[A ticket for updates of 6,000 words... Well... I guarantee two updates tomorrow, the plot will also start to speed up, and the tense and exciting big ships and cannons are about to start. Also, it is said that they are losing. We will definitely not consider too many commercialization issues, with a slightly rigorous attitude, a slightly sad brushstroke and friendship, betrayal and the final **. Write it alone according to the outline. Commercialization is left to the next book, is it OK?]

At 3 pm on November 1, 1914, the waters near the Port of Coronel in Chile, South Pacific.

The large armored ships of Schánhorst, Gneisenau, Leipzig, Redston and the five German ships of the Nuremberg light cruiser, under the command of Earl Spey, advanced southward in the Coronel waters of the Eastern Pacific in accordance with the search formation. At the same time, a British naval combat squadron composed of a heavy cruiser, two light cruisers and an auxiliary cruiser also headed north in a fan-shaped formation.

At 3:34, two steel fleets of different camps collided head-on in the vast Coronel waters. The German Redston light patrol and the British Glasgow light patrol discovered several wisps of blue smoke from the southeast and northwest directions at almost the same time.

"The single-handed Emden is booming in the Indian Ocean. We, who own two large-scale armored ships of Schänhorst, only sank a small French gunboat and several merchant ships of Allied countries..." Baumgarten, standing on the barrel-shaped main mast watchtower of the armored ship of Schänhorst, used a high-power telescope to search the ocean surface while complaining to his colleague Gefenus: "The hero is useless, alas, it's a pity that this good ship!"

"Don't be discouraged!" Gefinus patted the cold steel body of the armored ship Schonhorst and said proudly: "According to the intelligence of the Admiralty, the British only have two old battleships and several armored cruisers in South America. Baumgarten, look at it, under the leadership of Commander Spee and Captain Oden, the British South American squadron will sooner or later become the most brilliant victory in the history of our East Asian fleet!"

Just as Baumgarten and Giffenus were taking a break from their busy schedule, the atmosphere in the tower of Commander Saudi Horst was also relaxed and pleasant.

"The opponent is stronger than we expected..." Lieutenant General Maximilian Von Spee dropped the pencil in his hand, squinted his eyes, and smiled, "Oden, do you have any suggestions?"

At 3:40, the Redston light patrol sent a confirmation telegram. The British ships cruising in the Coronel waters were not only Glasgow light patrol, but also a combat squadron composed of four warships. The pencils that Spee dropped rolled on the chart of the commanding table in the command tower for several times. Bernhard von Oden held down the beating pencil and laughed unpretentiously.

"Commander, it would be great if the old and old man's Asterisk battleship was also in Coronel, so that our victory would be even more brilliant!" The thirty-six-year-old Oden Lili's military appearance, his eyes as sharp as an eagle flashed from time to time, grabbed a pencil and made a heavy fork in the Coronel area on the chart. "It must be known that we are not Roger Stwinsky's mad dog fleet, but the glorious and great German East Asian fleet!"

The talented Oden, among the three musketeers of the Kielhai School, pushed the brim of the military cap, and his heroic posture was full of enthusiasm.

Earl Spee's mouth twitched faintly. After a moment, the old and young, who were famous for their talent and strategy, looked at each other and smiled. The loneliness and arrogant jokes resounded through the commander's tower, leaving behind a group of German staff and deputy officials with rigorous and timeless style engraved in their bones.

At 3:47, a harsh alarm sound came from the buzzer, and the trained sailors came out from all corners, either walking in three steps at a time, running along the handrail slide, jumping up from the crowded and narrow bunk, or raising their heads in confusion from the roaring engine room.

Extremely flammable items were turned out and left to the sea regardless of their own; personal items were placed, and the chefs in the restaurant were busy putting tableware and food into empty beer barrels; sandbags, plugging leaks, canvas rigging and fire extinguishing equipment were placed in a convenient place, and all the tools that were easily loose on the deck were tied up; gunners and gunmen who drilled into the turret and command tower took off their coats and took advantage of the tranquility before the war to soothe tense muscles; men in the engine room found the repair machinery and waited for the destination that German men longed for the most!

****

"Five German ships, and two are large armored ships?" Major General Cradock looked back at the telegram sent back from the light patrol of the Glasgow. Cold sweat flowed down his forehead and penetrated Cradock's heart that instantly condensed from heat and frost. Out of the pride and temperament that the Royal Navy had accumulated over a hundred years, Cradock showed his calmness at the first time, but the tremolo from his throat tightened betrayed him. "Who can tell me where the Schonhorst and Gneisenau came out?!"

The British squadron in South America had two combat squadrons, one led by Major General Cradock, including the old battleships of the Old Man Star, the Cape of Good Hope and the Monmers armored cruisers, the Glasgow light cruiser and the Autrant auxiliary cruiser, and the other led by Major General Stodat, including the old battleships of the Defense, the Armored Cruises of the Carnavon and Cornwall, the Bristol light cruiser and the Macedonian and Orama armed merchant ships, stationed in Uruguay, the eastern coast of South America, thousands of nautical miles from Conerol.

Given the strong strength of the German fleet and its own isolated attitude, Major General Cradock had reason to be afraid. Although his flagship Cape of Hope was divided into two parts, which were divided into the German navy and the Schanehorst class, in front of the Schanehorst class, the Cape of Hope was like a dwarf in the villain country, in front of the Schanehorst class, which was actually a quasi-battleship cruiser.

In 1897, Wang Heidi first proposed the concept of a perfect cruiser. Tirpitz realized the potential value of a perfect cruiser. In 1904, he proposed a plan to build a type of e-type battlecruiser, which was fiercely opposed by the owner of the Ocean Fleet, Emperor William, who had a special liking for battleships. So Tirpitz had to settle for the second best, using the excuse to develop heavy cruisers and replace the pillars to create a condensed version of the perfect cruiser. In 1905, a code-named e-type heavy cruiser was newly released, which is the famous large-scale armored ship of the Schonhorst class.

The large-scale armored ship of the Schánhorst class is a "semi-finished product" that the German Navy, who was timid and strongly negotiated with the powerful emperor William, and was forced to compromise in severity. The large-scale armored ship of the Schánhorst class was 16,500 tons of full load displacement, 160 meters long, 24 meters wide, high freeboard and long forecastle ship type, 3 three-inflated steam units, with a maximum power of 34,000 horsepower and a maximum speed of 25 knots.

It is worth mentioning that under the unanimous advocacy of the Navy's strategy, Heidi-Silem and Wolfgang-Wegener, the conservative naval design department finally broke through the shackles of the idea of ​​210 guns plus barrel body multiples and shell penetration. It adopts the 24cm-skl/40 guns improved from the Army's 1894 240 guns, four double-mounted 240 guns are arranged along the center line of the bow and stern, 8 150mm secondary guns are distributed in diamond shape, and four 450mm torpedo launchers. In terms of defense, the average thickness of the Scharnhorst-class waterline belt armor is 13.

5 mm, the thickest part is 182 mm, the average thickness of the flat armor plate is 50 mm, and the thickest part can reach 79 mm. In a sense, the large Schänhorst-class armored ship can be regarded as a shrinking battle cruiser. Just like the Schänhorst-class third ship Blüchel, launched in 1907, has a full load displacement of more than 19,000 tons, and 8 280 mm dual-mounted 28cm-skl/45 main guns. The defense is also one level higher than the Schänhorst and Gneisenau, and its comprehensive strength is quite close to the first German battle cruiser, von der Thenn.

Since Germany passed the First Naval Army Expansion Act in 1898, the tragic German-English naval arms race began. The energetic Marshal Fisher used dreadnought and battle cruiser to ask for directions, successfully testing Tirpitz's sincerity in the risk theory that was firm, and relied on the British Empire's strong shipbuilding strength and strong naval military expenses (the British pocket army cried...) to steadily suppress Germany, but for the more than ten years that Tirpitz served as the Navy Minister, the German navy was not useless. Since the naval arms race, the proud Britain has

People are embarrassed to find that whenever they develop a new epoch-making technology and apply it to naval ships, Germany can always easily catch up with the British. Their "copycat" follow-up works are of the quality and technological maturity that are far superior to the British Empire. The suspicious British intelligence department launched a "rectification movement" in the Royal Navy and the shipyard, and created many unjust, false and wrong cases, but the Germans' copycat business is still booming, so the British can only use the speed of building ships and countless "firsts" to masturbate.

After World War I, the British wanted to know the truth behind the arms race, but the senior officials of the German Navy who were familiar with the facts and who had sworn allegiance to the emperor remained silent. Only General Reinhard von Schell mentioned a few words in his memoirs published after the war, "Ocean Fleet in World War I":

"In 1905, the Marshal (Tirpitz, the author's note) launched the Defenceship Plan for the construction of the ship in his life (Fisher, the author's note). The Marshal was almost ecstatic when he learned the news. He reported the matter to the emperor. His Majesty the Emperor was shocked, and the Marshal calmly took out our Nassau-class battleship design plan, so the emperor agreed. In fact, I know that since Heidi Silaime proposed the concept of the Dreadnought in 1897, the Marshal has instructed the technical department to secretly track the technology, and the design department designed the draft privately and continuously improved it. In order to seize the honor of the "first Dreadnought" with the United States, the British did not hesitate to launch the Defence Construction Plan in advance. However, at this time, the cabinets of the Marshal's office were already full of various Dreadnought design plans."

Although the large armored ship of the Sharnhorst class is not worth mentioning in the real battle patrol, it is obviously an unsolvable existence in front of the Cradock fleet. The main gun of Cradock's flagship Cape of Good Hope is only 234 mm, and its power is far less than that of the Sharnhorst class in terms of caliber, both the caliber, the rate of fire and the power of the artillery are far less than that of the Sharnhorst class. The old battleship of the Old Man Star, which is located behind, has 4 305mm giant cannons, but the Old Man Star is a product of the previous era after all, the hull is a slow aging speed, the artillery fires too slowly and

The ammunition is insufficient, and the size of the crew of the Old Man Star was temporarily transferred from the Navy Reserve Force. To put it bluntly, this 10,000-ton giant ship only has the ability to scare people. Monmers and Glasgow are just light cruisers. With similar main gun calibers, the British Light Cruises are undoubtedly not the opponent of the German ships of the same class who have extraordinary persistence in defense. The Otranto auxiliary cruiser was transformed from regular liners and its combat effectiveness is not worth mentioning. Various unfavorable factors are superimposed, so Cradock is not afraid.

"General, the Germans are in a raging spirit. Otherwise, we will retreat first and meet with the old man's star..." the captain of the armored cruiser of the Cape of Good Hope hesitated.

"Retreat, how to retreat?!"

On October 29, Major General Cradock coldly rejected Major General Stoddat's kindness in order to enjoy the results of the battle, making the Stoddat fleet empty-handed in Montevideo Port of Uruguay. Three days later, Cradock's stubbornness turned into a ridiculous, childish selfishness in the face of the power of the East Asian fleet. From a hunter who manipulated life and death to a prey that could be slaughtered, Cradock, who was ridiculous, was angry and anxious, and wanted to tear the captain Glasgow who lied about military affairs.

"Even if I am willing to escape in the face of battle, what should I do if the Otranto, which has a speed of no more than 18 knots? Would you throw it to the Germans?!"

The command tower of the Cape of Good Hope armored cruiser fell into a dead silence, and the commanders and staff were silent. Major General Cradock calmed down, he slowly took off his military cap and said in a deep voice: "Notify the old man to go south at full speed and meet with Major General Stodat as soon as possible. Notify the Admiral that our combat squadron discovered the main force of the German East Asian Fleet, and Cradock decided to fight to the death with the German Fleet, God bless my king!"

The commands were heard from the commander tower and the signal flag. The inexperienced consuls and the military academy students who graduated early from the military academy took action in their respective positions, striving to manipulate thousands of tons of giant ships. The Cradock fleet, at the end of the road, began to turn, rushed towards the blood-red sea and sky in the west, trying to seize the t-shaped horizontal head. The Nelson Z-shaped flag symbolizing the century-old pride of the Royal Navy slowly rose, and the horn of war was destined to be played in the remote and desolate South Pacific.

【Note】

1.cm generally refers to the caliber of the gun, sk is the abbreviation of the naval gun, and l/40 refers to the body multiple. I don’t know much about German artillery, so I chose the army gun and extended the body multiple...

;
Chapter completed!