On the morning of May 21, 1933 Eastern time, the Boston Naval Base on the East Coast was full of giant ships, the most eye-catching is the Lexington-class battlecruisers with a standard displacement of more than 50,000 tons, they and the German Navy's Germania-class battleships are the largest sea fortresses in the history of mankind, and what makes the Americans proud is that their Lexington-class not only has an 18-inch main gun second to none, has an amazing speed of 35 knots, but also wears protective armor that is not inferior to ordinary battleships. It can be called the industrial miracle of the 20s. Pen ~ fun ~ www.biquge.info moreover, the Germans built only two of these unprecedented big guys, which have not yet been officially put into service, while the United States successfully built six ships as early as the 20s, which fully proves the super-first-class level of the American shipbuilding industry!

In addition to the two Lexington-class, the U.S. capital ships present in Boston also include two North Carolina-class, one South Dakota-class, as well as a number of light and heavy cruisers, more than a dozen destroyers, and large supply ships. Just after Britain and Germany declared war on each other, the U.S. government resolutely decided to fulfill the U.S.-British alliance and enter the war.

In just two days, hundreds of thousands of soldiers have shed their blood on the battlefield, and millions of people have been displaced. Although a large-scale naval battle had not yet broken out between the warring parties, the strong performance of the Allied camp in the air had made people deeply pessimistic about Britain's situation, and with the Allied ground forces gaining a foothold on the Cohen Peninsula in North Wales, international public opinion was almost overwhelmingly believing that Britain would soon give up resistance, and that the participation of the United States in the war would not be enough to change the outcome of the war - not to mention that the American army was still thousands of kilometers away from Europe, even if the American soldiers successfully landed on the European battlefield, what were the chances of victory in front of the brave and skilled Germans?

In fact, most commentators who hold this view ignore the changes that have taken place in Americans over the years. In the late 20s, when the American battleship USS Ioda was sunk by the Allied-backed Mexican Christian Resistance, and then the pro-American and British Chile and Bolivia suffered disastrous defeats in the South American Wars at the hands of Argentina and Paraguay, which were supported by the Central Powers, all classes of the United States felt a real threat. Since then, the U.S. government has begun to greatly strengthen the construction of national defense, and with the efforts of the high-level leaders of the United States and Britain, the alliance between the United States and Britain has been consolidated and strengthened, and Soviet Russia and Japan have also become their secret allies against the camp of the Allies.

With the change of the traditional concepts of the government and the people, the United States' national defense construction began to take off -- the number and quality of naval warships went hand in hand, and the completion and commissioning of the Lexington-class battlecruisers marked the "era of the great navy" with their heads held high; The promulgation and implementation of the "Selective Service Training and Service Act" has provided the US military with a stable reserve of 45 million soldiers, and through the dispatch of a large number of military observers and volunteers, the US military has changed its old malaise of resting on its laurels and is striving to catch up with European military powers at the technical and tactical level...... Since 1932, war clouds have been gathering over Europe, and stimulated by the large military purchase orders from Britain and the needs of the US military itself, the US industry has gradually shifted to the armament track, and has successively developed and put into production a variety of weapons and equipment that suit the development trend, thus ensuring the integrity and first-class level of the US military industrial system.

After the outbreak of the war, Soviet Russia and Japan both took a wait-and-see attitude, while Austria-Hungary, Italy, Spain and other Allied countries could enter the war at any time, and Britain had to fight independently against the huge Allied camp in the European theater. Although the United States has entered the war, the outside world is not optimistic about the mobilization efficiency of the American army, after all, this North American country is as vast as Russia, and most of its population is distributed on the east and west coasts, which are separated by more than 4,000 kilometers. Military historians have lamented again and again that at the beginning of the last major war, if the Tsarist Empire had been able to quickly complete its mobilization and attack Germany and Austria from the Eastern Front as soon as possible, the war would have inevitably been a different trend.

Although the land area of the United States is intimidating to most European countries, it is not even half of the heyday of the Tsarist Russian Empire, and the United States in the early 30s of the 20th century has far more developed transportation facilities than Russia 20 years ago, and more importantly, the United States at this time is different from the United States in 1898 or 1914. Between 1932 and 1933, 2 million young men of working age were drafted into the U.S. Army, and on the eve of the war, the U.S. Army and Navy had 900,000 and 300,000 men on active duty, respectively, as well as a sizable number of paramilitaries. On May 19, 1933, the U.S. government issued the first call-up order, more than 700,000 retired personnel will return to the barracks within three days, and more than 1.5 million new recruits will be called up, and the national strategic reserve will have enough weapons and ammunition to equip 3 million people......

On the Boston Harbor pier, which is far away from the naval base, thousands of people rubbed shoulders and craned their necks one by one to catch a glimpse of the powerful lineup of the main American fleet, but apart from the shocking glimpse of the ships entering the port, all they could see was the towering, modern-looking ship masts. Only a handful of politicians and diplomats were allowed to enter the military bases, apparently for military reasons, and local newspapers and radio stations in Boston made little mention of the fleet build-up, let alone the names of the ships. Even after the declaration of war, the police and counterintelligence agencies significantly increased their vigilance, and the communication channels with Europe were closely monitored.

Under the scorching midday sun, Belmalit Naval Base in north-west Ireland was as calm as usual, but with the arrival of the main force of the German High Seas Fleet, the harbor became very crowded for the visual senses.

Under loan to the German government, the once-humble seaside town was quickly transformed into a modern naval base. Today, five giant warships are docked next to the dock lined with cranes, and the flagpole with the flag of the commander of the Navy and the flag of the admiral is the flagship of the German High Seas Fleet, the "Deutschland", which belongs to the second generation of German battleships. A total of 5 battleships of this class were built, all of which followed the names of the first generation of Deutsche class, namely: Germany, Prussia, Hanover, Silesia, and Hesse. According to the design scheme after repeated revisions, the standard displacement of the German class is 46,050 tons, and it is equipped with 50 times the diameter of the 16-inch gun made by Krupp, and unlike the American and British navies, which advocate firepower and speed, the German class retains the tradition of German capital ships attaching importance to protection -- in a sense, it is a paranoid pursuit of the survivability of battleships, and the design of its hull structure fully draws on the experience of the last major war and the lessons of the American battleship "Ioda" being sunk by an aviation torpedo. Both surface and underwater defenses have reached the pinnacle.

The war came as scheduled, and the German High Seas Fleet sharpened its knives, but failed to capture the opportunity for a Jutland-style decisive battle. For no other reason, two-thirds of the main warships of the British Navy were deployed in Canada for a long time, and the fleet stationed on the mainland was far from being enough to compete with the German High Seas Fleet. The coalition forces landed on the Cohen Peninsula, and the cruiser detachment deployed in Liverpool did not make an active attack until the next night, under the cover of a large group of torpedo boats, and hastily withdrew before dawn. Such a passive avoidance of war is certainly a strategic necessity, and the adverse impact on the psychological level of the British military and civilians is obvious.

Expecting that the British Home Fleet would not be able to make a move, the main ships of the German High Seas Fleet calmly left the British field of vision after completing the bombardment mission. In the current strategic situation, the German mainland ports have become the rear of the navy, the Azores in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean are the forward positions against the American and British fleets, and the Faroe Islands-Ireland-Bay of Biscay line is the key main position.

It was against this background that the German flagship "Deutschland" led the 1st Battleship Detachment to the Belmalit Naval Base, temporarily away from all kinds of disturbances from the outside world.

"Sir, the High Command of the Navy has a secret message."

In the flagship's commanding office, the communications officer presented the freshly baked telegram to Paul Beinck. In the last major war, he participated in many important naval battles as the commander of the battleship detachment, and a few years ago he commanded the German task force to help the Argentine Navy inflict heavy damage on the Chilean fleet. On the eve of the outbreak of war, Hipper was unable to perform his duties due to illness, and Beinke became the acting commander of the High Seas Fleet without any suspense.

Beinke glanced at the contents of the telegram, and then signaled to the communications officer that he had nothing to explain. After the communications officer left, he took the telegram to the porthole and read it again, and muttered softly: "Intelligence shows that the main US fleet has begun to assemble in Boston, and it has been determined that there are two Lexington and two North Carolina, and one may be of the South Dakota class or the New Mexico class, and no aircraft carrier has been found so far...... Lexington and North Carolina? In this way, the Americans are gathering their main fleet and then joining forces with the British Navy to attack the Azores or cross the North Atlantic to attack Iceland, which should be two weeks later...... Two weeks ......"

Looking through the portholes, every German battleship was displayed in a neat and orderly appearance, and the sailors were cleaning and maintaining the guns and equipment on the ships under the sun, and everyone was seriously engaged in preparing for war. If we have to wait another two weeks, will the fighting spirit of the soldiers be worn down by the boring waiting? The most optimistic scenario is that Britain surrenders within two weeks, so that the German army can take the initiative to advance the battle line to the other side of the Atlantic, and the German Navy will also turn passive into active and challenge the American Navy in an active posture, but what are the chances of this happening?

Beinke shook his head and muttered to himself, "Be patient, see the right time, and hit with one hit." ”

(End of chapter)