Chapter 421: Blockading the Strait of Gibraltar

If the British Navy had notified the Spanish government before arriving at the port and had only docked at a Spanish port after obtaining the Spanish government's permission, it would have proven that their fleet's circumnavigation of the Mediterranean had no other intentions.

But clearly, the British did not do so. This fleet approached Spain's Port of Cadiz with a very aggressive posture, without having notified the Spanish government beforehand.

Only after alerting the port and having signal flags raised to inquire about the purpose of the British warships did the British side state that they needed to dock at the Port of Cadiz to replenish supplies.

This behavior of forcibly intruding into a Spanish port without any notification was undoubtedly a provocation to the Spanish government, and at the same time a deterrent, warning Spain not to participate too much in Portugal's domestic affairs.

If it had been the previous Queen Isabella, she might have backed down in the face of the British provocation at her doorstep. But for Carlos, no matter who the enemy coming to provoke was, as long as they dared to provoke Spain, they had to be prepared to stay here entirely.

When Carlos learned that the British fleet had forcibly demanded to dock at the Port of Cadiz with a rather arrogant posture, Carlos immediately decided to respond.

The British Empire's navy was indeed powerful; they strictly enforced the Two-Power Standard, with a total naval scale greater than the combined naval scales of the second-place France and third-place Spain.

France and Spain possessed 24 and 21 battleships respectively, yet the number of British battleships reached an exaggerated 40. The combined number of French and Spanish cruisers was only a little over 90, while the number of British cruisers had long since passed one hundred, and with the addition of numerous armored cruisers, it was nearly 130.

Under these circumstances, the British had considerable confidence. Let alone just deterring Spain, even if a naval war broke out with Spain, Britain firmly believed that the winner could only be themselves.

Carlos certainly understood the gap between the Spanish and British navies, but this did not count as "hell-level" difficulty for Spain.

First of all, the British total naval tonnage did indeed crush Spain's, but their navy was distributed all over the world; in Europe, they actually only had the Home Fleet and the Mediterranean Fleet.

The scale of the Mediterranean Fleet was not large, which was also the reason why Britain had to draw battleships from the Home Fleet in order to deter Spain.

Even counting this fleet that had come to deter, the British naval force deployment in the Mediterranean still could not compare to Spain's.

This was actually quite normal; after all, besides the Mediterranean Fleet, Britain also possessed the Channel Fleet, the Home Fleet, the Pacific Fleet, the North American Fleet, the West Indies Fleet, and so on.

And Spain, by any count, only had three fleets: the Home Fleet, which was split into the Atlantic Fleet and the Mediterranean Fleet; the African Fleet, which protected the African colonies; and the Philippine Fleet, stationed in the Philippines.

Among them, only the Home Fleet and the African Fleet possessed battleships; the Philippine Fleet was merely a coastal fleet composed of outdated cruisers and small gunboats discarded by the Home Fleet.

The vast majority of Spain's naval power was concentrated in the Atlantic Fleet and the Mediterranean Fleet; these two fleets could actually be seen as a single entity, which was Spain's Home Fleet.

The reason they were split into two fleets was mainly because Spain's coastline was not continuous; the coastline of Portugal lay between the Atlantic coast and the Mediterranean coast, and one fleet was not enough to fully protect all of Spain's coastlines.

The Atlantic Fleet was stationed at A Coruña at the mouth of the Betanzos River, while the Mediterranean Fleet was stationed at Valencia, the second-largest port in the Mediterranean.

Once a war or other important situation occurred, these two fleets could meet at the Strait of Gibraltar at any time to control and blockade the western exit of the Mediterranean.

Since the British wanted to give Spain a show of force, Carlos naturally could not remain indifferent. Since the British had delivered themselves to his doorstep, he had to make the British feel Spain's power and make them understand that Spain was not to be trifled with.

The Port of Cadiz was located on Spain's southern coast, and not far to the north was Seville, the capital of Andalusia, the state with the largest population in Spain.

After replenishing supplies at the Port of Cadiz, this British fleet would head east through the Strait of Gibraltar to officially begin their so-called Mediterranean cruise mission.

Carlos naturally could not let this fleet pass through the Strait of Gibraltar so easily. If one were to compare the terrain around Gibraltar to an hourglass, the Strait of Gibraltar was the narrowest part in the middle of the hourglass, connecting the two regions.

Blockading the sea areas on both sides of the strait was impossible; the area of these two sea regions was extremely large, and the difficulty of blockading a fleet of not-too-large scale in such a vast sea area was undoubtedly very high.

But if it were to blockade the Strait of Gibraltar, the difficulty would plummet instantly. If this British fleet were completely blocked inside the Strait of Gibraltar, would the British panic?

Thinking of this, Carlos's anger, which had been stirred by the British provocation at his doorstep, eased quite a bit. If this fleet were blocked inside the Strait of Gibraltar, once the news spread, it would not be Spain that lost face.

If the British wanted to deter Spain, they had to be prepared to be counter-deterred by Spain.

As for whether these British fleets would be driven to desperation and launch an attack on the Spanish fleet after being blocked in the Strait of Gibraltar, Carlos was not the least bit panicked.

As long as the British Navy dared to open fire first, the Spanish Navy would immediately annihilate this fleet in the Strait of Gibraltar.

Where did Carlos get his confidence? Naturally, it was from the Dreadnought-class battleship that had already entered service and formed a decent combat capability.

The Dreadnought-class battleship began construction in April 1901 and was officially launched in March 1902 to begin sea trials. By April 1903, this battleship had officially entered service in the Spanish Navy, and more than a year had passed since then.

After a long period of testing and service, the Dreadnought-class battleship had initially formed a combat capability and could definitely give this British naval force a surprise.

And it was not just the Dreadnought-class battleship; the Courageous-class and the Fury-class battleships had also completed construction and had successively entered the stage of sea trials.

If the British were not sensible, all three of these battleships could be committed to battle, ensuring that all the warships sent by Britain could be wiped out in one go.

As long as these 5 battleships and 12 cruisers were all left in Gibraltar, Britain's naval strength would also be significantly affected, and the threat to the Spanish Navy would not be as great.

Unless they were willing to draw warships from other fleets, or send all the warships from the Home and Channel Fleets to the Mediterranean, Britain could not occupy much of an advantage even if a naval war broke out.

Before the British possessed dreadnoughts, Spain, by relying on its own dreadnoughts, could still occupy a certain advantage in naval warfare, and even had the hope of defeating the British.

In order not to alert the enemy, Carlos decided to play along, first agreeing to the British fleet's request to replenish supplies at the Spanish Port of Cadiz, and then dispatching the fleet to directly surround this British fleet in the Strait of Gibraltar, forcibly blockading them for 24 hours.

After the 24 hours were up, he would let this British fleet out, letting them understand that the situation in the Mediterranean, especially the situation around the Strait of Gibraltar, was decided by Spain.

If the British dared to be driven to desperation, Carlos would not mind having a war with the British before the outbreak of the First World War.

At worst, Spain would simply and decisively lean toward France, forming a Franco-Russo-Spanish military bloc to oppose the German-Austro-Italian military bloc.

Carlos did not believe that Britain would, like Spain, decisively lean toward the German-Austro-Italian side. After all, the Anglo-German relationship at this time was no longer like it was at the end of the 19th century; Germany had been vigorously building and developing its navy since the end of the 19th century.

It was true that Britain feared France's military strength, but they also feared the Germans' military strength. If they helped Germany defeat France, the Germany that emerged victorious over France would only become more powerful and would be an even more unconquerable enemy for Britain.

Precisely because of this, it was impossible for Britain to so decisively lean toward the German-Austrian alliance, unless Germany was at risk of defeat.

It was precisely because of having the Franco-Russian alliance as a trump card that Carlos had not the slightest worry when facing the British.

At this time, Russia, because of its recent defeat in the Russo-Japanese War, still held quite a bit of hatred toward the British. After all, the island nation had the British standing behind them, and Britain could be considered one of the primary culprits for Russia's defeat in the war.

If it were not for the support of the British, the island nation could not have defeated Russia. The island nation's navy was built for them by the British; without this navy, Russia would not have collapsed so rapidly on the front lines.

France and Russia remained hostile toward Britain, which was also the biggest difference in this world compared to history.

At present, Carlos had basically determined that the world war about to happen in this world would likely have significant differences from the world war in history.

The Anglo-Franco-Russian alliance from history would likely not appear; the French government clearly valued its neighbor to the rear, Spain, more, and Spain had already reached multiple cooperation agreements with the French government, lacking only the direct announcement of its joining the Franco-Russian alliance.