Admiral Gephardt was the commander of the French Northern Fleet. He was a typical member of the Brest Faction, a group that considered the Royal Navy their rival and refused to fall behind.

But in fact, Admiral Gephardt was just "unwilling" rather than capable. He occasionally confided to his subordinates, "All we are doing might be nothing more than a fish struggling helplessly in a net, and in the end, we'll realize that nothing can be changed."

His subordinates understood.

The gap between the French Navy and the Royal Navy was so vast that it might not be something human effort and personal will could change, and they had to accept this reality.

Just like in the battles at the Dardanelles Strait, although France and Britain were equal Allies, it was naturally the Royal Navy that commanded the French Fleet in combat, without any opposition raised.

It would be no different now, Admiral Gephardt thought. At most, we would go to the North Sea to become a subsidiary fleet of the British, doing only escorting instead of fighting.

With a heavy heart, Admiral Gephardt stepped into Carter's command post.

"Welcome, General." Carter came forward to shake hands with Admiral Gephardt. "How have you been recently?"

"Very well." Admiral Gephardt nodded. "Perhaps because of the storms, the Germans have been quiet this month, even their submarines rarely launched attacks."

"That's good news." Carter stepped aside, guiding Admiral Gephardt into the meeting room.

The serviceman immediately served them coffee, along with a few pieces of cake and freshly cut apples.

Since the French Fleet joined the battle with the "Echo Detector," the supply situation had improved, especially at the supply port of Antwerp.

Admiral Gephardt sat down, took a few sips of coffee, and as he put the cup down, he said, "However, there have been some new developments in the past few days, which I believe you need to be aware of."

"Oh?" Carter responded. "Do you mean the new type of German seaplane spotted in the North Sea?"

"You know?" Admiral Gephardt was a bit surprised, but the next second he understood: "Of course, you know. You have aircraft conducting aerial reconnaissance of the Germans."

"Yes, General." Carter nodded.

"You should shoot them down," Admiral Gephardt said, staring at Carter. "Those things are dangerous. With them in the sky, the Germans know exactly where our warships and merchant ships are. If they wish, they can organize a fleet stronger than ours to launch a surprise attack at any time."

"I know," Carter replied with a tone of helplessness. "But we can't do it."

Without waiting for Admiral Gephardt to ask, Carter explained: "Our fighters can't fly that far, and our bombers are similar in speed to theirs."

With a speed of 137 kilometers per hour compared to their 135 kilometers per hour, there's almost no difference. No one can catch the other.

As long as they maintain the highest speed in a straight line, they can always keep their distance without even needing evasive maneuvers.

Admiral Gephardt had a peculiar expression: "But those are British 'Caproni,' not ours. I heard you have replaced the engines in our 'Caproni' with new ones, making them faster than the enemy's."

"That's just... a rumor." Carter appeared embarrassed. "I did have such an idea and even put it into practice. But after installing a more powerful engine, we discovered a series of problems including structural instability and loss of control."

Of course, this wasn't the truth. The new 'Caproni' had reached a top speed of 160 kilometers per hour. As long as it didn't carry torpedoes and only mounted machine guns, chasing and destroying the German 'UWD' bombers would be no problem at all.

Admiral Gephardt looked at Carter half-believingly: "Is that so? What a pity!"

Carter smiled meaningfully: "We cannot be faster than the Germans, General."

"Cannot?" Admiral Gephardt stared at Carter, sensing some hidden meaning in his words.

"Yes, cannot." Carter nodded. "Otherwise, you know what will happen."

Admiral Gephardt was stunned for a moment, then he understood.

As soon as the new 'Caproni' appeared, the Germans' scarce few seaplanes would be annihilated.

Then, the British would no longer face any threat.

"But," Admiral Gephardt said worriedly, "we are also part of the escort fleet. Our fleet also patrols the North Sea; they are equally at risk."

"Yes, I know." Carter's tone was firm. "We might even become the Germans' primary target, or rather the best target."

"How so?" Admiral Gephardt was startled.

"It's simple," Carter analyzed. "In the eyes of the Germans, the Royal Navy is certainly stronger than the French Fleet, and at the same time, the French Navy poses a significant threat to their submarines."

Admiral Gephardt instantly understood.

The French Fleet was the weak link in the North Sea defense line, as it lacked combat experience, had outdated tactics, and its ships were inferior to British ones.

From the perspective of the Germans, it made sense to eliminate the French Fleet first.

Admiral Gephardt frowned: "But you know that the French Fleet will become the Germans' target, and you still let their seaplanes roam free?"

Shouldn't they eliminate the German seaplanes immediately now?

Carter said nothing. He stood up and made a "please" gesture: "I want to show you something, General."

...

At the enclosed hangar at Antwerp Airport, Carter and a few pilots were studying attack tactics for the 'Caproni' bombers.

"Merely meeting the drop requirements is far from enough," Carter told the pilots. "Have you considered that, for a torpedo to hit the target successfully and sink it, the optimal angle is a perpendicular hit on the warship."

"Yes, Colonel."

"So." Carter, holding a model plane, demonstrated with a wrench on the ground while speaking, "we should circle the plane to lower altitude and approach at a perpendicular angle, while also estimating the ship's speed and accounting for lead-time..."

At this moment, Carter saw Carter's figure at the hangar door. Carter quickly led his subordinates to greet and salute him.

"This is Admiral Gephardt," Carter introduced. "I believe you know him."

"Yes, General." Carter and his men straightened up and saluted Admiral Gephardt, shaking his hand warmly.

Admiral Gephardt glanced doubtfully at Carter, not understanding why he had brought him to see these pilots.

Suddenly, he stared dumbfounded at the plane parked in the hangar, too shocked to speak for a long time.

My God, are those torpedoes?

The plane wasn't carrying bombs but torpedoes?