Northern Britain, the edge of the North Sea, the Ornik Islands. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

With the addition of the "Collingwood", the capital ships of the British Home Fleet increased to 7 dreadnoughts and 3 battle cruisers, and this number actually exceeded the expectations of the Germans - the German Naval Staff judged that the British Navy had only 8 to 9 capital ships left, instead of the 12 officially announced by the British Navy, so the chief of staff, von Bohr, believed that there was no need for the High Seas Fleet to go on an expedition for such a powerless opponent. If the British had to be beaten to death, then simply assemble a fleet and enter the Thames estuary again, forcing the British fleet to meet it.

The battle between the two armies was not only a contest of strength, but also a contest of wisdom, and the Germans did not know the cards of the British navy, and the British also knew very little about the tactics of the German navy. After sailing past the Ornik Islands, the fleet will enter the Norwegian Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. Although the British Navy sent as many ships, planes, and airships as possible to carry out reconnaissance and search in the early stage, it still has not found any trace of the German main fleet, and what is worse is that the landing operation of the German Navy on the Belgian coast has been successfully concluded on November 16, and the naval landing force cooperated with the German Army to take the coastal area north of Bruges, and in this battle, more than 20,000 officers and soldiers of the Allied countries were killed, wounded, and captured, and more than 100 ships and ships of Britain and Belgium were forced to sink themselves. The Belgian royal family and government retreating to Antwerp were in a very difficult situation, and the Belgians were said to be oscillating between surrender and exile, and the British naturally did not want to lose this weak but significant European ally.

As for the German capital ships covering the landing, they had disappeared from the sight of the Allied forces since 12 November, and there was no information that they had returned to German ports, which meant that it was entirely possible that they would go north to the Norwegian Sea to join the main forces of the High Seas Fleet.

The enemy's location is unknown, and the strength is unknown, and even if Nelson is in command of such a battle, I am afraid it will be a great headache.

In the operational command room of the British flagship "Iron Duke", Fleet Commander Sir Arthur Jackson, Fleet Chief of Staff Vice Admiral Charles Madden, and Veteran Admiral Edward, who was formerly an honorary advisor to the Royal Naval College and is now a senior staff officer of the fleet, looked at the battle board in the center of the command room with great thoughts, and at this moment, no matter what decision they made, it would determine the fate of the British fleet and even the Kingdom of Great Britain.

The white-haired Edward was nearly seventy years old, he participated in two Boer Wars and the Eight-Nation Alliance's war of aggression against China, and boarded the flagship of the Japanese Navy as a special observer, observed the Russo-Japanese War throughout the whole process, and then went to the Ottoman Turkish Empire as a naval adviser for a period of time, indirectly participated in the naval combat operations of the Balkan War, wrote a number of papers on modern naval warfare, compiled and published "Fleet Warfare in the 21st Century" was selected as a textbook by the Royal Naval College of the United Kingdom, and has a high status in the field of naval theory. He elaborated his point of view and said: "We have lost too many points in this game, and now we can only go further and not retreat, we can only attack but not defend, so ...... My suggestion is to go to the Faroe Islands and wait for the rest of the day, and pounce on the German fleet as soon as it finds its position, and even if Heaven insists on abandoning Great Britain, we will have an account to Your Majesty - to the people - to ourselves. ”

Madden replied in a respectful tone: "You also participated in the previous combat meeting, and the attitude of Betty and Browning made everyone hesitate, and what they said was not unreasonable, the German fleet has not taken the initiative to take offensive measures for a long time, and it is likely that they are waiting for us to get into their trap." Faroe Islands...... Could it be the trap? ”

Edward shook his head: "Judging from the recent actions of the German Navy, they are trying desperately to lure us to disperse our forces, we did not take the bait, but fought with the strongest possible lineup, and in this regard, whether the final battle is in the Faroe Islands or other positions, we have avoided the worst situation." From now on, the longer the time drags on, the more unfavorable the strategic situation and psychological pressure will be for us, and a quick solution is the only way out for us. ”

Madden sighed: "The Germans must know this very well, which is why they are patient to play hide and seek with us." ”

"It seems that our chief of staff is very affected by the defeat mood!" Sir Jackson half-jokingly said, "Where is the accurate, determined-willed Charles whom I used to know?" ”

Madden smiled wryly.

Sir Jackson said in a calm and forceful tone: "Well, I confess, the German fleet today is like the Vikings of yesteryear, fierce, cunning, ruthless, stubborn, adventurous, eager to conquer, and they are a formidable adversary to the English navy since the sixteenth century, but ...... No matter how powerful the enemy is, they have their weaknesses, and the biggest weakness of today's German fleet is that they are too conceited. They could have chosen a sound tactic of warfare and forced us out of the war, but instead they chose the most aggressive and risky tactic, and from the moment the German fleet sailed out of the North Sea, their chances of victory were greatly reduced. ”

Jackson's point of view was echoed by Edward, who paused: "It will be difficult for us to lure this cunning adversary to the Auckland Islands, which are very favorable to us, but they should not mind going to the Faroe Islands, which seem to be fair and equal, then we will gather all the submarines deployed nearby in advance, and even if we are unlucky, how can we damage two or three German capital ships!" Our operational objective should not be to annihilate the German fleet, but to completely destroy several of their capital ships, to deal a severe blow to their arrogance, to first mentally and psychologically reverse the situation between us, and then to weaken them step by step, and finally to defeat them. ”

Surrounded by more than 40 light ships, 10 British capital ships sailed towards the Faroe Islands, a former Norwegian possession between the British and Icelandic islands, which had been under Danish jurisdiction since the late 14th century and were now a neutral place as long as Denmark was not involved in the war. There are three wide waterways from the Norwegian Sea to the Atlantic Ocean, namely Greenland-Iceland, Iceland-Faroe Islands, and Faroe Islands-Britain, all of which are more than 200 nautical miles wide.

While Jackson was confident in his own judgment, he was anxious about a scene in the waters north of Ireland -- a convoy sailing from Canada to Britain managed to overcome many difficulties and dangers to reach British waters, but was attacked by four German warships about 90 nautical miles northwest of Belfast. A total of 11 cargo ships and 2 cruise ships were sunk, and more than 50,000 tons of cargo were lost in the battle, and more than 1,200 Canadian soldiers who had just finished their recruit training were also buried at the bottom of the sea.

As soon as the news comes out, there will be an uproar all over the world, and the pressure from the people of the country and public opinion from the outside world can be imagined, can the British royal family and government withstand it?

Only seven hours later, the British Navy's Task Force 9, which had just sailed to the waters south of Ireland, encountered an accident more than 20 nautical miles from Cork Bay -- first, the old battleship "Queen" triggered a mine laid by the Germans, causing serious damage to the hull and had to be towed by friendly ships to Cork Harbour slowly, and then the battleship "Discord" was hit by a torpedo fired by a German submarine, and the torpedo track that appeared on the surface of the sea terrified the British officers and men, and the remaining four battleships rushed to flee in the direction of Cork BayAs a result, the "Glorious" strayed into the reef area and ran into distress. The main combat strength of the 9th Task Force was generally reduced without the shadow of the two German battle cruisers still hovering in the waters south of Ireland, and it would have been an unimaginable disaster for the three battleships and other British naval officers and sailors who were trapped in them. To their little thankfulness, the hateful and terrible German Battlecruiser never appeared, but the German submarines operating nearby caused them a lot of trouble. The "Queen" was almost sunk by a German submarine before entering Cork Bay, and the stranded "Glorious" also brushed shoulders with German torpedoes. If it weren't for the destroyers assigned to the 9th Task Force and the anti-submarine ships converted from old cruisers desperately driving away the German submarines, the Germans would have not had a good chance of getting off the ground since then, and the three old battleships of the British Navy would have inevitably become a "good meal" for the German submarine forces. Thanks to the efforts of the British, the "Queen" and "Discord" struggled to reach Cork Harbour, and since then have been docked on the shore as a floating battery, and the "Glorious" also took advantage of the high tide to get out of the trap, but finally sank due to uncontrollable leakage, and all but four of the more than 600 officers and men on board survived, which was a blessing in misfortune.

The British submarine saw the German landing fleet northwest of the Skagerrak Strait, and the agitated crew mistook it for the main German fleet and sent a report to the Admiralty.

Under the tense situation, the Admiralty forwarded the information to the home fleet without screening, and if the British home fleet turned south at this time, it would not only fail to catch up with the German landing fleet, but would also push itself to the edge of the precipice. Because at dawn the day after receiving the telegram, two German war cruisers appeared in the waters of southwestern England and brazenly shelled Plymouth Harbour, shocking the whole of Britain.

After receiving the battle report from the British, the main French fleet hurriedly set off from the port of Brest, more than 100 nautical miles from Plymouth, but by the time they reached the waters southwest of England, the two German warships had already escaped. No matter how many submarines and planes the British Navy used, they were ghosts that only haunted at night and could not be found during the day.

The French, believing that their main fleet was more than enough to deal with two German cruisers, sailed for the waters south of Ireland, and it was not until noon that London learned of this important news, and the Admiralty hastened to inform the 9th Task Force on standby in Port Cork to meet them, but before the two sides could meet, the French fleet was attacked by German submarines, but fortunately only one innocuous cruiser was damaged, and the four dreadnoughts were unharmed.

(End of chapter)