PS: If you want to hear more of your voices and receive more of your opinions, search for the WeChat public account "qdread" now and pay attention to it to give more support to "Double Eagles"!

At the turn of spring and summer, the weather in Beihai is unpredictable, and most of the time it is rainy and rainy. When Willenique's fleet sailed out of the Skagrak Strait and into the North Sea, it was raining lightly. Although it was already morning, the whole sea was overcast and the visibility was poor.

The cruisers "Fum" and "Kotor" and the two destroyers "Aquila" and "Centaur", which were carrying out search missions in front, could not find the German fleet led by Sorochin in the predetermined sea area. In desperation, Willenic ordered the cruiser "Pula" to send a telegram asking for the exact location of the other party.

Soon, Sorochin's telegram returned.

"They're in K34!" The Communications Officer walked out of the telegraph room in the back and spoke.

“K34？ But we're here too! The navigator said.

"Well, each area on the chart is 12 nautical miles, and you may not be able to see each other." We moved a few more nautical miles to the right, Sorochin said. ”

The fleet began to turn southward, and the speed was only ten knots.

About ten minutes later, it was the "Sirius" on the flanks that spotted the German fleet first, and the two fleets flashed their lights and greeted each other. Sorochin's fleet was much larger than the Austrians, and his command included five newly commissioned Mackensen-class battlecruisers, three De Fllinger-class and the Sedlitz, for a total of nine capital ships, as well as four cruisers, six ocean-going destroyers, and fifteen supply ships.

The two fleets were reorganized at sea, with Sorochin leading the German fleet in front, all the transports lined up in three columns in the middle, with the main force of the Austro-Hungarian fleet led by Wilennik and the cruisers and destroyers on guard around the fleet.

Towards noon, the fleet began to sail mightily towards Norwegian waters.

At the same time, in the wartime High Command in London, most of the key members of the wartime cabinet sat in the large war room. The news of the German-Austrian fleet had already been transmitted back to London by the pervasive British spies, and the Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Oliver, was briefing the Prime Minister and Cabinet Ministers on the new situation.

"According to the information we have just received, the German and Austrian battle cruiser fleets are all sorted, and in combination with what we have learned from the French resistance, the Germans and Austrians have completed the renovation of the ports of Saint-Nazaire and Brest, and the Naval Operations Service considers it highly likely that the German-Austrian fleet will break through the North Sea blockade at this time, enter the North Atlantic, and then move to the south of France!"

"We must intercept them, if we let them into the Bay of Biscay, it will pose a great threat to our shipping routes!" Churchill, who had returned to the post of Lord of the Admiralty, exclaimed that if the British transport lines were to be attacked by the German surface warship forces, the British public, who were now in disappointment, would be more likely to take an anti-war stance.

After the defeat of France, the British cabinet fell into many contradictions, although it was supported by the Americans, but now the military strength of the United States is not comparable to that of Europe, except for the navy, the US Army can be said to be a mess, basically without heavy equipment, much worse than the British Army.

Moreover, the United States is not prepared to take major military action in Europe or even North Africa until it has achieved absolute sea supremacy. A considerable number of cabinet members proposed a decent peace agreement with the German-Austrian side, but wartime hardliners prevailed, expecting the prolongation of the war to bring down both Germany and Austria economically.

The peace-provoking Admiral Wilson offered his resignation, and the hard-liner Churchill returned to the position of Admiralty. However, with the withdrawal of Russia from the war and the resumption of production in Germany and Austria, which had no threat on land, their desired goal of economically crushing their opponents now seemed unattainable.

"The problem is that our fast fleet now seems to be having a hard time taking advantage of our opponents, the Germans have greatly strengthened their battle cruisers, but our new ships will need to enter service in a year's time. Although the strength of the Grand Fleet was greatly increased with the support of eight American battleships, the Grand Fleet was simply unable to capture its opponents due to speed problems. Count Kitchener calmly analyzed that at the moment the Royal Navy had an advantage in the number of battleships, but in fast battleships, the Germans were already ahead. The Admiral-class battlecruisers, built by the Royal Navy to deal with the Mackensen-class, have only just been launched, and it will take at least a little more than a year to enter service.

However, if the German fleet was allowed to wreak havoc on the seas, it was feared that within three months Britain would collapse.

"There is no way back for the British Empire, and if a cease-fire is negotiated along the current military demarcation line, the British Empire will slowly die, and the colonial system that we have spent hundreds of years building will fall apart in less than twenty years. When the time comes, we will have to rely on the snort of the Germans to survive. Churchill still said that this was the main reason for the hardliners to insist on continuing the war of resistance, and if the British Empire lost face in this war, then the entire colonial system it maintained would collapse, and then more and more turmoil in the colonies would make the whole empire more exhausted, and thus drag down the whole Britain.

The problem was that now all hopes were pinned on the Royal Navy, but thanks to the accession of the Austrians, the Germans were rapidly gaining strength. This was a huge mistake in the pre-war assessment, which estimated that the Austro-Hungarian Empire would soon collapse after the outbreak of the war because of national contradictions at home. But on the contrary, as a result of the successive victories on the battlefield, Austria-Hungary appeared to be more united than ever before, and the various nationalities of the country actively participated in the war, hoping to gain more national power after the war with the expression of war.

The Habsburgs used the war to divide the power of the Magyar and German aristocracy, and the emerging Croatian, Romanian, and Czech nobles gained almost equal political rights with the Magyars and Germans within the empire.

This was a serious mistake in the decision-making of the British Empire, and if it had been realized before the outbreak of war, the British would have gone all out to force the entire Austro-Hungarian Empire into collapse first with the Russians. But it was too late, and the British realized it only after the rapid collapse of the Italians.

"Well, the naval side will do its best to intercept it, including the home fleet." Prime Minister Lloyd's. George thought for a moment before making a decision, but then he added, "Also, prepare me a warship, and I'm going to have a detailed conversation with President Wilson." ”

Lloyd's. George's confidence is also shaking, and he needs to sit down with the Americans and have a good talk.

The British fleet was dispatched. (The novel "Under the Double Eagles" will have more fresh content on the official WeChat platform, and there will also be a 100% lottery gift for everyone!) Open WeChat now, click on the "+" sign in the upper right corner to "add friends", search for the official account "qdread" and follow, hurry up! )

I1153