Chapter 193 Disaster
In later times, the main naval bases of the United Kingdom were Portsmouth, Plymouth and Faslane, of which the most important Portsmouth had 60% of the surface ships of the United Kingdom.
But before World War II, the largest port of the British Navy was the Scapa Flow Naval Base in Orkney, which was also the anchorage of the main fleet of the British Royal Navy in the British Isles. There were more than 10 large warships anchored in the port, including aircraft carriers, battleships and cruisers.
From the map, if the German Navy wanted to go out to the Atlantic Ocean, it had to go through the English Channel or the North Sea. During the war, it was impossible to pass through the English Channel, so it had to go through the North Sea.
Therefore, the competition for the North Sea was the most important naval strategy of Germany and Britain in this era. The British Scapa Flow Naval Base was a Five Finger Mountain on the head of the German Navy.
Germany, whose maritime power was weak in the original time and space, decided to go all out and launch a top-secret sneak attack on the British Navy, which had the world's most powerful maritime power.
However, the frequent reconnaissance by the German army caused the British army to be highly vigilant. To prevent accidents, the British army immediately ordered most of the warships in the harbor to move. When U-47 slipped into Scapa Flow, it was surprised to find that the huge harbor was almost empty, with only a battleship and a seaplane carrier anchored.
This attack was several months ahead of schedule, and the British army had not had time to move the warships in the harbor. Dozens of warships were quietly anchored.
At 4:50, all the third wave of action team members returned.
Prien excitedly issued an order to return. "Triumphant! Brothers, we will be heroes of the empire when we go back!"
"Triumphant!" Everyone shouted in a low voice, with excitement on their faces.
The submarine slowly turned and headed in the direction it came from.
It was already past six in the morning when they sailed out of the Coker Channel.
The early morning sun shone on the Scapa Flow naval base. As the wake-up call sounded, the sailors on each warship got up, did morning exercises, washed, and had dinner in an orderly manner; the atmosphere was lively and fulfilling.
"It's been a few days, I'm almost suffocated to death." In the mess hall of a battleship, a sailor complained while eating breakfast. Although the ship has docked, these sailors have not been allowed to go ashore and have been staying on the ship for the past few days. So there are many people like him who are full of complaints.
"It's all because of those Germans. I heard that the German warships are ready to move recently, and the superiors want to find an opportunity to annihilate them in one fell swoop." There are well-informed people everywhere. "So we can only continue to wait."
Another soldier sneered. "Those idiots are really idle. Why should we get involved when others fight their own wars." The "idiots" he mentioned were obviously not the Germans, but the high-ranking politicians of the British Empire. "They are high-ranking and talk, and let us soldiers go to the battlefield to die. They are really nothing! I think what the German crown prince said is right. These guys can't wait to provoke a war..."
Before he finished speaking, the soldier sitting next to him hurriedly poked him with his elbow. "Shut up, if Lieutenant John hears you, he will put you in confinement."
The soldier just curled his lips in disdain. "Is it just his family that died? My father also fell on the banks of the Somme River." In fact, he also knew that Lieutenant John was much worse off than him. In the Battle of Jutland, Lieutenant John's grandfather, father, and uncle were unfortunately sunk by the Germans on the same battleship; so Lieutenant John had a morbid hatred for the Germans. "I'm surprised that he hates the Germans so much; why doesn't he blame Betty for ruining a good hand?"
In January 1916, Admiral Scheer, commander of the German Ocean Fleet, decided to take the initiative and challenge Britain's maritime hegemony. He ordered Admiral Hipper to lead 5 battlecruisers, 5 light cruisers and 30 destroyers to form a battle feint fleet as bait to lure the British fleet out of the port to chase and kill.
The main force of the ocean fleet led by Scheer himself was hidden 50 nautical miles behind the feint fleet, ready to annihilate the enemy at any time.
Scheer, who was full of confidence, had no idea that the British Navy had already cracked the German telegraph code and accurately grasped all the whereabouts of the German army. Admiral Jellicoe, commander of the British main fleet, took advantage of the situation and formulated a combat plan that was "exactly the same" as the German Navy overnight: Vice Admiral Beatty led 4 battleships, 6 battlecruisers, 14 light cruisers and 27 destroyers as the vanguard fleet, first chasing the attacking Hipper fleet, and when the German ocean fleet led by Scheer came to encircle and annihilate it, pretending to be defeated to lure the enemy.
The main fleet led by Jellicoe himself followed up and formed a siege on the German ocean fleet and annihilated it.
At 14:00 on May 31, the British vanguard fleet, led by Beatty, arrived at the designated sea area to meet with the main fleet. However, at this time, a light cruiser "Gattila" in Beatty's fleet discovered the light cruiser "Elpin" in Hipper's fleet. Almost at the same time, "Elpin" also discovered the other side. The two fleets sounded the battle alarm at the same time, and there was a commotion on the deck, with guns glaring at each other. The number of main battleships of the two vanguard fleets that met was 10:5, and the British had an absolute advantage. Due to the huge disparity in military strength, the German fleet did not dare to fight, and Hipper turned southeast and rushed towards the main force of the ocean fleet according to the predetermined plan.
Betty had already forgotten his scheduled mission when he saw the fat meat about to slip away. He neither further investigated the enemy situation in the surrounding waters nor reported to Jellicoe in time. Instead, he hurriedly issued an order: "Adjust course and pursue at full speed!"
Because they were too far apart, Beatty's four battleships could not recognize the flag of the flagship. When they received the order, the powerful but slow battleships had fallen 10 miles behind the battlecruisers.
Betty, who was eager to fight, had no time to care about many things and led six battlecruisers to chase the enemy.
This was called a "fatal mistake" by the British historians after the war, causing a huge loss to the British fleet.
Because the German ships adopted an advanced unified azimuth firing command system for the entire ship, the hit rate of the artillery was much higher than that of the British ships. In addition, the power of the German armor-piercing shells was also better than that of the British army. Although the force ratio was 6:5, the British army had no advantage at all.
After just a few dozen minutes of running and fighting, the battlecruisers that the British army was proud of sank 2 and 1 was damaged.
Among them, the 70,000-ton "Queen Mary" was broken into two pieces and quickly sank to the bottom of the sea. Only 9 of the 1,275 crew members on board survived.
Unfortunately, Lieutenant John's relatives served on the "Queen Mary".
This was called a "fatal mistake" by the British historians after the war, causing a huge loss to the British fleet.
"How can he be promoted to Admiral after killing so many soldiers? If it were me, I would have to fight Betty to death. I think he is a coward who bullies the weak and fears the strong."
Suddenly, there was a loud "bang". Before the British sailor finished complaining, he was pierced through the head by the explosion that almost tore his eardrums. He only felt the floor under his feet shook violently, and before he could find something to hold on to, he fell to the ground unsteadily.
"What's going on?!" There were more than one or two people in such a mess. Everyone looked around in horror and saw the dishes on the table slowly sliding to the side.
Everyone was speechless with shock. The ship was tilting? !
"Enemy attack!" Someone screamed.