The Rise of the Empire

Compared with the sneaky blockade by the Germans using submarines, the British did it much more conveniently. The British Grand Fleet was deployed in the Orkney Islands, the distance between the Orkney and Shetland Islands and the Norwegian coastline forming the entire entrance to the North Sea. The distance between Orkney and Shetland is about 67 kilometers. The straight-line distance between the Shetland Islands and the Norwegian coastline is about 167 kilometers. Theoretically, as long as the British Royal Navy can control these two areas with a total length of less than 240 kilometers, it can completely cut off Germany's channels for obtaining supplies from the North Sea.

And the British actually did this. The distance between the Orkney Islands and the Shetland Islands was nothing to the powerful fleet. What is really difficult is the 167 kilometers wide sea area to the east. As for this area, it is indeed impossible for the British to use the large fleet to hang around all day long. After all, the large fleet must ensure that it conducts suppressive cruises in the North Sea twice a week, and the millions of tons of warships are huge when they go out. consumption.

Therefore, the British used armored cruisers, light cruisers and auxiliary cruisers to patrol and blockade this area, and divided 7 different cruising areas. In fact, it cannot be said that every ship will be inspected. But generally speaking, most ships still need permission from the British if they want to go out.

But in fact, the blockade is far from that simple, because Norway itself is a neutral country, and historically Germany has indeed alleviated resource shortages by importing iron ore and other materials from Norway. It is said that in order to ensure the blockade of Norway, the British also deployed the 10th cruiser formation in the vast Norwegian sea to inspect merchant ships heading to Norway. The British set quotas based on Norway's peacetime imports of materials. For "exceeding" "The supplies that Norway needs are seized or forcibly purchased.

If you want to carry out this mission, you need to send a boarding team and armed personnel to board the ship. After all, they are a neutral merchant ship, so it is definitely not possible to just fire on them if they disagree.

As for these two blockades, the German High Seas Fleet has no immediate plans to dispatch its main fleet in the short term. After all, the British keep a close eye on Germany's ports in the North Sea. They also have submarines, and the Harwich fleet arrives from time to time. For close reconnaissance, it is easy for the German fleet to go out. What if it is blocked by the opponent when it comes back? Admiral Ball, like Jericho, is one of those people who can lose a war in an afternoon...

Regarding this situation, Prince Ruprecht and the German Navy also have plans, but they still need to wait for an opportunity. The seeds have been planted and are just waiting to bear fruit! Before that, the German High Seas Fleet decided to send submarines and auxiliary cruisers to break diplomatic relations and hunt down British auxiliary cruisers if conditions permitted.

"Wish our warriors a safe journey." An officer sent the received telegram to Major Nagel, who was sailing toward the northern exit of the North Sea with his Seawolf attack ship. At Ruprecht's strong request, the officer who originally served on the light cruiser was assigned to the camouflage attack fleet. This famous raiding captain in history returns to his old profession in this dimension!

The prince was quite interesting. Under his care, a raiding ship named Sea Wolf was completed before the war. Although this battleship was not large in tonnage, its displacement was only 6,500 tons. The appearance is not much different from ordinary merchant ships, but in fact, the firepower, speed and defense are completely designed according to the standards of the second-class protected cruiser of the pre-dreadnought period. There are two 150MM artillery pieces at the head and tail, which are hidden under the false deck. There are also four other 150MM cannons on the sides of the hull.

There are also 4 105MM artillery pieces and other small-caliber artillery pieces as well as 4 500MM torpedo tubes. In this way, the single-sided firepower of this battleship reaches a terrifying 7 150MM artillery pieces and 2 105MM artillery pieces.

It is impossible for such a warship to be equipped with an armor belt, but it has a layer of dome armor with a thickness of 3 inches to 2 inches to protect the core compartment, and the gun positions also have certain protection. In theory, it can compete with light cruisers. The speed is also very good. Although it is still a steam engine, the kerosene mixed-fired boiler is quite powerful. The maximum speed is about 22 knots. In theory, except for the Blue Ribbon, most other civilian ships can outrun it. In terms of combat effectiveness, it can. Crush all Allied auxiliary cruisers converted from civilian ships. As for being unable to defeat the light cruiser, there is nothing we can do about it... This thing is a bit cruel.

Every camouflaged cruiser is valuable. After all, there are more than 6,000 tons of ships and hundreds of naval officers and soldiers. In order to ensure that the Sea Wolf can safely enter the high seas, the German Navy even arranged for three submarines to accompany the camouflaged cruiser out of the North Sea. Facts have proved that assisting The combination of cruisers and submarines is still very useful!

The first choice is to camouflage the attack ship with the flag of a neutral country, and even the appearance is very similar to a neutral country ship. The Germans would think twice about using submarines to attack neutral country merchant ships, so naturally the British cannot bombard suspicious ships when faced with them. Of. In order to confirm the identity of the other party, the British must board the ship for inspection.

If the opponent is intercepted by an auxiliary cruiser, the Seawolf can even get away at high speed. But if the other party is a light cruiser or an armored cruiser, which is also a fast ship, it will be difficult to handle. Overtaking is almost certain. In this case, if you are overtaken and the other party boards the ship, In all likelihood, the identity of one's own battleship will be exposed. At this time, generally speaking, German battleships can only use torpedoes to fight to the death, and such a thing has not been done by anyone. In history, the German attack ship Leopard in the first battle was because of Fight to the death and lose yourself...

But now the situation is different. As the saying goes, it is easy to hide from open guns and hard to prevent hidden arrows. In any case, when the opponent's armored cruiser is approaching and preparing to board the ship, the speed will definitely slow down. And if at this time, there are submarines accompanying the attacking ships in this sea area. If so, then the situation will be different. The camouflaged attack ship can even use itself as bait to create opportunities for submarine attacks. But this time, Major Nagel brought 3 submarines! Even if you really encounter an armored cruiser, if three submarines suddenly attack when the opponent is trying to get closer, if you still can't hit it, then it's really God who wants you to be finished, and you have to be finished...

As for how the submarine can keep up with the raiding ship, it is natural to keep up by sailing on the surface! It is actually very easy for a submarine to run at a high speed of more than 16 knots on the water. In cruising state, the submarine and the camouflaged assault ship can travel together. As for what to do if the submarine is discovered on the surface? The Germans also thought of a way.

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