In Kiel, Lee Hayton met with Admiral Bohr, Chief of the General Staff of the German Navy, and Admiral Spee, the new commander of the High Seas of the Second Reich Navy, which was also attended by Vice Admiral Hipper, as commander of the cruiser.

Lechelton planned a major military operation in the Mediterranean, hoping to get the cooperation of the German navy to contain the main force of the British Ocean Fleet.

Several men engaged in an in-depth discussion of the naval tactics to be adopted against the British naval blockade, and both Admirals Spee and Hippel were offensive admirals, in contrast to the conservative Tirpitz.

Although Pol was conservative, he was supportive of the action of the battlecruiser formation, and his aim was to keep the high seas fleet as much as possible, but the navy did not move at all but was under a lot of pressure.

In fact, Heldon had spoken to Admiral Tirpitz more than once before about attacking at sea, but the conservative naval bureaucrat who had always held on to the theory of a decisive victory in the fleet and the theory of "saving the fleet" was not interested in Helton's proposal.

Admiral Spee has been summing up his experience and lessons in the war with the British: breaking diplomatic relations is a kind of sea power, but it does not mean that you have sea power. Its purpose is to undermine the enemy's maritime rights and interests, that is, to weaken the enemy's sea power. A ship capable of carrying out a diplomatic breakage operation must have the following elements: First, the so-called diplomatic breakthrough operation must have sufficient maritime support before it can be carried out. In today's era of widespread use of radio, it is impossible for a shipwreck to remain undetected for a long time, and most of them will be spotted within a few weeks of departure, unless it does nothing.

Secondly, as a broken ship, it needs to have a fast enough speed and extremely strong endurance. Fast enough to keep it out of enemy tracks, and a large endurance to keep it at sea long enough. This is quite important, without enough endurance, it is difficult to create enough trouble for the enemy's routes and transports.

Thirdly, the operation of breaking the diplomatic relationship needs to have sufficient fire support, which is especially important when under attack by the enemy, any single ship breaking operation will obviously encounter enough trouble, its firepower is not strong enough, even a powerful armored cruiser like the "Scharnhorst" will be troubled by an enemy's fast cruiser, the enemy will stick to you like a fly, unable to drive away, but unable to destroy it. But too large formations are also not easy to achieve, their goals are too large and can be easily detected and detected. It is generally believed that a two-ship formation is the most reasonable configuration, so that it has mutual fire support and is easy to deal with some unexpected incidents and breakdowns.

Later, Count Spee cites some recent examples to support his point.

"Very incisive!" Li Haidon couldn't help but praise him, as a naval commander who had come out of actual combat, had sufficient insight into the problem, and had a unique viewpoint and was thoughtful.

"This is just some immature experience, and it will take a lot of practice in the future to confirm its correctness." Admiral Spee was indifferent, for people like them who had experienced the battle of life and death, winning and surviving were the first things that came to mind, and nothing else mattered.

"Can we try this?" Lehydon asked.

"The problem is that we lack the right warships." Spee said helplessly that the best warship to carry out the task of breaking diplomatic relations was the battle cruiser, but the problem was that under the influence of Tirpitz's erroneous naval strategy, the German battle cruisers almost all had the fatal flaw of "short legs", although under the influence of Lee Haydon, it had changed a little, but it did not change much.

The battle cruisers built by the Germans were actually weakened fast battleships, relatively strong and durable, but did not have the characteristics of cruisers in terms of attack power and range.

"Blucher" and "von. Morality. Needless to say, the speed and endurance of these two early experimental combat cruisers were far from meeting the requirements of the broken ships. According to Admiral Spee's estimates, a shipwreck would have to reach at least 26 knots and a range of 9,000 nautical miles to have enough fuel to make a round trip between Europe and the Americas.

The only battle cruisers with sufficient speed were the newest "Seydlitz" and three "De Fllinger" class, of course, the two "Radetzky" class ships stranded in Germany by Austria-Hungary also had such capabilities.

The problem is that they don't have enough endurance, so the effectiveness of the battle will be greatly reduced.

The "Seydlitz" has a range of 5,800 nautical miles/15 knots, and the latest "De Fllinger" class is better, with a range of 7,200 nautical miles / 16 knots, and the "Radetzky" class of the Austro-Hungarian Navy is about the same as the "De Fllinger" class. The fact that these German war cruisers were able to have such a range was also the result of Lechelton's active intervention, otherwise their endurance would have been much smaller.

"It's almost worse, but we have to do something, don't we?" Helton Lee said.

"The problem is that the British' Lion class is capable of reaching a high speed of 29.5 knots." Lieutenant General Hippel said that this was what he feared most, that the British were better on battle cruisers than the Germans, at least on paper.

"Don't listen to Betty's bragging, the British did it for fear that we would send out an assault ship. According to reliable intelligence, their speed is only 27 knots at most. Lechelton said, in fact, Section 27.5, and he needed to encourage the Germans' motivation, "And they only have four such cruisers, and they can't act together, I make sense, right?" ”

"yes, they're better than us, after all." Hipper said.

"Just some." Li Haidun smiled slightly, "Actually, there is a lot of luck in a naval battle, and our battle patrol is not much weaker than them. ”

"Well, I fought their Dreadnought and Indomitable in the Falkland Islands, and even the Scharnhorst, armed with 240mm guns, could fight them, and although I was a little worse, I escaped their pursuit and ran to Argentina. Spee said slowly, as if reminiscing and thinking, "They really aren't as strong as they seem on paper." ”

"So, did you agree to take action?"

"yes, we'll have a detailed plan out soon." Admiral Spee nodded affirmatively.

A week later, Helton personally went to the docks of the Lübeck shipyard to see off the "Radetzky" and "Archduke Franz", and one day the Austro-Hungarian navy was about to embark on their journey.

"This sortie is not a real voyage, and our new tactics of Shiyàn, if successful, will be enough to cause enough trouble for the British." After inspecting his sailors, Heldon chatted with the fleet's commander, Rear Admiral Wilennik, a Croatian-born admiral, about the details of the operation.

The Austro-Hungarian fleet led by Rear Admiral Villenik was not prepared to stay at sea for long, but according to the plan, the Austro-Hungarian fleet would return after a circle in the North Atlantic south of Iceland. The purpose of this operation was to verify the feasibility of the tactics of breaking diplomatic relations.

In addition, the test of seaplanes was also an important project of the trip.

The Austro-Hungarian warships did not sit idle during their stay in Germany, and at the request of Lee Haydon, the two warships underwent a number of modifications: several secondary guns at the rear of the rear chimney were removed, a hangar capable of accommodating two seaplanes was rebuilt, and a crane was installed for the recovery of seaplanes, which were made during outfitting of the German-built "De Fllinger" class.

"I wish I could have caused some trouble for the British." Cromwell confidently replied that, to be honest, the Croats were more adventurous than the Germans, at least that's what Hirdon thought. Germans are rigorous, rigid and disciplined, but they do not have a strong adventurous spirit.

This is a common problem in mainland countries, and they always want to minimize the risk.

The March of Prince Eugen was played by a military band on the docks, and Helton made a short and encouraging speech to the officers and men of the Imperial Navy on deck: "Warriors of the Imperial Navy, you are about to face the most powerful maritime power in the world, and we will bravely face the challenge for the sake of the Empire. You are about to write history, and I sincerely wish you a great victory that will be recorded in the annals of history! The Empire will be proud of you, and so will our people! ”

Helton left the ship in a transport boat, and two Austro-Hungarian warships quietly left Lübeck, where they were to pass through the Guò Kiel Canal and then into the North Sea.

According to the plan, the "Seydlitz" and "De Fllinger" formed formations, and the "Luzo" and "Hindenburg" formed formations, and the three formations would enter the North Sea one after another with half-day voyages, and then break out of the blockade circle constructed by the British in Norwegian waters.

The fleet under the command of Rear Admiral Cromwell passed through the Kiel Canal, and in the drowsy night, the formation left the Gulf of Helgoland and headed for the Norwegian sea. Thanks to the mine arrays laid by the German Navy in the Gulf of Helgoland, British naval ships and submarines rarely risk being caught in the German waters. All three fleets entered Jutland without the British noticing.

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