The German fleet under Rear Admiral Sorochin was in danger.

After the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, Lehedon sent a telegram to the German emperor asking the German naval side to agree to leave several warships participating in joint naval exercises in the Adrih Sea in the Austro-Hungarian Sea in port Bora in order to put pressure on the Serbs. The Germans agreed to the request of the Austro-Hungarian side, and the battlefleet under Rear Admiral Maouf remained in the Adriatic.

But two days before the outbreak of the war, Tirpitz suddenly ordered Rear Admiral Sorochin to return to Germany with a cruiser fleet consisting of the battlecruisers "Goeben" and "Brest". Thankfully, the war broke out on the third day, and Rear Admiral Sorochin's fleet remained in the Italian port of Messina to coaline, otherwise it would have been killed if it had entered the Atlantic.

At this time, the shape shì was very unfavorable to Sorochin, and the main engine and boiler of the "Goben" were somewhat faulty, and only 18 knots could be run. Although the British had not yet entered the war, they had been sending warships to keep an eye on Sorochin's movements. Admiral Mirny, commander of the Mediterranean Fleet of the British Royal Navy, was ordered to keep a close eye on the German battleship, and as soon as the British declared war, the German ship was immediately sunk.

The main forces of the Mediterranean Fleet led by Mirny consisted of two Invincible-class battlecruisers, three Solemn-class and three Dreadnought-class ex-dreadnoughts. But he made the mistake of placing the fleet at the entrance to the Strait of Otranto to blockade the strait and prevent Sorochin from escaping back to the Austro-Hungarian coastal ports, intending to force him to flee west and return to his homeland.

Sorochin was in Messina to repair the main engine of the Goeben, when he received a telegram from the Admiralty that the Ottoman Empire might join the Central Powers. Faced with this dire situation, Sorochin decided to lead the fleet to Turkey at any cost.

Lechelton decided to take the initiative and support the breakout of Sorochin's fleet.

On the evening of 6 August, he led a fleet of two battleships and two battle cruisers, four cruisers, and eight destroyer groups to leave Trieste at night and begin its march towards the Strait of Otranto. At the same time, the commander of the second battleship, Vice Admiral Negovan, also left the naval base in Bora with the same fleet as him, accompanied by two German battleships.

In the early hours of August 6, 1914, Sorochin ordered two warships stranded in Italy to sail for Turkey, breaking through the British blockade. The timing of his choice was incomparable, and shortly after the departure of his fleet, the British government issued a declaration of war against Germany.

Fortunately, the British believed that Sorochin would choose to break through westward and return to Germany, and instead placed the main force of the surveillance fleet to the west, leaving only one cruiser, the "Glaserst", in the eastern part of the Strait of Messina to monitor the movements of the German fleet. Outside the port of Messina, the "Glaserst" spotted the "Goburn" and "Brest" sailing at night, and followed the fleet of Sorochin on the one hand, and alarmed Mirny on the other.

The Germans also spotted the Glaser, which was trailing behind, but Sorochin did not want to entangle with it, and since Britain and Germany had not yet declared war, they did not give the order to open fire. The "Glaserst" gave the alarm to the outside world, and on the other hand, despite the disparity in strength, pursued closely behind the German fleet. The next morning, after receiving the news of the declaration of war between Britain and Germany, a short artillery battle was ensued between the two sides, the Germans had no intention of fighting, and the British did not dare to approach, and none of the shells on both sides hit.

At the same time, Vice Admiral Dobreser led four British armored cruisers desperately catching up from the direction of the Strait of Messina, while Admiral Mirny, who commanded two battle cruisers and four former dreadnoughts, was delayed in the Strait of Otranto for half a day to verify the situation.

By the time Mirny reacted and led the fleet to the south to intercept it, it was no longer in a hurry.

At this time, in order to support Sorochin's breakthrough operation, the Austro-Hungarian fleet led by Lehedon had also arrived in the Strait of Otranto. Standing on the bridge of the flagship "United Forces", Helton looked around his fleet, not afraid of the coming battle.

Now his capital ships "United Forces" and "Prinz Eugen" are equipped with 12 330-mm naval guns, while the "Chrini" and "Empress Teresa" are equipped with 10 305-mm guns, whether it is the tonnage of the capital ships, the defense, or the number and caliber of the main guns, he is stronger than Mirny's fleet.

In the war room on the third floor of the bridge of the "Combined Forces", a group of staff officers of the fleet gathered around a huge chart table and discussed the possible location of the British. The current information sent back from the submarine forces proves that the British are sailing towards the Chithra Strait in Greece.

There seemed to be no hope of running into a meeting with the British.

After about 10 hours in the Adriatic Sea at a cruising speed of 15 knots, the fleet entered the Strait of Otranto, during which time Lechelton and Commodore Pachner, the chief of staff of the fleet, took turns on duty, sleeping less than five hours each. After a night of silence, the Italians declared neutrality and refused to fulfill their obligations under the Triple Alliance.

The next morning, just after dawn, the fleet turned into a combat state, and although most of the night did not sleep well because of nervousness, the officers and men on the ship were excited about the battle that was coming. Four destroyers were sent out as reconnaissance ships and searched about 15 nautical miles ahead of the fleet at a distance of 10 nautical miles, and by noon no enemy was found.

At 1 o'clock in the afternoon, Lehedon received a telegram from the "Goben" that Rear Admiral Sorochin, seeing that he could not break through the British blockade of the Strait of Otranto, changed course and headed for Cape Matapan in Greece, where a British cruiser fleet was in pursuit. He decided to run to Turkey, for he had just received a telegram from the German Admiralty informing him that the Turks would soon join the side of the Central Powers.

The fleet had been in radio silence since its departure, and Helton was keen to turn the "Goeben" back so that he could form a two-sided attack in favor of the British. Lehydon ordered the fleet to speed up and turn in the direction of Greece along the Ionian Islands.

The whole fleet accelerated to 20 knots, and he expected to meet the British fleet halfway through.

Lechelton listened to the discussion of the staff officers on the bridge, but never said anything. Perhaps the British, after receiving a single blow, would soon send reinforcements, and then the entire Imperial fleet would be confined to the harbor, perhaps the only major combat operation of the Imperial surface fleet in a short period of time.

Now he is more concerned with operations on land.

Compared to on land, there are relatively few tactics available for naval warfare, and it is more of a contest of strength, and the weaker side may win one or two battles, but the final outcome of naval warfare still depends on the strength of the two sides.

As it stands, his fleet was able to gain the upper hand in the face of the British.

For mobile phone users, please go to M. to read.