"Mr. Admiral, in the past half a month, we have had sixteen merchant ships attacked by German raiders, and another four merchant ships have been attacked by German submarines and sunk." An officer took a report and reported to British Admiral Winston Churchill.

"Where did these attacks take place?" Churchill asked.

"Mr. Admiral, please come here." The naval officer led Churchill to the wall, where a large chart hung on it.

"Mr. Admiral, here is where the first attack took place. According to the telegram sent back by the attacked ships, it was a battle cruiser that attacked them. The officer picked up a whip and pointed to the location on the map and explained: "Then the second attack took place here, and they were attacked by a battle cruiser. The two raids were more than 600 nautical miles apart, a few hours apart, so the two battlecruisers did it. The third attack was in this position, two cruisers. The fourth time was here, a battle cruiser, three hundred nautical miles from the location of the second attack, most likely the same battleship did it, and then ......"

"In this way, there should be two battlecruisers in this area, and two other cruisers." Churchill nodded and said, "Where is our fleet now?" ”

"Your Excellency, Lord Admiral, two of our battle cruiser formations have rushed to this sea, and now they are in this position—and this position. In about two days, they'll be here, and here. The naval officer pointed out those locations on the chart.

Churchill clasped his hands in front of his chest, raised his head and looked at the chart silently, and after a while, he whispered: "The German battle cruisers can sail at a speed of more than twenty knots for a long time when necessary, and in two days, they may be hundreds of nautical miles away, and we have so many routes to protect, it is really like looking for a needle in the sea." ”

"Your Excellency, the Germans have very little access to supplies, so it is impossible for them to continue sailing at such speeds. And our situation is different, our fleet is able to maintain a higher speed all the time. Every time the Germans attacked our merchant ships, they revealed their position, and we were able to chase a little closer. We're going to catch them. The naval officer replied.

"It's not that simple, our friend." Churchill shook his head, "If I were German, I would leave the route for a while after every two raids and move to other areas, and for a few days I wouldn't attack." So when I attack the merchant ships again, I will be thousands of nautical miles away. As for supplies, the most important thing is the supply of fuel, preferably from captured merchant ships, and besides, those damned German battlecruisers had a pretty good range, much better than ours, and that's all to blame on the damned Yankees! ”

"Your Excellency, you may ......," the officer hesitated.

"Maybe what? What are your thoughts? Churchill hurriedly asked.

"Your Excellency, perhaps we can carry out a special treatment of the ships transporting fuel." The officer replied, "All the ships transporting fuel move in formation, and we escort them with old battleships." These battleships were too slow to be incorporated into the Grand Fleet for combat. But against the German battlecruisers, it should still be possible to fight.

Moreover, the Germans lacked port support, and once the warships were damaged in battle, they could not regain their combat effectiveness, and at that time, they would have to risk breaking through our blockade in the North Sea and fleeing back home. The Danish Strait is so easy to get in and out of. ”

The British also had some old battleships, some of which were supposed to be sent to the shipbreaking yard, but after the outbreak of the war, these ships were left behind, although they were a little older, but they could still come in handy. Now, for example, these ships can be used to escort those tankers. Of course, none of these old battleships were in very good condition, and their firepower and defense were below modern standards. The British felt that if this kind of old battleship was against the German battlecruisers, it really might not be able to beat others. However, it is estimated that most of the Germans did not dare to do anything with these old things, considering the maintenance problem after the damage.

Churchill thought for a moment and said, "This is a good idea, and it can be handled like this in the future." In addition, we should also station naval fighters on every transport ship. I set up a bomb on the keel of the boat without it. Once bitten by an enemy ship, the personnel on board immediately sent a report to report the location, let the rear let turn on the bomb timing device, let all the sailors have lifeboats, and we took the initiative to blow up these ships. In this way, where do I see the countrymen to get supplies! ”

……

Churchill's tactics did cause a lot of trouble for the Germans, but the German attacks were still not contained, and it was rumored that the Germans had purchased some ships in some South American countries in their private capacity before the war, and when it was time to fight, these ships loaded some necessary goods and went to sea, and used the radio to communicate with the Germans to send supplies to the German warships. In short, the German attacks continued.

The actions of the British were not without effect, a few days earlier, the British fleet and a German battlecruiser and a cruiser encountered and attacked the Germans, the German warships dodged in a hurry, and finally under the cover of thunderstorms, the battlecruiser finally escaped, but the other cruiser did not escape, and was torn to pieces by the cannons of the British battlecruisers.

But this small victory did not change anything, the German raid ships were still in action, and within a month, they sank up to 300,000 tons of transport ships and sent a large amount of strategic goods to the bottom of the sea. It also includes some very important things, such as a large number of chemical protective clothing ordered by the French in the United States, which also caused a serious crisis on the Marne front, but fortunately, at this time, the French also had a little mustard gas in their hands, and after fighting, the Germans also suffered heavy casualties, which stabilized the front. (The Germans' lack of rubber, combined with the fact that full-body protective chemical protective suits were not conducive to offensive operations, and they were already unprepared for mustard gas from the French, so they suffered a mustard gas shell from the French during the attack, and lost more than 10,000 people on the spot.) ）

If we add to this the number of German submarines sunk, in this month, the German Navy sent more than 400,000 tons of transport ships to the bottom of the sea in one go. If this situation is not changed, the situation of Britain and France will become particularly difficult.

……

As Lord of the Admiralty, Churchill also felt a lot of pressure, but because of the German High Seas Fleet, he really couldn't send more battle fleets to do the search. The French also sent their own fleet to help, however, all along, in order to compete with Germany on land, France had to relax the construction of its navy, so the ships of the French Navy were more backward than those of Britain and Germany, and there was no such thing as a battle cruiser in hand, so the search or something was useless, and could only be used for escort. Recently, Churchill also took some steps by organizing transport ships into a fleet and escorting them with old battleships. It's just that the number of old battleships is insufficient, so some of the strongest warships in the escort formations are nothing more than cruisers.

Speaking of the British Royal Navy's invincible prestige over the years, the Germans were very cautious when they saw the rice flags fluttering on the masts of the escort warships, even if it was just a few cruisers and destroyers. However, the French Navy did not have such imposingness.

On August 22, 1914, two German battlecruisers and two German cruisers attacked a merchant convoy escorted by a French detachment, sinking fifteen of the twenty-two merchant ships in the merchant fleet and damaging one French warship. According to the merchant ships that escaped, when the German attack ship pair appeared, the French fleet only engaged the Germans for less than 15 minutes, just like the wind turning, the Germans did not pursue the French fleet relentlessly, but fought against those merchant ships that scattered and fled, if it were not for the fact that the German warships were only four and could not chase after all the merchant ships that fled in all directions, I am afraid that the loss of the entire formation would be even greater.

Of course, the French would not admit such a statement, they declared that the largest warship in their escort formation was only a cruiser, and they fought bravely in the face of the overwhelming German warships, and as for the merchant fleet to suffer heavy losses in the end, it was mainly because the enemy was too strong, and it was not because we were incompetent.

……

While Churchill was still at home troubled by the German raiding fleet, a guest came to visit him.

"Anthony Lawrence?" Seeing the name on the business card handed by the servant, Churchill frowned. Churchill knew that the Lawrence family was almost the spokesman of the nasty Yankees in Britain, and Churchill was very disgusted with such guys, if it weren't for those damn Yankees who didn't know anything but money, how could the Germans have those disgusting battlecruisers.

But frowning and frowning, Churchill asked the servant to invite the visitor in. After all, the Americans behind this visitor are just too important for Britain right now.

"Mr. Lawrence came to the Humble House, and I don't know what happened." Churchill didn't go around in circles with Antony, but asked directly.

"I know from the newspapers that now the attack ships of the Germans are very rampant. And I just knew that there was a technique that might be able to deal with these Germans. Anthony also replied bluntly.