At the end of December 1910, the British Prime Minister arrived in the United States to try to win the United States into the Entente. Judging from the international situation, it is impossible for the United States to stay out of the situation, and the Pacific is in a state of war with China, and although China has not attacked the US mainland, the two sides are already in a situation of endless death. If it compromises with China, the United States will lose all its interests in the Pacific region, and China will even disrupt the order in the Americas and cause instability in the backyard of the United States.

In Europe, the German-led Allies had expanded their influence throughout Europe and in the direction of Asia and Africa, and the United States would have to defeat Germany if it did not want to be isolated from the world. He absolutely does not want to see Germany as a dominant Europe, and if it is allowed to develop, the United States will lose the market of the whole world and eventually become a second-rate country.

The British Prime Minister's visit was a shot in the arm, as the Americans had already planned to join the world war. By March 1911, the Americans felt ready and finally signed a treaty with Britain to join the Entente. At this point, the world war entered a high tide, and the first American units of two infantry divisions and one tank division arrived in North Africa to strengthen the defenses of the North African region together with the British.

More soldiers and equipment were moving into the British mainland, which was bad news for the Germans, but they were ready for the United States to enter the war. In mid-1910, the United States cut off sales to Germany, and then in the Atlantic, German naval warships and submarines began to attack American merchant ships and transports.

Because the United States joined the Entente, Italy, which had almost fallen to the Allies, began to vacillate again, which bankrupted Germany's attempt to plot North Africa. Without sea supremacy in the Mediterranean, Germany would not easily send soldiers to the desert, and judging from the attitude of Ottoman Turkey, it seems that the allies had no intention of attacking the British colony in Egypt.

A large number of American destroyers and cruisers joined the escort, which made the German attack difficult. The Americans' maritime power was definitely not weak, and their Atlantic Fleet had one fleet carrier and nine Gogatake-class battleships, surpassing the number of other ships of the German Navy. In order to break the alliance between the two countries, the German Navy decided to destroy the British warships before the American warships arrived in Europe, and to offset the gap in the number of warships between the Allies and the Entente.

At the beginning of March, the main force of the German High Seas Fleet entered the icy North Sea, and Speer had in his hands twelve Goyue-class battleships and three large aircraft carriers, thirty-one cruisers and fifty-five destroyers, and the strength completely suppressed the British home fleet. After the Battle of Jutland, the Germans broke the naval blockade of the British, and large quantities of supplies could be brought home from places as far away as South America. The invincibility of the European land battlefield also made them much more abundant, especially after the acquisition of the French shipyards, steel mills and Norwegian iron mines, the construction of new warships became smooth, and a number of new capital ships joined the high seas fleet, strengthening the German maritime power.

The British, who received the news, decided to go to sea to meet the battle, and some of the admirals thought that they should hide in Scapa Gulf, under the cover of shore-based aircraft, and wait for the convergence of the American fleet. But many more admirals could not bear to be bullied by the German navy, and they were looking forward to revenge on the German High Seas Fleet and regain their lost supremacy at sea.

The strategy of going to sea to meet the battle was supported by the British Prime Minister, and the battleships launched during this time strengthened the confidence of the British, and the home fleet now has four newest battleships, plus the original three battleships and two light aircraft carriers that have just joined the active service, and has the strength to meet the Germans.

The first was the encounter between the British cruiser detachment and the German forward fleet, and the battle between the two sides lasted more than two hours, the British two battleships were sunk, one was slightly damaged, and the Germans were sunk and one was heavily damaged and evacuated from the battle. After that, the British cruiser detachment released smoke and left the battlefield under the cover of destroyers, and the German forward fleet was in hot pursuit, and more than fifty nautical miles behind was the main force of the high seas fleet led by Speer.

Speer hesitated between pursuing or retreating, the North Sea was rough at this time, the violent sea breeze mixed with snowflakes, the sea conditions and weather adversely affected the battleship's main gun fire, and the dominant aircraft carrier could not be lifted into the air because of bad weather. The reconnaissance aircraft lost its effectiveness, and it was difficult for Speer to find out the position of the main forces of the British at the first time, and he did not want to risk it.

In the end, however, Speer gave the order to continue the pursuit, because a submarine with the number U98 had discovered the main force of the British fleet one hundred and fifty nautical miles east of the Orkney Islands, less than a hundred nautical miles away from the main force of the high seas fleet, and Speer was confident that it would remain at sea as long as the British did not withdraw to Scapa Bay.

The High Seas Fleet finally caught up with the British, and the battle broke out about fifteen nautical miles southeast of the Shetland Islands, a naval battle known as the "Trident" that would later become a turning point for Germany from prosperity to decline.

The sea gradually returned to calm, but the heavy snow did not stop, and the British appeared. Speer had no choice but to let the capital ships into battle, the duel between the cruisers was very tragic, and the speed at which the battleships sank was much greater than the battle between the battleships. Numerous destroyers tried to get close to the opposing capital ships, tackling the opponent with extremely fast speed and torpedoes, but most of them were sunk. It takes too much luck for the few torpedoes that are released to hit the enemy, and the movement of the target will also make it more difficult to hit the torpedo.

For an hour and a half of the battle, the British were clearly at a disadvantage, two battleships were heavily damaged, and sinking into the sea seemed only a matter of time. The power system of one battleship was damaged, and the speed slowly slowed down, becoming the target of concentrated shelling by German battleships. Just when the British were about to suffer a second defeat, the weather finally cleared, and in the sky countless British planes appeared.

In preparation for this battle, the British struggled to figure out how to defeat the Germans, and the Battle of Jutland inspired them. Using the results of the Military Research Council, the British acquired a good quality biplane torpedo attack aircraft and a dive bomber, and after tests the British approved both aircraft and ordered a large number of them. They then secretly built an airfield in Shetland, where most of their torpedo planes and bombers were deployed.

The first squadrons of two fighters, three torpedo planes and three bombers appeared in the skies of the warring seas, and at this time the planes on the two German aircraft carriers had not yet taken off. The battle situation was absolutely unfavorable, and at this time Speer gave the most suitable order for this naval battle, and the high seas fleet gave up bombardment with British warships and switched to an anti-aircraft formation.

It's just that the movement of battleships takes time, but the movement of planes can be completed in a matter of minutes, and after the British planes arrived in the predetermined airspace, they pounced on the German battleships like falcons under dense anti-aircraft fire. Ten minutes later, German fighters taking off from aircraft carriers arrived in the sky and began a fierce engagement with British aircraft, but the numerical inferiority made it difficult for German fighters to threaten British torpedo planes and bombers.

After the end of the first wave of attacks, three German battleships were damaged, among which the German-class battleship Bismarck suffered heavy damage, and the crew gave up after more than half an hour of rescue, and the captain reluctantly announced that he would abandon the ship and leave the slowly sinking battleship in a raging fire. It was the first to sink a German-class battleship, but not the last.

Faced with the numerical superiority of the roadbed aviation, Speer could only do a way to retreat, he could easily guess where the planes were coming from, but there was no good way to deal with him. The British battleships were in hot pursuit, and Speer had to order the destroyers and cruisers to stay behind to block the British pursuit, and he most wanted to get out of sight of the British, but unfortunately, the second wave of British planes arrived fifteen minutes later.

What was even more unfortunate was that the detachment composed of three German aircraft carriers and seven escort ships was discovered by British reconnaissance planes, and a large number of British planes pounced on the aircraft carrier formation, and the fighters on the aircraft carrier had to come back to protect the aircraft carrier, and the capital ship formation lost the protection of fighters in the sky, and could only rely on anti-aircraft fire to kill British aircraft.

The four large airfields in Shetland were equipped with 150 fighters, 145 torpedo planes and 122 bombers. However, the three German aircraft carriers only had a total of 185 aircraft, and the take-off efficiency was more than one layer worse than that of ground airfields.

The quality of German fighter pilots far exceeded that of British pilots, but a German fighter was often besieged by several British fighters, and it was difficult to get rid of the situation where the main engine and wingman were entangled by the British, even if they were highly skilled. There are constantly planes falling in the sky with thick smoke. During the battle, the British lost forty-three fighters, the Germans lost twenty-two, and the German pilots never ceded air supremacy in the airspace of the engagement. However, the British torpedo planes and bombers, which took advantage of the opportunity to attack, achieved great success.

Time was pressing, the German aircraft carriers had not yet entered the state of air defense operations, and the low defense was terrifying, although the nearby escort ships desperately squandered anti-aircraft ammunition and shot down more than 20 British planes, but they still could not prevent the British from dropping torpedoes and aerial bombs. One aircraft carrier sank after hitting two torpedoes, the second was hit by three bombs, a fire broke out on the deck, the power system was damaged, and it was impossible to take off and land aircraft. After the battle, he returned to the shipyard and only returned to active duty half a year later. (To be continued.) )