Hi all. I am writing a new alternative timeline in which Plan 19 is put into operation. For those that do not know what it is, Plan 19 was the planned High Seas Fleet of Germany's sorte against the Grand Fleet.
Historically, this lead to the Wihelmshaven Mutiny which lead to a Revolution in Germany, the fall of the Imperial Govermant, the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II and Armistice. What if it did not?
Changes to the HSF plan: They leave at dawn not at night and they remain close to the Dutch/German coastlines. The idea of this being more survivors from sunken ships.
Timeline:
October 28th 1918 - The Day History Changed [SIZE=-1]Dawn till 09:00[/SIZE][SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]
As dawn broke in the Schillig Roads off Wilhelmshaven Admiral Franz von Hipper looked out from the bridge wing over the ships at anchor there awaiting his order to set sail into the North Sea to seek the British Grand Seas Fleet for battle. Although he couldn't see many of his ships due to the thick fog, he could hear some of them. He knew that he had over 150 ships, the bulk of the High Seas Fleet, ready and waiting for his orders! His mind was turned to the attention of battle formations and the fleet signals he would need to command all these ships when his eye was caught by the sight of a small launch heading for his flagship, the SMS Baden. Although she was only commissioned just over 2 long wartorn years earlier on October 19th 1916 she was still the most advanced and powerful battleship in the German Fleet, and as such, his chosen flagship.
[SIZE=-1][/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]NOTE: For those that think giving the High Seas Fleet 150+ ships is unrealastic, I am taking that number as including all classes of ships, and most available ships. In 1918 Admiral Hipper had the following numbers of ships seaworthy: 18 Dreadnought Battleships, 5 Dreadnought Battlecruisers, 10 Pre-Dreadnought Battleships (A number more were restricted to harbour as prison or barrack ships and thus not seaworthy), No Armoured Cruisers, 19 Light Cruisers (Including 7 on Harbour Duty), No Protected Cruisers, 2 Seaplane Carriers and over 100 Destroyers. This means that of the 150+ ships I give Admiral Hipper, only 53 are Cruiser size and above. The remainder are Destroyers. This is the historical strength of ships available to the High Seas Fleet in late 1918. If an operation was planned, then only a handful of ships would be in drydock and thus un-available for duty. I took these ship numbers from "Castles of Steel: Britain, Germany and the Winning of the Great War at Sea" by Robery K. Massie.
[/SIZE]
As his ships were all already fully provisioned and crewed the approching launch could only carry orders and intelligence from the Naval High Command. As the launch pulled alongside he walked back into the bridge to find out what new information or orders had arrived for him. He did not have to wait long as a few minutes later he was surprised by the arrival of Admiral Reinhard Scheer, the head of the Kaiserliche Admiralstab (German Imperial Admirlaty) and reporting directly to the Kaiser! This thought Admiral Hipper can only be bad news. The Kaiser must have got wind of his plans and ordered Admiral Scheer to stop him.
This was not the case however. Admiral Scheer told him that he agreed with Admiral Hipper's view that destruction of the Grand Fleet may force better negotiation at the peace table and retain the honour of the High Seas Fleet, and as such, he was giving Admiral Hipper permission to proceed with Plan 19. Admiral Scheer handed Admiral Hipper their latest intelligence reports of the locations and dispositions of the Grand Fleet and shaking Admiral Hipper's hand, wished him good luck, said he wished he could be going with him and told him that at midday, regardless of whether the fleet had sailed or not, he would inform the Kaiser and the goverment of his plans. With that he turned and left the SMS Baden to return to the Naval High Command and the Kaiser.
[SIZE=-1][/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]NOTE: For those that are not aware, Plan 19 was a plan developed by Admiral Hipper which called for light forces to strike against the Thames Estuary, Flanders and the English Channel to draw the Grand Fleet South, where a waiting line of U-boats would attempt to even the odds. After that, the High Seas Fleet would engage its opponent in one last titanic encounter.
[/SIZE]
Admiral Hipper ordered that the fleet breckfast and be ready to sail no later than 09:00 hours and then retired to his cabin to read the intelligence reports he had just been handed. The intellegence told him that the Grand Fleet was aware that something was up, and had sailed the night before. Over 250 ships were at sea steaming toward what they hoped would be an engagement with his ships. The reports also told him that the submarines stationed outside the British harbours had sunk and damaged several smaller ships and auxilary vessels. Most importantly though, one Queen Elizabeth Class battleship had been damaged and had returned to port! Although only one of the British battleships was damaged, she was one of the most advanced that the British had. Her loss from combat may help the High Seas Fleet in the comming battle.
[SIZE=-1][/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]NOTE: Again, if you think this number is unrealistic, the Grand Fleet had over 350 ships at its disposial in 1918. Since the only major naval threat was the High Seas Fleet, colonial duties were left to pre-dreadnought class ships. If the ENTIRE High Seas Fleet sortied, then the majority of the Grand Fleet would be required to counter it. The available ships were: 4 Aircraft/Seaplane Carriers, 30 Dreadnought Battleships, 9 Dreadnought Battlecruisers, No Pre-Dreadnought Battleships, 1 Heavy Cruiser, 30 to 40 Light Cruisers and 250+ Destroyers. On top of this, the Grand Fleet had several ships of Commonwealth Navies and 5 United States Battleships stationed with it (US Designation: Battleship Division Nine, UK Designation: Sixth Battle Squadron). Again, as you can see, the bulk of the ships available to the Grand Fleet are destroyers, with some 74 to 84 ships of Cruiser size or larger. Since the Grand Fleet would have to react to intelligence regarding the actions of the High Seas Fleet, then it would be safe to assume that several ships of each class would be in drydock undergoing maintance and the like. Even if 10% of each ship class (except Heavy Cruisers) were unavailable, then the Grand Fleet would still have a large majority over the High Seas Fleet.</I>
[/SIZE]
At 08:45 hours Admiral Hipper returned to the bridge of the SMS Baden to oversee the fleet leaving harbour. There were already reports stating that ships were fully ready for sea and just awaiting his orders. He gave the order to follow the pre-arranged plan, meaning that at 09:00 destroyers and light cruisers were to leave harbour, sweep for British submarines and form escort and scouting formations to the North of Wangerooge Island. The large ships of the fleet would leave harbour at 10:00 and join with them. By 11:00 he planned to have the fleet arranged with battlecruisers leading battleships at the center, followed by pre-dreadnoughts with light cruisers leading and screening on the beams and destroyers scouting and forming an outer screen. After that, he planned to sail West toward the English Channel and dispatch light forces into the Thames Estuary (7 Light Cruisers and 5 Destroyers), English Channel (2 Battlecruisers, 3 Light Cruisers and 5 Destroyers) and along the Belgian coast to bombard Flanders (3 Light Cruisers and 1 Destroyer Flotilla). Once these attacks had been carried out, the fleet would regroup and turn West along the Dutch and German coasts, all moderatly or heavily damaged ships would return to port and the remainder of the fleet would await the Grand Fleet.
Admiral Hipper hoped that the Grand Fleet would arrive at dusk on October 30th so that he could take advantage of the superior night action training that his crews had over the British crews, and planned to send his seaplanes out on the morning of the 30th to scout for them. Once they were located he would have the planes recovered and send the ships back to port as they would require protection during combat and were virtually un-armed.
October 28th 1918 - The Day History Changed [SIZE=-1]09:00 till 13:00[/SIZE][SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]
At 09:00 the bulk of Admiral Hipper's Destroyers and Light Cruisers had started to move away from piers and jettys and slip out of their harbours. The process was a long one however, as the fog was still breaking up and was still still heavy in places. Ships had to travel slowly as a result in order to avoid collisions.
By 09:45 hours it was clear that the light ships would never clear the harbours and approches by 10:00, so Admiral Hipper give orders that the large ships were to delay their departure by 1 hour so that the smaller vessels could clear harbour, sweep for submarines and form up prior to the larger ships getting underway, and so that the larger and smaller ships would not get into each other's way. Apart from some submarine alerts as the light ships left harbour, there were no delays to the new time schedule and by 11:45 the fleet was formed up North of Wangerooge Island, and had started to steam West towards the English Channel.
As no ships had been attacked by submarine, Admiral Hipper hoped that the submarine reports were false, and that his current location and direction of travel was unknown to the Grand Fleet. Unbenown to him however, two of the submarine reports had been accurate. Due to intelligance, the Grand Fleet was aware that an operation was planned by the High Seas Fleet, and as such, submarines had been positioned to scout on the direction and makeup of the departing fleet.
[SIZE=-1][/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]NOTE: This is feasable as the Royal Navy had submarines in the Kattegat and off the German and Dutch coasts for reconassance and anti-submarine duties.
[/SIZE]
At 12:00 Admiral Hipper knew that Admiral Scheer was entering his meeting with the Kaiser to inform him of what was happening, and as such, he was expecting signals. What these signals would say, he did not know however. In the event, at 12:25 he recieved an urgent and personal signal from Kaiser Wilhelm II, and at 12:35 an urgent signal from the Naval Cabinet, followed shortly by another from the Kaiserliche Admiralstab.
The Kaiser's signal can be read at the bottom of this post.
The Kaiser praised Admiral Hipper for his bravery and commitment to duty, but urged him to return to port as his death and the destruction of the fleet would, in his mind, serve no useful purpose to Imperial Germany.
The signal from the Naval Cabinet was another matter however. Whilst the Kaiser, supreme head of the German armed forces, had not ordered him to return to port, this signal did. It was from the Chief of the Naval Cabinet, Admiral Müller, but he was passing it on from the Chancellor of Germany, Prince Maximilian of Baden.
In stark contrast to the Kaiser's signal, the Chancellor's was blunt and to the point. He ordered him to return to port and surrender his command as his actions were in stark contrast to the attempts of the goverment to end the war, and if the attack occured then no peace would be found and Germany would be invaded and destroyed as a result.
As he had a signal from the Kaiser which did not order him to return to port, and since the Kaiser out-ranked the Chancellor, Admiral Hipper chose to ignore this second signal and proceed as planned.
The third signal, the one from the Kaiserliche Admiralstab, was an intelligence report. 5 minutes previously to the signel a transmission was intercepted from close by the German coast, in the location of the Schillig Roads. The coding was British and could only be a report of the fleet, it's ships, direction and speed.
It was this report that worried Admiral Hipper most. The Grand Fleet was at sea he knew, and now they knew he was and in what direction they were travelling. At 13:00 hours he gave orders that his two seaplane carriers were to keep constant patrols during daylight hours, ranging as far as possible North in the North Sea, and to the coast of England to the East, reporting on open frequences any warships they located. The seaplane carriers were to stay with the fleet, travel together and be escorted by 5 destroyers. These reconissance operations were to be supported with pre-planned reconissance sorties by Zeppelins.
October 28th 1918 - The Day History Changed [SIZE=-1]13:00 till 18:00[/SIZE][SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]At 13:30 with the bulk of the High Seas Fleet steaming on an Westerly direction, Admiral Hipper watched as 7 ships broke formation and turned into the wind to launch the first wave of seaplane scouts that were going to head West ahead of the fleet to perform reconissance of the English Channel and Thames Estury.
Kaisers Signal:
To: Admiral Franz Ritter von Hipper, Commander High Seas Fleet.
Admiral, I have just been informed by Admiral Scheer as to your plans regarding the High Seas Fleet, and to your determination to seek a final battle with the Grand Fleet of the Royal Navy. As you are no doubt aware, the Royal Navy outnumbers you in every catagory of ship, and as such you are sailing to almost certain defeat at its hands.
Admiral Scheer has told me of Plan 19, and I agree that it is a sound plan. As such, I will not order you to return to port with my navy, as I too believe that the honour of the Navy will only be strengthened by it seeking battle and fighting with determination and honour.
That said however, I would urge you not to waste the lives of your men. If, having fought with honour, certain defeat looms, then the retreat, scuttling or surrender your ships, in the face of a more powerful foe, so as to save the lives of your men, would not be a stain on the honour of the navy, and nobody could accuse it of being so. A ship can be rebuilt, a life cannot.
I therefore urge you to return to port so as not to waste the lives of your men, but if you are determined to find combat against the Grand Fleet, then I must urge you to fight with honour and when the time comes, to think of the lives of your men and not of the honour of the Navy as it will only be strengthened by an honourable fight.
Whatever happens and when you return home for whatever reason, it will be as men who did their duty to the last and as heros to the German People.
Signed: Kaiser Wilhelm II
--------------------------
I am still writing page. 13:00 till 18:00, so to be updated.
I do have a few questions:
Does anybody know the names of the HSF Seaplane Carriers? I know they had two, but cannot find the names!
Does the telegram sound Kaiserish enough? Wilhelm thought of the HSF as his personal fleet - he was attached to them. I wanted the telegram to sound Kaiserish but formal.
If anybody has any comments I welcome them. I have tried to keep the ship numbers historic. The HSF have readied all available ships and the GF have a number in port for repairs/maintance etc, hence the numbers I use.
Thanks, David.
Historically, this lead to the Wihelmshaven Mutiny which lead to a Revolution in Germany, the fall of the Imperial Govermant, the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II and Armistice. What if it did not?
Changes to the HSF plan: They leave at dawn not at night and they remain close to the Dutch/German coastlines. The idea of this being more survivors from sunken ships.
Timeline:
October 28th 1918 - The Day History Changed [SIZE=-1]Dawn till 09:00[/SIZE][SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]
As dawn broke in the Schillig Roads off Wilhelmshaven Admiral Franz von Hipper looked out from the bridge wing over the ships at anchor there awaiting his order to set sail into the North Sea to seek the British Grand Seas Fleet for battle. Although he couldn't see many of his ships due to the thick fog, he could hear some of them. He knew that he had over 150 ships, the bulk of the High Seas Fleet, ready and waiting for his orders! His mind was turned to the attention of battle formations and the fleet signals he would need to command all these ships when his eye was caught by the sight of a small launch heading for his flagship, the SMS Baden. Although she was only commissioned just over 2 long wartorn years earlier on October 19th 1916 she was still the most advanced and powerful battleship in the German Fleet, and as such, his chosen flagship.
[SIZE=-1][/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]NOTE: For those that think giving the High Seas Fleet 150+ ships is unrealastic, I am taking that number as including all classes of ships, and most available ships. In 1918 Admiral Hipper had the following numbers of ships seaworthy: 18 Dreadnought Battleships, 5 Dreadnought Battlecruisers, 10 Pre-Dreadnought Battleships (A number more were restricted to harbour as prison or barrack ships and thus not seaworthy), No Armoured Cruisers, 19 Light Cruisers (Including 7 on Harbour Duty), No Protected Cruisers, 2 Seaplane Carriers and over 100 Destroyers. This means that of the 150+ ships I give Admiral Hipper, only 53 are Cruiser size and above. The remainder are Destroyers. This is the historical strength of ships available to the High Seas Fleet in late 1918. If an operation was planned, then only a handful of ships would be in drydock and thus un-available for duty. I took these ship numbers from "Castles of Steel: Britain, Germany and the Winning of the Great War at Sea" by Robery K. Massie.
[/SIZE]
As his ships were all already fully provisioned and crewed the approching launch could only carry orders and intelligence from the Naval High Command. As the launch pulled alongside he walked back into the bridge to find out what new information or orders had arrived for him. He did not have to wait long as a few minutes later he was surprised by the arrival of Admiral Reinhard Scheer, the head of the Kaiserliche Admiralstab (German Imperial Admirlaty) and reporting directly to the Kaiser! This thought Admiral Hipper can only be bad news. The Kaiser must have got wind of his plans and ordered Admiral Scheer to stop him.
This was not the case however. Admiral Scheer told him that he agreed with Admiral Hipper's view that destruction of the Grand Fleet may force better negotiation at the peace table and retain the honour of the High Seas Fleet, and as such, he was giving Admiral Hipper permission to proceed with Plan 19. Admiral Scheer handed Admiral Hipper their latest intelligence reports of the locations and dispositions of the Grand Fleet and shaking Admiral Hipper's hand, wished him good luck, said he wished he could be going with him and told him that at midday, regardless of whether the fleet had sailed or not, he would inform the Kaiser and the goverment of his plans. With that he turned and left the SMS Baden to return to the Naval High Command and the Kaiser.
[SIZE=-1][/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]NOTE: For those that are not aware, Plan 19 was a plan developed by Admiral Hipper which called for light forces to strike against the Thames Estuary, Flanders and the English Channel to draw the Grand Fleet South, where a waiting line of U-boats would attempt to even the odds. After that, the High Seas Fleet would engage its opponent in one last titanic encounter.
[/SIZE]
Admiral Hipper ordered that the fleet breckfast and be ready to sail no later than 09:00 hours and then retired to his cabin to read the intelligence reports he had just been handed. The intellegence told him that the Grand Fleet was aware that something was up, and had sailed the night before. Over 250 ships were at sea steaming toward what they hoped would be an engagement with his ships. The reports also told him that the submarines stationed outside the British harbours had sunk and damaged several smaller ships and auxilary vessels. Most importantly though, one Queen Elizabeth Class battleship had been damaged and had returned to port! Although only one of the British battleships was damaged, she was one of the most advanced that the British had. Her loss from combat may help the High Seas Fleet in the comming battle.
[SIZE=-1][/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]NOTE: Again, if you think this number is unrealistic, the Grand Fleet had over 350 ships at its disposial in 1918. Since the only major naval threat was the High Seas Fleet, colonial duties were left to pre-dreadnought class ships. If the ENTIRE High Seas Fleet sortied, then the majority of the Grand Fleet would be required to counter it. The available ships were: 4 Aircraft/Seaplane Carriers, 30 Dreadnought Battleships, 9 Dreadnought Battlecruisers, No Pre-Dreadnought Battleships, 1 Heavy Cruiser, 30 to 40 Light Cruisers and 250+ Destroyers. On top of this, the Grand Fleet had several ships of Commonwealth Navies and 5 United States Battleships stationed with it (US Designation: Battleship Division Nine, UK Designation: Sixth Battle Squadron). Again, as you can see, the bulk of the ships available to the Grand Fleet are destroyers, with some 74 to 84 ships of Cruiser size or larger. Since the Grand Fleet would have to react to intelligence regarding the actions of the High Seas Fleet, then it would be safe to assume that several ships of each class would be in drydock undergoing maintance and the like. Even if 10% of each ship class (except Heavy Cruisers) were unavailable, then the Grand Fleet would still have a large majority over the High Seas Fleet.</I>
[/SIZE]
At 08:45 hours Admiral Hipper returned to the bridge of the SMS Baden to oversee the fleet leaving harbour. There were already reports stating that ships were fully ready for sea and just awaiting his orders. He gave the order to follow the pre-arranged plan, meaning that at 09:00 destroyers and light cruisers were to leave harbour, sweep for British submarines and form escort and scouting formations to the North of Wangerooge Island. The large ships of the fleet would leave harbour at 10:00 and join with them. By 11:00 he planned to have the fleet arranged with battlecruisers leading battleships at the center, followed by pre-dreadnoughts with light cruisers leading and screening on the beams and destroyers scouting and forming an outer screen. After that, he planned to sail West toward the English Channel and dispatch light forces into the Thames Estuary (7 Light Cruisers and 5 Destroyers), English Channel (2 Battlecruisers, 3 Light Cruisers and 5 Destroyers) and along the Belgian coast to bombard Flanders (3 Light Cruisers and 1 Destroyer Flotilla). Once these attacks had been carried out, the fleet would regroup and turn West along the Dutch and German coasts, all moderatly or heavily damaged ships would return to port and the remainder of the fleet would await the Grand Fleet.
Admiral Hipper hoped that the Grand Fleet would arrive at dusk on October 30th so that he could take advantage of the superior night action training that his crews had over the British crews, and planned to send his seaplanes out on the morning of the 30th to scout for them. Once they were located he would have the planes recovered and send the ships back to port as they would require protection during combat and were virtually un-armed.
October 28th 1918 - The Day History Changed [SIZE=-1]09:00 till 13:00[/SIZE][SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]
At 09:00 the bulk of Admiral Hipper's Destroyers and Light Cruisers had started to move away from piers and jettys and slip out of their harbours. The process was a long one however, as the fog was still breaking up and was still still heavy in places. Ships had to travel slowly as a result in order to avoid collisions.
By 09:45 hours it was clear that the light ships would never clear the harbours and approches by 10:00, so Admiral Hipper give orders that the large ships were to delay their departure by 1 hour so that the smaller vessels could clear harbour, sweep for submarines and form up prior to the larger ships getting underway, and so that the larger and smaller ships would not get into each other's way. Apart from some submarine alerts as the light ships left harbour, there were no delays to the new time schedule and by 11:45 the fleet was formed up North of Wangerooge Island, and had started to steam West towards the English Channel.
As no ships had been attacked by submarine, Admiral Hipper hoped that the submarine reports were false, and that his current location and direction of travel was unknown to the Grand Fleet. Unbenown to him however, two of the submarine reports had been accurate. Due to intelligance, the Grand Fleet was aware that an operation was planned by the High Seas Fleet, and as such, submarines had been positioned to scout on the direction and makeup of the departing fleet.
[SIZE=-1][/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]NOTE: This is feasable as the Royal Navy had submarines in the Kattegat and off the German and Dutch coasts for reconassance and anti-submarine duties.
[/SIZE]
At 12:00 Admiral Hipper knew that Admiral Scheer was entering his meeting with the Kaiser to inform him of what was happening, and as such, he was expecting signals. What these signals would say, he did not know however. In the event, at 12:25 he recieved an urgent and personal signal from Kaiser Wilhelm II, and at 12:35 an urgent signal from the Naval Cabinet, followed shortly by another from the Kaiserliche Admiralstab.
The Kaiser's signal can be read at the bottom of this post.
The Kaiser praised Admiral Hipper for his bravery and commitment to duty, but urged him to return to port as his death and the destruction of the fleet would, in his mind, serve no useful purpose to Imperial Germany.
The signal from the Naval Cabinet was another matter however. Whilst the Kaiser, supreme head of the German armed forces, had not ordered him to return to port, this signal did. It was from the Chief of the Naval Cabinet, Admiral Müller, but he was passing it on from the Chancellor of Germany, Prince Maximilian of Baden.
In stark contrast to the Kaiser's signal, the Chancellor's was blunt and to the point. He ordered him to return to port and surrender his command as his actions were in stark contrast to the attempts of the goverment to end the war, and if the attack occured then no peace would be found and Germany would be invaded and destroyed as a result.
As he had a signal from the Kaiser which did not order him to return to port, and since the Kaiser out-ranked the Chancellor, Admiral Hipper chose to ignore this second signal and proceed as planned.
The third signal, the one from the Kaiserliche Admiralstab, was an intelligence report. 5 minutes previously to the signel a transmission was intercepted from close by the German coast, in the location of the Schillig Roads. The coding was British and could only be a report of the fleet, it's ships, direction and speed.
It was this report that worried Admiral Hipper most. The Grand Fleet was at sea he knew, and now they knew he was and in what direction they were travelling. At 13:00 hours he gave orders that his two seaplane carriers were to keep constant patrols during daylight hours, ranging as far as possible North in the North Sea, and to the coast of England to the East, reporting on open frequences any warships they located. The seaplane carriers were to stay with the fleet, travel together and be escorted by 5 destroyers. These reconissance operations were to be supported with pre-planned reconissance sorties by Zeppelins.
October 28th 1918 - The Day History Changed [SIZE=-1]13:00 till 18:00[/SIZE][SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]At 13:30 with the bulk of the High Seas Fleet steaming on an Westerly direction, Admiral Hipper watched as 7 ships broke formation and turned into the wind to launch the first wave of seaplane scouts that were going to head West ahead of the fleet to perform reconissance of the English Channel and Thames Estury.
Kaisers Signal:
To: Admiral Franz Ritter von Hipper, Commander High Seas Fleet.
Admiral, I have just been informed by Admiral Scheer as to your plans regarding the High Seas Fleet, and to your determination to seek a final battle with the Grand Fleet of the Royal Navy. As you are no doubt aware, the Royal Navy outnumbers you in every catagory of ship, and as such you are sailing to almost certain defeat at its hands.
Admiral Scheer has told me of Plan 19, and I agree that it is a sound plan. As such, I will not order you to return to port with my navy, as I too believe that the honour of the Navy will only be strengthened by it seeking battle and fighting with determination and honour.
That said however, I would urge you not to waste the lives of your men. If, having fought with honour, certain defeat looms, then the retreat, scuttling or surrender your ships, in the face of a more powerful foe, so as to save the lives of your men, would not be a stain on the honour of the navy, and nobody could accuse it of being so. A ship can be rebuilt, a life cannot.
I therefore urge you to return to port so as not to waste the lives of your men, but if you are determined to find combat against the Grand Fleet, then I must urge you to fight with honour and when the time comes, to think of the lives of your men and not of the honour of the Navy as it will only be strengthened by an honourable fight.
Whatever happens and when you return home for whatever reason, it will be as men who did their duty to the last and as heros to the German People.
Signed: Kaiser Wilhelm II
--------------------------
I am still writing page. 13:00 till 18:00, so to be updated.
I do have a few questions:
Does anybody know the names of the HSF Seaplane Carriers? I know they had two, but cannot find the names!
Does the telegram sound Kaiserish enough? Wilhelm thought of the HSF as his personal fleet - he was attached to them. I wanted the telegram to sound Kaiserish but formal.
If anybody has any comments I welcome them. I have tried to keep the ship numbers historic. The HSF have readied all available ships and the GF have a number in port for repairs/maintance etc, hence the numbers I use.
Thanks, David.
