In the evening, the Portsmouth military port, which had been noisy for a day, should have slowly calmed down. However, the evening of August 14 was very different. The harbor was filled with busy barges and traffic boats. The harsh metal friction sounded on the large warships that looked like floating forts. The strong anchor chains rose one after another, and the heavy anchors were able to see the light of day again. On the way to the city to enter the dock, the taxi roared rapidly and rushed like a racing car, sending the officers and sailors who had delayed their return to the gangway of the boarding ship...

Next to the dock near the departure channel, the British Straits Fleet flagship "Prince of Wales", is a strong and towering battleship. It was only three years earlier than the "Dreadnought". Its standard displacement is only 3,400 tons less than the "Dreadnought". Although it uses the same model of 12-inch main gun as the "Dreadnought", although these "just" and "only", both belong to the products of the two technical eras. Because of the emergence of the "Dreadnought", all battleships that are not designed with full heavy artillery fell behind overnight. The fierce naval competition made these "fore-dreadnoughts" and "quasi-dreadnoughts" quickly faded out of the main lineup of the powerful navy under the paint. It is natural to update. How many people still remember the high expectations and expectations they carried when they were completed?

In the officers' meeting room of the "Prince of Wales", Lieutenant General Bennard Kerry, commander of the Straits Fleet, and his four squadron commanders, were all here. Around them were the fleet, senior staff officers of the squadron and the captains of the battleship. In this spacious and tidy conference room, some people were shining and ready to beat their hands, some people were confused, and after thinking about it, some people looked worried and frown, and the atmosphere was quite strange.

The Harric fleet injured two German main battleships at the heavy cost of losing all elite troops. The British Navy Staff ordered the Straits fleet to raise fire and launch an anchor and attack on time. Bennard Kerry informed the generals and officers of these situations. Then, everyone had a brief discussion. The existing information was not enough to allow them to make accurate inferences about the prospects of this battle. Regardless of whether it was a failure of merit or a sea of ​​fire in front of them, as long as the superiors gave the order, the soldiers must obey unconditionally.

The sunset gradually sets, and bloody light shines through the porthole into the command room, shining on the spotless oak floor.

The hatch door was finally pushed open, and the communication officer came with everyone's heavy expectations. He sent the telegram to General Fleet Deputy Commander General Fernas Thursby. The general opened the telegram clip and took a look, and hurriedly handed it to Bennard Kerry.

The commander of the Straits Fleet looked at the telegram with a serious expression, and after a while, he raised his head and glanced at everyone.

"Gentlemen, the pilots of the Air Service Team have reconnaissed that the German fleet is still hovering in the previous combat waters, and it is estimated that at least one of the two damaged warships has temporarily lost power. In this case, the order signed by His Majesty the King of England personally requires us to attack in the fifth, seventh and eighth battleship squadron formations. If we do not encounter the German fleet tonight, our mission will be to cover the Fourth Cruise Fleet to shell the German coast."

After this twist and turns, everyone's mood seemed to be taking a roller coaster, which was complicated and hard to describe.

Lieutenant General Kerry looked at his watch and said in a calm tone: "It's 6 points now, 10 points, everyone will return to the ship immediately and make arrangements. At 6:30, the Fifth Squadron sets off and leaves; at 6:45, the Seventh Squadron; at 7:00, the Eighth Squadron. We will reorganize the battle line after crossing the Dover Strait... Gentlemen, good luck!"

No one of the officers raised objections, and only a quiet sound of chair feet rubbing against the floor. In a blink of an eye, only Kerry, Thursby and several fleet staff officers were left in the empty conference room.

Bennard Kerry, who was nearly 60 years old, leaned against the back of the chair, his back facing up, his eyes closed tightly. Fenas Thursby, who was ten years younger than him, was just the opposite. He put his hands on the table, lowered his head down, his eyes wide open, and his eyes were very confused.

"Will this be another trap for the Germans?" The major officer on the side questioned softly. The British's way of thinking was not as rigid as normal Germans. In the process of plundering vast colonies and exploiting backward national wealth, British merchants, officials and even some officers used all tricks of cheating and blackmailing, and the empire never set gradually became stronger.

The gray-haired colonel was obviously knowledgeable and replied: "It is certainly not ruled out that this possibility is, we must be careful."

The major officer said: "The German Navy first arranged mine arrays in the northern waters to block our large fleet, and then lured our lightning fleet into another minefield they had arranged in advance. As long as we had a relatively accurate prediction of our route, they would easily deploy a third mine array at the entrance of the Dover Strait or some other location."

Hearing this, Bennard Kerry opened his eyes, and the confusion in Thursby's eyes was immediately replaced by deep worries.

The colonel thought it made sense, so he suggested: "It seems that it is necessary for us to send minesweepers to the Strait of Dover, and the fleet would be better off not taking the near-shore routes that the Germans could guess. Sir, what do you think?"

Kerry nodded subconsciously, but he did not order his subordinates to convey the order. After thinking for a moment, he slowly said: "Even if the German fleet did have two main battleships damaged by lightning and were seriously injured, and how confident are we to intercept them before they retreat to the German waters? "

Thursby echoed: "No matter whether they are really in trouble from time to time, it is not far from the German coast. The German Navy can quickly dispatch cruisers, torpedo boats and submarines to rush for reinforcements. Ultra-light torpedo boats with speeds above 35 knots may also arrive by refueling in the middle."

"Our battleships are slow in speed and weak in firepower. Only by leveraging their numerical advantages can we defeat the enemy. Therefore, the ideal combat position should be in the English Channel, followed by the Thames estuary. The closer we are to Germany, the more obvious our disadvantages are." Kerry continued his partner's words, and his angry voice made the staff officers beside him frightened. The major officer quickly turned his head to confirm whether the hatch door was closed.

Realizing that his tone was a bit too intense, Kerry paused for a while, and when he spoke again, he calmed down: "The minesweeper boats are too slow to be suitable for this operation at all. Our tight guard makes it difficult for German surface ships to have the opportunity to deploy mines on a large scale in the waters near the Dover Strait and the Thames estuary, and the submarines can only carry a small amount of mines. The Germans sent many submarines to the northern part of the North Sea, and the chance of deploying minefields with submarines should be very low."

After a reasonable analysis, the fleet staff officers finally understood Kerry's intention. Fighting against the German main fleet was the task of the British fleet. The strength of the Straits fleet determined that it was only suitable for implementing defensive operations near the English Channel and the Thames estuary to prevent the German navy from breaking into the Strait and threatening the maritime transportation line between Britain and France. Although many people think that the British expeditionary force of only tens of thousands of people was inconspicuous on the German-French battlefield where two million troops collided with each other, since the outbreak of the war, Britain has

The country sent France not only a force of tens of thousands of people and various materials needed to maintain their combat, but also made the French firmly confident and confident in fighting against the German team. After the Jutland defeat, if the Strait fleet also suffered a heavy blow, the last bit of British and civilian fighting spirit would be exhausted. If the German fleet took advantage of the situation and broke into the English Channel, not only would the troops on standby be unable to be transported to France, but the British Expeditionary Force that had arrived in France would also be cut off from the rear. Both tactical and strategic levels, the consequences would be unimaginable!

The planned time is approaching, and the roar of majestic turbines echoes in the cabin, the hull is trembling slightly, the scenery outside the porthole begins to retreat, Kerry leads the officers to the bridge. The sunset is close to the horizon, and the shadows cast by the ship on the sea are many times larger than the actual size, just like the German Navy has psychological impact on the opponent after winning consecutive victories.

The light ships that implemented anti-submarine alerts have left the port first. The flagship "Prince of Wales" of the Straits Fleet and the seven battleships belonging to the Fifth Battleship Squadron slowly sailed across the channel, followed by the Seventh Squadron with 4 battleships and the Eighth Squadron with 5 battleships. The five battleships of the Ninth Squadron are like the oldest and worst-fitting group of veterans, staying in the port lonely and helplessly. Among them, four of them have removed their main guns for newly designed shallow-water heavy gunboats. These shallow-water heavy gunboats were originally planned to support the Marines landing on the northeast coast of Germany. Now the British main fleet has lost its advantage. This plan to directly penetrate the German weakness is no longer a building on the beach, but a ridiculous fantasy.

At the same time, on a train in central England, King George V of England, wearing a royal naval uniform, was silently watching the bright and bloody sunset. Before his brother passed away unexpectedly, he was a naval cadet for six years and a naval officer for nine years. He thought that his life would be his career, and dreamed of winning a Trafalgar-like victory as the commander of the fleet, but his fate brought him to the throne and became the supreme commander of a country rather than a fleet. During the defeat of the Battle of Jutland and the decline outside Scapa Bay, he thought hard about the reasons for his failure, and imagined that he was not a country.

The king is the commander of the fleet. Whether the result will be very different is an idea without an answer, and it will put George V in another pain: if his brother Albert Victor was still alive, Britain and Germany might not have fought each other because of the "bad things in the Balkans". Britain will continue to maintain its advantage over the German navy with its strong national strength and developed shipbuilding industry, forcing the Germans to maintain a huge army and navy at the same time. Perhaps without a flesh-and-blood war, Germany will withdraw from the shipbuilding competition due to financial collapse and put its ambition to fight for maritime hegemony into its pocket.
Chapter completed!