Although the German Navy chose to stay at home to guard the house, Germany's large-scale shipbuilding plan did not stop and was still preparing to fight a decisive battle with the British Navy. The dock was still full of warships under construction at all levels.

Since the war has broken out, Germany has no more time to design and develop, so all the warships under construction are slightly modified and upgraded based on the existing warships and are built on a large scale.

After the German Navy took advantage of the precious time of ordering warships in China to expand and upgrade the major German docks, it opened four more large shipyards to try to shorten the naval industry gap with the UK.

Now, in addition to the Bavarian-class battleships being built in the German dock, after learning that the British started construction of the Revenge-class battleship, the German Navy immediately started construction of the Markon-class battleship to compete with it.

However, it is very coincidental that due to funding and design issues, the Revenge-class battleship was finally made for a smaller version of the Queen Elizabeth-class battleship, and no longer built larger caliber, more main guns, and larger tonnage like before. Germany also had a tight funding. It originally planned to build seven Markon-class battleships, and finally approved the construction of four, and the remaining three were converted into battle cruisers.

The four Marken-class battleships under construction did not undergo major changes like the British, because the Bavarian-class battleships were stronger than the British Queen Elizabeth-class battleships in terms of firepower and armor. Therefore, the German Marken-class battleships still used 8 double-equipped strong millimeter main guns to continue to strengthen armor protection. The tonnage was increased by the Bavarian-class. However, after the improvement of the oil-fired boiler, the number of boilers decreased, and the degree was increased to 23 kilograms. It was slower than the Queen Elizabeth-class battleships. The overall situation was that the German Marken-class battleships were much better than the Queen Elizabeth-class battleships.

The British government was very angry because of its mistakes in building the Revenge-class battleship, but it was too late to change the profits. For this reason, the British authorities re-activated veteran Lord Fisher and asked him to take charge of the naval work, hoping to make up for the mistakes in the construction of British warships with his rich experience.

The latter two of the seven Revenge-class battleships were suspended by Fei Haner, and according to the wartime emergency plan, they were transformed into prestige-class battleship cruisers.

Due to technological advancement, the Queen Elizabeth-class battleships that started construction in the year and month of the year can already reach a voyage of ten thousand knots. This degree is very close to the voyage of battlecruisers. In contrast, the advantage of battlecruisers no longer exists.

Of course, this refers to European battle cruisers. The battle cruisers of Britain and Germany are between hocks and hocks, and their advantage over battleships is already very weak. However, China in the East is not within this range. Because although China's battleships are also ten thousand kilograms, the battleships of the Royal Navy of China have reached the blade festival, and their advantage over battleships still exists.

Therefore, after three years of induction, the British Navy had no plans to build new battlecruisers. When World War I exploded, the last two "reputation" and "counterattack" of the Revenge-class battleships had just started construction. Since it was concluded that the two ships had no time to participate in the war, the UK was preparing to cancel the construction of these two warships. At this time, the First Minister of Maritime Affairs Fisher proposed to convert the two warships into battlecruisers and promised to complete the construction within a month to participate in the war.

The British Navy has not approved the construction plan for a long time. However, just as the British and German Navy confronted the North Sea, a huge incident occurred in the Far East, which made the British Navy panic.

On July 2, after the Belgrade incident in the old year, the German government realized that a large-scale European war was about to break out. As Britain contracted its global navy and made every effort to encircle the German high seas fleet, the German high seas fleet could not jump out of the North Sea and enter the Atlantic to attack the British supply line. Therefore, the German Admiralty immediately formulated a plan to hide the assault forces near the Americas.

It happened that after the Chinese Navy Atlantic Fleet visited Germany, the German Navy Department sent German Navy Lieutenant General Maximilian, Von and Specan to lead the German Navy East Asian Squadron to visit China, so this fleet became the best target of cover.

However, the Spey fleet had only two armored cruisers, the Schánhorst, the Gneisenno, three Nuremberg, Leipzig, Dreston, and two auxiliary ships, which were far-fetched to carry out the raid battle.

Therefore, the German Navy ordered Lieutenant General Spee to discuss with Chinese Navy Minister General Zhao Online's purchase of Chinese active warships or upcoming warships.

After discussing with Chief of Staff Tian Renjie, General Zhao believes that instead of selling it to German cruisers, it is better to sell several battle cruisers to Germany to allow Germany to strengthen its naval strength.

After reporting to Emperor Zhang Yunfei, Zhang Yunfei believed that the European War was about to break out. At this time, Germany suddenly bought warships from China, which must be a trick. At the same time, if it suddenly sold weapons like the German naval battlecruiser at this sensitive time, it would definitely cause strong dissatisfaction from the British Navy.

Therefore, Zhang Yunfei refused to sell it to the German Navy's Tianquan-class or Sea Dragon King-class battlecruisers, but instead agreed to sell the four newly transformed Wangshu-class battlecruisers to the German Navy.

The Wangshu-class battle cruiser was transformed from the Wangshu-class and Feilian-class heavy cruiser. The firepower and degree are all in the battle cruiser family. Even if sold to the German Navy, it will not cause strong protests from Britain, France and other countries.

At the same time, the preparation skills were done very well. First, it was announced that the four modified Wangshu-class battle cruisers had withdrawn from the Imperial Qin Royal Navy combat sequence without meeting the naval requirements. Then, Zhang Yunfei asked the German navy to rent a third party to purchase four retired battle cruisers in China.

Therefore, Germany requested Venezuela and Colombia to purchase these four battle cruisers from China, which concealed the British navy, so that the Emperor and Qin government did not have to bear the positive responsibilities from Britain and France.

The four modified Wangshu-class battle cruisers were sold to Venezuela and Colombia for 60 million dragon coins. Germany paid another one million German marks to buy back four battle cruisers, which were classified as the North Rhine class. They were named the North Rhine, Dusseldorf, Cologne, and Münster.

Four battlecruisers were incorporated into Speer's fleet, the flagship North Rhine. Due to insufficient manpower, Speer recruited all the naval officers stationed in China and all German naval personnel studying in China to serve in the fleet, and entrusted Chinese airlines to transport a large number of naval officers and soldiers from Germany. Finally, Speer purchased several more supply ships, filled with ammunition and fuel, and drove to the Grand Canal of Nicaragua, Central America, to prepare to return to the Atlantic Ocean from there to fight.

Because the UK is focused on the situation in Europe, it ignores the Wangshu-class battlecruisers sold to Venezuela and Colombia in Zhongxian, and thinks that China is preparing to arm Central American countries and deal with the United States together, so it does not pay attention.

However, there was no airtight wall. When the German Navy Spe Fleet headed to the Grand Canal to the Nicaragua waiting to pass, it was discovered by the British South Pacific Squadron, which was passing back to the British mainland. At that time, four battlecruisers were still flying the national flags of Colombia and Venezuela, so the British Navy did not show any abnormalities.

The British South Pacific Squadron, commanded by British Rear Admiral Sir Christopher and Cradock, was responsible for escorting supplies from the Australian Expeditionary Force and China back to the UK.

At this time, Britain and Germany had declared war, so Major General Cradock was preparing to kill the German fleet with only five warships. So after the fleet he led passed through the Grand Canal of Nicaragua, he immediately deployed to ambush the German fleet in the Caribbean.

In the old days, Major General Cradock commanded five armored cruisers, the Cape of Hope, the Monmers, the Kanafon, the Kent, the Cornwall, the two light cruisers, the Glasgow, and the Bristol blocked the German Spe fleet in the waters near Jamaica, the Caribbean.

However, what surprised Major General Cradock was that the four battle cruisers originally sold to Colombia and Venezuela suddenly hung the German naval combat flags. Only then did he realize that it was the Germans who purchased Chinese warships through Venezuela and Colombia.

Originally, the British Cradock fleet had seven warships, which could completely destroy five German warships in the event of a raid. However, now the German Spey fleet suddenly had four battlecruisers. How could the Cradock fleet fight?

Lieutenant General Speer saw the British fleet when he was in the canal. He knew that when the war started, the British fleet would definitely come to attack them. Therefore, the Speer Fleet was prepared for it. Seeing that the British fleet came to raid and fled, he immediately pursued.

Four North Rhine-class battlecruisers, Dugaohong, quickly caught up with the British Cradock fleet. Major General Cradock's cruise fleet was only 24 or 5 quarters, and could not get rid of the Spe's fleet, so he had to face the challenge.

The fleets of both sides fought at a distance of 6 kilometers. The overall firepower of the Cradock fleet was not as good as the firepower of a battle cruiser in the North Rhine. They could only dodge everywhere and be beaten everywhere.

The Spey fleet took advantage of the battle cruiser's advantages and concentrated 32 strong millimeter main guns to bombard the armored cruisers of the Cradock fleet. Less than ten minutes of the fire exchange, the Cape of Hope was hit by the fourth firepower volley of the battle cruiser of the North Rhine. All the Baliwanmi shells hit the Cape of Hope. Suddenly, the Cape of Hope was blown to pieces, and all the officers and soldiers of the ship were killed.

Immediately in the eleventh minute, the battlecruiser of the Cologne battlecruiser launched a fifth fire volley at the armored cruiser of Monmoth, with a millimeter shell in the quarter-finals of eight hit three. After the violent explosion, the Monmoth was blown into three pieces and quickly overturned.

Major General Cradock ordered the remaining three armored cruisers to attack the German fleet with all their might, and at the same time won time for the two light cruisers to escape. He knew very well that the armored cruisers were too low and could not escape the opponent's battle cruisers. Therefore, in order not to be wiped out, he had to order the two light cruisers Glasgow and Bristol, which were also in the same festival, to escape.

In order to defend the dignity of the British Navy, Major General Cradock ordered the remaining three armored cruisers to approach the German fleet and open fire. However, the Spey fleet relied on the powerful firepower and output of the battle cruisers, and did not give Major General Crask a chance at all.

Both sides began to circle around the Caribbean Sea. The officers and soldiers of the German Navy Spe Fleet received these four battle cruisers due to the network. There were still some unskills in use. Major General Cradock relied on his years of naval experience to wander between the battle cruiser team and the cruiser team, and used the cruiser team of the Spe Fleet to block the artillery fire of the battle cruiser.

In this way, the three armored cruisers commanded by Major General Cradock lasted for half an hour before being sunk by the Spei fleet. One, two light cruisers had escaped from the attack range of the Spei fleet. Major General Cradock saw that he had escaped from the two warships, and his heart rose instead of falling and continued to fight with the Spei fleet. As a result, another half an hour later, just when Major General Cradock was desperate, the ghost weather in the Caribbean helped a lot and a storm broke out. Major General Cradock, with years of experience at sea, quickly took advantage of the storm to lead two warships covered in wounds.

Although Lieutenant General Spee was very disappointed that the British fleet ran away, he sank three armored cruisers from the other side, severely damaged two, and sunk five ships transporting Australian soldiers, causing more than 20,000 British troops to die. At the same time, he seized a large amount of supplies purchased from China escorted by Major General Cradock, which was a brilliant victory.

Then, the Spey fleet had supplies and did not want to return to Germany because the way back was full of dangers. So the German Admiralty ordered the Spey fleet to stay in the Atlantic Ocean, attack British merchant ships, and cut off the British route of transporting supplies from South America.

Then the Spey fleet attacked everywhere and attacked British merchant ships. Within just over a dozen days, it sank more than 50 British merchant ships and nearly 200,000 tons of tonnage.

When the news reached the UK, it immediately shocked the British government and the opposition. The British government immediately protested to the Chinese government. However, the Chinese government claimed that the purchase of warships was before the war broke out, and the Chinese Navy did not sell warships to Germany. The warships were purchased by Venezuela and Colombia, so the Chinese government did not bear any responsibility.

Britain also knew that this kind of thing could not be held accountable by China, but instead hated Germany even more because the German naval battle won, which made the British navy lose face.

Until this time, the British Navy once again attached importance to the launch of battle cruisers, believing that although the battle cruisers were no longer equipment against battleships, they were still invincible battleships other than battleships.

To this end, the British Admiralty urgently dispatched six battlecruisers, Lion, Mary, Grand Princess, Tiger, Invincible, and Inquisitive. They formed a huge battlecruiser formation, commanded by Lieutenant General Frederick Stedi, set sail from Devonport, crossed the Atlantic Ocean, and rushed to the Caribbean Sea, preparing to destroy the German fleet with Major General Cradock.

While the British battlecruiser fleet was sailing far away from the Caribbean Sea, the British Admiralty considered that the number of battlecruisers blocking the North Sea was insufficient. So he agreed to Lord Fisher's suggestion and started construction of a new type of battlecruiser.

The prestige battlecruiser adopts the long-ship type, with a slightly floating-out ship, which is good at seaworthiness. Gaoyan is placed in a priority position, and the power plant uses the Duodantuntai oil-fired boiler. In order to obtain higher aviation, the power plant occupies too much weight, resulting in the weight of the defense armor being reduced. The prestige armor protection level among the battlecruisers in service in the British Navy at that time was the worst. In terms of firepower, the British battlecruiser used the second-in-year-old artillery, but due to the delay in the construction of the new turret, only three twin turrets were equipped. The secondary gun did not use the 6-in-year-old artillery of the "Tiger.", but used the higher-fired 4-in-year-old artillery.

However, it was obviously not enough to build two prestige battlecruisers. At this time, Britain learned that the German Navy began to build the Markkenson-class battlecruisers, which would be more capable than the British Tiger-class battlecruisers. So at Fisher's strong urging, the British Admiralty again approved the construction of four Anson-class battlecruisers.

The design standards of the British new battle patrol imitate the Chinese Navy's Sea Dragon King-class battle cruiser, with a design displacement of 40 tons and a 8-ton dual-mounted old-inch caliber artillery. The secondary gun is located on the open-air deck to reduce the impact of waves during high navigation and harsh sea conditions. Four ships of the same level are built, the Ansen, Rodney, Hao, and Hood.

Compared with the British Anson-class battlecruiser, the German Markensen-class battlecruiser seemed much weaker. The Markensen-class only had hocks, and the tonnage was only four tons, and the main gun was only eight fourteen-inch main guns. Although the armor was better than the British, the German Navy learned that the Spey fleet used the four battleships purchased from China to the cruiser to win the Caribbean Navy, and the German Navy attached more importance to their battlecruiser plan, and began to increase long-distance voyage performance.

To this end, as a counter-attack against the British Anson-class battlecruiser, Germany once again started construction of the York-class battlecruiser.

Germany's York-class battlecruiser has some characteristics. Because Germany began to have a problem with the degree of warships, it amplified the hull of the Markensen-class battleship. The tonnage obtained mainly increased the boiler and power system improvements, making the degree of warships reach the hocks. However, the traditional German armor protection idea has made York-class battleships still installed enough armor protection and can almost be used as battleships.

The Germans' accidental collision actually coincided with the narrowing gap between battlecruisers and battleships, but Germany did not realize this.

The York-class battlecruiser also imitates the Chinese Sea Dragon King-class battlecruiser, but only has the firepower and tonnage, and the displacement quantization port is tons. The eight-gate strong millimeter storage diameter main gun is only two quarters slower than the Chinese Sea Dragon King-class Blade, and four quarters slower than the British Anson-class battlecruiser, which is a lot of losses in terms of degree.
Chapter completed!