"The target was found at a bearing of 17,000 meters in 216, a total of 4 merchant ships and 3 destroyers, all of which flew the British flag!

In the navigation command room of the S-103 torpedo boat, Captain Anderson, who heard the report, was surprised and nervous. God did answer his request, and he was able to discover the traces of the British merchant ships, but the number of British warships escorting them was far beyond his ability.

At this time, the 4 S-boats under his command can only defeat 1 destroyer by relying on the cooperation between each boat at most, and it will be very difficult to face 2, and there will be no chance of victory in the face of 3. After all, there was an order of magnitude difference in firepower between the two sides: British destroyers generally had 4 120-mm guns on board, while German S-boats had only a measly 20-mm gun in the stern. The effective range of the latter is only 2 kilometers, and it is simply impossible to pose any threat to the destroyer in an artillery battle!

"Captain, the British have too many warships, let's retreat!" Captain Benck said to Anderson with a worried face. The others in the navigation command room didn't speak, but their expressions betrayed their willingness to agree with Benke's decision. At this moment, the British fleet had 12 120-mm guns, and could pour at least ten times as many shells per minute. And as long as 1 shell hits directly, it will be a devastating blow for the S-boat with a standard displacement of only 80 tons!

Anderson was furious when he heard this, and said sharply: "Never (Nima dies)!" Now that the British ships are in front of them, and they can only fight to sink them, how can they take the initiative to retreat without engaging in battle? He swept his gaze over his subordinates in the navigation room, and then there was a bit of mockery in his eyes: "If the British have too many ships, they dare not draw their swords and fight them to the death, then there is no need for Germany to develop a surface fleet." You cowards and cowards can live your life like pigs at home with satisfaction! ”

Being reprimanded by Anderson so mercilessly, everyone, including Ensign Benke, was shocked and ashamed at the same time. In the book "Apocalypse of the Rise and Fall of the High Seas Fleet", written by Jonas that illuminates the dark haze, he has already fiercely criticized the conservative cowardice of the Imperial Navy in the past, but when it comes to battle, he still can't help but make the same mistake. An obvious example of the opposite. It was a decision that Spee had made outside Port Stanley. If Spee had not panicked and only thought about running for his life, but dared to fight desperately with a certain heart of death, then with the torpedoes of the four cruisers, it was very likely that the two British battle cruisers that had just begun to fire and had no ability to maneuver would have been sunk on the spot in a close chaotic battle!

"I am willing to obey the orders of the commander and fight to the death with the British!" Captain Benck's face turned red and he said loudly.

Anderson nodded. Just as he was about to say something, he suddenly saw a few orange-red lights on the British destroyer in the distance, which could be seen clearly even in the current day. Although Anderson never thought that the British destroyer would be able to hit himself with a small 120-mm hose at such a distance, the morale of the German officers and men around him had just been raised. But because of the preemptive strike of the British battleships, they couldn't help but fall a little. After all, there is an irreversible gap in firepower between the two sides, and what strategy should they adopt to achieve victory in the next battle?

Anderson stared at the British destroyer in the distance, and many thoughts had already turned in his mind in a very short time. Suddenly, a flash of inspiration flashed in his mind, and he blurted out: "Order, each boat accelerates to 36 knots." At the same time, the torpedo firing elements were immediately calculated. I'm going to give the British a big surprise. ”

The main engine vibrated and roared, and the waves were noisy and surging. In the bridge of the command ship of the British destroyer "Shepherd". Captain Seran, who was about forty years old, looked at several German warships in the distance with a proud look on his face. According to the observation of the lookout, the displacement of the target is at most about 100 tons, which is the lightest class of ships in the navy. The caliber of the guns equipped with such ships will not exceed 37 mm, and 1~2 torpedo tubes are the only offensive weapons they rely on to gallop on the sea.

The destroyer under his command had a standard platoon of up to 1,400 tons, and was equipped with four 120-mm guns and eight 533-mm torpedo tubes; With his own ship, it was enough to tear the few daring German torpedo boats in the distance to pieces!

"Lieutenant Colonel Dill is still too cautious. Deal with this kind of dinghy. How can you still use 2 destroyers? Looking at the destroyer "Dragonfly" hundreds of meters away, which was advancing with him, Captain Therland pursed his lips and said with some disapproval. In his mind, the four German boats that had no artillery fire to speak of were already several dying corpses, especially when he saw that the Germans not only did not flee, but accelerated towards him. It strengthened Therland's judgment even more. Although his warship was not equipped with any high-end fire control facilities, and the effective range of the 120 mm guns was far inferior to that of the cruisers, at a distance of 6 kilometers, Therland was absolutely sure that he would use dense rapid-fire artillery fire to make the Germans pay the price of blood!

On the premise that he was obviously able to level the opponent, the addition of another destroyer undoubtedly made Captain Thuran feel a trace of annoyance that the results of the battle had been divided. However, Therland also understands his commander's consideration: he needs to quickly crush the sudden sneak attackers with a thunderous force, so that the transport ship can reach its destination in Amsterdam safely and unmistakable. If only one destroyer is sent to meet the enemy, it is very likely that the German torpedo boats will take advantage of their numerical superiority to divide their forces to attack and harass the transport ships, and this situation is prone to unexpected changes.

On the wide sea, the two sides sailed quickly in a figure of eight, and the distance shortened from the initial 17,000 meters to 13,000 meters in a short time. During this time, the British destroyers' gunfire never stopped, and it seemed that they had finally found a weak enemy who could not return fire as a punching bag, which could be used to release the devastation and grievances of the previous sneak attack on Scapa Flow. Although none of the shells hit, the morale of the British officers and soldiers climbed to its highest point in just a few minutes. In a trance, they seemed to have returned to the great era half a century ago, when the gunboats of the British Empire crushed the world and no one could grab the edge.

"Captain, the Germans seem to have fired a torpedo!" Suddenly, the watchman exclaimed from the microphone. Captain Thuran was taken aback, and quickly grabbed his binoculars and looked at the sea in front of his target. However, for a few breaths, Therland did not see the white lines produced by the torpedo's sailing, and the undulating sea was still as deep and blue as a jewel. Seeing this, Thrandon became angry, and suddenly roared into the microphone: "Where is the torpedo track on the sea? Who would cast a torpedo from 14,000 yards (1 yard = 0.9144 meters) away? Damn Sergeant Lego, you'd better keep your eyes open for me, or I'll let you clean the boiler room for a month!" ”

Thran slammed the microphone back into place in hatred, his anger almost unrestrained to max. After twenty years of peace, the current military is becoming more and more unreliable: it is simply intolerable that as a lookout, he can even missee such an important situation as whether the enemy has fired a torpedo or not!

Seeing that the German torpedo boats in his field of vision were still sprinting towards him, Therland no longer had the slightest doubt about his judgment. You must know that not only is it impossible for this pocket torpedo boat to be equipped with a heavy and complex torpedo reloading system, but even the torpedo will only have one base, and they are just a one-shot deal. If the Germans had really torpedoed themselves, they would have turned the bow of their ship and fled, so how could they continue to approach themselves with absolute artillery superiority? Isn't it because I think I'm dying?

After more than 8 minutes of steady sailing, the distance between the two sides was finally shortened to less than 6 kilometers. The British gunners began to concentrate and concentrate on firing fiercely at the German boats on the sea, which were no slower than their own. Columns of water immediately appeared around the German torpedo boats, with a density reminiscent of boiling water. This distance was already the best firepower for British destroyers, and the British, who did not need to carry out artillery fire, quickly raised the 120-mm gun to a training rate of fire of 15 rounds per minute in the heat of reloading. Captain Therland was confident in the situation in front of him, and in two minutes at most he would be able to deliver a series of lethal blows to the German dinghy in front of him.

Suddenly, the port side of the German torpedo boat burst into a large snow-white spray, and the whole ship began to tilt sharply to the left. Seeing this scene, Seran couldn't help but stay where he was. Although he had expected that the Germans would make a sharp turn to disengage with him, he had never expected that the other party would turn and flee so suddenly, without even firing a torpedo! What about a good torpedo attack? Therland couldn't help but start to make up his mind, could it be because his artillery fire was too fierce, which frightened the Germans, so that they gave up halfway through the rush because of timidity, and hurriedly prepared to escape from this land of right and wrong?

"Torpedo! A torpedo appeared 200 yards ahead of the port side! While he was puzzled, Thran suddenly heard the hoarse roar of the gunners from the bow gun position. He slammed into a spirit, and hurriedly followed the prestige. A moment later, one of Thran's faces turned pale, almost like a corpse crawling out of a grave: a faint pale white streak of water was speeding towards his ship at an astonishing speed of more than 50 knots, and it was only a few seconds before the impact! (To be continued.) )