Chapter 438: Bait Exchange and Encounter

The two choices gave Admiral Reinhard a headache. After thinking for a long time, Admiral Reinhard finally chose the first option, to kill the main force of the Royal Navy's Home Fleet as much as possible.

If it was a head-on confrontation, the High Seas Fleet would not have much chance of winning. Therefore, Reinhard planned a strategy to use a small part of the High Seas Fleet to lure part of the Royal Navy to go out, and through the way of Calabash Brothers saving his grandfather, the Royal Navy's Home Fleet was defeated one by one.

As long as the time is right, the High Seas Fleet will go out in full force and fight the Royal Navy to the death. By that time, part of the main force of the Royal Navy has been sunk, and the High Seas Fleet will have a greater chance of winning.

It has to be admitted that while the wheel of history is slowly moving, it also affects all the characters of this era.

Even though the current development of World War I is completely different from history, most of the Allied countries have already withdrawn from the war, and only Germany and Austria-Hungary are still insisting.

But Admiral Reinhard still chose the same method as in history, using strategies to defeat the Royal Navy as much as possible one by one.

The battlecruiser squadron led by General Herhau was responsible for the bait, which consisted of four battlecruisers, eight cruisers and four submarines.

But on the surface, this fleet only had four battlecruisers and eight cruisers, and four submarines were hidden under the sea, ready to support the fleet at any time, or to give the enemy's main warships a fatal blow.

The warship ratio of a battlecruiser was also carefully considered. Too many warships might attract the enemy's main force, and too few warships would not achieve the desired effect.

On the afternoon of May 17, 1916, this battlecruiser squadron set off from the port with great fanfare, which was completely different from the low-key German Navy in the past.

In stark contrast to this high-profile fleet, the main force of the High Seas Fleet also set sail more than three hours later, but maintained a very strict radio silence throughout the journey, and the warships only communicated with flag signals.

In Port Wilhelm, the soldiers at the port still used the call sign of the flagship of the High Seas Fleet, Friedrich the Great, to create the illusion that the main fleet, including the flagship, was still in the port.

Although it was a good day today, Admiral Reinhard's face was not very good, and the worry on his face was always visible.

"General, will those cunning British really be fooled?" Admiral Reinhard's main assistant, the Chief of Staff of the High Seas Fleet, asked with a worried look.

"Maybe only God knows. You know, if we encounter British reconnaissance planes, maybe we are the prey of the British." Admiral Reinhard sighed and said to his chief of staff helplessly.

At present, German aircraft cannot fly as far as British aircraft, and the performance of German aircraft is far behind that of British aircraft, resulting in Germany having no initiative in the sky.

Once the British reconnaissance aircraft discovers the main force of the High Seas Fleet, what awaits Admiral Reinhard is the encirclement and siege of the main force of the Royal Fleet.

If that time really comes, I'm afraid Admiral Reinhard will have no choice but to exchange as many main forces of the British fleet as possible with the determination to die.

Hearing Admiral Reinhard's answer, the anxiety of the Chief of Staff of the High Seas Fleet not only did not subside, but even became more and more intense.

"Well, maybe we can only leave it to fate. May God bless us and bless Germany." The Chief of Staff of the Fleet sighed and prayed to the sky.

Although technology has developed to this day, many people have become atheists, or they are not so crazy about worshipping God.

But thousands of years of worship of God have led Europeans to have a habit of praying for God's blessing involuntarily when everything is powerless.

Although God has never been effective, at least Europeans can find a little spiritual comfort from prayer, at least they can deceive themselves.

Admiral Reinhard's strategy is a gamble with the entire High Seas Fleet as a bet. If the gamble wins, Germany will get a chance to turn around. If the bet fails, if it will fall into a more irreversible situation, it will be even more impossible to turn the tide in the war.

As Reinhard and the chief of staff prayed, the British reconnaissance plane discovered the German battlecruiser fleet in the front.

It was difficult to see the German fleet in the Atlantic Ocean because the German fleet generally adopted a retreating tactic before.

The discovery of the German fleet this time made the British scouts pay great attention. After counting the number of the German fleet, the scouts decided to return immediately and report the discovery to the headquarters.

The main force of the German fleet, which was dozens of miles away, was not discovered by British aircraft, which was good news for the Germans.

But the bad news was that General Jellicoe, commander of the British Atlantic Fleet, attached great importance to this intelligence. He decided to set up a dragnet to lure the German battlecruiser fleet in and completely destroy the fleet.

At 8:30 in the evening, General Jellicoe personally led a large main fleet consisting of 24 battleships, 2 super dreadnoughts, 3 battlecruisers, 17 cruisers, 44 destroyers and several small warships, and slowly left Scapa Flow.

On the other hand, a decoy fleet consisting of two battleships, two battlecruisers and seven cruisers also set out from another port and headed for the location reported by the Air Force where the enemy troops were found.

A German submarine hidden outside the British port reported the deployment of the British fleet to the headquarters, and the British Air Force also had information about the German battlecruiser division.

This led to a strange phenomenon. Both sides believed that their baiting tactics had been successful, but they did not know that the other side's fleet had been fully deployed.

This was not a war of small-scale destruction through bait as expected by the commanders of both sides. This was a large-scale naval battle involving almost all the main forces of the navies of both sides.

The first encounter was the bait of both sides, two small fleets.

In order to lure the German fleet into the trap, the British deliberately dispatched only two battleships and two battlecruisers as the main warships.

The German fleet had four battlecruisers as the main warships, and there was one more cruiser.

The British officers boldly concluded that the Germans should not miss such an evenly matched opportunity.

After the bait fleets of both sides met, the most ridiculous scene in this naval battle was born.

Under the orders of their respective commanders, the two fleets hurriedly fought a small-scale naval battle, and pretended to be defeated and retreated.

The commanders of both sides saw that this was too much, and in order to prevent the prey from escaping, they had to chase and provoke.

The two decoy fleets were in a stalemate for more than half an hour, but did not cause too many casualties to the enemy.

After all, they were all decoy fleets, and their main function was to lure the enemy to chase them so as to realize the plan of encircling the enemy.

If the firepower was too strong and caused too much damage to the enemy, then the lure plan would naturally not succeed.

The two decoy fleets were in a stalemate for a long time, and even at the end, they had sold each other flaws.

But the enemy just refused to take the bait. Although they had no intention of retreating, they refused to move forward.

At first, the commanders of both sides did not care, thinking that it was the other side's caution. But when their own flaws had appeared frequently, and they were even about to stay in place and let the other side destroy them, the enemy did not pursue them at all, which made people a little surprised.

The commanders of both sides could not help but have a terrible idea in their minds. Could the other side also be a bait?

After having this idea, the commanders of the two fleets looked at the enemy more and more unpleasantly, and even some of the enemy's strange actions were well explained.

Of course, after having such an idea, the first reaction of the commanders of both sides was to report it to the main force of the navy immediately.

If the other side is really a bait, it also means that the main warship of the other side must be nearby.

Faced with a large-scale naval battle that may break out at any time, the British Empire, which has enough advantages in its hands, has to be cautious.

Although the commanders of both sides reported their doubts to the main fleet as soon as possible, the bad news is that the two bait fleets have been deadlocked for too long, long enough for the main fleet to outflank the enemy.

By the time the main forces of the High Seas Fleet and the Royal Navy received this news, the High Seas Fleet and the Royal Navy were about to meet.

If this was a car on land, it might be quick to turn around. But unfortunately, this is a warship on the sea, and it is a fleet composed of many super-large warships.

It is impossible to make such a complete warship turn around without enough time.

About 20 minutes later, the Royal Fleet and the High Seas Fleet could see each other's warships, which shocked the Royal Fleet's Commander-in-Chief Jellico and the High Seas Fleet's Commander-in-Chief Reinhard.

The result that Admiral Reinhard was most reluctant to see still happened. The main forces of the High Seas Fleet and the Royal Navy met, and this head-on confrontation that Admiral Reinhard did not want to see was about to take place.

"Set up the formation and attack immediately!"

This was the first order issued by the commanders of both sides.

In a few minutes, the enemy will be within the range of their fleet. But this also means that they will also be within the enemy's range.

For naval battles, whoever can react the fastest and seize the initiative may gain a certain advantage in the naval battle.

Admiral Reinhard also understood that he had no way to retreat now. But there is another good news. The High Seas Fleet dispatched more than ten submarines this time, and these submarines did not seem to be discovered by the British fleet.

If these submarines can launch a sneak attack at the most intense time of the naval battle, it may play a crucial role.

Therefore, Admiral Reinhard did not call for the submarines to take action, but let them lurk underwater, waiting for the best time to attack.

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