On 4 August, Jericho, who was gathering information aboard the Trafalgar, received a top-secret order from the Admiralty in London. According to the telegram, the senior admirals of Italy, Austria-Hungary and Turkey had met at the military port of Taranto to discuss the formation of a joint fleet. The Italians began to carry out pre-sortie maintenance and maintenance work for their warships, and large quantities of coal, shells, fresh water, food, and other supplies began to assemble in Taranto. According to the various information gathered by the Intelligence Bureau on these lovely Italians, the British Admiralty made an important judgment: it is expected that within ten days to half a month, Austria, Italy and Turkey will inevitably use their dreadnought superiority to stir up a new war in the Mediterranean!

In response to this, Marshal Fisher, First Sea Lord, agreed to Admiral Winston Churchill's plan: the British Navy would secretly send a strong force to the Mediterranean to work with the French Navy to destroy the Allied fleet that dared to take the initiative. And in order to have a lethal effect, the Strait Fleet commanded by Carden, which is mainly composed of former dreadnoughts, will no longer be taken into account; Sending the main forces of the native fleet to the Mediterranean would be the only way to implement this plan.

Sure enough, at the end of this telegram, Churchill had carefully selected a lineup for his action.

Although the faster battle cruiser was more suitable for this cavalry-style thousand-mile rush; However, in the case of frequent attacks by German battle patrol formations on the east coast of Britain, British battle patrols had to stand in front of the Germans. Because compared with the British Grand Fleet, which had been living in seclusion for a long time, the appearance rate of the British Rapid Fleet in front of the Germans was obviously much higher; If the Germans had noticed an unusual reduction in the British battle cruisers, they would most likely have realized that the British main fleet was already in a state of absence. And once the German Navy gathers all its forces and goes to sea for a decisive battle. This is obviously a tricky situation that the British Navy absolutely does not want to see!

Therefore. Churchill decided not to use the "perfect cat", Fisher's heart. Instead, he dug into the corner of Jericho's wall and laid a black hand in the Grand Fleet. The two most elite battleship detachments of the Grand Fleet, consisting of 4 George V class and 4 Orion class, were selected by Churchill to undertake the task of moving thousands of miles to the Mediterranean.

For this bold adventure of Churchill, Jericho, as the commander of the Grand Fleet, was naturally a hundred unwilling. Because when Betty takes these two battleship detachments away, the capital ship lineup of the Grand Fleet will drop sharply to 17 ships; In the face of the main force of the German High Seas Fleet, which had 19 pure battleships alone, the Grand Fleet would not have any confidence to fight with them. However, Jericho was not a purely military commander who only cared about his own situation. He was keenly aware of the Mediterranean's nature as a haunting maritime lifeline and an African colony. Similarly, Britain, an island nation, must not allow the loss of its core location, and it must not sit idly by and watch the Allies stir up trouble in it. And Fisher will eventually nod in agreement with Churchill's strategy, which is precisely why he saw this!

To be sure, Jericho, deep down, even felt that Churchill's on-the-spot adaptation was a stroke of genius. Compared with Germany, which has reached the peak of its military might, its members of the satellite states are obviously the weakness of this war group; If Britain can successfully avoid the real and slam its own punch at these miscellaneous fish, then the entire current war situation will be greatly improved, and even the confidence of all 250 million Allied soldiers and civilians can be condensed in victory. With this in mind, Jericho, who has always taken strengthening the strength of the Grand Fleet as his highest task. This time, he calmly accepted Churchill's filing of his military power, and only proposed to replace the George V class with the Giant class, which started two years earlier. Not even the number was disputed. However, Jellico has a lingering worry in his heart, that is, the commander of this task is none other than Betty.

In the eyes of ordinary British people, the 42-year-old Betty is undoubtedly the Nelson of the new era of the Royal Navy. In the past 20 years of service, Betty has imprinted his image of his vigorous, energetic and high-spirited in the hearts of every Royal Navy officer and British citizen. With the outbreak of the Great War, the commander of the Grand Fleet, Jericho, was second only to the condemnation and accusation of the British public to the Admiral Churchill because of his "cowardly and cowardly inaction"; The British nationals, who desperately longed for a second Trafalgar, demanded that Betty, a "god-given general", replace Jericho as the commander-in-chief of the home fleet. However, both Fisher and Jericho are well aware that this brave and talented young general with excellent military skills has a rather fatal weakness, that is, his impulsive personality and the daring actions that may lead to him on the battlefield.

"The more boats he is given, the more daring he becomes." This is the most pertinent assessment that Jericho made to this colleague's subordinate after he succeeded to the command of the Grand Fleet. Betty's aggressive and aggressive personality is undoubtedly a double-edged sword for the fleet; The Royal Navy could have won a major victory with its superb tactical command, or it could have fallen into a catastrophic situation of losing troops and losses because of its bloody and daring adventures. As for Jerichaw, who is "the only one on both sides of the war who can lose the entire war in one afternoon", in the face of the current German High Seas Fleet, whose strength has expanded unprecedentedly, the Grand Fleet must be careful everywhere and walk on thin ice!

Therefore, with Betty's character, it is obviously not suitable to serve as the core commander of the main fleet of the Royal Navy at this point in time. However, his outstanding professional command ability could not be replaced by another person in the British Navy. In view of this, Jericho could only obey Churchill's wishes, and fearfully let Betty command the fast fleet second only to him, and always restrain the bull's behavior. In the Battle of Helgoland Bay that broke out in early June, the reason why Jelliko only let Betty lead 3 battle cruisers as backup support was because he was worried that too many warships would be given to him, and he would make some irreparable losses because of his confidence!

Churchill, however, did not see this shortcoming in Betty. The noble-born, equally young and vigorous Admiralt, trusted the young and promising Betty as the most trustworthy and trustworthy person in the Royal Navy. In order to win in this operation that broke into the Mediterranean, Churchill deliberately ordered his beloved general David ? Betty came to take command, and for this reason, Betty did not hesitate to swap positions with Levison, the commander of the 2nd Battleship Detachment. Jericho was worried about this decision. This time, Betty had 8 Dreadnoughts in his hands, and in some sense, his overall strength had surpassed the 9 Battlecruisers he had commanded before. However, for the same reason, whether it was the commander of the 4th Battleship Squadron, Sterdy, the former commander of the 1st Battlecruiser, Berry, or the deputy commander of the 1st Battlefleet, Evan? Thomas, who is either more grumpy than Betty, or far less independent and resolute than Betty, has no qualifications and conditions to replace Betty at the helm of the fleet!

The breeze whispers and the pendulum flutters. After a short time, the complicated look in Jericho's eyes gradually faded, and he returned to the calm and clarity of the beginning. As one of the best generals in history who could make decisions about Britain's fate in 20 seconds, Jericho clearly didn't hide his indecisive worries. Now that the matter is a foregone conclusion, he can only accept it calmly and take a measure to ensure the victory of this operation. What's more, from another point of view, Betty's chances of victory are far greater than his defeat in the Mediterranean. The 8 Super Dreadnoughts in his hands alone were enough to defeat all the capital ships of the Allied Combined Fleet; Coupled with the 6 Danton-class ships of France and a large number of auxiliary ships, the outcome of the decisive battle has lost its suspense.

"After you leave, General Levison will go on the Lion Patrol and lead all 9 Battlecruisers out to sea for a routine combat patrol to cause you David? Betty's reconnaissance fleet, and all the capital ships of the home fleet, remained as if they had been in England. With a hint of weariness, Jericho finally said to Betty, "There's only so much I can do for you." Don't let all of Britain down! ”

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The stars are twinkling and the moon is high. The roar of the boiler fire broke the silence in Scapa Bay and echoed far away. Pitch-black soot puffed out of the chimney, hidden in the same dark night, but a pungent smell gradually appeared in the air. Due to the technical limitations of water-tube boilers in this era, battleship boilers usually needed to be heated for 2 to 3 hours before they could produce enough superheated steam for the turbines. Until then, these elegant and terrifying sea monsters will honestly stay in their berths.

On the battleship Orion with a standard displacement of 22,200 tons, Betty gently rubbed the contact code placed at the head of the bed in the command room, and her heart was turbulent and full of ambition. Although the ships he commanded this time were no longer the fast combat patrols he was familiar with, these pillars of the country that really supported Britain's world sea power were as heavy and majestic as the Roman heavy infantry back then, and people could inexplicably feel trust in them. Whether it is the main armor with a maximum thickness of 300 mm or the five twin 343 mm L45 heavy guns, the Orion class has a steady and solid pace of 21 knots, in exchange for the protection and firepower of the Lion class, which is 4,000 tons larger, is far from matching. The 19,700-ton Giant class is only one less main turret than the Orion class, and other performances are on par with it; Betty seems to have seen that victory and honor are already waiting for her in the future! (To be continued......)

PS: Thank you for the support of Neilkuo and the second copy of the monthly pass~~