Some people may say that the Royal Navy did not have the remaining two Huaxia foreign trade battleships and 2 Dutch fast battleships? This is true, but at the same time, it must be noted that the 13.5-inch artillery battleship that was once the backbone of the naval battle in 1915 died after two decisive battles in the Battle of Jutland and the decisive battle in the Mediterranean! Although there may still be some advantages in terms of top-notch capital ships, it is already an extreme disadvantage in terms of 14-inch class ships! The Germans have 10 artillery battleships, and the current British 14-inch artillery battleships are definitely not comparable to the Germans, maybe the performance on paper is okay, but the British know that their Iron Duke and his ilk can't beat the king, and they are worse than Caesar. What is even more terrifying is that there will be no new warships in service in 1917, and the performance of the Admiral-class super battleship is absolutely unparalleled, but at the same time, the extremely long construction period makes it impossible to count on it in a short time.

"The Royal Navy did not expect the war to be fought so fiercely, and after the incident of the Bold, the Royal Navy wanted to make every warship a real masterpiece...... And boutique means time-consuming and huge investment. The Royal Navy was right if the additional factor of Italy was not taken into account, at least the German Navy had no chance of winning against the Grand Fleet alone. But alas, the Italians played a huge role in this war. The Royal Navy was bogged down in a two-front situation, with attrition much faster than originally estimated. So much so that the warships of the Royal Navy are in danger of being cut off. In her diary, Betty analyzed the situation of the British fleet at that time.........

However, although the British Imperial Fleet is facing the most critical moment after dominating the ocean, the British Grand Fleet led by Jericho is still planning the future of the war, because of the relatively backward industrial level, the Allied fleet in the Mediterranean will recover slowly after being heavily damaged. In particular, large-caliber artillery and armor steel will be in dire short supply, if the government can use economic means such as panic buying to limit the flow of steel from China to the Allies. Then before the end of April next year, it will be very difficult for the Allied Mediterranean Fleet to restore its combat strength.

At the same time, according to intelligence, it seems that the Allies have a plan to attack the fortress of Gibraltar! This is the last latch for the British Empire to organize its opponents into the ocean! And if the other side succeeds, then British sea transport in the Atlantic will be dealt a fatal blow! Think of more than ten capital ships and a large number of auxiliary warships and even assault ships scattered across the ocean. And the main British fleet was attracted by the Germans in the North Sea and could not afford to look westward! How can this be fought? Such a threat was simply fatal for the British Empire. If the Allied fleet had managed to enter the Atlantic, there would have been no need to fight this war!

The British government has stepped up lobbying for the United States to get Americans into the war as soon as possible, and President Wilson has said he will persuade Congress as quickly as possible. But I didn't say exactly when I would go to war, and of course even if I did, it wouldn't be okay if Congress didn't pass it. British. Some people in the U.S. government are also anxious, but it is clear that the Americans are now lacking a suitable excuse. And this excuse will not be found for a while! "If Britain and France fail, then the United States of America will be on its own against a mighty Germany and its allies. This is an extremely dangerous thing for the United States and even for the Americas! On more than one occasion, Wilson instilled such a theoretical ......... in the American people in "fireside" conversations.

But the vast majority of people think that what if Europe is occupied by the Germans? Can the Germans still cross the Atlantic to find trouble with the United States? And some politicians also saw the possible risks of the United States entering the war, because now that the situation in the Allies had faintly prevailed, Russia had been defeated on the Eastern Front, and even if the pro-German government could not be propped up, it would definitely not trouble the Germans again. Britain and France did not take advantage of Germany on the Western Front, which did not do their best, and now after Germany concentrates its forces on the Western Front, Britain and France will not talk about attacking, and it will be good to be able to defend! As for the naval side, if the United States does not enter the war. Britain will have to carry two directions by itself, Alexander! …。

"The Empire has reached its most critical moment, and Great Britain needs every naval officer and sailor to take his responsibility!" Now the British are more war-minded than the Germans! Because they know that time is on the side of the other side, and if they wait until the Allied Mediterranean Fleet captures the fortress of Gibraltar before acting, then the daylilies will really be cold, although this plan has not yet been confirmed. But the British obviously don't joke with their national fortunes, whether it's true or not, let's beat the German fleet down first, and then let ourselves gain an advantage and be invincible, so the British decided to have a showdown with the high seas fleet at the beginning of next year!. …。

After carefully comparing the strength of the two sides, the British were still relatively confident in their Grand Fleet. Of course, at this time, Britain did not know that the 6 original dreadnoughts had been upgraded to "super dreadnoughts", and the British were most proud of his fast fleet, 5 Queen-class battleships, 1 Tiger, 2 Amsterdam-class fast battleships, plus 2 foreign trade warships of the Republic of China. A full 10 super dreadnoughts! Such a formidable fleet seemed to the British to be enough to crush the fast fleet that the Germans had put together in any form...... If you make a row with 24 knots. Even if Germany pulls in 4 Bismarck-class battleships and 2 Moltke-class fast battleships, there are only 6 of them, and the British have an absolute advantage!

Moreover, the performance of the Allied fast fleet in the Mediterranean naval battle this time also gave Jericho and others some inspiration. In the ensuing main engagement, if the British could have allowed the fast fleet to accelerate first and then quickly cross-cut to form a local firepower advantage, then there was a real chance to defeat the German high seas fleet in one fell swoop, of course, there was a premise for doing so, that is, the high seas fleet was left to fight the big fleet. In the final battle, the rest of the ships (including the 5 Revengeance-class) attacked the Germans' King and Caesar-class and the other 6 dreadnoughts, while Thomas's fast fleet was to ensure that at least 4 Caesar and 2 Izmail-class battleships could be suppressed, so as to buy time for the team to defeat the other ships .........of the High Seas Fleet.

"This advantage is relatively limited," Thomas said with some embarrassment as he looked at the plan. Although it was 10 dozen 6. But in terms of projection, the Queen Elizabeth-class battleships have the same 40 main guns as their opponents, but the British have a firing cycle of 42 seconds at the fastest, and the Germans are about 30 seconds, although this is only a theoretical number, but the Germans have a faster rate of fire that is almost certain. That is to say, after everyone enters the effective shooting stage, the firepower of the British side is slightly inferior. As for the second to five, the total number of artillery on both sides is 38 to 24, which is said to have an absolute advantage, but considering that the other side is a 14-inch 52L super strong 14-inch gun. As the manufacturer, the British were still very aware of this cannon, at least believing that in a medium and close combat, all fast warships except the Queen-class had a great chance of being penetrated. But the 14-inch guns on the side of the fast fleet could not pose much of a threat to the Izmail-class. Only the deck can be washed.

"As long as you can hold on. We still have 10 super dreadnoughts, of which there are 5 R-class, there should be no problem in suppressing the opponent's 10 super dreadnoughts, if it is close combat, our 13.5-inch artillery battleships will have some losses, but the opponent's super dreadnoughts will also lose, such an exchange is beneficial to us. As for dreadnoughts? Neither side can help the other. "The advantage is indeed incomparable with the original, after many attritions, especially in the decisive battle in the Mediterranean, the loss of 4 super dreadnoughts at once really hurt the British Navy. But now it's not a question of whether to fight or not, but to fight! Jericho didn't have a choice!. …。

The Germans on the other side were also waiting for the decisive battle of the coming year, and the six original German dreadnoughts had not participated in the war for almost a year. Even when the High Seas Fleet was attacking Russia in full force, they remained quietly in the shipyard for renovations, with a fence built outside. In the deepest depths of the German naval shipyards, these battleships underwent radical transformations. If the four King-class ships of the German Navy were a hidden sword, the four Bismarck-class battleships were a warhammer that had just been opened. Then these 6 "upgraded" super-dreadnoughts will be a dark arrow for the German high seas fleet! …。

It is for this reason that the German High Seas Fleet is absolutely confident in this time, according to the Admiralty's estimates, these battleships are close to the Caesar-class battleships in combat effectiveness after improvements, and if the British find that there are suddenly 6 more super dreadnoughts on the opposite side, will they panic? Schell had imagined such a situation more than once. The only trouble was that the German fast battleships had been almost lost, and the 4 Bismarck-class, although fast, could be called quasi-fast battleships, but as the core and main force of the fleet...... It doesn't seem to be suitable to break away from the fleet, and even if you add two Moltke-class fast battleships, they are definitely not the opponent of Thomas's fleet, after all, the Moltke class is not the Izmail-class, if the latter is a lion, then Moltke is a wolf at most!. …。

"Otherwise, don't be avant-garde, just plan it in one go!" Hipper made a rather humble proposal. Why did the Germans get a fast fleet? The fundamental reason was the fear of running into the main British fleet. Until now. There is not much difference in strength between the two sides, and the Germans really want to have a tough encounter with each other! If you run into it, you run into it. Even if due to the weather or other reasons, the formation starts a few minutes later than the opponent, but only luck is not particularly bad, and it will suffer a small loss, after many battles. The Germans were still relatively confident in their defenses. With the exception of 10 15-inch battleships, it was almost impossible for the other warships to destroy the German super-dreadnought with artillery. There are 22 super dreadnoughts in their own hands! There are only 20 ships on the other side, and there are crispy ones like Tigers and ordinary 13.5-inch artillery battleships, what are you afraid of? "That's a good idea." Scheer thinks this idea could really be considered.

Thanks to the book friends zhouyu1976 and hukaikaka for their tips, as well as the book friends forever eucalyptus, Dongguan bald king, hell princess, fast wind and other book friends for their monthly ticket support ~~~