Under the scorching summer sun, in the northern end of the George Strait, and in the southern part of the Irish Sea, two Schänhorst-class armored cruisers originally belonged to the German Navy are now sailing north together.

On the bridge of the Celtic, Colonel Phil Townsend, who was appointed as the captain two months ago, looked ahead with a high spirit and a serious expression. The 42-year-old Irishman was born and raised in Dublin and was from a poor family. He finished his middle school courses at the church school, then left his hometown and began his long career as a seafarer. Despite his average appearance, his popularity was particularly good. In addition to his willingness to endure hardships and thinking, he learned a lot of useful things from the crew members on the same boat, and gradually became an ordinary crew member.

He became a technician, and later got the opportunity to serve as an assistant to the captain for three years, and learned the key points of nautical knowledge, helm the ship, and manage the size of a ship. At the age of 37, he became a respected captain, and his life trajectory seemed to set the tone. However, the outbreak of the Irish War of Independence changed everything. At the time of his employer, he drove a ship from Germany to Ireland, but the ship sank when it hit a mine on the way. The hero was not regarded as a hero, and Townsend almost lost his life.

After being rescued by the Irish resistance armed forces, he simply joined the army, first helped repair the boat, and soon started his business again. The boats he controlled gradually increased from the initial armed speedboat to the gunboat. As the War of Independence was about to end, the formation of the Irish Navy was imperative. Townsend and more than a dozen other people with navigation foundation and combat experience were selected to study in Germany, and were fortunate to become an alumni of the King of Ireland. After more than half a year at the Keel Naval Academy

During this period, he truly transformed from a civilian to a professional soldier, and his academic performance and academic performance were also recognized by harsh German instructors. After returning to Ireland, Townsend, in his early forties, gained valuable development opportunities in the Irish Navy, which was extremely lacking in local talents. He was soon promoted from a commander of a large torpedo boat to a commander of a light ship team, and then promoted to a commander of a light cruiser until he became the first Irish captain of the "Celtic".

More than a month ago, the "Long Live Freedom" also welcomed its first Irish captain, Colonel John Barber. His experience has many similarities with Townsend. What is rare is that the two have similar personalities and are very happy to work together. These two Schanehorst-class armored cruisers built and served at the same time have maintained their inseparable sister ships most of the time after completing technical modifications.

Of course, the two Irish captains would not know that if it weren't for the butterfly of Xia Shu, the two warships and most of the crew members they carried would be buried in the waters of the far Falkland Islands, rather than joining the Irish Navy to continue their legendary journey.

In the German Navy, the most amazing innovation of the two Schänhorst-class armored cruisers was that they completed a long voyage of nearly 20,000 nautical miles and successfully returned to Europe under the siege of the Allied Navy. During the war, the two ships sank a total of 29 enemy ships, but there were no equal opponents on their list of trophys. This has to be said to be a great regret in terms of their huge construction costs and high expectations. If they had the sense of autonomy, they would definitely hope that they could reach the top of the world under the tempering of steel, fire and blood like the German high seas fleet's dreadnought and battlecruisers group, like the German high seas fleet's dreadnought and battlecruisers group, under the tempering of steel, fire and blood.

After joining the Irish Navy, the two Schärnhorst-class became the most relied absolute main battleships. For a long time, the so-called volunteers of the German Navy were the actual operators of these two 10,000-ton warships. This situation slowly changed until the Irish Navy tried hard to train the first batch of qualified crew members. When they headed to the confrontation waters in southern Ireland, the ratio of these sister ships, renamed the "Celtic" and "Long Live Freedom", was roughly one to four, and the Germans had basically withdrawn from the command post, either serving as technical backbone or playing the role of staff.

While German officials were controlling the important military and political positions in Ireland, the "Irishization" of backbone forces at all levels of the army finally made the people feel relieved and at ease.

Receiving an emergency mission to assist our ships, the two Scharnhorst-class armored cruisers quickly set sail from Watford Port and drove along the way with a stable speed of 22 knots. They arrived at designated waters in just 5 hours. Their appearance immediately changed the confrontation between the two sides. The combined number of British warships arriving in advance was less than 10,000 tons, while the two Irish armored cruisers were both large warships of 13,000 tons, and they had overwhelming advantages in all aspects.

The two Irish soldiers were already ready to confront the British large ships. Unexpectedly, until all Irish fishing boats retreated to their territorial waters, they always showed off their power. The arrogant British Navy did not send heavyweight ships in time. Therefore, the Irish officers and soldiers who participated in the confrontation began to laugh at the British's timidity and incompetence and mocked their down-and-out phoenixes as bad as chickens. Even if they suffered losses in the fishing dispute, the British ships could not chase into the legal territorial waters of Ireland and followed them.

The British ship had to stare outside the territorial waters. Seeing that the British ship was still wandering in sight, the two Scharnhorst-class and the large torpedo boats that had arrived to protect the fishing were not in a hurry to withdraw. Soon, several lead-gray ships appeared on the sea line in the direction of the UK, and the Irish ships also received radio reports from their reconnaissance aircraft. A fleet of a large warship, a medium warship and four small warships drove to the east. Judging from their paint, outline and flags flying on the flagpole, it must be the British fleet.

Regardless of the purpose of this British fleet, the Irish ships present quickly used the "Celtic" as the temporary flagship and set up their foreshadowing formations that had been practiced many times before. During this process, the seaplane taken off from Dublin continuously provided reconnaissance information to their ships. As expected, the British large ship was an old-fashioned former dreadnought. The 12-inch main gun was just a caliber, range, rate of fire, and accuracy that could not be compared with the current Schanehorst class. The protective design of the older generation of warships and the armored steel used were also difficult to resist the attacks of the Schanehorst class at an effective distance.

Among the combat plans formulated by the Irish Navy Staff, one of the code-named "Operation Boxer" is considered an armed conflict with the British Navy in the Irish Sea. According to tactical deduction, even in the environment where the weather is harsh and the aircraft cannot support it in time, the two Scharnhorst-classes can still overturn the two unmodified former dreadnoughts or three armored cruisers of the British Navy. The confidence of the Irish Navy Staff is not only derived from the King Joachim, who led the victory of Jutland, Flanders and the Faroe Islands. The technical modifications that each took half a year were not just painted, but their overall appearance did not change much.

, weapons, fire control and power systems have all been upgraded. Needless to say, the main gun has increased by one third, from 210 mm with a diameter of 40 to 203 mm with a diameter of 55, which is enough to completely defeat the 40-diameter 12-inch gun of the old British ship. The penetration depth of the armor-piercing shell reaches 240 mm, which is enough to deal with the main armor belt of the former British dreadnoughts with no more than 228 mm. Coupled with the increase in the rate of fire brought by the semi-mechanized auxiliary ammunition supply system, the improved shooting stability system effectively promotes the shooting hit rate, and a full load speed of 25 knots. Before the new generation of heavy cruisers boarded the stage of history, the newly equipped Schonhorst-class sister ship is undoubtedly the leader among the 14,000 to 5,000 tons warships.

Townsend and Barber, the two Irish captains, were not afraid of strong enemies. The officers and soldiers of each ship were ready to try and were eager to try. They wanted to use this battle to completely defeat the British, so that they would respect the Irish people from now on and no longer commit. Without the burden of protecting the fishing boats, the Irish fleet was lightly equipped and could use the advantage of speed to perform various tactics, and naturally gained a psychological advantage. On the other hand, the British fleet was able to move at the gate of the Irish people at any time. Being able to be attacked by Irish aircraft, submarines and high-speed torpedo boats is bound to be restricted and full of concerns. Two medium-sized fleets confronted here, and the Irish fleets took the initiative to approach each other several times. The British naval officers and soldiers no longer had their former domineering spirit. They nervously responded to the provocations of the Irish people, maintaining a defensive posture without advancing or retreating, forming a strange "frontfield defense" situation on the sea more than ten miles away from the Irish capital.

It was not until dark that the British fleet left in disappointment.

The confrontation between the two sides did not fire one shot and one shot seemed to be evenly matched, but the British government and the military did not continue to play the Aq spirit they were good at, but instead suffered a great loss. While criticizing Ireland's "fishing boat invasion" through diplomacy and public opinion, secretly dispatched troops and sent two super-dreadnoughts "Queen Elizabeth" and "War-weary" built after the war to demonstrate to the Irish Sea. However, the departure of these two super-warships immediately touched the sensitive nerves of the Germans. The German official quickly announced that the 1st battleship squadron of the High Seas Fleet was Brest set out to set out in the southeastern waters of Ireland. The 1st Battlecruiser Squadron moved forward from the Faroe Islands to the northern waters of Ireland, with the aim of avoiding any form of armed conflict between Britain and Ireland, and thus destroying the stable order of Europe. These two powerful maritime combat formations extended to the north and south ends of the Irish Sea like iron pliers. The two British main battleships that served after the war were powerful, but they could not compete with four legs. If they fought face to face with six German battleships and five battlecruisers, they would not be the opponents of this group of bloodthirsty tigers.

Due to German military deterrence, the "Queen Elizabeth" and "War-weary" who lack practical experience gave up their attempt to enter the Irish Sea and only moved from the naval base in Portsmouth to Plymouth, shortening their voyage to the Irish waters. At the same time, they drew two technically modified former dreadnoughts and a newly modified armored cruiser from the fleet defending the capital circle, intending to suppress the main ships of the Irish Navy. The naval ships deployed on the west coast of Britain also launched fishing protection operations in accordance with the Irish people.
Chapter completed!