Although it was only a political show, the Germans were still meticulous about the process of the exercise, and the process of the exercise was carried out as usual, and the German naval officers and men still tried their best to do their best in the regular subjects of array formation, live firing, and rescue of those who had fallen into the water.

Standing on the bridge of the Wittelsbach, Didrichs nodded with satisfaction as he watched the performance of the fleet, although they were the most basic subjects, but it was enough to see the training level of the officers and men of the Mediterranean fleet. However, Didrichs was not satisfied with this, and the reaction ability of the officers and soldiers could not be seen according to the script, so Didrichs was ready to stimulate the exercise.

As the commander of the Mediterranean Fleet, he gave the order not only to let the main fleet of Pula Harbor come out for exercise, but the other two fleets should now be in the nearby waters, ready to find the right time to kill.

Although the main fleet under sail was informed that there would be a confrontation exercise, there was no information about who the opponent would be and where it would appear, so after the routine was over, a telegram was sent from the telegraph room on the Wittelsbach informing the whole fleet and all the participating ships that had been ambushed from nearby waters to enter the next phase of the exercise.

The exercise consisted of the German Mediterranean Fleet covering the convoy to Montenegro, the future Bay of Kotor in Montenegro, to support the Croatian-Slovenian ground offensive.

Montenegro is a traditional ally of Russia and Serbia, and borders the Bosnia-Herzegovina region and is one of the threats to the southern part of the Croatian-Slovenian Kingdom. In the event of war, the Croatian Army was to launch an offensive against Serbia and Montenegro to ensure that the lines of communication with the Ottoman Turks could be opened by land.

Moreover, the geographical location, hydrological conditions and port facilities of the port of Kotor are very suitable for the transfer of goods, the landing of troops and even the use of a naval base. Therefore, the occupation of the region was also an important part of the Balkan strategy of the German army and navy and the Mediterranean strategy.

In the operational plans of the Mediterranean fleet, such transport operations were likely to be intercepted by the French naval fleet, which broke through into the Adriatic. Therefore, it is necessary to use a large number of capital ships to escort the convoy. Historically, the French Navy sent a number of large ships, including dreadnoughts, to break into the Strait of Ortorant to escort convoys in order to support the Balkan countries' attacks on Austria-Hungary.

It's just that at this time, the surface ship forces of the Austro-Hungarian Navy were afraid that the combined strength of the French and Italian navies was far superior to their own, so they did not dare to fight, and handed over control of the Adriatic Sea.

Of course, these considerations of the German Navy naturally did not let the Ottomans know, and the Ottoman officers and sailors on the Missudis only had to follow the German fleet honestly.

At this time, the atmosphere in the main fleet changed. Everyone waited intently for the imaginary enemy to appear in their eyes. Since in addition to a Caesar? In addition to the Frederick III-class battleships being maintained, all the battleships of the Mediterranean Fleet are assembled here, although this fleet is likely to engage the French naval fleet in a future war, but now that the Mediterranean Fleet cannot produce more large warships, it is obvious that its opponent in the exercise cannot be a battlefleet, and a dignified artillery battle seems to be impossible.

There is a high probability that high-speed light cruisers and destroyers will launch a surprise attack on the main fleet, or even more difficult targets to detect - S-1 high-speed torpedo boats.

After the re-classification, numbering, and naming of naval ships, the original chaotic torpedo boat unit was uniformly changed to start with S, and the old steam engine-powered torpedo boats were sent to be minehunters because their speed was really unsatisfactory. And the new shore defense torpedo boat unit began to be equipped with S-1 torpedo boats.

Unlike the previous German Navy torpedo boats. The S-1 torpedo boat was smaller and lighter, with a displacement of 12 tons, making such a small target difficult to detect at sea, and after switching to a gasoline engine, the exhaust gas was discharged backwards, making the smoke column that would otherwise cause exposure invisible.

The linearity of the high-speed planing boat, which has been tested in the pool, together with two 300 hp petrol engines, gives the small torpedo boat a high speed of more than 35 knots, and two 450 mm C/08 wet thermodynamic torpedoes are housed in the stern chute. The torpedo is pushed out of the chute by means of a piston and a pusher. The torpedo boat then quickly turned to get out of the way, and the torpedo would run to the target at a speed of 37 knots. The design resembles the fastest torpedo boats of World War II. G-5 torpedo boats of the USSR Navy.

The Mediterranean Fleet was the first unit to be equipped with such gasoline torpedo boats, because the Adriatic Sea and even the Mediterranean Sea are the best places for such high-speed torpedo boats to exert their power, and the main fleet of the Mediterranean Fleet has already suffered a lot from such gadgets in previous exercises.

As soon as these torpedo boats were equipped with the Mediterranean Fleet, the main fleet was in a big position, and during a night exercise, three S-1 torpedo boats directly broke through the escort formation consisting of two light cruisers and four destroyers, broke into the center of the formation, fired six torpedoes, and escaped. And 4 of these 6 torpedoes hit 3 battleships, causing 1 Brandenburg-class to "sink", 2 Wittelsbach-class 1 "seriously damaged" and 1 "lightly damaged", which ruthlessly swept the face of the main surface fleet.

Jochen saw the report of the exercise and felt that it was simply a rehearsal for the Austro-Hungarian navy to defeat Premuda in World War I, on the night of June 10, 1917. The two Italian Navy MAS torpedo motorboats used the same method to sink the heavily protected Austro-Hungarian fleet naval saints. The battleship Istvan, if not a single torpedo was a dud, the Austro-Hungarian Navy could well have lost half of its dreadnoughts overnight.

Even if the escort force was strengthened in the next few night exercises, the torpedo boats still had many chances to succeed in the 120,000 spirits, and such a performance naturally made the officers and men of the Mediterranean Fleet remember it vividly. Fortunately, it was daytime, and all the lookouts kept scanning the sea level, not letting go of the slightest trace on the sea, trying to find the traces of their opponents.

After a long wait, their imaginary enemy never appeared in their sight, and after a long period of mental tension, it was inevitable that people would be a little relaxed, but at this time they had no idea that their enemy had approached only 10 kilometers away from them without realizing it, and their position, speed, course, and formation were all displayed in front of their opponents at a glance.

"What a tight defensive circle. It's not easy to sneak in. "Young Georg in a cramped cabin? Feng? Captain Trapp muttered to himself as he stared at the periscope sight, then raised his voice and shouted, "Put down the periscope, adjust the heading 090, maintain the periscope depth, and both cars at full speed!" ”

"Yes, Captain! Heading 090. Keep the periscope deep! Two cars at full speed! "Captain Egon on the side? Second Lieutenant Lehrch repeated aloud: "Turn in three seconds!" 3、2、1！ Veer! Captain, the turn is complete! ”

"Egon come and see, do we have a chance to bypass the perimeter defenses and attack those battleships, or shall we just take those cruisers and destroyers?" Trapp, who had already put away his periscope, stood at the drawing table and beckoned to his co-captain: "Obviously, the task of 'escorting the transport fleet' has slowed down the speed of the entire fleet, and now our 'enemy' is sailing at a speed of less than 10 knots, if we follow our current course, we can intercept them, but the defensive circle formed by those escorting fleets is really difficult to break through." ”

Lehrhe walked over to the drawing table. Watching Trapp bend over and outline the routes of the two sides on the navigation chart, the submarine in front of the fleet's heading side can quickly occupy the position on the flank of the fleet after adjusting its course, which is indeed an excellent position to launch an attack, but the defensive circle with a radius of up to 6 kilometers composed of several light cruisers and destroyers is difficult to break through.

"We had to break through the defensive circle to be able to launch an attack on the battleships in the center of the fleet, it was daytime, and if we attacked on the periphery, then the torpedo track would be detected, and the slower speed would be easy to dodge." Leerhe nodded in agreement.

Trapp's submarine was armed with the latest 550 mm G7 wet thermodynamic torpedo. With a charge of 195 kilograms, a torpedo can send a former dreadnought with weak underwater protection to the bottom of the sea to feed the fish. However, the maximum range at a maximum speed of 37 knots is only 4 kilometers. At a speed of 27 knots, it has a range of 9.5 km.

As Lerch said, it is daytime, and if a torpedo is fired at the edge of the fleet's defensive circle, then the torpedo track will easily be dodged after being detected, and if this is really wartime, then a formation with a speed of less than 10 knots can fully carry out tailgating. Then float up at night, use surface speed to catch up and attack. However, it is now an exercise, and launching an attack during the day is indeed a great challenge for the submarine officers and men.

In particular, the escort ships opposite him all have very strong anti-submarine capabilities. Jochen, who attaches great importance to the role of submarines, naturally does not forget about anti-submarine, and Fisher himself is an advocate of submarines. The British in World War I were also good at playing submarines, so the development of anti-submarine capabilities of the German Navy never lagged behind.

Now the light cruisers and destroyers above Trapp's head are all equipped with depth charges, if they get too close, when their periscopes come out of the water, they may be surrounded by a group of escort ships and beaten violently, Trapp does not want to be "sunk" without a single victory.

"First seize the firing position, and then talk about the rest, there is more than one submarine in our vicinity, maybe someone else can create a little condition for us." After thinking for a while, Trapp made up his mind and said: "Keep the current course and speed, let the bow and stern torpedo compartments be loaded, and today we will do a big deal!" (To be continued......)

PS: I'm very sorry for this week's update, but I've been living like a year this week, skin allergies, red bumps on the entire back and left arm, itchy and unbearable, every time I take a shower, I can't wait to burn myself with boiling water, and I can't wait to scratch the skin when it's itching, and it's a miserable day.

So I'm really not in the mood to sit in front of the computer honestly and update.,You have to grit your teeth ninja at work.,After work, it's basically in.,Catch - apply ointment - catch in the cycle has passed.,This week has become like this.。

If nothing else, there should be another shift tonight, and I'll try to get back to my usual state next week