I Became a Plutocrat in World War I: Starting with Saving France

Chapter 1027 1027: A Familiar Strait

Late today, only one update, sorry!

...

"Damn it!" Prime Minister George cursed, his face pale: "They've thought it through long ago, it's Shire's trick! Shire must have guessed that we would send reinforcements to Brest, so he coordinated with the Germans."

No one doubted this.

France and Germany are now quasi-allies, and the attack timing of the German High Seas Fleet perfectly fits France's needs.

There are only two paths ahead for the Royal Navy:

One is to disregard everything and continue the attack on Brest Port.

The other is to immediately redeploy troops to aid the North Sea.

The Minister of Military Supplies chose the former.

"We should continue the attack," he said:

"The Germans are just bluffing, they don't have the capability to break through the blockade of the North Sea fleet."

"Just as I said, their morale and combat power have not yet recovered, even if they have more warships."

"They just hope to disrupt our attack rhythm!"

But Minister of the Navy Belfort held a different opinion:

"What if the Germans win? We all know the Germans have been planning for a long time, and they have more warships in the North Sea direction than we do."

"Once the Germans defeat us in the North Sea, even if we win at Brest, it won't help."

"By then, everyone will know that besides France, the German Fleet can also defeat us; we can't take that risk!"

The Minister of Military Supplies is a total gambler, he loudly opposed: "But what if we win on both fronts? Wouldn't that have a better effect."

So everyone understood his thought:

Defeat the German Fleet in the North Sea, defeat the French Fleet in the Atlantic.

Then all the colonies planning or already in turmoil would be frightened, and the world would naturally return to England's "management."

"No." Prime Minister George felt this was too risky: "We should follow the original plan, block Brest Port with mines, and redeploy the second fleet back to the North Sea."

He believed there was no rush to attack Brest Port, it was right there, and it wouldn't be too late to attack after defeating the German Fleet.

This thinking was correct in principle, but in actual operation, they found that the Minister of Military Supplies was right, because the second fleet couldn't be redeployed back.

...

Brest Port, the attack by the Royal Navy's Second Fleet had reached a fever pitch.

The tactics of the Minister of Military Supplies were indeed effective.

Destroyers drew the fire from the French battleships at the front, and at the back were 3 super dreadnoughts and 5 dreadnoughts, lined up broadside facing Brest Port with guns aiming at the target.

Unable to launch seaplanes, Vice Admiral Forbes chose to use destroyers for gun calibration: The destroyers entered visual range, observing with binoculars, then communicating with the battleships via radio.

The destroyers endured enormous pressure because they were also the target of enemy battleships.

They could only hope they weren't picked by the enemy.

Then, only those that survived could relay information back to the rear for the battleships to avenge them.

British dreadnoughts fired sequentially at the obtained coordinates every few seconds.

(Note: Warships fire at intervals of a few seconds for calibration. If all warships fire simultaneously, the destroyers in front can't distinguish accurately which ship's data is most correct. With a 10-second interval, the destroyers know which ship achieved a "cross-shot," and then all ships can fire based on that ship's data)

Next, Vice Admiral Forbes received a signal from the destroyers: "Ship Three achieved a 'cross-shot,' Ship Three!"

Vice Admiral Forbes was overjoyed, Ship Three being the "Malaysia" of the "Queen Elizabeth" class, its cross-shot meant that all three "Queen Elizabeth" class ships could precisely fire.

This could likely cause severe damage to the target.

(Note: Even if warships have identical guns, due to differences in height, displacement, etc., the ballistic error among different class warships can be significant, while same-class warships would have much smaller errors. During World War I, battleships' hit rate was extremely low, with the British dreadnought hit rate at Jutland being only 3%, relying on these methods to improve hit rate)

Vice Admiral Forbes loudly ordered: "Adjust the data!"

Soon came the relay shout from the communications operator and staff officer:

"Ready!"

"Ready!"

...

"Fire!" Vice Admiral Forbes shouted.

"Boom boom boom!"

"Boom boom!"

...

The sound of cannon fire blended together, the ship trembled violently with each shot, sometimes the ship hadn't swung back when recoil pushed it in the opposite direction again, the smoke from the muzzle blossomed on the enemy's side like gray-black petals.

No whistle from the shells, because it can't be heard, but the water column shooting skyward from tens of kilometers away was clearly visible.

Then came two more rounds of firing, the sea surface was covered with smoke, the air filled with the smell of gunpowder, blown into the command cabin by the moist sea breeze.

But Vice Admiral Forbes was used to it, he tensely held up binoculars watching the direction of Brest Port.

A burst of fire, within the water column, bright and with black smoke.

Vice Admiral Forbes was ecstatic, years of combat experience told him the fire meant hitting the target, bright fire with black smoke likely indicated the enemy ship's shells exploding.

The command cabin cheered.

But the telegram brought the report from the front destroyers: "Sank a cruiser, enemy battleship timely escaped!"

The cheers gradually died down, sinking a cruiser was not significant, at least compared to the loss of one's destroyers.

However, Forbes was not angry, the British side held an absolute advantage, enemy dreadnoughts were only 2, dodging everywhere in the narrow confines of the port, they couldn't afford to lose!

But just then, the staff officer reported: "General, telegram from London, the Prime Minister orders us to withdraw from the battle and aid the North Sea!"

"What?" Vice Admiral Forbes incredulously looked at the staff officer: "We're about to win, at this point?"

The staff officer spoke helplessly: "The German High Seas Fleet is attacking the North Sea, General, reinforcements are urgently needed."

Vice Admiral Forbes acknowledged, regretfully looking at Brest, ordered: "Withdraw troops, aid the North Sea!"

However, little did Vice Admiral Forbes know, this was precisely the beginning of his nightmare.

...

English Channel.

The "Warspite" of the "Queen Elizabeth" class super dreadnought led two dreadnoughts and over a dozen destroyers as the first batch entering the channel.

The "Warspite" just passed through the channel from the North Sea to reinforce Brest last night, and the warships it led were the same.

The reason for letting them aid the North Sea first was because they had been in battle for only about an hour, with little ammunition expended.

Vice Admiral Forbes thought they could enter the North Sea against the German High Seas Fleet at their best state.

They were unaware of what awaited them in this familiar channel!