Chapter 208: Germania Rules the Waves
The British Royal Navy was having a hell of a time with the onset of the war. Not only had the Empire of Japan attacked their colonies in the East almost immediately after declaring their entry into the conflict, forcing the British to divert their maritime forces to deal with this new threat.
Nearly a month had passed since the Great War began, and Britain had already lost over a dozen transport ships in their attempts to cross the North Sea. Any attempt to ferry troops across the English Channel was met with critical failure.
Attacks occurred time and time again without warning, resulting in devastating losses as the British scratched their heads, trying to figure out just what the hell was sinking them. Their confusion was understandable.
Submarines of the era were essentially torpedo boats that could briefly submerge to escape pursuit. However, they were still visible on the surface of the waves when they conducted attacks. But Germany had produced a far more advanced U-Boat-and in significant numbers -in preparation for this war.
These U-Boats operated in "Wolfpacks," which were small units of up to 20 submarines each. These Wolfpacks hounded British shipping and transportation, destroying them before they could reach the shores of France.
In doing so, Germany had silently cut off any and all material supplies and troops meant to reinforce the French Army's repeated failed attempts to break through German border fortifications.
As a result, the Royal Navy had no choice but to begin protecting their lone transport ships with armed escorts. After all, convoys had yet to fully develop as a logistics tactic, though it wouldn't really matter in the long run.
There was just one serious problem with this: the British sailors still couldn't detect the German submarines beneath the surface. Even so, with the mustering of the Grand Fleet, the Germans responded in kind with their High Seas Fleet, leading to the first major naval engagement of the war.
Admiral Franz von Hipper stood on the bow of the pride and joy of the Kaiserliche Marine- the SMS König, the first of a class of dreadnought-style battleships of the same name. The High Seas Fleet was behind him as he gazed upon the British Grand Fleet in the distance.
The Grand Fleet was exceptionally larger than its German counterpart, boasting a total of 28 dreadnought battleships, 9 battlecruisers, 8 armored cruisers, 26 light cruisers, 78 destroyers, 1 minelayer, and 1 seaplane carrier.