The vast sea surface is breeze, the sea waves are as calm as fish patterns, and occasionally a few seabirds fly by in the sky.

Without any warning, a big black guy suddenly emerged from the water. From a distance, it looked like a big whale floating on the surface of the Shanghai area to breathe air. However, there would not be such a cylindrical bridge on the whale's body, and the white number "128" would not be painted.

After a while, the black vulture cross naval flag rose on the top of the submarine, and then, people in black uniforms emerged from it one by one. Some couldn't wait to walk up the long and narrow deck to breathe fresh air, while others stood on slightly higher bridges. Among these people, the leading officer looked only about 30 years old, the scarf on his neck looked very clean, and the logo on his military cap was shining in the sun.

This was a normal floating of the German U2 submarine U-128. It and the 41 officers and soldiers on it belonged to the German Mediterranean Fleet. As early as the outbreak of the war in 1914, the submarine "takes a train" with its companions. At that time, their mission was to assist the Austro-Hungarian Navy in the Mediterranean to fight against the naval forces of the Allies in the Mediterranean, including reconnaissance and policing, destroying enemy transportation lines and attacking enemy warships. During the war, it achieved a commendable record in the Mediterranean.

After the German Expeditionary Force captured Tunisia, they moved their home port from the Austro-Hungarian Army Port to the Tunisia port occupied by Germany.

After the "Gibraltar Incident", the U-128 and four other submarines were sent to the Strait of Gibraltar for reconnaissance and alert missions. Their targets were originally the British fleet and the Spanish Navy in Gibraltar. No one thought that they would meet their once most determined allies in a hostile manner, and in such a short time.

Soon, black smoke appeared in the sky to the east, and then gradually became thicker and bigger in sight.

After putting down the telescope, the captain called his communications officer.

"We found the Austro-Hungarian fleet! The coordinates are 5°912 west longitude...36°420 north latitude! Please tell us whether we will continue to monitor or enter the attack position!"

"Yes!" The communications officer carried out the order without hesitation, but there were many questions in his head. Just a few months ago, their submarines were still berthed with the fleet in front of him. The atmosphere on both sides seemed quite harmonious, but here, their torpedoes were likely to be aimed at these familiar figures.

At this time, no one will doubt the cruelty of war.

At this time, some other German soldiers were staring at the sea from the air. From the perspective of Schweerland, a huge fleet of 51 ships was sailing west quickly. At the top of the masts of these warships, the red and white Austro-Hungarian naval flags were so eye-catching.

In addition to reporting the observations to the superiors every 3 minutes, Schweer and his deputy Schneider were unwilling to say anything more. There were other "flying fish" around them, but Schweer's "flying fish 3" were lonely. The "flying fish 1" and "flying fish 2" had similar appearances and paints, but they clearly painted on their wings with another sign that was completely different from the iron cross. Although these Austro-Hungarian aircraft have not done any bad actions so far, the pilots on both sides no longer smiled and said hello as usual when intersecting in the air.

Facing Schwell, who was not ruthless in his British plane, could not feel any desire or passion for fighting in his heart. He put the other plane into his scope again and again, but his fingers were very far away from the shooting.

Neither officers and soldiers on both sides received clear orders, but it seemed that everyone knew the situation at this time.

At this moment, Berlin and Vienna tacitly chose to remain silent.

In the study of the Berlin Palace, Chen Tian sat quietly in his chair. The comfortable sunlight shone in from the window and spilled his body.

There were some documents neatly placed on the desk in front of the emperor, and the most loyal guards stood behind him. At this moment, he was deeply trapped in his mind. The scene that was being staged at the western end of the Mediterranean reminded him of the Pacific Ocean a few months ago, where two larger fleets of warm waters had passed by. Historians naturally came to many conclusions for this non-contingent encounter, but for the rulers, what they were concerned about was whether this matter was a guarantee of peace or a foreshadowing of war.

Similarly, Chen Tian was also thinking about the future, the future of the empire, the future of Europe, and the future of the world. However, he learned from his intelligence officer that the new ruler of Vienna was actually hunting with his confidants outside Vienna on this day.

"Young people are so confident!" Chen Tian murmured to himself, feeling a lot of emotion.

When the perspective returned to that sea area, the sighting soldiers from both sides could already see the smoke pillars of the other side's fleet.

At the same time, the two German and Austrian fleets began to change their formations. Since they often sent officers to communicate with each other during the war, the two navy had a considerable understanding of each other's strategies and tactics. Therefore, General Leopold was not surprised when General Chipper arranged his battleships into combat columns, and cruisers and destroyers were on the side. Conversely, the arrow formation of the Austro-Hungarian fleet did not bring any surprises to the Germans.

In the sky, 10 seaplanes of the German fleet and 8 seaplanes of the Austro-Hungarian fleet were hovering and intersecting. If the two sides exchanged fire, it would be an epoch-making naval battle. However, the sea surface here is terrifyingly calm besides the mechanical sound.

If this was just a simple parade, then the scene was satisfactory, but this equally matched situation occurred between two major powers in secret. Through the thick armored portholes, the expressions of the generals on both sides were both firm and gloomy.

As the two fleets narrowed the distance, the commanders of both sides were able to see the true face of each other. The staff members quickly recorded while observing:

"Battleship - 1 Joint Force Class, 1 Monarch Class, 1 Radec Class, 1 Cafur Class (built in Italy), 3 Graz Class, 2 Budapest Class, 1 Kabo Class (built in Italy)! Cruiser - 2 Duke of Schaibs Class..."

"Battleships - 2 King's class, 1 Osterfriland class, 1 St. Vincent class (built in Britain). Battlecruiser - "Moltch", "Sedlitz", cruiser - 1 Seawind class..."

At this time, people gradually realized that the names in their works will become their future opponents. The more well-known the other party’s name is, the greater the trouble it will cause to them in the future.

Gradually, the distance between the two fleets was closer to 5,000 yards, and both sides could even see the opponent's turret turning slowly, with thick and black gun barrels pointing straight at the opponent. If someone fired, it would be a tragic battle. If not, it would be a silent contest.

The two battleships "Election Emperor" and "Tegotov" with flagship flagships are not only the flagships of both sides, but also the latest and strongest warships in their respective fleets. They naturally became the focus of each other's attention. For the "Tegotov" with powerful firepower, Higer and his warships are not afraid of. This new battleship of the Austro-Hungarian Empire adopts a relatively rare flat deck design, with a length of 152.2 meters, a width of 27.3 meters, and a draft of 8.2-8.6 meters. From the appearance, the ship is

It is thick and fat, and because the hull is not large, it is carrying four triple turrets, and the combined power-class land is not very good. Its standard displacement is 19,698 tons and full load displacement is 21,595 tons. In terms of tonnage alone, it is one level lighter than the standard displacement of 25,796 and full load displacement of 28,600. The main engine power is 27,000 horsepower and the maximum speed is 20.4 knots, slightly inferior to the German King-class battleship with a maximum speed of 21 knots.

Compared with the German King-class battleship, another prominent feature of the United Force-class battleship is that the superstructure is relatively low - Austro-Hungarian design experts believe that this will make it difficult for the enemy to discover or aim. However, what puzzles the ship designers and naval generals of various countries is that behind the short bridge are the main mast and two huge ground chimneys 13.5 inches high!

In this era, on the defense capabilities of warships, the German works are undoubtedly no.1, and the King-class battleship is the best among them. In the battleships with the British Navy, this class of battleships has been verified. Although the hull of the combined strength-class battleships of the Austro-Hungarian Empire is covered with armor ranging from 150mm to 280mm. The horizontal protective deck consists of two layers of armor of 30mm and 48mm respectively. However, its underwater protection is very poor.

At the same time, the German battleship had a 4-5-meter isolation belt between the hull and the lightning protection compartment, and the Joint Force Class was only 2.45 meters. The German battleship had no watertight gate underwater. If the sailors wanted to reach another compartment, they had to climb to the watertight gate above the nearest waterline through a ladder. Then they climbed down. This seemed clumsy, but very safe. The Joint Force Class continued to use the underwater watertight gate, which could not provide it with the expected security at all - because the entire system was too complex and unreliable!

Despite poor defense and airworthiness, the Joint Force class is not useless in front of German battleships. The K10 305mm naval gun produced by Skoda Arsenal uses 450kg shells with a maximum range of 20 kilometers and each cannon is equipped with 76 rounds of shells. In this regard, the warship of Cipher is at a disadvantage. The 50-distance 305mm cannon can only hit 18 kilometers away. In the Mediterranean region with a good field of vision, the large range is obviously of certain advantages.

In addition to 12 305mm landmaster guns, the Joint Power Class also has 12 150mm sub-gun guns with a range of 15,000 meters, 12 70mm rapid-fire guns (range 5,000 meters) used in anti-torpedo boats and 4 70mm high-level dual-purpose guns. In order to provide landing support when necessary, there are also 2 removable 47mm and 2 66mm rapid-fire guns, as well as 2 8mm machine guns. When needed, they can also be equipped with 20 mines.

The range and number of guns of a single ship were at a disadvantage. The precise shooting skills of the Khitorian sailors could greatly make up for the lack of firepower, and more importantly, the German fleet had a considerable advantage in the air and underwater. After the outbreak of the war, the Austro-Hungarian Empire purchased more than 300 land-based and seaplanes from Germany, accounting for more than half of the total number of Austro-Hungarian Navy aircraft. Most of the flight instructors and even commanders in the Austro-Hungarian Army came from the German army and navy! With Germany's current strategy, the number of aircraft equipped by the Austro-Hungarian Navy could not compete with the carrier-based aircraft of the German fleet in terms of quantity and quality. The quality of pilots was even more incomparable.

During the entire war, the submarine forces of the Austro-Hungarian Empire were not very outstanding (historically, Austro-Hungarian submarines sank French armored cruisers in April 1915, and in this world, France had long surrendered). Due to the conservatism and stubbornness of the top naval leaders, the Austro-Hungarian Navy had only seven submarines at the beginning of the war, and one of them was still a stock test boat that was not sold. Even such a small force was not available before the war for various reasons.

To strengthen it well. When the war broke out, Baron Anton von House, the commander-in-chief of the Austro-Hungarian Navy, believed that the war would end in a short period of time, so he did not focus on strengthening the naval strength. Instead, he tolerated the labor force of the shipbuilding station to be dedicated to the construction of the army, so that the Austro-Hungarian Navy submarine forces had not received a newly built submarine so far, and their supplements were all from the spoils in the war, including 16 submarines received from the Italian Navy.

When the Strait of Gibraltar was still under the control of the British, there were 10 German submarines in the Mediterranean area, most of which were transported to the Austro-Hungarian ports by railway. After the fall of the Gibraltar Fortress, German ships began to enter the Mediterranean from the Atlantic Ocean in a bold manner. According to the plan of the Imperial Admiralty, by early May 1915, there would be 25 German submarines in the Mediterranean area, most of which were U2 submarines suitable for long-distance voyages.

Suddenly, the rumbling cannon sounded from the German fleet, which really scared General Leopold and his sailors. Fortunately, the general's staff quickly reacted that it was the German fleet's salute.

After the Germans' 21 salutes, the Austro-Hungarian fleet quickly reported the same salute. Amid the rumbling sound of guns, the two strongest fleets in the Mediterranean region passed by.

After the salute ended, the warship of Chipper sent a signal: "The commander of the Mediterranean Fleet of the German Empire saluted his respected allies!"

The opponent's flagship quickly replied: "The commander of the 2nd Fleet of the Austro-Hungarian Empire salutes his respected allies!"

"May I ask about the purpose of your fleet's trip?"

General Sipper and his generals stared at the signal tower of each other's flagship, and the two-minute wait was as long as two years. Finally, the Austro-Hungarian fleet returned the signal:

“Routine cruise!”

The officers in the command room of the "Election Emperor" immediately breathed a sigh of relief, but the general's face did not seem to ease.

"Send a signal to tell them that the mines from the British army ahead have not been completely cleared, so please return on the spot!"

However, the Austro-Hungarian fleet did not reply again this time, as if they did not see the "good prompt" of the Hippel fleet. Ten minutes later, the two fleets broke off contact. Before disappearing from each other's sight, the Austro-Hungarian fleet did not send any more signals.
Chapter completed!