"God bless Great Britain!" When Churchill learned that the Navy had obtained the German High Seas Fleet codebook, the usually tough man danced with excitement like a child. With this codebook, it meant that the German High Seas Fleet had no secrets from Britain and France. The British were to get all the movements of the German fleet and could even choose a suitable place to set up an ambush after the Germans went to sea. Solve this sword of Damocles hanging from the neck of the British once and for all! Of course, since Betty taught the Germans a hard lesson last time, the German fast fleet should now be in the dockyard. I won't be going to sea for a while. In the same way, some of the ships of the British Empire are now in dockyards, but not for repair, but for outfitting. The British were in no hurry to attack, and they were competing with the Germans after waiting for the formidable Queen Elizabeth-class battleships to enter service.

At this time, the Germans were not aware of the loss of their codebook. After the defeat of the Hipper fleet, the British re-advanced the cordon by about 10 nautical miles, while the German fleet, without the support of capital ships, could only temporarily retreat. The British then began salvaging the contents of the Lune and obtained the code book. At this time, Scheer was still waiting for the Italian Navy to take the lead in opening the stalemate in the Mediterranean. At this time, the North Sea can be described as a war-free. Although the 4 King-class battleships have been completed, Scheer is not in a hurry to play his trump card at this time, and the two sides are relatively calm in the North Sea, but the battle between them in the Mediterranean Sea is on the verge of breaking out.

For Italy, which suddenly rose up, both Britain and France looked at it with a skeptical attitude. They did not think that Italy would take the initiative to participate in the war without knowing the situation, but they should know that if it were about comprehensive strength. Italy can be said to be the second of the six European powers! Although Italy has a strong navy, this should not be a source of pride for Italians. Great powers such as Britain and France believed that it was the overall national strength that would determine the outcome of the war, rather than the strength of a certain branch of the armed forces. Could it be that the Italians are really out of the way?

Although the British obtained the code book of the German Navy, this thing is useless to the Italians, but people always have such a problem, when they get a good thing, they always want to rely on this thing to solve all problems, even if this thing does not have much to do with something! And this time the British and French intended to speculate on the movements of the Italians from the reaction of the German navy. After all, it is impossible for the Italians to act without knowing the German-Austrian side. Germany should and must be willing to cooperate with the actions of the Italians.

But people are not as good as heaven. The Italians, who have always given people a casual feeling, are actually rigorous this time! He actually got a new set of passwords to discuss the operation with the Germans. What surprised Britain and France even more was that this time it was the Italians who led the entire battle plan. This is not to say that the Germans were intimidated, but only that people had to bow their heads under the eaves. Naval battle in the Mediterranean, the Italians don't have to play if they don't pick on the Allies!

And in action. The Italians did move their fleet in the south, but it was said that before a major war, the fleet should be concentrated rather than dispersed, and the Italians did a bit of a big difference in the thinking of the British and French. So the problem now comes. Information or rumors about Italy's intention to join the Allied front. What should Britain and France do when they get to the ground? It's certainly not okay to leave it alone, but what if you do? Let the French Navy brazenly attack the Italian fleet? Let's not mention that the Italian navy is not much weaker than the French. And if Italy does not intend to start a fight, and as a result, it forces itself to the side of Germany and Austria, then the leaders of Britain and France should be ready to hit the wall!

A safer approach would be to let the French fleet withdraw from the eastern Mediterranean and return to the Toulon military port before considering its next move, but this would be the end of the month-long blockade and the Austro-Hungarian fleet would return to the Adriatic. And it's easy for the fleet to withdraw. But what about the supplies hoarded on the island of Malta? It was operated as a rear base for the entire blockade operation.

More importantly, if Italy is really with Germany and Austria. Even if the French fleet escaped, then what? It is also necessary to face the Ito-Austrian fleet, which has absolute superiority. The situation in the Mediterranean should worsen or worsen. The Eastern Mediterranean will become the back garden of the Allies. And the Egypt and Suez Canals, which were vital to the British Empire, would also fall into the hands of the Allies. And this is absolutely unbearable for the British!

Just imagine, what would happen if the Eastern Mediterranean was controlled by the Allies? A large number of Turkish troops and Italian troops will be transported to Egypt by sea, although the British have always looked down on the land forces of these two countries, but their main force is confronting the Germans on the Western Front, and the Egyptian defenders are just a lone army, after being cut off from the transportation line, defeat is only a matter of time, and when Egypt falls, the entire strategic situation will undergo major changes, Thomas's fleet will be blocked in distant India, All convoys sailing from the Far East and Oceania to Europe had to make detours to South Africa and the Atlantic to reach the UK.

If the Italians entered the Indian Ocean, it would mean that they would be able to join up with the combined German-Turkish fleet and then form an absolute superiority over Thomas's fleet. It can also sweep the entire Indian coast, and scatter the cotton and grain production bases of the British Empire and the largest labor export area, which is too great for the British losses, and even after cleaning up the British ports in the Indian Ocean and other places, they can also regroup and return to the Mediterranean, in the face of the navies of the four countries, the French fleet can only learn from the turtle, and shrink in Toulon and other military ports, if the ambitions of the Central Powers are greater, I am afraid that Gibraltar will not be able to stand it. A dozen battleships! The British can't transfer the Grand Fleet to fight their opponents to the death, right? I don't know who can win in the past half! By that time, the maritime superiority of the Entente would have completely collapsed!

So, after some research, the discussion between Britain and France on the Italian question changed from what to do to how to fight! Italy's time bomb is really terrifying, and with the Italian navy's more abnormal telegrams and actions, Britain and France and other countries have convinced the necessity of war, so now the question becomes how to fight with the Italian-Austrian navy, but the current situation is still favorable to Britain and France, the reason is very simple, the Italian fleet has not yet converged with the Austro-Hungarian fleet, and according to British and French estimates, even if the Italians want to start, it will not be possible to start fighting within 2 months, and the British and French fleets still have sufficient time to prepare.

To go to war with the Italians, it would certainly not work on the French navy alone, the British would have to transfer their fleet to the Mediterranean, and now the second question arises, who to transfer is a question. Betty's battlecruiser looked like a good choice. However, this plan was resisted by both Jericho and Betty, partly because Betty's fleet also suffered certain losses. Some of the warships are being repaired, and on the other hand, because if the Grand Fleet does not have a reconnaissance fleet, then Hipper will be rampant again. In addition to this superficial reason, Jericho has another reason why he can't get on the stage.

"I have doubts about the combat power of the Betty fleet, deep suspicions, that the battlecruisers are too vulnerable in the face of standard battleships. In the last engagement, Betty relied on numerical superiority to defeat the Hipper's fleet, which was also a fast battleship, and if it had run into the main battleships of the Italians, the situation might have been different! Jericho said this to his cronies in private.

Betty's fleet could not be sent out completely, even if the four most elite super dreadnoughts were transferred to the Mediterranean, the French dreadnought fleet would only become 12, and the Italian and Austro-Hungarian fleets would be 11. In the case of a small difference in quantity, Betty's three thin-skinned battle cruisers really don't have a quality advantage in the dead, and they are definitely the worst-protected battleships, if this fights, in Jericho's opinion, the situation is worrying! What if the capital ship is sent over? Jericho was also unwilling, and directly took away 4 super dreadnoughts? First of all, there is still a performance gap compared with the Italian battleships, and more importantly, it will seriously weaken the combat effectiveness of the home fleet, and now Jericho has 10 super dreadnought battleships in his hands, and 4 are gone at once, and I don't know when I will be able to come back, what if something happens? If you wait until the Queen Elizabeth class has a large number of service, you will be transferred, but at this juncture, Jericho does not want to have any accidents

At this time, the only overseas super-dreadnought fleet of the British Empire came into the sight of Jericho and others. That is, the four battleships commanded by Thomas are called "Overseas Lords"-class battleships (because the four ships such as the Australian class are all named after overseas colonies or dominions, so there is such a nickname within the Grand Fleet.) This fleet was used against the German-Turkish fleet cowering in the Persian Gulf, and now the other side does not seem to be doing anything, although India and the Far East are equally important, but compared to the mainland, it is still much less important than the mainland, and in terms of performance, Thomas's fleet is also elite enough, and even Betty said that he wants his ship to be Australia, not the current Tiger.

As a result, the great responsibility fell on Thomas's shoulders. Soon, a telegram was forwarded to Thomas. He was asked to prepare for Alexandria immediately, but the specific reasons and plans were not mentioned because of space constraints. Thomas looked at this somewhat inexplicable telegram and was a little crazy, didn't he say that he was going to stare at the Spee's fleet in the Indian Ocean? Why did you suddenly enter Egypt again? What if the German fleet came out at this time? And when Thomas sent his opinion to the Admiralty by telegram, it was Churchill who, in the name of the Admiralty, asked Thomas to carry it out immediately! There was no delay, so Thomas could only command the fleet to prepare for the departure from the port of Mumbai to Alexandria, Egypt.

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