Late at night, George V and his wife stayed in the only high-class hotel at the Scapafolo Naval Base, and through the surging waves of the North Sea, they could vaguely hear the pulse of the times in Europe, and in the fleet headquarters not far away, a group of fleet generals and senior staff headed by Jericho, including three battleship detachment commanders - Vice Admiral Bailey, Vice Admiral Wallend, and Sir Gamble, Fleet Chief of Staff Vice Admiral Charles Madden, Commander of the Light Pole of the 1st Battleship Cruiser Detachment, Vice Admiral Betty, and the 2nd, The commanders of the 3rd Cruiser Squadron, Rear Admiral Thorpe and Rear Admiral Parkenhan, were still discussing the current operational deployment under the smoky lights. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

The order to conduct a vigilance operation was issued more than three hours ago, which was sufficient time for the ships of the coastal defense detachments and combat squadrons stationed in the ports of England and eastern Scotland to set sail. In order to expand the range of early warning, reserve ships and armed tugs were also mobilized this time, but so far no new discoveries have been made. In other words, Jellicoe and his generals not only did not know the actual movements of the German fleet, but they could not even determine whether it had left German waters, and everything was still shrouded in fog. In Jericho's own words, it's like a "blind man riding a blind horse", and he doesn't know where the road is.

Even though there is no conclusive news of their opponents, the admirals, who are tasked with guarding their homeland and defending their maritime power, are not willing to be passively attacked. After careful calculations and trade-offs, the British Home Fleet, renamed the Grand Fleet from 4 August, began to actively deploy troops. Cruisers and destroyers stationed in eastern Scotland were concentrated at Roseth Naval Base, light ships stationed in eastern England were grouped at Chatham Harbour, and high-speed torpedo boat units stationed on the east coast of Britain were still on standby at their respective anchorages due to their limited endurance.

With the strong black coffee, Jericho propped up his tired eyes and said gloomily: "If the Germans really chose to attack at this time, it can only be said that their commander is indeed unique and daring. In the past training, we did not try to fight with the most embarrassing fleet lineup, but the Germans considered and simulated the combat strategy in various difficult situations because the fleet strength was relatively weak. Before the battle began, they were one step ahead of us. ”

Among the generals present, the older Lieutenant General Wallend said: "From what I know of Ingnoll, this is a decent commander, more than successful and not aggressive, not like a man who takes risks. ”

Vice Admiral Madden, chief of staff of the British Grand Fleet and chief of staff of the fleet, analyzed from the side: "This must have come from the hands of their chief of staff of the fleet, Prince Joachim Franz Hubert of Prussia." Judging by his affair with the Duke of Hill's granddaughter, this is an adrenaline-seeking and adventurous fellow, and he is so beloved by the Kaiser that he is able to put into practice what others dare to think of. ”

"It's hard to imagine that a 24-year-old guy can make us suffer a loss that we haven't seen in a century." This was followed by the commander of the 1st Battleship Squadron, Vice Admiral Bailey, whose squadron consisted of 8 super-dreadnoughts. At the beginning of the war, looking at the world, no country's main fleet could match it, but in the Battle of Jutland, this well-prepared and fully manned detachment was sunk with two ships and three ships damaged, and at present, only the three Orion classes of "Emperor", "Conqueror" and "Thunderbolt" can fight, and the prospects are not optimistic.

"Talent has nothing to do with age, Hannibal became the supreme commander of the Carthaginian army in Spain at the age of 25, and at the age of 30 he led his army to defeat the Roman army; Napoleon Bonaparte became consul of the First French Republic at the age of 30 and ascended to the throne at the age of 35. Betty said softly, as if praising his opponent, but then he changed his tone: "However, it is easy to get carried away by success too early, Hannibal lost the decisive Battle of Zama at the age of 45, and Napoleon invaded Russia at the age of 43 and suffered a crushing defeat. I wouldn't be surprised if this young man of the royal family, hailed by the Germans as the 'Hohenzollern genius', made a fatal mistake because of his complacency. ”

Hearing this, Jericho looked up at Betty twice, how could he be promoted to colonel at the age of 29 and become the youngest flagship qualification of the British Navy at the age of 39 (with the rank of rear admiral as the commander of the detachment), and Betty who was not from a noble background? Perhaps it was the respect of his superiors, the approval of his colleagues, and the respect of his subordinates that Betty's operational command was aggressive and domineering, and he particularly admired Nelson's risk-taking strategy, which may have been the direct cause of the British mobile fleet crashing headlong into the German trap.

"If the steady and prudent Ingnoll was not the direct commander of the Battle of Jutland, and he had indeed participated in the German victory parade in Berlin the day before, then the command of the German fleet was probably in the hands of the German prince, and in this case, it is very likely that the German fleet will strike again in order to gain the upper hand." It was Sir Gamble, who had just taken over from Vice Admiral Bradford as commander of the 3rd Battleship Squadron. In the Battle of Jutland, this detachment of old battleships was like a slow drunk, and the other side was coldly beaten with a stick, the flagship was sunk, and more than 700 people under Vice Admiral Bradford were killed.

Vice Admiral Bailey seemed to have gained some inspiration from this inference, saying: "As soon as the battle is over, we have been making every effort to repair the battleship, but up to now, there are still a few secondary guns and some communication equipment on the 'Conqueror' and 'Thunderbolt' that have not been repaired in time, and there is a certain reduction in combat effectiveness. From this point of view, the German fleet should have had some of its capital ships wounded, and from Jutland to Britain, the battlefield situation of both sides had been completely reversed, and a small damage could have buried a battleship with a central role. The two sides are not at war yet, and we are in a good position. ”

Bailey's last sentence corrected Jericho's previous negative feelings, and most of the generals present felt that he was reasonable, and the atmosphere finally changed with a hint of optimism, but Betty "untimely" mentioned his encounter in the Battle of Jutland to warn his companions that in addition to dreadnoughts and battlecruisers, the German fleet also had two very dangerous weapons: airplanes and high-speed torpedo boats!

Madden responded: "The seaplanes of the 'Campania' have been transferred to the 'Hagmet' and the 'Luneau' respectively, and they can barely keep up with the fleet, and with the 'Ergadine', this time we have three aircraft carriers, fourteen planes working together, and all the pilots are issued pistols and grenades, which will certainly be a big surprise to the Germans." As for high-speed torpedo boats, we speculate that the Germans carried no more than 60 on board with the fleet, and on the east coast of Britain we had more than 200. ”

Sir Gamble interjected: "Although it is too late for this operation, I still have the same suggestion - to equip all ships with 2-pounder guns, this rapid-fire weapon can be effective against German high-speed torpedo boats. ”

The long cigars gradually turned to snow-white soot, and before you knew it, the sky was getting brighter, and at the British naval base in Scapa Bay, many ships were quietly anchored, while others were in a very different state: their chimneys were spewing gray-black smoke, and the crews were busy carrying the materials hoisted into the ship's cabin or adjusting the ship's artillery equipment, and the heavy anchors carried the silt from the bottom of the sea to the surface in a cacophony of metal friction......

Due to the need to set sail at any time, the ships that were already on fire and on standby advanced the breakfast time by an hour. As if sensing that this would be a day of great significance, George V got up early in the morning, made his rounds around the docks, boarded the "Hercules" and then the "Emperor" to inspect the preparations for battle, and summoned Churchill and Jericho in the "Emperor's" officers' quarters.

"After overnight arrangement, we have everything in place, just waiting for the German fleet to appear." Jericho tried to put on a confident posture, but his eyes were not firm enough to betray his inner scruples.

Churchill saw this, although it was not appropriate to change the commander at this time, but the Grand Fleet was in a remnant formation, and it was not necessary for Jericho to take command in person, so he tentatively said: "I thought about it for a long time last night, and I have a suggestion that I would like to ask for the opinions of Your Majesty and you. Now we can only send 5 new battleships, 6 old battleships, 6 armored cruisers from Scapa Bay to fight, and in order to improve command efficiency, I propose to organize them into three temporary detachments, with Admiral Bailey commanding the new battleship group, Admiral Browning commanding the old battleship group, and Admiral Thorpe commanding the armored cruiser formation. The rest of the cruisers and destroyers were still assigned to the original fleet. ”

Generals, you look at me, I look at you, one by one silent.

Jericho knew Churchill's intentions, and although his face was a little unbearable, he still chose to remain silent.

In the end, only two people on the spot, Betty and Sir Gamble, were present to make their comments, but they were not opposed to Churchill's arrangement. Betty offered to join the war, and Sir Gamble proposed that the "Ireland" and "Aginkut" be put into the fleet.

The "Ireland", formerly known as "Reis Sadih", started construction in the same year as the George V class, and the firepower, speed and even armor were all solid first-class designs, but the construction period was a full year longer than that of the George V class; The "Agincourt" was first ordered by the Brazilian government, and later resold to the Turks due to the economic crisis in Brazil and could not pay the follow-up costs, so it was named "Osama Sultan", it is the battleship with the most main guns on the axis, equipped with 7 twin 45 times the diameter of the 12-inch main gun, the firepower configuration is quite strong, the full load displacement of more than 30,000 tons, the power is more powerful than any British dreadnought equipped with 12-inch guns. Due to the pursuit of speed at the expense of part of the hull strength and armor protection, it is closer to the battlecruiser in overall performance.

At the outbreak of the war, both the "Rissadih" and the "Osama Sultan" had been completed and underwent sea trials, but their delivery was delayed due to political and strategic concerns. Considering that the British Home Fleet had only slightly more capital ships than the German High Seas Fleet, the decision to requisition two battleships was immediately followed by the British Navy's active duty personnel to take over and sail the two ships from the construction site to Scapa Bay with the help of Armstrong and Vickers technicians. For more than a week after that, the two ships were included in the British Navy's operational sequence, staffed with captains, officers, non-commissioned officers and sailors, and trained intensively. According to the practice of the British Navy, a new warship needs six to eight weeks of training after completing sea trials and commissioning of equipment before it can be commissioned, and the training period for large warships is often up to four months. Nowadays, the war situation is urgent, and it is not impossible to make exceptions, but the longer the training time, the higher the mastery of technology and tactics and the higher the psychological adaptability, and vice versa.

(End of chapter)