Chapter 1616: Rebuilding the Blockade 1
Chapter 1616 Recasting the Blockade 1
"Admiral Jericho and Sir John Salmond are here." When Churchill finished the work at hand and was about to light a cigar to relax, the attendant's words made the Royal Navy boss feel very unhappy. After hesitating for a moment, Churchill put down his cigar again, straightened his clothes, and waited for the arrival of the Commander of the British Grand Fleet and the Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Naval Air Force.
"Since you two are here together, there should already be a general framework for the tasks assigned to you by the Royal Navy before, right?" Churchill said. Although in the previous year's battle, the Royal Navy could be said to have suffered its most disastrous defeat since the Anglo-Dutch War. But as the most powerful naval force and colonial empire on the planet, the Royal Navy's wealth and resilience allowed it to gradually recover from the tragic blow. Now, it is time for the Royal Navy to regain the initiative on the battlefield.
Although history has been changed beyond recognition due to Ruprecht, one thing has not changed in the North Sea, that is, the core of the war between the two sides lies in the use of the Northern Sea Route! Whether the British set up a blockade in the North Sea or the Germans launched repeated offensive operations, the most critical of them were blockade and counter-blockade operations.
Why did the prince keep attacking the British fast fleet? In addition to this fleet being the sharpest sword of the Royal Navy, another very important reason is that if the British fast fleet is severely damaged, then the Royal Navy will deploy its main force in the Shetland Islands, and the fast fleet will be deployed in the Firth of Forth. The strategy of coordinating the North and the South will eventually go bankrupt. This is like the most critical pillar of a building falling down. Regarding the issues of domestic coastal security and northern blockade, the British must choose one from them.
Although the naval aviation in this plane is already very powerful, the concentrated land-based bombers carrying bombs and torpedoes can put great pressure on the large fleet, but the premise is that the weather is clear... Please, this is the North Sea, don’t see the roaring wind blowing away the waves too often. Who stipulated that the German fleet could only attack on sunny days and not fight on cloudy days? If the weather is bad, the effectiveness of the reconnaissance will be greatly reduced. If the reconnaissance is not in place and there is no reaction time, the air force will not be able to concentrate. Therefore, it is impossible for Britain's long coastline to rely entirely on the air force. After the Thomas Fleet was severely damaged, the British Royal Navy almost gave up the North Sea blockade, and the entire army nestled in the Firth of Forth, staring at itself like a watchdog. doorstep.
Then what? The gap in the North Sea blockade is wide open! The 7th Cruiser Squadron, which once served as the North Sea Police, also disappeared. There is no way, this police is only useful when it is backed by a large fleet. Without the large fleet, it is not even as good as a auxiliary police... Even without the High Seas Fleet attacking, just using submarines to ambush and replace the British, the 7th Cruiser Squadron couldn't stand it!
You know, despite the name of a cruiser detachment, all the ships are either honest protected cruisers that have been in service for about 20 years, or auxiliary cruisers that were directly converted from merchant ships. It is hard to say that the cruising speed of these ships can reach 10 knots. (After all, in addition to the old age and the quality of the hull, it has to carry an excessive amount of people and supplies. It can float at sea for dozens of days at a time. How much can it carry?) The speed of sailing on the water is not even as fast as that of a submarine... .
Since there is no longer the most basic trust between the two sides, and the British disguised anti-submarine ships disguised as civilian ships to attack floating submarines, the German submarine force can naturally carry forward the tactics of "fishing and law enforcement". For example, if a British auxiliary cruiser sees a merchant ship sailing, it will definitely not be able to sink it. It must get close and then send personnel to board the ship for inspection. However, if at this time, there is a submarine hidden on the other side of the merchant ship or in the nearby sea, then this auxiliary cruiser will be the best target when slowing down to dispatch personnel!
Of course, there are some sturdy German camouflaged assault ships that don't need submarines at all. When the British auxiliary cruisers approach, they just rush up. Use torpedoes to take out your opponent at close range when they are caught off guard. This kind of battle has happened several times, what should I say? Each side has its own victory or defeat.
However, after the fight continued like this, it was the Royal Navy that couldn't stand it first, not the Germans... The reason is very simple. Let’s take “fishing law enforcement” as an example. How many people are on a submarine? 40 people is definitely enough, so how many people are on an auxiliary cruiser? More than 300 people? Are you kidding me? Not good enough at all? This is not an ordinary auxiliary cruiser. They have to arrange a boarding team. A boarding team plus the transmitter, officers and armed personnel must be more than 7 people, and a ship can carry more than a dozen or even Dozens of boarding groups are perfectly normal. (These boarding groups follow the merchant ships directly to the port. Otherwise, if you just check it and you say you are going to the Netherlands, what will you do if you go to Germany after the inspection? Don’t believe the documents. In this era, documents can also be faked, so you still need to send someone. Go up and get insurance.)
If the two sides are fighting, the submarine can quickly dive and run away if it misses a hit. It may even be in a submersible state when attacking. If it cannot hit it, it can just leave. The risk is very low. But what about auxiliary cruisers? If it were hit by a torpedo, then basically not a few of the more than 500 people on board would survive. This is the North Sea, let's not say whether anyone can be rescued. Even if someone is willing to help, the temperature of the sea water is extremely low, and if you can't get up for a few minutes, you will basically die. Even if you are rescued, if you get cold or other injuries, you will basically say goodbye to the army. This personnel exchange ratio is completely different.
If we talk about ships, the British auxiliary cruisers are even worse. Historically, the Seventh Cruiser Division has a total of more than 20 auxiliary cruisers of various types, right? After this plane has been massacred several times, it is on the verge of being cancelled. Even civilian ships cannot die like this. In this plane, the Americans are half the enemy. Even if they have the largest transport fleet in the world, the British People are still miserable under the pressure of submarines. Worse than in history.
As for whether there is any way to deal with this kind of "fishing law enforcement"? Of course there is, that is, you have a large fleet as backup, equipped with a large number of destroyers and aircraft, so submarines will not dare to act rashly. But it is a pity that the Grand Fleet has already gone to the Firth of Forth. The entire Seventh Cruiser Squadron is like a rootless tree. It is definitely not possible to fight against German submarines and camouflaged attack ships alone. Therefore, later on, the British Royal Navy decisively stopped losses and stopped The blockade of the Beihai Gate.
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