At 5:30 p.m. GMT on August 8, 1914, when the Germans on the other side of the North Sea were listening to the oracle in Kiel Harbor, a powerful communiqué was issued by the British Admiralty: In the Battle of Jutland, which lasted about 11 hours, the British Royal Navy lost 4 battle cruisers, 8 dreadnoughts, many ships were heavily damaged, and the number of casualties was as high as 1. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info 140,000 people. Undoubtedly, this was the heaviest defeat suffered by the British Empire since the Anglo-Spanish naval battle of 1588 to establish maritime supremacy, and the main reason for this crushing defeat was that the British fleet had stepped into the trap that the German Navy had planned for a long time and the sudden weather conditions, two key factors that prevented the British fleet from fully deploying the battle line, and all the officers and men of the fleet still showed the heroic and fearless spirit of the Royal Navy in the face of unfavorable circumstances. A large number of British officers and men, represented by Vice Admiral Bernie, commander of the detachment, remained at their combat posts until their deaths. Although the British Navy lost nearly half of its capital ships, and the Germans paid a heavy price for it, more than a dozen capital ships of the High Seas Fleet would have to stay in dockyard for several months, during which time the British Navy would mobilize all the forces it could to defend its homeland and sea routes, and work with the Allies to fight stubbornly against the German-Austrian alliance that had forcibly provoked the war.

At 7 p.m. Berlin time on August 8, two and a half hours after Britain issued a naval battle communiqué, German officials hurriedly issued a war report, claiming that they had sunk 15 British capital ships, 14 cruisers, and 31 destroyers at the cost of 3 battleships, 7 cruisers, 19 torpedo boats, and more than 4,000 officers and men, achieving a complete victory in the Battle of Jutland and thus seizing strategic control over the North Sea region.

By the time the official German war report was received, the commander of the Mediterranean Detachment of the German Navy, Wilhelm Zuchon, had already arrived at the mouth of the Dardanelles with two of his fast warships, the battle cruiser von der Tann and the light cruiser Breslau, where they were waiting for the Turks to allow them to enter the strait.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Germany had neither colonies nor direct ports on the Mediterranean coast. After the second Moroccan crisis, in order to protect the interests of German capital in North Africa and increase Germany's political influence and voice in the Mediterranean, the German Navy announced the formation of a Mediterranean fleet, and then sent two newly built warships - the original plan was that the Moltke-class battle cruiser No. 2 "Goeben" and "Breslau" partnered, and this was also a combination in line with the original historical appearance, but according to the suggestion of Prince Joachim, who served in the German Navy Staff at that time, the capital ship sent to the Mediterranean for a long time was "Goeben" The number was replaced by "von der Tann".

The von der Tann, a new type of warship designed by Prince Joachim, was completed a year earlier than the Goeben, with a standard displacement of 2. 050,000 tons, armed with three triple 45 times diameter 11-inch guns, recorded a trial speed of 26. 5 knots, the latter with a standard displacement of 2. 20,000 tons, equipped with four triple mounted 50 times the diameter of the 11-inch main gun, the recorded trial speed of 27. 9 knots. In terms of overall combat effectiveness, the "Goeben" is obviously superior to the "von der Tann", but after all, the strategic center of the German Navy is in the North Sea, and the two Moltke-class battlecruisers have good coordination in fighting on the same field, and the "von de Tann" is a two-time shooting champion of the German Navy, and has also exerted all the skills in the artillery exchanges between the British and German navies, and the strategic deterrent is not inferior at all.

In the summer of 1914, when Archduke Ferdinand, Prince of Austria-Hungary, was assassinated in Sarajevo, the maritime forces of the Entente in the Mediterranean were dominated by the French Navy, whose main forces were 2 dreadnoughts, 14 old battleships, 6 cruisers, and 24 destroyers, which looked very strong, but none of them could deal with the "von der Tann", and according to the Anglo-French naval agreement, from 1913, the British Navy concentrated its main forces in the North Sea and the English Channel, The Malta-based British Mediterranean Fleet continued to dwindle and by 1914 had only three battlecruisers - the Indomitable, Indomitable and Indomitable - as well as a number of light ships and old warships.

Although the three British battlecruisers were able to take out the von de Tann together, as the war drew closer, Churchill feared that the German battlecruisers would evade the French battlefleet with their speed, override or override the French escort cruisers and attack their transports, sinking the ships full of soldiers one by one, and the senior officials of the French Admiralty shared the same fears. So, before Britain had even decided to enter the war, Churchill, the British Admiralty, instructed the commander of the Mediterranean Fleet, Admiral Berkeley-Milne, to help protect the French troop carriers. On 2 August, knowing that Germany was about to declare war on France, Churchill sent a second telegram to Sir Milne, explicitly asking the British Mediterranean Fleet to keep an eye on the von der Tann and exchange fire with it if necessary.

Although Churchill attached great importance to such a firepower and fast German battlecruiser as the von der Tann, his repeated warnings did not attract enough attention from Sir Milne. On 3 August, when news of Germany's declaration of war on France reached the Mediterranean, Sir Milne's flagship Indomitable anchored at a naval base in Malta, while the Indomitable and Indomitable sailed in formation in Aeolian waters. Another stronger British fleet, a detachment of armored cruisers under the command of Vice Admiral Sir Ernest Trubridge, was monitoring the movements of the Austro-Hungarian Navy near the Strait of Otranto. It was only a poor British light cruiser responsible for keeping an eye on the butts of "von der Tann" and "Breslau", and to add insult to injury, the British light cruiser lost its target because of the heavy fog of the morning. In this way, two German battleships under the command of Wilhelm Zuchon disappeared from the sight of the Allied Navy.

The pair of extremely dangerous hunters were nowhere to be found, and the senior officials of France could not help but sit on pins and needles. Because of the numerical inferiority of the French native army, they were anxious to requisition the colonial corps, which numbered as many as three divisions instead of two divisions, and more than 80,000 men with auxiliary troops. Whether or not the entire corps could appear at the designated place on the front could be decisive for the French battle plan; Both sides agreed that the fate of France in the initial conflict with Germany would determine the outcome of the war.

Since Britain had not yet entered the war at this time, the French Navy had to hastily dispatch all its combat ships and organize them into three fleets to search for and intercept the "von der Tann" and "Breslau" formations. You know, these two fast warships are not purely coal-fired like most German warships, the "von der Tann" uses a design of 16 coal-fired boilers with 8 oil-fired boilers, even at a high speed of 24 knots, its endurance is still as high as 2700 nautical miles, enough to do a sprint through the Mediterranean Sea through the east and west, while the "Breslau" with 12 coal-fired boilers and 4 oil-fired boilers, 24 knots of cruising range of 2200 nautical miles.

In addition to the excellent endurance of the ships themselves, thorough preparation is also a fine tradition of the German army. As early as the beginning of July, "von der Tann" was docked and overhauled in the Austro-Hungarian military port of Pla, removing marine life adsorbed to the bottom of the ship, replacing and repairing it with parts shipped from Germany, and the full load test after the overhaul reached 4. With a power output of 60,000 horsepower, the top speed exceeds 26 in a short time. 2 sections, the power is in a relatively ideal state. The Breslau, the latest Magdeburg-class light cruiser of the German Navy, was tested at a maximum speed of 28 knots and was overhauled at the Italian military port of Taranto in late July, so that it could easily cooperate with Operation von der Tann. In addition, although the German navy had only two combat ships in the Mediterranean, all German merchant ships and those neutral ships employed by the Germans could be temporarily used to assist operations, and the Austro-Hungarian fleet could also rush out of the Adriatic Sea at any time, causing a big surprise to the Allied navy.

As the French feared, the brave and aggressive Wilhelm Zuchon received the news of the war between Germany and France, and he led his two warships in excellent condition to the waters of North Africa, and at dawn on 4 August, the two ships shelled the French colonial ports of Philippville and Bony respectively, and on the way back, Zuchon received a telegram from the German Admiralty asking him to unseal the secret documents stored in the safe of the "von der Tann" and act in accordance with the contents of the secret documents.

The contents of this secret document were very simple, a coded contact manual for wartime, a nautical chart showing the area of activity of the secret supply ship, and a new Turkish hat.

William Zu was ambitious and immediately led two warships to Messina to replenish fuel for the long voyage ahead.

On the way to Messina, the German fleet encountered the 5,500-ton French protective cruiser "La Gravière", an old battleship with a top speed of only 22 knots, equipped with 8 doors and 162. The 6 mm caliber naval guns have a maximum range of only about 9,000 meters, and they are accompanied by two destroyers of 500-600 tons. Zu Xiong immediately led the "von der Tann" head-on, bombarding the French cruiser with six front main guns at a distance of 12,000 meters. The title of gunnery champion was well deserved, and the German ships quickly formed a straddle fire on the target, while the "Breslau" opened fire on two French destroyers with a new 150-mm naval gun of 45 times the diameter. The "Lagravière" quickly suffered several shots, and the amidships were on fire, billowing black smoke to an altitude of several hundred meters, and the two French destroyers tried to launch a torpedo attack on the German fleet, but they had no advantage in speed, and as a result, they fled in confusion under the heavy shelling of the two German battleships. At this time, there happened to be an Italian passenger liner in the nearby sea, and the passengers on board were able to witness this one-sided battle, and naturally they were deeply impressed by the mighty performance of the German battleship.

After just over a quarter of an hour of fighting, the hull of the "La Gravière" had been tilted significantly, and the crew abandoned the ship to escape, Zuchon ordered a ceasefire and signaled for surrender, but the French battleship still responded with shells. The von der Tann adjusted its course at a distance of about 8,000 meters from the enemy and fired a precise salvo from the ship's guns. Largely undisturbed, the German gunners were shooting at a slow-moving target, shells fell on the French cruiser one after another, and the whole ship soon became a pile of burning floating objects, and the two French destroyers, knowing that they were outnumbered, had to abandon the "Lagraveuelles" and withdraw south. "Breslau" leaned in, threw down some rubber rafts and lifebuoys, and then turned off the stubborn French cruiser with two torpedoes.

By the night of 4 August, the "von der Tann" and "Breslau" had finally arrived in Messina, by which time the Italian declaration of neutrality had been issued, and the port authorities had demanded that the German warships leave within 24 hours, citing the neutrality law. Although Zuchon tried to use his connections to buy more time, by the morning of 6 August, the two German warships were still "escorted" by Italian ships and left the port, by which time Britain had declared war on Germany. The officers and men of Wilhelm Zuchon's navy were taken by surprise by the news that the two routes in and out of the Mediterranean, the Strait of Gibraltar and the Suez Canal, were under the control of the British, and the two German warships would not be able to return home for the war. In the eyes of almost everyone, they could only stay here to fight with the Austro-Hungarian and Italian allies, and only Wilhelm-Zuchon knew the real mission of this fleet.

During a day and a half of their stay in Messina, the tanks of the von der Tann and Breslau were each filled with heavy oil, but the refueling was not ideal, allowing the two warships to complete the voyage from Mexico to the Dardanelles at cruising speed. In order to prepare for possible changes along the way, Wilhelm-Zuchon had intended to summon German merchant ships out of port to refuel his ships at sea, but he received reports that two battlecruisers of the British Mediterranean Fleet had approached the waters of Messina. After weighing up, he decided to set off at once and sail to the land of stars and moons, the Ottoman Turkish Empire, more than a thousand nautical miles away.

(End of chapter)