Chapter 10: The Winter of Preparation (2)

  No time to revise, just make do with a rough version today, got a basketball game, class, writing a book, and that damn Tiangong-9... sigh...

  In mid-December, the stubborn southward movement of the Siberian cold air mass brought light snow to Western Europe. With a flourish of snowflakes and fluttering telegrams, Captain Rossetter Gault, the daredevil American cowboy skipper of the Hadley freighter, became an overnight sensation in Europe and indeed around the world.

  After the Dogger Bank Sea Battle, Germany and Britain engaged in a fierce war of words, each accusing the other of ambushing their naval fleets. Just as the whole world was being stunned by the flying spittle of German and British diplomats and naval officers, an American cowboy returning from Kiel harbor waved his private diary and found the editor of a local Dutch newspaper.

  Dutch journalists were thrilled to publish the full personal diary of Atlantic Cowboy, complete with vivid and passionate illustrations and editor's notes.

  The truth about the conspiracy of the early service of the German battle cruiser Blücher and the British Empire Navy Department breathed a sigh of relief, while the Germans continued to celebrate their victory. The world media and neutral civilians had another topic to talk about, and the American cowboy also became known to the world for the first time with the historic Dogger Bank incident.

  After the naval battle, in order to conceal the tactical defeat, the British Admiralty concealed the fact that Invincible had sunk, and instead claimed that she had been heavily damaged and was forced to return to port for repairs. Taking advantage of the fact that the citizens of the Empire were gradually forgetting about Invincible's absence from the Grand Fleet at Scapa Flow, on December 10, 1914, the British Admiralty issued a statement announcing that the repaired Invincible had sunk after striking a mine off the east coast of Scotland while en route to rejoin the fleet.

  November 1, the shadow of the sinking of the British King George V-class battleship Audacious had not yet dispersed, and in less than two months, another main force ship became a soul lost to German mines. Sorrow and mourning became the theme of England, with London residents holding flowers and white candles taking to the streets, or going to nearby churches to mourn the fallen soldiers of Invincible, praying for the poor fleet.

  The British Admiralty's deception almost succeeded, but things are unpredictable. The British Admiralty deliberated for a long time before finalizing an inconspicuous sea area on the North Sea chart, but unexpectedly, this sea area was exactly on the route of the Hadley speed freighter.

  In mid-November, the American cowboy had just transported a ship of iron ore for Germany and took on a new job - transporting a ship of grain for the British. The continuous hustle and bustle left the cowboys exhausted, and the Hadley, a fast cargo ship returning from the east coast of Scotland, took a shortcut through a remote route to return to the port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

  When the tired cowboys were preparing to go to the red light district in Rotterdam to find a few street walkers for a big love affair, the somewhat famous cowboy captain inadvertently heard the news of the sinking of the Invincible. Thus, the conspiracy was exposed. On November 14th, Rosenthal-Gartner finally became the devil that the British people cursed millions of times, the American guy loved and hated by the Germans, and the embodiment of justice and truth in the hearts of the people of the world!

  ****

  December 14th, Hamburg, Germany was cold and windy with thick piles of fallen leaves, but the Blohm + Voss shipyard was a scene of bustling activity.

  Near the bay, inside the dry dock, high scaffolding has been erected early on, and both sides of the keel are piled up with box-shaped keels waiting to be laid, as well as large forged steel materials that make up the hull.

  Wang Haitie and Xiper stood on the high platform of the dry dock, gazing at the new sharp warship that was about to be built, their breathing gradually becoming heavier.

  In 1866, the Prussian Navy had only a few decrepit wooden gunboats, and was barely able to hold its own against Denmark. After the Franco-Prussian War, the German Army was renowned throughout the world, but its navy still consisted of only a handful of sailing warships; in 1894, the German Navy cautiously took its first steps into the open sea with just two Brandenburg-class battleships and one Augusta Victoria-class armoured cruiser.

  It had been sixteen years since the First Naval Law of 1898. With insufficient funding, repeatedly ridiculed by the British, bearing the worst curses of Junker landlords, and with heavy shackles from internal conservatives, German naval personnel paid a great deal of blood and effort to build a world-class fleet that ranked second in the world, and set sail on August 4, 1914, after declaring war at Schloss Charlottenburg.

  The wide dry dock bottom was paved with a double-bottom hull, and the crane roared as it lifted the first box-shaped keel of the Mackensen-class battlecruiser Mackensen into place.

  Navy officers and shipyard workers cheered, knowing that each of the Great Fleet's capital ships was the result of countless heated debates with congressional representatives, compromises with an eccentric emperor, and trade-offs against a haughty royal navy, every one hard-won and precious.

  This is the Navy, and also a proud moment for the Blohm + Voss shipyard! On December 14th, in the biting cold wind of Hamburg harbor, another German battleship will be laid down!

  "I recall that it was in the early autumn of 1897 when I had the good fortune to hear your thesis defense. 'On Asymmetric Warfare in the Era of Battleships' may have been lacking in rigorous logic and detailed theoretical data, but the brilliance of youth shone through everywhere, radiating wisdom and insight worth deeply exploring. Unfortunately, His Majesty Wilhelm is a faithful follower of Mahan."

  Franz-von-Hipple wore a dark general's uniform, glanced sideways at his most admired subordinate Wang Haitian, and had a faint smile on his cold face.

  The workers' agitated emotions did not affect their skilled techniques, and the second block of keel was also hoisted down. The future of this new cruiser can be foreseen: steel materials are stacked longitudinally and transversely on the solid keel, until the hull extends to the upper deck, then the external thick armor and internal turtle shell, as well as the installation of steam engines and boilers, sliding along the dry dock track into the stormy North Sea...

  "Perhaps..." As a member of the naval officer corps, Hipper had never lightly expressed his views on Emperor Wilhelm, having sworn an oath of allegiance to Germany and the House of Hohenzollern. Yet at this moment, as the keel of Mackensen was laid down, Hipper's faith and reserve seemed to be shattered.

  Perhaps Hiper's heart was not as calm as his expression, perhaps Hiper also had something of his own! Wang Haitian hesitated silently for a moment, pressed down the astonishment in her heart, and waited for Hiper's next words.

  "In the beginning of 1914, Raeder tricked me into going to the Admiralty and dragged me along to persuade the stubborn old Admiral Tirpitz to let you return to Germany. The discredited admiral had no intention of wasting the last shred of imperial favor on him, so our persuasion failed. Although I knew that your greatest obstacle to returning to the High Seas Fleet was His Majesty Wilhelm, I still had a glimmer of hope and had Raeder sound out the situation, but naturally, His Majesty did not commit himself. Later, when I heard that you had applied for retirement, I felt that the High Seas Fleet needed you, so I recklessly incited Admiral Tirpitz to defy the Emperor and bring you back. In January, I saw your application for retirement and the revised contents of 'Unrestricted Warfare', and I was delighted - the admiral and I had not misjudged you."

  General Hipper, who had a deep understanding of the otaku, did not keep Wang Haitian waiting for long. He pointed to the battlecruiser that was already under construction below the high platform and said faintly:

  "I originally thought that one Scharnhorst and three Derfflinger-class battlecruisers would be the only forces of the scouting fleet, so I made quite stringent demands on the defensive capabilities of the battlecruisers. However, your revised 'asymmetric warfare' theory has shown me the true value of the post-Scharnhorst class battlecruisers: what the German Navy needs is not a super-dreadnought that is slow to move despite its strong armor and firepower, nor a high-quality but defensively limited battlecruiser, but rather a fast main battleship that combines the defensive capabilities of a battleship with the speed of a battlecruiser. Fortunately, the High Seas Fleet is on its way!"

  "General, this is not just my own credit."

  Although the German dictionary does not have the words "middle way" and "the tall trees will be broken by the wind", nor do they have British tact and gentlemanliness, but somehow, Walther Heiss still shook his head modestly because he was facing Franz von Hipper!

  "As the most outstanding tactical commander of the Grand Fleet, it was you who excelled in command at the Battle of Dogger Bank and gave me your unstinting support at the naval conference after the battle that made my ideas possible."

  "No, Xilem, I don't have your courage and audacity." Hipper patted Heidkamp's shoulder, shaking his head and saying with a smile: "I'm confident that I can command a fleet as easily as I can move my arm, but I would never dare to go against the will of those above me. This is both my good fortune and misfortune! Xilem, you have a rebellious streak in your bones, I don't know if it's good or bad, but the fact that the High Seas Fleet has been able to take the initiative is absolutely related to your audacity!"

  "Admiral von Pohl is not a leader of great stature. His Majesty's Grand Fleet has been put in irons, but the British counterattack is imminent and 1915 will be even more cruel and bloody, with battles raging across the South Atlantic, North Sea and Dardanelles, Sylt, are you ready?"

  Wang Haitie took off his military cap, turned his head and listened carefully to the whistles of the shipbuilders and the clanging of steel, saying confidently: "Of course!"