Greece to roman road

As the de facto supreme commander of the Ottoman Navy, Ramizbey is even more convinced that the reason why the Ottoman Navy is not as powerful as the Greek Navy is the current situation of the Ottoman Empire.

If the gap between the Ottoman Navy and the Greek Navy was only in terms of warship performance, even if it was still unlikely to defeat the Greek Navy, it would not make the Ottoman Navy dare not even leave the gate.

The performance gap between the warships of the two countries is only apparent. The real weakness of the Ottoman navy is more fatal in less obvious ways.

Due to limited funds, the warships of the Ottoman Navy have not been effectively maintained and maintained. Due to mechanical wear and rust, the two battleships purchased in 1906, which originally had a speed of 16 knots, can now only reach a maximum speed of 10 knots. .

The second is the gap in crew quality.

Greece is a maritime country. The Greeks in the city-state era began to row famous boats for trade in the Mediterranean.

Nowadays, Greece is also a big shipping country. Greeks are also happy to become crew members, and there is a strong atmosphere in the society for learning navigation skills.

Coupled with the Hellenic Naval Technical College, a steady stream of shipping talents has been cultivated.

Therefore, the Greek Navy can recruit enough talents.

Unlike Greece, the Ottoman Empire was a land country and not a major shipping country. There were not many qualified sailors in the Ottoman Empire.

As for naval officers who require higher abilities, the situation is even more miserable.

The education of the Ottoman Empire itself was very backward. Most of the officers in the navy completed their studies through German and British education.

This situation led to another trouble, that is, the Ottomans who completed their naval studies overseas saw the prosperous society of the great powers with their own eyes, had broad vision and rich knowledge, and were very dissatisfied with the outdated and conservative Ottoman government.

These new talents who have completed their overseas studies are naturally elite talents with ideals and pursuits.

In the eyes of the old Ottoman bureaucrats, these people spent the government's money to study abroad, and after completing their studies, they turned against their own country. They were really evil and ambitious.

There was already a shortage of naval personnel, and Ottoman officials were at odds with each other.

Thinking of this, Raziz Bey was also full of resentment.

If it were not for the obstruction of these stubborn and conservative bureaucrats, the Ottoman Empire's purchase of two super-dreadnoughts from Britain would have been completed long ago.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the world's naval technologies were constantly emerging and turbulent. With the naval competition between Germany and the United Kingdom fueling the flames, the new warships a few years ago were completely outdated a few years later.

In just a dozen years, there were armored cruisers, pre-dreadnoughts, strategic cruisers, dreadnoughts, and now super-dreadnoughts.

In the eyes of feudal officials, the world is static. They cannot understand what rapid changes are and what technological innovation is.

In their eyes, they are also large ships of 10,000 tons, equipped with indestructible iron armor and powerful artillery. Why did the Barbarossa Hayreddin and Torgut (the two Brandenburg-class pre-dreadnoughts) The Turkish name of the ship) was not as powerful as the two battleships of the Greeks.

They even don't understand why Navy ships need to spend a lot of money to maintain and conduct military exercises even if they do nothing.

Due to the backwardness of Ottoman domestic industry, the technology of the shipbuilding industry was weak, the cost of maintenance and upkeep was also high, and there was no ability to provide timely and effective maintenance and upkeep for the navy's warships.

The warships of the Ottoman Navy have been parked in the military port for many years, rusting and gathering dust.

It wasn't until the war started that they thought of the navy.

There is a clear gap between the Ottoman Navy and the Greek Navy in terms of warship performance, naval personnel, and logistics and maintenance.

Ramizbey knew this gap in his heart, and naturally he would not lead the Ottoman Navy to fight a losing naval battle.

Until Kontoriotis's clear telegram caused an uproar in the Ottoman country. At this special moment when the Ottoman army was fighting passionately in Macedonia and the Balkan Alliance, the timid navy looked extremely dazzling.

Under strong pressure from all over the country, Cemal Pasha went to the naval port specifically to persuade Raziz Bey to fight.

In Gemal's words, even if it knows it is defeated, the navy should take some positive actions to inform the public that the warships the Ottoman Empire spent countless money to purchase are useful.

After all, the two super-dreadnoughts purchased by the Ottoman Empire from Britain are still being built on the slipway, although they have been suspended due to no money to pay the bills after the war with the Balkan Alliance broke out.

In addition to loans from foreign countries, a considerable part of the purchase funds for these two warships was obtained through social donations. Even primary school students in Constantinople donated money for these two super-dreadnought ships.

Why did the Ottoman people react so strongly to the Greeks' clearly insulting telegrams? Because not long ago, everyone enthusiastically donated money to buy new warships.

As a result, the Navy, which everyone enthusiastically supported, behaved like this.

Although reluctantly, Razizbey was forced to agree to lead the navy into the Aegean Sea. The lieutenant general, who knew the gap between the enemy and ourselves, had no intention of fighting the Greek fleet head-on.

After preliminary analysis, the activity trajectory of Greek warships has been roughly ascertained. In the absence of the Ottoman Navy, Greek destroyers are mainly responsible for reconnaissance and patrol along the Aegean coast.

The main force of the Greek Navy, the two Invincible-class battlecruisers, are mainly anchored in the port of Lemuos Island for training.

After Razizbey's careful calculation, a simple and effective strategy was devised - use decoys to drag down the Greek destroyers to create opportunities for the main fleet to annihilate them. After a successful attack, they immediately returned to the Dardanelles Strait to avoid the two Greek destroyers. A capital ship.

As long as results are achieved, the Ottoman Navy will have endless benefits and can well fight back against officials who oppose naval construction and prove the correctness of investing in the navy.

Therefore, last night, with the help of the cover of night, the Ottoman fleet sailed out of the Dardanelles Strait and entered the Aegean Sea without anyone noticing.

Under the cover of night, the two Greek destroyers patrolling the Dardanelles Strait did not notice anything unusual.

For this plan, Razizbey believes that the probability of success is high.

Even if it doesn't succeed, nothing will be lost.

After all, this was to use the entire Ottoman Empire's naval strength to deal with several auxiliary warships of the Greek Navy.

As for the two destroyers in the Dardanelles Strait, they are also part of the targets of the Ottoman fleet. They can be dealt with when the fleet returns.

The two pre-dreadnought battleships Barbarossa Sea Reading and Torgut were escorted by the protected cruiser Mecidiye and four destroyers. A total of seven warships, majestic and majestic, cut through the waves. Chase towards the target sea area.

"Report to the General that the Tallinn ship acting as a decoy sent a telegram. They encountered two Greek destroyers 120 nautical miles northeast of Lemuas Island and requested fleet support."

The signal soldier reported the translated message to Raziz Bey, who was in deep thought.