Jun 16, 2024
Chapter 11 British counterattack (1)
"Gentlemen, I want to say that the Royal Navy is never afraid of challenges!"
In the face of aggressive neutral journalists, gentle John Jellicoe, the nominal commander-in-chief of the Royal Navy, handed the stage to the young David Betty, the chairman of the conference room of the naval headquarters, and talked with reporters from all over the world.
"According to the’ wartime emergency plan’, Britain will build three new battleships, which can be predicted to be stronger than the German Saxon class!"
After a short silence, British journalists and civilian officials of the naval headquarters cheered and cheered. The neutral journalists were boiling with blood and mixed into the venue. The allied spies were shocked and stunned. The old and dilapidated naval headquarters building gathered together and the reinforced concrete building trembled in an instant.
Even a thick door panel can’t stop the noise outside. Winston Churchill made a heavy cross on the first page of the golden pen notebook, and immediately opened a new page and saw a beautiful inscription.
"The key word of 1915-counterattack!"
"In response to Germany’s three Saxon-class battleships, the British Empire brazenly announced the construction of three prehistoric fast battleships codenamed Hood at the last minute of 1914.
This is a super battleship full of German warship style, with a design displacement of 410,000 tons, 22 oil-fired boilers and 4 steam engines with 4-axis drive.
The maximum speed of horsepower is 29 knots, equipped with four 16-inch main guns, and the defensive armor of Hood-class battleships has been strengthened in view of the painful experience of Dogel sandbar. The thickness of the main armor of the waterline has increased to 13 inches, and the coverage area has also expanded. The front defensive armor of the turret has increased to 15 inches, but the endurance has dropped to 51 nautical miles /14 knots. "
-Excerpt from "Fighting with the Mizi Flag"
At the end of 1914, the chill in the northern hemisphere became more and more pervasive, and the world was blinded by the repeated arms races between Germany and Britain. I don’t know that both Germany and Britain are experts in paving the way.
The preparations for the construction of the German mackensen-class follow-up ships Stein and Hardenberg are progressing smoothly in terms of economy, resources and manpower. In early 1915, the construction of another British fast battleship, code-named Nelson, on the other side of the North Sea will be secretly started, and the drawing designers have also started.
This battleship can be regarded as a Hood-class battleship with a reduced design displacement of 34 tons, three doors and 16-inch main guns, and two raised gun seats at the bow of the ship. It is equipped with 12 boilers and two steam turbines. The power of the main engine is 6 horsepower, and the maximum speed is 26 knots. In order to strengthen the protection, the British adopted the key defense concept to equip the auxiliary guns and the power cabin with 14-inch side armor at the rear of the hull and 16-12-inch turret armor at the bow of the ship. The gun shaft and ammunition depot of the three turret gun seats have something to lose. Nelson-class
Hill finally breathed a sigh of relief. It turns out that he chose David Betty to take responsibility. Three Nelson-class battleships are young people’s warlords. Erpitz finally breathed a sigh of relief. Emperor William didn’t like Heidi Selim, a young man with a crooked sword. Erpitz waved a lot of political resources to hold this young man up. Selim really lived up to expectations. Once again, naked conspiracy consumed British resources and national strength.
Hilpitz’s hatred and hero’s pity are not over yet. The fateful duel between David Betty and Wang Haidi, two close friends, will continue to be watched in the fog, and people will discuss whether the Saxon-class Hood-class battleship is better or worse. The brutal and bloody 1915 finally came!
The New Year’s bell sent away not only the youth one year older, but also the memories of the war in 1914, which were painful or tough or sweet.
I still remember that on April 4th, Westminster Palace voted that King George V, the head of state, declared war on Germany. At that time, the British Island was in jubilation.
The British have reason to watch the celebration of the 6th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s accession to the throne in Germany. The Germans only sent an old cruiser to attend the grand ship-watching ceremony, which is an affront to the Queen’s glory! The Boer war, Germany and its emperor were filthy, which trampled on the high interest of the imperial colony when the sun never sets! Baghdad Railway Berlin is trying to spread their influence along that damn railway to the Ottoman Empire and the Indian Ocean, even the rise and fall of the British Empire, which is tolerable for India! The most important thing is that the Germans actually built a high-seas fleet that could challenge the Royal Navy.
The ocean has made the British Empire strong for a hundred years. The ocean is untouchable by the British. The ocean is the last bottom line of the empire. As early as 19 years ago in Germany, before the First Naval Expansion Act, the British relied on the principle that the strength of the Royal Navy should be the second in the world and the third in the world! In 19 years, the expansion of the German navy stirred the British sensitive nerves, and the naval arms race entered a white-hot state at the beginning of the iceberg.
In 1914, the competition continued, but Britain had a trend of decline, the British Empire was stagnant, and the economy allowed this crazy competition law to continue. Although the Royal Navy had an advantage, this advantage was bound to be overtaken by the national strength, steaming, steaming, Japanese and Germans over time.
From this point of view, the first world war was by no means a German monologue, and the British people were as sympathetic as Winston Churchill. Perhaps the expectations of the war were stronger than those of the militaristic Germans. You must know that after Germany and Britain declared war on each other on April 4, the Germans looked forward to victory, and the British island resounded through the battle slogan "God Save the King"!
The war broke out in Europe, and South America, a colony in the Middle East and Far East of Europe, fired guns for tens of thousands of kilometers. The British team hummed the English song and joined the fray.
The Boer War discredited the British Army. The pocket army has been working hard for more than ten years, and the northern part of France has surprised the world. It was the British army who fought bloody battles that saved the precarious France and stabilized the front line for the French who were busy moving the capital. However, this is also the energy of the British War Department. After all, the French lost a large area of land, the British shroud was almost out of stock, and the trained elite force was consumed.
Defeated the invincible enemy fleet, destroyed the powerful sea coachman and won the glory of Cape Trafalgar. The Royal Navy was the most terrible on this blue planet. However, the performance of the British Navy surprised the world. The sea transportation line was shaken by German attack ships, and the North Sea confrontation was defeated again and again. The naval arms race was also on the weak side.
The British and the world are wondering what happened to the powerful empire that never sets in the sun. Is it because it has been lying on the credit book for too long that it has lost its motivation to move forward, or is Darwin’s natural selection the German?
Well, the British Empire didn’t confuse its people for long.
In December, the change in Lu Haijun, Germany, made the Allies smell the conspiracy. Polar bear allies Britain and France knew it well. Whether Russia could resist the German thunder and continue the Alexander miracle in Napoleon’s era was uncertain, so the material assistance to Russia’s western front battlefield containment was a topic that could not be avoided.
At this time, Winston Churchill, the British secretary of the navy, came up with a novel and different plan-the Battle of the Daniil Strait!
The so-called Battle of the Da Daniil Strait is to organize a powerful landing fleet to land on the Turkish Gallipoli Peninsula while the German center of gravity moves eastward, and occupy the Turkish Strait with important strategic value, forcing Turkey to withdraw from the Allies. This move is not only conducive to forcing Balkan countries to make a choice that is beneficial to the Allies from the strategic detour to encircle the hinterland of Germany and Austria, but also to transfuse blood from the Black Sea to Russia.
Churchill’s trip to Daniil not only exposed his personal ambition, but also showed the British strategic skills to the fullest.
Humiliation ruined Winston Churchill’s reputation in 1914. Although he had a large number of allies in Parliament and Downing Street, this did not stop the British people from talking. Churchill urgently needed to get a record to make the big fleet die. It was obviously stupid to regain the numerical advantage. Before the big fleet did not have the strength to challenge the big fleet, the main force of the German navy moved eastward to get a breather. Churchill waited for the end of the strangulation campaign in the South Atlantic and could realize the landing battle in the Daniil Strait of Turkey from dispatching troops.
Churchill’s idea that the British Empire adheres to the multi-year ball strategy coincides with the same idea. Although Russia is a British ally, the British people’s fear and vigilance against the double-headed eagle have never diminished for a day. Controlling the Turkish Strait is not only conducive to ensuring the Suez Canal from the flank, but also to strengthening Britain’s control over the Indian Ocean. In the long run, it is also conducive to curbing the Russians’ attempt to open the Mediterranean Sea and try to put polar bears out of the Indian Ocean to stop the tiny Black Sea.
Germany, France and Germany have reservations about the Battle of the Daniil Strait, but they still agree to send troops to participate in the war. Polar bears’ ambition for Constantinople in the Turkish Strait was inherited from the British in the era of Peter the Great. Although the Battle of the Daniil Strait was conducive to sharing the pressure of Russia’s multi-line war, Britain and France occupied the Ear Strait, which was by no means a happy ending for the Russians, who declined Churchill’s proposal.
In fact, even if the Russians agreed to send troops, they would still be able to give up the Black Sea fleet after the naval battle in Cape Sochi. The Russians could look at the ocean and sigh. Worse, the Turks launched a fierce offensive in the hinterland of the North Caucasus, and Russian soldiers could be sent
Whether the Russians will participate in the war is very important. Since the German center of gravity has moved eastward, the British and French high-level officials have decided to take action on the western front. More than 3 million allied troops are ready to launch a spring offensive from the Swiss border to the North Sea coastline. General Xia Fei can’t wait to announce that the goal of the allied countries is to "drink the horse Rhine in the autumn of 1915"
At the same time, 10,000 British and French allied forces will link the southern part of France with Essed and Alexandria, and the landing fleet will be composed of British battleship Ginkul, Irish battleship eleven pre-dreaded ships, a French isolated-class dreaded ship and three Dandong-class dreaded ships. It is planned to station in Murderos, Lemnos Island, Greece, under the unified command of sackville Carden Navy.
In January 1915, the Allies completed preparations for the Battle of Da Daniil. Sixty years later, the British and French allied forces once again set foot on the place where their ancestors had fought and sacrificed, approaching the Daniil Strait. The history is full of ridicule. This time, they once became allies with Russia and once became enemies with the Ottoman Empire.
"Sir Carden sent the Garipoli campaign plan …" Arthur Wilson, the First Sea Minister, put the slightly thin document on Churchill’s desk and said easily, "The horn of the British Empire is about to sound, and the glory is created by you!"
Churchill sat on the sofa and weighed the notebook in his hand. It was easily turned over and marked "The key word of 1915-counterattack!" This page
The next page is full of the naval officer’s surname "David Betty", which is still stubborn and stubborn despite repeated alterations.