I Became a Tycoon During World War I: Saving France from the Start

Chapter 297: We're All Fans of Charles

Thus, Charles essentially held the fate of the Royal Navy—and by extension, the entire Allied effort—in his hands. This influence far surpassed anything that might occur at the Dardanelles alone. Even the strong-willed First Sea Lord dared not gamble with the survival of the Royal Navy itself.

...

Admiral Robeck, unaware of these developments, ended his meeting quickly and, stifling his irritation, called the First Sea Lord. "What do you mean by 'support Charles'? Shouldn't Charles be supporting me? I thought I was the fleet commander here!"

The Sea Lord, however, couldn't explain the full situation.

The fewer people who knew about the German naval codebook, the better. If word leaked, the Germans would change their codes, rendering any advantage moot. For that reason, the First Sea Lord had decided not to even inform Admiral Robeck.

The Sea Lord had also considered a different option: telling Robeck and having him recover the codebook himself. However, this seemed impractical—after all, it was the French Navy that had sunk the submarine, and they alone knew the exact location. Robeck could certainly try, but Charles would immediately recognize any British effort to bypass him and take control of the recovery operation.

If Charles grew suspicious, he might well respond by dropping more depth charges to obliterate the wreck and scatter its remains across the seabed. Finding the codebook would then be as likely as finding a needle in a haystack. The Sea Lord had no doubt Charles would do such a thing. The codebook held limited strategic value for France, but for Britain's navy, it was critical to their survival. Charles had every incentive to make such a move if he were crossed.

In the end, with the Royal Navy's security potentially hanging in the balance, the Sea Lord could only yield to Charles. He responded to Robeck with as much subtlety as he could muster: "For the present circumstances, we believe that Charles's command is in the best interest of operations at the Dardanelles, and we suggest the fleet defer to his judgment accordingly."

The Sea Lord had hoped Robeck would pick up on the subtext and understand the gravity of the situation without pushing back.

But the mention of "Charles's command" only struck a nerve with Robeck, who immediately shot back, "If that's the case, then I'm clearly unsuited to command the fleet. Please appoint someone else."

Robeck had expected his defiant message to prompt the Sea Lord to reconsider and soften his stance, giving him a way to save face.

Instead, he misread the Sea Lord's position entirely.

To the Sea Lord, Robeck's open hostility toward Charles was already problematic, especially with the codebook at stake. Knowing that General Winter, one of Charles's staunch allies, was fully briefed on the situation, the Sea Lord wondered—why not appoint Winter as the new commander?

Winter, after all, had an established working relationship with Charles. And as for Winter's current rank of rear admiral? That was easily remedied. After all, Robeck himself had been promoted to vice admiral for the role.

A perfect solution.

...

On the other end, Robeck, still awaiting a reply, felt a smug sense of satisfaction. He assumed his ultimatum had worked. Surely, they wouldn't risk undermining morale with another mid-campaign leadership change. Besides, he had faithfully followed the Sea Lord's directives up to now—even if the outcome was not ideal.

But then, one of his aides entered, visibly shaken, and handed Robeck a fresh telegram.

Reading it, Robeck was struck silent. "Your resignation is accepted, Admiral. Your replacement will arrive shortly. Prepare to transfer command."

Staring at the message, Robeck looked up at his aide in disbelief, hoping for some indication that this was a mistake.

The aide simply nodded, "It's true, Admiral. Direct from the Sea Lord—we've confirmed it."

The blood drained from Robeck's face as the reality hit him: he had just made a colossal miscalculation. They were willing to replace him—for Charles.

...

When General Winter received the appointment, he was filled with a sense of gratitude, recognizing it was due to Charles's influence. Were it not for Charles, a "young progressive" like Winter, known for challenging the Sea Lord, would never have been promoted.

However, in comparison to the importance of the codebook, these personal matters were trivial.

After making some brief preparations, Winter embarked on his journey. He boarded a plane to Egypt, transferred to another for Malta, and finally took a seaplane from Malta to the Dardanelles anchorage.

The following afternoon, Winter arrived and relieved Admiral Robeck of his duties. A dejected Robeck departed with only a handful of officers to see him off, while the sailors looked on with disdain—some even spat in his direction.

The crew knew all too well about Robeck's attempt to discipline Charles for "insubordination."

"That's not a commander worth respecting!" they muttered among themselves.

"About time we had a real leader. For once, the Admiralty made the right choice."

"Some officers only care about their authority and appearances—never about the soldiers they command!"

...

Winter's first task as commander was to meet with Charles aboard the Henri. With a warm smile, he embraced Charles and shook Tijani's hand, saying, "An honor to finally meet you, General Tijani. I've heard great things—your tactics were remarkable!"

Tijani's eyes sparkled, and he exclaimed, "Wow! You're much easier to get along with than that Admiral Robeck."

"Of course!" Winter chuckled. "And there's a reason for that."

Turning to Charles with a grin, Winter said, "We're both fans of Charles!"

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