Finally, a volley of 15-inch shells smashed the waves on the "Gneisenau board, and the balance of victory was quietly restored to the state of five-five." It was also at this time that the "Gneisenau" issued the order to "maneuver with me", and the two German battleships with high sailing turned sharply to the right in a uniform manner with the routine of many exercises, and when the next wave of shells from the British battleships fell, they left the British shells far behind, at the cost that their shells also deviated from their original targets, and the British battleships gradually increased and adopted similar maneuver tactics, and the German fleet temporarily lost the straddle fire advantage it had previously achieved.

"Looks like luck isn't on our side today!"

In the command room of the "Gneisenau", Zhang Hainuo's tone when he said this did not mean frustration, on the contrary, a strange confidence flashed in his calm eyes. After calmly examining the entire battlefield, he turned to Schubert, "Now let's start hunting freely, I think we should have no less than 15 minutes!" ”

Schubert smiled whimily, "Great free hunt!" ”

Time on the battlefield was a matter of life and death, and the German communications officer was able to relay orders from the bridge as quickly as possible, including the use of signal lights to convey them to the wingman. From the next round of shelling, the German fleet suddenly changed its aim, the front and rear main guns of the "Gneisenau" were obviously aimed at different targets, and the "Admiral Hipper" also exploded - the interval between the main gun salvos was shortened from the same as that of the "Gneisenau" to 5, which also meant that its 8 203-mm guns would fire 6 times in 1 minute, while the opposite "Ramillis" could only shoot one to one and a half shots in the same time, and the target of the shelling was also transferred from the British battleships to the cargo ships. So in the next few minutes, the huge British fleet continued to have ships hit, explosions one after another, some were directly hit by German shells, and some were ships loaded with munitions and fuel were killed after being shot and caught fire, and the sea was full of smoke for a while, and some cargo ships began to scatter and flee regardless of the flagship's orders, and the originally neat and orderly formation was instantly chaotic, and the auxiliary cruiser "Bettel" tried to go up to intercept it, but it was also intercepted by "Admiral Hipper" The main guns in front of the four guns were scurrying.

Seeing that the fleet was suddenly in a desperate situation, White finally couldn't stay still, and he hurriedly commanded the "Ramillis" to turn around and reduce the distance between it and the German fleet, and at the same time let the whole ship fire the battleship "Gneisenau", which was led by the opposing side, but when his shells approached the opponent again, the German fleet suddenly turned and sailed in the opposite direction.

The rain on the sea became heavier and heavier, and the vision became more blurred, and without warning, the artillery fire suddenly slipped from the high ** to the bottom valley, which had a great impact on people's eardrums and hearts. As the curtain fell, the two dark-painted German warships finally disappeared at the end of the sea, and the British crew's fearful catastrophe passed them, some rejoicing, while others had to lick their wounds in the terrible weather.

With a brief but piercing creak, the heavy steel door was opened, and the fresh sea breeze with a bitter and sour taste quickly poured into the long-suppressed cabin.

In the face of the still raging waves, Commodore White's mood could not be calmed for a long time, he walked slowly onto the open bridge, everything in his ears was so familiar, if it were not for everything in his previous life, these sounds would have calmed his mind, but now presented before his eyes, a scene that was not a disaster but even more than a disaster - 10 merchant ships were damaged to varying degrees, and billowing black smoke was coming from their different shapes under the action of the sea breeze, and these smoke and dust were mixed in the middle of the rain**, forming a large strange fog on this sea.

White was always at a loss for what to do with the strange tactics of the Germans, but it was not only that he was most disturbed, as long as the Germans had enough courage and courage to use their battleship to contain the "Ramillis" - the strong armor and careful construction of the German battleship would make it difficult for the old dreadnought to take advantage of it in a short time, and then the German heavy cruiser could go on a killing spree, and its 8-inch guns with excellent shooting and accuracy would become a nightmare for ordinary merchant ships. If that happens, this British fleet will suffer heavy losses due to the leakage of its own navy's intelligence work, and even be wiped out!

Despite the novelty, the Germans' previous tactics were ultimately based on a conservative foundation, but this did not mean that they had completely abandoned the attack on this fleet. There was a lot of tricky things ahead of White: several of the damaged ships seemed to be difficult to continue sailing under their own power, and the waters were often infested with German submarines, and the six German warships could take advantage of the bad weather to turn back, even if these ships were loaded with goods that Britain desperately needed, White had to make up his mind to save the entire fleet; On the other hand, the treatment of the wounded has to be carried out quickly, and the specific statistics have not yet come out.

The casualties in the fleet after such a battle are by no means a small number. The Ramillis alone had a number of sailors wounded by shrapnel in unarmored positions such as anti-aircraft guns, and the medical forces on the battleship were sufficient to allow them to receive the most timely treatment, but the situation on those merchant ships was probably not so rosy!

The staff officer quickly calculated the position of the fleet in combination with the situation of the supporting fleet, but without looking at these figures, White had already thought that the next night would be another test of the entire fleet, and according to the usual tactics of the German Navy, there must have been a number of submarines rushing to this side at this moment. Thinking of this, White could not help but decide where to send two important destroyers in the fleet to attack, and the only situation that seemed to be more favorable was that some of the faster and more agile cargo ships in the fleet had been converted into armed cargo ships in Canada before this trip。。。。。

It is to add a small-caliber cannon to the deck and install simple sonar equipment and a moderate amount of deep water**. The anti-submarine effectiveness of these armed cargo ships is unknown, but the Royal Navy's technical officers believe that it will be enough to scare off German submarines that try to approach and attack at night.

For the time being, it is not clear whether those hastily converted armed freighters can play a role in times of crisis. As time went on, the most damaged vessel began to sink under the jolting of the waves, and the fire on a few ships appeared to be under control, but others were clearly beyond salvage. At this time, the evacuation of personnel from merchant ships that were about to capsize or forced to abandon became the most important task for the Royal Navy officers and crews who were escorting the ship.

Watching the sailors and crews struggle to transfer their comrades on the ships that were about to be abandoned, especially some of the more seriously injured who could only be transferred by shaking stretchers, White's heart was very heavy, but it was said that a long life at sea could best exercise people's will and quality, and White was obviously one of the benefits, and he still believed that he and his loyal comrades around him could get out of the crisis through hard work. Such a belief is crucial for the entire fleet.

After lunch, West. White's fleet left behind six of the most damaged cargo ships, laden with 28,000 tons of munitions, food and other vital military supplies, but fortunately the ships were able to maintain their previous condition. And the number of killed in the battle has increased to 32 people, and the number of wounded has reached 70.

The formation of the fleet was disrupted during the battle, plus there were ships left behind. Bear these cargo ship formations - this is not easy to do when the sea conditions are not good, but the well-trained Royal Navy personnel eventually managed to do it, and there were only 40 cargo ships left

For the tight 8 columns, the auxiliary cruiser "Bettel" opened the way, and behind the "Ramillis", it sailed towards Britain.

For these Britons, however, the end of the catastrophe was far from yet to come. Not far from the fleet, a blackened and sharp-toothed German hunting shark had emerged as an unusually abundant prey.

"The radar is anomalous about 8 miles to the northwest, and judging by the shape of the echo, it is very likely that it is a large fleet!"

Hearing the report of the radar officer, Wolfgang. Captain Ruth used his telescope to observe in that direction as usual, but unfortunately, he was unable to show anything useful because of the submarine's low conning tower and poor sea conditions. It was clear that by mid-1946 the German Navy had become quite proficient in the use of submarine technology, and that many submarine commanders had benefited from the fact that many submarine commanders had benefited from the fact that Captain Ruth was ranked 11th on the German submarine ace list for the overall record of sinking enemy ships - a record that he had achieved since he had been commander of the -178 submarine in January 1940, and that he had a lot of room to rise in this ace list.

That should be the British fleet mentioned in the command telegram! Ruth put down the telescope in his hand and said to Luke, the co-captain next to him, "A big fish! ”

―

Like Ruth, Lieutenant Luke was a young officer who was not yet thirty years old, and his years of submarine life had given him the composure and sharpness of his age, coupled with the energy and self-confidence of a young man, he had already shown his worth in many battles.

"I heard that our warship is also moving nearby, but it seems that no cannon sound has been heard!"

Ruth looked at his partner noncommittally, "Maybe we've missed the best scene, maybe the real excitement is waiting for us!" Pass my orders, all approach the target, and all personnel are ready for battle! As long as you are sure that it is not a wave, report it to the headquarters immediately! ”

The self-confident German submarine sailors did not wait long, after about a quarter of an hour of full sailing, they determined the identity of the radar object by the naked eye, and outside the range, almost everyone was excited by the huge lineup of the British fleet in front of them, as long as they could hit two or three of them, they had the opportunity to become the brightest submarine star of the German Navy, of course, this was not the ultimate goal of their struggle - to beat every British ship sailing in the Atlantic Ocean to the bottom of the sea, Let the invincible British bow their heads before the Yuan, snow the humiliation of 22 years ago, let the enemy taste the hunger and hardship suffered by the German people for more than 20 years, and prove by deeds that the German Navy is fully qualified to squeeze into the ranks of the world's first-class.

Ruth and his lieutenants watched the British fleet in the distance with beautiful eyes, while asking their subordinates to rally their accomplices using the most advanced communication tools available. Considering that the day was not conducive to submarine attacks and that a submarine was helpless in front of the enemy, Ruth quickly ordered a change in the submarine course and course so that they could use their best tracking techniques.