London, England, the largest port in the United Kingdom, has become the absolute core of Britain since hundreds of years ago, and it is also the place where a large number of goods are imported from the United States, which should have been extremely busy, after the start of the war, there are thousands of things, Britain is an island country, unable to obtain all the materials to support the combat team, the communication line of the bay is crucial, the port that countless laborers count on, and countless ship owners, are also looking forward to the arrival of ships.

However, starting from the 7th, only 17 of the more than 190 cargo ships that should have come from the United Kingdom successfully came to the United Kingdom from the United States, and the rest have disappeared, and the earliest one has been delayed for almost 9 days. From London to New York, there is only a flight of less than 6,000 kilometers, and at the speed of 12 knots can be reached in a maximum of 15 days, with a delay of 9 o'clock, what the hell is going on, something happened.

But lately, in the winter in the Atlantic, I have not heard of any hurricanes or bad weather, this is winter, although the situation at sea is not optimistic, but there is no monsoon in summer, according to reason, there should not be an accident. A hint of foreboding haunted everyone waiting in the harbor, including the shipowner, the military or civilian companies harvesting the supplies, and the relatives of the ship's sailors.

Finally, when a cruise ship slowly sailed towards the port, the news of an explosion began to appear, and quickly spread to every corner of the port.

In the North Atlantic, on the shipping lanes to the United States, a large number of German submarines were active. In the process of non-stop sorties, a large number of British merchant ships have been sunk. At present, it is confirmed that the sinking is the Azure and the Mermaid. The Old Man Star and the Angler, who were suddenly attacked by German submarines and eventually sank in the icy Atlantic.

The statement that seems to be true and false spread like a hurricane in the port, and the families and owners of the seafarers on these four ships almost fainted. There are countless rumors spreading, but there is no conclusive news, but now, it seems to be clear.

The rumor spread for about an hour, and the final rumor was still blamed on a ship, a cruise ship, which happened to pass through the area of the accident, and luckily rescued 12 sailors or members belonging to these ships. As for the rest, it may be more auspicious than lucky.

The news hurried through the harbor and immediately caught the attention of the Admiralty, and Churchill carefully investigated most of the information. Once again, he walked into Henry's office, and the radical Churchill simply could not accept that there was a provocation from the German Navy. This in particular, is not aimed at ordinary ships. Rather, it is aimed at civilian ships.

Henry looked at Churchill's report when he saw. There may be 1 million tons, or even more than the news of the sinking of the cargo ship, is also a big surprise, as the British Prime Minister, he knows very well, what the cargo ship represents, if the British Isles, is the core and heart of the British Empire, then the waterway and the cargo ship, is the bloodline, without the bloodline, the heart can survive, this is almost impossible.

Henry's head, slightly dizzy, starting from the European war, everything does not seem to be according to the script, first Germany, did not fight on the German-French border, but passed through Belgium, detoured thousands of miles, after capturing Belgium, a surprise attack on France, not only occupied the entire Belgium, but also from the French border, directly into France, surrounded Paris in France, this is definitely not the previous British calculation, if you knew that Germany is so strong, why did France promote the whole war.

Now, the war situation in Europe has gradually tilted towards Germany, although the British home fleet, blockaded the German high seas fleet, and completely sealed them in the Baltic Sea, but Germany immediately reversed the color, using submarines to attack the British supply line, from this point of view, the Germans really hit the British vital point, 190 ships, almost a million tons, not to mention materials or anything, just say that the ships themselves, almost occupy a fraction of the British transport capacity, and then go on like this, for Britain, No less than a catastrophe.

As the Minister of the Admiralty, Churchill's demands were still so radical, demanding that a rapid formation be sent to form a hunting force against German submarines, destroy the German far-sea fleet, provide safety for the shipping lanes, and even attack the German mainland to promote a decisive battle between the fleets of the two sides.

The decisive battle, if possible, Henry is of course willing to promote the decisive battle, the current British home fleet, in terms of strength, but far above the German high seas fleet, to a certain extent, the British fleet, after destroying the German high seas fleet, can still retain considerable strength. The difference in strength between the two sides was quite large, and this was not only known to Britain, but also to Germany, and with the support of Scher's fleet, the German Admiralty had already emphasized that unless necessary, there was absolute certainty that the British capital ships could be sent to the bottom of the sea, and did not support any form of decisive battle.

For such a long time, he has been passively beaten, Henry is fed up with this situation, but when Henry took the opportunity to ask how sure Churchill was, Churchill could only say that he tried his best, he didn't even have a plan, and the radical approach depended on the idea in his heart, rather than a solid foundation and detailed planning.

The submarine, which hides in the ocean, is regarded as dishonorable by the traditional navy, and the guy who is a sneak attacker, but the owner has real strength, and the vast sea has become its natural cover, under the protection of thick sea water, he can move freely, and he doesn't have to care about your other ships at all, let your capital ship, in the case of the submarine deliberately hidden, even if you drive around on it, there is no way.

Henry looked at Churchill, Churchill was also helpless, Churchill was a battleship control, advocating capital ships, always disdainful of submarines, this is the tradition of the British Navy, but German submarines, it seems that to a certain extent, has changed this normal, even if it is a capital ship, facing submarines, there is not much that can be done, he thought about it carefully, and then said: "Or, escort!" ”

Escort, Henry nodded helplessly, this may be the best way, many destroyers obtained from the United States before, plus cruisers on the British side, to gather the British fleet together, escort all the way, it is a good choice, the worst is the American cargo ships, the United States has not joined the Entente, Germany is unlikely to risk the big disapproval, to attack the American merchant ships, drag the United States into the war.

Sure enough, Britain concentrated merchant ships, escorted by warships, much better, within 3 days, there was no news of German submarine attacks, when a large number of supplies, through the United States to Britain channel, transported to London, the whole British people rejoiced, except for those who lost their loved ones of the seamen, except for those who lost their wealth of ship owners, the British situation gradually stabilized, military preparations, with the support of a large number of materials and munitions, slowly entered the normal.

But the German flag has died down, they don't know, Germany not only did not die down, but also greatly advanced, the escort fleet is greatly reduced the probability of German submarine attack, but the British escort formation is limited, it is impossible to be a one-to-one escort, not only the British is impossible, even the United States, the most powerful in industry, it is impossible, the Royal Navy of the British Empire, sent a large number of warships to escort, in order to ensure efficiency, the choice is the method of large ship groups, about 10 warships of all kinds, At least 30 ships were to be escorted, and with the frequent transactions between the United States and Britain, the establishment of this fleet was gradually expanding.

Perhaps, one-to-one protection, for the submarine force, the efficacy ratio is not high, risking the sinking of the submarine, to attack the fleet with a tight escort, this is not the work of a wise man, but when 10 ships, protecting 20, 30, or even 40 warships, it seems that the risk becomes worthwhile.

From the beginning of the escort, the size of the British escort fleet has also become larger and larger, not only subordinate to the military material transport escorted by the armed fleet, some civilian materials, and even some materials that have little use, have also joined the escort formation, and the ratio of escort warships to escort cargo ships has rapidly increased from 1:2 to 1:5, and is growing rapidly.

The increase in the proportion does not mean an increase in the escort effect, but on the contrary, it represents the weakening of the escort effect, which Germany has always looked at, and when a large-scale ship group began to form, the German side was also ready for everything.

On one side of the Kiel Canal, more than 50 submarines were gathered together, and in the past half a month, at least 9 new submarines entered the German submarine force, plus the previous 52 submarines, 61 submarines, formed an ocean-going task force, commanded by Bohr himself, a large submarine formation of 70,000 tons, began to depart from the Baltic Sea, crossed the strait, and entered the Atlantic, they had enough intelligence support, and the purpose was, of course, the British heavy guard fleet.

At this time, the British side did not expect all this at all, in New York, the United States, a huge fleet, is ready to go, the big news is full of more than 70 ships, the carrying capacity of up to 510,000 tons, they are transporting a large number of military supplies, are in the past month or so, the United States completed the British order, once these materials are obtained, Britain's military strength, on the original basis, there will be a great improvement, which is quite unfavorable for the allies.

Because of this, after getting the first-hand information, the German far-sea fleet, which had been inactive for 10 days, quickly became active, and a large number of warships quietly crossed the strait, entered the North Sea, and sneaked towards the depths of the Atlantic. (To be continued......)