I Became a Plutocrat in World War I: Starting with Saving France
Chapter 270 Missing the Opportunity

Chapter 270: Chapter 270 Missing the Opportunity

The City Defense Headquarters was filled with laughter and cheer. The staff officers had even set up a private bet, not on whether the fleet would win or lose, but on whether the fleet would break through the Dardanelles Strait into the Marmara Sea today or tomorrow.

Major Fernan secretly asked Shire, "Colonel, aren’t you participating?"

Shire coldly replied, "What’s the odds for failure?"

Major Fernan was taken aback for a moment, then laughed, "Failure? No one thinks the fleet will fail. If anyone does, I’ll bet against him at odds of 100 to 1..."

"As you wish," Shire felt around in his pocket and slapped all 11 francs in front of Major Fernan.

Major Fernan was stunned for a moment. Looking at Shire’s determined face, he hesitated.

But then he thought, there’s no way this battle could be lost. That’s 18 battleships. Germany barely has 17 in total, and these could destroy an entire country, not to mention the opponent is the Ottoman Empire.

With that thought, Major Fernan accepted Shire’s 11 francs generously and waved them triumphantly in front of Shire, "I’ll take this as you buying me a drink!"

However, just at that moment, a communications soldier suddenly yelled out, "General, the ’Bouvet’ has been sunk!"

The ’Bouvet’ was one of the four battleships sent by France to cooperate with the British Fleet.

Perhaps driven by pride, the French were very eager for their battleships to achieve more impressive victories than the British in this battle. So, they were all very hopeful and keen to know the situation, only to receive the first report that said it had been sunk!

The headquarters instantly fell into dead silence. Everyone, including Gallieni, stopped what they were doing and turned in shock towards the communications soldier.

Only Shire remained calmly sitting in his chair, drinking apple juice. The officer’s club sold it at 10 cents a glass.

After a long while, Major Fernan finally exclaimed, "No, this can’t be possible. How was it destroyed?"

The communications soldier repeatedly confirmed the information but still hesitated to speak. He ultimately chose to hand the telegram directly to Gallieni.

Gallieni glanced at it and read aloud, "At 13:54..."

Gallieni took out his pocket watch and checked the time. It was already three in the afternoon, which meant the incident had occurred an hour ago.

If it happened an hour ago, it was probably accurate. The City Defense Headquarters’ intelligence came from the General Headquarters, which would confirm its authenticity.

Gallieni frowned and continued, "’Bouvet’ sank in an unexplained explosion, seemingly from the ammunition depot blowing up. The incident happened suddenly; from explosion to sinking took just 2 minutes and 35 seconds, leaving us no time for rescue. Of the 648 crew members, only 5 officers, 9 NCOs, and 33 sailors survived."

The headquarters fell silent again, as if mourning the fallen soldiers.

But they quickly resumed as usual.

They had experienced similar incidents too many times. Six hundred-plus soldiers was a very small number compared to the thousands or tens of thousands of casualties in an army battle.

If it hadn’t been because of the battleship, a symbol of invincibility, sinking in just over two minutes, perhaps they wouldn’t have even had a moment of silence.

"This might be an accident," Fei Xian sighed lightly, "Maybe due to improper operation, or perhaps a coincidence where enemy shells detonated the ammunition storage."

Everyone else expressed agreement. To them, the Ottoman Empire couldn’t possibly sink a battleship, not even one.

Shire, however, shook his head slightly. They, including the fleet, hadn’t realized it was mines.

But this seemed normal. The violent explosion that ignited the battleship’s ammunition depot was visible from outside the ship, sinking it in just over two minutes.

Even the officers and men aboard the ship didn’t understand what had caused the explosion.

Accident?

Or did enemy large-caliber shells penetrate the armor?

Whatever it was, no one suspected mines because mine explosions were supposed to occur under the hull.

However, this had now laid the groundwork for other ships striking mines.

An hour later, another telegram arrived at the City Defense Headquarters: "The battlecruiser ’Indomitable’ hit a mine and was severely damaged."

Three minutes later: "The battleship ’Inflexible’ hit a mine, took on water heavily, and was abandoned."

Half an hour later: "The battleship ’Ocean’ headed for rescue, hit a mine, and severely listed, necessitating abandonment."

A series of mine-strike reports left the whole headquarters’ staff stunned. They couldn’t imagine how the nearly invincible battleships were so fragile. One after another, they succumbed to the mines.

By this time, it had gradually grown dark, and the battle had to end hastily.

Because in the darkness, the battleships could face even greater dangers, not even seeing the mines floating on the sea.

The final result was: three battleships sunk, and three others severely damaged, forcing a withdrawal from the battle.

This all happened within a day. In a single day of combat, six out of eighteen battleships were sunk or damaged, not even counting the enemy’s sunken or damaged cruisers and destroyers.

At this rate, the Allies’ seemingly mighty fleet, which initially boasted of forcing the Ottoman Empire to surrender, would only hold out for three days.

Major Fernan immediately realized that the fleet’s offensive had completely failed. With such heavy losses, there couldn’t be any follow-up attacks unless they intended to sacrifice the entire fleet.

He handed the 11 francs back to Shire and said with difficulty, "I still owe you 1100 francs, Colonel."

Shire smiled slightly, "No need, Major, consider it my treat."

Major Fernan instantly widened his eyes, 1100 francs for a drink? Unfortunately, he didn’t get to enjoy it!

Shire stood up and walked towards Gallieni, handing over the day’s report.

This was the additional task Shire had after his promotion to colonel. He needed to analyze and evaluate the intelligence once a day, as a general summary.

Gallieni took the report, glanced at it, and said, "It seems you didn’t analyze the naval battle."

Shire was taken aback, "I thought that was beyond our responsibility, General. We’re the army."

"Any intelligence within this operations department is within your responsibility," Gallieni answered sternly, "You should know, naval warfare can affect the army. Its strategic objective might even be to open a new front around the army’s flanks. Otherwise, why do you think the navy’s intelligence would be sent to us?"

"Alright!" Shire replied with a hint of resignation, "The navy’s failure is due to missing an opportunity. If they had fought on the first day like they did today, the Ottoman Empire might have already surrendered."

Gallieni was silent for a moment, then nodded in agreement, "On the first day, the Dardanelles Strait didn’t even have many mines. The day before, it was even open to navigation."

(The picture above is the Ottoman Empire’s mine-layer ’Nusret’, which laid the German TNT mines that destroyed three battleships and severely damaged one in a single day. This ship was replicated by Turkey and is preserved in a park as a memorial to this day.)