More than seventy hours ago, when British Prime Minister Herbert. Pen ~ Fun ~ Pavilion www.biquge.info Henry. When Asquith read the Edict of War on Germany on behalf of King George V, the Royal Navy had a total tonnage of 2.35 million tons, compared to 1.15 million tons for the German Navy, the second largest navy in the world. In terms of the core forces that determine the victory or defeat at sea, the British Navy outnumbered the German Navy's 14 dreadnoughts and 6 battle cruisers with 20 dreadnoughts and 9 battle cruisers, while the British Navy had a greater numerical advantage over the former dreadnought battleships, armored cruisers, ordinary cruisers and destroyers.

(In the history of World War I, when the Battle of Jutland broke out in 1916, the number of British and German dreadnoughts was 28 to 15 and the battle cruisers were 10 to 5, and the German navy won a tactical victory, but it failed to break the British cage in the North Sea, and remained inactive until the end of the war.) As a condition of the armistice, the German High Seas Fleet was escorted to Scapa Bay. In 1919, fearing that their warships would be used against their own country, German naval officers and sailors launched a tragic self-sinking operation, codenamed "Rainbow")

In terms of numbers, the German navy was completely at a disadvantage, but the sheer colonies and busy trade routes made it difficult for the British navy to concentrate all of its elite in one place. At the time of the declaration of war, the British and German navies had 20 to 13 dreadnought battleships and 6 to 5 battle cruisers in their home waters, and each side also had a considerable number of dreadnought battleships and armored cruisers, but the first two were the decisive forces dominating the sea.

As a professional ship engineer and warship model expert a hundred years later, Natsuki knew very well that the quality of the fleet could not replace the quantity, but Germany's roots were on land, and the geographical location of the "crossroads of Europe" made it impossible for it to devote its most important energy to shipbuilding. For a long time, he tried to incorporate a simple and practical design style into every class of dreadnought battleships, battlecruisers, and most light and medium warships and auxiliary ships built in Germany:

-- The Nassau and Helgoland classes were originally designed to be hexagonal with six twin main turrets, but after Natsuki's efforts, they were able to return to the right path, lengthening the hull, optimizing the structure, and improving the configuration, and the four triple 45x11-inch (280 mm) guns provided the German Navy's first-class dreadnoughts with considerable firepower. At the same time, the Krupp armor, which was up to 12 inches (305 mm) thick at its thickest, provided excellent protection for the battleship, and coupled with the first-class interior subdivision compartment design, their survivability far exceeded that of the early British dreadnoughts;

-- When the construction of the Caesar-class and King-class dreadnoughts began, Natsuki was promoted to the director of shipbuilding of the German Navy, which also gave him more room to play, and the two warships were equipped with excellent performance of 50 times the diameter of 12-inch naval guns, and the four twin-mounted main turrets were all arranged along the central axis, and the firepower accuracy was greatly improved by the upgrade of the unified command system of the whole ship, and the popular but impractical broadside gun silhouette was finally canceled, and replaced by a double-mounted auxiliary turret placed on the side deck of the ship, which ensured the integrity and defense of the ship's main armor belt;

-- The battle cruisers of the von der Tann, Moltke, and Seydlitz classes formed the sharp knife force of the German Navy, their tonnage, speed and firepower increased step by step, the Atlantic bow design ahead of the times ensured their seaworthiness at high speeds, the Hubert turbine gave the ideal power effect, and the increasingly mature ship armor and high-speed naval guns made their balanced performance significantly better than that of the British battle cruisers of the same period!

In this main German fleet, which sailed to the depths of the North Sea, there were many ships that incorporated the "Xia style". The Dresden-class, Kolburg-class, Magdeburg-class, Karlsruhe-class light cruisers, and the 1898, 1906, 1911, and 1913 class large torpedo boats, they have distinctive characteristics and outstanding performance, and can exert amazing combat effectiveness with reasonable tactics. In addition to these conventional combat ships, the High Seas Fleet was accompanied by a number of old ships that had been reborn by Natsuki:

-- The most majestic are the 15 former dreadnoughts (Deutsche class, Braunschweig class and Wicchersbach class), they were also beautiful in those years, but it is a pity that the huge technological gap between dreadnoughts and former dreadnoughts made these warships that were only a few years earlier than their predecessors regrettably outdated, under the strong advice of Natsuki and the personal intervention of the Kaiser, two large shipyards in Danzig began to refit these **** dreadnoughts in the autumn of 1913, replacing half of their old coal-fired boilers with oil-fired boilers, The installation of more powerful reciprocating steam engines and the elimination of underwater torpedo tubes have effectively increased their speed, which has been out of step with the times, at least not to become a bad burden when integrated into the main fleet, and against a strong enemy, the 240 mm rapid-fire guns and solid defensive armor can also relieve a lot of pressure on the main fleet;

-- The most bizarre appearance of the modified armored cruiser "Bismarck", the original mast, bridge, and turret were all removed, the tall chimney was moved to the far right side of the hull, and the steel frame and wooden planks were laid over the main deck to create an empty platform.

-- The most gimmick should be the 6 torpedo boat carriers converted from the old protective cruisers of the Erin class and the Queen Auguste class, they are equipped with "water god" speedboats with excellent high-speed performance, which are regarded by the outside world as sharp blades on the water, and when sailing at full load, these double torpedo boats can run quite amazing speeds, and with the new high-speed torpedoes, they are the most dangerous sea assassins of this era, and no fleet commander dares to underestimate their power!

With 14 dreadnoughts, 15 ex-dreadnoughts, 23 cruisers, 55 large torpedo boats, 6 torpedo boat carriers carrying 72 high-speed torpedo boats, 1 10,000-ton aircraft carrier carrying 6 two-seat reconnaissance aircraft and 12 single-seat attack aircraft, plus 5 battlecruisers and 6 fast cruisers of the Hippers reconnaissance fleet, the German Navy showed its home without reservation as soon as the war began. The real difficulty lies not in the assembly and mobilization of ships and personnel, but in the subjective resistance from the decision-making level of the country.

Kaiser Wilhelm II attaches great importance to the development of naval construction, without his trust and support, Tirpitz may not have the opportunity to create such a powerful high seas fleet, but the German emperor with half British blood is very in awe of the British Navy, he is afraid that his fleet will be beaten to pieces by the invincible Royal Navy, buried at the bottom of the sea, and feels that the German Army is bound to win a key victory, so the task of the German Navy at the beginning of the war should be to preserve strength and contain the opponent. When Britain's allies on the continent fall one by one, it will be used as an important bargaining chip to force the British to submit -- most naval officials, including the Kaiser's brother Prince Heinrich, the chief of naval staff, Field Marshal Bohr, and the Minister of Shipping, Field Marshal Müller, are supporters of this "existential fleet theory", and they oppose the high seas fleet's risky attack, believing that even if it can defeat a strong enemy, it will only be a huge price in exchange for the icing on the cake victory. There were also many people who did not approve of confinement of the German fleet in a safe harbor, but also did not support the navy launching an active attack at the beginning of the war, and they felt that they should be patient and look for opportunities to constantly weaken the British navy, and wait until the strength of the main fleets of the two sides was close or even when Germany achieved a counter-overtake.

In German naval circles, only Tirpitz and a handful of generals believed that the German navy existed to bravely challenge its fierce rivals. These adventurers were so lonely that they were once in a hopeless situation, and when Natsuki succeeded in persuading the Kaiser with generosity and determination to leave Wilhelmshaven and embark on the journey, they were relieved and had no regrets......

……

Seeing the German prince who went on the expedition as the chief of staff of the fleet operations came to the bridge, the commander of the fleet, von. Ingnore's weather-beaten face was neither humble nor arrogant, and he reported: Ten minutes ago, Hipper sent a telegram that the reconnaissance fleet had arrived on the British coast and launched an artillery bombardment on Grimsby, sinking several ships along the coast and blowing up at least one oil storage facility. ”

The corners of Natsuki's mouth turned up slightly, except for oil storage facilities and a small number of alert ships, Grimsby had no other military significance. According to the plan, Hipper's artillery fleet left Wilhelmshaven three hours earlier than the main force of the high seas fleet, and the two were more than 70 nautical miles apart at this time, and the sound of the bombardment of the British coast could not reach Natsuki's ears in any case, but he could fully imagine what kind of scene it was. The arrogant British Royal Navy would not have endured such humiliation in any case, and annoyance most easily interfered with people's rational judgment.

Natsuki was on the bridge observation deck for less than a quarter of an hour, and the flagship communications officer sent another telegram to the fleet commander, Feng. When Ingnoll saw it, he immediately handed it to the chief of staff of the fleet, who had a great reputation: the British had sent a large number of lightning strikes on the ships, and Hipper had ordered the shelling to stop, and the shelling fleet turned to the northeast.

Natsuki didn't look at the contents of the newspaper, but looked at the undulating sea, and said something that seemed irrelevant to the topic: This sunny weather, but the wind and waves are a little urgent.

At this time, in the North Sea, the wave height was only about one meter, not to mention the large and medium-sized ships with tens of millions of tons of steel bodies, and even the large torpedo boats of hundreds of tons were not greatly affected when sailing, and the light cruisers and destroyers used by the British for coastal vigilance and defense were able to fight normally, but the British high-speed torpedo boats that were pinned on high hopes weighed only a few tons, and they were flat-bottomed designs, and it would be troublesome to encounter such wind and waves -- when the British Navy purchased this design at a high price, it only saw their sharpness in ideal sea conditions. But they did not foresee that they would have such a huge flaw in actual combat. Over the past few years, the British Navy has built more than 400 high-speed torpedo boats, equipped them with powerful 500-millimeter torpedoes, and has also set up special training bases.

(End of chapter)