The sun is shining and the sky is cloudless. On the vast blue ocean, two warships of the same appearance and size were splitting the layers of waves and sailing slowly ahead. The iconic tower-shaped mast towers over the bridge, signaling that this is the capital ship of the First Class German Navy, which was built before 1903. The layout of the ship's main guns, one in the bow and two in the stern along the long bow hull, clearly demonstrates their unique identity. These two ships are the core pillars of the German Far East Fleet - the Scharnhorst and the Gneisenau!

Late on the night of May 1, the Scharnhorst, stationed in the port of Manila in the Philippines, received an encrypted telegram from many parties that Germany had declared war on France on the same day. The telegram was returned to the commander of the German Far Eastern Fleet, Maximilian? Feng? Lieutenant General Spee brought orders directly under Berlin. His fleet should try to cooperate with the German colonial forces on the Philippine island to defend this precious colony, which had just been annexed for less than 15 years; Once it felt that the enemy's naval forces were "too strong", they withdrew to the Indian Ocean according to the reserve plan, entered the port of Basra in the Persian Gulf (Basra has a deep water channel that connects with the Persian Gulf), and sought refuge from the Turks.

A day later, news of the declaration of war by Russia and Britain on Germany came one after another, which undoubtedly increased the pressure on Spee. At present, he has only two Scharnhorst-class armored cruisers and two Emden-class light cruisers in his hands, while the British Far East Fleet stationed in Singapore has a lineup of three former dreadnoughts, four armored cruisers, and five protective cruisers. Although all of Britain's dreadnoughts and battlecruisers were pinned back to home by the High Seas Fleet, the Royal Navy had built too many ships in the pre-dreadnought era. Therefore, it is still possible to deploy a strong fleet in the Far East.

In addition to Great Britain, France and Russia also had their own naval forces in the Far East. In the Cam Ranh Bay in Vietnam, there is a French fleet led by three old armored cruisers of the "Dupleix" class: this kind of ship started 15 years ago. Today, it looks old, but with its 7,500-ton size and eight 6.4-inch (162 mm) guns, the French said that it was no pressure to kill the two German light cruisers, which were only half their own tonnage.

Three and a half thousand kilometers to the north, in the military port of Vladivostok is anchored St. Andrei's ichthyosaur. After the disastrous Russo-Japanese War, the once prominent Russian Pacific Fleet has long since lost its glory; With the announcement of the retirement of the aging "Russia". In the Pacific Ocean, Russia only has two ships, "Grombowie" and "Bayan", which are barely maintaining their last face. Ironically, these two warships were conscientious ships built by Germany for Russia; However, Vladivostok is too far away from the Philippines. Spee didn't have to worry much about the Russians coming out of the blue.

Although the German Far East Fleet was far inferior to Britain, France, and Russia in terms of surface ships combined, in the field of underwater forces, Spees had the qualifications to be proud of the Entente. A whole 12 submarines are moored like a row of sharks in Manila's caves. They were all 520-ton U-boats launched by the German Navy in 1906. Equipped with 4 450 mm torpedo tubes. The maximum speed on the surface is 15 knots, and the cruising range can reach 6,700 nautical miles / 8 knots. If it can be used well, this dozen auxiliary weapons, which cost 35,000 pounds each, can also play an irreplaceable role in the war.

Faced with this shape, Spee made his own choice. The two ships cruised off the coast of the Philippines as a deterrent, with mines and shore artillery to prevent a possible Allied landing on the Philippines. Two Emden-class light cruisers spilled into the ocean to carry out assault battles to contain the Allies' naval power in the Far East. As for the 12 submarines, they were divided into three groups: one to defend the Philippine coast, one to attack the British and French fleets, and the other to travel thousands of miles. Head to the Gulf of Aden on the western coast of the Indian Ocean for a safari. The reason why the Admiralty wanted to allocate so many submarines to the Spee fleet was because it had the idea of cutting off the Red Sea lanes of the Entente countries after turning into the Indian Ocean; Although now the main task given to Spee by the Admiralty is to defend the Philippines. But he nevertheless sent a part of his forces to the target area.

After giving these orders for deployment, Spee began to keep an eye on Japan's movements.

With the collapse of the Russian fleet and the shrinking of the British navy, the Japanese Combined Fleet became the most powerful maritime power in the western Pacific. If Japan, within the framework of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, was seduced by Britain and declared war directly on Germany, then Spee would have to carry out a backup plan, that is, to fully move into the Indian Ocean if the enemy was "too strong". What surprised him was that for some unknown reason, Japan, which had signed an alliance treaty with Britain, was in a wait-and-see mode, just like Italy, which had signed an alliance treaty with Germany. Under these circumstances, Speeze decided to continue his dealings with the Entente in the Philippines.

Spee's deployment and command were successful. The Scharnhorst-class cruisers, which had battleship-class firepower, worked closely with the light and agile light cruisers, so that the Allied fleets did not dare to act lightly. The Entente cruisers were no match for the two Shane, and the 18 knots of the British dreadnought could not keep up with the German cruisers. From time to time, German submarines appeared underwater, threatening the safety of every Allied ship at any time.

Since the start of the war more than a month ago, the German Far East Fleet, with the Philippines as the core, has broken diplomatic relations at sea and has sunk 27 Allied merchant ships of all sizes, with a total tonnage of more than 50,000 tons. Almost the entire western waters of the Philippines became a forbidden place for Allied merchant ships; With the exception of a few fast merchant ships that dared to put orders on the road, most of the freighters either berthed in ports or took long detours into the depths of the Pacific Ocean, and their efficiency dropped sharply.

This situation made Spee very satisfied. He only relied on 2 heavy artillery patrols as a deterrent, and used light cruisers and submarines to achieve this almost undamaged result; Considering that the Entente has not yet launched a landing operation against the Philippines, the Far East Fleet has already overfulfilled its mission! Just as he was about to continue to spend time here with the Entente, a new telegram came from Berlin.

According to the instructions conveyed in this telegram, the Far Eastern Fleet must take more offensive actions in the future. The target of the attack is no longer limited to the merchant ships that are powerless to fight back, and taking advantage of the firepower of the Scharnhorst-class to sink enemy warships will become the first choice for future battles.

The order was a mixed blessing for Spee. I am glad that my fleet can finally fight with the British in a dignified manner, and I have been longing for this day for a long time; His concern was that the fierce battle would inevitably cause damage to his own ships. In fact, in the previous month or so of fighting, the German fleet had several chances to destroy British battleships; However, for the sake of stability, Spee did not order 2 Shane to go and destroy the enemy. For the German Far East Fleet, which was isolated overseas, every battleship was a precious treasure; If it is damaged beyond repair in the Far East, not only will its own lives be in danger, but the Philippine colonies will also lose their barriers from the sea. Now, however, that Berlin's order has arrived, Spee must act.

On the night of June 21, two Shane-class cruisers slowly sailed out of Manila Harbor in a starlight and quietly sailed towards the depths of the ocean shrouded in darkness. According to previous reports from the U-13 submarine in Malaysian waters, a British fleet was cruising its precincts, apparently searching for the German light cruiser Dresden, which had attacked passing merchant ships in the South China Sea. In order to prevent the sudden attack of the German patrol, this British search fleet actually had 1 battleship and 2 patrol formations, which can be said to have given the Germans enough face.

In the past, Spee would obviously not have provoked this powerful British fleet. There is no other reason: the two Scharnhorst-class cruisers in his hands are not in the same vein as the decisive battles of the previously built ones, which were actually small battleships; It was the most orthodox armored cruiser that the German Navy built for the Far East Fleet in 1902.

Since the German Far East Fleet was based in the Philippines and would inevitably have to cruise in the rough waters of the Far East in peacetime, it would no longer be possible for the ship to adopt the low-freeboard design of the decisive battle to pursue frontal combat effectiveness at the expense of seaworthiness. Under the circumstance of limited funds, this kind of high-freeboard ship with relatively low tonnage utilization rate must give up a certain aspect of performance. After many trade-offs, the German designers made a rare attempt to cut the armor. This seemingly unreasonable behavior is actually not difficult to understand: the previous decisive battles and patrols were designed with the final goal of the decisive battle of the fleet, and its armor naturally had to be strong and solid; However, this class of Far Eastern warships is an imaginary enemy with the enemy's patrol, and it will not be on the battle line, and it is really unnecessary to get such thick armor.

At present, the sides of the German decisive battle patrol are all 3.5 meters high 250 mm main armor, while this area of the Scharnhorst class has been filed to 200 mm thick, and the protection is greatly reduced compared to its predecessors. In order to compensate for a series of consequences caused by the freeboard rise, the ship's main turret, gun mount, command tower and other vital parts are only 200 mm thick.

Therefore, even if the Scharnhorst-class was equipped with firepower comparable to that of a quasi-dreadnought, Spee chose to use its speed advantage to grease the soles of his feet when he encountered British battleships equipped with 12-inch heavy guns. But this time, he was ordered to attack and have a real naval confrontation with the British. (To be continued......)

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