"It's time for us to finally say goodbye to the North Sea and enter a wider world......" After attending the commissioning ceremonies of the Europa and Bremen, Count Spee, commander of the German High Seas Fleet, was busy preparing for another, more important matter. The countdown to the Iran strategy has begun. For the sake of the future of the German Empire, and in order to save the face of the German Navy in the Italian War, Count Spee had to tell the enemies and friends of the Reich about the strength of the German High Seas Fleet by practical actions!

"Your Majesty the Emperor, your loyal High Seas Fleet will begin this expedition unprecedented in the history of the German Navy within a month. The High Seas Fleet will be fully deployed along the North Sea, the Danish Channel, then into the Atlantic, the Strait of Gibraltar, and finally to the new base in Greece. It is expected to take about 1 month. "When he met the Kaiser, Count Spee presented his long-awaited plan.

"Well, very good, to intimidate the British, that's a good idea." The Kaiser nodded in satisfaction, imagining in his mind the shock, fear, and hesitation of the British when the formidable High Seas Fleet appeared in their field of vision. William II, who had lived under the British naval threat for decades, finally raised his eyebrows at this moment and broke the cage of the British Royal Navy in the North Sea with practical actions. Thinking of this, the Kaiser couldn't help but feel a little complacent. However, compared to the face of the Navy Grand Parade. The Kaiser wanted to know more about the German Navy's plans for exercises.

"Once in the Atlantic, we will first practice the fleet's replenishment, gunnery, and other daily training programs. This will be followed by a formal confrontation exercise, which will be divided into two phases, the first of which will be a direct confrontation exercise with aircraft carriers, in which eight aircraft carriers belonging to the High Seas Fleet will be organized into two four-carrier battle groups to confront each other. to test the effectiveness of the aircraft carrier tactics of the Imperial Navy. And the second stage. It will be a direct confrontation between the High Seas Fleet and the Imperial Air Force, and in a future war, we will have to face not only the Allied navies, but also the other side's land-based aviation, so we will carry out a confrontation exercise with the Imperial Air Force on the Ibilisi Peninsula between a permanent base and a land-based force. The Air Force has already expressed its support for this. In this confrontation exercise. The Air Force sent two air armies, the Imperial and the Griffon, to which it belonged. Count Spee replied.

"Very nice and discerning. I am confident that the Imperial Navy will have a much better future. "The Kaiser appreciated Count Spee's plan. In particular, support was expressed for confrontation exercises within the Navy and between the Navy and the Air Force. So when the Kaiser signed his name on the plan, the entire German High Seas Fleet finally embarked on a journey south. A few weeks later, a British bomber on a training mission in the North Sea spotted the huge fleet sailing out of Kaiser Wilhelmshaven.

"I will never forget what I saw today for the rest of my life. Even those who have seen the Royal Navy parade will definitely be amazed by the huge fleet in front of them! They were like a bunch of Teutonic men ready to go into battle, and the steel ships were like knights with spears in their hands. At a glance. You can feel the killing and fighting spirit in it. The Germans dispatched almost all of their homes. Although it is impossible to distinguish the type of warship of the other side due to the distance, the huge formation composed of more than 30 large and medium-sized warships and dozens of destroyers, auxiliary ships and supply ships is enough to shock and fear any naval power in the world. I tried to get closer, but soon the fighters taking off from the carrier drove us away from the perimeter of the fleet. A British royal pilot who witnessed the German High Seas Fleet acting like this. …

"Are the Germans crazy? And what about the fleet of the British Empire? Where are they? After receiving the news of the dispatch of the High Seas Fleet, Chamberlain said anxiously at an emergency meeting. Although he knew that the German fleet sailed this time was at best a show-off. It was not really going to be done against the British, but the hostility involved in the operation and the pressure from the High Seas Fleet were something that the British had to pay attention to.

From this operation, the British could deeply feel the arrogance and hostility of Germany. In peacetime, the German High Seas Fleet made such a large-scale sortie. And wandering around the waters around the UK fully illustrates what it means to be a demonstration and a threat! What is even more intolerable to the British gentleman is that the German Foreign Office did not even inform it before this! When the British Foreign Secretary met with the German representatives, the latter bluntly stated that the German High Seas Fleet could sail freely in any sea in the world, and there was no need to inform an empire that had sunset. This kind of public slap in the face made the British feel very angry and unwilling.

However, the reaction of the British was limited to sulking and some precautions, and the fleet currently remaining on British soil was simply not enough to resist the powerful high seas fleet. "So far. We only have 3 fleet carriers on our homeland, one of which is being maintained in dock, and only two aircraft carriers capable of attacking. The number of battleships and heavy cruisers combined did not exceed 18 units. Such a scale allows us to hold our near seas under the cover of sea-based aviation. At an internal meeting of the Royal Navy, Cunningham's helpless words expressed the current predicament of the British Royal Navy. In terms of the number of aircraft carriers, the British Royal Navy was only half that of the Germans, and although there were still three aircraft carriers under construction or ready to start, the Germans did not sleep much. After decades of rivalry between Britain and Germany, there was finally a result, and the British Royal Navy had been left far behind.

Even if they were not strong, the British would not have been silent in the face of such demonstrations by the German Navy. The British wanted to make the Germans understand that even if the British navy was in decline, it still had the ability to protect its own homeland security and maritime interests. A task force with two Fury-class aircraft carriers and two Admiral-class battleships as the core appeared on the surface of the sea, far away from the huge German fleet. At the same time, in order to prevent the Germans from taking offensive actions against the British fleet, the British Royal Air Force, which was deployed on the mainland, also dispatched hundreds of various aircraft to escort the fleet.

It must be said that the decisiveness and courage of the British also shocked the Germans, and Count Spee, who was commanding the fleet at this time, could not but express his admiration for the courage of the British. You know, the German fleet could have all kinds of carrier-based aircraft (including seaplanes for cruisers and carrier-based aircraft for aviation cruisers. About one! Although it could not be compared with the combined fleet of the five countries back then, it was easy to wipe out the British fleet sailing on the North Sea at this time. Even in this situation, the British dared to send their fleet and pull out a large shore-based air force to confront the Germans. This is unexpected. But since the British want to play, then the Germans have absolutely no reason to back down, isn't it just a demonstration on both sides? If they are all cowardly this time, what else will the Germans talk about rushing out of the North Sea and fighting for hegemony in the ocean?

The British sent hundreds of planes to approach the German fleet in turn, circling around the perimeter of the fleet. The Germans also took a stand, and eight aircraft carriers released fighter jets from time to time to drive away British planes trying to get closer. "It's hard to imagine what it was like. Hundreds of planes flew in the air, and the two sides did not give in to each other, and they used all means of confrontation except for the use of no weapons. The Germans even made a ramming gesture. Of course, we were not idle, relying on the sturdy and huge body of the bomber, we ruthlessly drove the German planes next to us, and even some Mosquito pilots even ventured to rush over the heads of the German fleet. However, the Germans seem to have formulated a strategy to deal with the penetration of our high-speed bombers, and the performance of their carrier-based aircraft has also improved to a certain extent, and our small-scale penetration was eventually blocked by the other side. The two sides confronted each other like this. Until the German fleet disappeared from the seas around Great Britain. "Major General Potter, who had participated in the confrontation in the North Sea, recalled the situation afterwards in this way, and many years later, when he remembered the events of that time, he couldn't help but pinch a cold sweat." If there is a conflict between the two sides, we really don't know how it will end. This sentence fully explains the so-called gap between determination and strength. …

If the British could still use the momentum of the old empire to fight each other when Germany came to the doorstep, then when the German fleet entered the Atlantic Ocean and dangled at the gates of France, both the French government and the French navy could only remain silent about this blatant provocation and contempt of the Germans. The First World War was the last stand of the French against Germany. In this war, France's accumulation and courage were completely wiped out by a rambling war of attrition. Although the French can still maintain some stubbornness in words, in practice, most of the French top brass and capitalists have lost the courage to continue to confront Germany to the end. When the German High Seas Fleet appeared in the Atlantic Ocean with a dignified division, the French Navy transferred the fleet cruising in the Atlantic back home, far away from the opponent.

To the surprise of the Germans, the US Navy, which did not perform well in World War I, bravely met the German fleet, and the US detachment headed by the USS Enterprise kept following the German fleet until the German Foreign Ministry announced that the German High Seas Fleet would conduct military exercises in the waters near Spain and Portugal and turn a large area around the country into a military exclusion zone. "They're like a bunch of cowboys. Bravery can even be described as reckless. If they have more good generals like Majifen, they will be a difficult opponent in the future. Count Spee commented.

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