Another World: Naval Storm

Chapter 183 Royal Navy Conference

On May 1917, 5, the foggy city that had long been shrouded in smog was no exception today. The moldy and old Admiralty Building once again witnessed its busyness.

The Navy's secret meeting was reconvened after being shelved for half a month. This time it was after the Battle of the North Sea. It was an important meeting mainly to summarize naval battle issues, analyze future maritime situations and what strategic countermeasures the Royal Navy should adopt. Military vehicles drove up to the Navy headquarters building one after another. The Admiralty bosses looked tired. I believe they did not have a good time during this period.

All naval officers who were qualified to enter the conference room were crowded together, with seats clearly separated from those of parliamentary representatives, members of the Defense Committee and shipyard representatives. These front-line fleet commanders and staff would rather gather together than mix with other departments.

At 10 o'clock, the door of the conference room was pushed open. Navy Secretary Art Bell walked in with Sally Jefferson. Navy Secretary Art quickly glanced at the conference room, frowned slightly at the gathering of naval officers, and then sat down in the main seat of the conference room with a blank expression.

In the past two hundred years of the Kingdom of Tarun, the Royal Navy has always been the world's number one existence. This is the pride of the three islands of Tarun, but it is also a sweet burden for the three islands of Tarun.

From the era of sail power and smoothbore guns to the era of ironclad ships with steam power and rapid-fire guns, and then to the current era of dreadnoughts with unified large-caliber naval guns, the Royal Navy has long been obsessed with paper data. This has led to the problem that Tallon's warships frequently have good data but are often killed instantly in actual combat, causing heavy losses to the Royal Navy. The long-term adherence to the two-power strategy has led to conservatism in technology and tactics. The traditional prejudice accumulated from the Age of Discovery has allowed aristocratic officers to control the Royal Navy, making it easy for people of aristocratic origin to be promoted, while officers and soldiers of civilian origin have stagnated.

The Royal Navy entered the 20th century with the title of the world's number one. Except for Marshal Fisher, who was an eye-opener and slightly saved the Royal Navy from sliding into the endless abyss, the rest were just living off the capital accumulated by the Kingdom of Talen.

The glory and splendor of history made it impossible for the people of Talen to accept a draw, let alone the current disastrous defeat! Senior officers were increasingly focused on management rather than naval warfare, young officers only had the spirit of Nelson but could not see the risks, technical officers had been neglected for a long time, leading to many conflicts within the navy, and the only reformer had to resign because of the slander of his colleagues. The seemingly huge British Empire Admiralty was actually getting worse.

Making changes to the Navy Department, which was overstaffed, was something that the Navy strongman John Fisher and the "Fisher Gang" wanted to do but could not do. However, in March 1915, in the face of the double blow of the defeat in Mudros Bay and the North Sea, Balfour got a rare opportunity.

The former naval leaders either resigned or were about to go to court-martial. The Talens, who felt injured, would not speak for the navy now. The new prime minister would only cheer for Art Bell, who was from the same party as him. In April 1917, Art Bell was the only helmsman of the Royal Navy's giant ship, and the unruly Royal Navy bowed its head to him.

"Our Prime Minister, the First Lord of the Admiralty and the Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Fleet have bravely assumed their responsibilities. General Liam Taylor has also expressed his responsibility for the Battle of the North Sea. The honor of the Royal Navy cannot be lost in this way. We must continue our struggle with the Drakes!" Art Bell read out the speech in his hand word by word.

"Sir Art is right, the Battle of Simbrica is both an end and a beginning! In the Battle of the North Sea, we deployed thirty battleships, but what about the Drakes? Only twenty-three!" As Art's confidant, the new Second Sea Lord John Casorpe was the first to stand up and lend his support.

"Liam's First Battlecruiser Squadron has nine battleships, which is more than the three battleships of Leo's fleet. But what's the reality? Our three Queen Elizabeth-class battleships have just been commissioned. The officers and soldiers are not well-matched with the battleships, and their combat power has not been fully exerted. The four Indefatigable-class battlecruisers have just been transferred back from various places and have not had a good rest. Their combat power is not in line with their heyday. In addition, the battleships in Liam's hands have different speeds. It is difficult for the First Battlecruiser Squadron to maintain consistent actions for a long time in naval battles. Various problems continue to accumulate, resulting in the First Battlecruiser Squadron's numerical advantage not being fully utilized. As for the large fleet, the difference in the four battleships is not obvious."

"In fact, the number of capital ships in our Royal Navy has always been far ahead of the Drake Empire, but unfortunately, the global existence policy has caused our forces to be too dispersed!"

Rear Admiral Degan-Dodd, Deputy Chief of the Royal Navy General Staff, took over the words of the First Sea Lord and continued to analyze: "The Dardanelles Campaign caused the mainland forces to continue to fill the Mediterranean, and the Ottomans tied up a large part of our forces. Although the four battlecruisers successfully returned to the mainland and participated in the naval battle, the long journey greatly reduced the combat effectiveness of the four battlecruisers."

Blaming the disastrous defeat in the North Sea Battle on the dispersion of the Royal Navy's forces is a good excuse and is very helpful in getting rid of public opinion. In fact, the mainstream media in Talen has been assisting the government in guiding public opinion.

"Oh! This is just a self-deceiving excuse!" In the corner of the conference room, someone was disagreeing with John and Degang.

"Major General Joshua, please tell me your opinion!" Joshua's ridicule made Major General Degang angry. The new Deputy Chief of Naval Staff wanted to make the Deputy Chief of Staff a regular officer. Major General Joshua Moore, who reluctantly retained the position of Chief of Staff of the Grand Fleet, stepped forward at this time. Art would surely not let him go.

"Then let me say a few words. I'm afraid if I don't say it now, I won't have the chance to say it in the future. The fundamental reason for the defeat in the Battle of the North Sea lies in the strategic thinking. The captain of the HMS Reckless cried out before he sank with his ship. None of the commanders of the Grand Fleet made any mistakes. Those who should be sent to the gallows are the designers who made the warships have major defects. Major General Alex of the 1st Battle Patrol Squadron recently wrote a book called "The Friendship of Enemies". The book objectively describes in detail the actions of the Royal Navy after the war. From it, I glimpsed the errors in the Royal Navy's strategic thinking. I hope that everyone here can read it when they have time. It will inspire your thinking!" Joshua pointed to his head with a mocking look.

The Royal Navy's scattered forces led to the defeat of the Grand Fleet, which was obviously the most convincing excuse the Admiralty could offer, and the most acceptable excuse to the proud people of the Great Talen Empire. But Joshua Moore didn't want to just let it go, even if the people of Talen couldn't hear his voice, even if his views were not shared by his colleagues, there were some things he had to say, because he truly loved the Royal Navy, and most of the other people who shared his views couldn't even enter this meeting room.