"Dear Admiral Tycho, I have to regret to inform Your Excellency that, given the defeat of the High Seas Fleet in a recent naval battle, and the loss of the High Seas Fleet in a short period of time, the ability to contain the British Grand Fleet is very likely, in the foreseeable future, the British Fleet will send two or even three battleship detachments to the Mediterranean to help their allies, and this may include both the mighty Queen Elizabeth-class battleships. For this reason, I hope that your Excellency, when commanding the fleet, will pay close attention to the surrounding shapes. Avoid getting caught up in the full set of the British. ”

"I here, however, assure you that the High Seas Fleet will do its utmost to restore its own combat effectiveness and return to its duty of containing the British Navy. 4 powerful Bismarck-class battleships are about to enter service, and we will soon have ships that can match the Queen Elizabeth-class battleships! On final consideration, Schell added to his letter to Tycho the following sentence, though he was not sure when the German navy would return to its heyday.

Is it true that the German Navy cannot afford the loss of two super-dreadnoughts? Apparently this was not the case, although the Germans were not as tyrants as the British, but the loss of two capital ships was far more than the backbone of the High Seas Fleet. It's all about time and supplies! The German High Seas Fleet did not lack warships, what it lacked was time and supplies to restore its combat effectiveness! The 4 Caesar-class battleships were just repaired and returned to the shipyard by Thomas.

The German High Seas Fleet needed to rebuild 6 dreadnoughts and upgrade them from dreadnoughts to super-dreadnoughts. It takes a lot of resources and labor. Although the 4 Bismarck-class battleships have been completed, they still need to be invested! Plus 4 Caesar-class maintenance. For the first time, the German Navy found that the supplies and labor they had prepared were suddenly insufficient! Successive combat attrition and large-scale renovation programs pushed the already strained German shipbuilding industry to its limits. Do not forget, there are two more newly started Bismarck-class battleships under construction! This is a project that requires tens of thousands of tons of steel and a lot of manpower.

After learning of Hipper's defeat, Scheer called the logistics department almost three times a day to ask when these valuable warships would be back in battle. But there will always be only one reply waiting for him, and it will not be possible to complete the improvement of 4 Bismarck-class battleships, all battle-wounded battleships and dreadnoughts without 4 months. That is, it is impossible for the German fleet to return to its full heyday in 4 months.

At the naval conference, some officers suggested that the German Navy could be put into new battles as soon as the four Bismarck-class battleships were completed. After all, after the division of the British forces, their naval power would not have surpassed the Germans by much. At first glance it looks like it is. Even if all 5 R-class battleships were in service, the British would have only 28 capital ships, and after sending 2 battleship detachments to the Mediterranean. There are only 20 left. Even if the 6 Dreadnoughts were not revised, the Germans had 20 capital ships, 4 of which were 15-inch gun battleships. It doesn't matter if you fight hard.

However, there is one thing not to forget. At the time of the North Sea against the British. The German Navy should always keep an eye on its own backyard! The appearance of the Essen fleet on the doorstep of the Germans is really unbearable! In order to prevent this fleet from making trouble on its own doorstep, the German Navy had to draw at least 4 capital ships, so that it was only a balance of power, and with the completion of the remaining Russian warships, there were no two super dreadnought detachments that could not hold the field at all. Here, of course, the Germans overestimated the efficiency of the Russians, but the risks hidden in this made the Germans not dare to mobilize all the main forces to the North Sea! After removing two super dreadnought fleets. What is left of the German Navy?

The Russians did not need to fight hard with the Germans, they just had to hang around the Germans from time to time under the protection of submarines and destroyers. There are airships in the sky, destroyers on the sea, submarines under the water, and minefields behind! You can't go if the weather is bad. If you're depressed, you can't go, but just like that, does Scheer dare to concentrate the main forces in the North Sea? True, minefields can protect the harbor, but the cooperation of the fleet is also required. And now it's different, the German Army is advancing along the coast of the Baltic Sea, and it is definitely more convenient to replenish by sea than by land, and you can't leave the German Army transport ships alone, right? Of course, if you expect the German Army to hit Riga to solve the threat of the Russian Navy, it is also impossible, just relying on those 14-inch heavy guns of the Russian Navy, it is enough to beat the German Army to the north! No matter how fierce the army is, it can't go head-to-head with the naval artillery!

As a result, after some deduction, it was found that even if the German Navy was restored to its full strength, as long as it could not get rid of the embarrassing situation of fighting on two fronts, it would be impossible for the High Seas Fleet to do anything. The result of the division of the fleet into two groups was that the North Sea direction was crushed by the British, and the Baltic direction was only self-preservation. Of course, it's okay to take the initiative, but Essen doesn't have the intention of fighting with you at all, I'll go back if you come out, what's the matter? As for a German detachment, still want to try the triple defense of Russian mine arrays plus shore guns and battleships?

While the Germans were depressed by the tragic situation, the Allied Mediterranean Fleet in Taranto was also studying the next countermeasures, Admiral Tycho, the commander of the Italian naval fleet, Vice Admiral Spee of the Indian Ocean Detachment of the German High Seas Fleet, and Vice Admiral Jordi, the commander of the Austro-Hungarian Navy, and in addition, there was a person who would never have been expected by the Entente to participate in this meeting, he was Admiral Lin Yongsheng, commander of the Southeast Asian Fleet of the Chinese Navy. He came to the Mediterranean with the battleship Longxiang, nominally to visit and study, but in fact, he and his Chinese naval officers and men will participate in this battle, the reason is very simple, Xu Jie thinks that the maritime superiority of the Entente is still a little bigger, if the Allies can't make a little more money, once the United States joins, then the Allies will have nothing to play at all!

First of all, everyone here took stock of their belongings, and the Italians once again played the role of the local tyrants of the Mediterranean, 4 Caraccino-class super-dreadnoughts and 3 Cavour-class dreadnoughts, plus the battleship Caesar the Great (Longxiang) that had just been bought. The Italians had 8 capital ships, then the Germans, Count Spee with 4 Huaxia takeaway super dreadnoughts, and finally the sad Austrians, although they worked overtime to complete the third super dreadnought, but the total number was still only 3, ranking last, from the perspective of fleet composition, the Allied Navy actually had 15 capital ships! 12 of them are super dreadnought! This scale is also quite terrifying!

Then, the four bigwigs sitting there began to evaluate each other's strength, and the French still had 3 super dreadnoughts and 1 dreadnought left. (During this time, the French completed the 4th ship of the Brestani-class.) Betty commanded the former British Empire's Indian Ocean Fleet, 4 overseas consular super-dreadnoughts. That's 8 warships. After reading Fisher's telegram again, everyone learned that in the future, the German High Seas Fleet would not have the strength to contain the British, and the British were likely to send about 8 to 12 capital ships to the Mediterranean, so as to open up the entire Mediterranean and cooperate with the army to retake North Africa.

Can the Allied fleet not attack? Theoretically, it is possible, after all, with the protection of mines and submarines, coupled with the strong strength of up to 15 capital ships, even if the Entente fleet forcibly attacked, it is estimated that the result will be disgraced. But the Allied Army can't do it, well, to be precise, the three armies of Italy, Austria-Hungary and Turkey stationed in North Africa are tragic compared to the British and French armies, if the Entente transport ships are allowed to transport troops to North Africa, then it is only a matter of time before the French soldiers from Algiers defeat the Allied African Korps, and then they will occupy the Italian colony and even rush directly to Alexandria to regain control of the Suez Canal! The result is terrible.

Taking control of the Suez Canal meant the closure of the sea lanes that the Allied fleet had worked so hard to open. Although the Persian Gulf can still unload some cargo, the quantity is too small. And the distance is also a bit far, plus the Baghdad railway is not very high. This is simply terrible for the Allies. Thus, the end result was that the Allied Mediterranean Fleet had to pay for their miserable land. Submarines are one way to cut off the Absolute Strait from the sea, but it is still inefficient, and the best and most direct way is to defeat the Entente Mediterranean Fleet and re-seal the sea lane.

"If the British had come with 2 battleship detachments and no Queen Elizabeth-class battleships, then the two sides would at least be evenly matched, and a decisive battle could be held to determine the winner. The French and Betty would not have taken the initiative until the arrival of the British support fleet, and it was unlikely that they would intercept it at sea, and the French had also deployed a large number of minefields in the waters near them, and it was dangerous for the capital ships to enter rashly. But we still need to monitor it, if the other side comes to 2 detachments, we still have to fight, but if there are 3 detachments, or one of the detachments is a Queen Elizabeth-class battleship, then we will be at a disadvantage, the possibility of victory in the battle is very slim, our battlefield in the Mediterranean is narrower than the North Sea, there is almost no possibility of maneuvering, and it is a decisive battle when it comes out! Tycho concluded.

"It is almost impossible for three detachments, and even if they could put together such a fleet, it would not be possible to be permanent in the Mediterranean, and although the British had 10 formidable Queen Elizabeth-class battleships and R-class battleships, they also had a certain number of dreadnoughts in their fleet. Three detachments were almost equivalent to draining the entire elite of the British Grand Fleet. Lieutenant General Spee thought for a moment and said.

"But this possibility cannot be ruled out, after all, for a long time, the German fleet will not be able to form an effective containment of the British, after all, there are still Russians in the Baltic. The German fleet was likewise unable to fight the Grand Fleet with all its might. Tycho said worriedly.

"We can't stop the British from moving troops, but we have to let the British know that their North Sea is not safe, and at the same time, we have to show our German allies their strength, so that the British will be wary of the moves, and the Entente's power in the Mediterranean will be within what we can bear." Half a sound, Lin Yongsheng, who had not spoken, said.

Thanks to the book friend zhouyu1976 for the tip~~~~. (To be continued......)