Chapter 622: French Navy Participation

At the Brest Shipyard, General Winter spread out the nautical chart and introduced to Charles the difficulties the British Royal Navy is facing now.

"After the outbreak of the war, we made some adjustments to the German blockade strategy." General Winter pointed to the German Heligoland Bay and said: "Before the war, we blockaded its near seas, and after the war, we switched to the far seas. Our main force withdrew to the north."

(The above picture shows the location of Heligoland Island. The sea area east of the island is the German Heligoland Bay, which is Germany's most important seaport)

Charles nodded. This is a wise approach.

Although the British Royal Navy is much stronger than the German Navy, it is still unable to implement a blockade close to the German waters, or it is extremely uneconomical.

The reason is that Germany can use a large number of torpedo boats to fight against the big, slowly exhausting the British Royal Navy's destroyers and even battleships, and then its large warships can break through the blockade and even defeat the British Royal Navy.

But if the UK adopts a long-range blockade, the German torpedo boats that are only suitable for near-shore operations will be directly scrapped, and they will not pose a threat to the British Royal Navy.

General Winter pointed to the route map and continued:

"We divide the fleet into three parts."

"Battleships and other main ships are mainly in the north, and the narrow English Channel in the south is blocked by small ships and mines. The middle section is patrolled by faster ships such as destroyers and battlecruisers."

"At the same time, they also escort merchant ships and try to strengthen the connection between the two blockade lines in the north and south."

(The above picture is a simple diagram of the British blockade of the German Navy, which is mainly divided into three parts: upper, middle and lower)

"What's the problem?" Charles asked.

This layout and distribution is very reasonable, and Charles can't see any problems.

General Winter replied: "We have always thought that the German fleet will only break through from the north, because the south is the narrow English Channel, and the German Navy has basically no way out if it enters this sea area."

Charles looked up at General Winter with some surprise in his eyes: "You mean, the Germans chose to break through from the south?"

"Yes." General Winter nodded: "Recently, German destroyers have frequently harassed the southern blockade line, clearing mines, breaking nets, and sinking several of our minelayers and torpedo boats."

Charles was stunned for a moment, then laughed: "It's a very clever tactic. They know that your main force is in the north, and the south is your weak point."

"You're right, Lieutenant General." General Winter spread his hands helplessly: "The problem now is that the southern blockade line is very passive. In this local area, our army not only has no advantage but is also at a disadvantage, but we can't transfer the northern fleet back because it will allow the Germans to break through the blockade."

This is a problem that will inevitably arise from the blockade.

Although the British Royal Navy is almost twice as large as the German Navy, it is divided into three parts, and only the main fleet in the north is stronger than the Germans, while the other two parts are weaker than the Germans.

If the southern route is not important, it would be fine. A comprehensive mine blockade would prevent German warships from breaking through.

But the English Channel is the most important supply line on the Western Front. Once the route is counter-blocked by the Germans, the consequences will be disastrous.

"This seems to have nothing to do with your desire for an 'echo sounder,'" said Charles.

"We have a plan," General Winter explained, "If our warships are equipped with a large number of 'echo sounders,' we can increase the advantage of our own submarines while attacking German submarines, which may be good for the war in the south."

Charles understood.

The British plan is to "fight the enemy with their own methods" in the south, using destroyers, submarines and small ships such as torpedo boats to consume the main force of the German Navy.

Therefore, it is particularly important to use destroyers and "echo sounders" to fully suppress German submarines.

Otherwise, the German submarines alone can make the British fleet exhausted and unable to organize a fleet to fight.

"That might be a solution," Charles praised, but he still refused, his tone was firm: "But I can't agree to it, you know why."

Winter smiled helplessly to show his understanding.

"Echo Sounder" is related to the control of materials. If Charles agreed, he would be sticking his neck out for the British to block.

Charles smiled slightly, with a little pride in his voice: "We seem to have another way, let the French fleet assist Britain in blocking the English Channel, so that we can make up for your army's shortcomings in the south. What do you think?"

Without waiting for General Winter to answer, Charles added:

"As you said, we are allies, General."

"At the same time, we have the 'Echo Sounder', which will be mass-produced in the future."

"You can safely hand over the anti-submarine and escort missions to the French fleet, so that your warships can free up their hands to deal with the Germans."

General Winter did not answer, and drank coffee to cover up his embarrassment.

As a vice admiral, he certainly thought about this.

This can indeed enhance the strength of the Allied Navy and is of great benefit to the blockade of the German Navy.

However, doing so will undoubtedly free the French Navy, allowing them to participate more and more in naval battles and even quickly develop into a powerful navy that can compete with the British Royal Navy.

This is what the British Royal Navy does not want to see.

Please...collect_6Ⅰ9Ⅰ书Ⅰ吧 (六\\\九\\\书\\\吧!)

More importantly, the French Navy equipped with "echo sounders" is more suitable for escort because they can find submarines and sink them.

But "escorting" merchant ships is not as simple as it seems on the surface.

Over time, the British Navy will be unable to intervene and will be controlled by the French Navy, and strategic materials will be fully monopolized by France.

Why?

The British Royal Navy and the German Navy fought life and death to protect the safety of the route, but the supplies were controlled by the French Navy?

It was the British Royal Navy who took the risk to shoot dogs, but it was the French Navy who ate dog meat?

Charles saw through General Winter's thoughts, and he said calmly: "You seem to have no other choice, either let the French fleet participate, or risk failure or being broken out by the German fleet."

"Don't bother, General." General Winter replied coldly: "We can handle it ourselves. You seem to have forgotten that the British Royal Navy is the most powerful navy in the world. There is nothing we can't solve."

"Really?" Charles kept smiling, he was not in a hurry.

"Of course!" General Winter nodded firmly: "However, if your army can add a few destroyers to reduce the anti-submarine burden of our army, we can still consider it."

A limited increase of a few ships and full participation are two different things, which is beneficial to the Royal Navy.

"No problem." Charles responded fully: "Then, do you have any objection to adding 12 more ships to form another anti-submarine squadron?"

General Winter hesitated for a while and nodded with difficulty.

In fact, adding 12 ships is not enough.

This is very contradictory!

On the one hand, there is a strong need for anti-submarine warfare, and on the other hand, it does not want the French Navy to be too involved.

Bastard, how could this guy like Charles develop an "echo detector"?