May 20, 2758 (1917). Hankyung, Strategic Intelligence Office, Presidential Office......

A group of high-level officials led by Wen Desi gathered in this hall full of science fiction, gathered around the laser holographic map, and listened to the introduction of Xin Jie, the chief of the general staff.

“...... Comrades, this is the latest state of affairs in Europe at the moment. Singer adjusted the map to the British Isles: "At present, the German army has completely occupied Greater London, Bristol, Southampton, Poole and other places. The part south of the 52nd parallel north latitude of the British Isles, and the part east of Cheltenham, was mostly occupied by the Germans......"

Wen Desi pointed to the lower left corner of the still yellow British Island and said, "This Cornish Peninsula hasn't been lost yet, has it?"

Xin Jie replied: "Yes, there are still about 2 divisions of British troops defending in Wellington, but it is estimated that they will not last long. If the Germans occupied the Cornish Peninsula, then they had complete control of the northern part of the English Channel, so that their ships could safely enter and exit between the Atlantic and the North Sea. The Germans were well aware of this, so after they occupied the London region, they began to shift their forces to the southwest of Britain, and if the British could not reinforce the Wellington Line, they would probably hold out for less than half a month. ”

"The situation in Ireland is not optimistic, and they have all shrunk to Northern Ireland...... "Zhang Lizheng said as he looked at the map.

On March 5 this year, with the instigation and support of Germany, a major uprising broke out again in Ireland. On April 24 last year, the Easter Rising broke out in Ireland, this time also planned by Germany, and the Irish side even decided to welcome William II's youngest son Joachim as king after the uprising succeeded. However, at that time, because Germany was busy with the war, it only provided these rebels with a boatload of munitions, and did not provide other help.

Tens of thousands of British troops were sent to suppress them, and two divisions of British troops surrounded Dublin city center and shelled areas occupied by the rebels. The farce-like uprising was suppressed a few days later. In early May, more than a dozen leaders of the uprising were tried and executed by British military tribunals. At first, Irish public opinion was not very supportive of the uprising, but the brutal repression by the British changed the trend of public opinion and aroused the patriotism of the Irish people. So after that, the situation in Ireland remained unstable, pinning down at least eight divisions of the British army.

But this time the harmony was different, and the Germans took it personally. The Germans, who had completely annihilated the home fleet, could transport their troops to Ireland in a big way, but the British now had to look at the faces of the Germans by sea. On 4 March, two German infantry divisions landed in Dublin with the cooperation of the Irish, bringing with them large quantities of supplies and weapons.

The next day, the Irish revolted again. Some time ago, in order to resist Germany, Britain transferred five divisions of the British army, which was originally garrisoned in Ireland, to the British Isles. And the five divisions, still on their way back to Britain, were attacked by German submarines, and a third of them were fed fish. The remaining three divisions were not the main force, and the combat effectiveness was already average, coupled with the fall of the capital and the heavy losses of friendly forces, as well as the isolation of transportation, etc., the morale was very low.

The German and Irish rebels defeated the British on 6 March, annihilating one and a half divisions of the opposing side, and soon swept across the island. Now the remaining British division and a half division and British expatriates have shrunk to the Belfast area to support themselves, and the situation is very dangerous.

The hatred between the Irish and the British is really higher than the sky, deeper than the sea, not to mention last year's Easter uprising, half a century ago the Great Famine in Ireland, due to the fall of the British, but the population of Ireland was reduced by nearly half, such hatred is really poured out of the three rivers and difficult to wash away. So the anger of the Irish, instigated by the Germans, burned brightly, and the British, who did not have time to run to Belfast, were unlucky.

The angry Irish gave vent to their anger at these Englishmen, and I will not dwell on what would happen to the British, but according to later statistics, more than 150,000 Britons were killed in the uprising.

But in this way, Ireland also formed a mortal enmity with the British. Of course, on the other hand, it was these 4.2 million Irish who were firmly tied to the German chariot from then on, and as for what would happen in the future, I don't know, anyway, I can blow up the opium cow first.

"How long can the British in Belfast hold out?" asked Wendehe.

"It's hard to say, if you don't get support, you can probably hold out for half a month to a month. Xin Jie said.

Meng Shu, commander-in-chief of the Air Force, said: "Why haven't the Americans' reinforcements arrived yet? According to the time, they should have arrived in Britain a long time ago." ”

Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, Wang Tiehammer, explained: "Because the threat of German submarines is too great, now the American fleet does not take the Atlantic route directly, but takes the northern route, from Canada, Greenland, to Iceland." They are now in control of Iceland and are building on a large scale, and they are going to build Iceland as a base for advancement, and then attack from here. ”

"But now that Germany has control of the Shetland and Faroe Islands north of the island of Britain," Rossi said, "it will not be easy for the Americans to attack from here. Why didn't they go to France first, and then act together after joining forces with Britain, France, and Japan. ”

"I reckon that this is also intended to distract the Germans, and it is better to have two sortie bases than one. Xin Jie thought for a while and said: "I think that at the end of this month, the Americans will have to take action, otherwise the situation will be too passive." ”

"What is the morale of the British now, can they still hold on? Their shipping has been largely cut off. Wen Deji looked at the map and asked.

Zhang Lizheng said: "According to our ambassador to the UK, the morale of the people in the UK is quite good, and morale is quite high. As for the material problem, after all, the British have been the hegemon for many years, although the sea transportation is temporarily cut off, but there are still a lot of domestic reserves, and it should not be a big problem to support it for a year or two. Besides, the American fleet will move soon, and as long as a route is opened, it will be able to hang its life......"

Wen Desi looked at the situation between the two sides marked on the map again, and said thoughtfully: "Well, now it seems that the situation on the eastern and southern fronts is still deadlocked, and the French battlefield on the western front is similar, and the key is on the British side." It seems that the United States and Germany will fight a ...... here in the Faroe Islands"

Wang Tiehammer nodded: "Mr. Wen, this possibility is very high, and now the German Navy is also divided into two routes, one is in the English Channel to see the French and Japanese fleets, and the other is arranged in the Shetland Islands." And the Japanese fleet will definitely not take the initiative to attack, the French fleet is not strong enough and will not act alone, and now only the United States can not sit still. ”

The United States is worthy of being a local tyrant, and after the declaration of war, their navy almost went out to escort a huge fleet of 10 integrated divisions to Europe. It's just that although the Yankees did a great job, they did not sail directly to the British and French mainland, which were in urgent need of assistance, but ran along the northern route to Iceland to live.

Construction is currently underway on the island, and according to their plan, it is called steady and steady. However, the Yankees can afford to wait, and the British really can't afford to delay, and they send several telegrams a day.

Some people may ask, isn't this Iceland the territory of neutral Denmark? Well, that's true, but what does it matter to the big hooligans? What's yours is mine, so what's the matter if you borrow it for a few days? If you're not convinced, you're going to beat me. In addition to shouting a few words, Denmark is not helpless. Anyway, the Faroe Islands were also "borrowed" by Erdezi, and now it is nothing to "borrow" Iceland to the Yankees, and it is used to borrowing and borrowing.

"The British were even more ruthless, and they blew up most of the shipyards and factories before London and Portsmouth fell. Even two Nelson-class battleships that were still under construction were blown up. Wang Tiehammer said with some regret.

"Well, then they still have 4 Nelson-class battleships under construction in several shipyards in the north, and the Hood-class is almost finished......" Wen Deji thought for a while, and said helplessly: "Since the United States entered the war, there has now been another shipbuilding upsurge in the world. ”

"I'm going to stop building battleships from next year, it's too expensive. Now we have quite a few battleships, plus the four Yue Fei-class ones that started construction this month, we already have twenty super dreadnought battleships, which should be enough for us. Next, let's go all out to build aircraft carriers......" He looked at Wang Tiehammer and said, "How about it, there is no problem with the navy, right?"

"Well, Mr. Wen, although aircraft carriers represent the future, battleships are still indispensable at this stage. In particular, the battleship is no longer a simple weapon, and it has a huge effect on the morale of the people. There is also the general view in the world today that a strong country will not be recognized if it does not have a sufficient number and quality of battleships corresponding to its national strength......"

"Well, what you said is also true, and the current atmosphere is really bad. Everyone likes giant ship cannons......" Wen Deji smiled bitterly: "So, how many more battleships do you think we need?"

Wang Tiezhu cautiously replied: "Mr. Wen, this still needs to look at the situation of other countries to determine, at least we can't be much less than them." Next year we can only start construction of two or one battleship, and the rest of the forces will be used to build aircraft carriers......"

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Before the United States declared war on Germany on April 2, it mobilized the main forces of the Pacific Fleet to the Atlantic. Immediately after the declaration of war, the two-ocean task force was formed, forming a huge fleet of twenty-two battleships, two Raider-class regular aircraft carriers, four Tennessee-class armored cruisers, thirty-three protective cruisers and light cruisers, one hundred and sixteen destroyers, seventy-two large and medium-sized submarines, and dozens of auxiliary ships.

In addition, the United States has deployed as many as 700 gunboats, coastal defense ships, torpedo boats, and small submarines on the east coast.

And that's not all, before the declaration of war, the United States started construction of six South Dakota-class super-dreadnoughts, two Lexington-class battle cruisers, two Raider-class aircraft carriers, 20 cruisers, 60 destroyers, and more than 40 submarines at the same time last year. This crazy shipbuilding plan fully demonstrates the great strength of the earth's number one industrial power.

After the Battle of Jutland, the U.S. Navy discovered that the battle cruiser was really a very vulnerable thing, so they decided to continue to unswervingly follow the correct path of the "iron tortoise". Not to mention the follow-up plans for the battle cruisers, the two Lexington-class ships under construction were also converted into aircraft carriers.

This year, after declaring war on Germany, the United States announced that it would start construction of six North Carolina-class super-dreadnought battleships, two Yorktown-class aircraft carriers, and hundreds of cruisers and destroyers.

To be honest, as soon as the United States' shipbuilding plan for the past two years was announced, it scared all countries. Although Britain was able to build nine battleships at its peak, there were definitely not so many other ships. Now that the United States has formally joined the Entente, it is certain that the Allies will not be able to sleep, but Britain and France, both Entente Powers, especially Britain, which considers itself the hegemon of the world, have also developed great fears against the United States. In the eyes of Opium Niu, once this Yankee cousin exerts his strength, he is much more terrible than Erdezi.

In response, the Germans announced plans to build five more Bismarck-class ships after the United States declared war, after starting construction of five Bismarck-class ships last year. Not to be outdone, Opium Cow announced that it would increase the number of their family's latest royal registry-class ships to seven. France also announced the start of construction of two Dunkirk-class ships this year. Even Japan has announced plans to start construction of two Kaga-class battleships and the aircraft carrier Ryuchun.

Under this tide of warships sweeping the world, the news that China announced on April 16 that it would start construction of four Yuefei-class super-dreadnought battleships this year is not very remarkable. Compared with several other big hooligans, China's battleships were started relatively little, but they also started construction of four Shanghai-class aircraft carriers at the same time.

So far, China started construction in 1914 with two Xia-class aircraft carriers (Zhou Dynasty and Qin Dynasty) and two Sun-Wu-class battleships (Sun Bin and Wu Qi) also commissioned in April, China's capital ships increased to fifteen (8 Fuxi-class, 4 Sunwu-class, 2 Qinling-class, 1 Hanoi-class), and the number of aircraft carriers increased to five (1 Yuchao-class, 4 Xia-class). In addition, 4 Sun Wu battleships and 4 Han Dynasty-class aircraft carriers are under construction.

It was not that the British did not want to build more capital ships, but that they were temporarily incapable, because Portsmouth, an important shipbuilding town and an important naval base, finally could not resist the steel torrent of the Germans after holding out for more than three months, and fell on March 23. Coupled with London, they have now lost two shipbuilding centers, and now they can still start construction of seven, which is already quite difficult.