Chapter 859 The last Z word below

On the morning of May 8, 210 nautical miles south of the Isle of England.

Looking at the fog shrouded in the sea, Fang Lan stretched out and said, "Well, we can be lazy today." Hearing this, Captain Xiqin, Chen Jiliang, who had been a partner for many years, stared at his flight officer who was lazy when he had nothing to do, and scolded, "Don't prepare!"

When the captain spoke, everyone was suddenly embarrassed and left. Fang Lan also quickly fled back to the flight control tower to start dispatching. Just as everyone laughed, Chen Jiliang looked out of the window and sighed from the bottom of his heart.

It is the best way to describe the mood of the 51st task force at this moment. After receiving the news of the British navy's attack last night, the fleet arrived here overnight at an average speed of 27 knots. When it was ready to let the British see what an overwhelming bombing was, it did not expect to encounter a ten-year rare It's foggy.

It is said that the North Atlantic Ocean is one of the worst navigation environments. Now it is really deserved. There is still such a heavy fog in May, which makes most of the sailors who will pass here in the future stunned.

Even Lefei in the flagship was a little depressed. He turned his head and looked at Zhu Houbin, who came with him, and asked, "Can you take off?"

"This visibility take-off is not a problem. The main reason is that the target is likely to not be found after take-off. Unless the fog dissipates during the return landing, even if the approximate range of the aircraft carrier is positioned by radio, it is difficult to find the specific location visually."

"The speed is 16 knots, keep moving, the escort ship should pay attention to the water and the sea, and the flight wing is ready, hoping that the fog will dissipate." After Le Fei gave the order, he suddenly turned his head and asked, "How do you think Risher and Hamilton fight in this weather?"

The staff and officers looked at each other and all shook their heads--

"This damn weather!"

Le Fei is right. In the flagship Rodney command tower, Lieutenant General Hamilton, who was going to fight the main force of the German navy with Colonel Burnham's good luck, was already violent.

Under the commander's anger, people naturally held their breath, but the watchmen were full of their eyesight, and they could only see about five or six kilometers away at most. For modern heavy naval guns that can often hit or even sink the enemy with a few shells at a distance of 10,000 to 20,000 meters away, this distance means the destruction of the whole army!

Hamilton is not afraid of the destruction of the whole army. He is afraid that he will be finished before he defeats the enemy, because he knows very well that the mainland fleet is already the last card of Britain. This country, which is exhausted, can't build a second capital ship in a year even if it is smashing the pot and selling iron.

For him, he either saved his strength with the complex hydrological environment of the three British islands and played hide-and-seek with the enemy, or dragged the enemy into the sea together in a desperate battle. There was no other way.

But I can't even see it now. What should I do?

Everyone knows that the German ocean fleet of 18 capital ships is nearby, but the question is how far is it? Do you really have to wait until you hit your head and tell the Germans that the British Empire's home fleet has arrived?

"General, we will arrive at the Dogal sandbar soon. The aircraft carrier Abkyr requested to take off for reconnaissance."

"Now?!" Hamilton looked at the fog outside the window, and his heart was shaken. You know, this is the only modified mother ship in Britain. The pilots are also the elites who have survived from the Chinese over the years. They are one of their hopes to win. Let them search in this weather, even if they find the enemy. People, how can they come back?

"Yes, Lieutenant General!"

The firm voice and the repeated waving flag on the mothership next to them moistened the corners of the eyes of all the soldiers of the mainland fleet. The heroic Royal Navy pilots were ready to risk their lives to carry out a reconnaissance that may never come back.

The solemn and tragic atmosphere swept the whole fleet from the first rhododendron torpedo plane jumping out of the deck. Everyone knows that even if the Burnham fleet was lucky enough to kill a German capital ship last night, now the British home fleet is still 14-18 behind, and only the 34 cuckoos on the mother ship can be relied on. And the W-class destroyer, which is faster than Germany's, and I don't know if it took off from the coast and should have arrived at the Short 184 water torpedo fleet that should have come to support.

Today, the success or failure of the air supremacy at sea is obvious. Hamilton, as the Secretary of the British Navy and the current Supreme Commander of the Home Fleet, knows this better than ordinary people, so he has set up an aircraft carrier pilot, shore-based support, and cooperate with the sea-air integrated combat plan of the main fleet. Who would have met a big Fog.

While the 12 cuckoo torpedo planes took off, Hamilton packed up his mood and began to reteam. The mobile formation composed of modified aircraft carriers, two prestige-class and tiger-class battlecruisers took the lead in the thick fog. After losing four main battlecruisers, there were only two new Hood-class and two Avengers left in the center. The main array of central battleships composed of Class, 3 Orion, 2 Iron Dukes and Intrepid.

The reason for the division of troops is that after a series of battles, Britain has now made it clear the gap between battlecruisers and battleships. It is extremely stupid to let the war patrol platoons fight against the enemy on the front line. If it hadn't been for the enhanced Hood-class armored defense, which had reached the level of the Avenger-class battleships, it would have Disperse and wait for the war to start, looking for opportunities to attack the enemy.

As for the aircraft carrier, because there are still more than 20 aircraft left, it can wait until the last moment to give the other side a fatal blow.

Thirty minutes later, the fleet arrived at the Dogal sandbar.

Hamilton believes that Scheer has not yet gone south, because there are dense mines in the Dover Strait, and there are a large number of torpedo boats. In this weather, a large fleet to break through the minefield is almost no different from dying.

So, Scheer must be nearby. He is waiting for himself to appear to defeat himself, because as long as the local fleet fails, no warship in the North Sea can resist the sweeping bombardment of the German capital ship gun.

Just as the home fleet dispersed, Hamilton and his staff lay on the chart to calculate that while carrier-based aircraft and destroyers cooperated to carefully search the German navy, Reinhardtcher and the German fleet were also having a headache to find the enemy.

The North Sea is not big and shallow outside, but it always gives Scheer a feeling of unspeakable anxiety. To be honest, this is not a war that he needs with the German navy, but in the face of the idea that His Majesty William II is ready to attract the Chinese to help, the navy that has spent a lot of money must take action.

In addition to this reason, another consideration that made the navy have to attack is also because the commander-in-chief could not find a quick way to completely defeat Britain without the Chinese.

This is very embarrassing, but it is a fact that no one dares to say it, but everyone knows it in their hearts.

Compared with the British navy, which has fought several times in the Xinhua Navy, even under the condition of quantitative occupation, it has been basking in the sun in Kiel Harbour for nearly two years, although the German navy, which has already dominated in quantity, still dares not say that it is sure to win.

Because of problems such as Sneider and the spring road, Germany can only watch the retreat of more than half of millions of British expeditionary troops at present. In addition, the sea is not guaranteed, and the sky is comparable to that of the British flag. The commander-in-chief can't find a good way for the strongest army to cross the Strait of Dover and quickly force Britain to surrender, so It is said that this is to cater to the German emperor, rather than the last resort.

Only by obtaining absolute sea control and forcing the British political axe to truly sign the surrender agreement after facing the danger that the mainland will be landed and destroyed by the army.

So his task is very simple, using the numerical advantage to attract the British mainland fleet that needs to ensure the security of the North Sea and the strait to fight, and then defeat the other side to force the British to surrender!

But the question is that the fog on the sea is very heavy at present. Where is Hamilton who must have arrived?

The destroyer that went out for reconnaissance seemed to sink into the sea, and the seaplane sent out had no news. The higher airship was too lazy to report, because there was only Bai Mengmeng looking down, so at this moment, Scheer regretted the year of being nicknamed "vacation" by the sailors. Here In Duan's most difficult years, except for the two York-class battleships, the German navy got nothing. Even the most wanted modified aircraft carriers were blocked for several years, so they needed to give priority to ensuring the four York-class ships. In addition, the Ministry of the Navy stubbornly believed that the North Sea wind and waves were urgent and fog all year round, which was not suitable for air combat, and had not been delivered so far. This made the investigative force in his hand suddenly overstretched.

"Sir, Colonel Boone's destroyer formation has arrived at Dogle sandbar. He has ordered the formation to disperse, and the British have not been found yet."

"Dogle sandbar."

Scheer's fingers quickly found this area between Britain and Denmark. After the war, the two navies tried the first shot, making the German navy cautious after losing a battlecruiser.

"Will it be another battle of New Dogal?"

"Enemy aircraft!"

Scher, who had just been thinking about whether it would be another battle of the new Dogal sandbar, was awakened by a harsh alarm and rushed to the porthole along the staff officer's fingers to see a Short 184 seaplane rushing out of the fog and rushing towards the position of the fleet.

Perhaps Sergeant Sains in the cockpit did not expect to meet the German high seas fleet here. As an ordinary pilot for the reconnaissance of the huge water bomber fleet behind, he has flown more than a hundred times on this routine patrol route in the past three years. Although there is heavy fog today, in order to cooperate with the fleet, 70 Shorts 184 still took off forcibly. In order to better search for the enemy, more than a dozen reconnaissance aircraft, including him, were sent to guide the front.

As a seaplane, it is much easier to fly on the sea than an army pilot. For him, it is at most important to land directly on the sea. It's the same when the fog disperses, but he didn't expect that when he was about to fly into the sandbar, he was attracted by a trace of black smoke mixed in the white fog and finally saw It's an unforgettable scene.

The rectangular box lineup of 18 capital ships, 47 cruisers and destroyers is slowly sailing towards the Deagle sandbar with thick black smoke.

"Damn it!"

While Sainz pulled up the pole, the densely tingling cannonballs had already exploded around him. Germany did not have an official aircraft carrier, but there was no shortage of small-caliber rapid-fire guns. Even the Xinhua 37mm rapid-fire gun was a technology purchased from Germany that year.

In the era of Xinhua fighters, Germany, which knew that it was temporarily unable to compete in this area, focused all its energy on the construction of anti-aircraft firepower. Compared with Britain, the United States and France, Germany is more mature and more advanced in this technology, especially in the 37mm multi-commodal rapid-fire gun, which has reached or even exceeded It is the standard of Xinhua's latest rapid-fire gun of the same caliber.

In an instant, Sainz felt as if he had become a windsurfer on the tip of the angry waves. Thousands of rainstorm-like dense shells, tens of thousands of 7.92mm anti-aircraft machine guns and thongs rushed to his face. When he rushed left and right to see that the old Short 184 was about to be unable to support it, two black eyes. The point suddenly rushed out of the fog and rushed to the German fleet below.

"God, I love you!"

Two cuckoos attracted by the fire after the shells were blown up, which not only helped Sainz divert fire, but also announced that the German high seas fleet had exposed the target!

In fact, after seeing Sainz, an ominous feeling covered Scheer's whole body.

Afterwards, many people believed that the German navy finally survived the hard battle known as the "collision in the sea of fog" thanks to the first order of the cautious admiral after encountering the plane.

At 10:20 a.m., east of the Deagle sandbar in the North Sea, after encountering enemy aircraft in a rare fog for ten years, Scheer gave the first order, asking Hshipper to lead two Dflinger-class battlecruisers, three King-class battleships, three light cruisers and some escort destroyers to take the lead in pretending to retreat east while waiting. The plane dealt a fatal blow to the enemy.

At this time, the visibility of the sea was only about 6 kilometers, and it took Hiper only 20 minutes to lead the fleet to disappear into the fog.

Because the anti-aircraft fire of the German high seas fleet was expected, Sainz had to retreat after reporting the approximate coordinates by radio, so he did not see Hiffel leave. As for the two cuckoos that took off from the modified aircraft carriers, they disappeared in the fog just before the anti-aircraft fire.

But no matter what, Scheer is still exposed!

The telegram sent by Sainz made the British, who were searching for Scheer in the North Sea, rush to this area like hounds. The first to arrive was the third destroyer detachment of the local fleet led by Brigadier General Tirritt, who had made great achievements in the first Battle of Dogger Sandbar.

As the last contributor, Brigadier Tillett was not integrated into the mainland fleet this time, but has been defending against the German submarines north of the Strait of Dover to destroy the withdrawal plan. After receiving a warning from Burnham last night, he went all the way north.

Just arrived near the Dorgle sandbar, he slowed down. It seemed that in memory of the last time he died here, he didn't expect that the radio station would receive a report from the reconnaissance aircraft.

Like 15 out-and-control wild horses, the third destroyer detachment, which was extremely familiar with this area, immediately transferred its bow and rushed to the German high seas fleet at an average speed of 28 knots.

The German light cruiser Rostock was the first to discover the Tiret fleet and launched the first shell of the last large-scale naval battle in the war.

10 150mm rapid-fire guns roared in the fog. The excellent German rapid-fire gun showed a speed advantage at close range. The British destroyer Lesander, which rushed to the front, was hit by the deck and caught fire within a few minutes of Scheer's order for the main force to turn.

The rumble of gunfire opened the prelude to the naval battle. Twelve German destroyers, led by two light cruisers, fought against each other to block the assault of the Tiret fleet.

"Get the torpedo ready."

Seeing that Germany had a gunfire advantage, Tiret ordered a torpedo attack on enemy ships.

The W-class destroyer Tiritt soon took the speed advantage. These new generation of destroyers developed after Fisher forced the steam turbines to get on board the steam turbines after the Strait of Hormuz Strait had enough of Hormuz before the war. In this sea of fog, they were like elves returning to the jungle. Soaring.

Although Germany has also mastered steam turbine technology, conservative ideas have made the navy not believe in this new power system. It has only built a few experimental destroyers to be tested in the Baltic Sea, and it has not yet been fully equipped.

The German destroyer, which still relies on the traditional steam mobility, slowly fell into the downwind. The British destroyer, which learned the U-shaped torpedo throwing tactics of the Xinhua Navy, constantly hit the torpedo and forced the German ship to turn.

However, Brigadier General Tillett's good luck ended here. After the torpedo hit a German destroyer, forcing the other party to abandon the ship, three Helgoland-class battleships had drilled out of the sea of fog and appeared 7,500 yards away and completed the transverse rotation.

Although only 8 dual 305mm/L50 naval guns can fire to one side at the same time, with 8 150mm and 10 88mm rapid-fire guns, a total of 78 naval guns still show a devastating momentum at this distance.

After losing four destroyers in a row, Brigadier General Tirit had to order a temporary retreat and led the fleet to disappear into the fog again. However, he did not run far, but bypassed the German main force and continued to sail north for about 30 nautical miles, waiting for the torpedo to be filled and then began to return.

At 11:17, the 72 SCHott 184 seaplanes carrying torpedoes that took off from the coast in the morning finally saw the fire of the explosion before they had to return when they were about to run out of fuel.

The bravery of the British pilots was reflected at this moment. These pilots, who had learned from Sainz that the German fleet had extremely strong air defense firepower, still launched an attack regardless of danger.

A layer of blazing fire wall rose from the front of the German High Seas Fleet. On 13 capital ships, 7 light cruisers and 33 destroyers, hundreds of 88mm high-level dual-level guns and hundreds of double 37mm rapid-fire guns hissed like a tsunami, and the delayed fragmentation grenades they fired formed a terrible Metal storm.

As soon as the British attack aircraft got out of the fog and entered the field of view, they fell into the black smoke after the shell exploded. Three consecutive aircraft mounted 457mm aerial torpedoes, with a speed of only 100 kilometers per hour, Short 184 was hit by shells and burned to the sea before they could see clearly.

According to the later memories of the pilots, when they broke through the fire layer of 5,000 to 3,000 meters, more than one-third of the aircraft were hit by shrapnel. Fortunately, the wooden fuselage was also solid, so it did not crash immediately.

And this is not the biggest nightmare of British pilots. When the torpedo plane enters the enemy's 2,000 meters away and can clearly see the type of enemy ship and the figures moving on the deck, the number has not been accurately counted. The anti-aircraft machine gun improved from the MG15 water-cooled machine gun fires fiercely at the same time, which can be The terrible guy who shot 600 bullets showed great power under the almost mechanically accurate control of the German soldiers.

The emergence of the multi-layer air defense system of the German naval fleet should still be grateful to Xinhua, especially for the entry of the Seventh Fleet into the Mediterranean Sea. The multi-layer air defense network shown by the ships of the Xinhua Navy in the battle of destroying Italy in World War I gave Shi Pei a lot of emotion. After returning to Germany, he suggested building Germany's own multi-layer prevention and control. In the system, the German Admiralty and Wilhelm II also gave him the green light in this, and finally ordered the addition of a large number of anti-aircraft machine guns to the high seas fleet, which was in final preparations at that time.

Tens of thousands of 7.92mm bullets came on the face every minute. I'm afraid no one can guarantee their luck. Many Short 184s, which began to descend into the attack orbit, were directly hit by the pilot by bullets, and suddenly hit the sea, stirring up layers of white waves.

However, the heavy losses did not scare the British pilots who were already determined to death. After losing nearly one-third of the fighters, they immediately dispersed with two or three formations and launched an attack to delay the enemy to ensure the smooth arrival of the main fleet.

The clumsy Short 184, which is extremely clumsy, is like a fat goose. While avoiding the shells, it lowers its height and approaches the German [***] ships close to the sea, some of which are even less than ten meters away from the sea!

The fearless British pilot really shocked Scheer. Before leaving, he thought that he would be attacked by the British. After all, after many times of sea and air cooperation, Britain may be second only to Xinhua's navy.

And when he really faced it, he was still shocked to know that he underestimated the role of the aircraft in the naval battle. In front of him were just dozens of torpedo planes that were not as good as Germany. If he was facing the faster and stronger metal torpedo planes of the Xinhua Navy at this moment, I'm afraid he didn't have to wait for Britain. When the home fleet arrives, it can raise its hand and surrender.

In the bullet marks of the smoke mass and the orange tracer bullet, the surviving Short 184 clung to the mast of the outer destroyer and passed through them without fear. Although the team was extremely scattered, it still persistently lowered and prepared to attack.

As the first torpedo was dropped, more and more torpedoes began to enter the water, marking white tracks on the sea. Except for a few 457mm aerial torpedoes at a distance of 1,000 meters from the target, most of the other pilots insisted on approaching the target. It was not until 600 meters later that it was decided to be thundered.

The German captains jumped their feet, and the helmsman used all his strength to turn the steering wheel. The huge hull deflected quickly on the sea. The sailors on the deck opened fire desperately while carefully preventing themselves from being thrown into the sea by centrifugal force.

For a while, dozens of trapezoidal diffused tracks appeared on the sea. Soon, at the end of one of the white channels, accompanied by a loud thunderous sound, a column of water several times higher than the dryboard, mixed with thick smoke and debris soared into the sky.

When they were first to be shot, they almost swallowed the Helgoland-class battleships of the Tirit fleet. The three battleships that participated in the Battle of Delan and were injured were the first generation of dreadnoughts. Although they have traditional German thick armor protection, they can avoid and move as well as the later new warships.

After the bow of the Aldenburg avoided two straight torpedoes, the hull finally failed to escape. The 457mm torpedo plunged into the lightning compartment more than one meter wide out of the hull, resulting in a five-degree tilt on the inlet deck of the empty cabin.

Compared with Oldenburg, the sister ship Ostfriesland was the most unlucky. It was hit by two torpedoes. In addition to causing water, one of the three propellers was vibrated and knocked off, and the speed suddenly dropped to 17 knots, and the turning ability was also greatly affected.

The moment the torpedo column rose in the air, the symphony of the naval cannon chorus seemed to stop abruptly. The dull explosion and the water column forest became the main theme of the battlefield, and every sailor and pilot were waiting for the final result.

"Rorpedo! It rushed to the Westphalia, God, get out of the way!" In this dullness, in the bridge of the flagship York, a German staff officer pointed to a touch of black on the tip of the wave in the distance and screamed out.

Everyone saw that the torpedo plunged into the back of the port side of the Westphalia, which had no time to avoid. A column of water dozens of meters high covered everyone's eyes. It was not until the water column and gunpowder smoke gradually dispersed that everyone saw that several machine gunners who were still there had disappeared, leaving only two. A crooked machine gun.

According to the final statistics, only 39 of 70 Short 184s finally dropped torpedoes, scoring 11 hits, injuring 4 German battleships and seriously injuring 1 light cruiser, and finally 27 returned to China.

Judging from the results, it is not brilliant. In addition, the power of the British 457mm torpedo itself is too small. Except for the light cruiser, none of the four German capital ships hit have lost their combat effectiveness. However, if you look at the level of the whole naval battle, the heroic British pilots exchanged sacrifices for time and successfully delayed The main force of Scheer gave the German high seas fleet no chance to use the fog to launch a surprise attack.

"Boom."

At 12:20, ten minutes after the group left, several orange fires appeared in the fog on the west side of the main force of the German high seas fleet, which was being reorganized, and the main force of the British mainland fleet led by Hamilton finally arrived.

"15,000 yards, the visibility is too bad, general!"

"Let the destroyer lean over to guide the gun, turn right 40 degrees, and the injured ship is at the end of the line. Open fire!"

After waiting for Hamilton to come, Scheer naturally can't let go of such a good opportunity. The fog has faded slightly, but the fire control still can't lock the opponent with his own ability. Whether it is Hamilton or Scheer, almost at the same time, he ordered the destroyer detachment to go out to guide the main long-range firepower.

10 to 13.

In the case that the British home fleet of four war patrols and Hipel took away five main forces, the strength in the two hands is not much different. Both commanders know that whoever can win first can win.

23 battleships, lined up of two ships in parallel, shooting at each other across 15,000 yards of the sea filled with milky fog. The most critical of these is the confrontation between two Hood and two York-class.

Hude no longer needs to say anything more. After receiving the lessons of the Pacific Ocean and Delan, this class of war patrol has made the largest improvement in the construction of warships in British history. If it is not a gap in power, he can even meet the standard of fast battleships.

Similarly, the two York-class are also the latest products of Germany's absorption and lessons from the experience and lessons of various naval battles after the beginning of the war. In fact, the York-class was the earliest Mackenson-class battlecruisers that were more familiar to later generations. In Deland, it exposed the fragile true face of the warship, and the power of the Xinhua fast battleship forced Germany The country has also made significant improvements to the Mackenson class, not only redesigned the armor protection, but also focused on improving the speed, and issued a hard surname index of at least 25 sections.

When the steam turbine was immature, German engineers relied on improving the reciprocating steam engine, modifying the underwater lines of the ship, and the new heavy oil boiler, which unexpectedly reached 26 knots in one fell swoop. People had to praise Germany's profound background in mechanical engineering technology.

After completing this series of improvements, the German navy felt that this could no longer be regarded as the original Mackensen-class battlecruiser, so it was renamed it a battleship and named it the York-class. On the one hand, it was to confuse the British Intelligence Agency to make them think that Germany was actually building two types of warships at the same time, and on the other hand, it also showed that the German navy was Looking forward to this improved model.

8 L47/380mm heavy guns jointly developed by China and Germany, and 8 381mm/L45 guns developed by Britain and the United States are almost the same in range and power, becoming the group of real opponents in this naval battle.

The fog has become an obstacle for gunners and fire control to perform at their best. Every minute, it sweeps across the deck through the withered cannon flames and winds, making the sailors' cheeks turn red. Everyone is angry with the muzzle across the sea.

After almost no results after ten minutes of bombardment, Hamilton took the lead in making changes, calling for the four war patrols who were lurking nearby to take the lead in detours to attack their opponents, while ordering them to close to 13,000 yards.

The name of the play is that Scheer also began to summon Hippeer to help. At this time, no one knew that the Tiritt fleet, which should have been scattered or fled on the periphery, would turn back and become the key to the victory or defeat of this bitter battle.

With better survivability than its opponents, the main force of the German High Seas Fleet, which bravely carried several shells, took the lead in achieving the first major results. Five Bavarian-class battleships became the mainstay when the New York-class was entangled by Hood.

12:37, 13600 yards away.

The previous destroyer S21 reported that an armor-piercing shell hit by Saxony, also a four double L47/380mm super gun, accurately hit the British Orion-class Thor battleship. The shell hit the No. 4 turret at a higher position on the stern of the opponent's, and the heavy armor-piercing bullet went straight from the turret. The frontal armor penetrated through, not only killing everyone in the turret, but also tilting hundreds of tons of turrets and hitting the last No. 5 turret, causing the other party's rotating machine to get stuck and suddenly lose 40% of its firepower.

However, this is not the main reason for the sinking of the Raytheon. Dozens of British firefighting sailors witnessed a terrible scene. According to one of them who survived later, a fire several meters high on the rear deck of the Raytheon was hit, and the flames made the Raytheon black. A torch in the dark.

The result is that five Bavarian-class ships reversed the muzzle at the same time and carried out four rounds of volleys aimed at the Raytheon.

Finally, among the 160 380mm shells, the observed hits reached 13, of which the fatal 4 were concentrated near the waterline.

The German navy completed a classic battle line instantaneous fire attack. When the five Bavarian-class muzzle returned to their original targets four minutes later, the already devastated Raytheon began to sink rapidly.

"Abandon the ship, give it up, leave!"

As the captain shouted hurriedly, he sounded the alarm for abandoning the ship. As the alarm bell rang throughout the ship, everyone felt a sudden vibration under their feet, and then the body of 22,200 tons of the ship was violently torn from the rear chimney.

The attack as accurate as a scalpel allowed the British navy to see the rigor and skill of German soldiers. Although it has been abandoned for nearly two years, it does not mean that the German sailors are on holiday. They are still taking advantage of the narrow Baltic Sea and ready for revenge.

At 12:48, the new generation of battleship Dreadnought, which was urgently built to compete with the Rhine sold by Xinhua to Germany, was also fatally hit. Two 305mm armor-piercing shells shot from the Kaiser-King Albert opposite it hit the bow at the same time, once again exposing the crispness of the capital ship after installing a torpedo. Weak, when the shell detonated the underwater torpedo tube of the bow, the Intrepid seemed to have become the famous headless knight in the West.

However, compared with the immortal knight, the poor protection and compartment design, as well as the rushing and experimental hull can't stand this damage. When Hamilton got the news of the heavy damage of the Intrepid, more than 600 tons of seawater had poured into the hull, so that the captain of the dreadnought had to follow Thor. Order to abandon the ship.

Two capital ships were lost in just 30 minutes. In contrast, although the German main force on the opposite side was also hit many times, most of them were not fatal. The haze in the hearts of the British soldiers began to worsen.

"Maybe we will witness a great victory!"

On the York, a staff officer raised his palm and prepared to give a high-five with his partner. However, at this moment, the huge shadows quickly appeared from the flank made his cheers stop abruptly.

"Fire! This is our last chance to make the cannon sing!"

Brigadier General Harrich, who had performed well in the Battle of Dogal Sandbar and the Battle of Deland, stood on the bridge of the battlecruiser Shock, which had installed the fourth double 381mm main gun, waving the command knife and smiling ferociously.

The perfect T-word appeared in front of the German East China Sea Fleet. The mobile detachment composed of two prestige-class and two Tiger-class battlecruisers suddenly came out of the sea of fog at the most critical moment and grabbed the vital T-shaped position.

Due to the timely manufacture of naval guns, the last two prestige-class are no longer the upturned monsters of three double turrets, and the 32 381mm heavy guns composed of two Tiger-class battle patrols, all of which are aimed at the first York-class No. 2 ship, Marquis Bismarck.

Looking at the ferocious erect barrel on the opposite side, Scheer's eyes were about to fall out. After not seeing the four capital ships, he guessed that the other side was nearby, so he not only expanded the peripheral search, but also ordered Hiffel to find and stop the fleet that might destroy the battle at any time.

But now that the other party has appeared, where is Hipper, who should have appeared in that position?

"General, General Hipper's telegram, he was entangled by a large number of planes and British destroyers 15 nautical miles away!"

"What!"

In Scheer's lost voice, 32 L45/381mm heavy guns burst into a roar at the same time, and the dense water column forest immediately enveloped the Marquis Bismarck.

In front of Scheer, he was in the same predicament as Rogerstwinsky, the commander of the Russian Expeditionary Navy.

Whether to turn around before the battle!

At that time, Roger Stewinsky lost the T position because he was not as fast as the other party. In addition, he was so scared that he had to turn around after killing the Crown Prince in seconds. Now it is Brigadier General Harwich who took advantage of the fog. After many maneuvers, he threw the mother ship to Brigadier General Tillett and cooperated with the destroyer detachment. After attacking and avoiding Happel, who originally intercepted them, he completed the final kill.

There are only two ways now, either to complete the terrible front turn or sacrifice the head of the Marquis Bismarck!

Turning is equivalent to exposing the whole fleet to Hamilton's crossfire. Even if the protection level of the German warship is much higher than that of the opponent, even if the other side has lost two capital ships, it is almost a fool's dream to be intact.

It's okay not to turn around. Take advantage of the opportunity of the enemy's four war patrols to attack with all their strength to take the initiative to sweep Hamilton's front again, but in that way, the Marquis Bismarck, who can't exert all his firepower, will definitely die!

Seeing rounds of shells covering the Marquis of Bismarck, Scheer's teeth were about to be broken.

"General!"

When the staff and officers behind him saw that Scheer had not ordered for a long time, they quickly reminded him loudly. When the latter's body was about to speak, the sergeant in charge of the lookout had already pointed to the opposite side and shouted.

"General, they deflected the bow and leaned over!"

Scheer pushed away several officers who blocked their sight and rushed to the porthole to see that the remaining eight British capital ships took the initiative to get closer again.

"God, do the British think their guns are better than ours?"

"Damn it, what do these guys want to do?"

"General, look at that flag."

"That's the word Z!"

"The word Z is the last letter, and there is nothing behind it." After a staff officer whispered, he turned his head and looked at Scheer, and his heart began to sink suddenly. Because in his eyes, he saw the hesitation of his own top commander of the fleet, who had always been conservative and cautious! ......

(to be continued)