Hey British, this is a continental war that has nothing to do with you, stay away from it, stay away from death and sadness!

In Newcastle upon Tyne, a vibrant port city in the industrial era, hundreds of thousands of flyers fell like snowflakes in squares, streets, ports and factories. Each flyer reads such simple and powerful sentences. Seeing that German planes were throwing pieces of paper without hard lethality, whether it was the soldiers and police who were waiting outdoors or the people who were peeping behind the windows, their fear suddenly diminished a lot, and their attention quickly moved from the hovering and roaring planes to the contents of these flyers.

This is a war between the Germans, Austrians and French, and Russians. Why did Britain join in? In the past half century, France and Russia have had a much greater threat to Britain than the Germans.

Britain should withdraw from this war. If possible, a long-term peace agreement with the Germans so that the Germans will focus their main energy on the European continent and that Britain's maritime status will not be threatened.

Why did the British help the Gauls fight against the Slavs, sacrificing their elite and precious navy in vain? In the end, the United States and Japan benefited from it.

This view not only exists in the minds of the British people. After reading the German leaflets, many local officials and military personnel even expressed similar feelings. In fact, regardless of national sentiment or historical origins, the convoy camp formed by Britain, France and Russia can only be regarded as a temporary alliance, rather than a steel ally who live and die together. Britain and France were long enemies for many years, and not long ago had fierce confrontations in the competition between Egypt; Britain and Russia had irreconcilable contradictions in the Near East interests, and before Russia was defeated by Russia in the Russo-Japanese War, the Russian fleet was Britain's number one strong enemy at sea, and Britain's multiple tough interference during the Russian-Turkey War also aroused the resentment of the Russians.

After dropping flyers in Newcastle, Gateshead, Wolsend, South Shields and other places along the Tyne, six German planes quickly left. Although they conducted reconnaissance and spying over the Esvik shipyard, they did not drop explosives or burning objects as the British were worried about. This move seemed to show the Germans' unintentional fighting spirit with Britain at least in Newcastle. Many people vaguely felt this expression, but the faint anti-war call was not enough to attract the attention of the British government and the top leaders. At this moment, these people who held great power and directly determined the fate of Britain were still thinking about how to reverse the defeat on the battlefield.

Under the clear blue sky, in the southeastern waters of Scarpa Bay, a fleet consisting of 13 battleships, 5 armored cruisers, 7 light cruisers, 22 destroyers, and 3 seaplane motherships slowly traveled south in an anti-submarine escort formation. Battleships, armored cruisers and seaplane motherships formed three columns, and light cruisers and destroyers were scattered around the columns. Every officer and soldier in the battle post was paying close attention to the surrounding water surface.

In the past few days, German submarines' activities around Scapa Bay have increased. In addition to the "Default" battleship, their results have also sunk 2 protective cruisers, 1 destroyer and 7 non-combat ships, and have been constantly trying to infiltrate the British fleet anchorage at night. Because the strategic location of Scapa Bay is too important, the British Navy had to urgently draw ships from the East Coast to enhance the alert and defense power of Scapaflo Naval Base.

With the reign of Admiral Jelico, this British combat fleet that attacked was actually under the command of Lieutenant General Sir Levis Bailey. During the Battle of Jutland, Sir Bailey was the commander of the 1st battleship squadron. Compared with the tragic Bernie Squadron, the performance and luck of this squadron were not too bad. The "Emperor", "Conqueror" and "Thunder" were also the absolute main force of this British combat fleet at present. Among the main generals of the British Navy, Sir Bailey's qualifications and abilities are obvious to all, but because of his age and prestige, he did not have the important position of commanding the local fleet.

As for one of the next popular candidates for the commander of the local fleet, David Betty, the young and famous general, was on the spacious and bright bridge of the USS Ireland. Jutland's painful defeat cast a shadow on his future. Obviously, if you want to break the ice, you must stand up again where you fall.

Betty saw the opportunity to temporarily command the "Ireland" and "Ajincout", but it was not easy to turn this hope into reality. Both battleships are exported ships, and were requisitioned by the British government because of the outbreak of the war. The actual service time was less than half a month, and the equipment and crew were seriously lacking in running-in. After receiving the order to attack, the sailors on the ship were ready to fight and fearless, but the officers all showed worries. Now that things have come, they have to seize the last time to conduct combat training. After following the fleet out of the berth

Both ships organized officers and soldiers to conduct live ammunition operations and fired tests while sailing. The deafening sound of artillery boosted the morale of the fleet to a certain extent, and also allowed Betty to see the serious reality clearly: although the two warships were equipped with many experienced officers and soldiers, the speed of execution of tactical commands and technical accuracy were unsatisfactory. Judging from the encounter between the two battle patrol formations in Jutland, the German fleet was undoubtedly a very terrible opponent, and was defeated 100% in a state. If only fifty%, the result would be enough to make people anxious!

Betty was struggling with how these two new warships could perform their maximum combat effectiveness. Suddenly, an extremely dull roar came from the sea ahead. Since live-fire training was still in progress, most of the officers and soldiers on the Ireland were indifferent to this. There were neither suspicious ship shadow nor enemy aircraft in sight. David Betty on the bridge looked forward with great vigilance. Some scattered white water waves appeared on both sides of the bow of the ship "Emperor", which served as the temporary flagship. The vigorous super-dreadless ship looked safe and sound at first, but the ripples around the hull seemed to reveal the violent shock it had just experienced!

"Be careful! The enemy attack!"

Betty's steady and powerful roar finally made the guys around him realize the seriousness of the situation. The fleet was only more than 20 nautical miles away from the naval anchorage in Scapa Bay. Looking back, you can still see the outline of the mist covered by the South Rhonese Island. In addition to accompanying destroyers, you can also see many British gunboats and small torpedo boats guarding and cruised in the waters around the British combat fleet. They were usually attacked in such a safe and orderly situation. There are usually only two possible possibilities: torpedoes launched by German submarines and mines laid out by German ships in advance!

After initial confusion and hesitation, the British fleet's escort ships began to search for traces of German submarines on the sea. Soon, a destroyer opened fire, and another one that was not far away also began to shoot. The banging gun sound suddenly had a strong psychological hint to the combatants on other ships. Everyone began to be nervously alert to the surrounding sea surface. Some people kept treating normal waves as splashes stirred by the submarine periscope. The sound of guns made everyone's nerves tense.

More than ten minutes after the explosion, the hull of the injured "Emperor" appeared to be significantly tilted. Fortunately, it was a super-dreadnought with advanced design. It not only had super firepower, but also improved the anti-sinking performance on the basis of the dreadnought. The thinnest part of the main armor belt of the waterline was 8 inches, the key protection position reached 12 inches, and the compartment was further subdivided. The overall protection performance was stronger than most battleships including the German Helgolan class, and was only slightly inferior to the latest Caesar and King class of the German Navy. Under the calm and calm command of the officers, the British sailors successfully controlled the water inlet of the damaged ship wall and the bottom cabin. After urgently filling the water tight cabin on the left, the "Emperor" gradually returned to balance, the superstructure was safe and sound, the bow deck sinked for two or three meters, but it could still sail at a speed of more than ten knots.

"This ship is damaged and will return to the berth for emergency repairs. The commander will be transferred to the "Thunder" USS. The fleet's mission remains unchanged. Each ship will strengthen its vigilance and continue to move forward."

The flag-tongued signal of the "Emperor" was sent three times in a row, and all the witnesses were as heavy as Betty. Because they had not obtained any information about the strength of the German fleet, the main generals of the British combat fleet had already made the worst plans. At present, they had lost another battleship without even seeing the shadow of the enemy. How could the prospect make people not feel pessimistic or even desperate?

Before the "Thunder" raised Sir Bailey's Lieutenant General's flag, Betty said nothing. When the commander took his seat on the new flagship, he ordered his deputy: "Send a signal to the flagship: In order to prevent German submarine attacks, it is recommended to send seaplanes to reconnaissance throughout the journey."

The weather is suitable for taking off and landing on seaplanes, but among the three seaplane motherships, except for the "Erjadin" maximum speed exceeding 20 knots, the other two can only run at a speed of about 18 knots. Moreover, they are not as advanced as the Germans. Seaplanes need to be placed on the water surface to take off. In the process of releasing and retrieving the seaplane, the mothership must reduce its own speed to below 6 knots, which means that once the fleet speed exceeds 16 knots, it will be very difficult for the three seaplane motherships to catch up with the fleet's rhythm.

Betty would not be unaware of this trouble, and now the problem was left to Sir Bailey, who was ordered to command the fleet. A few minutes later, the Thunderbolt issued an order to three seaplane motherships, Ergadine, Hagmet, and Luno, asking them to release seaplanes in batches to ensure that at least two seaplanes were in air alert around the fleet at the same time.
Chapter completed!