April 17, 1918, 4 a.m.

The German-Austrian fleet maintained a dawn battle formation and sailed in the depths of the North Atlantic, and the entire formation headed southwest, moving on the surface of the sea at a cruising speed of fourteen knots. The fleet was 700 nautical miles from the British coast due to Admiral Sorochin's change of course, but they had to spend two more days at sea before they could reach France.

Strange to say, the German-Austrian fleet had never encountered any British ship since it had sailed with a British submarine, not even a merchant ship from a neutral country.

Admiral Sorochin chose a very strange route, first entering the North Atlantic from Iceland and the Faroe Islands, and then changing course to the southwest, seemingly towards the eastern coast of the United States. It was only at dusk yesterday that he ordered the fleet to change course to the southeast and sail in the direction of the Azores, and it seemed that he was ready to make a big circle at sea.

By now, the entire fleet has been on sail for six days, and the entire range has reached 1800 nautical miles. This was the most uncomfortable part of the British, such a large battle cruiser fleet was roaming the seas, and the convoy of convoys bound for Britain was temporarily suspended.

The starlight in the sky is fading, and the sea is still dark and dreary.

In the war room of the "Grand Duke Friedrich", Commodore Moratti, the captain of the ship on duty, and several staff officers sat around the chart table, on which was placed a chart of the waters of the North Atlantic, indicating the current route of the entire fleet.

"Sir, I still don't see any need for us to go around in such a big circle, and you tell me how many warships the British will send to look for us?" The navigator gestured on the chart with the unsharpened end of the pencil, "It would take at least a few hundred warships to search such a large area of sea." ”

"There's nothing wrong with being careful, don't forget that now due to the widespread use of seaplanes, the reconnaissance range of warships has expanded to hundreds of nautical miles, and it is not particularly difficult to find such a large fleet as ours in the ocean." Mordati's black hair and the cunning of the Italians in his eyes, "General Sorochin's intention is just to distance himself from the British fast fleet and make their direction deviate greatly. ”

"Our strength is no less than that of the fast fleet of the British." Said the operational staff officer.

"However, we still have nearly twenty supply vessels, which will be of great use in future ocean-going operations. Even if we encounter the British fleet, the battle is left to the Germans, and our task is to protect these supply ships. Brigadier General Moratti said, "Is it almost dawn?" ”

"No, sir, the sight distance from outside is still poor." A staff officer reported.

Captain Moratti walked to the porthole and lifted a corner of the curtain, revealing that the sea was still pitch black, and as the starlight faded, the visibility on the sea was even worse. The "Grand Duke Friedrich" sailed through the rough seas, rocking very regularly.

"Will the enemy cruiser search so far?" said the gunnery officer on duty.

"They're definitely going to increase their search range, and even if the weather is bad, a cruiser can see about 15 nautical miles wide, but we've run more than seven hundred nautical miles to the southwest, and they're probably thinking we're back in Norwegian waters, and now the British are going to send almost all their cruisers, and of course, they have a few hundred destroyers." The navigator tapped the chart table with the tip of his pencil, "That's how fucking the British warships are." ”

In fact, Admiral Sorochin's tactics were so successful that the British could not find the German battle cruisers in the vast North Atlantic for several days, believing that the Germans might have begun to return to the Norwegian Sea, as had been the case with previous naval harassment operations. They began to move most of their forces to Norwegian waters, but searched for and intercepted the German fleet.

Sorochin's ploy almost succeeded in deceiving the British Navy, but by coincidence, they encountered an accident at this time.

In the waters of the central North Atlantic, an American fleet consisting mainly of the armored cruisers USS Huntington and USS Pueblo, a cruiser ordered to go to Britain for reinforcements, is heading east, including two armored cruisers, two cruisers and six destroyers.

It was already morning, it was about to dawn, and through the mist on the sea, it was already possible to see that a faint red halo had begun to scatter in the eastern sky. The wind was blowing on the surface of the sea about level 4, and the waves were constantly lapping against the side of the ship, and the warship was constantly swaying and undulating on the sea.

On board the American flagship "Huntington", the fleet commander, Rear Admiral Smith, had just gotten out of bed with a cigar in his mouth and was walking down the gangway to the bridge. The lookouts on the various parts of the bridge were in their respective posts, wearing thick waterproof raincoats, and some were regularly searching the sea in front of binoculars, while others were chatting.

Rear Admiral Smith went up to the headquarters located on the third floor of the bridge, and Harold, a staff officer on duty, was smoking a cigarette outside the door of the headquarters.

"What's the matter?"

"One qiē is normal, sir!"

"Who's on duty now?"

"It's Colonel Winston, sir."

"Oh......" Rear Admiral Smith stopped, not entering the command tower, but instead went around the bridge outside to the front of the headquarters. The captain, Captain Winston, stood on the bridge and looked out over the sea to the east. After greeting each other, the two stood side by side, neither of whom spoke again, and quietly watched the sun slowly leap out of the sea.

"It looks like the weather is nice today." Maj. Gen. Smith was the first to break the silence and said.

"Yes, but I always think there is something wrong with the intelligence provided by the Admiralty yesterday about the German fleet." Colonel Winston thought for a moment and then said, "I think it's possible that the Germans will be in this area." ”

"Also...... ...... Smith," Smith said slowly, "well, let's go back to the war room and have a good talk." ”

The two of them returned to the war room together, and Winston stood at the chart table, holding a compass in his hand, "You see, according to the intelligence of the British, the German fleet has been on sail for six days. The British thought they would go at about 20 knots, but I think the Germans would spend most of their time at cruising speed, which is about 15 knots, in order to save fuel. Now the question is that the location where the British last discovered the German fleet was here...... "The colonel fixed one of the compasses on the chart," and now that 56 hours have passed, and the German fleet has sailed 800-900 nautical miles, then where they could be now...... "He drew a large circle on the chart, and part of this arc coincided with their present course.

"Well, it's possible, but what can we do? Returning to the U.S. just because of some possible speculation? Major General Smith frowned, "There is indeed danger, but if we are afraid of these things, it will become a joke." ”

"But...... Their battle cruisers had 13-15 inch guns, and they were also faster than us, and if they were encountered, they would be at risk to the lives of the entire crew. While I believe in the oath of a dedicated soldier, we have to think about the lives of our sailors. I think although it is possible to sacrifice one's life for the sake of victory...... But because there was no chance of winning, I was quite tired of being hunted down. "The U.S. Navy developed very late, and although we started almost at the same time as the German Navy, the U.S. Navy was much worse than its European counterparts because of congressional intervention." Our lead ships are much inferior in number and performance to their European counterparts. I think that in the current situation, we need to be cautious about getting involved in European affairs. ”

"The problem is that now that we have declared war with the Allies, the British have agreed to hand over the naval bases in the Caribbean to the United States in exchange for 30 American-made destroyers, and that's why we're going to war — to get more future benefits for the United States." Rear Admiral Smith said, "Well, let the cruisers and destroyers keep watch in front, and we'll keep some distance, and as soon as we find the enemy, we'll turn back and not get entangled with the Germans." ”

Subsequently, Rear Admiral Smith gave the order, and the cruisers "Chattanou" and "Gaviston" accelerated to the northeast and southeast with two cruisers each, and opened the distance between them and the flagship.

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