Chapter 6: The Falsified History (Part One)

  The conspiracy before the war, the old guys are withering away one by one, history will take a huge turn here, this is the era of giant ships and cannons, the dynasty of young people, haha!

  November 7th, the late autumn London was as usual shrouded in mist and rain, the damp weather always made people feel a bit more melancholy. Just after 12 o'clock, the Big Ben in the old city south of the city bashfully reported the time, the thick bell sound that had experienced many vicissitudes pierced through the gloomy weather, swaying above the foggy capital, and inadvertently drifted into the old British Navy headquarters building.

  Winston Churchill's private secretary, Eddie Marsh, was slightly on edge. He would occasionally put down the heavy workload and glance over at the tightly closed door to Churchill's office. At 9 am, First Lord of the Admiralty Churchill had invited Grand Fleet Commander Admiral Jellicoe for a private meeting that lasted three hours.

  On November 5, the grand naval expansion conference in London ended in discord and disagreement. Churchill, who was gradually gaining power, decided to abandon Admiral Fisher's long-range blockade theory after his resignation and withdraw the main force of the Grand Fleet to annihilate Germany's remaining East Asian squadron and raiders overseas, and prepare for the Dardanelles campaign he had planned himself. However, Admiral John Jellicoe, who enjoyed great prestige among lower-ranking naval officers as Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Fleet, insisted on retaining a numerically superior fleet over the German High Seas Fleet to avoid potential risks.

  In Britain, the internal struggle between Fisher and Churchill had a long history, even King George had some knowledge of it. The confrontation between Churchill and Jellicoe was intense, although the latter was not a strong personality, but once the contradiction rose to the level of theory or strategy, no one would dare to back down easily, Churchill's office could not escape the passionate scene of sparks colliding with the earth, thinking of this, Eddie Marsh felt a pang in his heart.

  It turned out that Eddie Marsh was overthinking, the spacious office was as quiet as death, except for a slightly heavy breathing sound. This embarrassing atmosphere had lasted for a long time, 40-year-old Winston Churchill sat in front of his desk, drooping his eyelids, skillfully using small scissors to cut his beloved Cuban Havanah cigar. 55-year-old Admiral John Jellicoe wore a deep black naval uniform, with his hands behind his back, leisurely measuring the sea chart hanging on the wall, as if the ordinary sea chart hid the treasure map of the Nordic pirate era's Redbeard Barbarossa.

  The deep, sonorous chimes of Big Ben and the incessant shouts from the Admiralty had been echoing in for decades. Winston Churchill took a deep breath, feeling unresigned, but ultimately lit the Cuban cigar he had been playing with for nearly three hours, his face expressionless as he spoke:

  "In two hours, the second naval expansion conference will be held. Admiral, as a leader of the navy, perhaps we should unify our stance."

  "Sir Churchill……" Admiral Jellicoe finally shifted his gaze back from the shallow sea chart, and to his superior, seemingly muttering to himself yet with a firm tone said: "I can add some bricks to your Falkland Islands battle, three battlecruisers of the Second Scouting Group will join the South American Squadron soon; I reserve my opinion on the Dardanelles Campaign you personally planned for spring 1915, Agincourt and Erin will be your and the Mediterranean Fleet's trump card!"

  The Dardanelles Campaign was a military campaign that took place in 1915, devised by Winston Churchill to take control of the Dardanelles and Bosphorus straits, capture the Ottoman capital Constantinople, and force Turkey out of the war with Germany.

  By the end of September, Turkey's tendency to ally with Germany became more and more obvious. The British Admiralty, led by Churchill, was exposed by a London tabloid for its rude treatment of the Ottoman Empire. Churchill barely managed to cover up the incident by citing the need to avoid technical leaks and to get free ships for the Grand Fleet. In early October, Admiral Berkeley Milne, who was patrolling the Aegean Sea with two battlecruisers and five cruisers, deliberately took the "cheapest battleship in the world" - the Indomitable - back to Alexandria, Egypt, to show off his "holy relic". The result was that the "seven-turret holy object", which was congenitally deficient and acquired deformity, almost gave the elderly earl a myocardial infarction. After the incident, the old earl sent a sternly worded telegram to the Admiralty and Armstrong Shipyard about "returning goods", which was widely circulated for a long time. The news came out, and the voices criticizing Churchill rose again. To restore his reputation and prove the strength of the Agincourt, Churchill hastily put forward the plan to attack Ottoman Turkey, personally planning the Dardanelles Campaign, with plans to complete preparations by February 1915. Jellicoe maintained an opposing attitude towards the leaky Dardanelles campaign plan, but he did not mind making a risk-free deal with Churchill.

  "General, your suggestion has moved me. Perhaps I should repay you..." Winston Churchill pointed to the blurred Thames River leading to the North Sea outside the window, and that faint smile dissipated, holding a cigar savoring the taste: "The North Sea? Or rather, authorization for the Grand Fleet's free action?"

  "No, Sir Winston, I am a professional soldier. Soldiers do not indulge in unrealistic wishes!" General John Jellicoe countered Churchill's innuendo with an impassive tone, his stiff expression tinged with a hint of irony: "However, perhaps you could grant me freedom to open fire at Dogger Bank and access to German naval wireless telegraphy intelligence reports."

  "Admiral, that's not the point!" The fleet commander's plan for the Dogger Bank ambush had been sitting on Churchill's desk for a long time. Churchill took a leisurely puff of his cigar, letting the pale blue smoke rise in front of his desk. "Although I personally admire Beatty, his First Battle Cruiser Squadron can't take on Hipper's First Scouting Group!"

  "What if the three Orion-class battleships of the Second Division of the Second Battle Squadron were given to David Beatty?"

  After circling for a long time, John-Jerico suddenly appeared and ruthlessly played his trump card, using a dagger called David-Betty to viciously stab Winston-Churchill's weak point.

  ****

  "Commander, has the Minister of the Navy agreed to our plan of action?" Jellicoe emerged from the dilapidated Admiralty building, clutching his naval cap, and was met by Admiral David Beatty, who stood guard at the door with a complex expression.

  Jellico looked at David Bettany, opened his mouth to speak, then closed it again. Finally, he let out a long sigh: "Bettany, do you know that from today on, the Minister of the Navy will no longer look after you? Your smooth sailing career is about to hit rock bottom, and all your accumulated prestige will vanish in an instant. You'll have to face a bunch of ruthless politicians!"

  Churchill had a debt of gratitude to Beatty. In 1911, when Beatty was serving as the flag captain to the First Sea Lord Admiral Arthur Wilson's successor, Sir Francis Bridgeman, he found himself at odds with his chief and out of favor. Churchill rescued him in 1912 by making him his own naval secretary.

  The taste of betrayal is not good, David-Betty covered his uneasy conscience, with a heavy face and one word at a time:

  "War is a soldier's affair, it does not allow for any romantic indulgence! I am a professional soldier, there are some things that I must do!"

  "Alright, you'll get the support of the second squadron of the Second Battle Squadron's three battleships and intelligence from the German Navy's secret wireless telegraphy department. You have the freedom to open fire at Dogger Bank, and the High Seas Fleet will be your strongest backing! Go ahead and do it, let the greatest tactical commander of the German Navy, Franz von Hipper, and the most excellent strategic genius, Heidekampf, be defeated and sunk in the mudflats of Dogger Bank!" Admiral Jellicoe patted David Beatty on the shoulder, encouraging him.

  ****

  The weather in the North Sea was just right, and HMS Birmingham came steaming up, anchoring in the shallow water near the British coast.

  On August 13, the Birmingham light cruiser patrolling in this area discovered a German U-15 submarine floating and charging. The Birmingham light cruiser easily sank the German submarine that could not escape. Twelve days passed, and the Royal Navy was defeated in the Battle of Heligoland Bight, and the Birmingham light cruiser, which belonged to the First Cruiser Squadron, did not participate in the battle due to mechanical failure and survived by luck. Sinking a German submarine also became the only achievement of the Royal Navy.

  At present, the North Sea is dominated by the German Navy. Even though it's close to the British coastline, the British still feel that this place is not suitable for a long stay. Under the urging of the captain, the first batch of divers jumped from the stern of the Birmingham and plunged into the dark ocean.

  The location of the U-15 wreck was not deep, and divers found many valuable things in the broken hull.

  "Captain, I've found something!" The diver excitedly shouted as he burst out of the water's surface, holding up a sealed lead box.

  The lead box was soon delivered to the captain's quarters, and Captain Birmingham struggled for half a day before prying open the iron box. The sweating captain carelessly twisted open the box, and as a result he was shocked.

  "Heavens... Could it be that even God is on our side?"

  On August 25, 1914, the British recovered a German naval codebook from the wreckage of the German U-15 submarine. Over the next two months, dozens of renowned linguists, mathematicians and cryptanalysts gathered at the Admiralty's cryptography centre to crack the codes. Recently, British Naval Intelligence had intercepted several messages from the High Seas Fleet that all pointed to one place: Dogger Bank.