The Rise of the Empire

"Your ability to spend money is greater than that of Tirpitz. It seems that we have to increase the budget again." The Kaiser said half-seriously and half-jokingly. There are 100 submarines, and more than 60% of them are large submarines.

"But this is necessary. This is the key to our victory in this war. The Kingdom of Bavaria can even build a fleet of 12 submarines and hand them over to the High Seas Fleet to command." Submarines are of great significance, even Exceeded the main fleet, so even if Germany is unwilling to do it, **** would rather pay for it and get the submarine fleet out! According to the unspoken rules between the kingdoms, since Bavaria has its own submarine formation, Prussia must express it?

What's more, although 12 submarines look like a lot, but the tonnage is small. If one is 700 tons, the total tonnage is only 8,400 tons. The cost of two 5,000-ton light cruisers will not exceed 800,000 pounds. Bar. The prince thought in his mind.

"Admiral Liao Le, do you have any comments?" The emperor looked at General Feng Liao Le at the side again.

"This is a brand-new combat method, and its combat effectiveness should be good. After all, there is no technology that can effectively restrain submarines. I believe His Royal Highness Ruprecht and Admiral Bohr can formulate a very good set. Submarine warfare system." Admiral Liao Le first affirmed the work of the **** and Admiral Ball, and then continued.

"But what I worry about is whether this system will face some legal or moral issues? For example, what should we do if the British hire neutral ships to transport supplies for them? To fight or not to fight? This will cause dissatisfaction in other countries What should we do if we even interfere? Well, to put it more clearly, if we find an American transport ship during the war, should we launch an attack?" Admiral Liao Le raised a very sharp but realistic question question!

"Very good, good angle!" **** gave Admiral Liao Le a compliment in his heart. The latter was right. The biggest problem of submarine warfare in World War I was not the British counterattack, nor the escort. But because of various political problems caused by unrestricted submarine warfare, sinking two transport ships is not a big deal. Sinking a passenger ship is going to cause problems! More importantly, for this situation, **** itself does not have a very good way to deal with it.

If it hits a neutral country's transport ship, it may cause some countries to overreact. Of course, let's not talk about the reaction of small countries. But big countries, such as the United States, are different. Although Britain and the United States have become enemies in this plane, if according to the profit-seeking nature of capitalists, once the war starts, there must be American ships to transport supplies to the British. Well, for these ships, To fight or not to fight in Germany? beated? What if the United States enters the war? If not? There will be a huge loophole in the naval blockade of the British.

Don't even talk about attacking merchant ships of neutral countries, even transport ships transporting civilian ships of hostile countries will cause great criticism. After all, at the time of World War I, countries did not have the idea of ​​total war, and they thought they were in the hotbed of the civilized age. This kind of naked killing of civilians is still relatively unacceptable to most Europeans and North Americans. Of course, in terms of harm, the British blockade is actually more threatening, but it is not so bloody on the surface, and the Americans also At the beginning of the war, Britain was asked to relax the blockade of Germany. Therefore, public opinion in this era is the biggest problem in submarine warfare.

Of course, at the very beginning, there were requirements for submarines to attack merchant ships. They must first warn the transport ship and give the crew time to transfer.

It is even necessary to verify the relevant documents on the merchant ship, and only after confirming that the personnel are safe can they attack. This is the law of war at the time that stipulated that submarines attack merchant ships, but even a person who does not understand the navy knows that this is a very dangerous thing. , Floating on the sea for a long time, and then a torpedo or even a few shells can solve the problem, it takes a long time to ink, God knows, are there any British destroyers around. So the submarine force demanded to attack without warning from the very beginning.

What's more terrible is that many merchant ships in the first battle were equipped with artillery. Let alone you float up to warn the opponent before launching an attack. Over the opponent! At this time, it is naturally impossible to implement it in accordance with the so-called laws of war. Just approach quietly and take it away with a torpedo, so what else do you care about? What's more, in the later period, the British specially developed a camouflaged submarine hunting ship, which used this law of warfare to hunt and kill submarines. This is the Q ship that is often called in later generations.

Therefore, it is impossible to perform tasks in accordance with the provisions of the laws of war, because it is not realistic, and more importantly, the British blockade has already violated the laws of war. If the British cannot destroy it, Germany must abide by it, right? Did the US imperialists consider international law when they used cluster bombs or white phosphorus bombs? Obviously not.

Of course, if it is determined that the United States will not participate in the war, the prince will definitely support unlimited submarine warfare and will not give any reminders. But the key problem is that no one can determine the direction of American public opinion and politics. The prince can only say that the US imperialism is now leaning towards Germany. In a real fight, especially when Germany wins on the Eastern Front, what will the Americans decide? No one can say for sure.

"What I personally mean is this. Submarines that perform missions close to the British mainland do not need to warn, because the battlefield situation does not allow it, and most of them are British ships. Submarines that perform missions in the Atlantic Ocean are best to warn. Be cautious when attacking passenger ships. Ships from neutral countries bound for the UK can attack, but try to avoid casualties." **** thought for a while and said.

"This is acceptable. But I am worried whether such a request will be implemented once the war starts." Tirpitz thought for a while and said. In fact, in history, German high-level officials still had a lot of scruples about unrestricted submarine warfare. Even in the beginning, submarine warfare was mostly carried out in the North Sea and areas near the United Kingdom, and did not take place in the Atlantic Ocean. Termination, even because of the submarine warfare issue, on March 15, 1916, Marshal Tirpitz was dismissed because he wanted to reopen the submarine warfare.

Unrestricted submarine warfare really started after Ludendorff took power completely. Submarine warfare is a sharp sword, but at the same time political risks are great. And this requires a good grasp, as well as public relations and diplomatic work. Regarding this aspect, the prince has not yet thought about it, so he can only give an ambiguous answer first.

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