Chapter 5 The British Two-Front War (3)

  A 6,000-word update ticket... well... I guarantee two updates tomorrow, and the plot will start to speed up. The intense and thrilling sound of giant warships' cannons is about to begin. Also, since it's said that this book has flopped, I won't consider too many commercialization issues. With a slightly serious attitude, a slightly melancholic tone, and themes of friendship, betrayal, and the final ***, I'll just write according to the outline, alone. Commercialization can be left for the next book, okay?

  November 1, 1914, at 3 pm, off Coronel, Chile, South Pacific.

  The two German armored cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, the light cruiser Leipzig, and the hastily summoned Nürnberg were advancing southward in line ahead formation under Spee's command in the East Pacific off Coronel. At the same time a British naval squadron consisting of one armoured cruiser, two light cruisers, and an armed merchant cruiser was steaming northwards in line abreast.

  At 3:34, two iron fleets belonging to different camps collided head-on in the vast Coronel sea area. The German light cruiser Dresden and the British light cruiser Glasgow almost simultaneously discovered a few strands of smoke in the southeast and northwest directions.

  "Emden, alone and unaided, was causing a sensation in the Indian Ocean, while we, with two heavy armoured cruisers of the Scharnhorst class, had only sunk one small French gunboat and several Entente merchant ships..." Standing on the foretop of the Scharnhorst's tripod mast, lookout Baumgartner gazed out to sea through his high-powered binoculars, grumbling to his comrade Gefenius: "A hero without a stage for his deeds - what a pity about this good ship!"

  "Don't lose heart!" Graf von Spee patted the cold steel hull of the armored cruiser Scharnhorst, saying proudly: "According to naval intelligence, the British have only two old battleships and several armored cruisers in South America. Baumgartner, just watch, under the command of Admiral Sturdee and Captain Oden, the British South American squadron will eventually become the most glorious victory in the history of our East Asian Squadron!"

  As Baumgartner and Gefreiter were enjoying their leisure time on the observation tower, the atmosphere in the command tower of Scharnhorst was also relaxed and pleasant.

  "The enemy is stronger than we expected..." Maximilian von Spee dropped the pencil in his hand, narrowed his eyes and said with a hint of a smile: "Oden, do you have any suggestions?"

  At 3:40, the light cruiser Redoubt sent a confirmation telegram that the British warships patrolling the Coronel Sea were not just the Glasgow light cruiser, but a combat squadron of four warships. The pencil dropped by Spee rolled around on the sea chart on the command table in the command tower for several laps, and Bernhard von Oden held down the rapidly jumping pencil and laughed loudly with an open mouth.

  "Commander, if that old and worn-out veteran, the Preussen, were also at Coronel, our victory would be even more glorious!" The 36-year-old von Spee adjusted his uniform, his sharp eyes gleaming with a hint of steel as he grabbed a pencil and heavily crossed out the area around Coronel on the sea chart. "We must remember that we are not Roger Struwe's mad dog fleet, but the glorious and great German East Asia Squadron!"

  Kiel's three swordsmen, Auden, pushed his military cap and revealed his heroic appearance.

  Scheer's lips twitched slightly at the corners, and a moment later, the old and young men who were famous for their bravery in the German Navy exchanged a smile. The silence was broken by a burst of laughter that echoed through the command tower, leaving behind a group of German staff officers and deputy officials with strict and solemn expressions on their faces.

  At 3:47, a shrill alarm sounded from the buzzer, and well-trained sailors came out from all corners, either running three steps at a time, or sliding down handrails, or jumping up from crowded narrow bunks, or lifting their heads in confusion from the roaring engine room.

  Highly flammable items were brought out and carelessly thrown overboard; personal belongings were stowed away, the dining room stewards busy putting dishes and food into empty beer barrels; sandbags, stoppers, canvas lashings and fire extinguishers were placed in handy locations, everything loose on deck was tied down; gunners and turret captains ducked into turrets and control towers, shedding outer garments to ease tight muscles before the battle; engine room men brought out repair tools, waiting for the ultimate fate that German men most desired!

  ****

  "Five German battleships, and two of them are large armored ships?" Rear Admiral Cradock's eyes scanned the telegram from Glasgow back and forth, cold sweat flowing freely down his forehead, into the open collar and disappearing into Cradock's heart that had frozen in an instant. With the pride and temperament cultivated by the Royal Navy over a hundred years, Cradock showed his calmness at first, but the tremolo of his tightened throat betrayed him. "Who can tell me where Scharnhorst and Gneisenau came from?!"

  The British had two battle squadrons in South America, one led by Rear Admiral Cradock, consisting of the old battleship HMS Hogue, the armoured cruisers Good Hope and Monmouth, the light cruiser Glasgow and the auxiliary cruiser Otranto, patrolling off the west coast of South America. The other was led by Rear Admiral Sturdee, consisting of the old battleship Defence, the armoured cruisers Carnarvon and Cornwall, the light cruiser Bristol and the armed merchant ships Macedonia and Orama, stationed on the east coast of South America in Uruguay, thousands of miles from Coronel.

  Given the strength of the German fleet and his own isolated position, Commodore Harwood had every reason to feel apprehensive. Although his flagship HMS Ajax was nominally a heavy cruiser in the Royal Navy's classification, she was dwarfed by the Scharnhorst-class "pocket battleships", which were actually battlecruisers masquerading as E-class cruisers.

  In 1897, Tirpitz first proposed the concept of a perfect cruiser. Recognizing the potential value of such a ship, in 1904 he proposed a battleship-cruiser hybrid, but this was met with fierce opposition from Kaiser Wilhelm II, who had a strong preference for traditional battleships.

  The Scharnhorst-class armored cruisers were a "compromise" between the timid German Naval Ministry and the strong-willed Emperor Wilhelm. The Scharnhorst-class armored cruisers had a standard displacement of 13,900 tons, a length of 157 meters, a beam of 22.9 meters, a long forecastle hull, three triple-expansion steam engines, a maximum power of 34,000 horsepower, and a top speed of 25 knots.

  It is worth mentioning that, under the unintentional promotion of the two naval strategic geniuses, Heiti-Silem and Wolfgang-Weigener, the conservative naval design department finally broke through the constraints of the 210-caliber gun plus multiple times the caliber of the shell penetration power. The 24CM-SKL/42 type gun was adopted, which was improved from the Army's 1894-style 240-fire cannon. Four twin-mounted 240 guns were arranged along the centerline of the bow and stern, with a back-to-back layout and two elevated gun platforms. Eight 150mm secondary guns were evenly distributed on both sides of the hull, and to ensure stability, the secondary gun turrets were all lowered by one deck. In terms of defensive capabilities, the Scharnhorst-class had a waterline belt armor of 160mm, turret front armor of 187mm, and horizontal deck armor of 63mm. In some sense, the Scharnhorst-class large armored cruiser can be considered a scaled-down version of a battlecruiser. Compared to the British Invincible-class and Indomitable-class, the Scharnhorst-class was at a disadvantage only in terms of main gun caliber and tonnage, but its defensive armor was not inferior to that of the British battlecruisers!

  The Blücher, which was launched in 1907, was even more outrageous. Its standard displacement exceeded 15,300 tons, with four 280mm twin-mounted 28CM-SKL/45 type main guns, and its defensive capabilities were a full level higher than those of the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, with overall strength far surpassing that of the British Invincible-class and Indefatigable-class battlecruisers.

  Since 1898, when Germany passed the First Naval Expansion Act, a fierce Anglo-German naval arms race began. The energetic Admiral Fischer used dreadnoughts and battlecruisers to test the waters, successfully probing the sincerity of Tirpitz's risk theory. However, relying on the powerful shipbuilding capabilities and massive naval expenditures of the British Empire, Germany was steadily suppressed. Nevertheless, during Tirpitz's tenure as Navy Minister for over a decade, the German navy was not entirely ineffective. Since the start of the naval arms race, the proud British discovered with embarrassment that every time they developed a groundbreaking new technology and applied it to their warships, Germany would easily catch up. The "copycat" products pushed out by Germany far surpassed the quality and technical maturity of the original British versions. The suspicious British intelligence agencies launched a massive "rectification movement" within the Royal Navy and shipyards, fabricating numerous false cases, but the Germans' copying business continued to thrive. As a result, the British could only resort to boasting about their shipbuilding speed and numerous "firsts".

  After the war, the British wanted to know the truth behind the naval arms race, but high-ranking German naval officers who knew the facts and had sworn allegiance to the Emperor remained silent. Only Reinhard von Scheer mentioned it briefly in his post-war memoirs "Germany's High Seas Fleet in the World War".

  "In 1905, the Marshal's (Tirpitz) lifelong arch-nemesis (Fisher) initiated the Dreadnought construction plan. When the Marshal learned of this news, he was almost ecstatic. He reported it to the Emperor, who was shocked. The Marshal calmly pulled out our Nassau-class battleship design plans and the flustered Emperor agreed. In reality, I knew that since 1897 when Haidi-Selim proposed the concept of a dreadnought ship, the Marshal had ordered the technical department to secretly track its development and the design department had been privately designing drafts and continually improving them. The British, in order to compete with America for the honor of 'the first dreadnought', did not hesitate to prematurely start the Dreadnought's construction plan. However, at that time, the Marshal's office cabinet was already filled with various dreadnought design plans."

  The Scharnhorst-class armoured cruisers, although not a match for true battlecruisers, were an insoluble presence in front of the Cradock squadron. The flagship Good Hope's main guns were only 234mm, and no matter the caliber, rate of fire or firepower, they were far inferior to those of the Scharnhorst class; the old battleship Monmouth, which trailed behind, had four 305mm giant guns, but it was a product of the previous era, with an aging hull, slow speed, slow firing rate and insufficient ammunition power. The crew assigned to Monmouth were mostly temporarily transferred from the naval reserve units, in short, this million-ton giant only had the ability to intimidate people. The armoured cruiser HMS Defence's main guns were only 6 inches, Glasgow was just a light cruiser, and British light cruisers were undoubtedly not opponents of German same-level ships with an extraordinary obsession with defensive power. The auxiliary cruiser Otranto was converted from a regular liner, and its combat effectiveness was even more negligible. With all these unfavorable factors superimposed, Cradock could not help but be intimidated.

  "General, the Germans are pressing on fiercely. Shall we retreat first and join up with the old man at Star Number...?" The captain of the Good Hope armored cruiser stammered.

  "Retreat, how can we retreat?!"

  On October 29, Cradock callously and unfeelingly rejected Sturdee's goodwill offer to share the spoils, leaving Sturdee's squadron idle at Montevideo, Uruguay. Three days later, Cradock's stubbornness became a laughable, childish selfishness in the face of the East Asian Squadron's superior force. From being the hunter who manipulated life and death, he had become the hunted, prey to be slaughtered at will. Cradock was furious and resentful, and would have liked to tear Glasgow's captain to pieces for his false report.

  "Even if I were willing to bear the odium of abandoning ship, what about the Ottomanto which cannot steam more than 18 knots? Am I to leave her to the Germans?"

  The conning tower of the Good Hope fell silent as death, all the officers and staff were silent. Commodore Cradock calmed down, he slowly took off his military cap, and said in a low voice: "Notify the old man to proceed south at full speed, and meet with Commodore Stoddart as soon as possible. Notify the Admiralty, my battle squadron has discovered the main force of the German East Asia Squadron, Cradock is determined to engage the German fleet in a fight to the death, God save the King!"

  Orders poured out from the command tower and signal flags, inexperienced conscripts and military academy graduates who graduated early took action at their respective posts, struggling to manipulate thousands of tons of giant ships. The desperate Cradock fleet began to turn around, rushing towards the blood-red western sea and sky, trying to seize the T-shaped head. The Nelson Z flag, symbolizing the Royal Navy's hundred-year pride, slowly rose, and the horn of war was destined to sound in the remote and desolate South Pacific.

  Note

  1. CM usually refers to the caliber of a gun, SK is an abbreviation for naval guns, and L/40 refers to the barrel length multiple. Not very familiar with German artillery, chose army guns, longer barrel length multiple...

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