At the British Prime Minister's official residence at 10 Downing Street in London, England, British Prime Minister Herbert? Henry? When Asquith heard that Admiral Fisher asked for war for the British Royal Navy, he couldn't help but shake his head and said: "Although the navy of our Entente countries is superior to the navy of the Allied countries in terms of overall strength, don't forget that it is only beyond one step, once a large-scale naval battle breaks out with the navy of the Allied countries, no matter what the victory or defeat, both sides will definitely suffer heavy losses, so we must try to avoid a decisive battle at sea, and we must know that the real enemy of our Royal Navy of the British Empire is the Chinese Empire." Pen ~ Fun ~ Pavilion www.biquge.info"

Admiral Fisher frowned and said: "Prime Minister, for this war that broke out in Europe, our British Empire may think about the future and consider the threat of the Royal Navy of the Chinese Empire, but other countries may not necessarily have the same idea as our British Empire, maybe the Allies also fantasize about defeating the main force of our Royal Navy of the British Empire after a decisive battle at sea." ”

Prime Minister Herbert? Henry? Asquith shrugged his shoulders and said: "I believe that the heads of several countries of the Central Powers, especially the German Emperor Wilhelm II, will understand the stakes, as long as the army has guns, it can be quickly formed, but the navy ships, if you lose one, and then want to build one, it will take a long time, and the loss of naval officers and soldiers is not as easy to replenish as the army officers and soldiers, of course, if the navy of the Allied countries is not interested, the navy of our Entente countries will not be afraid of a decisive battle at sea with the navy of the Central Powers, In short, if we can avoid a decisive battle at sea, we should try to avoid it, because we cannot afford to lose the British Empire, nor can we afford to lose Europe as a whole. ”

Navy Minister Fisher sighed and said: "I also know very well that the Royal Navy of the Chinese Empire is the biggest enemy of our entire European navy, in the war a few years ago, the navies of our Entente and the Allies, as well as the navies of the United States and Japan, were all defeated by the Royal Navy of the Chinese Empire. It would be the best to end this war in Europe. ”

After a pause, Admiral Fisher then addressed Chancellor Herbert? Henry? Asquith said: "But Your Excellency, the Royal Navy of the British Empire has always been the guarantee of the victory of our British Empire, and for the victory of the war, our Royal Navy of the British Empire will always be ready to engage in a naval duel with the navies of the Allied Powers!" ”

In fact, not only the British were unwilling to use the power of the British Royal Navy to engage in a decisive naval battle with the navy of the Allied powers, but the Germans were also unwilling to let their hard-working navy form a war of attrition with the navy of the Entente, so the German Emperor Wilhelm II ordered the German navy to strictly guard the coastal areas of Germany, and temporarily avoid a naval war with the Allied navy. It was almost over, and the German Emperor Wilhelm II also believed that the Chinese Empire should be Germany's greatest enemy.

The navy of the Entente and the navy of the Central Powers, the strength of the surface is not much different, and it is also the main reason why the British and Germans are reluctant to send their navies to a decisive battle at sea, the Entente and other countries of the Central Powers also understand this, most countries hope to minimize the loss of their navy in this war, after all, if the navy is lost, if you want to rebuild, it is not so easy, such as a super dreadnought battleship, the construction cycle is at least about 1 and a half years, this is still a relatively developed country with a shipbuilding industry.

However, not all the countries in the Entente and the Central Powers thought this way, and more than two months after the outbreak of the Great War in Europe, the navy of the Ottoman Turkish Empire suddenly concentrated almost all of its main forces and launched an attack on the Odessa naval base where the Russian Black Sea Fleet was located.

At this time, the various battlefields in Europe were basically in a stalemate, and on the French battlefield on the Western Front, the Anglo-French army and the German army were still engaged in a tug-of-war in the French province of Oise and the German-French border, and the Anglo-French army was in a confrontation with the Spanish army and the Italian army on the Franco-Spanish border and the Franco-Italian border.

On the Eastern Front, the 10 Russian armies that entered Germany and Austria-Hungary were still blocked by the German and Austro-Hungarian armies in the areas close to the border, so that the Russian Army did not break through to the hinterland of Germany and Austria-Hungary, and brought very heavy casualties to the 10 armies of the Russian Army, and the Russian War Department had already made two large-scale additions to the 10 armies.

As for the fighting between Russia and the Ottoman Turkish Empire in the Caucasus, it was still a small fight, after all, the harsh conditions in the Caucasus made it impossible for both sides to use too large armies to fight.

From the 17th century to the 19th century, there have been 10 large-scale wars between the Ottoman Turkish Empire and Russia for the Caucasus, the Balkans, the Crimea, the Black Sea and other regions, and this European war is equivalent to the 11th Russian-Turkish war.

In the previous 10 Russo-Turkish wars, a large amount of the Ottoman Turkish Empire was occupied by Russia, and the Ottoman Turkish Empire can be said to have been thinking about revenge all the time.

On November 1, 1912, the Ottoman Turkish Empire's navy, mobilizing almost all of its main forces, including 4 Doria-class super dreadnought battleships, 2 Dante-class dreadnought battleships, 8 large fast armored cruisers, 10 fast protection cruisers, 16 destroyers, 30 torpedo boats, and 10 submarines, suddenly appeared in the waters near the Odessa naval base.

In addition, along with the main force of the Ottoman Turkish Imperial Navy, there were hundreds of transport ships, which carried more than 400,000 Ottoman Turkish army officers and soldiers and a large number of war materials.

After defeating the main force of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, the Ottoman Turkish Empire was ready to take the opportunity to send its land forces to land on the beach, occupy the Odessa naval base, and use the Odessa naval base as a support point to launch an attack on the Russian hinterland to cooperate with the counterattack of the German army and the Austro-Hungarian army on the eastern front.

The German army and the Austro-Hungarian army are currently mobilizing forces to prepare for a large-scale counteroffensive against the 10 armies of the Russian army that have entered the country, driving the Russian army out of the territory of Germany and Austria-Hungary and burning the war on Russian soil.

Germany and Austria-Hungary learned of the Ottoman Empire's plan to open up another battlefield, but they raised their hands in agreement, knowing that the total strength of the Ottoman Empire's army was the largest among the entire Central Powers, and once the Ottoman Turkish Empire could use its huge army on the Eastern Front, it would relieve Germany and Austria-Hungary of great pressure.

As for the loss of any navy, since the Ottoman Turkish Empire did not care, then Germany and Austria-Hungary, of course, did not care.

In fact, on the whole, the strength of the Russian Navy is higher than that of the Ottoman Turkish Navy, and the number of warships in active service in the Russian Navy includes 2 British King George V-class dreadnought battleships and 2 Lion-class battlecruisers, as well as 2 Nevada-class super dreadnought battleships and 2 Saratoga-class battlecruisers built by the United States, and the number of capital warships is 2 more than that of the Ottoman Turkish Navy.

However, the Russian Navy has distributed the main warships and other types of warships almost evenly to the Black Sea Fleet and the Baltic Fleet, and now as soon as the European war broke out, the two main fleets of the Russian Navy were divided into two, and the Russian Black Sea Fleet was trapped in the Black Sea because the Ottoman Turkish Empire controlled the Black Sea straits, so this time the Ottoman Turkish Navy actually attacked half of the main force of the Russian Navy with all the main forces.

When the Russian Black Sea Fleet discovered that the Ottoman Turkish Navy had appeared outside the Odessa naval base, it immediately showed no weakness in its main force and met the huge fleet of the Ottoman Turkish Navy, which the Russian Navy had always looked down on.

The Russian Black Sea Fleet has 2 Nevada-class super-dreadnought battleships, 2 Saratoga-class battlecruisers, 3 large fast armored cruisers, 6 fast protection cruisers, 8 destroyers, 20 torpedo boats and 6 submarines.

At 10 o'clock in the morning of November 1, the main warships of the two fleets fired the first shot in the waters near the Odessa naval base, and then the two fleets launched a tragic naval duel.

The naval duel lasted for nearly 6 hours and ended with a crushing victory for the Ottoman Turkish Navy, in which the Russian Black Sea Fleet sank 1 Nevada-class super dreadnought battleship and 2 Saratoga-class battlecruisers purchased from the United States, as well as 2 large fast armored cruisers, 4 fast protection cruisers, 5 destroyers, 12 torpedo boats and 4 submarines.

The remnants of the Russian Black Sea Fleet 1 Nevada-class super dreadnought battleship was also not lightly damaged, this unsunk Nevada-class super dreadnought battleship is also the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, other Black Sea Fleet warships that were not sunk, there are still 1 large fast armored cruiser, 2 fast protection cruisers, 3 destroyers, 8 torpedo boats and 2 submarines, of which several are not lightly injured.

In addition, all 16 Russian fighters that took off from the Odessa naval base to assist in the battle were shot down by anti-aircraft fire from the Ottoman Turkish Navy.

If it weren't for the fact that the commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, who had no hope of victory, decisively ordered the remnants of the fleet to withdraw to the port of Odessa, perhaps the Ottoman Turkish Navy would have completely annihilated the Russian Black Sea Fleet in a single battle.

The Russian Black Sea Fleet was heavily damaged, and the main forces of the Ottoman Turkish Navy paid no small price, 1 Doria-class super dreadnought battleship, 1 Dante-class dreadnought, 2 large fast armored cruisers, 3 fast protection cruisers, 6 destroyers, 11 torpedo boats and 4 submarines were sunk in the naval battle, in addition to a number of warships were seriously damaged.

In any case, the Ottoman Turkish Navy had achieved its original goal and inflicted heavy losses on the Russian Black Sea Fleet in the first battle.

The Russians were shocked by the Ottoman Turkish Navy's raid on the Odessa Naval Base, which severely damaged the Black Sea Fleet, but the other main Russian fleet was cowering in the Baltic Sea at this time, and the Russian Tsar Nicholas II could only order the Russian Army near the Odessa Naval Base to immediately support the Odessa Naval Base and prevent the Ottoman Turkish Army from landing.

In addition, Tsar Nicholas II ordered the remnants of the Black Sea Fleet, together with a large number of shore defense guns and garrison troops at the Odessa naval base, to hold the port of Odessa at all costs.

The Ottoman Turks were so determined to open up another battlefield in Russia this time, and in the early morning of the second day after the end of the naval battle, the Ottoman Turkish Army launched a landing operation on the port of Odessa under the cover of artillery fire from its own ships.

In the following three days, the Ottoman Turkish Army chose to attack day and night regardless of casualties, and finally occupied the port of Odessa on the evening of November 4, and at this time, the Russian batteries in the port of Odessa have basically been destroyed, and the warships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet are only one seriously damaged Nevada-class super dreadnought battleship, and the other warships have all been sunk by the guns of the Ottoman Turkish Navy in the three-day landing operation.

Eventually, the badly damaged Nevada-class super-dreadnought, the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, became a trophy for the Ottoman Turkish Navy.

In order to capture the port of Odessa, the Ottoman Turkish Army killed more than 70,000 people, but just occupying the port of Odessa does not mean that the battle is over, at least half of the Odessa naval base is still controlled by the Russians, and the Russian army has concentrated 2 army groups in the Odessa naval base and nearby areas, even if it cannot drive the Ottoman Turkish army into the sea, it is necessary to block the troops of the Ottoman Turkish Army in Odessa.

After the capture of the port of Odessa, the remaining Ottoman Turkish army officers and soldiers on the transport ship boarded the port of Odessa, and then continued to attack other areas of the Russian-controlled Odessa naval base. (To be continued.) )