Inside the Helmsette's heavy patrol tower, the air roared and screamed, and Harwood only felt a flower in front of him, and then he was involuntarily thrown into a corner a few meters away. In an instant, his chest and lungs exploded, his throat surged with sweetness, and his consciousness was like a flickering flame in the cold wind, which was about to be extinguished almost the next moment......

"General! Checkmate! In a daze, Harwood heard an anxious voice with a crying voice calling out to him. There was a thump in his brain, and he struggled to hold up his heavy eyelids. Gradually, the scene in front of him became clear from the whirlwind of the world, and Harwood instantly stayed there as if he had been struck by lightning.

The fire is roaring, and the heat wave is invading. The bulkhead of the command tower, which had been smooth as a mirror, now resembled a rat's nest in the field and the surface of the moon: the steel plate was densely covered with countless irregular holes, large and small, and its twisting and rolling appearance was reminiscent of the thunder beast's hideous and sharp fanged mouthparts. The central platform, where the various sections of the battleship were talking, was nowhere to be found, and only the small charred and blackened base remained in place. What made Harwood's limbs feel cold the most were the nearly ten corpses lying on the floor; Crimson blood quickly spread out from beneath them, drenching the entire mutilated tower into a hell of killing and death.

"Uhh Watching his close colleagues who had worked with him for years, if not decades, turn into bloody pieces of flesh in the blink of an eye, Harwood's spirit nearly collapsed, and he let out a hoarse cry of grief. Rao was known in the British Navy for his tenacity, tenacity, composure and fearlessness, and at this moment, he couldn't help but feel the pain, despair, remorse, and fear that went deep into his bone marrow for the first time. Harwood shuddered all over, his lips trembled, and his forehead and back were covered in cold sweat; He wanted to struggle to stand up, but suddenly there was a sharp and extremely sharp pain in his waist, which instantly dispersed the little strength he had managed to gather.

"General, you're awake! Just now the Germans hit the conning tower, and the entire forward bridge was filled with smoke and flames, and by the time we rushed in, you were the only one left in the conning tower...... still breathing," the young voice still had a little crying, and recounted what had just happened to Harewood simply and quickly. Harwood listened with a sluggish expression, his face was as pale as paper, and things had really reached the worst, and the command center of the fleet had completely ceased to exist with the fall of a shell from the German ship!

Harwood, who was sitting in the corner of the command tower, suddenly saw a large amount of black-red smoke gushing out of the sea in front of him; The latter spread out like a sea of clouds and flowers, and there was a faint bright red glare in it. Through the largest giant crack in the bulkhead of the command tower, Harwood could clearly determine the direction of the "cloud", which was the battle area of his light patrol Orion!

Seeing this scene, Hawooddon, who was already pale, became bloodless, and hot tears flowed from his red eyes, which continued to flow like a waterfall. In 1916, Harwood, still a private, participated in the world-famous Battle of Jutland and witnessed the explosion of several British warships such as the "Invincible" and the "Black Prince". Originally, he thought that this catastrophic scene had completely become a thing of the past, but he did not expect that today, 23 years later, almost the same scene would be repeated in front of his eyes again!

"The Orion is finished." Harwood spoke hoarsely, like the usual neutral voice. Although the British Navy had made amends after the Battle of Jutland and paid special attention to the prevention of the detonation of gunpowder, the light cruisers, who pursued speed, could not squeeze out the weight to protect themselves against 8-inch shells, even if they were limited to the reflex chamber. As long as a heavy shell of this class hits the ammunition depot, the fate of the British light cruiser is still exactly the same as that of the predecessors who died earlier.

Now that the Orion has fallen, what will be the fate of the Exeter? Due to the technical gap in the construction years, the heavy patrols that started in the 20s were thinner than the light patrols that started in the 30s; If a German shell had hit the ammunition depot, the Exeter would have no chance of surviving. Inadvertently, this thought suddenly crossed Hawood's mind, which he found extremely unbelievable. Harwood had never cared about his own personal life and death, and he had always regarded dying for Britain as the most glorious end for a soldier, but now, seeing the tragic end of his colleagues and friendly ships, his state of mind finally changed radically.

Harwood turned his head slowly, and for the first time looked at the young soldier beside him who had pulled him from the brink of collapse. He was probably not yet twenty years old, and his face blackened by the smoke was vaguely childish, and his eyes were green and bright, but at this time he showed a look of fear and panic. Seeing this youthful face, Harwood had a thought in his heart that was very different from his former self: such a young man should not be a sacrifice to the god of war, he had a better and long-term life to live and experience.

"Report, the Yorkie is raising the flag, they can no longer hold on, ask to withdraw from the battle!" A messenger ran into the dilapidated conning tower and reported to Harwood in a state of distraught. In the event of the defeat of the York, the Exeter would have been hit by 2 German cruisers, and the German ships seemed to be in much better damage than the British ships at the moment, and the Exeter would hardly have any chance of surviving. Harwood closed his eyes in pain, took a deep breath, gritted his teeth and said, "Order, the fleet releases smoke, and the whole army retreats." ”

More than ten kilometers away on the sea, artillery fire roared, and the sailors of the three German heavy cruisers were performing their duties and contributing their own strength to these warships. Although the appearance of these warships is not as intact as it was at the beginning of the war, and the Königsberg and Karlsruhe 2 ships are even more flaming and riddled with holes, their core area is almost always standing tall and strong. Inside the turret, heavy shells and brass ****** were constantly lifted up from the ammunition compartment and loaded into the chamber to complete another round of attacks on the enemy ships with a deafening roar of thunder.

"The British really can't hold on!" Seeing that the British fleet in the distance began to release smoke, Brigadier Miller couldn't help but show an excited look, and his joy was overflowing. He always believed that the performance gap between the two ships would help him seal the victory, and at this time, one of the attacking British cruisers was sunk, and the other three were severely damaged and began to flee for their lives. The humiliation of the 1915 Blücher sinking has finally been washed away today. And with the help of this victory, the soldiers under his command will also become the mainstay of the battle, and they will not have any hesitation when they encounter an enemy of the same level in the future!

"General, let's catch up, these British battleships have to die here today!" The captain of the Königsberg clenched his fists excitedly and shouted orders to the commander in front of him. Although the K-class heavy cruiser was not known for its speed, the British warships at this time were already badly damaged and not as fast as before. As long as the German battleships with the core cabin intact were working hard to catch up, the scarred and faltering British cruisers would hardly be able to escape!

Miller shook his head and said, "At present, this ship and the Karlsruhe also have a lot of water, and this ship was hit by a water bullet, causing fuel leakage, which is not suitable for high-speed pursuit." He turned his head and glanced at the nine Z-type superdrives lined up in two columns thousands of meters away, and said lightly: "According to the plan, the final sweeping work should be handed over to Colonel Bent's destroyer to complete." Each cruiser reduced its speed and kept detailed statistics on its own equipment losses and casualties. At the same time, the order was given to the destroyer to get close to the target before firing the torpedo. Now that the sea surface is too stormy, the torpedoes fired at a long range will deviate significantly too much from the normal situation. ”

The waves roared, the foam spewed, and the German destroyer group, which had been waiting impatiently for a long time, finally bared its sharp fangs like a pack of hyenas. Under normal circumstances, in the face of British cruisers with absolute superiority in artillery fire and defense, the Z-type superdrive did not dare to make too many times; But now, the Liger in front of him is scarred and exhausted, and how long will the German destroyers not rush forward? Despite the rough sea conditions, the nine Z-boats still drove at speeds of more than 30 knots. They rose and fell on the sea, and the bow of the ship was almost completely submerged by the splash; From the air, these destroyers are like racing boats breaking through the waves, speeding towards the area where the smoke is located in the distance.

"The cunning British, who still wants to show off his intelligence!" In the closed navigation command room of the Z-16 destroyer, the thin Colonel Commander Bent sneered. After the release of the smoke, the three British cruisers did not immediately turn the rudder and retreat away from the German fleet, but only slightly adjusted their course, and generally maintained a northward navigation. If you follow the stereotyped thinking to pursue and intercept, you will only pounce; At that time, the distance between the two sides did not decrease, and he had to gather the boat and continue the next round of pursuit.

However, it is a pity that all the movements of the British fleet were under the radar monitoring of the German battleships. Although the radar equipped with the Z-type destroyer is a grade worse than the same type of products on the capital ship, it is still fully capable of such a close-range early warning mission!

Bent could not hold back the pride and anticipation in his heart, and said in a slight trill: "The torpedoes of all ships are ready, and we are going to give the British a big surprise." (To be continued.) )