The Rise of the Empire

While William II and Little Moltke were thinking about what to do on the Eastern Front, the prince was not idle. By the way, after the meeting, the prince also got a new title, Chief Advisor of the German Imperial Navy... . Although this consultant does not take up the normal establishment, there is no salary to get. But the power is great. For details, you can refer to the status of German advisors in the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the late World War I. Moreover, this consultant is responsible to the emperor, and is not under the control of anyone in the Admiralty....

"Gentlemen, this is the first time I have chaired such a formal meeting at the Admiralty. I respect the contributions you have made to the Imperial Navy over the years. I am sitting here today only because of the Kaiser. Well, now, Let's start today's topic, my suggestions for future maritime operations."

That's right, Ruprecht presided over the meeting this time, not because of status issues, but because he represented the Kaiser at the meeting, saying it was a discussion, but actually conveying the Kaiser's and his own Discuss the results, that is to say, the discussion is over, just tell you the results, and then go to implement it. . . .

But this time, the Ministry of the Navy paid enough attention to the "imperial envoy" from above. Tirpitz, Minister of State for the Navy, Tirpitz, Director of the Navy Office, and Admiral Ball, Commander of the Fleet, all came. At the same time, the three new stars of the German fleet have also arrived. Rear Admiral Hipper, who is about to take over the reconnaissance fleet, has just returned from the Mediterranean Sea and is preparing to serve as Earl Spey of the newly formed dreadnought detachment. General Scheer waiting to arrange. Well, very good and strong.

"In the future, the Imperial Navy must deal with the British Navy with a positive attitude. The Empire has invested a lot of money and effort in the Navy, and it is not for you to wait for the end of the war in the port. For this reason, His Majesty William and I believe that the Navy should Take action in the following areas.”

"In view of the tactics that the British fleet may adopt and our strategic goals, we have two main directions of action at the beginning of the war. First, the reconnaissance fleet composed of battlecruisers, fast battleships, and light cruisers is responsible for clearing the warships approaching The British alert fleet in our waters and possibly the British battlecruisers. The main fleet is responsible for providing support in the rear."

"Second, after annihilating and driving away the British fleet near our territorial waters, the fleet should take bolder actions. We need to try to launch an attack on the British North Sea blockade. This attack method is diverse and can be Assaults by fast warships can be attacks by submarines or sneak attacks by camouflaged cruisers. We want to turn the North Sea blockade into a front that keeps bleeding the British Empire."

Unlike the history of the Hipper fleet raiding undefended seaside cities in the United Kingdom to obtain a baby killer, the prince set the main direction of daily breakthroughs on the blockade of the northern entrance of the North Sea. This is partly because the prince believes that It doesn't make much sense to simply bombard the port. After all, one attack kills hundreds of people, and then causes some economic losses, and the threat of the fleet being beaten violently by the opponent is really not worth the candle.

More importantly, what Germany needs most is the delivery of materials, but in fact, only a fleet of old-fashioned cruisers is required to perform this task. These warships simply do not have the capital to compete with new-style warships. Continuous consumption of this line of defense will naturally increase the number of ships entering Germany. Needless to say, a ship can send tens of thousands of tons of materials to Germany, which is much more meaningful than hitting a port. Historically, Germany has come up with the idea of ​​using submarines to carry gold and fuel in exchange for supplies. It is conceivable that Germany's supplies, especially scarce resources, were scarce at that time!

certainly,

This plan still needs to be perfected. For example, the submarine is not bad, and it can stealthily hide people in the past, but the cutting-edge warship may be a little dangerous in the past. But the attack of the battleship is indispensable. After all, the North Sea blockade is too long, and the speed of the submarine is too slow. Whether you can squat your opponent depends more on luck than the level of the captain... But warships are different. Faced with old-fashioned warships with a speed of no more than 15 knots, it is basically worth the ticket price if you catch one dead at a time. After all, even a modified cruiser costs several thousand tons, and there are a lot of people on it.

"Go to the North Sea to attack the blockade? Is this more difficult? Our fleet should not be too large. If it is too large, it will easily arouse the vigilance of the opponent. If it is too small, it will be troublesome to search for opponents in the North Sea. What are the weather conditions in the North Sea?" It should be very clear that sometimes, even if each other enters the range of each other's naval guns, they cannot detect the opponent. At this time, the detection role of light cruisers and torpedo boats is very important. However, light cruisers are relatively expensive and their number is small, and the range of torpedo boats is problematic. ’” Hipper said with some concern.

"So we need a brand-new detection method to carry out detection tasks at a lower cost and with higher efficiency. For example, seaplanes!" Said the prince. Of course, seaplanes will also be affected by various sea conditions, such as When recovering, the sea conditions should not be too high. For another example, the vision of the plane is also affected by the weather, but no matter what, even if the speed of the plane on this plane is relatively slow, it is much faster than the light cruiser, and the altitude is relatively low. It will be less affected by clouds. Using seaplanes as a means of reconnaissance can reduce the impact on reconnaissance warships to a certain extent.

Of course, what if you really say that in extreme cases, aerial reconnaissance cannot be used? At that time, the opponent’s reconnaissance ability will have problems anyway, and everyone will be blind. It is very possible to escape, if you say, what if you are hit by a water bomb while running, well, that is God wants you to die, it is not a crime of war....

"But aerial reconnaissance is still in its infancy, not mature," Scheer said.

"This is not something you have to consider. Within two years, the Kingdom of Bavaria will have a complete system, so you don't have to worry about it at all." The prince interrupted directly.

"On the new warships in the future, we will solve all aviation problems, not only seaplanes, but also special hangars and aircraft maintenance equipment. Believe me, aircraft is a very important tool of war. Maybe today we It can only be used for reconnaissance, and tomorrow, it can even pose a threat to dreadnought ships." The prince said confidently.

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