At dawn on November 3, at the observation point outside the Bosphorus, the Turkish lookout post Ildir Basturk, who was on duty, suddenly screamed: "Boats! Many ships!"

"Don't make a fuss, one day there is no boat in the strait?" his sleepy companion blamed him, "It's really disturbing people's dreams early in the morning."

"No, look, the warships are all warships, and they still have Greek flags."

"Greece?" The companion was surprised and came to the high-power telescope to see it. He was amazed, "Sure enough, one, two, three... Oh my god, 19 warships, Greece is going to come to the door?"

"Hurry, hurry up, sound the emergency alarm."

The emergency alarm sounded quickly, and everyone was alarmed. Looking at the amazing warships outside the strait, everyone felt unbelievable: this huge fleet contained 20,000 to 30,000 tons of battleships, 7-8,000 tons of cruisers, and 1-2,000 tons of cruisers. Their strength had completely overwhelmed Turkey's weak navy. You must know that Turkey now has only one old and harsh ship (i.e., the German war in the first World War, the Gorben) to support the scene.

"Has Greece declared war on us?" a soldier asked tremblingly.

"No...at least notified." His companion didn't seem to have any better reaction than him. His whole voice was trembling, not knowing whether it was the cold wind in the morning or the fear in his heart.

Soon the soldiers' fear dissipated more than half because the opposite fleet uttered the flag saying "apply for passage through the strait". Hakan-Tirav was the supreme commander of the Strait Defense Zone. On the one hand, he ordered the various forts to prepare for emergency response, and on the other hand, he was preparing to send people to understand the situation of the other party. Since the other party had properly stated that the "apply for passage", he could not ignore the processing.`

"Send a traffic boat to ask about the situation and find out what's going on..." He told his subordinates to himself, "If there is any danger, let them deal with it yourself."

Half an hour later, the news from the traffic boat made him laugh and cry: "Report, this is a Greek fleet, ready to visit Bulgaria. The fleet commander has attached official Greek documents and hopes that we will release it according to the convention."

"Hehe. We have been neighbors with the Greeks for hundreds of years. How could I not know when the Greeks suddenly had such a huge naval fleet?"

Fortunately, his chief of staff was not stupid. While wiping away the cold sweat from his forehead, he was flipping the "Jane's Battleship Identification Manual". Compared with the outline and the patterns on the manual, there was finally a clue. He screamed: "This is the battle cruiser Strasbourg, the old battleship Ocean and the former dreadnought Condorse, the heavy cruiser Colbert, the Algiers, and the Diplek... Oh my God, these are all French warships."

"How did the French ships hang on the Greek navy's flag and come to Türkiye?" Hakan Tiraf was puzzled.

That's right, this is the main force of the French Toulon fleet that Hoffman racked his brains to get from Betan and Dallang. Although he got a ticket of French ships, including supporting facilities and equipment, injuries such as the battle cruiser Dunkirk and Provence were obviously unable to be brought out and used, so they could only stay in Italy to continue repairing. In particular, the Dunkirk battle cruiser and Provence battleship French have repaired half of it, but due to lack of resources and laziness of workers, it has been delayed. The wounds left to them by the British during the crossbows operation are still clearly visible.`

This time, Hoffmann and Radell both paid enough attention to the maintenance of French ships in Italian shipyards. Not only did they dispatch workers from domestic shipyards, but they were also preparing to allocate a large amount of materials and equipment. According to the assessment of the Navy Command, if Dunkirk and Provence were to be put into use, it must undergo major changes. Considering that Provence is an old ship with a history of 30 years, Hoffmann finally gave up the idea of ​​major surgery on the ship and only required repairs to the point where it could be used. As for the newer Dunkirk, a package of renovations and repair plans were drawn up:

First, the ridiculous main gun on the warship (two 4-mounted 33ommm) cannot be used anymore (some artillery was broken by the British army during the crossbow operation). First, it must be replaced with the 283mm main gun made by Germany (same as the Schánhorst), because neither the Italian nor the German navy were equipped with the 33ommm artillery. Once the shells obtained from France were fired, if you want to continue using them, you have to open a new production line (the shells made by the French themselves cannons can be fired at that time). It is more reliable to simply replace them with the 283mm naval gun (two 3-mounted 3-mounted ) they are familiar with. As for the 33o caliber shells in the Dunkirk stock, all of them are concerned about it.

The Italian port was inspected and replenished. Although the 283mm caliber main gun that was intended to be replaced seemed a little smaller than the 33omm, its firing was much higher than that of French goods. If measured by unit time, the ammunition was not inferior to the original level (there is no consideration for the factor of 2 less). Moreover, the level of the artillery after replacement was more realistic, because the Dunkirk was only at a level of 250,000 tons, and installing 33omm was a small ship to pull cannons, which improperly piled up force. What's even more terrible is that the French also piled all the main guns on the fore deck, which further exacerbated the top-heavy situation. After modification, the overall weight was reduced, which was conducive to the downward shift of the center of gravity of the warship and improving stability.

Secondly, all the strange caliber sub-air gun groups at the rear of the warship were removed (16 13ommm sub-air guns). The 13ommm caliber is also a unique weapon of the French Navy and is not common to Germany and Italy. They can only be cut ruthlessly. The navy originally wanted to install the 15ommm caliber sub-air gun in its original position (disassembled from the aircraft carrier Zeppelin), but Hoffman waved his hand and said that these sub-air guns were not needed. Under his instructions, the rear deck was designed to completely clear and make room for installation.

The empty deck platform (it is part of horizontal armor protection). The overall length of the Dunkirk ship is 215 meters, because the main gun and the bridge are in the front. After the rear deck is cleared, the length can reach about 105 meters after the aviation platform is installed. If the newly tested BF-119 can carry 32 aircraft (28 aircraft and 4 aircraft are spare), if the combination of the me-155 and ju-87c can be considered, it can carry about 28 aircraft (22 aircraft and 6 aircraft are spare).

This transformation is certainly not a boring move by Hoffman. On the contrary, he thought of the freak of the transformation of the Ise-class battleship into an aviation battleship in history. Whether from the overall length of the warship (2o9 meters in the Ise-class and 215 meters in the Dunkirk class) or from the deployment of the superstructure (the Ise-class has a total of 6 main guns, which run across the entire ship, while the Dunkirk class has only 2 and all are deployed in the front), the Dunkirk has more room for modification than the Ise-class. Considering that both Germany and Italy lack aircraft carriers, changing to an aviation war patrol also has real value.

Finally, the power system needs to be repaired on a large scale. The Dunkirk Battle Cruise is a product from the 30s. The design of the 295th knots, the French boiler level is still OK, but the damaged parts must be completely repaired with German products. On the one hand, it is weight reduction and on the other hand, the power system is strengthened. It is expected that after this new modification, the maximum level of the ship can reach 31 knots due to weight reduction, which is barely enough to be the edge of the Quick Cruise (although it is the lowest limit). In Hoffman's mind, the ship will be a powerful tool for aircraft carriers in the future, and it will not be possible to be fast enough.

Redell expects the overall construction period to be at least 6 months, and it must be German workers as the backbone. He hopes that Italians will not think about it for a year. Hoffman gritted his teeth and agreed.

The major operation of the Dunkirk class is completely unaware of the German Rear Admiral Theodor Crank, who is currently in charge of another ship of the same class of Dunkirk, and is currently receiving Turkish officials who come to inquire.

"May I ask, what's the point of your fleet going through the strait?"

"I am on the orders of Greek Prime Minister Georges Sorakoglu to visit Bulgaria for a friendly visit..."

"But this is not a Greek navy warship, it is all French."

"It used to be, but now it's not." Major General Crank said proudly, "These are all debt repayments from the French. With the consent of the German Yuan, they have been transferred to the Greek side. Prime Minister Georges Sorakoglu specially arranged friendly visits abroad to test the fleet's navigation capabilities."

The Turks finally figured out the whole story about the ins and outs of this navy. This was the fleet obtained by the Germans from the French a few days ago. As for the transfer to Greece, it was a complete excuse. But the problem is that the Greek government is currently controlled by Germany. If Turkey asks, I will not dare to say something bad - do you see that official document? That is the official endorsement of Greece.

Now it is Turkey's turn to be in a dilemma. According to the Montreux Convention signed on July 2, 1936, if Turkey is a neutral country during the war, each warship shall not pass through the straits. At present, there is no doubt that it is in a wartime state. However, Greece and Bulgaria (which used the excuse of being both Slavs to not declare war on the Soviet Union, and the Yuan Dynasty also agreed) are not belligerent countries. At the same time, Turkey itself is a neutral country and is completely accessible according to the regulations.

This fleet of "former French" warships is obviously controlled by the Germans, but each ship's flagpole is hung with Greek flags. On the surface, it is not a violation of regulations to apply for the Strait. Hakan Tyraf was in trouble, but he knew that he had to make a decision as soon as possible. Ambassadors from Britain, the United States, Germany and Italy would soon stand on their own standpoint and express their views. Once they were caught in a long dispute, the pressure that followed was beyond resistance to Türkiye.

He did not dare to make decisions without authorization, so he had to comfort the "Greek" fleet on the one hand, and on the other hand, he quickly reported the situation to the top leaders in Istanbul.
Chapter completed!