In the Baltic Sea, we will be fighting the Russian Navy.

We have one objective in this theater: destroy or heavily damage the Russian Baltic Fleet. Doing this will give us multiple benefits: (1) the Baltic will be free of enemy presence, giving us free rein over Russian trade; (2) we can threaten the Russians with an amphibious landing to their rear; (3) we can threaten St. Petersburg, Helsinki, and major industrial/population centers; (4) we will be able to completely destroy Russian Baltic trade, which may damage their economy to the point of them surrendering altogether (though this is unlikely). This should not be a problem, seeing as not only do we severely outnumber them , but their training and equipment is comparably poor, and they even lack battlecruisers, of which we are in possession of 7. To counter their 4 dreadnoughts, we have a whopping 16. Firstly, committing all of these dreadnoughts to fighting and defeating the Russians would not be wise. We heavily outnumber them, and the likelihood of victory is extremely high. For this plan to succeed, however, I believe the minimum ship requirements would be 8 dreadnoughts and 3 battlecruisers. To support the surface fleet, I also suggest deploying 15 U-boats for this operation. Our 8 other dreadnoughts and ~4 (maybe 3?) other battlecruisers can stay in port in Wilhelmshaven/Kiel as reserves, as well as to be able to combat the French should they evade the Royal Navy. Our overall battle plan will be simple: we will draw the Russian Fleet out of port in Riga using a bait, and then trap their fleet and destroy it before it can escape. This will occur in three primary stages: (first stage) grabbing the Russians' attention, (second stage) luring them west and south away from port, and (third stage) sandwiching them between two groups of ships and destroying them. In order to accomplish stage 1, we should organize our 3 battlecruisers under Vice Admiral Hipper, our experienced battlecruiser commander. This force will have a light escort not too strong of destroyers and light cruisers. This force will move several miles (preferably more than 10 but less than 15) out of port from Riga, firing stray shots and generally attempting to get the Russians' attention. Once their attention has been grabbed, the battlecruisers will (stage 2) steam west at a reasonable speed, keeping the Russians' attention but not outstripping them. The battlecruiser force will continue west and eventually southwest, and will attempt (at ALL COSTS) to keep the Russian fleet to their port side, (that is to say) to their southeast. Now, this is where the dreadnoughts and U-boats come in. The U-boats will have been deployed in a wide screening arc, and once the Russian fleet is spotted engaging the battlecruisers, they will move to close range but

WILL NOT FIRE. Meanwhile, the dreadnoughts will be steaming north-east, on the Russian fleet's port side. This will effectively sandwich the Russian ships between our battlecruisers and dreadnoughts, and in conjunction with the U-boats, should effectively annihilate the Russian fleet. Here, the dreadnoughts and battlecruisers will continue to open fire on the Russians, while the U-boats spring their trap and do what they can against the Russians. Mop up, pick up survivors, steam home.