Chapter 769: Submarine warfare

At the same time that the two sides fought for the first time in the Indian Ocean, the British and German navies also engaged in a battle for several years in the North Sea and the waters near the United Kingdom. Perhaps it is not as exciting as the confrontation between capital ships, but this kind of war is more concealed, and at the same time it has a more profound impact!

  At the beginning of the war, a hunting brigade composed of more than 50 German submarines entered the waters around the United Kingdom. Many submarines even chose to pass through the English Channel directly, ignoring the British minefields. What is even more incredible is that they succeeded! Not a single submarine was lost due to mines! The reason for this result was that a German submarine sailing in the English Channel strayed into the British minefield and encountered multiple torpedoes, but nothing happened!

  "It seems that their mines cannot explode..." the captain wrote in a telegram to the headquarters.

  For this reason, subsequent submarines chose to pass through the English Channel and started their own hunting journey on the west coast of England. Unprepared, the British merchant ship suffered heavy losses in the first one. More than 350,000 tons of merchant ships were destroyed. This happened when the German submarine had no actual combat experience.

The British have never encountered such a large-scale submarine break-through operation. There is no precedent to follow, no sufficient technical support, no reliable mines, no reliable depth charges, hydrophones are also very backward, and there is no **** system. , In short, there is no plan and plan, and there is not enough technology and troops. When the wolves were hunting on a large scale in the icy waters, the British were completely caught off guard.

  War is the bloodiest and fiercest means of mankind, so people always set various rules to make war less terrible and bloody. These rules can still be used at the beginning. For example, if the submarine breaks the cross, according to the capture law, the submarine should issue a warning before attacking, and then let the other party release the boat to transfer personnel. This was originally a gentleman's approach, and German submarines did so at the beginning. But soon the situation changed completely when the British took advantage of this rule!

Lieutenant Campbell, the captain of the British Q-1 submarine hunter, first invented a camouflage submarine hunting tactic. They would disguise the submarine hunter as an ordinary merchant ship. After floating on the German submarine, they would not open fire, or even do it. Panic fake actions, such as personnel running back and forth, lowering the boat to prepare for evacuation. When the submarine approaches the ship to be executed, the artillery hidden by the camouflage submarine hunter will suddenly attack the nearby submarine! And this tactic obviously stimulated the Germans! Such a very petty approach will naturally lead to revenge from the German submarine forces!

After successfully taking the heads of one submarine and wounding another submarine, Campbell was retaliated during his fifth safari trip. After successfully attracting the attention of a German submarine, Campbell repeated his old tricks. , He put down the boat again and made a very hasty fake action under the shelling of the Germans. But when he turned on the hidden artillery again and prepared to attack, the two torpedoes that suddenly appeared in the water blasted the Q-1 submarine hunter to pieces in a few seconds!

  After that, another German submarine surfaced and used 105MM artillery to kill most of the people who fell into the water with the submarine that served as a lure mission! "Go back and tell your head! This is what you broke the rules first!" After leaving a few people who participated in the naval battle for the first time and a lifeboat, two German submarines sailed away.

  The most basic trust between people is broken, so even if the rest is lower than each other! Since then, most German submarines no longer warned about attacks on British ships, and directly used shelling or torpedoes to send them into the water. In retaliation, the British also began to kill submarine personnel. As a result, the battle between breaking and anti-breaking diplomatic relations has become more **** and cruel!

But the difference is that this time, the Americans did not stand on the side of the British. Although the trade between Britain and the United States continued, the U.S. government refused to use its own ships to transport supplies to the Allies. At least it was forbidden to enter the war zone. In this case Next, without the influence of the behemoth of the United States, it would be okay for German submarines to have a larger attack range.

In terms of tactics, with the help of Prince Ruprecht, the German submarine established a basic coordination mechanism. Several submarines collaborated in a certain area of ​​the sea~www.wuxiaspot.com~When a submarine found a fleet-level target Later, the other 2 to 3 submarines in the exhibition area will be notified by radio to move together. The so-called people are large and powerful, three submarines equipped with 105MM or even 150MM artillery even face the destroyer together! More firepower than destroyers!

  The effect of submarine combat has made the entire German Navy very excited. In addition to the capital ship that has been guaranteed to continue to be completed, almost all the remaining resources are used on the submarine! More submarines are under construction at the Blomfors Shipyard, the Kiel Naval Shipyard, the Royal William Shipyard, and the Germania Shipyard! In the first month of the war, there were more than 15 new submarines in service, which made up for 5 submarines lost due to various reasons!

Although the war had just begun and the British suffered heavy losses, the British empire, which was used for tens of millions of tons, was not broken. But with the continuation of time, the entire Britain fell into a situation of shortage of resources, even The British fleet has become a fleet of existence in a sense because of fuel problems! After the war lasted for two years, the British had no better material reserves than Germany.

  Take oil as an example. After the end of 1914 in the United Kingdom, the country's oil reserves were less than 2 weeks, and some oil storage bases only had 3 days of fuel reserves! So that the destroyers of the large fleet are required to have a maximum speed of not more than 18 knots! The speed of battlecruisers and other battleships cannot exceed 17 knots! Of course, this is something later, so I won't mention it for the time being.

  There are some things these days, the update will be less, 2 more--! Forgive me everyone--!