On the morning of the third day when the new United Kingdom and the Austro-Hungarian Empire joined forces to start war in Italy, Xia Shu took a train to the Kilruz Naval Base to inspect the naval mobilization and preparations for the navy. Once the war order was issued, all active-duty soldiers and active-duty ships were launched to the battle position. More than 28,000 retired officers and soldiers were re-entered in accordance with the mobilization bill and mobilization instructions. The sealed 160 combat ships, 120 auxiliary ships and 900 military aircraft were re-activated. For a country with a total population of only 10 million, this is a very huge project.

As the most modern naval base in the new United Kingdom, Kirrus quickly became the "maritime battalion" for the reserve fleet to gather and prepare. There was orderly and busyness, full of longing and the joy of reunion of old friends. All of this made Xia Shu feel a long-lost atmosphere, an atmosphere that was enough to make him excited. It is a pity that he was not allowed to take charge again, regardless of his status, current situation, or physical and mental conditions.

During Xia Shu's inspection, a special guest came from Limerick, who was the second and only son of the late Prince Heinrich, Prince Sigmund. For a long time, Xia Shu had always respected Prince Heinrich very much. Even though he had passed away for many years, he still maintained a close contact with his family. He had always had letters to contact Prince Sigmund, and intimately called each other "Cousin Hickey" and "Cousin Johen".

Today, Prince Sigmund, standing in front of Xia Shu, is no longer the genius boy many years ago. Suddenly, he has served in the German Navy for 35 years. With his outstanding talent and tenacity, he stood out from many peers. He was promoted to German Admiral at the age of 48. He then briefly served as commander-in-chief of the German High Seas Fleet. But unfortunately, for various reasons, he failed to become the second Joachim as he wished, but followed his father's footsteps. Now, Prince Sigmund, who is only 53 years old, can only continue to contribute to his beloved German Navy in such a "respected" position as the chairman of the German Navy Technical Committee.

"What good news did it bring to me?" Xia Shu asked with a smile.

"In the past, British people often said that no news is good news." Prince Sigmund replied with a relaxed expression, "Germany has no intention to participate in the war, nor is it ready to join the war. In fact, in the eyes of most of us, a cheetah will not lose to the bulls anyway."

"That's a pretty strong bull." Xia Shu joked, "Although my allies are a lion, their recent status is not in their peak period, so this battle is not sure."

"Okay!" Prince Sigmund curled his lips, "I understand this military philosophy when despising the opponent strategically and attaching importance to the opponent tactically!"

Xia Shu smiled heartily, and the conversation between the two made him feel as if he had returned to that cold and beautiful winter. Unfortunately, time flies and youth is gone, they can no longer see the childishness of the past. They always have a calm and sophisticated face in front of others, and they rarely show their true self casually and freely.

Prince Sigmund smiled and said, "In fact, as usual, the German top leaders do not intend to intervene directly, but mediate at the right time to demonstrate the glorious image of the German Empire in loving peace, maintaining peace, and upholding justice."

"I understand!" Xia Shu cleverly responded with the other party's original words.

Prince Sigmund immediately laughed and said, "In addition, when I set off from Wilhelmshaven, Marshal von Oldenburg entrusted me to convey his respect for you. By the way, I will inform you that today two German warships will enter the Mediterranean through the Strait of Gibraltar. Their mission is mainly military observation. If the safety of the lives and property of German expatriates is threatened, they will be sent to carry out the task of protecting the expatriates."

"Oh, which two warships are they?"

“The ‘Wesenburg’ and ‘Darme-Sprival’.”

"A battle cruiser and a heavy cruiser?" Natsuki touched his chin habitually, "He was not worried about being accidentally attacked by submarines on both sides of the war."

Prince Sigmund lowered his voice and said, "This seems to be a direct command of the General Staff."

Xia Shu smiled speechlessly without commenting. Although he had left the German Navy for many years, he still paid great attention to its changes in all aspects. For more than 30 years, the German Navy's ships have been updated one generation after another, and the technical and tactical level has always been at the top of the world, and the bureaucratic atmosphere of the command system has been as bad as ever.

Just this morning, the Mediterranean Task Force of the New United Kingdom Navy was carrying out supply and maintenance at the Cartagena Naval Base in Spain. The main fleet of the Austro-Hungarian Navy temporarily returned to the Pula military port. While waiting for the next big attack, it was careful to guard against the air strikes that the Italians arrived at any time. The Italian Navy, which had suffered heavy losses in the past two days, seemed to have not yet woken up from its ignorance and had not yet made any major moves.

It was just this morning that the two-ship formation composed of the German Navy's "Wesenberg" battlecruiser and the "Dame-Sprival" heavy cruiser sailed into the Mediterranean. In this era when naval aviation was showing off, there were less than ten battlecruisers in the world that were still in service. The Brandenburg-class battlecruiser was called the "last battlecruiser" and the "masterpiece of battlecruiser". All four sister ships were completed during World War II. After the end of World War II, the powerful countries did not install battlecruisers anymore. All construction plans that have started were suspended, either demolished on the spot, or used for other purposes.

Although the Brandenburg class, which was just in service, had a slightly less displacement than the Tirpitz class that dominated the ocean during World War II, thanks to design thinking, construction technology and technological equipment innovation, its comprehensive combat capability has been greatly improved compared with the Tirpitz class. The modernized modification of Brandenburg class has become the last afterglow of the giant ship cannon era. Its full load displacement is close to 60,000 tons, it has extremely strong airworthiness and self-sustaining capabilities, and can complete the equatorial navigation without mid-range supply; its 52-diameter 406 mm main gun has a very long range and is extremely powerful, and it can basically penetrate the armor of all active battleships within its combat range; the radar fire control and electronic communication equipment it uses almost represents the highest level of this era, which is capable of both charging and commanding the fleet.

As for the heavy cruiser "Dame-Sprival" that has been in service for less than three years, it is a new surface ship designed to be equipped with ship-to-air and ship-to-ship missiles in the German Navy. Considering the outstanding performance of the second-generation ship-to-air and ship-to-ship missiles in various tests, the "Dame-Sprival" under the ideal state has probably no less combat capability than the Brandenburg-class battlecruiser with a size twice as big as its own!

It is worth mentioning that in 1933, when the fierce battle of Azore was in full swing, the Germans signed the Roman Agreement with them, handing over the two Mediterranean fortresses, Malta and ******* to Italy. After defeating Britain and the United States, the sphere of influence of the German Empire expanded eastward to the Indian subcontinent and the Indian Ocean, and westward to Central America and the Caribbean. Looking around the world, only Japan still has the potential to compete with it. Under such a big situation, the German senior management no longer disdained to compete with Italy, Austria, Turkey and other countries for hegemony in the Mediterranean. The regular organization of the German Mediterranean fleet was abolished. After the end of the Turkish civil war, they withdrew from the Mediterranean.

The last naval base along the coast, it is difficult to see German ship cruises on the main routes of the Mediterranean. However, the tradition of the Allied Navy holding at least one joint exercise in the Mediterranean Sea every year has been going on since the end of World War II. Moreover, the specific provisions of the Allied military agreements allow German fleets to enter and exit Mediterranean coastal ports such as Algiers, Valletta, and Seed without restraint, obtain the military supplies they need, and give priority to the use of ship maintenance facilities at these ports. In a sense, although the Germans no longer deploy conventional military forces in the Mediterranean region, their sight has never been far away from this beautiful and important land sea.

While talking, Prince Sigmund's eyes turned to the re-activated ships in the harbor for a long time. Seeing this, Xia Shu joked: "I didn't expect that the chairman of the German Navy Technical Committee would be interested in these old warships? Tell me, which one do you like? When the war is over, I will buy it privately, and whether it is used as a private collection or a public museum, it depends on you!"

Prince Sigmund did not intend to accept the other party's kindness. He said thoughtfully: "In the past few years, I have carefully studied the various ship drawings of various countries over the past half a century, and found that Ireland's shipbuilding industry has the shortest history and the weakest foundation, but its ship development level is clear, closely connected and has room for space. In short, the Irish people have taken a shortcut with the least detour in the field of shipbuilding."

Xia Shu looked at the other party: "Do you want me to help me with this kind of compliment?

Prince Sigmund shook his head and said, "As long as Germany and the new United Kingdom continue to maintain this close alliance, military and technological exchanges and cooperation are enough to benefit the German Navy from His Majesty's extraordinary wisdom, why should I add anything and do it more than that?"

"and you……"

"Actually, I was just thinking that these ships designed and built twenty or thirty years ago, even if the design performance is excellent, the maintenance conditions are very ideal, and the potential is fully discovered, and they are still somewhat unsatisfactory for front-line combat. The most suitable role for them should be patrol, alert and escort on the second line. With the current war situation, it is difficult for the Austro-Hungarian Navy to achieve something besides restraining some of the Italians' naval forces. In other words, your fleet is the main force against the Italian naval forces."
Chapter completed!