Chapter 22: As long as the jungler remains off the map, he could be anywhere.

While Minister Wharton was finalizing the sortie plans for the Britannia Channel Fleet with Lieutenant General Hastings and Major General Hood, Rear Admiral Hipper’s High-Speed Raid Fleet was already steaming westward through the dense fog of the North Sea, having spent the entire morning maintaining a high speed.

Lieutenant Lelouch was aboard a true warship for the first time. Throughout the morning, he remained humble and low-profile, wandering about only to observe and learn. He strictly avoided areas where he was not permitted and refrained from speaking out of turn.

By noon, the fleet had reached a position approximately 120 nautical miles west of the Darny border, entering the fringes of the North Sea’s notorious Dogger Bank shallows. Only then did Rear Admiral Hipper decisively issue the order to change course.

"Hard to port, course 210, heading straight for Ostend on the Belgine coast."

A fleet consisting of four battlecruisers, two armored cruisers, four light cruisers, and eight destroyers began a slow, synchronized turn to the south. Their original heading of due west shifted gradually to thirty degrees south of west.

Lelouch stood beside Rear Admiral Hipper, binoculars in hand, gazing out at the majestic warships as they maneuvered. His heart swelled with excitement.

Before this sortie, Lelouch had mistakenly believed that Hipper would only have three battlecruisers at his disposal. To his surprise, there were four, accompanied by two armored cruisers. This led him to believe he had been misinformed, only to later realize that the discrepancy stemmed from the subtle differences between this world and the history he knew.

The world Lelouch now inhabited had been somewhat "harmonized." Western nations and the Far East were completely isolated, maintaining no contact, and there were no Western powers venturing into the East for colonization. Consequently, Demania possessed no Asia-Pacific colonies, and their naval development did not necessitate considerations for long-range oceanic warfare; their furthest colony was merely in Tanzania, East Africa.

The butterfly effect of this was that Demanian warships in this timeline were not designed with a heavy emphasis on endurance or oceanic commerce raiding. Their ships were built specifically for fleet engagements. This allowed their naval construction to avoid certain pitfalls and concentrate resources more effectively, indirectly resulting in a larger available force for Hipper than in the Earth history Lelouch remembered.

The primary impact was evident in the development of battleships and battlecruisers.

In the realm of battlecruisers, before the advent of the dreadnought, the final class of armored cruisers built by the Demanians—the *Scharnhorst* class (the 1904 design, distinct from the World War II-era ships)—had lower endurance than their Earth counterparts, but featured significantly improved armor and speed, with firepower remaining on par. Later, upon hearing that the Britannians had pioneered the "battlecruiser" concept, the Demanians followed suit immediately, avoiding strategic deception. The "large cruiser" *Blücher*, which in original history served as a failed experimental prototype, was bypassed here; the name *Blücher* was instead assigned to a sister ship of the *Von der Tann* class. Because the *Blücher* was built first, the class was designated the *Blücher* class. Subsequent battlecruisers benefited from accumulated experience, avoiding minor design flaws.

Regarding battleships, as the Demanians did not need to consider long-range expeditions, they bypassed the initial design errors of the *Nassau* class—where not all main guns could fire a full broadside—starting with the *Helgoland* class, ensuring all main guns could fire to one side. All subsequent battleships boasted superior broadside performance, enhanced firepower or armor, and reduced endurance compared to their historical counterparts.

Due to the isolation from the Far East, the Britannians also benefited slightly. For instance, because the Fuso of this world was an isolationist state rather than the Japan Lelouch knew, they did not purchase the *Kongō* from Britannia. Consequently, the Britannian Navy gained an additional *Iron Duke*-class battleship, built with the resources originally earmarked for the *Kongō*. However, as Britannia’s colonies remained global, their warship designs remained largely unchanged from Earth’s history.

***

These subtle changes meant that Hipper’s fleet was spearheaded by four battlecruisers: the flagship *Derfflinger*, her sister ship *Seydlitz* (which was its own class in original history), and the *Blücher*-class ships *Blücher* and *Von der Tann*.

The *Moltke*-class lead ship *Moltke*, which should have been under Hipper’s command, had been blockaded in the Black Sea before the war alongside her sister ship *Goeben* and loaned to the Ottomans. Should the opportunity arise to reach the Eastern Front, they would certainly prove their worth.

The two armored cruisers, *Scharnhorst* and *Gneisenau*, which in original history were assigned to the East Asia Squadron and intercepted by the Britannians near the Falkland Islands, remained safe at home in this world, as no Asian squadron existed. Admiral Spee, who commanded them, remained alive as well.

The four light cruisers included two *Magdeburg*-class (1912) and two *Kolberg*-class (1910) vessels. The eight destroyers were of little consequence, as their 88mm main guns were significantly outclassed by the 120mm guns of the Britannian fleet, with only their torpedo performance being comparable.

***

Lelouch spent the morning grasping the composition of the fleet and the history behind it. Seeing Hipper order the turn to the south ahead of schedule, he ventured a cautious question:

"Admiral, turning south so urgently—while it saves distance and time—does it not increase the risk of premature exposure? We are only thirty nautical miles from the Netherland coast, barely out of sight of the coastal lighthouses. If there are civilian vessels nearby and one of them happens to be a Britannian spy, reporting our position would be a grave matter."

Hipper, pleased by the young man’s humility and analytical mind, was happy to explain:

"I am well aware of the risks. However, we are at the eastern edge of the Dogger Bank. Further west, the water depth decreases sharply. The bank averages twenty meters, with the shallowest point at thirteen meters. It is too shallow for submarines to hide. The enemy exploits this; their trawlers, which are essentially Britannian naval scouts, patrol these waters because they know our submarines cannot lurk there. They signal our position the moment they spot us.

"I must turn early to avoid these shallows. By staying in deep water, I can arrange for friendly submarines to lie in ambush. If there is a risk of discovery, we use our screening destroyers or lurking submarines to issue warnings via short-wave radio or simply sink the intruders. The enemy dares not send armed trawlers into waters where our submarines are active. Furthermore, it is late October; the colder the weather, the thicker the North Sea fog. It is easier to remain hidden. I have also deployed destroyers in a net-like formation, scattered every fifty nautical miles from north to south. If they encounter the enemy, they fire their torpedoes and retreat. Even if the enemy spots these scouts, they cannot determine if our main battle line is following. When danger is everywhere, it is effectively nowhere."

Lelouch listened in awe. Hipper was truly a master of the surprise raid.

Hipper never expected to completely mask the fact of his sortie; he knew that was impossible. Instead, he accepted that his departure would be known and then deployed a multitude of decoys to prevent the enemy from determining his true destination. It was akin to using chaff against radar—it does not hide the aircraft, but creates so many false targets that the true one remains hidden.

These preparations were not made in haste; they were part of a standing plan intended for a bombardment of Yarmouth. He had simply changed the destination, allowing for an incredibly rapid response.

At this very moment, the Britannians surely knew Hipper had vanished, but they had no idea where he would emerge. As long as he did not commit, he remained in a state of quantum superposition. As long as the "jungler" did not show himself on the map, he could be in any lane. Minister Wharton expected Hipper to strike the center and had moved Beatty to intercept, yet Hipper had chosen to strike the flank.