Starting with the smashing of Dunkirk

Chapter 160 Please enter the urn
The order from Admiral Nikolai Otovich von Essen, Commander-in-Chief of the Baltic Fleet, quickly reached the port of Helsinki.
The order was delivered to Vice Admiral Mikhail Koronovitovich Bashilev, commander of the Baltic cruiser squadron.

Lieutenant General Basilev, looking at the Commander-in-Chief's order, hesitated, his expression grave, cigar dangling from his lips, unable to make a decision. Finally, before officially deciding to go into battle, he couldn't resist mustering the courage to make a phone call:
"Please help me connect with the Commander-in-Chief. I am Basilev from the Cruiser Squadron."

A moment later, the voice of General von Eisen, who was in St. Petersburg, came from the other end of the phone:
"The port of Riga is in imminent danger. The inability to supply the 12th Army with supplies will have a major negative impact on the overall situation of the Northwestern Front! We must reopen the supply route through the Gulf of Riga!"

"Do you still have any concerns? Intelligence indicates that only 5-8 Demandian light cruisers sneaked into the Gulf of Riga under cover of night. Your fleet can easily annihilate them by trapping them in the gates."

Lieutenant General Basilev took a deep breath, composed himself, and then reminded him: "Commander-in-Chief, of course I am not worried that my fleet cannot defeat the Demacian cruisers... However, as you just mentioned, we can trap the Demacian cruisers and then block them, so why can't the Demacian battleships block us in return?"

The Strait of Hiuma is very narrow, only 8 kilometers wide. What if my fleet enters the Gulf of Riga from the northern entrance of the Strait of Hiuma, and enemy battleships then block my way at the northern entrance?

Admiral von Essen: "Then you will stay inside the Gulf of Riga and hold out! Your situation is different from that of the Demanians. Not only can you block the mouth, but your ships also have a shallow draft, allowing you to sail directly into the strait and into the bay!"
The Demacians can defeat your ships, and their draft is deeper. Even if they blockade, they'll just be stuck at the northern entrance of the strait, unable to cross and pursue you! So just keep at it! Your cruiser fleet can hold off the enemy's battleship fleet; it's not a loss!

After hearing what the Commander-in-Chief had said, and that he could accept the outcome of "the cruiser fleet being occupied for a long time," what reason did Lieutenant General Basilev have to be afraid of fighting?
To argue further would be to disobey military orders.

So, after hasty preparations, the cruiser squadron was dispatched.

Before launching the attack, Lieutenant General Basilev gave a brief but absolutely necessary pep talk.

He repeatedly emphasized to his officers and soldiers that this battle was bound to be won, and that this battle would be a direct route through the Strait of Shioma into the Gulf of Riga, a region inaccessible to the enemy's main warships, specifically targeting the enemy's weak points.

The morale of the Baltic Fleet was already low, but this encouragement had a very good effect. The officers and men of the cruiser fleet finally mustered their courage and launched an attack with one heart and one mind.

A massive fast fleet consisting of two Rurik-class armored cruisers, three Bayan-class armored cruisers, five Goddess-class protected cruisers, and sixteen Novik-class destroyers, with overwhelming numerical superiority, marched toward the Gulf of Riga.

In terms of troop size, this fleet is at least 2 to 3 times larger than the Demacian fleet already present in the Gulf of Riga. Even if the combat capabilities and technical specifications of the Demacian ships of the same class are slightly superior to those of the Rusa warships, a 2 to 3 times numerical advantage would be enough to crush the enemy.

……

The northern exit of the Shiuma Strait in the northern part of the Gulf of Riga is only 70 nautical miles from Tallinn and 90 nautical miles from Helsinki. Even St. Petersburg is a mere 240 nautical miles away.

Therefore, this place is already a very strategic location, controlling not only the Gulf of Riga to the south, but also the southern shore of the Gulf of Finland to the north.

After the Lussars' cruiser squadron set sail from Helsinki, it carefully traversed the pre-designated minefield at the entrance to the Gulf of Finland, following its own mine map, and arrived at the northern entrance of the Shiumma Strait just six hours later.

The fleet sailed at a speed of only 16 knots throughout the entire journey in order to avoid the danger of passing through minefields at high speed.

After arriving at the northern entrance of the strait, they continued sailing south at a speed of 16 knots for two and a half hours, covering a distance of 40 nautical miles, leaving the narrow strait channel and entering the relatively wide Gulf of Riga.

"According to the latest news, enemy ships sank our 6-ton transport convoy yesterday afternoon, which is 20 hours ago. Then they shelled the port of Riga after nightfall and withdrew within two hours... Where are they now?"

After entering the vast waters of the Gulf of Riga, Lieutenant General Basilov was still worried about the problem of reconnaissance.

He glanced at his watch; it was 10 a.m. The enemy fleet's attack on the Lusa transport convoy had occurred around 3 or 4 p.m. yesterday.

Relying solely on fleet-based searches was somewhat inefficient for the Gulf of Riga, which is over 120 kilometers wide from east to west and over 180 kilometers long from north to south. Therefore, Lieutenant General Basilev requested the radio to send a message requesting shore-based reconnaissance aircraft to provide aerial reconnaissance.

Just 20 minutes after the telegram was sent, a shore-based air force replied, saying that reconnaissance aircraft had already taken off.

The aircraft of 1915 had a significantly improved flight speed compared to the previous year; war always drives the rapid development of the aviation industry and aviation technology.

Last year, many airplanes had a speed of only around 150 kilometers per hour, but in the second half of this year, airplanes in various countries have generally exceeded 200 kilometers per hour.

The Demanians and Britannians had more advanced engine technology, and their planes could fly at speeds of 260-280 kilometers per hour, while the Lussa people generally hovered around 210-220 kilometers per hour.

With reconnaissance aircraft capable of speeds of up to 220 km/h providing aerial search, the location of the Demanian fleet was revealed in just one hour—although the reconnaissance aircraft that went to investigate did not gain much advantage. Demanian shore-based aircraft located south of Riga, after intercepting the telegram from the Lusa reconnaissance aircraft, also dispatched fighters to intercept them over the Gulf of Riga, and encountered several waves of reconnaissance aircraft.

Ultimately, the Lussa lost 6 reconnaissance planes and 12 pilots (these were all two-seater reconnaissance planes with a radio operator and radio in the back seat; even if they couldn't return alive, as long as the telegrams were sent, the intelligence was successfully delivered), but in return, they obtained the crucial intelligence of discovering the location of the Demacian cruiser fleet.

By the time the telegram was finally forwarded, translated, and delivered to Lieutenant General Lev Basil, it was already noon that day.

"The enemy fleet is 60 nautical miles southwest? Even if they're waiting for us there, it would take us more than two and a half hours to catch up at full speed, not to mention the enemy might try to escape... But where would they run? They can't possibly run directly in the opposite direction from us; if they did, they'd only have 30 to 40 nautical miles left before crashing into the coast. So, would they choose to escape laterally? Circling around us? That's possible..."

Lieutenant General Basilev spent some time sketching on the nautical chart with a compass, and discussed the situation with his staff. They eventually identified several possible maneuvers the enemy might employ. He then decided to respond accordingly and launch a coordinated encirclement.

Although this kind of encirclement may lead to the dispersion of our own forces, it can at least ensure that the enemy cannot escape.

Even if the forces are dispersed, considering our total force advantage of nearly three times, the enemy will not have the strength to defeat us one by one. As long as one squadron keeps the enemy in check, the rest of the warships will arrive at full speed, and the battle can be ended within two or three hours!
……

The Demacians' aviation technology and pilots' skills have always been far superior to those of the Lusa.

Therefore, when the Lusa reconnaissance aircraft discovered the location of the Demanian cruiser fleet, the Demanian reconnaissance aircraft naturally also discovered the location of the Lusa cruiser fleet.

When the intelligence was sent back to Memel (now Klaipeda, Lithuania, which was part of Demania during World War I), Lieutenant General Hipper and Lieutenant General Scheer gathered around the nautical chart with expressions of both excitement and seriousness, deliberating whether to launch an immediate attack.

"The enemy cruiser fleet has taken the bait! Shall we send out high-speed battlecruisers to outflank them and annihilate them all?"

Lieutenant General Hipper was somewhat eager for credit and subconsciously offered such a suggestion.

After he said it, he realized that he was being a little greedy, which was not conducive to maximizing the overall victory.

Sure enough, right after Hipper finished speaking, Scheer retorted unhappily: "How is this different from what we agreed on? This kind of interception mission can be left to my battleships. It's not a chase, it's just a blockade. Speed ​​doesn't matter! As long as the firepower and protection are strong enough, we can take out the enemy one by one!"

Hipper didn't argue immediately. Instead, he glanced at Lelouch beside him and saw Lelouch give him a knowing nod. Hipper then conceded and went along with it, saying:
"Based on the current situation, I'll send my battlecruiser to block the northern entrance of the strait. If any escapees manage to get to the southern entrance of the Shiuma Strait, I'll also block their way there to ensure they're wiped out completely!"

However, even when Hipper adopted a stance of "first removing the roof and being rejected, then conceding by asking to open the window himself," Scheer was still not satisfied.

Scheer felt that he had eight battleships, although they were the two oldest types of dreadnoughts, which was enough to hunt down these ships. He was capable of handling the mission of entering the Gulf of Riga to hunt them down and the mission of blocking the northern entrance of the Strait of Shioma.

So he added, "Why don't we have the four Heligoland-class battleships and the four Nassau-class battleships carry out their missions separately? The enemy's forces are not large, and I have the strength to handle both sides. Vice Admiral Hipper, your fleet can serve as a mobile support formation. If the enemy sends reinforcements, you can then adapt to the situation."

The implication is that without further enemy reinforcements, you won't even get a taste of victory today. A battle fleet forming a fortified position and engaging in a protracted battle is enough to completely encircle the enemy.

Hipper wanted to explode on the spot, even though the specific mission arrangements could only be finalized on the eve of battle and would change according to the enemy's situation. But Scheer's request on the spot was clearly unseemly.

However, just as Hipper was about to argue his case, Lelouch, who rarely had the opportunity to attend the meeting, stopped him.

Seeing this, Hipper calmed down a bit. Scheer, on the other hand, looked surprised.

He knew that Lelouch and Hipper were close friends, but he never expected that Lelouch would actually help him and stop Hipper from taking credit.

What's going on? Is Lelouch trying to please both sides? Is this guy really an opportunist who likes to curry favor with everyone?

After Lelouch stopped Hipper, he remained silent for a few seconds, waiting for both sides to calm down before speaking to them on their behalf:
“I think General Scher’s suggestion is not without merit, but with this arrangement, General Hipper is clearly at a disadvantage.”

However, everything is negotiable. If General Scheer is willing to listen to some of General Hipper's minor suggestions regarding tactical details and troop deployment, I think General Hipper might also be willing to compromise on strategic deployment.

Lelouch hadn't gone into details yet, but Hipper, trusting him implicitly, had already spoken up: "I have no problem with that. Lelouch's opinion is my opinion! Scheer, what do you say?"

Scher couldn't agree so readily. He hesitated for a few seconds before finally saying, "Then I need to hear the specifics of the so-called tactical and troop deployment suggestions before I can make a decision."

Lelouch then suggested, in a tone that it was just the beginning, that the missions of pursuing the enemy in the Gulf of Riga and blocking the northern entrance of the Strait of Hiuma should both be carried out by the battle fleet.

Therefore, we hope that General Scheer can assign the four Heligoland-class battleships to the pursuit mission in the Gulf of Riga, and the four Nassau-class battleships to the blocking mission at the northern entrance of the Strait of Hiuma.

Meanwhile, of the four Heligoland-class cruisers that entered the Gulf of Riga, two should head straight for the enemy cruiser fleet's coordinates to carry out the specific pursuit.

Two additional ships will be left on guard duty. After passing through the Ilbe Strait, they should not proceed further. Instead, they will patrol in circles near the western entrance of the Ilbe Strait to prevent the Russo-American cruiser fleet from circling around and escaping via the route you took to enter the Gulf of Riga.

Lelouch's point is quite easy to understand.

Just like some of the Douyin mini-game ads that later generations have seen, such as "soldiers catching robbers," if the soldiers are too focused on closing in on the robbers, they may actually give the robbers a chance to escape from the direction the soldiers came from.

Scher understood this principle immediately, but he didn't understand why Lelouch was meddling in such matters and offering such conditions as an exchange. Wasn't this micromanagement?
No general likes being micromanaged by his colleagues.

"Why did you do that? Even if you don't confess, I wouldn't have let the enemy cruiser escape through the Irbe Strait!" Scher was very indignant.

Lelouch laughed: "Calm down, General Scheer. Of course I know you won't make a low-level mistake. I just want to give the enemy a reason to believe that it makes sense for us to leave all four Heligoland-class battleships on this side of the Gulf of Riga. It's to ensure the complete annihilation of their cruiser fleet!"

Since the enemy consists of only armored cruisers, any two of our four Heligoland-class battleships would be enough to annihilate them! There's no need for all four to be present. By sending four, dividing them up, and even having enemy reconnaissance aircraft capture the action, doesn't it make us appear as if we're using our full strength, even when hunting a rabbit?

This way, the enemy will relax their vigilance in other directions and won't be overly cautious. I'm not trying to give you tactical instructions at a micro level; I'm simply trying to ensure we deceive the enemy's intelligence!

Lelouch's explanation made Scheer feel a bit better. If it weren't for the need for micromanagement, but only for the sake of intelligence deception, it would be understandable.

He nodded, then pressed on with another point of contention: "Then why did you insist on interfering with my use of the Heligoland-class battleships to hunt down the enemy's cruiser fleet, while sending the Nassau-class to block the northern entrance of the Strait of Hiuma?"
You should know that if the enemy cruisers eventually escape into the Strait of Hiuma, and our four battleships block the northern entrance of the strait, then the enemy's battle fleet may also come out to support them and try to disperse our warships at the northern entrance.

The Heligoland-class destroyers had the same number of main guns per side as the Nassau-class, eight in total, but the Heligoland-class had advantages in both speed and main gun caliber. If they encountered enemy battleships, the Heligoland-class was significantly more powerful, and both the Heligoland and Nassau were more than capable of pursuing armored cruisers!

Lelouch: "No! I don't think the 'Helgoland' and 'Nassau' are equally effective at chasing cruisers! The 'Nassau' class was the Empire's first dreadnought. Because the revolutionary innovation in the propulsion system was not yet complete at that time, the 'Nassau' class still used a triple-expansion reciprocating steam engine, while the 'Helgoland' class had already used steam turbines and was much faster!"

(Note: As mentioned in Chapter 22 of this book, due to the butterfly effect caused by dimensional harmony, the 'Helgolan-class' in this life has already avoided the pitfalls, with only 4 main gun turrets, but still 8 guns firing simultaneously on one side. In other words, the 'Helgolan-class' is no longer the hexagonal main gun turret layout like the 'Nassau', but a front-to-back rear-mounted layout along the central axis.)

Meanwhile, due to the reduction of two main gun turrets, saving tonnage and length, the Heligoland-class in this world used the same first-generation steam turbines as the later Caesar-class, instead of triple-expansion reciprocating steam engines. It can be considered a warship that lacks one centerline main gun turret compared to the Caesar-class, and has 50mm less armor at its thickest point, otherwise remaining roughly the same. At the thickest point of the main armor, the Nassau and Heligoland are both 300mm, while the Caesar reaches 350mm.

Furthermore, I calculated using a shipbuilding simulator that if the tonnage saved by removing two main gun turrets from the Heligoland-class destroyer were allocated to the propulsion system and the armor wasn't thickened, its speed would actually be slightly faster than the Caesar-class. I set it to a theoretical speed of 22 knots and an overload speed of 24 knots, because the Caesar-class had a theoretical speed of 21 knots and an overload speed of 23 knots.
Lelouch took a sip of water before continuing, "We had good reason to force the Heligoland-class battleships to pursue the enemy cruiser fleet. Sending battleships with a nominal knot of 22 knots and an overloaded knot of 24 knots to hunt down armored cruisers would ensure that they would catch up."

By leaving the 19-knot Nassau-class destroyers to guard the northern entrance of the strait, we could create an opening for the enemy, making them mistakenly believe that there was an opportunity to take advantage of the situation. If I were the commander-in-chief of the Baltic Fleet, and I had sufficient intelligence to confirm that the Heligoland-class destroyers had been wasted in the Gulf of Riga and were unable to pass through the Siuma Strait to the Gulf of Finland, what would I think?
Maybe I'll have the guts to send out the four Gangut-class destroyers from St. Petersburg to fight the four Nassau-class destroyers! I think the Gangut-class is stronger than the Nassau-class on paper!

Having said that, Scher naturally understood completely.

To put it bluntly, this was a deliberate pretense: "To ensure the success of the pursuit in the Gulf of Riga, we must use all our strength, even when hunting a rabbit, and then create an opening at the northern entrance of the Strait of Shiuma to lure the enemy."

But Vice Admiral Scheer quickly realized another problem: "So you think that the enemy doesn't even know that General Hipper has those three battlecruisers? Won't the enemy be on guard against the German battlecruisers suddenly arriving on the battlefield to clean up the mess when both sides' battleships are locked in a fierce battle?"

Lelouch couldn't answer that question directly because he knew the enemy already knew of Hipper's existence. Hipper had informed the Navy about his planned operation using the leaked code.

However, Scheer wasn't one of their own and still didn't respect Lelouch, so Lelouch hadn't told him that "their radio code had been leaked." Therefore, when it came to the question of whether their operation could be kept secret, Lelouch could only laugh it off.

There's no need for radio deception in this operation against the Lussa, because Demacia has an absolute advantage in strength, and can win even if they play their cards openly.

So Lelouch thought for a moment and then changed his perspective, effectively avoiding the problem: "Does the enemy know where General Hipper's battlecruiser is? I'm not the enemy, how would I know?"

However, I am certain that if four Nassau-class destroyers are luring out from the northern entrance of the Strait of Hiuma, the probability of the enemy being lured out will greatly increase! This is because the Nassau-class destroyers only have a top speed of 19 knots! If the enemy's four Gangut-class destroyers come out and engage in a battle with the four Nassau-class destroyers, resulting in mutual damage, or even if the Gangut-class destroyers gain the upper hand and destroy some of our Nassau-class destroyers...

At this point, once enemy reconnaissance aircraft detect the approaching 'Defflinger-class' high-speed battlecruiser, the enemy can choose to have all 'Gangut-class' ships turn around and run away immediately!
The 'Defflinger-class' had a speed of 27 knots, which was indeed fast enough to catch up with the 'Gangut-class' at 24 knots, but the 'Nassau-class' at 19 knots could not catch up with the 'Gangut-class' at 24 knots. This is a very simple addition and subtraction problem.

As long as the enemy's Gangut-class destroyers run away, they can disconnect us and prevent the Nassau-class destroyers from keeping up with the battle. This will turn their 4 vs. 7 situation back into a 4 vs. 3 situation, and the paper advantage will still be theirs!

If we had used the Heligoland-class destroyers, which could reach a maximum speed of 24 knots under the same overload conditions, to block the northern entrance of the Shioma Strait from the very beginning, would the enemy's Gangut-class destroyers have dared to come out?

In that situation, once the 'Defflinger-class' is spotted, if the 'Gangut-class' tries to escape, it will find that the 'Defflinger-class' can easily catch up with them, and the 'Helgoland-class' that was originally going to engage them will also have the same speed of 24 knots, so they will not be able to create any distance.

Once the Derfflinger-class destroyers catch up to this distance, it will always be a 7 vs. 4 situation! Even an elementary school student could do that math, so using the Heligoland-class destroyers to block the choke point would absolutely deter the enemy from coming out!

Lieutenant General Scher was finally convinced by this series of meticulous logics.

He began to waver.

It seems that it was a mistake to initially underestimate this colonel's staff officer and regard him as a middleman who liked to build connections and cultivate relationships everywhere...

Scher finally sorted out his thoughts and, after some contemplation, confirmed: "So, you actually want to take a gamble on whether you can lure out the main force of the Lussa people."

At the same time, there's another gamble: 'Before the Defflinger-class ships arrive on the battlefield, can the Nassau-class ships engage in a fierce battle with the Gangut-class ships, resulting in severe damage—ideally, so severe that even if the Gangut-class ships eventually escape, the wounded Gangut-class ships, even in a 4v3 situation, cannot defeat three intact Defflinger-class ships?'

Lelouch: "That's exactly what I meant."

Scher scratched his small triangular mustache a few times and said, "Deal!"

(End of this chapter)