Chapter 6: The Falsified History (3)

  After the untiring efforts of the workers at the Blohm + Voss shipyard, a pirate version of the Derfflinger battlecruiser converted from a 10,000-ton abandoned merchant ship was towed by several tugboats from a hidden dry dock into the spacious repair dock of the shipyard.

  "Westheim, are you certain we can fool the British Intelligence?" Erich Raeder stood on this mock-up battlecruiser, stroking those freshly painted 350mm gun models, chattering away.

  The Dogger Bank incident, planned by Wang Haitie, was secretly passed through the Naval General Staff headed by Admiral Henning von Holtzendorff. A group of enthusiastic and bold high-ranking naval officers attempted to bypass the conservative old men of the Navy Department and the eccentric Emperor, using the pretext of a routine combat patrol by the First Reconnaissance Squadron to provoke an incident that would force the main fleet of the High Seas Fleet to reinforce. To this end, Rear Admiral Reinhard Scheer's Third Battle Squadron and Rear Admiral Franz von Hipper's First Reconnaissance Squadron conducted joint training exercises in the narrow waters of Jade Bay. Wang Haitie, who had once served as a mobilization staff officer for the reserve fleet, rushed to Hamburg harbor, where he skillfully selected an old 10,000-ton merchant ship that had already been decommissioned, and began the strategic deception and naval camouflage prior to the Dogger Bank incident.

  After three days of hard work, the knockoff version of the German cruiser "Deutschland" emerged from the factory, with a fresh coat of paint and a convincing appearance. At first glance, it has the air of a large warship with massive guns. Although the proportions of the hull are slightly different from those of the original Deutschland, the distinctive features of the latter - its sharp bow, low forecastle, and four twin 350mm turrets in a superfiring arrangement - have been faithfully reproduced in the knockoff version, making it almost indistinguishable from the real thing.

  "No need to hide for long, just interfere with the judgment of the Pacific Fleet for a short time!" As she said this, Wang Haitian was already hurrying down the gangway towards the dock, her face almost saying "I'm busy" in three big words.

  "Time is life", this old saying has great significance for the German Empire, which has gradually fallen into a war of attrition and a protracted war. These six words are enough to make Wang Haitian shed his head and blood.

  As the deputy of the First Reconnaissance Fleet, Wang Haitian could have lived a very leisurely life, and laziness was once the greatest pursuit of his life. However, in this critical autumn of survival, Germany's decline on land became apparent, and Wang Haitian had to put aside his former carefree attitude. For that one thread of hope, he struggled hard, and Wang Haitian's next stop was the magnificent shipyard in the desolate and remote Danzig Bay of East Prussia.

  When Wang Haiting rushed to the Danzig shipyard, the battleship lying in the dry dock had already hung up colorful flags. Under the operation of the shipyard workers and the sailors assigned to this battleship, the high scaffold on the hull was quickly dismantled, and the nameplate "Salamis" at the bow of the warship was replaced with the words "Deutsd". Everything tells people that this battleship abandoned by the Greek government has not been scrapped as claimed by the German government, but has been renamed Deutsd and secretly transferred to the remote Danzig shipyard for continued construction.

  Under the escort of the shipyard manager and the officers and men of the German cruiser, wearing a lieutenant general's uniform, the deputy commander of the First Reconnaissance Fleet, Wang Haitie, approached the cruiser with a complex bloodline, took over a bottle of champagne, and waited for the moment when the warship was launched.

  "Germania's brave warriors, but Zeppelin's diligent creators! Today, November 11th, is a great day!" Wang Haiting stood on a high platform in the dry dock, facing thousands of workers and sailors, holding up champagne and splashing it around: "In 1913, the Greek government ordered a Salamis-class cruiser with 14-inch guns from Krupp. To ensure quality and quantity, hundreds of technicians and thousands of workers at Blohm + Voss worked day and night to complete the task. Krupp even developed a special 14-inch main gun for it. On August 4th, war broke out, and the Greek government announced that they would abandon the Salamis-class cruiser. The construction schedule of the six major shipyards was fully booked due to the war, and at this time, the Salamis-class cruiser had just laid its keel, with only one-third of the hull completed. The Navy Department suggested scrapping the cruiser, but I persuaded Admiral Hipper to persist because I believed that this unfinished battleship was worth saving, because Germany's wartime resources could not afford to be wasted, because the workers at Zeppelin were the best technicians in the world, and because the German Navy had enough patience to wait for this cruiser!"

  A deafening shout came from the dock. The young sailors and workers had proud faces, they all shouted loudly, their voices almost overturning the steel vault of the dry dock.

  Wang Haitian stood on the high platform, with a faint smile on his face. In his previous life, Wang Haitian spent over a decade in front of the computer, wasting his youth in trivial matters, until he stood on this high platform, surrounded by an endless aura, listening to the rhythm of the great era, and it was only then that the careless otaku suddenly realized he liked this feeling.

  "I speak on behalf of the Imperial Navy to express my gratitude for the tireless efforts of the workers at Danzig over the past three months, and to thank the officers and men of the Deutschland for their unwavering dedication. I would like to say: Long live the Danzig shipyard! Long live the High Seas Fleet! Long live Germany!"

  Wang Haitie smashed the champagne in her hand towards the bow of the German cruiser, completing the final ceremony of launching a warship - "bottle breaking". Navigation is a tough and dangerous business, always accompanied by countless sea disasters and unpredictable deaths. It is said that when the fragrance of champagne fills the bow of the ship, it can ward off evil and disaster, so every warship holds a "bottle breaking" ceremony before launching.

  Champagne bottles clinked against the cold steel, the popping sound making one's heart skip a beat. Along with the heavy breathing of otaku and the frenzied cheers of dockworkers, on November 11th, 1914, in Danzig Bay, Baltic Sea, unnoticed by British intelligence, a battleship cruiser with a designed displacement of 21,000 tons, equipped with 22 boilers and two old-fashioned steam engines, with a top design speed of 23 knots, armed with four twin-mounted 350mm main guns and ten 150mm secondary guns, slid into the sea along the rails. This battlecruiser would undergo refitting and sea trials in Danzig Bay, and the crew would also conduct training exercises, by January 1915 at the latest, this battlecruiser, not on the radar of the Grand Fleet, would join Admiral Hipper's First Reconnaissance Squadron with a brand new look, leaving the proud British people in shock!

  "General Xilaimu, you are not only an outstanding naval commander, but also a great propagandist." The manager of the Butze Shipyard came over and flattered him in a low voice.

  "Orator?" Wang Haitian smiled wryly. If Riddell heard this, he would eagerly jump out and recount the ugly appearance of a drunk otaku, counting on his fingers the promotions of an otaku who was suppressed because of his boastful words. "Never mind that, how's the progress of building the Levushov?"

  "Rurik's keel was laid on 16 July 1912, and three-quarters of the hull construction had been completed when war broke out. Under pressure from the Naval Ministry and Admiral Hipper, we accelerated the pace of construction, Rurik was launched on October 31st, and by March next year at the latest, this newest battlecruiser will join the High Seas Fleet!"

  The manager walked and said, leading Wang Haitie into another launch ship. Only to see a beautifully shaped warship quietly docked on the ship, with an inverted V-shaped bow, a long forecastle island, a high freeboard and a triangular mast, the hull was being installed with gun barrels, and there was also a "Luetzow" nameplate hanging from the bow position.

  Undoubtedly, this is the second ship of the Derflinger-class battlecruiser Lützow, with a standard displacement of 3,1054 tons, 14 oil-coal mixed combustion boilers, 2 steam turbines, maximum power of 80,521 horsepower, and a top speed of 26.5 knots. It is equipped with 4 specially designed 350mm twin 35CM-SKL/45 type main guns for the battlecruiser Salamis, 12 single 150mm (5.9 inch)/45 caliber guns, waterline belt armor with a thickness of 350mm, and horizontal armor plates with a maximum thickness of 80mm. With the addition of watertight compartment design and double longitudinal bulkheads in the middle section, the comprehensive strength of Lützow has already surpassed that of ordinary dreadnoughts.

  "General, to be frank, the situation is not optimistic. The naval construction program assigned to us has been pushed back to 1916, and the resources allocated to us are insufficient to support the shipyard's construction plans. For example, the Bayern-class battleship Baden, which was started on December 22, 1913, has had its launch date repeatedly delayed due to a lack of Krupp steel, with the most optimistic estimate being March 1915. As far as I know, the Kiel Howaldt shipyard's Bayern-class No. 1 will not be launched until around January 1915."

  "This is already a pretty good ending......" Wang Haitian turned his head to glance at the dry dock where the battleship Baden was being repaired, saying indifferently.

  Historically, the German Navy suffered a defeat in Heligoland Bight and ceded control of the North Sea to the British Royal Navy. The overbearing Royal Navy not only arbitrarily detained German merchant ships but also refused to let go of munitions smuggling ships flying American and Dutch flags. Iron ore from Norway and Sweden could only be transported to Germany's industrial areas via the Baltic Sea and East Prussia under threat from the Royal Navy's light vessels. In this world, the German Navy holds sway over the North Sea, Norwegian and Swedish merchant ships come and go as they please, and the British, fearful of making too many enemies, turn a blind eye to munitions smuggling ships from neutral nations. As a result, Germany is still able to obtain strategic resources such as iron ore and saltpeter from overseas.

  "The blockade battle of the Great Fleet and the breakout battle of the Oceanic Fleet, who will die in whose hands, let's see!"

  A bit of dog blood, can everyone accept it? Can you all accept this foreshadowing about the Salamis-class battlecruiser?