The Second Reich: Beginning with the Prince of Prussia

The third largest city in the empire, Hamburg.

A beautiful cruise ship is moored in the harbor outside Hamburg, and little Moltke, dressed in a crisp military uniform, is waiting for Andrews to arrive at the boarding gangway.

"Army Major Staff Officer Helmut Johannes Ludwig von Moltke reports to you!".

Moltke Jr. looked a little nervous, and his uncle had told him that this mission was very important, not only for his personal future, but also for the fate of the empire.

Therefore, on this visit, Moltke the elder asked him to take Prince Andrews as the main leader, and everything must be arranged by Prince Andrews.

Although in terms of age, the 37-year-old Moltke is three times older than Andrews, but the shy and introverted Moltke has almost no aura in front of Andrews, and he looks respectful.

At the first sight of Moltke Jr., Andrews made a judgment: he was not suitable for the commander-in-chief!

Old Moltke he had seen, this was a wise old man full of wisdom and intelligence, with a strong personal aura, and belonged to the kind of person who made others involuntarily obey as soon as he opened his mouth.

And little Moltke, he is more like the kind of otaku of the peaceful era in later generations, shy, shy, introverted, and seems to have no opinions.

Of course, the fact that he can become the chief of the general staff of the German army shows that he still has the ability, but because of his personality, he is not very suitable for this position.

Andrews felt that it might be more appropriate for him to be a staff officer than to be a chief of staff, and of course, this kind of personality was not suitable for being a commander in the army.

The most taboo on the battlefield is indecision and not decisiveness, something his father, Prince Karl, has emphasized many times.

Andrews nodded to little Moltke, took the initiative to stretch out his hand, and spoke

"Frederick Andrews, it's a pleasure to meet you!".

Seeing Andrews so polite, little Moltke hurriedly shook hands with him:

"Your Royal Highness the Prince, the Chief of Staff asked me to follow your arrangements along the way, are we leaving now?"

Andrews glanced at the harbor, and in addition to the beautiful ocean liner in front of them, there was also a very imposing ironclad ship docked on the dock.

As a qualified military fan, Andrews recognized it at a moment's notice:

The fourth ship of the Second Reich's Saxony-class ironclad - the Baden ironclad!

This ironclad ship belonged to the same class of warships as the Zhenyuan and Dingyuan ships purchased by the Qing court, and the latter made some improvements on the basis of Saxony, increasing the caliber of the main guns and increasing the firepower intensity.

But the rest of the place is basically unchanged, so in terms of appearance, the two are not much different.

As the latest large main ironclad ship of the German and Italian Empire, the Saxony-class ironclad has been the main force of the Imperial Navy since its commissioning.

As the newest battleship in the Saxony-class ironclad ship, the Baden is currently the newest capital ship of the Empire, with the largest tonnage and the strongest firepower.

This time, Andrews and Moltke went to North America, and Kaiser Wilhelm I was worried about the safety of the two at sea, so he specially transferred this cutting-edge warship to escort the two of them throughout the process.

This is the first time Andrews has come into contact with the warships of this era, with a behemoth with a displacement of more than 8,000 tons docked beside him, and the feeling of oppression and impact is difficult to describe in words.

Andrews took a deep breath and looked beyond the ironclad of the Baden to the ocean in the distance.

With the rapid development of shipbuilding technology at the end of the 19th century, such a thing as ironclad ships will soon disappear from the stage of history.

And the era of dreadnoughts, which advocate firepower and protection, is about to begin.

In this ship-building frenzy, the empire must not lose at the starting line.

"Let's go, let's go!".

After saying a word to little Moltke beside him, Andrews stepped onto the gangway and boarded the cruise ship.

In fact, if he had a choice, he would prefer to take the ironclad of the Baden.

But given the terrible sea conditions in the Atlantic Ocean and the possible bumps at sea, Andrews made the sensible choice to take the cruise.

The ironclad ships of this era are not very good in terms of ocean-going performance, and their seaworthiness is generally very bad.

This is especially true of the Saxony-class ironclad, after all, this is an inshore ironclad designed to patrol the Baltic Sea coast and protect the security of the Empire's maritime frontiers, and it is not designed to carry out ocean-going missions at all.

......

After leaving the port of Hamburg, the Baden escorted the ship into the North Sea.

After entering the North Sea, a battleship flying the rice flag of the sun never sets approached.

"Captain, the Hanse ironclad has been discovered!".

On the ship, the lookout post spotted the traces of the Baden ironclad and immediately reported it upwards.

"How many Hanse ironclads are there?"

When the captain heard the news, he took it very seriously.

In recent years, with the continuous strengthening of the Hans Navy, it has become more and more common to see Hans Navy warships going to sea for training in the North Sea.

This made the sun never set some wariness in the hearts of the people, if the Second Empire continued to increase its investment in the navy in this way, and launched various large-tonnage capital ships one after another, their maritime supremacy may be challenged.

However, at this time, the navy of the Second Empire was not to worry, the strength of the Royal Navy was far superior to them, and there was absolute confidence that it could defeat them.

Therefore, after discovering Hans's battleship, the British captain behaved very calmly.

This is the confidence of the world's number one naval power.

"There is only one, and the number seems to be the Baden, an ironclad of the Saxony-class class?"

"Is the Baden the same ironclad ship with a displacement of 8,000 tons and six 260 mm guns?"

After hearing the name of this battleship, the captain of the ship on which the sun never sets felt a little stressed.

His battleship was nothing more than a cruiser with a displacement of less than 4,000 tons, and the caliber of the main guns was only 180 mm, while the opponent's tonnage was close to 8,000 tons, and the caliber of the main guns reached 260 mm.

Whether in terms of tonnage or the caliber of the main guns, they are definitely no match for each other.

"Yes, it's the Baden, Captain, should we report back to the mainland and call for reinforcements by the way?"

"What are you worried about? They are not here to fight us, at most they are just training, what is there to be afraid of!"

The captain quickly calmed down, because the Germans were dispatching their latest ironclad ships, so it attracted his attention even more.

"Keep up and see what they're doing!".

Although the other party is most likely going out to perform a training mission, he is still not at ease and wants to go up to find out.

On the Baden, after discovering that the battleship that the sun never set quietly approached, Major Tirpitz, the chief of gunnery, spoke

"Captain, the sun never sets on the battleship is too close, it is already close to the dangerous distance, do you warn them and expel them?".

The captain frowned, slightly dissatisfied with the tough attitude of Tirpitz, a young officer.

How can the Royal Navy be provoked by the current Imperial Navy?

Although it was on the high seas, it was actually under the control of the Royal Navy, and if they drove out the ship, they would definitely send other warships to surround and intercept them.

So he said, "Our mission is to escort Prince Andrews to North America, and not to do something extraneous on our own!"

As a result, as soon as he finished speaking, a soldier came to deliver the message:

"Captain, His Royal Highness Prince Andrews has asked us to expel the British battleship behind!".

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