The full moon is in the sky, the stars are twinkling, and the soft moonlight pours down, reflecting the entire Baltic Sea with a pale golden glow. In the quiet of the night, three huge ships like floating islands are parting from the waves and slowly sailing on the deep black sea. Although the flag on the mast is not visible in the night sky, the iconic Gangsu bridge and long bow shape clearly show the unique camp to which it belongs.

On the smooth and wide flybridge, a German admiral dressed in black was standing against the railing; The night wind howled in the deep sea, blowing the brand-new lieutenant general's uniform into the hunt. He was about fifty years old, and his face was solemn and angular; Its six-foot-tall stature is only moderate among tall Germanic peoples, but it has a unique temperament that cannot be taken lightly.

Is he Reinhardt? Schell, born in 1863 in Obennetzen, Hanover, belonged to the most ordinary class of commoners in Germany. At the age of 16, Schell joined the young Imperial German Navy, where he received the rank of second lieutenant three years later, beginning his more than thirty years in the navy.

With his diligence and seriousness in his work, as well as his energetic, rigorous and self-motivated character, Schell was quickly valued by the top brass of the Navy, and he steadily rose through the ranks of the military class created by Tirpitz that was mainly civilians and not measured by birth background. In 1910, Scheer was promoted to rear admiral, and because of his long-standing steadiness and tenacity, he came to the eye of Ingnorl's search for his successor. On the day of the outbreak of the war, Scheer, who was not yet 50 years old, was promoted to vice admiral and became commander of the 2nd Battleship Squadron. And with the unanimous approval of Field Marshal Tirpitz, and Admiral Ball, Chief of the General Staff of the Navy. Become the next commander of the High Seas Fleet. Today. In the German High Seas Fleet, Schell was already faintly the second man after Commander-in-Chief Ingnoor; Even veteran lieutenant commanders such as Lens, Glepa, and Schmidt were not in a position to compare.

"After nearly half a year of intense training, the 984 officers and men of the Palatinate finally completed the transformation from ordinary sailors to qualified soldiers." A middle-aged officer carrying a colonel's epaulette walked up behind Scheer and said with admiration in his eyes, "Especially in the last two months, the soldiers' tactical skills have made great progress, thanks to your direct command training for them. If you don't have your halfway through. It will take at least another month for the officers and men of the empire to reach the current state of skillful operation and close cooperation! ”

"This Palatinate, as well as the Saar in the rear, are the main ships to be assigned to the 2nd Battleship Squadron, and I, as the commander of the detachment, are naturally obliged to let them form a complete combat force as soon as possible. Now that they and the training and run-in work of the fast battleship Lytzov next to it have come to an end, the last obstacle to the attack of the High Seas Fleet is gone. It won't be long before the British will taste the iron fist of my German navy! Scheer stared at the black-blue sea in the distance, and a sharp color flashed in his eyes.

Hearing this, the German admiral who was suspected of being the captain of the ship was visibly taken aback. "General, we are not waiting for that class of Japanese battleships and King-class fast battleships to enter service. Is it time to take action in the near future? In less than three months, two Japanese battleships with a standard displacement of 25,000 tons will be completed, which have one more main turret than the two Caesar-class Palatinate and Saarland, and have the ideal strike density and shell dispersion when firing. And by the beginning of next year, the unprecedentedly powerful King-class fast battleships will also be put into service one after another; When they appear in the final battle, all British ships will tremble in front of its 8 380mm guns! ”

"Henk, the High Seas Fleet must be glad that you have not become a high-ranking figure like Chief of Staff of Bol or His Excellency Commander Ingnoor. It would be an unforgivable sin for the whole German nation if we chose to lie dormant in Wilhelmshaven now! Scheer snorted, and without hesitation, threw Colonel Henk's opinion straight into the garbage heap, "At present, Italy, a two-faced woman and technician, has finally recognized the situation and chose to completely break with the Entente; Whether waiting for the allies to launch an offensive in the Mediterranean, or directly stirring up waves in the North Sea, the High Seas Fleet, which has been supplemented by 3 super dreadnoughts, will advance and retreat freely, and will no longer have the slightest fear of the British Grand Fleet! According to the information we have, a large number of Queen Elizabeth-class battleships are being built in British shipyards with tonnage, firepower, and speed similar to that of the King-class; If you don't attack now, do you have to wait until the British have built all these ships, and then go to die under the heavy artillery fire of the other side? ”

Being refuted by Scheer so mercilessly, Henk was suddenly quite embarrassed. However, Scheer's dual status as his immediate boss and future commander of the High Seas Fleet made him stumble and silent. In the blowing sea breeze, only Descher's voice was heard in his ears again: "After these two battleships have formed a combat strength, it is time to adjust the lineup of the detachment of the High Seas Fleet. 4 Bismarck-class really? The final battleship, 4 Deutsche class, 4 Nassau, 4 Helgoland class, and the first 4 Caesar-class completed the five battlefleets, while the last 3 Caesar-class and 3 Adalport-class ships started construction in 1898? The decisive battle was organized independently, becoming two tactical clusters with a lack of personnel. When these ships have returned to Wilhelmshaven through the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal, I will ask His Excellency Ingnorr to immediately lead the High Seas Fleet to sea for exercises. These 7 battlefleets must be able to skillfully deploy a battle line composed of 26 capital ships under any circumstances! ”

"But, even then, we only have a numerical advantage on paper. The Marquis Bismarck-class small dreadnoughts were armed with 8 283-mm guns, while the Adalport-class that started construction in the last century was only equipped with 6 283-mm guns; Compared to the striking power of the original British dreadnoughts' 8 305mm guns, the junior ships we used to make up the numbers were still at an absolute disadvantage. On the capital ships that started construction later, the firepower of the Imperial warships was also much weaker than that of the British ships of the same period. As soon as luck is on the side of the British, under the blow of the concentrated fire of the Grand Fleet, we will most likely suffer heavy losses. Henk's gaze remained on Scheer's side face, and he cautiously expressed his inner anxiety about the decisive battle, "Perhaps, we should come up with a plan so that the Imperial Navy can win the battle with a small enough risk. ”

Scheer raised his eyebrows slightly, and his eyes swept back obliquely; Hinkden, who was always paying attention to Scheer's expression, was silent, and at the same time he was bitter about what he had just said. However, Schell did not reprimand the poor colonel for his overly stable character. Because in all fairness, what Henk just said made sense. Even the British Grand Fleet, which has the advantage in firepower, is bottomless about the decisive battle of the fleet in the changing situation, lest the other side seize the opportunity to turn the tables in an instant; In contrast, the German High Seas Fleet, which was slightly weaker, needed a set of meticulous and effective combat plans similar to Schlieffen's plan to ensure that it could cope with Yuga in the face of any unexpected situation.

Scheer turned and looked directly at the Lützov, a few hundred meters to the left of the Palatinate; In the darkness of the night, the silhouettes of the wide and tall bridge and the four majestic main turrets are faintly visible. The large capital ship, which began construction in early 1910, and its sister ship, the De Ringer, are the absolute pride of the current High Seas Fleet. Unlike the three Blucher-class, one von der Tann-class and one Cedritz-class that had been built by the German Navy, the De Verblinger was the only fast battle cruiser whose first class did not have a reduced firepower or protection for the battleships that had been started at the same time.

Eight 350 mm L42.4 guns of the same Caesar class, distributed in four knapsack turrets arranged along the central axis, can be reloaded in 24 seconds under superior mechanical servo. Coupled with the hard quilt cap pioneered by the Austro-Hungarian Skoda Military Industry, it has the most powerful armor-piercing ability on the planet at this stage with a 600kg armor-piercing projectile launched at an initial velocity of 815m/s. In terms of defense, this class of battle cruisers is not inferior to the Caesar class: the 5.2-meter-high 320 mm Krupp hardened armor covers 62% of the length of the waterline, plus 75 mm of large-angle dome armor and two layers of horizontal armor totaling 85 mm, which is enough to ensure the indestructibility of the core module in the current traditional artillery battle. Thanks to Germany's sophisticated and superior small water-tube boiler technology, the De Verber class, which introduces heavy oil fuel, can still run up to 25 knots while carrying heavy artillery and thick armor!

Because of these characteristics, many senior German officers no longer regard the D-Fringer-class with a standard displacement of 24,300 tons as combat patrols, but directly call them fast battleships. Until the King-class is completed, both sister ships will be the most powerful capital ships in the High Seas Fleet. Even Scheer, who had 7 capital ships in his hands, was quite envious of Rear Admiral Hipper, who was the same age as him, to command these two warships.

Before that, whenever Scheer saw this class of ship, he couldn't help but have an urge to snatch it up. This time, however, Scheer thought of Hipper, who had shelled the British coast several times before, making countless British babies famous for not crying at night. A flash of inspiration flashed in his mind, and a rudimentary plan had already emerged. (To be continued......)

PS: PS: Seeing this, some book friends may question the performance of my proposed D-Flinger class. But in fact, this is completely possible, and it is not Zenith Technology.