The sky is like a wash, and the white clouds are flying. In the bright autumn morning light, a stout gray ship was lying quietly in a dry dock at the Kiel Shuoxiao shipyard; Nearly 100 shipbuilders are busy in their "nests" like ants, and occasionally the arc in their hands can be seen refracting a dazzling glow.

Different from the low freeboard characteristic of ordinary large German warships, although the ships in this drydock also have a long bow type that can save the ship's weight to the greatest extent, its freeboard height above the waterline is a considerable improvement compared to the battleships with a fully loaded stern freeboard height of only 3.2 meters. Above the forward bow tower, stood a tall mast not inferior to that of a battleship; Scharnhorst's German inscriptions were sprayed on both sides of the ship, revealing her status as the flagship of the German Far East Fleet.

In 1898, with the red, white and black Iron Cross flag flying over much of the Philippines, Germany's interests in the Far East were more demanding than ever before. Under these circumstances, Germany needed to deploy a strong naval fleet in the Far East in order to assert its presence and maintain its interests in the region. So, in the last batch of the most really? After the construction of the Armoured Cruiser of the Fleet Decisive Battle began, the German Admiralty began to formulate a plan for the expansion of the Far Eastern Fleet; Both Kaiser Wilhelm and Prime Minister Bilo hoped that Germany would use this fleet as a military backing to redouble its efforts in the Far East in order to obtain more wealth and "land under the sun".

Tirpitz's move suddenly made it difficult for Qingying. There is no other reason, as a traveler who is familiar with history, Qingying is very clear about the situation of the German Far East Fleet.

In that plane in his previous life, by Graff? The German Far East Fleet under the command of Admiral Speegh can be said to have shone like a comet through the naval situation of World War I. The Battle of Cronell. Spee was only at a small cost of three minor injuries. Sink 2 British armored cruisers. More than 1,600 British sailors were killed; More than a month later, the main force of the German Far East Fleet was defeated by the British battle cruisers led by the Invincible, and the two main cruisers were all sunk in battle, and the light cruisers that escaped the net did not escape the fate of destruction in the subsequent sweep of the British fleet. Spee and his brave and tenacious sailors flashed like meteors through the history of naval warfare during World War I, and were remembered by countless military history lovers in later generations.

If it was simply to change the outcome of the Falkland Islands naval battle, it would have been almost effortless for the Qing British: because the British battlecruisers were extremely poorly protected, the Germans would only need to deploy slightly more powerful ships in the Far East to have the same backfire range as the six 305-mm guns on one side (the main guns of the Invincible class had a small backfire range). It is difficult to play in actual combat), and the armor of the important part is only 152 mm thick, and the scum ship has the ability to engage equally. If we add to this the fact that the British ships liked to detonate ammunition, then the German battleships were even easier and more pleasant to deal with. However, the problem of the Far Eastern Fleet can by no means be solved by this method of adding more water and more water, and more deep-seated factors must be considered: the most crucial question is, once the war starts, what will the Far Eastern Fleet, far from the German mainland, do in the war?

It is obviously impossible to return to the Philippine base. Because Japan had an alliance with Great Britain, it had an incomprehensible desire for overseas expansion. Once war breaks out, the Philippines is bound to be attacked by a full-scale attack from Japan. Although the Japanese Army was no match for its German counterparts at the pinnacle of its time in terms of combat effectiveness, its victory was due to its large numbers, and even if the Philippines, which was isolated overseas, could hold on for a while, it would be difficult for it to survive the heavy encirclement of Britain and Japan. Besides. It was also difficult for the German fleet to repeatedly break through the dense naval defense line blockaded by the British and Japanese fleets. At the beginning, the Qing British advocated the annexation of the Philippines, in addition to obtaining colonial benefits. In order to make it a submarine base in the war; In the face of the tight naval blockade of the British and Japanese navies, submarines are obviously more able to play a greater role!

As for returning to German soil? This is an even more almost impossible task. Halfway around the world from the Philippines to the German naval port, a long period of unmaintained overseas voyages would inevitably cause serious losses in the speed of the warships, and there would be no possibility of escape in the face of British warships. The Royal Navy during World War I was by no means comparable to the scum of World War II, and once it was discovered by a variety of ships and merchant ships like bed bugs, it was followed by an overwhelming baptism of fire. Whether it is the American route that history has implemented and admired, or the western route through the Indian Ocean and the Cape of Good Hope, it is even more difficult to complete such a long sea journey than the 30,000-kilometer expedition of the Russian Second Pacific Fleet!

Therefore, if a sufficiently powerful ship is sent to the Far Eastern Fleet, on the surface, it will solve the big problem of the Spee fleet, but in fact it will be an unwise move to fail to understand the key to the problem and cure the headache and feet. In addition, equipping the Far East Fleet with sufficiently powerful ships would mean throwing more funds for building ships into this theater far from the mainland, which would undoubtedly reduce Germany's investment in the home high seas fleet, thus creating an unfavorable situation for the shipbuilding race between Britain and Germany. In Tirpitz's risk fleet theory, each dreadnought is an important component of the threat to Britain at the negotiating table, and if it is thrown arbitrarily in the Far East, it is tantamount to dismantling the originally highly concentrated risk fleet by itself. The reason why Qing and Britain did everything possible to strengthen the naval strength of the Allies in the Mediterranean region was to give them an advantage over France, force Britain to divide forces in the Mediterranean, and reduce the pressure on the high seas fleet in frontal warfare.

However, the Far Eastern Fleet had to be created. Whether it was to deter the natives of Manila and the Philippines, or to assert its interests in the Far East, Germany needed to have a permanent naval fleet there that would be consistent with its status as a great power. If it were to be abandoned because of the tragedy of the historical Spee fleet, it would undoubtedly be because of choking, and the overall benefits that Germany gained in the Far East would not be as good as building a fleet and then losing it.

Faced with this dilemma, Qingying thought hard for a long time and finally came up with a strategy that could be slightly balanced.

First of all, the Far Eastern Fleet must be built, and it must have combat power that is not weaker than historical facts, and even surpasses it; This was not only because Germany, which annexed the Philippines, had stronger interests in the Far East than it had historically been, but also because of the role it could play in containing the British navy. Historically, due to the splendid performance of the Spee fleet in the Battle of Kronel, the British Admiralty was determined to solve this problem once and for all with battle cruisers; And as these triangular mascus broke the waves across the vast ocean, the British Grand Fleet was weakened like never before. If the German Far East Fleet can force the British Grand Fleet to send the main force to suppress it, it will be able to achieve the effect of diversion, and create an opportunity for the High Seas Fleet to seek a decisive battle with the Home Fleet of the Royal Navy!

Secondly, it is necessary to find a shelter for the Far Eastern Fleet in wartime. After completing the decoy mission, this fleet with considerable strength obviously could not be wiped out by the British, otherwise the heavy price of the total annihilation of the Far East Fleet would be an unbearable loss for Germany, which had deep pockets. After eliminating them one by one on the map, Qingying finally found the "back door" of the willows and flowers in the disappointment of the mountains and rivers - the Persian Gulf.

Before World War I, the Ottoman Empire, which had not yet collapsed, controlled a vast territory that spanned Europe and Asia: it controlled not only the entire peninsula of Asia Minor in present-day Turkey, but also most of the entire Middle East hinterland, including Iraq and Syria. The estuary of the Euphrates River, adjacent to the Persian Gulf, is also flying the red star and moon flag of the Ottoman Empire. If the German Far Eastern Fleet could choose to transfer to this place in the war, not only would it be able to preserve its strength, but it would also have no difficulty at sea; As long as the German Navy could deploy a few coal carriers along the way, there was no reason why the Far East Fleet, which had historically reached Cape Horn, could not reach the closer Persian Gulf.

In addition, once German warships entered the Persian Gulf, it was bound to pose a huge threat to the British shipping lanes of the Indian Ocean. As the most shining jewel in the crown of the Queen of the British Empire, the number of merchant ships between India and Britain is quite large; Not to mention the fact that the Persian Gulf is next to the Red Sea shipping lanes along with the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean, and its shipping to and from the Entente countries is extremely frequent! The German Far East Fleet, based in the Persian Gulf, would become a nightmare for the Entente Indian Ocean shipping lanes, and Britain and France would be forced to devote large numbers of troops to escorting forces in the region, thus further dispersing their already stretched forces.

However, there was also a risk for the German Far East Fleet to enter the Persian Gulf. The naval base at the mouth of the Euphrates River was too far from the heart of the Ottoman Empire to ensure that it would not be captured by the British, and Yemen, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and even Kuwait on the Arabian Peninsula were all British colonies that could easily be attacked. Historically, Britain has launched an offensive on the Arabian Peninsula and annexed most of the Ottoman Empire's territory in Iraq! In addition, the British-controlled United Arab Emirates and politically pro-British Persia made it difficult for the German fleet to enter and exit the Strait of Hormuz, which was less than 50 kilometers at its narrowest point, and could be effectively blocked by both minelaying and human observation.

Despite the problems of stationing in the Persian Gulf, the German Far East Fleet had no choice. If it did not seek refuge here, the Far Eastern Fleet would almost certainly be found and annihilated by the overwhelmingly superior British and Japanese fleets. Under the leadership of the Qing British, the Ottoman Empire began to build military ports and dry docks in the Persian Gulf, far from the center of gravity of its domination, which would serve as the home of the German Far East Fleet in the war. (To be continued......)

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