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The Ottoman Turkish Empire and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, further expanding the scope of the world war that broke out in 1908. The beginning of 1909 was marked by deadly violence in Europe. On January 1, New Year's Day, the vaunted German Navy began to challenge British supremacy at sea, and a German submarine fired several torpedoes in the English Channel, hitting the hull of a British dreadnought battleship, killing 546 British Royal Navy. This was one of the heaviest disasters suffered by the British Royal Navy in a century of rampant navigation of the world's five oceans, and the deepest humiliation, Britain decided to take the German Navy under the knife, and thus opened the prelude to the world's naval war.

On the battlefield at this time, the situation changed, and the Turks entered the war. Sir French Commander-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Force thought the change was redundant. In 1908, the Ottoman Turkish Empire was already a backward country similar to the late Qing Empire in history, economically and militarily weak, and was not even qualified to be an opponent of any European power. Sir French believed that as long as he sent an expeditionary force of about 10,000 men, coupled with the cooperation of two dreadnoughts, he could easily occupy Constantinople, the capital of the Ottoman Empire. Whether the Ottoman Empire allied with the Entente or the Central Powers, the result was obvious: it lost more territory.

In fact, after entering the 20th century, European countries, whether strong or not, were reluctant to form an alliance with the Turks, because the Turks were the "sick men of Europe", and the reason why they had not died out of slow collapse was only because it was difficult for the interests of various countries to agree and check each other. For example, the Russians have long coveted Constantinople, but the British declared. It is better to go to war with the Russians than to let Russia's ambitions succeed. There is an obvious disadvantage to being an ally with the Turks. It is that Turkey can give too little in return, and it can no longer openly and unscrupulously occupy the territory of the Turks. It's like making a man look at a group of naked women, and restrain himself for the so-called friendship, which is obviously incredible.

By 1908, Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Romania had split from the Ottoman Turkish Empire, with Britain seizing Egypt and Cyprus, France gaining Algeria, and Greece seizing Crete. Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Ottoman Turkish Empire was torn apart, and the Turkish rulers wanted to wash away their shame through war by alliing themselves with the powerful Germany.

German envoy Otto. LI Man. Feng. As soon as General Sanders (a Prussian Junker nobleman with the word "Feng" in his name) arrived in Constantinople, he was appointed by the Turks as Turkish military prosecutor, that is, chief of the army's general staff. As a gift, Germany gave the Turkish Navy two Dreadnought-class battleships that had sailed into the Dardanelles Strait, north of Constantinople, and blockaded the Dardanelles. In this way, the Russian fleet, which transports more than 350,000 tons of export goods, can no longer travel from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean.

These two dreadnought-class warships, although they have the name of Turkey. The entire navy also wore Turkish uniforms, but they were still Germans and continued to take German orders, not only blocking the Dardanelles, but also flying the Turkish flag, breaking into the Black Sea and firing at the Russian ports of Feodosia, Odessa, Sevastopol.

Nicholas II was furious, but after the Sino-Russian War, China and Germany united to divide Russia. The Russian Navy is almost wiped out, and the work of rebuilding the Navy is still underway. So he asked the British Royal Navy to come forward and teach Turkey a lesson. The commander-in-chief of the Russian army, Grand Duke Nikolai, sent a telegram to the British government. The British Navy was advised to show force in the Dardanelles, north of Constantinople, to stop Turkish ambitions in Persia and the Caucasus.

Due to its geographical location, Britain has the "moat" of the English Channel, and is backed by the world's most powerful Royal Navy, and the British mainland is not as vulnerable to the attack of the Allies led by Germany as Russia and France, and the British are not willing to limit the scope of the battlefield of a world war.

Moreover, at the beginning of 1915, Britain transferred regular troops from its overseas colonies of India, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand to the European theater, and the strength of the British Expeditionary Force under Sir French was restored to 300,000, and the British Generalissimo Earl Kitchener also recruited 100,000 new troops in Britain. As a result, French proposed a new offensive plan, requiring the army to advance along the coastline and the navy to cooperate to recover the Belgian port cities occupied by the Germans.

However, because the German army first used Chinese tanks, the British Expeditionary Force had three or four divisions of tens of thousands of troops wiped out, this huge casualties, so that the British people were shocked, anti-war sentiment was high, the anti-war movement flourished, and ironically, the leader of this round of anti-war movement was the sister of Sir French French, the commander of the British Expeditionary Force. Despa.

In order to quell public anger, the British Government set up a new war planning body, the British War Committee, whose members included British Prime Minister Asquith, British Army Marshal Kitchener, British Admiralty Churchill, British Foreign Secretary Gray, and British Chancellor of the Exchequer Lloyd. George. At this time, the armistice was obviously a disgrace to the British Empire, and the War Council wanted to open up a new battlefield, preferably one that would reduce casualties, and use victory to win back popular support for the war, and naval warfare was a good choice.

In 1908, Britain and France already had large warships, including dreadnought-class warships, and it was relatively easy to organize and build a combined Anglo-French fleet in the world. Moreover, the Turks had just joined the Central Powers, and it was necessary to teach the aging empire a lesson, co-opting other neutral countries such as Greece.

The defense line of Constantinople was fragile, and the Dardanelles were definitely an excellent target.

Not to mention, breaking the blockade of the Dardanelles is absolutely necessary. If Germany had taken control of the Dardanelles, the Russians would not have been able to transport grain from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean in exchange for much-needed cash, and Britain and France would not have been able to transport aid supplies to Russian ports through the Black Sea, which would have dealt a fatal blow to Russia, whose economy was almost crumbling.

Fortunately, Admiral Winston Churchill was very supportive of the Navy's operation to the Darnells, and he wanted to show the British War Council the powerful muscles and strategic position of the Navy. In 1908, the German Navy adopted a strategy of hit-and-run irregular attacks on the coasts of Scotland and England, and the German Navy was the target. Often it is not a well-defended British port, but an ordinary city port, as in December 1908. The German Navy shelled two Yorkshire ports within near-flat range. At least 500 civilians were killed, and then they went on to test the British defense of the North Sea. This guerrilla warfare left Churchill's navy with little opportunity to perform, and he was distressed.

Churchill decided to engage the German Navy in a general battle, and he gave the British fleet in the Eastern Mediterranean to Acting Fleet Commander Sackville. Carden sent a telegram asking if his fleet could break through the German and Turkish blockade of the Dardanelles and attack all the way to Constantinople.

Acting Fleet Commander of the British Eastern Mediterranean Fleet Sackville. Carden had long wanted to take off the "acting" hat in the "acting fleet commander", and when he received the telegram, he was overjoyed and immediately replied: "If there is enough thundersweep for my fleet." I was able to take Constantinople in three days, and I didn't need army support. ”

The always self-confident Churchill vs. Sackville. Carden replied satisfactorily and instructed him to submit a battle plan as soon as possible, and begin implementation as soon as it was approved. Sackville. Carden said there wasn't much to do, just assemble warships in the Mediterranean and start fighting.

On 19 February, the Acting Fleet Commander of the British Eastern Mediterranean Fleet, Sackville. Carden began his journey with confidence, leading a powerful fleet of 12 battleships, 4 French battleships, 14 British destroyers, and 6 French destroyers (the French destroyers were of small tonnage). Unarmoured, but fast and fireless), 5 British cruisers. 35 fishermen's trawlers were requisitioned for mine clearance. The British Royal Navy's superstar "Queen Elizabeth" was also among them, it was the most advanced super dreadnought-class warship in Britain at that time, in order to cope with the outbreak of the Great War to build on time, just launched in the Mediterranean Sea for sea trials, immediately accepted the order, to participate in the naval battle against the Dardanelles.

In order to make it easier for readers to understand, before the naval battle, popularize the common sense of battleships. There is also the balance of power between the navies of the Central and Entente powers.

From the late 19th century to the beginning of the twentieth century, the world's warship technology advanced rapidly. A thousand miles in one day, at the outbreak of the Great Battle in 1909. The main types of warships are battleships, cruisers, destroyers, and submarines, as well as non-mainstream ships such as mine combat ships and landing flat-bottomed ships.

Battleships were the core force at sea in that era and were mainly used for attacks, so the powerful battlefleet was an important symbol of sea power. Strictly speaking, "battleship" is a relic of the era of sailing warships, as can be seen from the spelling of the English word: in 1871, the British abbreviated the original "leship" for battleship, using the new word battleship.

Typical battleships, fierce in firepower and good at attacking, such as the famous British battleship "Dreadnought", launched and commissioned in 1906. Completely different from the previous battleships, the ship abolished the secondary guns, and the original warships generally equipped with four main guns were increased to ten in one fell swoop, which was convenient for unified command when firing, improved the hit rate, greatly extended the effective firing range, and at the same time, due to the use of steam turbines, its speed reached 21 knots. The advent of this ship made the previous battleships suddenly obsolete overnight, and the concept of "dreadnought" was born. Correspondingly, battleships armed with intermediate guns of 7.5 to 10 inch caliber were called "quasi-dreadnoughts". A battleship armed with a 13.5-inch gun, called a "super-dreadnought".

Cruiser, the main task is reconnaissance. Protective cruisers were fast, some reached speeds of up to 25.5 knots. It is usually divided according to its armor protection, and those with dome-shaped protective decks near the waterline are called "protective cruisers", and those with armor protective belts in addition to the protective decks are called armored cruisers. In addition, the British referred to small high-speed cruisers as "reconnaissance ships" and sometimes played the role of command ships of lightning strike fleets. The Austro-Hungarian Empire had a small lightly armed cruiser armed with torpedoes, which were also often engaged in reconnaissance missions. Germany simply divided cruisers into "large cruisers" and "small cruisers" with a limit of 5,500 tons.

Destroyers, also called mine-striking ships, were small warships with weak defenses at that time, but with heavy firepower, suitable for coastal operations, equivalent to "mosquito ships" in the 19th century, and were usually used as command ships of minesweeping fleets. At the beginning of the 20th century, the number of lightning strike ships became larger, and some of them had a displacement of more than 1,000 tons. In 1908, Britain also experimented with the construction of the 2,000-ton large destroyer "Swift" as the command ship of the destroyer.

Submarine. At the beginning of the twentieth century, China, France, and Italy were more enthusiastic about submarines. Britain for quite some time disdained submarines as "weapons of the weak", and Germany initially doubted their capabilities. However, after recognizing its potential power, the submarine was quickly developed.

Later, in order to deal with the growing threat of submarines, there was also a kind of camouflage merchant ship in the United Kingdom, that is, the usual concealed armed nationality, once the submarine surfaced, in accordance with international law, the British naval flag was raised to launch a surprise attack on the submarine. This kind of ship is not intended as a formal naval ship. There is no fixed tonnage and armament standard, and it is commonly known as a Q ship.

Aircraft carry ships. The first ship to be listed as a separate aircraft carrier was the "seaplane carrier" "Lightning" of the French Navy.

Landing with a punt. In order to facilitate landing operations, the British developed a "X-barge" landing punt for landing. It is the pioneer of modern landing craft. The British Navy also used fast motorized speedboats to carry torpedoes for experiments, and after success, it was named "coastal motorboats", and the German Navy also developed "fast motorboats".

In 1909, the main participants in the naval battlefield were the Entente powers: Britain, France, Russia, and the Central Powers. Mainly Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey.

Although the new Washington Treaty stipulates the tonnage and proportion of warships of various countries, however, because international treaties generally lack coercive force. Each country develops its navy according to its own needs. Just like the recent United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in North Korea, which explicitly referred the human rights situation in North Korea to the International Criminal Court, pointing out that the top leadership of North Korea, under the leadership of Comrade Sam Fat, is committing crimes against humanity and submitting them to the International Criminal Court for handling. Without the strong cooperation of all countries, it is just talk.

Looking at the naval strength of the Entente first, Britain's naval strength is undoubtedly the strongest in the world. In 1889, Britain passed the Naval Defence Act to allocate huge sums of money to strengthen its navy, and established "two standards": the British navy must be stronger than the second and third navies in the world combined. Later, the German navy rose strongly, and the British naval command was based on Mahan's theory of sea supremacy. Two new strategic responses were developed, the first of which was an amphibious strategy. For example, it landed on the east coast of Schleswig-Holstein in the Baltic Sea and even in the Gulf of Pomerania. Assault on the Germans. The second is the blockade strategy, which is to hit the German economy by blocking Germany's foreign trade. On the eve of war, they will control the sea by blockading the enemy, and if the other side tries to break through the blockade, they will always be ready to concentrate the main naval forces in a decisive naval battle to destroy or strike.

The main command body of the British Navy is the Admiralty, whose supreme officer is the civilian Admiralty Churchill. On the eve of the war, the most powerful of the British navy was the home fleet that directly confronted the German High Seas Fleet, which had 4 battleship squadrons, 2 battle cruiser squadrons, 4 armored cruisers and light cruiser squadrons, and 21 dreadnoughts, 8 quasi-dreadnoughts, 5 battle cruisers, and many light ships.

The French Navy was organized into two fleets, large and small, and the Mediterranean Fleet, also known as the First Naval Cluster, was commanded by the Commander-in-Chief of the French Navy. Morality. Vice Admiral La Perel, who was also the Supreme Commander of the Allied Navy in the Mediterranean. The flagship of the Mediterranean Fleet is the dreadnought "Lone Pull", and its main force is 2 battleship sub-flotillas and 2 armored cruiser sub-fleets, in addition to a reserve squadron with 4 old battleships as the core, a total of 21 battleships, 7 armored cruisers, 8 protective cruisers, 43 destroyers or mine-strike ships, and 16 submarines and other major ships, the main base is the port of Toulon.

With the help of Britain and France, the Russian Navy mainly rebuilt the Baltic Fleet. At that time, the main strength of the Russian Navy in the Baltic Sea was 4 dreadnoughts, 3 armored cruisers, 7 protective cruisers, 49 destroyers, 21 mine-striking ships, 6 mine-laying ships, 11 submarines and 6 gunboats, but its command system was placed under the Sixth Army of the Army, and its efficiency can be imagined.

Looking at the naval strength of the Allies, Germany is undoubtedly the strongest among them. Because Kaiser Wilhelm II tried to challenge Britain's sea power, after entering the twentieth century, the development strategy of the German army was "on naval paper", and the war plan formulated by the German naval high command mainly envisaged that the British navy, which was in a superior position, would carry out a close blockade of the German coast. Therefore, the German army used "limited operations" or "small operations". Attacking the British fleet by aggressive attack, supplemented by minelaying and submarine raids, weakened the British navy, and then waiting until the British navy and the German navy were almost equal in strength. The Germans concentrated their fleets and fought a decisive battle with Britain in waters unfavorable to the enemy.

On the eve of the war. The German Navy consisted of the High Seas Fleet, the East Asian Fleet, and a number of ships stationed in overseas territories. Among them, the High Seas Fleet is the largest joint formation of the German Navy, and its purpose is to confront the British Home Fleet, with 5 battleship squadrons, 1 coastal defense battleship squadron, 5 cruiser squadrons, 8 mine-strike ship squadrons, 2 submarine squadrons, 1 minelayer squadron and 3 minesweeper squadrons, and the main ships are 14 dreadnoughts, 22 former dreadnoughts, 8 shore defense battleships, 4 battle cruisers, 7 armored cruisers, 12 small cruisers, 89 destroyers and 19 submarines.

In the Baltic Sea, Germany had the Baltic Command in the port of Kiel, commanded by the Admiral Prince Heinrich, the brother of Wilhelm II, and commanded a detachment of 8 cruisers, 16 destroyers, 5 minelayers, 4 submarines and 1 gunboat.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire did not have an Admiralty. The elderly Emperor Joseph I had little interest in the navy. However, the Austro-Hungarian Crown Prince Archduke Ferdinand had a strong passion for naval construction, and the navy developed rapidly and became an important force in the Adriatic Sea. The Austro-Hungarian fleet was concentrated in the Adriatic Sea and had 2 battleship squadrons, 1 cruiser squadron, 2 destroyer squadrons and 2 mine strike fleets, and 1 submarine squadron. The main force consisted of 3 dreadnoughts, 9 ex-dreadnoughts, 9 cruisers, 19 destroyers, 60 old mine-strikers and 6 submarines, and the reserve also had 3 shore-defence armored ships, 5 old cruisers, 7 destroyers and 18 mine-strike ships. However, the ethnic composition of the Austro-Hungarian navy's sergeants and sailors was complex: Croatia and Slovenia (34.1%), Hungary (20.4%), Germany and Austria (16.3%), Italy (14.4%), Czech and Slovak (11.0%), and Poland, Romania and Ruthenia (4.6%).

The navy of the Ottoman Empire can only be described as "miserable": two German dreadnought-class warships in the Mediterranean, the "Goeben" and the "Breslau", sailed into Constantinople and announced that they would be sent to Turkey. Rear Admiral Suchon, a German admiral who mastered the two ships, became the commander of the Turkish Navy. But the Turks had sailors other than the Germans in Turkish uniforms on the two cruisers. He was mainly born as a farmer. Many of the navy's professional sailors and non-commissioned officers have not received systematic naval training, and the ratio of officers and men is extremely bloated, with the ratio of officers and men being as high as 8 to 10, and most of the officers and men are not accustomed to sailing, lack of experience at sea, and are seriously short of ammunition, fuel, and supplies, and their combat effectiveness is similar to that of the fleet of the late Qing Dynasty.

In addition to the two German ships, the Turkish Navy mainly has 3 battleships, 2 protective cruisers, 2 mine-laying cruisers, 8 destroyers, 12 mine-striking ships, 2 submarines, and a number of gunboats and mine-laying ships. The only well-equipped base was the capital city of Constantinople, and the battle plan in the Black Sea was purely defensive in nature.

Overall. The Allies' maritime power was stronger than that of the Allies. And the main force that went to war. It was the British Home Fleet against the German High Seas Fleet. At the outbreak of the Battle of the Sea in 1909, the British capital ships had an advantage over the German capital ships in numbers: the British Navy had 20 dreadnoughts and 8 battle cruisers, while the Germans had 14 and 4 respectively, and their ratio of strength was about 3:2. It had an even greater advantage in the power of artillery - 168 cannons of thirteen and a half and fifteen-inch calibers and 104 cannons of twelve-inch caliber, and 176 cannons of twelve-inch caliber against the Germans. The comparison of destroyers is 80 against 63. Therefore, the balance of forces is still unfavorable for Germany.

In addition to breaking the blockade of the Dardanelles, Admiral Winston Churchill also believed that the British Home Fleet must be sent from Portland to the North Sea as soon as possible to enter the battle position, and go to Scapa Bay, the first line to control the North Sea. Scapa Bay is located in the Orkney Islands at the northeastern tip of British Island, and the main anchorage of this base is the main islands of Permona, Hoy, South Ronasay and the inner bay surrounded by a number of smaller islands. Its glacial topography is unique, and the bay is vast, deep and calm, making it a good naval supply base.

Before the naval battle, the main force of the British First Fleet left Portland except for the "Agamemnon", and the fleet, which stretched for nearly 30 kilometers, drove through the narrow Strait of Dover at high speed in the darkness, sailed to the northern sea shrouded in the fog, completed the strategic concentration in Scapa Bay, and put into the first line of the war against Germany.

The British First Fleet consisted of four battleship detachments and three cruiser squadrons, and the size of the detachments was as follows:

First Battleship Squadron: 8 dreadnoughts and 1 light cruiser. The chief and deputy commanders were Vice Admiral Sir Bailey and Rear Admiral Evan. Thomas.

The second battleship detachment: 8 dreadnoughts and 1 light cruiser. The chief and deputy commanders were Vice Admiral Wallend and Rear Admiral Abasnot.

The third battleship detachment: 8 quasi-dreadnoughts and 1 light cruiser. The chief and deputy commanders were Vice Admiral Bradford and Rear Admiral Browning.

The fourth battleship squadron: 3 dreadnoughts and 1 light cruiser. The commander was Vice Admiral Sir Gamble.

There were also four cruiser fleets:

Among them, the first battle cruiser detachment: 4 battle cruisers and 1 light cruiser. The commander was Acting Vice Admiral Sir Betty.

Second cruiser detachment: 4 armored cruisers. The commander is H.E. Rear Admiral Gough Calthorpe.

3rd cruiser detachment: 4 armored cruisers. The commander was Rear Admiral Parkenham.

4th cruiser detachment: 4 light cruisers. The commander was Commodore Goodenough. In addition, the Second and Fourth Destroyer Fleets, with a total of 40 destroyers, are attached to it.

In addition to the capital ships heading to Scapa Sound, the British also had a number of ships mainly light ships deployed in the Harwich near the Channel, known as the Harwich Fleet, with 18 former dreadnoughts and 4 light cruisers.

The German High Seas Fleet, on the other hand, was assembled at Wilhelmshaven and the mouth of the Elbe, with Admiral Ingnoll as its commander, and the main composition of the entire fleet was as follows:

The flagship of the fleet "Frederick the Great", attached to 4 destroyers and 4 other ships.

First detachment: 8 dreadnoughts. The commander was Vice Admiral von Von. Reims.

Second detachment: 8 former dreadnoughts. The commander was Vice Admiral Scheer.

Third detachment: 5 dreadnoughts. The commander was Rear Admiral Funk.

1st reconnaissance group: 3 battle cruisers, 1 armored cruiser. The commander was Rear Admiral Hipper.

Second reconnaissance group: 7 light cruisers. The commander was Rear Admiral Maas.

There are also 8 lightning strike brigades and 2 submarine brigades.

At the beginning, the German High Seas Fleet, in accordance with the established strategy, tried to avoid a general battle with the British Navy, but used submarines or mines to consume the strength of the British Fleet, and waited for the balance of forces to reach a decisive battle against the British Grand Fleet. And the British fleet, the strategy chosen to adopt was the second, a far-reaching blockade of the North Sea.

By 1909, a naval battle was inevitable, and an unprecedented struggle for maritime supremacy seemed to begin in Turkey's Dardanelles! (To be continued)

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