In Tirpitz's official residence, the head of the German Navy was discussing a very important question with the two generals, Schell and Hipper, that is, whether the German Far East Fleet still needs to be rebuilt, and what is the position and role of the Far East Fleet in future wars?

In the Sino-Russian War, three fleets were actually defeated, not to mention the Russian fleet and the Dutch fleet, and the other fleet was the tragic German Far East Fleet, in the last engagement, two pocket battlecruisers of only about 15,000 tons were chased by red-eyed Russian battleships, and then killed alive. The German Far East Fleet had only two capital ships, and after the battle, it was really crippled.

Then, according to Wilhelm II, in order to demonstrate the German presence in the Far East, the Far Eastern Fleet had to be rebuilt, the symbol of the Second German Reich. It is also the decency of His Majesty the Emperor. But it is clear that Tirpitz does not think so, he thinks more realistically. That is, for the sake of a little decency, is it worth throwing a battleship worth more than 2 million pounds into a place where birds don't? It was very difficult for the German Far Eastern colonies to build a 15,000-ton warship, and if you threw two dreadnoughts, it would mean that the port facilities and batteries would have to be expanded. It can't be done, now that the German Navy is busy exploding troops, how can there be time to open mines?

However, the Kaiser's order could not be directly vetoed, and after thinking about it, the Minister of the Navy thought that he should listen to the commander of the first-line fleet, after all, Schell was the commander of the high seas fleet. And Hipper is the commander of the fast fleet, and perhaps their opinions on the future of the Far Eastern Fleet can be left for reference. However, the opinions of Scheer and the others were somewhat different from those of the Tyre batch, and they were reluctant to transfer new ships from the mainland. After all, now the shipbuilding industry in Germany is at full capacity, and it was thrown off by the British. But at the same time, they also affirmed the significance of the existence of the Far Eastern Fleet, believing that the Far Eastern Fleet should be strengthened.

"It's a contradictory view." Scheer said very frankly. "First of all, we must affirm the great value of the Far Eastern theater, in the future war, the naval war will be divided into three main theaters, the first of which is the North Sea theater. The High Seas Fleet confronted the British Grand Fleet and the remnants of the Russian fleet, the latter of which was almost negligible, and our greatest enemy was the formidable British Grand Fleet. The second battlefield is the Mediterranean theater. Here the Italians and Austrians had an advantage, at least in terms of capital ships. Due to the importance of the Mediterranean, it is unlikely that the British will sit idly by and watch the defeat of the French fleet, and may have sent some warships to support the French navy. The third battlefield is the Indian Ocean and the Far East. It's a vast area. However, the fleets under both sides are the least, and their status is very low compared to the first two battlefields. Here are our Turkish allies and the Far Eastern Fleet, against the British fleets in India and the Far East. But we can't despise him because of his relatively low status. ”

"The fleet here is like a sharp sword against the British shipping lines, through which supplies and personnel from India and the Far East and even Oceania need to be transported to the British mainland. If the Persian Gulf coast were to be used as a base to attack these convoys, it would undoubtedly cause great damage to the British, and even further involve the British forces, which is undoubtedly very important for the high seas fleet, and in order to achieve this purpose, we only need to send a few warships. Then, these warships can at least involve several times their own forces before they are destroyed, laying favorable conditions for a decisive battle between the High Seas Fleet and the Grand Fleet. Scheer added.

"But how can the battleship be solved? All this is nothing more than an assumption in an ideal situation. And for such a hypothesis we would need to invest at least millions of pounds to meet the most basic requirements of this hypothesis, and I need to reveal something for both of you, that is, our enemies may not only be Britain, France and Russia, but that on the other side of the ocean, the attitude of the United States is also more inclined to Britain and France, and the Republic of China is extremely unlikely to enter the war, and our opponent of the High Seas Fleet may have to add an American to it. Tirpitz said with some dissatisfaction.

"If this is the case, then the armaments of the Indian Ocean and the Far East need to be strengthened even more, and we must spread the opposing fleet as much as possible to gain a chance of victory, as for the warships? I admit that the main force of the High Seas Fleet does not intend to provide the newly built Super Dreadnought to the Far Eastern Fleet, but we can find someone to help us build it, relatively speaking, the German Empire is more lacking in shipbuilding capabilities, and we can make up for this with our allies in the Far East, and the Republic of China has agreed to build two new dreadnoughts for Turkey, since in the future the Far Eastern Fleet will fight with the Turks, why can't we use the same warships? Hipper said.

"If I'm not mistaken, you mean that in wartime, the Far Eastern Fleet should leave the Far East and look for opportunities to break through to the Indian Ocean and join the Turks in the Indian Ocean and use the bases located on the coast of the Persian Gulf? Tirpitz said with a frown.

"That's right, it would be better if the Turkish fleet could act together with the Far Eastern Fleet, and in the future, the composition of our Far Eastern Fleet should be composed of a large number of quasi-dreadnoughts and a small number of cutting-edge warships, as well as various camouflaged assault ships and light cruisers. Of course, if we can, we also need to deploy some submarines there. Scheer said.

"Submarines are not necessary, because when necessary, the British transport ships can choose to go around from the Horn of Africa, and it is very laborious for submarines to search in such a vast sea area, and the British fleet will have to pass through the North Atlantic no matter how they go to the most difficult point, and we can concentrate on hunting their transport ships in the North Atlantic, rather than looking for targets in the vast Indian Ocean with a small number of submarines. In terms of maneuverability and search speed, as well as sustained combat capabilities, surface ships are better suited to combat in the Indian Ocean. Hipper's opinion was his own.

"You don't mean to send all the old warships in the German High Seas Fleet to the Far East and Turkey, and then use this to contain the British and French naval forces?" After a long time of trouble, Tirpitz finally figured out what these two generals thought, if they want to say how much blood they want to give to add additional dreadnoughts to the Far Eastern Fleet, they are not active, but they want to increase the strength of the Far Eastern Fleet through the old ships in order to help the German High Seas Fleet share the pressure in future battles. Isn't this for the Far Eastern Fleet to pull hatred?

However, for this arrangement, Tirpitz still likes it very much, the war is ruthless, no matter how violent the three countries are, on the whole it is still inferior to Britain, France and Russia. The battlefield is also divided into three parts that cannot be connected to each other. If the German fleet in the Far East Theater of Operations in the Indian Ocean can contain its opponent through such a series of operations, it will still be very beneficial to the entire German naval strategy.

"Not only old warships, we also believe that the Far Eastern Fleet should have dreadnoughts, but this premise is that it does not affect the shipbuilding progress of the High Seas Fleet. Our shipyards are almost at full capacity, and a large number of slipways, in addition to building new warships, also need to set aside a considerable part for routine maintenance and maintenance of existing warships. And the larger the size of the fleet, the greater the need for this. We agreed to spend part of the budget on the expansion of the Far Eastern Fleet, but we are not going to let the slipway. Scheer thought for a moment and said.

"That is, these marks may be cheaper for the big country in the Far East again?" Tirpitz smiled. "In the event of war, the loss of our colonies in the Far East and the Pacific is only a matter of time, it is inevitable, but the Kaiser believes that some of our colonies in Africa cannot be easily taken away by our opponents. We have a large expatriate and part of the colonial garrison there. If I could, I would like the Far East Fleet, which had retreated to the Middle East, to provide some support to the German troops there. I think it is necessary to add this to the order given to Lieutenant General Spee. ”

Tirpitz also hoped that the Far East Fleet could share the pressure on the High Seas Fleet and at the same time ensure the safety of Germany's overseas colonies as much as possible, so in his report to Wilhelm II, Tirpitz focused on the significance of the existence of the Combined Far East-Turkey Fleet in the Indian Ocean, and hinted that as long as there were sufficient funds, the Far East Fleet could support the German army's operations in Africa and maintain Germany's land "under the sun" as much as possible. Even to the end of the day, he proposed that he could cooperate with the Italian and Austro-Hungarian fleets to capture the Suez Canal "if necessary"! Of course, there is too much political drama in the last idea, but in the opinion of Wilhelm II, the naval power of the Mediterranean is superior to his own side, and this plan seems likely to work if necessary!

Of course, the most important thing is that Tirpitz's proposal satisfies the ideas and vanity of Wilhelm II with a certain amount of reality and content. So Wilhelm II promised that, if necessary, a special grant for the Far Eastern Fleet could be considered. But the only thing that upset him was that Tirpitz repeatedly said that the Far Eastern Fleet could not guarantee the colonies of the "Far East"! No matter how much Wilhelm II coerced and lured, Tirpitz believed that after the start of the war, the Far Eastern Fleet would have to abandon the islands and colonies in the Pacific and move on to Turkey, which is a bit ironic for the name Far Eastern Fleet!

However, Tirpitz repeatedly said that this plan was only a first draft, and it was up to Count Spee, the commander of the Far Eastern Fleet, to do it. And the list of the first batch of warships replenished by the Far Eastern Fleet has also been basically drawn up, 2 armored cruisers of the King type and 2 quasi-dreadnought battleships, the Braunschweig and Alsace will be sent to the Far Eastern Fleet. Of course, in a private message to Count Spee, Tirpitz mentioned that, in principle, the future Far Eastern Fleet could be equipped with more "ex-dreadnought" and "dreadnought" ships!

Thanks to the book friend zhouyu1976 for the tip~~~. Today 2 more sent, I hope you can like it~~~. (To be continued......)