The sun is rising, and the tranquil military port is beautiful under the crimson morning glow. Only the chirping of seabirds and the sound of hunting with the sea breeze blowing through the flags, the picturesque beauty of the sleeping military port. As the loud sound of the military horn spread to every corner, the entire military port woke up.

The sailors who remained on the battleship were the first to start their work, lighting the boiler fire. At this time, it took a long time for the boiler to fire enough steam to propel the warship into navigation, so the first task of the sailors today was to make the warship as capable as possible.

The officers and men on the ships on the shore dormitories or docks went out for exercises and breakfast in an orderly manner after completing their internal hygiene. Then board your own warship and begin the final preparations before sailing, inspect the engine room, and take stock of the equipment. The whole process was methodical and organized. Skillful operation and meticulous inspection all reflect the usual good training.

On the pier where the torpedo boats were moored, the officers and men of the 1st Ocean-going Torpedo Boat Detachment, one of the protagonists of the exercise, were making their final mobilization. The sailors lined up neatly on the docks, and their commander, Colonel Tirpitz, was boosting morale.

"Lads! Today is our first combat exercise, but there is nothing to worry about, because everything you have to do is deeply imprinted in your minds and engraved on your bodies. All you have to do is to bring out what you have in your hands at your best at this moment. That's all, nothing more. ”

"We all know what we have to do, charge through enemy fire, and then get close enough to shoot our torpedoes to sink the enemy's capital ship. In the course of such a charge, we will receive unimaginable concentrated blows, but do not panic, do not mess around. Just rushing in front of the enemy is our chance. Composure, calmness, courage, and then victory will be ours. ”

"We are the light cavalry of the navy, and we will only fall in the way of the charge, and will never retreat. Don't let His Royal Highness the Crown Prince disgrace the honor that has been given to us. ”

"Yes!" Tirpitz's words filled the sailors with pride and courage, and in this age when chivalry had not yet faded, such words as falling on the way to the charge still made the blood boil in the blood of the stern and rigid Germans. What's more, their troops are highly valued by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, and these impulsive navy people can't wait to prove themselves in front of His Royal Highness.

Finally, Tirpitz made a rare joke to the sailors: "Our training torpedoes are not loaded with explosives." The sound they make when they hit the opposing armor must be crisp and pleasant. It's just that I don't know if the guys on the other side will appreciate it when they hear such a beautiful sound. ”

"Maybe they'll be scared to pee their pants." One of the sailors shouted. Then everyone burst into laughter.

Seeing the high momentum of the sailors, Tirpitz nodded with satisfaction, and finally announced: "There will be no problem in doing what we planned before." Now everyone, board! ”

Soon, a melodious whistle sounded in the harbor. The sailors on the dock expertly untied the cables, and the fleet slowly drifted ashore. At the head was the Oldenburg, the shipship on which Jochen and Muntz were aboard, and the flagship of the 2nd Battleship Detachment. This was followed by the imaginary enemy that Tirpitz's fleet needed to focus on during this exercise, the Thuringia, the second ship of the Oldenburg class, followed by the Charlotte, the third ship of the Irene-class of the 1st Heavy Cruiser Detachment, the Sophie, the fourth ship of the Corolla class of the 1st Light Cruiser Detachment, the 8 Type 1889 ocean-going torpedo boats of the 1st Ocean-going Torpedo Boat Group, and the 10 Type 1885 large torpedo boats of the 3rd Torpedo Boat Group.

As soon as the fleet entered the waters of the Gulf of Helgoland, the 1st detachment of ocean-going torpedo boats broke away first, accelerated to 24 knots and went to the predetermined area to enter the attack position. The large army continued to book the route at an economic speed of 10 knots. Soon, the figures of the ocean-going torpedo boats disappeared between the sea and the sky.

After the coastline disappeared into sight, the fleet had entered the North Sea, and Jochen once again felt the feeling of sailing on a training ship, the feeling of the vastness of the sky that was so blue that he could not tell where the sea was and where the sky was.

In the course of the voyage, the fleet carried out drills in formation, formation, and coordination, and the constant and beautiful changes of formation showed the skillful skills of the sailors. Upon reaching the predetermined sea, the Oldenburg broke away from the formation under the escort of the Sophie and followed from a distance. The large forces began to change formations, and the 4 torpedo boats of the 5th detachment of the 3rd Torpedo Boat Group followed the Charlotte and began to accelerate, overtaking the right front of the Thuringia. And 6 ships of the 6th detachment went to the left rear. A relatively complete defensive formation was completed.

At this time, the North Sea environment is not good, there is some fog on the sea, the visibility is not very high, and the lookout post on the mast is engrossed in patrolling the sea surface to observe the possible direction of attack. Soon, a column of smoke appeared faintly in front of the right side of the fleet. As soon as the smoke column appeared, the formation began to adjust its course, and the 6th detachment in the left rear began to accelerate to meet the other ships in the right front. Soon the figure of 4 Project 1889 ocean-going torpedo boats appeared from the fog. At this time, they were rushing at full speed, and the distance between them was rapidly shortening at a speed of 25.7 knots.

The plumes of smoke in the chimneys of the four large torpedo boats behind the Charlotte suddenly thickened and thickened, and the roar of the machinery grew louder and louder, and they were also accelerating, ready to rush up and fight each other. With their top speed of 24 knots, they should be able to entangle their opponents and slow them down.

But the enemy in front of him seemed unwilling to come hard, and the smoke screen generator on the boat began to release smoke screens, which soon completely obscured the view. Four ocean-going torpedo boats rushed diagonally from the front of the fleet with smoke screens and did not enter the attack.

The fleet's gunners focused all their attention on the end of the smoke screen, where they were apparently last seen. The fleet began to turn left, and the Charlotte and the large torpedo boats kept the Thuringia behind them, preoccupied. The enemy could rush out of the smoke curtain at any time.

Before the smoke screen was gone, the four ships of the 1st Detachment of the 1st Ocean Torpedo Boat Group suddenly rushed out of the smoke screen and continued to release the smoke screen, but this time they did not leave, but cut diagonally from the right front of the fleet, which had already begun to turn left. The four large torpedo boats escorting the escort immediately broke away from the formation and went straight up, trying to slow down the pace of the other side's charge.

However, due to the fact that the torpedo tubes of the Type 1885 large torpedo boat were arranged in the stern of the boat, and the two were arranged on the side side of the boat, and they were all fixed. Therefore, they had to constantly adjust their course to prepare for a lightning strike, and the four large torpedo boats did not form a column, but launched a charge in an oblique horizontal formation, and at this time the 88 guns on the ocean-going torpedo boats opened fire.

The 88-mm 35x radial rapid-fire gun could fire 12 shells per minute, and the density of 96 shells per minute for 4 ships was far beyond imagination. Of course, after all, it is a confrontation exercise, and both sides are shooting false targets, that is, hitting the offset point, using the moving real ship as the benchmark to offset the firing direction, and taking a point along the bow route as the bull's-eye for live firing, and then the referee on the ship judges whether the ship was hit according to the landing point of the shells. In order to ensure safety, take the bull's-eye 300 meters directly in front of or behind the opponent's route

In the face of such a dense artillery shell, the three large torpedo boats were immediately attacked, and the 300 meters in front of the course were quickly covered by a rain of bullets. Another 1 fired 2 torpedoes, and then the front of the course was also covered. And these 2 torpedoes did not play any role and passed through the tail of the opposing formation.

Seeing that the situation was not good, the remaining six large torpedo boats also began to accelerate and rush over, and the guns on the Charlotte also began to fire after the ocean-going torpedo boats entered the firing range. At this time, the four ocean-going torpedo boats slightly adjusted their course to make the angle of entry smaller, and then the eight 88-mm rapid-fire guns of the whole fleet began to fire at full strength, and the three twin-mounted torpedo tubes on the central axis of the hull also rotated to the outboard, and each torpedo tube rotated at a slightly different angle.

The formation of the two sides quickly closed to 2,000 meters, at this time the six large torpedo boats that rushed over dodged left and right under the attack of 8 88 mm rapid-fire guns, but because the ocean-going torpedo boat units were also attacked by artillery fire, the hit rate was reduced, and after the two large torpedo boats left the field, four rushed into 500 meters and released the torpedoes. This time the battle was successful, and the ocean-going torpedo boat G-7, which was following at the rear of the fleet, was hit by a torpedo in the middle of the hull.

At this time, the German Navy paid considerable attention to torpedo attacks under the intervention of Jochen, so the performance of the C45/90Br compressed air dynamic torpedoes used by German large torpedo boats was close to the performance of the historical C45/91S in 1892. At an effective range of 500 meters, the speed is up to 33 knots. Although everyone knew that there was no explosives in the training mine, it still scared the whole ship into a cold sweat. I was afraid that my thin unarmored ship would be poked out by a torpedo that hit me at high speed. Fortunately, although the G-7's hull was indeed a little dented, there was not a single hole. G-7 counts as sinking on the spot.

When the distance was reduced to 1,500 meters, the Thuringia's naval guns under the protection of the fleet also joined the fire, but there was little threat. However, the Charlotte's 150 guns were successful at a distance of 800 meters, and the G-1 was hit with multiple water columns in front of the bow of the first ship, which was counted as sinking. The G-3 and G-5 fired all the torpedoes at a distance of 500 meters, and 12 380-mm torpedoes fanned out towards the Charlotte.

The G-3 and G-5, having finished firing torpedoes, began to turn and disengage, and before disengaged, they still used their main guns to kill and "kill" 1 large torpedo boat. However, the Charlotte's 150 guns were used again, and a shell landed directly behind the G-5 at the end of the line. So G-5 exited, and only G-3 escaped unharmed.

The snow-white course of the 12 torpedoes on the surface of the sea is very beautiful. However, it doesn't feel good to be a target for a torpedo. The Charlotte immediately began maneuvering to dodge the torpedo.

Although it replaced the 350 mm torpedoes equipped by Germany in history, the 380 mm C38/90GA torpedoes were still inferior to the C45/90Br, and the speed was only 29 knots at a range of 500 meters. After a scramble to evade, the Charlotte was lucky enough to avoid all the torpedoes.

At this moment, 4 ocean-going torpedo boats of the 2nd detachment led by Hipper rushed out of the right rear of Thuringia.

It turned out that the previous four ocean-going torpedo boats were setting smoke screens to cover up the remaining four smoke columns approaching from the other direction, and they were obliquely inserted from the front of the opposing fleet to attract the attention of the other side to the right front. When all the high-speed ships are concentrated in the front right, the last 4 ships will complete the defeat of the Thuringia.

And at this time there was no obstacle between the fleet rushing from the right rear and Thuringia!