The Kaiser's least favorite ships. Modernization of the Kaiser's battleships Sections of this page

Annotation

The book tells about the German battleships of the Kaiser and König types, which formed the basis of the High Seas fleet. These ships took part in the famous Battle of Jutland and took the main artillery strike of the Grand Fleet, and in 1919, in order to avoid their capture by England, they were scuttled by their crews in Scapa Flow.

The naval operations of the First World War in which these ships participated, as well as the organization and control system of the High Seas Fleet, are described in detail.

For a wide range of readers interested in military history.

Valery Borisovich Muzhenikov

Design

Device

On the slipway and in completion

In exercises and campaigns

To Scapa Flow

Literature

Valery Borisovich Muzhenikov

Battleships of the Kaiser and König types. 1909-1918

St. Petersburg: Publisher R.R. Munirov, 2006. - 116 pp.: ill.

ISBN 5-98830-018-9

Historical and cultural center of ANO "ISTFLOT" Samara 2006

Warships of the world

on the 1st page the battleship “Friedrich der Grosse”;

on the 2nd page the battleship “Markgrave”;

on the 3rd page the battleship “Prince Regent Luitpold”;

on page 4, German battleships in exercises and firing.

Text: 1 page. Battleship “Kaiser” in the Battle of Jutland.

Those. editor Yu. V. Rodionov

Lit. editor N.S. Medvedev

Proofreader S.S. Ponomareva

Design

Long before the Kaiser's fleet fully equipped the 1st battle squadron, consisting of battleships of the Nassau and Helgoland types, it became clear that the battleships of the Deutschland type (1903-08, 13191/14218 tons , 2x2 280 mm, 14 170 mm, 18-19.1 knots), included in the 5th linear squadron, as the last type of German pre-dreadnoughts, will need to be replaced as soon as possible with more modern ships. Therefore, the Imperial Navy Ministry planned to build a third series of five dreadnought battleships as a replacement for the obsolete coastal defense ironclads and Class IV ironclads. Of these, four were intended to be used to staff a line division, and one was to be equipped as the flagship ship of the squadron commander, taking into account the placement of squadron headquarters personnel.

In 1907, even before the completion of the design of the Helgoland-class dreadnoughts, the main directorate of the design department began to develop design options for the third series battleship, which were completed in 1909.

From a military-technical point of view, the issue of building ships of the third series went through the stages of coordination with the Ministry of the Navy, the leadership of the fleet, the main directorate of the design department headed by Vice Admiral Eiksted and naval inspectors. Moreover, it was known in advance that the fleet’s requirements to increase guaranteed armor protection and speed while maintaining the existing caliber of guns, despite all the technical tricks, could not be implemented on ships of the same size with steam engines and with the same location of the main caliber turrets. It became clear that the construction of an improved type of dreadnought could not be delayed. Thus, Germany was forced and quite ready to continue building new types of dreadnoughts. The third series of German dreadnoughts of the Kaiser type, the project of which was developed in 1907-09. and built under the programs of the 1909-10 and 1910-11 budget years, was a completely new type of battleship of the Kaiser's fleet, noticeably different from previously built ships of this class.

If the projects of dreadnoughts such as “Nassau” and “Helgoland” were the original development of German designers, then the project of dreadnoughts of the third series had its own prototypes, and it was not developed from scratch.

Prototypes and role models could be the British battle cruisers of the Invincible type (17250/20420 tons, 8,305 mm, 24.6-26 knots), the general development of the project and working drawings of which were completed on June 22, 1905, and in February 1906, the Inflexible was laid down as the first ship of the series. The arrangement of the main caliber artillery of such a large cruising-type ship with a diagonally echeloned arrangement of barbettes with main caliber artillery turrets in the middle part of the hull, standing quite close to each other, had its own characteristic features, although not without drawbacks. But in any case, it was not rejected even for the design of a battleship, since it was fully realized with an acceptable length and width of the ship, which in turn depended on the required internal volume of the hull to ensure the proper location of the charging and shell magazines, engine and boiler rooms.

The location of the turret installations on the later (March 1908 - September 1910) first German battlecruiser “Von der Tann” (19370/21300 tons, 8 280 mm, 10 150 mm, 24.8-27, 4 knots), the design of which, under the index “F”, was developed in the design department of the German naval department in the period from August 1906 to June 1907, was fundamentally similar to that adopted on the British battlecruisers of the “Invincible” type. Only, unlike the British cruisers on the Von der Tann, the middle turret on the starboard side was located in front of the left, which became traditional for German projects, and they were further spaced apart along the length of the ship and installed closer to the center plane (DP), therefore , theoretically, each had a larger sector of fire on the opposite side than the British (75° versus 30°). Inside this sector, with four turret installations, the Vonder-Tann had the same broadside as the battleship Nassau with its six turrets.

During the construction of “Von der Tanna” in Germany, the following type of battlecruiser was designed, and two ships were built according to this project: “Moltke” (January 1909 - September 1911, 22979/25400 tons, 10 280 mm, 12 150 mm, 25.5-28.4 knots) and “Goeben” (August 1909 - July 1912), which were the most accurate prototypes of the Kaiser-class dreadnoughts.

In Great Britain, after the construction of the “Dreadnought” (October 1905 - October 1906), there followed the construction, according to the program of the 1906-07 budget year, of a series of battleships of the same type consisting of seven units - three units of the X-4 project: “Bellorofop” (December 3, 1906 - February 20, 1909), “Temeraire” (January 1, 1909 - May 15, 1909) and “Superb” (February 6, 1907 - June 9, 1909) and four K-2 projects: St. Vincent (December 30, 1907 - May 1909), Collingwood (February 3, 1908 - April 1910), Vanguard (April 2, 1908 - March 1, 1910) and “Fudroyant”.

The Dreadnought and three Bellorofon-class battleships formed the 1st Division of the Home Fleet, four St. Vincent-class battleships formed the 2nd Division. Germany responded with four Nassau-class dreadnoughts (June 1907 - April 1910) and four Helgoland-class dreadnoughts (October 1908 - May 1912).

However, the British did not complete the construction of “Fudroyant” according to the K-2 project. Having renamed it “Neptune” and increased displacement by 650 tons, length by 3 m and width by 0.3 m, the ship was completed (January 19, 1909 - January 1911) according to the program of the 1908-09 budget year according to a new project with such an arrangement of the main caliber artillery towers that in a certain small sector they could all fire on one side. In this form, Neptune became part of the 2nd division of battleships. Following it, according to the regular program of the 1909 budget year, “Colossus” (July 8, 1909 - July 1911) and “Hercules” (July 30, 1909 - August 1911) were built according to the same project. The British did not build any more battleships with this arrangement of turrets.

The third group of German dreadnoughts was represented by the Kaiser-Klasse type. By 1912, there were five battleships in service. Like previous analogues, they had a unique control system. Two parallel rudders ensured good seaworthiness and a small radius of circulation when turning the vessel. Such a reverent attitude to the technical condition was determined by the need for battleships to pass through the Kiel Canal and through other narrow rivers.

Construction and armament

Unlike the British dreadnoughts, the Kaiser had a higher side. The length of the vessel was 172 meters. The maximum draft when fully loaded reached 9.1 m. In this condition, the ship could pass through shallow rivers only during high tides. If injured and needing to return to her home harbor, the Kaiser had to either reduce the load, thereby reducing the immersion of the lower part of the ship, or wait for the tide.

This class was equipped with five rotating main caliber turrets - all previous German battleships had 6 turrets. At the same time, the superstructures were placed in such a way that 4 pairs of heavy artillery could fire simultaneously at one target. In a number of cases, it became possible to operate all main caliber guns. Thus, the “Kaiser” came close to the new British “” in terms of impact force.

There was no ram in the bow. This indicated that the Germans no longer used ramming tactics. The previous "" had a flat upper deck. The new dreadnought had a forecastle - a bow superstructure that protected the ship from flooding during rapid movement.

All German dreadnoughts included two types of anti-mine installations - medium 152 mm and light 88 mm guns. The main rival is Great Britain, they installed only 102 mm guns. Only Iron Duke used the 152 mm caliber for the first time.

Nickel steel plates created using Krupp technology were used as protection. The thickness of such sheets in some places reached 400 mm, which exceeded the strengthening indicators of English dreadnoughts. The total weight of the armor was about 10 tons, it occupied more than 40% of the total displacement of the ship.

Torpedo armament was reduced to five 500 mm tubes.

Service

Before the First World War, the Kaisers underwent numerous tests and participated in exercises in the North and Baltic Seas. In 1914, the dreadnoughts completed a six-month voyage across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. They visited their colonies in Africa and called at several ports in South America. In the summer of the same year, regular exercises began in the North Sea, which developed into real hostilities due to the declaration of war. At first, battleships did not participate in naval battles. Their main tasks were the following:

• Patrolling and reconnaissance in search of British squadrons.
• Shelling of the enemy coast.
• Covering your own smaller ships laying minefields.

The combat experience of 4 of the five Kaiser battleships was gained at the Battle of Jutland. The enemy was more than 10 km away. But the weapons of both sides made it possible to start mutual shelling. The German dreadnoughts were wounded, but were repaired in a short period of time and continued to serve. The next significant battle was Operation Albion, where

Review of the new Tier 4 battleship from VoodooKam.
Finally, brand new battleships have been released, and today I want to tell you about a ship that will not leave any real battleship owner indifferent and deserves to stay forever in the port - the pride of the German Navy Kaiser-class. But before you start talking about it, you need to get a general idea of ​​fourth-tier battleships.

At first glance, it may seem that the ship does not have many strong features, but upon closer examination of each of the components, I can come to the conclusion that this is the best LK4 at the moment and here's why.

Survival

First of all, I would like to note the monstrous armor of our dreadnought. It is so armored that its citadel can only be penetrated by a miracle. The Kaiser's strength at level 4 can only be rivaled by a loaf of last year's stale bread, which, when you try to bite into it, breaks your teeth along with your jaw. He, God forgive me, has a 350-mm armored belt and a fierce layer cake of internal bevels and armor plates, gun turrets that cannot be knocked out by anything. And at the same time, it is impossible to say that it suffers from high-explosive shells - the peculiarity of the layout allows it to “eat up” landmines with its side turrets, and the relatively small superstructure does not receive unnecessary damage. The best at the PTZ level allows you to level out damage from aircraft and ship torpedoes, and the increased amount of HP makes it possible to survive in battle for as long as possible. The developers weren't lying when they promised chthonic armored "tanks" in the game. The Kaiser fully justifies this nickname. Even in close combat, it is almost impossible to inflict heavy damage on him with shells smaller than 305 mm, and high-explosive damage can only harm him by an accidental fire.

Armament

This is both the strength and weakness of this ship. The advantages of this ship include high accuracy of fire coupled with an increased rate of fire. Experienced players will appreciate the opportunity to frequently and, importantly, accurately fire a full broadside from this battleship, and, let me remind you, the armor allows you to shine from the sides and not be afraid of anything. Also, the 305 mm caliber is optimal for dominating smaller ships, such as cruisers and destroyers. The former penetrate perfectly and receive full damage from the AP, while the latter, thanks to fast reloading, have less time to approach the dangerous torpedoing distance.
But at the same time, it is the weapons that are the main drawback of the ship. Its armor-piercing shells are too weak against classmate battleships and especially against battleships of a higher level, to the point of being helpless. Only a very persistent person can watch the battle of two disabled Kaisers (and now such battles occur almost everywhere on level 4). At the same time, the ability of the onboard turrets to shoot at the opposite side through the hull is greatly hampered. It is of course good that the side turret can theoretically take part in a full side salvo, but in practice the firing angles on the opposite side are negligible and in practice this is extremely difficult to do, but at the same time it will not be possible to quickly transfer the gun to its side, it will move simultaneously together with the aft towers, which can become a critical drawback of the ship in some situations.

Air defense and secondary guns

Only one thing can be said about air defense - it exists. No, really. The ship, which has never seen an airplane, actually has a good air defense group on par with another air defense barge, the Wyoming, and in some of its components even superior, for example, in long-range aura. In practice, despite the randomness of air defense in a game in a squad with other LK4, it is possible to shoot down from half to the entire enemy air raid of fourth-level aircraft carriers, stunned by their own impunity, which, you see, is quite good.
It is also important to note that the secondary gun on this ship is the best at the level. A firing range worthy of mid-tier ships, decent damage and the ability to enhance the above characteristics with perks make it possible to be the most dangerous trough in close combat.
In conclusion, I want to say that Kaiser is the best battleship for teaching how to play battleships to those who always wanted to, but were afraid to ask. The tactics of playing on the Kaiser are dictated by the sandbox itself: go where thinly, hit those you can reach, do not expose yourself to torpedoes and aircraft, but its advantages at close range will allow the player to go into close combat much more boldly and thus quickly complete the course of a young fighter in school “5 kilometers and closer”, but at high level they don’t forgive mistakes made in a river brawl. And this is not to mention how comfortable the fourth level will be for the game, after the excitement for new battleships subsides and everything goes as usual. I definitely recommend this car to all players in this class.

Part 1 I continue to display the ships of the Japanese fleet in my alternative “We are ours, we are a new one, we will build a fleet...” This article is about...

Once over lunch, Captain First Rank Tirpitz talked with Kaiser Wilhelm about the development of the German fleet. Tirpitz presented a coherent and logical concept. It is impossible and unjustifiable to have as many colonial ships as Great Britain has. Germany's colonies are scattered throughout the world, are almost uninhabited and contribute very little to the state budget. Consequently, the ocean theater of operations is secondary. On the other hand, we remember the wars with Denmark, which came to a logical conclusion just when the Danish fleet lost its strategic initiative. England, although much more powerful than Denmark, is conceptually similar to it. And he will also apply the strategy of a naval blockade, bringing in resources from overseas possessions, of which England, by the way, has significantly more. On the other hand, when we win the continental part of the war, to consolidate success it will be necessary to establish a blockade of England, land troops on the islands and supply them with everything necessary. To do this, you need to have a stronger and larger fleet in the North Sea than the English. In general, this, as already said, is unrealistic. But many overseas possessions are many potential theaters of war where warships need to be kept. So, it would seem that there is nothing impossible in achieving superiority in a single sea. At the words “stronger and bigger,” the Kaiser’s eyes lit up with a crimson flame, and at that moment he realized that he wanted to have not a means of coastal defense, but a High Seas Fleet.

The ideology of naval warfare, which changed in 1895-1897, made it so easy to sacrifice cruising range. The hardest thing for the Kaiser was to come to terms with the idea that the phrase “stronger and more” did not apply to everything. The Tirpitz doctrine assumed that the basis of the German fleet would be squadrons of battleships adapted to the conditions of the North Sea. The cruisers will serve these squadrons. At the same time, problems with large-caliber guns and short range turned from bugs into features. The fact is that in the North Sea there were neither large distances nor good visibility that would allow the British to realize their advantage in these respects. But the ships in Qingdao and at other bases would turn into suicide bombers, because, built on a residual principle, they would be inferior to the British in everything. And concessions were given to Wilhelm II with great difficulty, so he demanded that both battleships and cruisers be built. As a result of such duality, the government's policy bore the stamp of ambiguity and indecision, which was reflected in the combat elements of the ships conceived at that time, for example, the cruiser Bismarck mentioned in the first part of the article.

Another difficult task was to push the idea of ​​rivalry with England through the Reichstag, which was aware of the precepts of ex-Chancellor Bismarck, and without which extensive money could not be allocated for shipbuilding programs. The Anglo-Boer War helped. Germany had economic interests in the region and supplied the Boers with weapons. Naturally, the British detained for inspection not only the ships that were carrying weapons, but in general all the German ships that circumnavigated Africa. Supporters of colonialism presented this as an insult. Of course, because transporting cargo from the German port of Hamburg to the German port of Dar es Salaam is an internal matter of Germany. And in 1900, a new maritime law was adopted, which gave Tirpitz carte blanche to realize his ambitions.

The final form of the Tirpitz doctrine is also known as “risk theory” and became the prototype of the nuclear doctrine
containment. Unable to maintain a fleet as large as Great Britain, Germany sought to concentrate enough forces in the North Sea to make operations against the German fleet too risky for the British and requiring the utmost weakening of other theaters. In this way, Germany would be able to secure its coastline and would become a valuable ally for anyone who wanted to challenge British rule of the seas. For example, Russia was seen as “anyone”. In 1902, during the Kaiser’s visit to St. Petersburg, a funny episode took place when a signal was raised on his yacht: “The Admiral of the Atlantic Ocean greets the Admiral of the Pacific Ocean.” Quite a subtle hint. And when Russia got into a puddle in the Pacific Ocean, the place of a hypothetical ally was taken by the United States, whose interests contradicted those of England much more than those of Germany. The British government's nightmare would be a rapprochement between Germany and France, but this was in the realm of fantasy.

What was built on the residual principle

To serve the squadron, ships of two classes were required, which the Germans already had: “large cruiser” and “small cruiser”. As we remember, a squadron deprived of frigates is blind, helpless if it pursues the enemy, and is in a very dangerous position if it avoids meeting him. The scope of the tasks was so extensive that the British used three classes of ships for this purpose. At the same time, in the first decade of the twentieth century they almost completely renewed their cruising fleet. The Germans, focusing on battleships, and not having the same money and shipyards that the British had, could not so easily write off the outdated armored armada and were forced to proceed from what they had. "Small cruisers" took over the functions that were performed by "scouts" and "towns" in the English fleet. Namely: to conduct reconnaissance for linear squadrons, fight against enemy light forces, destroy enemy maritime trade, lead a flotilla of destroyers, serve as stationary stations in foreign waters in peacetime, act as minelayers.

It was quite obvious that gazelles could not perform all these functions. And that another ship of the same displacement will also not be able to carry them all out. For example, it cannot have a travel range sufficient for raiding. Therefore, in 1905-1918, German “small cruisers” constantly increased in size, surpassing the “large cruisers” of the 90s by the end of the war. First there was a struggle for speed and range, then for armor and weapons. The race for two birds with one stone - "towns" and "scouts" - led to the fact that the "stadts", named after German cities, were inferior to the first in firepower (still 105-mm main caliber guns), and to the second - in economic feasibility . Plus, there were very few of them, and many cruisers, being in the colonies at the beginning of the war, were soon lost. The illustration above shows the Breslau, one of the Stadt-series cruisers.

What fit into the Tirpitz doctrine

As for the squadron itself, the chances of the Germans being on par with the British in this matter at the time of the adoption of the Tirpitz doctrine were quite small. Inequality of financial and industrial power, the need to maintain a large army are not the only reasons for this. The fact is that the service life of warships is calculated in tens of years, and the larger the ship, the longer it retains a non-zero combat value. In the English fleet, for 24 squadron battleships (and three cheap “second class” battleships) built in the 90s, there were about twenty battleships built in the 80s and 70s and in service until the end of the century. The Germans, by the time Kaiser Wilhelm talked with Captain Tirpitz, had in service 4 battleships built in the 90s, 5 built in the 80s, and 9 built in the 70s, including abroad. For the most part, these were battleships that the British would classify as “second class”. By the time the Maritime Act of 1900 was passed, five more had been built. Accordingly, in twenty years, in addition to what was built over the coming years, the British would have 24-27 battleships built in the 90s, and the Germans would have only 10.

However, in 1905, an event occurred that leveled this head start. Due to the changed tactics of naval combat, the new dreadnoughts had a colossal advantage over the ships of the previous decade, and the British head start became worthless. Both countries began building ships with “only big guns” at an accelerated pace. The trend also affected cruisers. Having learned that the British wanted to build a cruiser, the same as the Dreadnought, only with 234 mm guns instead of 305 mm, the Germans, having problems with large-caliber guns (their largest caliber was 280 mm), decided to make a smaller copy of their the new battleship Nassau, which would simultaneously be a continuation of the line of armored cruisers. The resulting "Blücher" was a "large cruiser" of the new generation in everything except one: it carried "only big guns" in six two-gun turrets, but these were 210-mm guns familiar to the German fleet . Probably, few people bit their elbows the way Tirpitz bit them, having learned that this was disinformation, and the English battlecruisers are equipped with full-fledged twelve-inch battleship guns. It is still not clear to which class the Blucher should be classified, a transitional type between the armored cruisers of the 19th century and the battlecruisers of the 20th century. But with the new ship - SMS Von der Tann - the Germans did not disappoint.


The combat use of battle cruisers was then seen not only in cruising operations, but also in squadron combat. Inspired by the experience of Tsushima, naval theorists saw what was now considered a step of desperation as a revolutionary solution. Wilhelm II, wanting to have as large a fleet as possible in a general battle, demanded that his shipbuilders provide the new cruisers with such an opportunity. As has been known since the Battle of Yalu, for this they required full armor. In order not to lose in speed, the Germans were forced to do what prejudices prevented the British from doing. The battlecruiser Von der Tann turned out to be larger than the contemporary German battleship Nassau, slightly inferior to it in armor. There were fewer main-caliber guns on the cruiser (280 mm), but the location of the turrets on the battleship still did not allow the use of more than eight guns at the same time - the same number as on the Von der Tann.


All things considered, Von der Tann was superior to Invisible in every way. He was superior in speed because he was bigger. It had, unlike its English competitor, full battleship armor. As for the guns, in an artillery duel the German superiority in armor neutralized the difference in effective firing range. That is, the 305-mm guns of the Invisible would be dangerous for the Von der Tann only at the distance at which the 280-mm guns would already be dangerous for the Invisible. In addition, the German 280-mm cannons, due to some technical discoveries, gave the projectile greater speed, despite the equal length in caliber, and fired up to three shots per minute, while the British could only fire 1.5-2. This provided the Germans with an advantage in artillery both in squadron combat and in solving cruising missions, for which, according to Tirpitz, 280-mm guns were completely sufficient. The layout of the guns on the Von der Tann and Invisible was the same: one turret each in the bow and stern, two in the middle of the hull, located diagonally. But on the German cruiser, the diagonally located turrets were spaced a considerable distance apart, making it possible to simultaneously use eight guns in a 125-degree sector on each side. On the Invisible they were too close, so it could fire an eight-gun broadside only in a 30-degree sector, and attempts to do this resulted in the crew of the second turret being stunned by the muzzle gases. After the Battle of Falklands, this practice was considered undesirable.

Battlecruiser arms race

In the next series of battlecruisers, the British moved the side turrets further away, providing a 70-degree firing sector on the opposite side, inferior to the Von der Tann, but not so critical. But the Germans added another two-gun turret to the battlecruisers Moltke and Goeben, which finally consolidated their advantage in artillery - a good example of how a competent approach can negate superiority in means. It should be noted that the German battlecruisers were so far several thousand tons larger than their corresponding English ones. Noticing this, the British did not hesitate with the size, creating a “cat” series.

The German opponents of the “cats” were the Seydlitz and three ships of the Derflinger class (in the illustration below). The latter finally received 305 mm guns. This was necessary, because the Lion carried 343-mm cannons, which, combined with the finally appeared normal armor, made its advantage over the German battlecruisers of the first series and the Seydlitz overwhelming. But if compared with “Derflinger”, the German already had an advantage, and a significant one. The armor belt of the “cats” could be penetrated by Derflinger shells from a distance of 11,700 m. The new British guns could penetrate thick German armor from a distance of only 7,800 m. But all the British turrets were now located in one line, which provided a good field of fire on both sides.


The "Derflinger" turned out to be smaller than the "cats", but at the same time it was not significantly inferior in speed and carried a much larger mass of armor thanks to another successful technical solution. The Germans were finally able to use steam engines. Moreover, due to the use of boilers with small-diameter tubes, the size of the boiler rooms was much smaller than that of British cruisers. Comparing, say, the Lutzow with the Tiger, you can see that the German has a mass of mechanisms and armor that is 14% and 35% of the normal displacement. The Englishman has 21% and 26%, respectively.

It is easier to compare German cruisers of that time with English ones than with Italian and French ones. Because the war has already compared them.


In the illustration - German battlecruisers go to sea before the Battle of Dogger Bank. From right to left, Seydlitz, Moltke and Derflinger.

North Sea War Strategy

The “risk theory” did not justify itself. There was no second fleet with which the German would be able to compare with the English. However, the German fleet itself was a formidable force at the beginning of the war. In August 1914, the Grand Fleet consisted of 20 battleships, to which two more were soon added, and the High Seas Fleet - 14. With such a balance of forces, the quality of the ships and the training of the crews were not of great importance. True, Germany also had twenty battleships, but Great Britain had even more, and eight battleships of the King Edward class were assigned to the Grand Fleet. The British advantage in light ships - destroyers and cruisers - was overwhelming. This entire fleet was deployed before the war began. At the initiative of Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty, the annual summer maneuvers were combined with a trial mobilization of the Third Reserve Fleet. The maneuvers ended just on July 23, and the ships were dispersed to ports for demobilization. But they didn’t have time to carry it out: First Sea Lord Louis Battenberg sensed what the matter smelled like. On July 26, the fleet was again put on high alert, and the trial mobilization turned out to be real.

The German strategy was determined by the balance of forces and was based on first weakening the enemy fleet through the actions of destroyers and submarines, as well as mine laying. At the same time, light forces were supposed to receive direct support from battlecruisers and cover from battleships, which could come to the rescue in the event of a meeting with large enemy forces. Only after these measures brought results was it planned to give a general battle. It was assumed that the English fleet itself would come to the Heligoland Bay to carry out a close blockade, and would become vulnerable. However, the development of technology made a close blockade impossible. Battleships and ironclads could not stay at sea for more than a week due to limited coal supplies, and mine laying and the threat of night torpedo attacks forced them to stay away from the shore.

Therefore, the British acted more cunningly. The Grand Fleet was based at Scapa Flow, beyond the intended night crossing range of German destroyers and submarines. And light cruisers and destroyers cleared the North Sea of ​​German light forces and minelayers. The success of these actions was facilitated by the fact that Germany had only one naval base in the North Sea - in the Heligoland Bight - the depth of which allowed heavy ships to be put out to sea only during high tide. While the English fleet had an extensive network of bases in the English Channel and on the North Sea coast, which had an enveloping position in relation to Germany. As a result, the High Seas Fleet did not have adequate freedom of action even in the North Sea, let alone the Atlantic.

Maintaining battleships really strained the British economy. Alas, Germany's ships were, of course, no cheaper. It may seem that, as a result of the naval ambitions of Wilhelm II, Germany had an unbalanced fleet on its hands, skewed towards heavy ships, which were of little use, with a catastrophic shortage of light ones. This conclusion is correct when compared with Britain or Japan, which, as ocean powers, needed a large number of cruisers. In France, for example, the situation with this component was much worse. In fact, besides Germany, Britain and Japan, only Austria-Hungary was involved in the construction of light cruisers for service with battle squadrons at the beginning of the 20th century. Russia laid down several such ships in 1913-14, but did not have time to complete them. Considering that at least the USA, France and Italy completely neglected this class of ships, such an imbalance should be recognized as a general shortcoming of the fleets of that time, stemming from the concept Sea Power.

Sneak under the barriers

The submarine was initially regarded as one of the means of preventing a close blockade, since it could quietly get close to large warships and attack them. Operations near the enemy's shores were complicated by the fact that patrol ships, aircraft and observation posts would very quickly discover the presence of the boat, the effect of surprise would be lost, potential targets would be able to evade danger in a timely manner, and the boat commander should rather think about something other than how cause damage to the enemy, but how to get away with it. On the other hand, when searching on the open sea, in the absence of auxiliary shore facilities, the boat could only be discovered by chance. And most often this did not bring any benefit to the enemy, because the submarine could easily change its deployment area. The disadvantage of searching on the high seas was that, without information about the enemy’s intentions, it was also possible to find the target only by chance. Therefore, to obtain a significant result, it was necessary to use a very large number of submarines.

At first, the Germans did not have this opportunity, relying on their submarines in the battle of Heligoland Bay. Over time, it became clear that he would not be there, and a submarine had a better chance of slipping into the Atlantic and attacking merchant ships there than a cruiser. To pursue and destroy most cargo ships, even the modest capabilities of the then submarine - a fragile little craft with a single gun and a surface speed of about 15 knots - were sufficient. Since submarines were not taken seriously at all before the war, no effective ways to combat them were invented.

Unlimited submarine warfare and what came of it

A serious obstacle was the customs of that time, according to which it was impossible to simply take and sink a merchant ship on the high seas. When encountering such a ship, the raider had to order it to stop. The merchant ship was then subject to inspection and could be sunk if it contained military cargo destined for a hostile country. Or if it showed resistance. But even in this case, the crew, passengers and ship documents must first be taken to a safe place. In their “long blockade” of Germany, the British did all this and more. The captain of a ship heading to Germany was asked to proceed to an English port and sell goods there for a good price. The neutral powers were completely satisfied with this.

The only safe place where a submarine could deliver the crew of a ship being sunk was in the boats, and since torpedoes were few and expensive, it was preferable to use the only light cannon on the boat to sink a target - at close range. This number worked great with unarmed cargo ships. And the British began to cheat. They allowed their merchant fleet to fly the flags of neutral countries and carry weapons on board. Considering that the submarine has a single cannon, usually a 37-mm or 75-mm, and cannot go under water after the first successful hit, God knows what kind of weapons were enough to counter it. But the British went even further and created special decoy ships that sailed in the area under the guise of merchant ships, and when they were ordered to stop, they rolled out guns on the deck and shot the submarine with the words: “the Germans are so stupid.”

“Such stupid Germans” were very angry about this, and they sank ships without warning. Realizing the inevitability of such an approach, Kaiser Wilhelm proclaimed “unrestricted submarine warfare.” The Germans, as if having overheard the advice of modern imperialists, threatened to sink any ship that would go to England.

How did neutrals react to this? Imagine yourself as the president of American country C, which trades with two warring European countries. Both of these countries established a naval blockade of each other. But country “A” calmly stops ships going to “D” and repurchases goods. No losses and minimal risks. On the other hand, country "D" simply sinks without warning all ships heading in direction "A". Including those that were actually sent both to “G” and to countries “D”, “N”, “W” and others that were not at all involved in the war. At the same time, in addition to losses, a lot of people are dying, because country “G” sinks any ships, from dry cargo ships with coal to passenger liners. So, in the place of the president of country “C”, would you support “A” in the conflict so that this disgrace ends as soon as possible?