.

Among the warships docked at the various docks, the six largest warships stood out, with their mighty hulls, majestic cannons, and the German naval flag fluttering in the wind at the top of the mast, all of which made people feel full of war.

On the deck of the battleship, the sailors were seriously and busy making the final preparations before setting sail, and all the landing steps had been removed.

On the bridge of the "Election Emperor", Xipar, dressed in a brand-new admiral's uniform, silently watched these warships shouldering important tasks. In addition to the flagship "Elector" and the "Oldenburg", which had previously been part of this fleet, Sheppel's fleet has added several new members this time.

As the last of the King's class, the "Prince Wilhelm" was officially put into active service at the beginning of this month, so far the four battleships of the King's class, the "King", the "Elector", the "Border Governor" and the "Prince Wilhelm" have all entered the combat sequence of the German Navy.

The Prince William was followed by the newly restored battlecruisers Moltke and Seydlitz, which were valiant but also badly damaged in the North Sea naval battles, and after five months of overhaul, they finally returned to naval operations. Among them, the Moltke-class battle cruiser "Moltke" has a displacement of 23,000 tons, and its main armament is 10 45 times diameter 280 mm main guns, 12 45 times diameter 150 mm secondary guns and 4 500 mm torpedo tubes. With a maximum speed of 25.5 knots and a cruising range of 4,120 nautical miles, the "Seydlitz" is a modification of the Moltke class, which was named after the famous Prussian general Friedrich in the War of the Austrian Succession in the 18th century. Feng? Named after Baron Seydlitz. The Sedlitz was longer than the Moltke class and had some major improvements in armor and watertightness, and its side armor protection was comparable to that of battleships of similar tonnage. The ship has a displacement of 25,000 tons, and is also equipped with 10 proven 280 mm 50 x diameter main guns, 12 45 x diameter 150 mm secondary guns and 4 500 mm torpedo tubes, with a maximum speed of 26.5 knots and a cruising range of 4,200 nautical miles.

The last battleship of this fleet "Hindenburg". The ship was named "Avant-garde" when it was in service in the British Navy, and was damaged and captured by the Germans in September 1914, after which the German Navy repaired and refitted it for five months, in which the armor of the waterline, turret and conning tower were strengthened, and the main gun was still 10 50x diameter 305 mm guns, with a displacement of 20,000 tons and a maximum speed of 20 knots.

In addition to the above 6 battleships and battle cruisers, the Shepal fleet also included 5 light cruisers, 8 destroyers, 2 medium seaplane carriers, 3 coal ships, and 11 large transport ships, which was a "huge" fleet in terms of size and tonnage.

8 a.m. The correspondents forwarded a telegram from the Kaiser to Sheppel.

After taking the telegram and reading it carefully. Shepal then ordered: "Set sail!" ”

On the morning of the same day, at the parade ground in the southern suburbs of Berlin, Chentian, accompanied by General Ollie, inspected the new regiment consisting of 15 infantry regiments, 2 armored regiments, and 3 separate heavy artillery regiments. These units were in addition to 5 infantry regiments and 1 armored regiment brought back from Turkey by Oli. The rest were elite regiments drawn from the German 4th Army. After the Berlin coup, the Duke of Württemberg was placed under house arrest, and the 4th Army under his command became the first large-scale demobilized unit in the German Army.

Lieutenant General Oli, commander of the German Expeditionary Force and commander of the German-Turkish forces, was appointed to command the new corps, and Major Rommel, who had just been recalled from Africa, became the corps' deputy chief of staff. In addition, the 19th Fighter Squadron, the 33rd Attack Aircraft Squadron, the 51st Bomber Squadron and the 59th Bomber Squadron of the Air Force, which were originally stationed in northern France, were also included in the Orly Regiment, and it is worth mentioning that the air combat ace Captain Manfred von Richthofen has been promoted to squadron leader of the 19th Fighter Squadron.

After the face-to-face lecture, Chen Tian told Ollie to "open the door to the Mediterranean" for Germany.

After the review. The Ori regiment boarded a train heading south, and they went to Pula, the largest military port in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, where they boarded ships and assembled in the port of Tunis, Africa. The planes are dismantled and cranked, with spare parts, ammunition and pilots and technicians, who are reassembled upon arrival in Tunisia.

Taranto Military Port, Italy.

This military port in the southern part of the Apennine Peninsula is famous in large part for its geographical location and difficult terrain: the Italian peninsula is like a boot stepping into the Mediterranean, and Taranto is hidden deep at the bottom of the Italian boot-shaped peninsula. Between the heel and the sole of this 'leather boot', there is an inward-curved arch of the shoe. This is Taranto Bay. Facing the vastness of the eastern Mediterranean, it shared the choke point with Sicily, and the Italian fleet based in Taranto could threaten the Mediterranean shipping routes and retreat to the port for a tight defense.

Taranto is divided into two parts, the inner harbor is called Piquelo, which is completely surrounded by land, and is only connected to the outer harbor by a narrow waterway. The outer harbor is called the Grand Territory, and the harbor is wide and deep, and it is the main anchorage place for large warships. The islands of San Pietro and São Paulo are guarding the entrance. Thousands of meters of breakwater stretch from the two islands to the shore, like two jade arms, embracing the entire port of Taranto. The only entrance to the Outer Harbour. The Italian army had built strong fortifications over the years, forts and batteries with heavy artillery, and tight anti-submarine nets that made it necessary for anyone to think twice about attacking the harbor from the sea.

In the Battle of the Adriatic on December 22, 1914, the Italian fleet was evenly matched with the Allied fleet led by the Austro-Hungarian navy, but the Italians took the initiative to withdraw their capital ships to the port of Taranto because of the Allied air forces, and these warships did not participate in any large-scale operations until the end of the war.

After the signing of the Peace of Vienna, the whole of Italy was dead, and only the port of Taranto became more and more lively.

"This is the battleship detachment of the Italian fleet. Except for 3 that are repaired on the slipway, the remaining 7 are here! On the dock of the military port, a navy colonel in a black uniform pointed with his right hand to the large objects anchored not far away, and next to him was a general in the same color uniform. Although the uniforms of the Italian Navy are also dominated by black, the eagle-shaped cockade on the caps of the two officers shows their very different identities.

"Excellent! It seems that Italians are still very peace-loving! The older generals commented sarcastically on the Italians who had obediently honoured the peace treaty, and there was no one here who was going to make any self-sinking moves.

"General, those two that have not yet been raised are the Italian battleships assigned to us in the treaty, the one on the left is the 'Leonardo da Vinci', and the one on the right is 'Julio?' Caesar's! The colonel from before continued to state the situation to the general next to him.

"Oh, the Austrians, the Turks, and the Russians are very active!" The general is still only a one-sentence evaluation. But the ground is in place. Four of the seven battleships not far away had already raised the Austro-Hungarian naval flag, and the Turkish moon flag had been raised on the next one (I don't know why the Turks were particularly fond of the meniscus symbol, which was found on the flag of the Ottoman Empire). It's just that there are some differences between the overall style and the current Turkish flag).

Of the four delegations that came to receive the Italian ships, the German delegation was the last to arrive.

"General, this is indeed the case! The day after the signing of the Peace of Vienna, the Austro-Hungarian and Turkish naval vessels that had been wandering in the Adriatic waters sailed outside the port of Taranto, and the Russians were not far behind, and they sent a naval delegation from China to the Austro-Hungarian port of Pula before the peace talks were over, and chartered an Austro-Khalan freighter. As soon as the treaty was signed, they hoisted the Russian naval flag on the freighter and hurried all the way from the port of Pula. However, it was not until the Italian navy here received an official order from the King of Italy. Only then were delegations from Austria-Hungary, Russia and Turkey allowed to enter Taranto. After a simple handover ceremony, the trilateral delegations quickly took over the ships assigned to their countries under the treaty, and the generals were eager to return them to their home countries if they were not needed for overhaul and refueling. There seemed to be disdain in the colonel's words, although Germany had sent a delegation of more than 100 officers and more than 3,000 sailors to take over the 13 warships assigned to the country, but they had acted with much more grace. On the third day of the arrival of the Austro-Hungarian Navy, the German delegation led by Vice Admiral Benck arrived in Taranto in a hurry, and then had a "friendly" and "polite" handover ceremony with the Italian commander, General Tonedo.

At this time, the German sailors, accompanied by Italian naval officers and sailors, were handing over the ships in an orderly manner.

"Colonel Raeder. Presumably their emperor and president did not tell them that the audacity of the Italians doomed them to be honest in fulfilling the peace treaty! The general who spoke was Lieutenant Admiral Benck, who was in charge of the Kiel naval base in Germany, and was entrusted by William III of Germany to be the commander of the naval base in Tunis, after which he would take the Italian warships assigned to Germany directly to the port of Tunis.

The full name of this Colonel Raeder next to Benck is Erich? Raeder, 59 years old, unlike most German admirals, has a very clean shaved face, with only a not-so-thick mustache, giving people the impression of a weak scholar. Actually, Erich? Raeder was indeed more of a scholar than a soldier, fluent in English, French, Russian, and Chinese Spanish, with great musical talent and literary ability, and with a gentle demeanor. However, all this does not hide his military talent in any way. Redder's hometown is by the sea, and he has loved the sea since he was a child. After joining the navy, in the process of expanding overseas with the fleet, especially after traveling to East Asia with the fleet and forcibly occupying Qingdao, China, the plot of "navalism" gradually rose in his heart: Without the navy, there would be no strong Germany! He began to study naval scholarship diligently, and wrote a large number of papers and monographs, which soon attracted the attention of Kaiser Wilhelm II, who pursued a "world policy" and tried to compete with Britain with naval power. After the new Kaiser ascended the throne, Raeder's first assignment was to receive the Italian fleet as deputy head of the delegation, after which he would accompany Vice Admiral Benck to Tunisia and become Chief of Staff of the Mediterranean Fleet.

Subsequently, in the cruiser berth area of the Italian fleet, Benck and his entourage saw the heavy cruiser "Brunetti" and the light cruisers "Malmi", "Salaria", and "Petrara", which were about to be assigned to the German Navy, these four battleships were launched before 1910, and from the appearance of the Italians did a good job of maintaining the ships, and the performance and firepower of these battleships were also enough to cope with general military operations in the Mediterranean region. At present, except for the "Petera", which was slightly damaged in the Adriatic Sea and still needs some repairs, the remaining three ships can be put into combat condition after replenishing fuel and ammunition.

"The battleships of the Italians are really good! In my opinion, it was enough to compete with the Anglo-French Mediterranean fleet before the war! Benke shook his head helplessly, if the Italians fulfilled the German-Austrian-Italian Triple Alliance agreement, and the Austrian-Italian navy joined forces to deal with the Anglo-French Mediterranean Fleet, then the German High Seas Fleet would not have been forced to shrink in the harbor at the beginning of the war.

Raeder shared the same opinion on this, especially the Italian destroyers they saw later, which performed better than the French destroyers of their class. In the words of the new Kaiser, "the combat effectiveness of the Italian army and the level of equipment are always inversely proportional!" ”

When the first Austro-Hungarian ship sailed out of the port of Taranto, Hillal's fleet cautiously and calmly crossed the English Channel, which the British government learned of through spies deployed on the continent, but they did not link the fleet to Gibraltar. However, the British spies received bad news from the Spaniards: the Spanish government was very likely to declare war on the British!

In fact, secret talks between Spain and Germany were taking place in Berlin, while the Spanish army and navy were quietly preparing for war.