My beloved Jochen:

Please forgive me for not saying goodbye. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

After hesitating for a long time, I finally made this painful decision. I think it's not that love and family can't coexist, but that we were born in an unfortunate era. Two nations that are supposed to be friendly with each other, two peoples with close relations, have become the most formidable rivals on the road of civilization. In the frenzied call for war, each of us is so small and humble that no matter how hard we try, it is difficult to change the slightest reality. Rather than be so contradictory and painful, it is better to make a decision early.

My dear Jochen, thank you for all the wonderful things you have brought me. I will never forget the first time I met you, you were dressed in a white military dress, handsome, handsome, personable, like a prince in a fairy tale, especially the smile on the corner of your mouth, that kind of confidence but not frivolous, arrogant and humble meaning made me feel extremely curious, maybe from that time, I fell hopelessly in love with you. I will never forget the galloping and uninhibited you galloped on horseback, you sang and sang affectionately, I will never forget the scene when you came out of the crashed plane, I will not forget the feeling of flying across the ocean together, and I will not forget the happiness of walking together in the sunset and snuggling under the stars......

I will carefully preserve these precious memories until the day of old age, forgive me for saying this, for I really do not know when England and Germany will return to their former friendliness, and I am so afraid that one day war will destroy one of our nations. Whoever it is, wherever I am, I will be the most pitiful of the wounded.

Forgive me, my beloved Jochen, for leaving our free land, for everything that is here, for your wise eyes, for your warm heart, for the good old days. From now on, I will be by my mother's side, and I will bestow my most sincere blessings on you wherever you are.

If one day, you go to war for your country, I will still bless you.

My heart will always belong to you.

Charlotte

In the castle of the Prince's domain in Blomburg, Natsuki held a letter paper in his hand, looked at the familiar handwriting over and over again, and felt the strong emotions contained in the words with his heart.

Suddenly, I looked back at the room that once belonged to Charlotte, and the various furnishings in it still had a warm smell.

The heart is endlessly empty.

……

Two months later, the port of Preveza (located on the western coast of the Balkan Peninsula, about 300 kilometers from Taranto, now part of Greece) in the Epirus region of the Ottoman Empire.

"You see, His Royal Highness Prince Joachim, my brother, these are the traces left by the shelling of Italian warships, they are shooting at us from the sea more than 10,000 meters away, the distance is beyond the range of our fortresses, so we urgently purchased a batch of new guns from Germany, oh, the two fortresses here are equipped with 2 each, the Italians will come next time, keep them to taste the power of the Krupp cannon!"

Accompanied by his old friend Fatih Pasha, Natsuki and his entourage, who came from afar, inspected the "masterpiece" of the Italians on the spot -- on the day of the outbreak of the Italo-Turkish War, the Italian naval fleet sailed to Preveza and shelled the coastal defense fortresses and port facilities of the Ottoman army. After that, the Italian fleet blockaded the waters of the eastern Mediterranean, preventing the Ottoman army from reinforcing North Africa by sea. At the same time, Britain sided with Italy and refused to allow Ottoman troops to travel to North Africa via Egypt, leaving the Ottoman military and civilians in Libya in North Africa without domestic military assistance.

Most of them were cadets of the Kiel Naval Academy in 1904, and had been to Istanbul with the German naval training ship "Charlotte" on the eve of graduation, and had deep memories of the customs and customs of this Eurasian country. However, their trip was not to revisit the old place, but to explore the real elements of modern naval warfare, so as to avoid the disastrous consequences of utopian military scholarship for their own country and army.

After exhaustive observation and surveying, the German officers, who were skilled in gunnery, made a technical judgment on the battle traces: the largest craters were caused by 11 or 12-inch naval guns, but there were fewer of them, and the Italians should have dispatched only one or two battleships, while the considerable number of medium craters came from 8- or 9-inch naval guns, which should have been the main guns of the battleships of the second class or the main guns of new armored cruisers, and as for the few small craters, they were estimated to have been fired from 5-inch naval guns. This meant that at least some of the ships of the Italian fleet advanced to a position about 7,000 meters from the coast and opened fire, rather than "constantly wandering 10,000 meters" as described by the Ottoman defenders.

Returning to the port from the artillery fort standing on the coast, Fatih said to Natsuki: "It may be because we have leaked information from our side, the Italians know that we have brought in artillery with a longer range, so they have not been near the coast for a long time, but their fleet has been cruising in the open sea, and we have already had a number of cargo ships intercepted by them, and so far none of them have succeeded in bringing weapons, ammunition or reinforcements to Tripoli and Cyrenaica." In order to prevent the Italians from getting information again, I brought in my cronies, and the telegraph and telephone facilities throughout the Epirus region were under my surveillance, after which we sent 'Sailfish' twice, but failed to find the Italian fleet before the fuel ran out. ”

The competition model "Sailfish" has achieved a top speed of 71 knots on the water with a single person unloaded, while the combat model "Sailfish" has a maximum speed of 46 knots when fully loaded, and a maximum endurance of 90 nautical miles, which is a typical "offshore flying blade". As early as the time when this two-seat high-speed torpedo boat was in service, the German Navy was equipped with experimental torpedo boat carriers, carrying 6-8 "Sailfish" on fast freighters, which could lift all torpedo boats to the surface within an hour after arriving in the operational sea area, and could replenish ammunition and fuel in the sea condition.

Natsuki did not sell torpedo boat carriers to the Turks because they were considered a secret weapon, and as a consistent strategy of the Friedrich shipyard, the structural performance of the weapons sold abroad was somewhat inferior to that of the German itself. However, this time the Ottoman Empire was attacked by Italy, and the attitude of the German top leadership was obviously biased towards the Ottoman side, whose interests were more closely related, but because of the alliance agreement between Germany, Austria and Italy, Germany had no choice but to secretly provide personnel, technology, and equipment assistance to the Turks -- the army advisory group was led by von der Golz, a retired German field marshal who had served as an instructor adviser to the Ottoman army for more than ten years. The Kaiser entrusted him with full responsibility for this task. Under the leadership of Natsuki, before the departure of the naval advisory group, Germany and Turkey signed a secret arms purchase agreement, whereby Germany urgently provided a batch of naval equipment and materials, and sent military technicians to directly assist the Ottoman navy in combat.

Standing at the port wharf, Natsuki watched as the Ottoman naval personnel used a crane to unload the equipment secretly transported in the cargo car, this time, the "Lightning", "Sailfish", and "Thunder" high-speed torpedo boats that arrived at the Ottoman Empire were all German standard models, and torpedoes and fuel were also specially transported from Germany, in addition to radio equipment specially used to decipher the code and seaplanes for dismantling and transporting.

Finally, he said to Fatih, who had just been promoted to commander of the Ottoman Navy's Second Fleet last year: "The characteristics of the 'Sailfish' are suitable for coastal defense, and to attack the enemy fleet operating in the open sea, it is necessary to have other ships cooperate, use the ships with a long range to search for the enemy's position, and then the barges will tow the torpedo boats to the sea near the target, and use the smoke or night to carry out a surprise attack." ”

Fatih knew that his military talent was a few pounds and taels, so he complimented Xia Shu and said: "His Royal Highness the Prince is the best naval tactician in Germany, and if he can launch an offensive operation at sea under the command of His Highness, he will definitely be able to achieve a brilliant victory." ”

"His Majesty the Kaiser has sent us here to assist the Ottoman brothers with all his might and to teach the reckless and arrogant Italians a profound lesson. As long as Fatih Pasha believes in our sincerity, this battle will live up to its trust. Natsuki replied.

Fatih immediately patted his chest and said: "Others dare not say it, Your Highness, you are my brother who puts your heart into my heart, how can you be unbelieving?" ”

The two are intimate on the face, but in fact, they take what they need. Natsuki particularly valued such an opportunity for actual combat, and Fatih intended to improve his position in the Ottoman navy with a victory. Unlike the 1st Fleet, which concentrated large and medium-sized ships and was responsible for defending the Dardanelles, the 2nd Ottoman Fleet, commanded by Fatih, was an out-and-out ragtag army, consisting of minesweepers, minelayers, torpedo boats, gunboats, and even old warships that had been in service for more than 40 years on the ship list. If you want to take advantage of the powerful Italian fleet, it is obviously difficult to rely on these unpopular ships and operators of poor quality.

The canvas is removed, and the brand-new single- and two-seater torpedo boats are in the sun, piloted by the best soldiers hand-picked by Christian. Natsuki had a strong premonition that the war oppression suffered by the German officers and soldiers from the British would be comfortably released from the hapless Italians.

……

On another sunny winter day, in the southern waters of the Ionian Sea, east of Italy and west of the Balkan Peninsula, a fleet of green, white and red flags fluttering on the masts sailed slowly in a majestic queue on the rippling blue sea. It consisted of a total of 11 ships in 2 large, 2 medium and 7 small, most of which retained the lead gray livery that was popular in the early years, and the rest of the body was painted in a uniform light gray, although the whole fleet had only these two shades, unlike the British or German fleets, which always gave the impression of solemnity.

The battleship flying the commander's flag of the detachment had the typical appearance of the battleships of various countries in the last decade of the 19th century: column masts, box bridges, a large twin-mounted main gun turret on the front and rear decks, the secondary main guns, the bridge and the chimney were tightly placed in the amidships, and the numerous secondary guns were arranged in the form of gun profiles on the side near the deck, and unusually, two of the three chimneys of this battleship were placed side by side behind the bridge conning tower, and the third was located in the center of the amidships.

Inside the bridge command tower, officers in navy blue woolen uniforms worked calmly at their posts, the highest rank was a major general and a brigadier general, with delicate binoculars around their necks, sometimes looking at the sea, sometimes chatting about the topic.

"It was reported that a telegram had been received from the Naval Command that the 3rd Combat Formation would return to the port of Taranto to refuel the tankers, and that the command ordered us to tightly seal the sea areas east and southeast of Ionia and the shipping routes near Crete. The 3rd Combat Formation was informed that they had set off from the waters of Crete and returned home. ”

Hearing the report of the communications officer, the two Italian generals of similar shape looked at each other, and the one who was half a rank lower in rank said, "Okay, it's only been a few days?" Russo's fleet is going back to refueling coal again, and we are going to blockade such a large area of the sea, hmph, it's really calculated! ”

The rear admiral is a middle-aged man with a beard and a slippery chin, and his eyes that are full of refinement turned: "Running fast naturally consumes a lot of coal, and when the coal is exhausted, you must go back to refuel, and then rest on the shore for a few days in the name of overhaul, and when they come back from refueling this time, we will also come to a few quick sprints." ”

The brigadier general took over and said, "I hope nothing goes wrong these days." ”

"I think that after more than two months of repeated defeats, the Turks should have abandoned their attempts to reinforce North Africa by sea, unless they were determined to break through our naval blockade. The attack of the old torpedo boats was useless in the face of the battle-fleet that was on the guard, and the high-speed torpedo boats they had purchased from Germany could only operate at a distance of thirty or forty nautical miles offshore, and the armored cruisers ordered from the British were alone and could hardly do anything, unless they were desperate to send out the two old battleships they had purchased from Germany and the rusty ironclads, and even if they met face to face, we would be able to take advantage of the superior speed and artillery range to wipe them out. ”

Regarding the general's judgment, the brigadier general, who had a horizontal beard, nodded in agreement.

He then instructed the communications officer: "Order that the 'Pisani,' 'Alberto,' and 'Staral' be sent together to the northern route of Crete, and that every passing ship be intercepted and interrogated." ”

After the order, the communications officer asked: "Do we need to inform other battle formations of our location?" ”

Bazi Hu thought for a while: "Report our current position to the Navy Command, and at the same time inform the 1st and 3rd battle formations." ”

After the communications officer was ordered to leave, the commodore on the side asked in a low voice: "General, you are doing this with the intention of luring the main fleet of the Turks into battle?" ”

Bazihu smiled proudly: "If they have the courage to come, why don't we accept this generous gift?" Since the Battle of Sinop, the Ottoman Navy has been in name only. ”

Although the brigadier general objected to the wording "in name only", in the end he only moved his lips slightly. The Battle of Sinop in 1853 ended with the complete victory of the Russian Black Sea Fleet and the total destruction of the Turkish fleet, but the Ottoman Navy not only did not die, but rebuilt a fleet with ironclad ships as the core with the support of the new Sultan Aziz, whose strength was far superior to the Russian Navy at that time, but when the Aziz era ended, the Ottoman Navy fell into an outcast, and in the next thirty years, the ironclad fleet that cost a lot of manpower and material resources to build slowly turned into scrap metal in the harbor. By 1911, the entire Ottoman Navy used to support the façade was the armored cruiser "Hamidih" ordered from Britain in 1904 and the two Brandenburg-class battleships purchased from Germany - although they were long, they were after all tens of thousands of tons of steel warships, and their speed was not good but they had quite strong defense, and their waterline armor reached 406 mm at its thickest point, and it used the most advanced Krupp nickel-iron alloy armor at that time, and the firepower configuration of six 12-inch guns was also very considerable.

Throughout the Italo-Turkish War, the Barbaros Hayredding and Turguitres were placed behind the Dardanelles fortress group by the Turks, and the real forces that the Italian Navy should guard against were already close at hand. Immediately after destroying the communication code of the Italian fleet, the German "Naval Advisory Group" sent two maritime reconnaissance planes piloted by German officers to search for the southern Ionian Sea and arranged for a Greek-flagged barge to refuel them on the way. After a few rounds of maneuvering, the pilot finally saw an Italian fleet sailing slowly from south to north on the sea.

After determining the direction and course of the Italian fleet, Natsuki and his partners easily completed the naval staff operation, and formulated a detailed course of action for the ships participating in the battle, receiving and supplying them. After that, six single-seat, single-barreled Lightning, three two-seater, two-barreled Sailfish, and three two-seater, four-barreled Thunder high-speed torpedo boats, accompanied by an oil-carrying express vessel, sailed south along the coastline at a steady speed of 11 knots.

(End of chapter)