"Sackville, how are our former dreadnoughts distributed now?" Churchill turned his gaze to Commander Carden of the Channel Fleet and asked inquiringly.

"Your Excellency, there are currently 41 ex-dreadnoughts of Class 8 in British Britain. These warships belong to the Far Eastern Fleet, the Mediterranean Fleet, and the Strait Fleet, of which the Far Eastern Fleet has 3 Dreadnought-class, and the Mediterranean Fleet has 9 Majesty-class and 6 Old Man-class; And the strongest is my Channel Fleet, which has a total of 23 battleships of various types, including the Lord Nelson class. Without thinking, Carden immediately explained to Churchill the deployment of the former dreadnoughts of the current British Navy, "However, two of my fleet are Agile second-class battleships equipped with four 10-inch guns, and I am afraid that they will not be able to pose a threat to those two German cruisers." ”

Churchill nodded slightly and said, "It is indeed a bit of a waste to deploy so many old ships in the English Channel. Since the fall of the Spanish Armada, no nation's fleet has dared to cross this aqueduct at the Queen's Gate; We cannot expect the Germans to make such a stupid mistake, and if they dare to do so, the shore-based artillery and dense mine arrays of the Dover fortress will surely become a hellish slaughterhouse for German battleships! I think it might be a relatively feasible idea to send some ships to the Far East. Your Excellency, what is your opinion? ”

Fisher was silent for a long time, and finally said slowly: "Rather than letting the Straits fleet stay at the mouth of the Thames and continue to be guarded by Rottweilers, it is indeed better to divide a fleet and go to the Far Eastern Ocean to play their due role." But. These warships with a speed of 18 knots alone could not fundamentally change the situation in the Far Eastern theater. Without the battlecruisers, we were never able to restrain the actions of the Germans. ”

"Perhaps, we can have a battle cruiser in the Far East." Hamilton said suddenly.

"Frederick, where will the current home fleet have the spare strength to send capital ships to the Far East? Even if we did the most secrecy so that the Germans did not know about the action we sent out to the battle patrol, in the end it would not be possible to hide it, because our battle patrol would inevitably fight with the German ships! ”

The chief of staff, Vice Admiral Studi, was taken aback and hurriedly dissuaded: "Once our battle cruisers and the German Far East Fleet fight. There is news of the absence of capital ships in the Grand Fleet. In less than three hours, it will be radioed directly to Berlin via guò. And even if our battle patrol sank those two German cruisers and returned to the North Sea from the Philippine waters on the other side of the world, it would take half a month at the earliest, which is still the best result for us in the battle without any damage. If hit a few times by an 11-inch cannon. Our war patrol was after returning home. You will have to stay in the shipyard for a while before you can return to service. There will be a considerable period of power vacuum. In the event of a German provocation during this period, we were again not strong enough to deal with it. And if the navy is timid before fighting, and still refuses to fight even when the Germans come to the door. The people will not forgive us sinners who have voluntarily abandoned the glory of St. George's banner for more than 300 years! ”

Regarding Studdy's questioning, Hamilton, the second sea secretary, did not refute it, but looked directly at Churchill, who was sitting at the top, with burning eyes. Churchill was silent for a moment, his blue eyes suddenly lit up, and he said, "General, what you said, but the King Kong we sold to Japan half a year ago?" ”

As soon as these words were spoken, the faces of the people present showed a look of astonishment.

Hamilton nodded: "It is that super dreadnought cruiser with a standing displacement of 27,500 tons. Armed with eight 14-inch guns and capable of speeding over 27.5 knots during sea trials, her overall performance was slightly better than that of our Lion-class Cruisers, and it couldn't have been easier to deal with those two German Cruisers. In this way, we will be able to uproot the two tumors in the Far East without using the main fleet of our homeland. ”

"But Frederick, the Japanese are still neutral, how can we use their warships to fight for Britain?" Carden on the side also reacted, but there was a slight displeasure in his words, "Your idea seems wonderful, but it is simply an impossible dream." ”

Churchill nodded slightly, but his eyes bloomed with a bit of sharpness, and said: "Although this mention is a bit unexpected, it is not impossible to achieve. Japan's alliance with Britain has not expired, and it is entirely possible that they will join the side of our Entente and declare war on Germany and Austria, as long as our diplomacy is properly functioned. And if we involve them in the war, we will not only be able to solve the current threat in the Far East, but we will hopefully move their fleet to Europe to fight in order to alleviate the pressure on us. ”

Hearing that the Minister of the Navy gradually brought the topic to the political realm, Fisher's gray brow couldn't help but frown. As a purely military man, he has no understanding of the various tricks of these politicians, nor does he have a good impression of them. Although Churchill brought considerable spending to the navy after becoming Lord of the Navy, and his vision in the field of naval expertise was also unique, he was still essentially a standard politician who relied on his aristocratic family background to achieve his position. Seeing that Churchill began to be silent, and there was a tendency to think about how to pull Japan into the water, Fisher couldn't help coughing and said, "I don't know if Your Excellency, Your Excellency, is it sure that Japan will enter the war?" If you are sure, how long will it be before the King Kong will be used by me in Britain? ”

Churchill came back to his senses and said calmly: "On the question of whether Japan can enter the war, I still need to consult with Prime Minister Asquith, Sir Grey and others before I can reach a conclusion." We cannot put all our hopes on the Japanese, and the Royal Navy still needs to take the necessary measures against the Germans in the Far East. ”

"In that case, let's send five London-class battleships to Singapore for the time being. The Majestic-class and Old Man classes anchored in Alexandria are relatively close to Singapore, but they are undoubtedly a bunch of miser's garbage heaps with too long a service life, and they are not at all suitable for fighting an enemy who can easily sink the Minotaur class. Their main guns are all old naval guns with a barrel length of only 35 calibers, and the Majesty class is a primitive open battery structure, and they use Harvey armor, if it weren't for the war, they should have been swept into the shipbreaking base and turned into scrap metal. Fisher pursed his lips slightly, as if he was deeply dissatisfied that the Royal Navy still kept these ships to waste personnel and money.

Carden nodded and said: "The London class is an improved version of the Dreadsome class, and all the numbers are basically the same as it, since the Vengeance can deter those two German cruisers very well, then the London class will definitely be able to do the same thing." Although the power in his hand has shrunk by more than a fifth at once, there is no so-called dissatisfaction in Carden's heart, and now that the situation in the Far East is in trouble, it is impossible for him, as a member of the Royal Navy, to see death without help.

Fisher nodded to Carden, then turned his gaze to the other two vice admirals in attendance; After some back-to-back discussions, Study and Hamilton also expressed their approval in principle of Fisher's troop transfer. Fisher began, "In that case, I'll send a copy of this plan to John (Jericho) and see if he has any more details that need to be added." ”

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Hearing Jericho's name, Hamilton's body suddenly shook and said, "Your Excellency Marshal, General Jericho has entrusted me to report something to you. Our naval warships may have some safety problems in terms of damage management. ”

"Huh?" Fisher couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. As a core member of the "Fisher Gang" in the Royal Navy, Jellico has long assisted Fisher in modernizing the navy, and has made good achievements in the fields of dreadnoughts, torpedo boats and submarines, and has won Fisher's trust and trust. It was also thanks to Fisher's support that Jericho was able to assume the extremely powerful position of commander of the home fleet. At this point, seeing that his love would have something to convey to him, Fisher spoke: "Frederick, John, has he found anything?" ”

"Your Excellency, we lost 4 armored cruisers in the previous two naval battles. With the exception of the Dionysian Priestess, which capsized normally after being hit by more than a dozen 11-inch shells, the three ships Crécy, Shannon, and even the Minotaur all had a very abrupt explosion without suffering particularly heavy trauma. If the explosion and sinking of these three ships was due to the fact that the Germans directly fired their 11-inch shells into the ammunition depot of our battleships, then their luck was too good! Hamilton's tone was a little solemn, and his eyes were full of suspicion, "Therefore, General Jericho suspects that the explosion of our three ships was most likely not caused by the direct penetration of German shells into the ammunition depot, but by our defects in damage management, which caused the fire caused by the explosion of the shells and spread to the ammunition depot." ”

Hearing Hamilton's words, Fisher's pupils suddenly contracted. I had been struggling with the question of how to annihilate the evil German Far East Fleet, and the details of the previous battles were completely ignored in the long reports sent back by the front-line officers! If you think about it, what Jellicoe suspected was not necessarily groundless, if his own ships had loopholes in the damage management of the vital ammunition depot, the consequences of fighting the Germans would be unimaginable!

"John cautious, I see. I'll look into this right away. Fisher said softly. (To be continued......)

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