The Northern Fleet, as the first and at present the most important fleet in China, received a large number of personnel who had trained from the Scheer fleet, and after half a year of joint training with the new Northern Fleet, it basically formed combat effectiveness.

At present, there is no real war in the north, but Russia's intentions are almost unconcealed, and in the winter of 1914, millions of troops were trained for the very simple purpose of attacking Chita in 1915 and recovering the Siberian region threatened by China.

There must be a war between China and Russia, and China is also making final preparations, not only building a solid defense line in Chita, but also preparing to attack the East Siberian side at any time.

At present, Siberia is still in a frozen state, and the army has no way to act, but on the premise that the Northern Fleet, which already has combat effectiveness, naval battles are on the agenda, and after careful analysis and comparison, the military council finally directly issued the first combat mission to the Northern Fleet after the formation of the army, attacking Vladivostok.

As the anchorage of the Russian Pacific Fleet, as the most important port in the Russian Far East, and the location of the Far East Command, Vladivostok is well defended, and it is somewhat difficult to attack from land, and there are large fortresses and fortifications on the land, and there are only a few months of non-ice time to attack, so it is necessary to choose a more efficient method. Choosing to go from the sea is also a different way. Even if Vladivostok cannot be captured, it can greatly weaken Vladivostok's defenses.

This is the first time that the Chinese Navy has fought abroad. Even Yang Yuanzhao pays more attention to the choice of opponents. It is certainly impossible to be the main force of the British and American Navy, in that case, even if the power of the fantasy class is not small, but China has no naval tradition, and the phrase of a century-old navy is really not just talking, even if the aiming system and command system are used, the gap with the navies of developed countries has been greatly reduced, and it can be the first battle of the fledgling. It is somewhat unreasonable to directly find the historical power of the navy, the strongest.

Russia, a declining naval power, became the best target, even a few years earlier, in 1906, when the emerging Japan defeated Russia in a naval battle, albeit in a few years. The strength of the Pacific Fleet has recovered somewhat, but compared with the rapid development of the world warship field, the huge territory of Russia. For Russia, it is a huge strategic depth, but for the Navy. But a great catastrophe, the Black Sea. Caspian Sea, Baltic Sea. The Arctic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, and the vast territory of the vast country are full of places that need to be maintained, and compared to the Caspian Sea of the Black Sea, which is close to the core, this side is a notch weaker.

At present, there are only 2 warships of more than 10,000 tons in the Pacific Ocean, and there is not a single battleship, after the destruction of the First Pacific Fleet and the Second Pacific Fleet, the famous Pacific Fleet has long been unworthy of the name, and the strongest fleet of Russia at present is the Black Sea Fleet, and even in the Caspian Sea, it is suppressed by Turkey.

The fleet of more than 100 ships of the Northern Fleet has a huge suppressive effect on the entire Vladivostok, and the Pacific Fleet, after the previous losses of the Russo-Japanese War in 1906, has only a few 10,000-ton fleets, which are still not capital ships, but are just heavy cruises, and these least years are also more than 15 years.

This is the first time since the First Sino-Japanese War that China has stood on the stage of world naval warfare, even if it is dealing with the Pacific Fleet of the Russian Navy, which has declined, it is a breakthrough.

Qingdao Military Port, including Cheng Biguang, are preparing for the next war, hundreds of warships, going overseas, although Vladivostok here, it is really not far from China, as long as you go to the Korean Peninsula and cross the Tsushima Strait, you will be close to Vladivostok, even closer than from Qingdao to Hainan Island, but this is an overseas operation after all.

Cheng Biguang participated in almost all the preparations, as one of the few commanders who led the navy overseas, participated in the British coronation ceremony and the ship parade, he has a natural advantage in ocean sailing, and with China's strong logistical support, he has done everything to the extreme.

The first is the supply ship, as the world's first professional supply ship, not a merchant ship as a supply navy, China's supply ship, in the expedition of the return of Scheer, played an unimaginable role, if it were not for the existence of supply ships, with Germany like this, there are no supply ports and repair plants all over the world, even if it is as strong as the Scheer fleet, it really goes back from Southeast Asia tens of thousands of kilometers, it will not be much better than the Russian Second Pacific Fleet of the year, In fact, this is also what the British have not figured out until now, how a huge navy with 9 capital ships can avoid the consumption of thousands of miles, is it possible that on a small island in the South Atlantic, the Germans still have a secret supply port and repair shop.

This is the era of battleships, and it is normal for Germany to have a supply base and repair shop on an uninhabited desert island in the South Atlantic, which is also the fundamental reason why Britain did not pursue this line later.

A supply ship, basically a military standard, not to mention protection, speed, at least to keep up with the speed of the mainstream warship, that is, 25 knots, just such a little, let the cost of the supply ship rise sharply, in the early days, but also caused the veterans of the Navy to whisper, after all, a 12,000-ton multi-functional supply ship, his cost, comparable to the price of a fully armed 9,000-ton heavy cruiser, with this money, how good it is to build a heavy cruiser.

But it was really time for exercises and use, and they discovered the benefits of this supply ship, first, versatility, supply ships and non-urgent operations to provide 8 different types of materials for 4 warships at the same time, in the time when the ocean conditions are not good, 4 supply ships can complete the supply work of the entire Northern Fleet in one day and night, and this efficiency is even higher than land supply,

In the era of dreadnoughts, when the caliber of artillery is getting larger and larger, and the tonnage of warships is getting bigger and bigger, the continuous combat capability is gradually decreasing, and the war of one or two days is simply very rare, even if there is, there is really a fierce confrontation between each other, it will not exceed a few hours, for no other reason, even if it is a large-scale battleship, in terms of ammunition, it is impossible to increase endlessly, once the battleship lacks shells, heavy oil, Even if the personnel are still able to fight, the battleship itself cannot attack.

Four 12,000-ton supply ships can provide about 80% of the material increase for the entire fleet, and as long as there is a safe night, the combat effectiveness of the fleet can be restored by more than 80%, which can save lives at a critical moment.

The most important thing is that after completing the supply work, the supply ship can be converted into a medical ship through certain modifications, although professionally, it is not as good as a real medical ship. However, the specification of 12,000 tons can accommodate about 300 medical beds and perform 12 surgeries at the same time, which is very important for the increasingly fierce war situation.

As we all know, after being injured, the best time to rescue is always at the beginning, the field hospital is placed at the front line, there is also a tradition, of course, this is the tradition of the army, naval warfare, often can not be done, simple bandaging can be, surgery is very difficult, a hospital ship that can catch up with the capital ship, how important it is for the navy, everyone knows.

It is these comprehensive characteristics that make the expensive supply ships, not only not opposed by everyone, but become the most eye-catching in the fleet, second only to capital ships and heavy cruisers.

Qingdao military port, it took 3 days, to complete all the preparations, Vladivostok is one of the few ports in Russia to close the port for a broken time, the annual freezing period is about 100 days to 110 days, generally in mid-March can be thawed, the Northern Fleet received the order, to finally go to Vladivostok, that is, the end of March to the beginning of April, there are no days.

At the end of March, after consulting the Military Commission, the Northern Fleet finally left the port of Qingdao, and will go north along the Yellow Sea, after crossing the Tsushima Strait, to Vladivostok, and Cheng Biguang in the command tower, feeling the sea breeze and Qingdao farther and farther away, a sense of pride rose in his heart, history will be created by him, this time against the decline of the Russian Navy, not Japan, which caused great damage to China in the First Sino-Japanese War, but who knows that there will not be a war, the Tsushima Strait, which is famous in the First Sino-Japanese War, During the Russo-Japanese War, the place where the main battlefield of Japan and Russia was, God knows if the fleet would collide with Japan, if it really collided, Cheng Biguang didn't mind, hugged the grass and beat the rabbit, and by the way, the Japanese fleet that had been greatly damaged was completely sent to Amaterasu, which could be regarded as a broken root.

Perhaps it was because of the good work of secrecy, or perhaps because the Japanese Navy had not yet recovered, and when the Northern Fleet successfully crossed the Tsushima Strait and marched towards Vladivostok in April 1915, the Japanese side did not react at all. (To be continued.) )