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In the early days of World War I, the Empire of Japan, the sole great power in Asia, had complex reasons for joining the war.

Initially, the Empire of Japan accepted the Holy Roman Empire’s offer of Hainan and Qingdao.

Who in the world would refuse a chance to expand their territory for free?

However, the situation changed when the Holy Roman Empire’s East Asian Fleet began its commerce raiding operations.

At the time, the Empire of Japan’s economy was heavily influenced by the Allied powers, including Great Britain. But when trade routes were blocked by the commerce raiding operations of the remnants of the German East Asian Fleet, the economic impact was considerable.

“Are we going to stand idly by?! This is a matter of the Empire of Japan’s very survival! Fulfill our alliance obligations and drive out those German pirates from the Pacific alongside Britain!”

Of course, as mentioned, Japan’s reasons for entering the war were complex.

“This is an opportunity to elevate the Empire of Japan to the ranks of maritime powers like England, France, and those German fellows!”

The navy wanted to build a great empire encompassing the Pacific islands and Indonesia, the Holy Roman Empire’s eastern colonies.

One might ask why the subject is the navy and not Japan. That’s because, quite literally, only the navy wanted this.

“We can’t manage such vast lands.”

Japan was already suffering from indigestion after swallowing just Joseon. And now they wanted to swallow up vast Indonesia and pass on the management? From the government’s perspective, the navy’s claims sounded utterly irresponsible.

And the army…

“The army opposes the navy’s proposal.”

This was the norm here, so there was nothing particularly strange about it.

Regardless, even though the Japanese government had no intention of swallowing Indonesia, they felt the need to expel the Imperial German forces from the Pacific.

They ordered the navy to recapture Qingdao and Hainan, as well as the Empire’s Chinese concessions and colonies, including Ilha Formosa.

The operation was named Sunrise, a name embodying the Empire of Japan’s ambition to become the rising sun of Greater East Asia.

But… could the great Empire of Japan’s sunrise be limited to just a few scraps of land that the German Empire had torn from China’s body?!

They salivated over Indonesia, even though the government told them not to eat it, the army opposed it for no reason, and other Western powers wouldn’t just stand by while they were eating it.

Whatever the case, the declaration of war against the Empire had already been delivered, and they needed to secure their primary targets, the Chinese concessions.

An armada was formed around Vice Admiral Katō Tomosaburō. He was ordered to begin landing operations, primarily targeting Qingdao, an Imperial German territory.

Of course, it goes without saying that the Imperial German forces had no intention of quietly retreating from their own turf.

The following letter arrived at the residence of Alfred Meyer, the governor-general of Imperial German East Asia, located in Ilha Formosa.

“Governor Alfred Meyer, I hereby appoint you to the rank of Navy Marshal. Defend the Eastern Colonies until next year.”

Imperial German Navy Marshals do not surrender. He, too, must not surrender.

“Haa…”

Alfred Meyer puffed on his cigarette, deep in thought. Frankly, just holding out wasn’t that difficult.

Hainan, Qingdao, and Ilha Formosa each had defensive lines built over decades.

The coastal artillery deployed there was also formidable, with 11-inch coastal guns made by the Škoda Works installed.

Generally, coastal artillery is estimated to be three times as powerful as naval guns of the same caliber.

To recklessly stick one’s head into a fortress line bristling with such large-caliber coastal guns? If they did, they would either be utter fools or a reliable spy we had sent.

“But… just sitting here and waiting to die doesn’t suit my temperament…”

He wanted to make those yellow monkey bastards who dared to revolt against the Fatherland pay the price.

No. To be precise, he wanted to see them despair.

“Ah, come to think of it… I think we had those in the Ilha Formosa harbor, didn’t we?”

Unterseeboot, in other words, two submarines called U-boats.

Of course, the Imperial German forces hadn’t deployed U-boats to Ilha Formosa for no reason.

Basically, the East Asian Fleet suffered from a chronic shortage of forces compared to the Japanese Navy and the British and French East Asian Fleets, which were potential enemies.

And a group cornered will always reach for forbidden magic rather than the proper path. And the Imperial German Navy’s eyes fell upon forbidden magic in the form of submarines and a magic bullet in the form of torpedoes.

And when the two were combined…

Soon, the Imperial German Navy’s commerce raiding capabilities reached their peak.

“This is it! With this, we can defend our vast colonies with far fewer forces!”

Of course, the Imperial German Navy didn’t like this because of the admirable idea of reducing the money used for shipbuilding and saving it.

“Save the forces to be used for the colonial fleet and increase the number of the homeland fleet! And let’s fight a decisive battle with the British and seize control of the North Sea!”

If Yulia had heard this, she would have slapped her knee and the Navy Minister’s head. And the Imperial German Navy actually did it.

They even had plans to secure a number of shipyards for building U-boats in the East Asian colonies by 1919.

But before that, war broke out. The East Asian Fleet’s main force, the three Battlecruisers, had already left port on orders from the homeland and had been cruising to Panama for a long time.

Only a few light cruisers and destroyers, and two U-boats, were left in the Eastern Colonies.

And when they received word from the homeland that a declaration of war had been received from the Empire of Japan, they all thought at the same time.

We’re screwed.

Kapitänleutnant Karl Dönitz, the commander of U-39, was also grumbling as he thought the same thing.

Of course, this didn’t mean that the U-boats’ hands and feet were tied. U-boats were capable of acting like mad dogs, regardless of the difference in strength between them and their opponents.

However, that didn’t mean that U-boats didn’t need maintenance. In fact, U-boats needed to be maintained much longer and more frequently than other ships.

This was for performance, but also for survival. Literally.

But maintenance here, where there were no proper production facilities… frankly, it was very difficult.

He asked the chief engineer, who was diligently rummaging through a warehouse full of tools.

“Hey, how long do you think we can run this thing?”

“Please wait a moment. I’m looking now… Oh! Here it is! We can use it until the middle of next year… Ah… that’s not it… We can use it until the end of this year… Oh! Maybe we can use it until the beginning of next year!”

Good heavens. Dönitz rubbed his aching forehead.

“Okay, okay. I got it! So, we can safely use it for about two months, right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

It’s an ambiguous amount of time to do as much commerce raiding as he wanted. Especially for a slow submarine.

Haa… At this rate, it feels like it’ll be neither fish nor fowl. It’s like, I need Wang Geon…

“Lieutenant Dönitz!”

Then, he saw a soldier running towards him.

“What’s the matter?”

“Haa, haa, a letter from the commander!”

He wondered why he had sent a letter, but he soon understood why. Perhaps it contained information that would be quite troublesome if it were eavesdropped on…

Dönitz opened the letter with slightly trembling hands.

“Hey! How long will it take to prepare for departure from now on?!”

“It will probably be finished by noon tomorrow.”

“Hurry up as much as possible!”

Thump, thump, Karl Dönitz tried to calm his wildly beating heart. What should he call this feeling? Yes. It’s like he’s become a wolf that has smelled blood.

If you were to pick the era when submarines were most threatening, you would probably pick the 1940s, when the U-boat fleet was rampaging in the Atlantic during World War II.

That’s right. In fact, the U-boat fleet briefly paralyzed the sea lanes of the British Empire, which dominated the world’s oceans at the time.

Then, if you were to pick the era when surface ships were most vulnerable to submarines, which era would you choose? I would choose without hesitation.

World War I.

The era when torpedoes and submarines first met, and at the same time, the concept of anti-submarine warfare had not even been born.

In such an era, the two U-boats stationed in the Far East could become sharp bamboo spears aimed at the enemy.