The Rise of the Empire

Just as the two sides fought for the first time in the Indian Ocean, the British and German navies also launched a several-year battle over the breaking and counter-breaking of diplomatic relations in the North Sea and waters near England! It may not be as exciting as a bombardment between main ships, but this kind of war is more hidden and has a more far-reaching impact!

At the beginning of the war, a hunting group composed of more than 50 German submarines entered the waters surrounding the United Kingdom. Many submarines even ignored the British mine arrays and chose to pass through the English Channel. What is even more incredible is that they actually succeeded! Not a single submarine was lost due to mines! The reason for this result was actually that a German submarine sailing in the English Channel accidentally entered the British mine array and encountered multiple torpedoes, but nothing happened!

"Their mines don't seem to explode..." the captain wrote in a telegram to headquarters.

For this reason, subsequent submarines chose to pass through the English Channel and began their hunting trip on the west coast of England. Caught off guard, the British merchant ship suffered heavy losses in the first place. More than 350,000 tons of merchant ships were destroyed. This happened when German submarines had little practical experience.

The British have never encountered such a large-scale submarine breaking operation. There is no precedent to follow, and there is not enough technical support. There are no reliable mines, no reliable depth bombs, hydrophones are also very backward, and there is no escort system. , in short, there are no plans and plans, let alone sufficient technology and troops. When wolves started hunting on a large scale in the icy waters, the British were completely caught off guard.

War is the bloodiest and most violent means of human beings, so people will always set various rules to make war less terrible and bloody. And these rules can still be used at the beginning, such as when a submarine breaks diplomatic relations. According to the Capture Act, a warning should be issued before the submarine attacks, and then the other party should release the boat to transfer personnel. This was originally a very gentlemanly approach, and it was indeed what the German submarines did at the beginning. But soon, the situation completely changed when the British took advantage of this rule!

Lieutenant Campbell, the captain of the British submarine hunter Q-1, first invented a camouflage submarine hunting tactic. They would disguise the submarine hunter as an ordinary merchant ship. After the German submarine surfaced, they would not fire, and would even make Panicked fake actions, such as personnel running back and forth, lowering the boat in preparation for evacuation, when the submarine is approaching to prepare to execute the ship, the hidden artillery of the disguised submarine hunter will suddenly attack the submarine that is close at hand! And this tactic obviously stimulated the Germans! This very villainous approach will naturally lead to retaliation from the German submarine force!

After successfully killing one submarine and damaging another, Campbell suffered retaliation during his fifth hunting trip. After successfully attracting the attention of a German submarine, Campbell repeated his old tricks. , he lowered the boat again and made a very hasty feint under the German shelling. But when he opened the hidden artillery again and prepared to attack, two torpedoes suddenly appeared in the water and blew the Q-1 submarine hunting ship into pieces in a few seconds!

Subsequently, another German submarine surfaced and used its 105MM artillery and the submarine responsible for luring the enemy to kill most of the people who fell into the water! "Go back and tell your boss! It was you who broke the rules first!" After leaving behind several people who were participating in a naval battle for the first time and a lifeboat, the two German submarines walked away.

The most basic trust between people has been broken, and the rest will even compete with each other! From then on, most German submarines no longer issued warnings when attacking British ships.

Directly use shelling or torpedoes to send them into the water. In retaliation, the British also began to kill submarine personnel. As a result, the battle between the break-up and the anti-break-up became even more bloody and cruel!

But the difference is that this time, the Americans did not side with the British. Although trade between Britain and the United States continued, the U.S. government refused to use its own ships to transport supplies to the Allies, at least prohibiting entry into the war zone. In this case Under the circumstances, without the influence of the behemoth United States, it would be okay for German submarines to have a larger attack range.

In terms of tactics, with the help of Prince Ruprecht, German submarines established a basic coordination mechanism. Several submarines cooperated in a certain sea area. When a submarine discovered a fleet-level target, it would notify it via radio. There are 2 to 3 other submarines in the exhibition area operating together. It is said that there is strength in numbers. Three submarines equipped with 105MM or even 150MM artillery even faced the destroyer head-on! More firepower than a destroyer!

The effectiveness of submarine operations has made the entire German Navy very excited. In addition to ensuring the continued completion of the capital ships that have already started construction, almost all the remaining resources have been used on submarines! More submarines are being built at Blomfors Shipyard, Kiel Naval Shipyard, Royal Wilhelm Shipyard, and Germania Shipyard! In the first month of the war, more than 15 new submarines were put into service, making up for the 5 submarines lost due to various reasons!

Although the war had just begun and the British suffered heavy losses, the British Empire, which used tens of millions of tonnage, had not yet been damaged. However, as time went on, the entire United Kingdom fell into a situation of resource shortage, and even The British Grand Fleet has become a fleet of existence in a sense due to fuel problems! Two years into the war, the British were no better stocked than the Germans.

Take oil as an example. After the end of 1914, Britain's national oil reserves were less than 2 weeks old, and some oil storage bases only had 3 days of fuel reserves! So much so that the destroyers of the Grand Fleet are required to have a maximum speed of no more than 18 knots! The speed of battlecruisers and other capital ships cannot exceed 17 knots! Of course, this is something for later, let’s not mention it for now.

There are some things going on these days, so there will be less updates. Let’s update 2--! Please bear with me--!