"Your Excellency, we have crossed the Kattegat Strait and in less than half an hour will enter the Skagerrak Strait, and then head north into the British naval blockade zone between Shetland and Norway. Pen ~ fun ~ Ge www.biquge.info This is the latest information we have received from the submarine forces, about the position of auxiliary cruisers in the North Sea blockade zone. The chief of staff on the side sent a telegram to Hipper.

"Mark their positions on the chart, we move faster, in the telegram sent by the Admiralty just now, His Royal Highness the Prince's main fleet has encountered the British, and the combat strength of the entire Royal Navy has been pinned down in the southern coastal area of the United Kingdom, which is a very good opportunity." Hipper said.

"Moltke, Goburn, and Setritz, what a good battleship, but it's a pity that they could only find the bad luck of those auxiliary cruisers for the first time, and I regret it now, and if I can, my flagship would like to drift at sea for a little longer." Hipper said to Lieutenant Commander Edelman, the captain of the Cedritz, next to him.

The latter is not on his own flagship now, and although his proposal was approved by Hipper, and with the endorsement of the prince, there are some things that should not be disseminated, so that Hipper will talk to Lieutenant Colonel Edelman alone.

"According to intelligence realities, the number of auxiliary cruisers patrolling this sea area is now about 24, and possibly armored cruisers. Since we got rid of a couple of British auxiliary cruisers by camouflage cruisers and submarines, the British have stepped up, so we could have a good harvest this time. ”

"Your fleet is located in the D5 sector closest to Norway, and after taking out the mission objective, you can choose a relatively secluded sea area to standby, and you don't have to participate in other hunts. This is the new key through which you can contact the submarines cruising the waters and get information and help. We have a camouflaged supply ship in Norway that can provide your ship with 2,500 tons of heavy fuel oil and 1,200 tons of other supplies, which you can choose to accept or refuse. ”

"There won't be any problems at home, our boss has agreed to endorse our actions, and I just hope for now that you and your battleship can return with full glory! Of course, before you decide to stay, His Royal Highness will tell us the results of this fleet engagement, especially the damage to the opponent's fast ships, and you can decide to take action or give up, and it doesn't matter if you give up. Hipper said.

"Give up? If I really give up, I will regret it for the rest of my life, and the favorable opportunity created by the entire fleet was wasted because of my cowardice, what an unforgivable mistake! Lieutenant Colonel Edelman said with a smile.

In contrast to the situation where the prince had to deal with three or even four waves of British warships, and maybe had to deal with the Grand Fleet, Hipper felt that his operation was almost an autumn hunt. The Grand Fleet had already gone south, and it was impossible for them to make trouble going north today, neither the speed nor the fuel would support the British in doing so, and his enemy, the strongest of which was the old armored cruisers. And then there are those auxiliary cruisers that can be tackled with a few shots. Lieutenant Colonel Edelman's task was a bit challenging, and if he wasn't the commander of the fleet himself, Hipper wanted to challenge himself.

Although the task was relatively easy, Hipper still did his best to do it well, in the last period before entering the battlefield, he reassigned the task, the various action groups were separated, the general destroyers do not participate in the direct attack, they will provide reconnaissance information, and the light cruisers will also act separately in order to hunt the opponent in the largest possible area, this is the biggest change in the original plan, because in the previous plan, in order to prevent possible encounters with the opponent's armored cruisers, the light cruisers were required to act with the battle cruisers.

But now, the Germans found that the British cruisers seemed to have a relatively small and fixed range of activity, and basically they could see the ...... when they got there. So in order to improve the efficiency of hunting, the light cruiser was pulled out alone, after all, it was enough for a light cruiser in the water to fight an ordinary auxiliary cruiser. As for armored cruisers? Can't beat you and can't run you?

At this time, Hipper's fleet consisted of three parts, the five capital ships of the battle cruiser detachment, the Moltke, Goeben, and Setritz, as well as the von der Thanen and Blucher. Although the latter two battleships have been in service for a little longer, they are well maintained (well, on the other hand, the use intensity is indeed not as strong as the British battle cruisers of the period,) so the maximum speed can run more than 27.5 knots! The 4th Light Cruiser Detachment was attached to it, and these light cruisers were slower than the battle cruisers, usually 25 knots. The most elite light cruiser formation in the German Navy was naturally assigned to Prince Ruprecht, although Hippert was also equipped with 5 light cruisers, but the quality was poorer, the speed was relatively slow, and the artillery was mainly 150MM guns, which was the first generation of light cruisers after Germany entered the dreadnought era.

The remaining force is a lightning strike group composed of 12 V-type and G-type mine-strike ships, the difference between the mine-strike ships of the Germans in World War I is a bit big, and the performance is more sad, such as the G130 destroyer, with a displacement of only 414 tons, and only 1060 nautical miles at 17 knots. It's still coal-burning! THE ARMAMENT WAS ONLY 2 TO 4 52MM GUNS AND THREE 450MM TORPEDO TUBES. The maximum output is only 7,000 horsepower and the speed is 28 knots.

And a slightly taller one, such as the V25 destroyer, has a displacement of 812 tons and a speed of 1080 nautical miles at 20 knots. THE WEAPON HAS 3 88MM GUNS, 6 500MM TORPEDO TUBES AND 24 MINES, WITH A MAXIMUM POWER OUTPUT OF 23,500 HORSEPOWER AND A SPEED OF 33.5 KNOTS! And most of the tonnage of German mine strike ships (destroyers) is also in this class.

However, the destroyers attached to Hipper's fleet are definitely the most elite, the most capable of fighting, and the destroyer with the highest combat effectiveness, no way, such a long distance, the range of a 1000-ton destroyer is slightly insufficient. THEREFORE, IT CAN ONLY BE GIVEN TO THE HIGHEST EQUIPPED DESTROYERS, SUCH AS THE V116 DESTROYER, WITH A DISPLACEMENT OF 2060 TONS, ALTHOUGH THE NUMBER OF ARTILLERY PIECES IS RELATIVELY SMALL, ONLY 4, BUT THEY ARE 150MM! ALSO 4 60MM TORPEDO TUBES, AS WELL AS 40 MINES! And the power output has reached 45,000 horsepower! That's enough power for battleships! The maximum speed is 36 knots! There is a distance of 20 nautical miles when sailing at a speed of 2500 knots. (This class of destroyers was so useful that it served in the French Navy until 1936 after World War I.) ）

Such a fleet is already extremely high against auxiliary cruisers, and Hipper's task is not to knock out a few, but to try to kill them all!

A transition today, and the main battlefield will continue tomorrow~~~! Ask for subscription, ask for tips~~~!