May 30, 1917, AD 2758.
At 6:22 GMT, the German submarine U9 discovered the US fleet in the waters between the Faroe Islands and Iceland.
After receiving the news, the main force of the German High Seas Fleet on standby in the Shetland Islands immediately pulled anchor and set sail to face the U.S.
Navy under the leadership of Fleet Commander Scheer.
After the victory at the Battle of Jutland, Scheer, as the supreme commander, was promoted to marshal by William II.
His reputation reached its peak, even surpassing Tirpitz.
Although the achievement of annihilating the British Royal Navy's Home Fleet has given him an unprecedented reputation, he is not satisfied with it yet.
I guess what the Marshal was thinking at the time was: If we can overwhelm the U.S.
Navy again, wouldn't it be better to overwhelm the navies of two powerful countries in a row?
Such a result would not only be "unprecedented", it could even be said to be "unparalleled". .
Then our family is the well-deserved number one navy general on earth.
Drake, Nelson and others are all scum when compared with us.
Marshal Scheer was full of confidence in this battle.
In his view, the U.S.
Navy had no combat experience except for a battle with Spain more than ten years ago, and Spain at that time was just a third-rate country.
Even if this kind of greenhouse navy has the second largest fleet in the world, no matter in terms of morale, training or combat experience, it will never be a match for the German Imperial Navy, which has just defeated the world's largest navy.
And they were a cross-Atlantic expedition.
Scheer's confidence was not unreasonable.
The German Navy during this period was indeed at its peak.
It was well-equipped, well-trained, and experienced.
The officers and soldiers were united and had high morale.
On the other hand, although the U.S.
Navy does not lose to Germany in terms of hardware and equipment, it is far behind in terms of combat experience, especially morale and confidence.
Americans generally hate Britain, including the current Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral William Benson, who is a die-hard anti-British faction.
The vast majority of officers and soldiers felt conflicted about coming to help the British now, and their opponent was the German Navy, which was at its peak, so morale was generally low.
In fact, even the top leaders of the United States were unsure.
The battle plan they formulated was to use the huge size of the fleet to scare the Germans and make them avoid fighting.
After all, Germany had more than one opponent.
They had no confidence in defeating the German fleet from beginning to end, let alone a plan.
The order given to Lieutenant General William Sims, commander of the U.S.
Two Ocean Fleet, was very vague.
Chief of Operations Admiral Benson asked him to "play it by ear" and continue to implement the battle plan if the German resistance was not strong.
The reaction is too strong.
You can try to fight in a battle.
If you can't defeat it, withdraw to Iceland.
Anyway, it just means "you have to figure it out."
Lieutenant General Sims was embarrassed when he received this order.
How on earth can he defeat this?
Now he is on the verge of having a fight with Er Dezi.
However, he soon received a telegram from President Wilson.
Boss Wilson encouraged him and said: "Lao Xi, just go ahead and fight.
It's best if you win.
It doesn't matter if you lose.
Anyway, our country has a lot of money.
Some of it is small money, and some of it is productivity.
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We can afford to lose warships.
We can sink one."
Just build two ships, and even the two ships will be destroyed."
After receiving this telegram, Lieutenant General Sims felt confident and prepared to give the Germans a good shot.
He himself felt that he could still fight.
Let’s not talk about the hardware.
The technological level and industrial capabilities of both parties are similar.
As for the software, the U.S.
Navy definitely has no problem with its training.
Although it is not as crazy as the Japanese's "Moon, Moon, Water, Fire, Wood, Metal, and Gold", it is still quite formal and not much worse than the Germans.
What is worse than the Germans is experience and morale.
However, the Germans only had one experience in Jutland in the era of dreadnoughts, and they still had to deal with the British Navy.
The navies of the United States and the United Kingdom are completely different, so the Germans do not have much advantage in this regard.
The only thing we need to worry about is morale and confidence, but these two worries will not come out of thin air.
If we don't fight, there may be no possibility of growth.
The U.S.
Navy was fully mobilized this time.
A huge fleet of 167 surface ships, including 22 dreadnoughts, escorted more than a hundred transport ships and headed for the Faroe Islands.
Their 72 submarines were deployed a few days ago and were on alert around the Faroe Islands.
The German High Seas Fleet was partially restrained by the French and Japanese fleets.
At this time, it only had 18 dreadnoughts and six pre-dreadnoughts, as well as 31 light cruisers and 98 destroyers.
However, they could receive air support from the Faroe Islands and the Shetland Islands.
In addition, Scheer also asked submarines in nearby waters to gather at the Faroe Islands.
Before the main fleets of the two sides collided, the submarines on both sides had a warm-up match.
At that time, the US submarine SS89, which was sent to conduct reconnaissance in the Shetland waters, was patrolling 210 kilometers west of the Shetland Islands.
At this time, the US submarine did not have snorkel technology.
To exchange air, it had to surface.
Self-sustainability underwater is very short.
SS89 had been underwater all night, and the air was already very polluted.
The officers and soldiers who couldn't bear it came up to the surface for a breather.
This time it was about 9:10.
However, when the American officers and soldiers opened the sealed door and came out for air, they were surprised to find that there was a submarine less than 100 meters away to their left, and the two sides were almost parallel.
It seems that this German submarine has just surfaced.
The U-22 submarine also floated up to ventilate.
Although German submarines had snorkels, it only extended their time underwater, and they still needed to float up to ventilate.
At this time, the sealed door of the German submarine also opened, and the sailors from both sides discovered each other almost at the same time.
The officers and soldiers on both sides were struck by the thunder, and they quickly realized that they were enemies on the other side, but at this time it was too late to dive.
So the commanders of both sides almost made the same decision.
The officers and soldiers of both sides picked up the deck guns and fired at each other almost at the same time.
Other sailors also took out small weapons from the submarine and started fighting like this.
At such a close distance, no matter how hard you hit, you will never miss, and there is no hiding place on the submarine's deck.
The two sides are almost like lining up to shoot each other in the last century.
Soon the decks of the two submarines were littered with corpses and blood.
Both sides' submarines were drilled with countless holes by the other side, and both lost their ability to dive.
After more than ten minutes of bloody battle like "queuing up to kill", the character of the American SS89 finally broke out and sank the German U-22 submarine first.
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However, an 88mm shell fired by the U22 before it sank also opened a big hole in the SS89.
After the leak could not be plugged, the officers and soldiers of the SS89 had to abandon the ship and board the lifeboats.
The two submarines perished together.
It was not until more than an hour later that a German destroyer came over to check the situation and fished out the survivors on both sides.
This episode gave the U.S.
Navy its first victory, but it also gave Germany its first batch of American prisoners of war.
At 8:52, the American submarine SS111 also discovered the main force of the German High Seas Fleet.
However, this submarine had a bad fate.
It had just sent a telegram to the flagship when it was discovered by a German anti-submarine patrol aircraft.
The Germans themselves have been using submarines to trick others for a long time, so they naturally have to guard against being tricked by submarines, so they attach great importance to anti-submarine warfare.
Objectively speaking, the German Navy's anti-submarine capability is probably second only to China and Japan, but it just doesn't have much chance to show off.
Since occupying the Shetland Islands and the Faroe Islands, they have deployed anti-submarine patrol aircraft in these two places.
This type of AGO24 anti-submarine patrol aircraft was developed by Germany after introducing the blueprints of the Chinese Water Bomb 1.
It has a completely different appearance from the Water Bomb 1.
This is a three-engine large seaplane whose main function is patrol and anti-submarine.
It can carry 1,200 kilograms of bombs, but its most powerful anti-submarine weapons are the three 37mm cannons installed in the rotating turret under the nose and on both sides of the rear fuselage.
Submarines at this time cannot afford 37mm cannons.
Even if they cannot be sunk, they can still make holes in their hulls, making them lose their ability to dive.
Submarines are no effective defense against aircraft.
SS111 was no exception.
It was quickly beaten into pieces by the 37mm cannon of the German anti-submarine patrol aircraft.
Seeing that he could not escape, the American captain ordered the ship to be abandoned and personally opened the submarine's sea valve before getting into the lifeboat.
Not long after the sinking of SS111, the main force of the U.S. fleet was also attacked by German planes from the Faroe Islands.
After the German army learned the location of the American fleet, it quickly dispatched a fleet of aircraft to attack the American ships.
The German Navy tasted the sweetness of air strikes in the Battle of Jutland, so they immediately proposed to William II the establishment of a formal naval aviation force and the construction of aircraft carriers after the war.
The happy Wei Er agreed without thinking about it.
Building an aircraft carrier would be difficult for a while, but naval aviation would have no problem.
The German General Staff quickly allocated a group of aircraft and pilots from the Air Force and handed them over to the Navy to form HNA.
It is mainly stationed in various important ports and islands, including the Faroe Islands and Shetland Islands.
The airports in these two islands are all assigned to Hainan Airlines.
The current batch of fighter planes going to attack the U.S. fleet are all German HNA aircraft.
At 9:15, an American reconnaissance aircraft flying over the own fleet discovered the incoming German aircraft group, and suddenly a sharp siren sounded over the entire fleet.
The two regular aircraft carriers and eight temporary aircraft carriers converted from commercial ships in the U.S. fleet immediately turned to the upwind position and released fighter jets.
The Faroe Islands sea and air battle officially begins: