Early morning of August 17, on the outskirts of the Thames, in the North Sea.

A transport boat slowly approached the steel side of the Frederick the Great, and the stout Schell steadily climbed the latter's bow freeboard, 5.6 meters above the water. Footsteps sounded, the hatch opened, and the commander of the High Seas Fleet, Ingnoll, was sitting in his single room, which was less than 10 square meters, with a solemn and worried look on his face.

"Reinhardt, it seems that the British are deliberately trying to avoid a decisive battle with us. The High Seas Fleet has been cruising the estuary for nearly 48 hours, and even the British Grand Fleet, whose anchorage is in the far north of Scotland, has every time to arrive here to engage us. However, Hipper's reconnaissance revealed that they had not even met the British War Rangers stationed at the Roseth Military Port in the middle of England! Ingnoll spoke with some irritation, and there was a hint of hatred in his words, "Have these cowardly Englishmen, Nelson's bravery of the past, been thrown into the jungle of the Boers?" Now that the lineup of the British home fleet is not inferior to ours, why don't you dare to fight to the death with our Germany? ”

"From the moment the British divided the forces of the Grand Fleet, they should have made preparations, that is, to temporarily hand over the sea control of the North Sea to our German Navy for a period of time. If we take the initiative with all our forces, they rely on mine submarines to delay and buy time for the return of that fleet from the Mediterranean. For the British, this would have hurt their face, but it would not have lost any substantial benefits. ”

Scheer's thoughts turned, and he slowly spoke: "Due to geographical limitations, it is impossible for the High Seas Fleet to enter the depths of the ocean with all its forces. Destruction of Britain's maritime trade routes. Our main ships are all built and designed for the decisive battle in the North Sea. Weak range and seaworthiness make it difficult for this mission. The range of activities of cruisers and torpedo boats was even narrower. With Britain still maintaining a strong fleet that is hardly inferior to ours on the British mainland, going to the Atlantic to break diplomatic relations would be no different from suicide. ”

Ingnoll had a gloomy face, pursed his lips, and remained silent. It was precisely because of this consideration that his fleet did not choose to destroy the trade routes, but directly attacked its vital points through guò, so as to achieve the ultimate goal of forcing the British Grand Fleet. What he didn't expect, however, was the combination of mines and submarines. It was possible to play such a huge role in the defense of the port; The British, on the other hand, were far more calm than the German Navy had anticipated, and they were so indifferent to the crisis facing the Thames estuary that they chose to ignore it out of sight and out of mind!

At present, if the German High Seas Fleet decides to force its way into the Thames, the Teutons will be able to fulfill their centuries-old long-cherished wish to burn and loot at the gates of England; However, what will be faced next is not something that Ingnoll can control. Because even if the German fleet had used maneuvering and closely monitoring the surface of the water to prevent it, no one could guarantee that the warships would be able to avoid the attack of the British submarines; And the German navy was originally inferior to the British in numbers, so it should cherish every capital ship in its hands. This was not the idea of the fleet to avoid war and protect the ships, but out of the consideration of a decisive battle with the British Grand Fleet. Only a full-fledged High Seas Fleet could inflict heavy losses on the British Grand Fleet in a decisive battle, or at least fight to the end. If the German capital ships were not yet at war. Even if a large number of British submarines were injured and sunk under the attack of British submarines, the main force of the British Grand Fleet was completely confident to take advantage of the situation. The situation facing the German fleet will also collapse out of control!

After taking his eyes off the Thames, Ingnoll could not find any other replacement. The military port of Rosyth, located in the north-east of England, was not actually a significant place, and it was only because the British Admiralty was forced by the public to choose the anchorage of the war cruisers here, so that it could deal with the enemy situation in the North Sea at any time. This port, which was useless except for the depth of the water, did not even have a dry dock to provide repairs for the main warships, and if the main forces of the German High Seas Fleet were to press the border, the British could have abandoned it as if they had thrown away a chicken rib.

As for Scapaflo, it was important enough, but under Jericho's management, the port had long since become a fortified fortress on a par with Wilhelmshaven. If Ingnorr chooses to attack here, it will be several times more difficult than attacking the current Thames. The British shipyards were all in the south and west of the island of England, and even the High Seas Fleet, which wanted to destroy the behemoths that were still lying on the slipway, the Grand Fleet stationed at Scapaflo and the Channel Fleet stationed at Dover had already blocked the way for the German fleet to threaten these shipyards.

The sound of the waves is faint, and the machinery is faintly sounding. There was an indescribable silence in the room, and the two sitting across from each other could even hear each other's breathing. After a while, there was a sudden sound of footsteps on the deck walkway outside the cabin, and Scheer gathered his spirits slightly, and a gentle knock on the door sounded behind him.

"Come in." Ingnoll broke the silence in the room and spoke softly.

The steel hatch was pushed open, and a well-groomed young lieutenant entered. He took out a piece of paper from his folder and handed it to Ingnoll, saying, "Your Excellency, the Admiralty in Berlin has sent an urgent telegram. ”

"A telegram from the Admiralty?" Ingnoll and Scheer turned their heads, and their eyes were full of astonishment and confusion. At this juncture, the Admiralty should be doing only to wait quietly, unless something serious happens. Ingnoll frowned and cast his gaze on the page in front of him; However, after a few moments, the expression on his face instantly stiffened, shocked, shocked, and suspicious...... All kinds of expressions changed suddenly, and the whole body was like iron poured into copper, as if petrified on the spot.

"Your Excellency, what happened?" The face of the person in front of the person on the side changed suddenly, and there was a tendency for a storm to come, and he couldn't help but ask a little nervously, "Could it be that because the Pomerania was damaged, His Majesty gave the order to withdraw the fleet?" ”

Scheer asked several times before Ingnoor's body seemed to turn around, he raised his arm slightly, handed the telegram to his heir, and said slowly: "It is the marshal's decree, and one of our support forces has sailed out of Wilhelmshaven. Now, instead of tangling with the British at the mouth of the Thames, we have another place to go. Speaking of this, Ingnoor's eyes flashed, and he suddenly raised his voice by an octave, and said loudly to the young officer standing at the door: "Order, the fleet withdraws from the sea area of the estuary, at a speed of 11, and sails due north." This time, I want to make it impossible for the British to avoid it, and no matter what, they can only choose a direct decisive battle with our German navy! ”

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"The Germans just withdrew?" After hanging up the call with the commander of the fleet of Harwich, Churchill in the Admiralty's study had a look of disbelief on his face. The Germans poured all their forces into the vicinity of the mouth of the Thames, clearly intending to take advantage of the division of the British Grand Fleet to fight to the death with their own home fleet; But now they just shelled some shore forts and cleared some mines, and then left the estuary without looking back, which was really incomprehensible to Churchill!

The pendulum goes back and forth, and the wall clock flutters lightly. As the hour hand turned, Churchill, sitting quietly on the sofa, smoked cigar after cigar, frowning and pondering, and smoked the whole room. Judging from the current lineup of the German Navy, the possibility of them withdrawing to the mainland is almost zero; The defeat of a battleship in a medium mine was not enough to curb the ambitions of the Prussians who hatched from the shells. But where exactly are their goals? Except for the mouth of the Thames, Churchill, who had carefully examined the map, could not find a more valuable target for German manpower to capture!

The moon is soft, and the lights are on. The streets of London were buzzing about the evacuation of the German fleet from Thames waters, and almost everyone in the British people had a look of excitement and joy on their faces. Churchill, however, was the opposite of them, fearful of an unknown future. The long street is deserted, and the moon is in the middle of the sky. Churchill, who had been thinking about it for nearly ten hours, could only temporarily give up his aimless pursuit on the huge map of Britain, and got up and walked into his resting room. Since the outbreak of war, Churchill has become accustomed to living in the Admiralty building: in addition to his anxiety over all kinds of tedious affairs, the siege of the building by the large number of protesters is also an extremely important reason.

On August 18, the German High Seas Fleet seemed to have evaporated from the world throughout the day. The east coast of England is a warm and peaceful air, and some daring merchants and fishermen have begun to sail to sea. Betty's fleet, which had once again been on overnight journey, was already approaching the Strait of Gibraltar, and was just over four days away from returning to Scapa Bay. Just as Churchill breathed a sigh of relief and wondered if the Germans had really called home, the red phone on his desk suddenly chimeled.

"What, the German fleet appeared off Fell Island and launched a landing operation in conjunction with the Army?" Churchill hung up, half angry, half confused, and began to look closely at the map of Britain. He was shocked that the German Navy was really thieves, and always wanted to take advantage of the incomplete lineup of the Grand Fleet to do something, but what he suspected was that he didn't know where this damn Fair Island was. While there are only a few large islands on mainland Britain, there are hundreds of smaller islands and reefs that it is almost impossible to remember! (To be continued......)

PS: Thank you for the monthly ticket support of ranky, hugetiger, "E" cool to the end, the puppeteer in black, claose and other book friends~~~ The author can only see these names on the interactive information, and the author also expressed his gratitude to the book friends who couldn't see the name~~~

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