I was a tycoon in World War I: Starting to save France

Chapter 1007 How did they sink our aircraft carrier?
The "Ballista Project" was overseen by General Winter.

At this time, he was commanding operations aboard the flagship battleship HMS Canada.

(The image above shows the battleship HMS Canada, with a displacement of 28000 tons and a speed of 22.75 knots. This ship was originally purchased by Chile from Britain, but due to the outbreak of war, Britain negotiated a settlement with Chile to buy it from Chile for £250 million. It was renamed HMS Canada and commissioned in 1915.)
During the pre-war meeting, the Minister of Munitions assigned tasks:

"We have reason to believe that the German High Seas Fleet may be involved in the war."

"From this perspective, we must place the main force of the Royal Navy in the North Sea."

"Only in this way can the German fleet be trapped and the security of the homeland be guaranteed."

The Prime Minister, the First Lord of the Navy, and General Winter had no objections.

Security in the North Sea is of paramount importance, and the German High Seas Fleet is the main adversary of the British Royal Navy.

As for the French Navy, they mostly consisted of small ships, and it didn't require advanced battleships to overwhelm them.

Therefore, the British forces sent to the Mediterranean were mostly outdated pre-dreadnoughts, with two battlecruisers for maneuver.

Of all the ships, the battleship HMS Canada, which entered service in 1915, was considered quite advanced, and therefore was chosen by Admiral Winter as his flagship.

General Winter remained on the main battlefield from beginning to end.

His naval warfare mindset hadn't changed. As a member of the navy, General Winter always believed that naval warfare should be a war of ship against ship, gun against gun.

As for fighter jets, they are only auxiliary.

Therefore, he naturally regarded the two "aircraft carriers" as auxiliary rather than the main force.

This is also why he used battleships as his flagship instead of aircraft carriers.

At that time, General Winter was observing the battle situation ahead through binoculars from the command tower.

So far, things are going well; everything is proceeding according to plan, and the Third Fleet is methodically consuming the French Navy and aircraft.

From his perspective, the enemy aircraft was forced back under pressure from the SE5a fighter jet.

(Note: The French Camel fighter calmly shot down the seaplane under the ambush of the SE5a and then retreated unscathed. However, the fighter was not equipped with a radio and could not communicate with the sea surface. General Winter, who did not understand air combat, mistakenly thought it was a defeat of the French fighter.)

"The Quartermaster General is right," General Winter said smugly. "Charles' fighters are no match for us; they don't even dare to use 'torpedo planes'."

“Of course, General.” Captain Ethan straightened his brand-new uniform, his tone laced with sarcasm.

“I heard that Charles vomited for several days on his way to the Dardanelles.”

"From this point of view, we have already won."

"On land, the Charles may be kings, but on the sea, no one can compare to the Royal Navy!"

"This should have been done a long time ago," Colonel Ethan thought. "If the Royal Navy had entered the war sooner, the Shard would never have developed into what it is today."

General Winter nodded slightly.

He was initially worried that Charles might have some ingenious idea to change the course of the battle.

But as he watched French seaplanes being shot down one after another in the air, his last remaining worries vanished.

This is your weakness, Ciel.

Even if you can win every battle on the European continent, and even unite with Germany, Greece, Belgium, and African colonies.

But if you lose at sea, all the spoils of war still belong to Britain, and you can't change that.

The navy is a strategic force, and we have achieved a strategic victory!
(Note: Before the rapid development of the air force, the navy could be called a strategic force. Whoever had the stronger navy possessed more overseas colonies and interests, and victories on land could not change this situation.)
However, just as General Winter breathed a sigh of relief and was watching the Royal Navy's victory with a spectator's mindset, the communications officer stepped forward to report:
"General, our First and Second Fleets have been attacked."

The First Fleet was centered around the aircraft carrier HMS Argus, while the Second Fleet was the HMS Furious fleet. General Winter didn't take the report seriously.

"Is it a French torpedo boat?" he asked.

With the main French fleet here, all they have left to attack the First and Second Fleets are a few small boats.

"Ignore them," General Winter ordered. "Our destroyers will take care of them..."

The communications soldier didn't want to answer:
"No, General, it's an enemy plane."

"They are attacking our aircraft carrier from the southwest. Rear Admiral Brent requests reinforcements!"

General Winter's expression changed slightly. He turned to the communications officer and asked, "Aircraft? How could there be enemy aircraft in the southwest?"

Planes taking off from Malta cannot reach the location of the aircraft carrier at all.

Even if they managed to reach it, they wouldn't have enough fuel to return after completing the attack.

The communications soldier shook his head blankly: "I don't know, General. And there are quite a few; the report says there are at least forty."

The communications officer handed the telegram to General Winter.

General Winter took the telegram with some skepticism, glanced at it, and suddenly remembered something. He quickly walked to his desk and stared blankly at the nautical chart.

Colonel Ethan caught up and asked doubtfully, "Is the problem serious?"

General Winter chuckled softly: "No, it's just that the French aircraft carrier has appeared."

"The French aircraft carrier?"

“Yes.” General Winter nodded, gesturing a circle in the southwestern sea with his finger: “Their aircraft carrier should be in this area.”

Colonel Ethan said "Oh," and then added, "Those planes took off from the aircraft carrier. So, this is Charles's plan to defeat us?"

General Winter and Colonel Ethan exchanged a knowing smile, their eyes filled with disdain.

They weren't flustered at all.

The reason was that they thought the Shire's aircraft carriers were like the British aircraft carriers, only able to launch fighters and not bombers.

To be precise, they couldn't take off with the massive "torpedo planes," which was exactly what they were worried about.

What threat can a fighter jet with machine guns pose to a warship?
Those machine guns wouldn't even be enough to tickle an aircraft carrier or destroyer!

This is one of the reasons why the British Navy did not pay much attention to naval air defense until this time; most people felt that it was not very necessary.

With aircraft carriers capable of launching fighter jets to deal with torpedo planes, warships only need a small amount of air defense as the final layer of defense.

However, just as they were leisurely discussing how to "encircle and annihilate" the French aircraft carrier, the communications officer ran over again.

"General." He said, his face filled with terror.

"The Argus caught fire, and its aircraft suffered heavy losses."

"The 'Furious' was sunk, and none of its aircraft survived."

"Major General Brent is missing. Colonel Aubel has taken command and requests reinforcements!"

General Winter and Colonel Ethan were shocked:
"What? This is impossible!"

"How did they sink our aircraft carrier?"

(End of this chapter)