Unable to obtain capital ships, Hipper retreated to the next best thing, requesting to provide the fast fleet with reconnaissance airships and aircraft in order to be able to enhance reconnaissance capabilities. After all, if you use 4 warships against the opponent's 8 warships, how to look at it is unreliable. Therefore, before Scheer can change his attention, Hipper must ensure his own safety by strengthening reconnaissance methods.

However, after a few cruises, Hipper discovered some problems, that is, the speed of the two fast battleships von der Tannen and Moltke, which had been commissioned very early, was worrying. Although the imitations of these two Longtai-class fast battleships are more advanced than Longtai, they can't withstand the baptism of time, and the maximum speed is now at most more than 24 knots, which is lower than the British Invincible-class battlecruisers of the same period. The maximum speed of the entire fleet will be locked at about 24 knots, and if it is bitten, I am afraid it will be more difficult to break away. After all, as long as you fight, you will be hit, and one of the results after hitting is that the hull is broken, and a lot of water will enter and cause a slowdown.

"Before Admiral Scheer allocates new warships to us, our patrol plan should be as conservative as possible, especially when the British battle cruiser fleet is found in the southern part of the North Sea, now is not the time for a decisive battle, we must be careful." Hipper wrote in his diary.

At the same time, his opponent, Vice Admiral Betty, was considering a plan to completely block the German fleet in the Helgoland Bay, and Betty, who was full of good cards, dreamed of completely defeating the German fast fleet in a decisive battle. If it had not been for the intelligence that Scheer had led the main fleet into Wilhelmshaven, I am afraid that Betty's battle cruiser formation would have cruised exactly according to the original route of Harwich's fleet. And now. Betty will command the fleet to retreat some distance and continue to maintain the suppression of the German fleet.

However, although Betty is bold, she is still not a reckless person. In order to prevent a repeat of the mistakes of Harwich's fleet, Betty hid his battle cruiser fleet behind, and it was still the light cruiser formation that rushed to the front line, and this time Betty also kept an eye on it, and let a destroyer formation spread out in a large arc behind the side of his fleet. Prevent your own back road from being copied. From this point of view, no matter where the German fleet appears from, it will get at least an hour or so of warning time for itself.

Betty carefully used each of the ships assigned to her. He extended the reconnaissance range as much as possible. In order to do their best to search for prey and avoid threats. But at this time, he felt that it was still a little insufficient, and it was not only the Japanese Navy on that plane, but also any country. Any capable, empowered, and ambitious general will have some awkward trouble with the above. These awkwardness can be big or small. At this time, as the patrol was launched, the German surface ship formation did not go further into the North Sea, at least the main fleet had not yet appeared, and Betty's evaluation of the German Navy returned to the far point.

"The Germans like to use their precious fleet only when they have absolute superiority, but unfortunately such opportunities are very rare. In the face of a formidable formation of British battlecruisers, Hipper's 4 fast battleships looked so unbearable. The number two man in the German Navy was not as powerful as Count Spee. In my opinion, the battle in the Gulf of Helgoland was actually an accident. "In the course of a cruise. Betty wrote in her journal.

At the same time, Rear Admiral Thomas, who was rushing to the Indian Ocean on the armored cruiser Defense, was planning his first naval battle, unlike Betty, Rear Admiral Thomas had little study of strategy, and he would not think from the perspective of the entire British Navy like Betty, Betty was very strong and decisive in the British Navy, and it was because of this spirit that he was appreciated by some nobles. So Betty could command the entire Grand Fleet's battlecruisers. A full 8 capital ships. Even so, Betty wanted more power, and his reports often put forward radical points from Jericho's side. This made Jericho very unhappy. Thomas is different, he generally does not think about how to get more power and more fleets, but only how to use the fleet in his hands to fight a beautiful war!

Some people may say that Thomas was unambitious, didn't Napoleon say that a soldier who does not want to be a marshal is not a good soldier. Some people even believe that the decent and even somewhat old-fashioned Thomas can get to where he is today entirely because of Jericho's care. But in fact, people who know Thomas will applaud his careful planning and accurate calculations, not to mention that if Thomas is really a mediocre person, Jericho will not hand over the matter of the Bold to him for planning, although it is said that the last Bold is unexpectedly lost, but in other aspects Thomas really did the last resort! Didn't cause any trouble for myself or the other participants.

What Thomas really excels at is the thorough analysis of the experience of previous naval battles from a technical and tactical point of view, and then incorporating them into the planning of the next battle. After a comprehensive analysis of the situation in the battle at the port of Karachi, Thomas found a very serious problem, that is, Thomas found that at a relatively close distance, such as a distance of 10KM, the armor-piercing shells fired by the British's 14-inch guns still could not penetrate the main armor of the Scharnhorst-type fast battleships! Its biggest effect is to break the surface of a steel plate, and then displace a piece of armor under the action of a huge impact force, and after hundreds of tons of water, there is no other effect. This worries Thomas about the prospect of future engagements, because if you can't destroy the opponent's armor by penetrating it, you can only destroy the opponent with a high-explosive projectile with a very high projection, but the two sides have the same projection, and the opponent is a capital ship with a displacement of up to 26,000 tons, which is really difficult.

And then Thomas analyzed the British Navy's loss report, and his already somewhat ugly face increased a little, because according to this report, Thomas found that the quality of German armor-piercing shells seemed to be much better than that of the British. FIRST OF ALL, AT A DISTANCE OF 10 KILOMETERS, THE GERMAN 350MM MAIN GUN COULD EASILY PENETRATE THE LONDON'S 9-INCH MAIN ARMOR AND THE 3-INCH THICK DOME ARMOR BEHIND IT. In this case, the Germans would have worn at least 12 inches deep at this distance. Don't forget that the dome armor in the back is a large-angle dome armor, and the thickness is enough to resist large fragments, and the shell must be intact after passing through the 9-inch main load, otherwise it will not penetrate the dome armor that is up to 3 inches thick and the back plate behind the dome armor.

Another example shows that a Turkish shell entered directly from the level of the hull, penetrated three decks in a row and then directly penetrated the core cabin, which shows that the Minotaur's defense against shells hitting horizontal armor can only be called a layer of paper. BUT THOMAS KNOWS VERY WELL THAT THE MAIN HORIZONTAL ARMOR OF THE MINOTAUR IS 40MM THICK, PLUS THE FIRST FEW LAYERS OF DECKS, THIS THICKNESS IS NOT LOW, ALTHOUGH THE OTHER DECKS ARE STRUCTURAL STEEL, AND THE HORIZONTAL PROTECTION CAN NOT BE DIRECTLY SUPERIMPOSED, BUT THIS ALSO REFLECTS THE POWER OF GERMAN SHELLS FROM ONE SIDE, AND THE BRITISH SUPER DREADNOUGHT EQUIPPED WITH 343MM GUNS HAS A GREAT POSSIBILITY OF BEING PENETRATED IN THE FACE OF THE ATTACK OF GERMAN 14-INCH GUNS, WHETHER IT IS VERTICAL PROTECTION OR HORIZONTAL PROTECTION.

Although the Bold incident came out, the British carried out it for a short time in the first time, and the side chord armor was also strengthened, at least in terms of height, but in the transition zone between the main and the top, there is an area with a thickness of about 10 inches, and even if it is hit on the main load, it is difficult to say whether the 50MM dome armor behind can play the most difficult blocking role, compared to the London, although the British super dreadnought has increased the thickness of the main load, but the angle and thickness of the dome armor behind it is not satisfactory. After all, it's a temporary modification, and it's enough to add your main armor to 12 inches.

HOWEVER, THE ONLY RELIEF TO THOMAS WAS THAT IT SEEMED THAT EVEN SO, THE GERMANS' MAIN GUNS WERE STILL UNABLE TO PENETRATE THE MAIN ARMOR OF THE AUSTRALIA, AND THE 320MM THICK HIGH-INCLINATION ARMOR WAS FAR MORE EFFECTIVE THAN THE 14-INCH VERTICAL ARMOR. AGAINST THE ATTACK OF 10KM OF THE OPPONENT'S 350MM CANNON IS COMPLETELY FINE, AS FOR THE TURRET? THE FRONT OF THE TURRET UP TO 400+MM DIRECTLY GAVE THE 14-INCH GUN NO IDEA. Although the horizontal armor position is a little lower, it is still possible to block horizontal shells with a thickness of nearly 100 millimeters.

"I wonder if Dou Betty's fleet will be beaten into a colander by the German war patrols." Thomas said with some concern as he looked at the Mediterranean Sea at night. Betty's fleet armor is not more than 10 inches thick, and this thickness of protection will be easily penetrated by 350MM naval guns at a distance of 14,000 yards, although Thomas and Betty do not have a good relationship, and can even be regarded as competitors, but at this time Thomas still hopes that Betty will pay close attention to his report. And just as Thomas was thinking about it, several vague figures appeared behind the side of the conning tower, making Thomas feel a little uneasy.

"Let the cruiser Lin Xian send a signal to ask. The Defenses are under fire control. Thomas thought for a moment and ordered. If a night battle breaks out, almost whoever turns on the lights will be the target. Everyone is blind, who will you fight if you don't hit you? In World War 2 in history, the American fleet generally turned on the lights of light warships, while the Japanese liked to turn on the lights of capital ships, and as a result, in the battle of Iron Bottom Bay, the Hiei was turned on first and then set on fire, and then it was hit into a torch and then was heavily damaged! In Thomas's view, this kind of thankless work should not be done by the capital ship, although the Royal Navy advocates attack and bravery, but Thomas does not want to lose a big thing.

Soon after the Lin Xian signaled, the opposing fleet replied decisively after a few minutes of silence: "We are the Italian fleet. Simply and bluntly told Thomas's identity. And this reply also alerted Thomas, who was thinking about the situation in the Indian Ocean! "I forgot that there are Italians! The Mediterranean is not calm right now! Looking at the fleet in the distance, Thomas felt that the Italians, who had never been seen as a threat by the British, might one day surprise the world!

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