A few hours later.
October 28, noon. The Admiralty, London.
"Has the latest news from Groningen come in yet? Are those Netherlanders you bought off actually reliable?"
Seeing it was almost time for lunch, Admiralty Minister Wharton Spencer realized the intelligence he had been waiting for all morning still hadn't arrived. He called the responsible intelligence officer over to confirm the situation face-to-face.
Faced with the reprimand, Lieutenant Colonel Murray Short responded cautiously, "Minister, I apologize for keeping you waiting. The civilian aviation enthusiasts we recruited in the Netherlands are very reliable.
Their skills are excellent, and politically, they lean toward the world order led by our great Britannia. This must be an accident. Perhaps the weather was bad, or the plane malfunctioned... When we realized the plane hadn't returned, we immediately sent investigators and launched a supplementary reconnaissance flight."
Lieutenant Colonel Murray Short served under Rear Admiral Thomas Jackson, the Minister of the Naval Intelligence Division (NID), and was in charge of the Aviation Reconnaissance Department within the NID.
He was also its founder, having established the Aviation Reconnaissance Department himself in 1912. No one was more senior in this field.
Since aerial combat did not exist in this era, Lieutenant Colonel Short naturally wouldn't consider the possibility that the plane had been shot down. He defaulted to a weather-related accident as the explanation.
Hearing this authoritative explanation, Wharton had to accept it. "Tell them to hurry up! Notify me the moment the supplementary reconnaissance yields results! Our empire is about to launch a major operation, and we need to know exactly how many of the enemy's main battleships are in port and how many are wandering blindly out at sea. We must ensure absolutely nothing goes wrong!""Yes, Minister!" Murray Short quickly agreed.
Busy with countless matters and tired of waiting, Wharton headed to the cafeteria for lunch.
...
After arriving at the cafeteria and getting his food, Wharton swept his gaze around the room. He spotted Rear Admiral Horace Hood, Chief of Staff of the Channel Fleet, eating his meal. Wharton walked straight over and sat diagonally across from him.
Wharton was a massive man who found sitting directly across from or next to someone too cramped, so he always sat diagonally when eating with subordinates.
Rear Admiral Hood had come to London to report on the Channel Fleet's combat readiness and make final requests before the battle.
Seeing the minister approach, he immediately stood up, only taking his seat again after Wharton had sat down.
"How are Vice Admiral Hastings' preparations coming along? Can all of his battleships deploy?" Wharton asked, his words muffled as he chewed on a large mouthful of fried fish.
"They can deploy at any time, rest assured, sir. However, the Royal Sovereign-class HMS Revenge has been refitting its main guns since the war began, and the process has only just finished. The corresponding fire control systems haven't been properly calibrated yet, and some of the targeting optics are still suited for the old guns. If forced to deploy, the gunnery officers will have to rely on their own experience to make manual adjustments, which will lower efficiency.
Her sister ship, the HMS Hood, had previously been decommissioned but was temporarily reactivated after the war broke out. She hasn't undergone any modern retrofits, but she can deploy immediately if needed. Emergency resupply and maintenance have already been completed.
The other two, more advanced capital ships have been kept in excellent condition, including the Formidable-class HMS Majestic and HMS Queen. They were ready to set sail when you ordered the Channel Fleet to prepare to cover the Belgin army's retreat, but the Belgins simply didn't hold out long enough for us to assist them..."
The Belgin army had been entirely wiped out a day ago, yet Rear Admiral Hood still took every opportunity to explain that their destruction couldn't be blamed on the Channel Fleet's slow response. It was simply that the Belgins were too weak to hold the line even for that short amount of time.
Minister Wharton had notified the Channel Fleet to prepare to provide support the day before yesterday. A day later, the Belgins were annihilated. What the hell was left to support?
Wharton obviously knew his subordinates were trying their best to shirk responsibility. But he also knew that being too strict wouldn't do any good, so he couldn't be bothered to argue. He simply waved a hand:
"Enough. Let's not talk about the past! We need to look forward! Fortunately, the deployment preparations General Hastings made won't go to waste. Though the Belgin army is gone, the Royal Navy cannot allow its prestige to be dragged through the mud! We must retaliate immediately!
Yesterday, upon learning of their destruction, I urgently contacted the Franks. I got in touch with General Joffre and had them mass their army's heavy forces around Dunkirk and De Panne to push east with everything they have, to capture Nieuwpoort and Ostend! The Belgins were wiped out at Ostend, so we must take it back to prove that the Goddess of Victory still stands with our empire!
Joffre was slow to act at first, claiming their heavy artillery hadn't been brought up in time. But I assured him that he didn't need to count on those sluggish land cannons of theirs. The Royal Navy will provide full fire support throughout this battle! So Joffre finally agreed: as long as we commence bombardment, they will immediately launch a full-scale infantry assault!
As for minor issues like the HMS Revenge's fire control not being fully retrofitted, it doesn't matter. This time, we're conducting shore bombardment. We're blasting stationary targets—what do we need precision fire control for?"
Hearing this, Rear Admiral Hood finally understood why the Minister had ordered the fleet to remain on standby in port for an entire day after the Belgin army's collapse, rather than retaliating immediately.
So he had needed to contact the Franks for a coordinated joint operation. The logistical coordination for that was bound to be complex, making a delay of a day or two perfectly normal.
Besides, in Rear Admiral Hood's eyes, a delay of a day or two hardly mattered. The Royal Navy was invincible anyway; they could go whenever they pleased.
So, he actively volunteered, "Should we deploy immediately, then? Since everything is settled with General Joffre?"
But Minister Wharton was a cunning old fox, and even at this critical moment, he chose to wait. "No rush! Yesterday, I dispatched reconnaissance planes to check on Wilhelmshaven and other areas. I also had our spies in Kiel harbor send back information to verify the positions of the Demanian main fleets.
Kiel has already reported back. As of yesterday during the day, their battleships were still in port. However, the recon planes sent to Wilhelmshaven and Emden haven't returned yet. I've sent another batch. We'll deploy once the news is confirmed; we're not missing much by waiting a little longer."
Rear Admiral Hood noted, "Actually, as long as the ships in Kiel are accounted for, the remaining enemies don't pose much of a threat..."
Minister Wharton glared at him. "You can never be too careful!"
Since he was waiting for intelligence, Wharton ate his meal very slowly. After finishing, he ordered a glass of Cognac to sip and lit a Havana cigar, smoking one after another as he waited.
Rear Admiral Hood could only endure the Minister's secondhand smoke. Even after lunch hours ended, the cafeteria staff didn't dare come over to rush the Minister.
It was unclear how much time had passed when Lieutenant Colonel Murray of the Aviation Reconnaissance Department and Colonel Oliver of the Telecommunications Reconnaissance Department suddenly arrived together. As soon as they entered the cafeteria, they sprinted toward Minister Wharton.
"Minister! The supplementary reconnaissance from this morning has just returned. We found that several of Demania's main high-speed battlecruisers are missing from port!"
Minister Wharton and Rear Admiral Hood immediately tensed.
Both men instantly thought of the exact same question: Had the Demanian battlecruisers deployed? If so, what was their target? Could they possibly possess the foresight to know the Royal Navy was planning a shore bombardment on Nieuwpoort and Ostend, and were coming to intercept them?
But on second thought, that seemed utterly absurd. After all, the Royal Navy hadn't even officially deployed yet.
Relying on his wily experience, Minister Wharton immediately thought of two other potentially crucial pieces of evidence and swiftly moved to confirm them:
"During the day today, have we noticed the enemy's deployed fleet breaking radio silence? Secondly, can you pinpoint the exact time those ships vanished? Did they set sail last night, or even earlier? Does your Aviation Reconnaissance Department conduct close-range aerial photography of the enemy ports every single day?"
The men present were all experts in their fields, so they immediately understood why Wharton was concerned about these specific points.
After a fleet set sail, to avoid exposing its position, it would generally maintain radio silence, tuning its radios to a 'receive-only' mode. This meant they couldn't reply to their home port to ask for instructions; they could only passively receive orders.
If the rear command wanted to issue new missions or orders to a deployed fleet, they had to use encrypted wireless telegrams. There was no other method of communication.
And the Britannia navy had already cracked the enemy's naval codes two full months ago, on August 20th, after salvaging a sunken Demanian submarine and capturing its codebook.
As long as the enemy's Admiralty used the radio to transmit new combat orders to a deployed fleet, the Royal Navy would undoubtedly intercept and decipher them!
Minister Wharton's questions were quickly met with direct answers. Lieutenant Colonel Murray reported first: "We don't conduct aerial reconnaissance every day. We don't always have the opportunity, and we have to prevent our neutral-country pilots from being exposed due to overly frequent operations.
However, considering that enemy ships usually sneak out at night and rarely in broad daylight, they must have departed by the first half of last night at the latest. It could also have been the first half of the night before, or even earlier. If they had sailed during the day, our ground spies might have spotted their movements from afar. Sailing at night is meant to evade close-range reconnaissance by ground spies. That is Hipper's usual modus operandi."
After Murray finished, Wharton gave a slight nod, acknowledging the analysis. Then, he silently turned his gaze to Oliver.
Colonel Oliver hurriedly answered, "The radio monitoring department intercepted a few telegrams from Wilhelmshaven last night. We've only just finished deciphering them. They read: 'Hipper is to select his own target and execute the original harassment plan. Furthermore, our spies embedded in Yarmouth report a large merchant fleet leaving the port today; there are currently no valuable targets present.'"
Hearing the telegram relayed by Colonel Oliver, the other three men exchanged glances. Both Wharton and Rear Admiral Hood saw the same conclusion reflected in each other's eyes.
Rear Admiral Hood hesitantly gave voice to his superior's thoughts: "Minister, in your view... I fear that even if Hipper has sortied, he must have been gone for quite a while. He wouldn't have hastily departed only after learning of the recent situation along the Belgin coast.
It is common knowledge that preparing a fleet for departure takes a very long time, at least a day or two. If the enemy only decided to deploy after the results of the Belgin battle were out, they definitely wouldn't have had enough time. Moreover, the orders sent by their home port after they sailed made no mention of anything else, merely instructing them to pick their own attack target.
Analyzing the telegram, Hipper must have been planning a surprise bombardment operation against one of the many ports along our empire's eastern coast for some time. However, enemy spies on our home soil infiltrated the port, observed the fleet movements, and advised them to abandon Yarmouth. Thus, Hipper was told to choose an alternate target—unfortunately, we don't know where that alternate target is."
Wharton nodded in satisfaction, showing a hint of approval for Rear Admiral Hood's deduction.
His subordinate's thoughts perfectly matched his own.
In short, Hipper's disappearance was undeniably "premeditated," so it couldn't possibly be a reaction to the sudden crisis unfolding right in front of them.
Hipper had already set sail in advance. Out at sea, even if he wanted to receive new orders, he'd have to listen to the radio. And as long as Hipper could hear the radio, the Royal Navy could intercept and decode the messages. Since they hadn't received any such orders yet, it proved the enemy's rear command hadn't assigned him any such task.
In all of this, there was actually a tiny, subtle flaw—if Minister Wharton and the others had known that Hipper had acted completely out of character and only set sail right before dawn today, then they might have had the slightest chance of realizing:
'Hipper could have received the new orders in person on land before setting sail, meaning he wouldn't need to rely on wireless telegrams for mission instructions at all.'
But the problem was that Minister Wharton and the others couldn't possibly know that Hipper had only just left before dawn—because the reconnaissance plane that could have confirmed "the enemy ships were still in port before dawn today" had already been shot down. Its pilot had been executed mid-air by Lelouch.
Thus, even that one-in-a-ten-thousand chance of suspicion was completely blocked off.
Minister Wharton pondered for a long time before finally issuing two formal commands:
"Have Vice Admiral Hastings immediately lead the main force of the Channel Fleet and secretly depart port right after nightfall today. They are to head to Nieuwpoort and Ostend and launch a full-scale bombardment against the German Army! Coordinate with the Franks to retake those two towns in one fell swoop!
Additionally, have Rear Admiral David Beatty lead the high-speed battlecruiser detachment south to patrol and lay ambushes around Yarmouth and the major eastern ports north of it. Deploy our homeland reconnaissance planes to conduct a dragnet search within a 200-kilometer radius of the eastern coast.
The moment Hipper's battlecruiser fleet is spotted, Beatty is to throw his entire main force at them. We must inflict heavy damage, if not completely annihilate the enemy!"
Wharton's line of thought was crystal clear: facing an unknown threat, he would split his forces into two. One to attack, one to defend. The slow Pre-dreadnoughts would carry out the shore bombardment.
The high-speed battlecruiser detachment would defend against the enemy's potential surprise attack on their homeland.
In historical reality, Hipper had gone to bombard Yarmouth during this very period, but he had acted so stealthily that he managed to slip past Beatty and the Britannia high-speed battlecruiser detachment.
But in this life, Hipper had no intention of going to Yarmouth. Instead, he dug up the incredibly realistic, scrapped plan for the Yarmouth bombardment and deliberately leaked a few subtle breadcrumbs. With a brilliant feint, he lured Beatty away to a battlefield farther north, drawing him far, far away from the Belgin coast.