Chapter 662 2 to 3

White Hall.

In the narrow naval conference hall, Prime Minister Lloyd George was dressed neatly as if he were going to meet the king. The ministers whispered to each other, taking this rare opportunity to discuss the war and prepare supplies, while the generals all stood aside and kept looking at the surface of their hands anxiously.

The Scapa Bay anchorage is empty, and there are only a few old ships left in the mainland fleet, but everyone here knows that Britain still has the confidence, even stronger than the United States at this moment!

Because four Avenger-class battleships and four Presperation-class battlecruisers are being accelerated for assembly, they can all be put into service at the end of the year at most. Five Normandy-class trains transferred from France can be delivered in March next year, and the four updated Hood-class ships are also being accelerated. As for the more powerful G3 and N3-class battleships, they have also been It's under design.

Although the battlecruisers have been proved to be inconsistent with the idea of decisive warfare, they are the only fast mobile force that can be built under the current situation. The design indicators of the prestige class and the Hood class even exceed 26 knots. They are still a great threat to be used in vast waters, even larger than battleships, so Britain chose to continue the whole Go for it!

In contrast, in Germany, although the construction of the fifth Westphalia of the Bavarian class and the third Hindenburg of the Dflinger class has been completed 70%, their resources have almost been embezzled by the army. At least it is impossible to enter service until the end of next year. The Mackensen class is also slower because of the lack of resources. As for the The world is surprised that the super battleship York-class seems impossible to appear now.

Germany is in recession, and the speed is as fast as their capture of Paris. This is not caused by the lack of industrial capacity, but their lack of colonial blood transfusion and lack of contact with allies, resulting in a lack of materials, so the iron fist force of the alliance has begun to gradually become weak.

If there is no Far East, perhaps everyone can announce a strategic counterattack, and the curtain of victory will gradually open, but because the Baghdad Railway is about to open, the domestic riots in Russia continue, and the situation suddenly begins to be delicate.

So the Prime Minister came, the minister came, and almost all the senior officers who could come came, because at this time everyone knew that the German fleet had quietly crossed the Kiel Canal in the middle of the night and was now in the North Sea!

Defeat them, even if the mainland fleet pays half of the price, as long as it can destroy the German navy, Britain can free up at least 20 capital ships to march to the east by the end of the year. In addition, the United States can also take out at least 12 capital ships, which can launch a new offensive in the Pacific Ocean, cooperate with the mother ship and install a large number of defenses. The cruiser with empty weapons can at least win back the current disadvantage and drag Li Mo into endless consumption!

There is no country that is not afraid of consumption. Xinhua was scary at the beginning because it occupied a technological advantage, but as long as Germany is eliminated and gathers all the strength of the agreement, no matter how strong Xinhua is, the battlefield that is too open and the industrial capacity that is worse than itself will be completely exhausted.

This is the cruel strategy of throwing yourself and the enemy into the sea of fire.

No one knows that if this strategy is implemented, even if it can win and restore the world order, how long will it take for the battered allied countries to recover their vitality, but if they don't do so, the alliance will lead the world!

The British Empire will look at the faces of others all its life. The century of hegemony created after the Victorian era has completely become yesterday's yellow flower, so even if you know that you will enter the abyss, you must gamble on this!

George Lloyd and Edward Carson, the Secretary of the Navy, looked at each other and turned to Hamilton, the First Secretary of the Sea (similar to the chiefs of general staff of the navy of various countries), who nodded heavily after receiving the gaze.

He knows what the Prime Minister is worried about, but he believes in Jellico!

Because "Silent Jack" is a British artillery expert second only to Fisher. He is conservative and usually taciturn, but he knows his responsibilities. If there is only Germany, Hamilton believes that he may choose to stop it and block the enemy in the anchorage all his life, but this time he must bet all of it anyway. Fight for the chips!

What everyone is most worried about now is whether that cunning guy Shear will give him a chance to fight?!

Lao He George turned the pocket watch in his hand, and the cover kept opening and closing, showing the tension and uneasiness in his heart at this moment. Where did Jellico go? Have you started fighting? How about the loss? Wait, wait, it's bothering this office, the whole UK and the Treaty.

"Report, Lieutenant General Jelico Report, Conqueror and Queen Mary." Jacobson, the new second minister of the sea, rushed into the conference room with a gloomy face, but after he finished reporting, he was surprised to find that, except for several generals and ministers, Hamilton, Carson, Marshals Kitchener, including the Prime Minister, were calm and did not seem to hear the loss report.

0-2 is lagging behind, but it is only lagging behind. Jellico is still leading the number by 28-26. What's more, the Germans who sank the two capital ships must also have lost, so now we just want to know whether they lost two ships in vain, or not.

As time went by, the air in the conference room was burning and stagnant. Just as the patience was about to run out, the sound of rushing came from the corridor again.

Prime Minister Lloyd George closed his pocket watch and pressed it hard in the palm of his hand.

"Report that General Betty's first battlecruiser has entangled the German battlecruiser. Lieutenant General Jellico said that the decisive battle will start in an hour!"

"Boom!"

The explosion over the North Sea has just begun. After being hit by shells again, the 26,250-ton battlecruiser Lion was like a rag doll thrown into the sea of fire. The fire and thick smoke began to spread on the deck. The damage management team tried their best to suppress it with water dragons, but everyone still felt that it was a drop in the bucket.

Captain Harvey swayed into the command tower of the battlecruiser Lion with blood and shouted, "Sir, the turret A is over, and all the personnel are killed. We have just flooded the ammunition depot, and the cabin is still flooded. We must close the No. 7 watertight cabin immediately."

Captain Bonn didn't seem to hear the captain's words. The traditional, elegant and decent captain just turned his head and asked faintly, "How long can we hold on?"

"Sar, I can only promise to hold on for 20 minutes, but if I get shot, I will."

"Then 20 minutes!" Captain Bonn clenched his fist, tore up all the elegant disguises in an instant, and pulled off his hat: "Fight back, how they hit us, just hit us back!"

"Yes, Captain!"

Two minutes later, the remaining three turrets of the battlecruiser Lion, which had just put out the fire, roared again. Because the bow turret was filled with water and explosion-proof, the deck had leaned forward, but at this time, no one took care of it, and heavy armor-piercing bullets kept rushing out of the muzzle one after another.

"It's hit, Captain, we hit the Von der Tann!" Five minutes later, the gunner shouted excitedly, and thick smoke rose on the deck of the Von der Tann, who was fighting with the Lion, and its speed of entering the water from the stern was reduced again.

Captain Bonn finally laughed. He didn't know if the German counterpart on the opposite side could create another miracle to protect the battlecruiser, but there was no doubt that it at least lost its combat effectiveness!

"Send a signal to General Betty that we need to leave temporarily to save the warship."

With the order of Captain Bonn, the seriously damaged battlecruiser Lion slowly deflected the bow and was ready to leave, but no one expected that 14,000 yards away, the two turrets of the inexorable Lutsov, which were inexorable with the Black Prince, would quietly change their angle.

Almost at the moment when four 305mm shells rushed out of the muzzle, it temporarily got rid of the German main pursuit. The two battleships, St. Vincent and Avant of the first battlecruiser detachment, were also at a distance of 16,000 yards, and aimed all 16 305mm guns at the smoke of Feng-de- The Tann.

"S sir, the Von der Tann was hit!"

The staff shouted to remind Hipel that when the latter turned the telescope to find the burning Von der Tann, the cigar in his mouth was suddenly bitten in two by his teeth.

Everyone only saw that the Von der Tann, like a lit firecracker, flashed a fire all over his body, and in the blink of an eye, the fire engulfed the German battlecruiser.

While the German sailors were biting their teeth, the Luzov made contributions again. Two 305mm shells accurately hit the battleship Lion at a distance of 14,000 yards, one of which passed through the conning tower, killing not only all the officers, including Captain Bonn, but also losing the command of the Lion.

But before everyone realized this problem, the command was actually meaningless. The second armor-piercing shell landed in the injured No. 1 turret and entered the ammunition compartment that had been injected with water without difficulty. Although the explosion did not detonate the ammunition, it squeezed the seawater through the side armor and tore up the nearby watertight hatch. In an moment, thousands of tons of cold sea water from the North Sea entered the cabin.

The reckless signal soldier behind the Lion recalled: "It was shot in the front, about the bridge. A large amount of black smoke came out of the superstructure. I didn't observe the flames. I thought it was a traffic boat burning. I saw the flag. At that time, it had turned left and was ready to leave temporarily, but when it deviated from us 15 At 00 yards, the front gun seat exploded again, and then everything was quiet for about 30 seconds. There was neither smoke nor fire. Then the bow seemed to crack. I saw a 50-foot-long steel plate pushed 300 feet to the right, and even almost hit Juan, who was ready to escort it. The destroyer.

Captain Harvey did his best. Although he had arrived at the bow with the damage management team at that time, he was submerged by the washed out of the sea before the rescue began. When everyone kept looking for a place to breathe in the cabin that entered the water, the battlecruiser Lion had slowly sank like its sister ship Queen Mary.

1 to 3!

Jelko didn't even receive the loss report, because there was already gunpowder in front of him, and the gunfire rumbled. The fierce battle stimulated every officer and soldiers in the main fleet to tremble all over, and all the naval guns, including small-caliber rapid-fire guns, were filled with shells.

At present, the only pillar of the Royal Navy, the mainland fleet, is moving at full speed towards the "Second Trafalgar". In that great naval battle, Admiral Nelson commanded the battle in a full dress, and now Jellico on the Lamy is also wearing a wrinkle-wrinkled uniform.

England needs everyone to do their duty!

On the warship, every soldier who kept echoing this sentence in his ears began to check his equipment, a dark blue waterproof hat, a double-breasted top and a white scarf around the neckline. The Belgian-born Major General Carter on the Giant even ordered the flag: "Revenge Belgium!"

Although it was just a glimpse, the "dark cloud" in the distance clearly told Hipel that at least hundreds of chimneys were coming out of thick smoke. Thinking that he would soon be targeted by more than 160 main guns of more than 13.5 inches again, his heart began to contract greatly.

A moment later, when the British armored cruiser Defense and Samurai rushed with locust-like destroyers, he knew that he had to leave immediately, otherwise he would be submerged until General Scheer arrived!

But it's not easy to leave. The boiler compartment of the Von der Tann was hit continuously. In order to suppress the explosion, the main gun ammunition compartment has been filled with water. Even if the German capital ship's protection ability is stronger than that of the United Kingdom, it can't resist pouring so much seawater. The damaged power module is destined to be impossible for it to leave.

The rest is also not much better. The Mourke has only two turrets left, and the upper layer of Sedlitz is almost flattened. The flagship Dflinger also lost a turret. Only the Lutsov is in a slightly better condition. Not only the turret can be used, but also can maintain mobility and flexibility.

What's more serious is that Betty has completely gone crazy when he sees that the main force of the general fleet is not far behind him. With three St. Vincent-class battleships and five battlecruisers, he stands on the smoking battlecruiser Tiger, vowing to kill Hupper and the last German warcruper even if there is only one warship left.

At 3 o'clock sharp, Hipel could not wait any longer and decided to break through. He ordered Brigadier General Heinrich to lead 21 destroyers and torpedo boats to charge Betty. In order to cover the main force, he even asked Major General Bernice to join in with several light patrols.

At 3:05, a grid flag representing the word Z was raised on the Regensburg cruiser. The almost suicidal full-speed assault began. After seeing this, Betty also invested 26 destroyers and cruisers. At the same time, she also ordered the last heavily injured Lion-class battlecruiser Princess to support, but he did not realize that it was Because of this, he buried the opportunity for the battlecruiser Princess to return to Scarpa Bay.

The Z flag is a well-known symbol of navies in various countries. Britain uses letters, Germany uses grids, and Xinhua uses dragon claws. In fact, they all have the same meaning, because Z is the last letter, and there is nothing behind it, so the Z flag is raised, which represents a deadly battle!

According to the staff of the rescue of Regensburg after the incident, Brigadier General Heinrich rushed into the battle of the capital ship with the idea of death. His opponent, Major General Hart of the Third Destroyer Squadron of the Home Fleet of the British Royal Navy, also raised the Z flag at the same time.

It is difficult for ordinary people to imagine that when the capital ship is still bombarding, it may be overturned by the waves if it only takes a heavy artillery shell to explode around. How much courage it takes for only a few hundred tons of destroyers and torpedo boats to join the battle circle.

In the cracks of the scolding capital ships, dozens of small warships rushed into the sea filled with smoke, with extreme visibility, like light cavalry without armor protection on the ancient battlefield, and like countless suicide torpedoes turning white waves, staggered towards the other side.

At that moment, perhaps the most chaotic period of this naval battle, the flag and light signals almost lost their effect. Hundreds of guns from 37mm to 152mm roared on the North Sea, and the shells were denser than the rainstorm.

Almost in an instant, there was a mess on the sea. The fluttering German plaid flag made a desperate assault. After a wave of torpedoes were hit, the captains hit the opponents who tried to stop them with naval guns, and the Z-shaped flag also showed no weakness, relying on the advantage of quantity and volume, rampaging.

With a loud bang, the 712-ton German destroyer Campos was hit by the 343mm main gun on the Princess. The thick smoke brought by the explosion rose into the sky hundreds of meters. With just a few blinks of an eye, the Campos disappeared on the sea.

Brigadier General Heinrich did not expect that his opponent would send a battlecruiser to block the way, and immediately personally took two light patrols and five torpedo boats to launch a death assault.

A wave of shells covered it, and the bow of the Regensburg cruiser even began to enter the water, but after losing two torpedo boats, it still tenaciously attacked at a distance of 2,000 yards, and 16 500mm torpedoes rushed to the Princess like a shuttle with a white tail.

One, two, three.

The Princess kept moving its huge body. When it was about to avoid all the torpedoes, it was still hit by two stern. The violent explosion tore a large hole of several meters in the stern and destroyed the oars. In the end, the Princess finally failed to hold on before the tug arrived the next day and sank in the North Sea, but in the end At that moment, the British gunners who still fought back tenaciously also took Brigadier General Heinrich and his Regensburg light cruiser.

The battle situation has completely fallen into white heat. In the sea assault battle, you can't see the white blade when charging on the ground, but it is not easier than the army's bayonet. Although the hundreds of tons of warships are small, it takes time to turn and maneuver, but there are warships around, the enemy's, and their own, can't be distinguished at all. Sometimes As soon as you finish hitting a torpedo, you will be hit by the opponent from the side until it sinks.

In just 10 minutes, both German and British destroyers paid a heavy price. When the main formation entered the decisive battle 20 minutes later, when they withdrew, everyone knew that both sides had left about ten partners.

The crazy assault of destroyers and torpedo boats disrupted the formation of the main formation of the two sides, so that Hipper, who was eager to retreat, finally waited for the opportunity. The Lutsov rushed out of the vague battle circle that was almost covered by fog and smoke.

Betty was also anxious at this time. Seeing that Jellico's main force could arrive in 15 minutes at most, if Hipel escaped at this time, she would be completely defeated, so she followed the opponent to turn the rudder, ordered to close the distance again, and ordered all the shells to be concentrated on the Luzov.

According to the lucky escaped accompanying priest on the cruiser Luzov, they were shelled by at least 40 heavy artillery at that time, and Britain also thought of Xinhua's first centralized shelling tactics at the most critical moment, although their shipboard fire control command instrument was not as good as mine. Guys, you can't imagine what it feels like to drop 40 heavy shells per minute at a distance of only 12,000 yards in the 11-minute chase, and in order to stop us, nearly 100 127mm secondary guns on them also shelled at full speed. Whether they can hit or not, they don't care about wasting shells. Want to stop us.

The interception battle instantly turned into a pursuit battle. Although the heroic sacrifice of the destroyers gave Hiffel a chance to change the rudder, everyone's maximum speed of the battle patrol is 24 knots, and the four tiger-class battle patrols can even run out of 24.5 knots, so he can't get rid of the chase completely.

In the 10-minute pursuit, which was later called "Crazy Betty" by all walks of life, Betty led four Tiger-class battlecruisers and three St. Vincent-class battleships into two rows of continuous pursuits, and ignored the shells fired at them and concentrated all their firepower on the Lutsov.

Two huge fireballs finally slowed down the Luzov. Even if the British shell fuse was too ** to penetrate the internal explosion, no warship could stay intact under dozens of tons of steel and explosives flying in every minute.

The Luzov, who was hit by a big hole on the port side, quickly entered the water. Hiffel wanted to slow down and stop to rescue, but he knew more that if he stopped at this time, the remaining three ships would not want to go back alive.

The Luzov, which was surpassed by comrades-in-arms, completely became a cannonball magnet. The first battlecruiser formation led by Betty and the battleship detachment led by Thomas surrounded the Luzov, but the British sailors almost couldn't believe that the trembling Luzov was still firing backfire in such a dense shell. It was not until all four turrets were destroyed that Captain Rudolph ordered the flag to be raised and filled with water to sink.

Looking at the proud knight-like battlecruiser sinking little by little, even the British soldiers admired it.

"Rumble."

Countless shells began to explode around Betty's fleet, and the German main fleet led by Scheer finally arrived. This time, it was Betty's turn to start running back desperately. Any tactics and any maneuvers have become useless. Only running is to run back to the middle of the main fleet not far away.

There are only three of the five battle patrols left at the time of departure, of which the entire upper layer of the Sedellitz can hardly be seen. Hippell had to send several destroyers to escort the beast that seemed to sink at any time.

It is surprising that the Sedlitz, which was so badly damaged, escaped the blockage of the British navy two days later and returned to Germany, but unfortunately, due to a shortage of resources, it was not repaired until the end of the war.

The majestic warships collided with the cold sea and passed by the Luzov, which was full of flags and began to sink. Every German admiral gritted his teeth, saluted with tears, and then turned around and walked into his position, locking the huge "dark cloud" group oncoming with a thick muzzle!

Now it is 2 to 3 (at that time, the British Princess sank, which can only be regarded as a damage. The Von de Tann has been hit by a torpedo and began to sink). They are still ahead, and everyone believes that they will always be ahead!

(to be continued)