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In the past two days, the topic of the Germans' unlimited submarines has been boiling in the United States, and the newspapers have been talking about this content all over the place, and most of the mainstream media have expressed hostility towards the Germans, and some radical newspapers have already issued slogans to declare war on the Germans. (If you like this book, please bookmark it biquge.info) This is also supported by some Americans.

Detroit is no exception, and many of the citizens of this industrial city are workers in automobile factories, and they are rude and aggressive, which is traditional. During the Civil War in the United States, many Detroit volunteers served in the Union military.

Led by its commander, General George Armstrong Custer, the Michigan Brigade, composed of thousands of Detroiters, fought and was known as the "Wolverine" for its bravery. Lin Shushu once praised this, and Detroiters have always been proud.

Now after hearing the Germans announce an unrestricted submarine war, the whole city of Detroit is almost ready to read. Detroit was the shipping center of the American Midwest, and locally produced goods could be transported around the world by guò ships, so they had an instinctive aversion to German submarines.

In particular, some of the strong men who had drunk some bad liquor shouted in the streets that they were going to teach the Germans a lesson.

Situ Nan smiled, ordinary people are like this, they will vent their feelings directly, they will not think about complicated problems like the political family, and they will not rack their brains all day long like themselves to calculate how to profit from it.

The sea is free, the Americans thought so, the British too, and the early Dutch. Because their merchant ships could travel to any part of the world through the sea and trade, they amassed a great deal of wealth and increased their national power through free trade.

Without the sea, the United States' foreign trade economy cannot be carried out, American profiteers cannot make money, and even the American people, who are sore in their eggs, feel that their democracy and freedom have been interfered with by the Germans, and the White House has also expressed strong protests, which is why the Americans look at the Germans in a disagreeable way.

In the past two years, in order to deal with German submarines and protect merchant ships, the British Royal Navy had to establish an escort system, and every time the fleet sailed, the merchant ships were always accompanied by a large number of destroyers to protect them. With quick-response destroyers and submarine hunters to escort merchant ships, German submarines did not dare to be too presumptuous.

Otherwise, one by one, depth charges will be dropped from the sea, hiding in the bottom of the water, and the submarine that cannot run fast will have to rest. Many submarines were blown under the water by depth charges, and sank under the ocean with people and ships, and could not float at all, only oil stains and some explosive debris and garbage floated up.

Of course, in this case, there are also some cunning submarine commanders who will stuff the prepared oil and garbage debris into the fish ** and launch it and surface it, but whether the British believe it or not depends on the character of the Germans.

Although voyages were often attacked by submarines and some unfortunate merchant ships were torpedoed and sunk, the number of merchant ships destined for Britain was greatly reduced through the guò escort system. Combined with the use of sonar and depth charges, the total monthly tonnage of merchant ships sunk by German submarines bound for Europe dropped considerably.

In October 1916, when the Royal Navy began to escort ships in accordance with the above scheme, in the last two months of that year, the losses of Allied merchant ships fell to 245,800 tons and 231,600 tons, respectively. This result finally relieved the British and French, and with their huge shipbuilding capacity, they were confident that they would survive the war of attrition with the Germans to the end.

With the continuous development of anti-submarine tactics, the losses of German submarines gradually increased. Although Germany has a stronger industrial production capacity than Britain and France, it does not have sufficient raw materials, and "it is difficult for a good woman to cook without rice". In the face of the blockade of Britain and France, they have never been able to get the import of foreign materials, just like a giant who has been tied hand and foot, and has no strength but cannot exert it.

After two years of consumption, most of the production materials that Germany had hoarded before the war had begun to be consumed, food production was also greatly damaged, and people began to go hungry.

On the European continent, although Germany was still on the offensive side, the war situation was slow to break through. As time goes on, if they continue to wear it out like this, they will become more and more unfavorable to them, and they will lose the war.

It can't go on like this!

The Germans realized that they were not good, and for this they reverted to unrestricted submarine warfare. On January 25, 1917, a week earlier than in history, the German Admiralty officially declared "unrestricted submarine warfare" in order to break the economic difficulties caused by the stalemate in the war.

That is to say, all merchant ships bound for Europe, especially those on the British route, should be careful, if they are spotted by German submarines, they suddenly emerge from the bottom of the water and reward you with a torpedo without warning.

And then before the arrival of the destroyers of the British Royal Navy, the passengers who sank and finally struggled in the water. Some bold and skilled submarine commanders may even have the idea of attacking the enemy's destroyers and submarine hunters, and they will sneak back to the area where the accident occurred, and while the other party is not paying attention, they will suddenly appear again and launch torpedoes at the battleship on the surface.

In fact, the best time to hunt for submarines is at night, when it's dark and dark, and these rats hiding in the water are hard to guard. If you run into a German submarine wolf pack, it's like the Royal Navy is enough to eat a pot.

(The wolf pack tactic was the naval tactic of the Germans of World War II, now in World War I, and the wolf pack tactic could not be implemented without flexible radios.) ）

All in all it was a very evil and powerful tactic, and the Germans were very obscene, but it did work very well.

After the introduction of unrestricted submarine warfare in 1917, the losses of Allied merchant ships increased from 300,000 tons in January to 400,000 tons in February, then to 500,000 tons in March, and then to 850,000 tons in April. Among them, the British suffered the greatest losses, because most of the sunken merchant ships were British merchant ships.

On average, 1 in 4 British merchant ships was sunk, but even such a high mortality rate did not deter adventurous merchant shipowners, because high risk means high rewards, and almost all the profits from a European voyage could be used to buy a new ship for those who were successful in taking risks.

Therefore, even if they die in a lifetime, there are still a large number of American merchant ships sailing to Europe in an endless stream. At the same time, huge consumption also means a huge market, stimulated by Germany's unrestricted submarine warfare, the shipbuilding industry in the United States has also exploded.

From New York, Boston, and Newark on the Atlantic coast, to Detroit and Chicago on the Great Lakes; From New Orleans on the Gulf of Mexico to San Francisco and San Diego on the West Coast, the clanging of iron in the country's major shipbuilding bases has been ringing non-stop, and merchant ships and warships are rolling into the water like dumpling versions.

A week after the Germans announced an indefinite submarine operation, a bored Stuart Nan was sitting in his office when he suddenly received a call from Francis from San Francisco, thinking that he hadn't seen Francis for a long time.

After his last farewell in New York, Francis rushed to San Francisco, urging the Francis Shipyard to start shipbuilding.

He had a cooperation agreement with Situ Nan, and Situ Nan had some shares of California Iron and Steel Company to obtain shares of Francis Shipyard, and the two sides could be described as "mutual fans".

After the cooperation was implemented, Francis received abundant funds and preferential marine steel plates provided by California Steel, and his heart became ambitious, and he set his sights on the Newport News shipyard in Virginia. (PS: Newport News Shipyard is the only producer of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers in the United States, awesome, right?) ）。

And what made Francis even more confident was that he got an order from the Navy for a part of the warships, which included not only a dozen destroyers, but also a battleship!

This is the first time in the history of shipbuilding in the west! This meant that the Francis Shipyard not only received financial grants, naval shipbuilding support, but also bank loans using government guarantees. No wonder Francis is crooked.

Situ Nan held the ancient telephone in one hand, and Francis's unbridled laughter came from the earpiece in his ear: "Stoney, you don't know, the group of grandsons who started the Admiralty allocated money to grind, like constipation, to squeeze little by little, not at all happy.

But things have changed now, thanks to the German submarines! Yesterday the Admiralty liaison came to inform us that the money had been allocated and that the engineer from the Navy Yard would come over to instruct Francis Shipyard and let us speed up the project.

Ensure that the 10 Wicks-class destroyers could be completed within a year, and that the Tennessee-class battleship USS California would be launched in 1918. Haha, now it's their turn to come and la! ”

The phone was a little distorted, but Situ Nan still felt the other party's almost crazy feelings. He removed the earpiece slightly, lest his eardrums be punctured by Francis's arrogant voice.

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