In mid-February in Germany, the climate warmed and the snow melted.
The North Sea had recently experienced a major storm, with waves as high as over ten meters sweeping across coastal villages, burying all crops under thick sand and mud.
A large number of houses were destroyed, and many civilians became homeless refugees, begging for a living.
This exacerbated the already severe resource shortage in Germany, with signs of uprisings in some areas.
Admiral Scheer had no time to attend to these matters. He stood on the sea-viewing platform at Wilhelm Port, his gaze fixed on a plane being tugged out of the harbor by a towboat.
It was a large seaplane converted from a Gotha G.1 bomber, named "UWD" by Admiral Scheer.
(Above is the German seaplane converted from the Gotha G.1 bomber, "UWD".)
The reason for the conversion was that Admiral Scheer believed the performance of the Gotha bomber was still insufficient to meet the navy's needs.
