"Report! The Lübeck and Szczecin have joined up with the Mainz and Dresden, and the captain of the Mainz, Colonel Pasher, has taken over the provisional command and is about to engage the British fleet! ”

"It's fast, but we're late." On the bridge of the light cruiser Cologne, Rear Admiral Maas smiled slightly self-deprecatingly.

In order to wait for the Munich and Danzig to arrive from the shores of Brunsbitelk, the Second Reconnaissance Fleet spent a great deal of time and allowed the Mainz, which came from the mouth of the Ames River farther away, to get ahead of them. However, the previous surge in radio traffic in the Gulf of Helgoland proved Lieutenant General Hipper's judgment that there was at least a third formation of the British coming in, so his own wait was not a waste of time.

In fact, Maas's speed is already quite fast, the light cruisers used oil-fired boilers this time, the heavy oil calorific value is high, the combustion speed is fast, and the refueling is simple, so it only takes 40 minutes to sail from the flameout state to the steam generated, otherwise it will take at least twice as long to use a coal-fired boiler with difficult ignition and slow heating rate.

"Inform Lieutenant Colonel Pasher to hold off the British, and reinforcements will arrive in 60 minutes. Inform the 5th Destroyer Group to flank the British. Maas looked at his pocket watch, the hands had just skipped past 10:30.

At 10:34 a.m., artillery fire resumed in Helgoland Bay.

By this time, the sun's rays had caused the water vapor in the bay to dissipate, and although the fog had not completely receded, the visibility had greatly improved, and the superiority of the Germans in optical ranging and fire control equipment was finally able to come into play. No sooner had the exchange of fire begun than Commodore Tirit's fleet came under head-on.

The temporary flagship Mainz and the Fort Cole, which had just beaten the French protective cruiser in the Far East, belonged to the same class, and in addition to its overwhelming advantage in firepower, more importantly, the ship used the same fire control system as the larger warships.

Similarly, a firing command room is set up at the highest point of the whole ship, and a stereo rangefinder is installed on the firing command room, the second firing command room, the conning tower, and the No. 2 and No. 3 turrets, which differs from large warships in that the length of the rangefinder is slightly shorter. The ship's fire control room is also equipped with a mechanical ballistic computer and fire control command instrument of the same specifications as the capital ship, and the Mainz is not the only warship in this small temporary formation to have such a configuration.

The Dresden was inserted into the construction plan between the Königsberg-class light cruisers and the Kolberg-class light cruisers as a replacement for the Navy's aging Lightning-class notification ships, when the Kolberg class was still being designed, and in order to start construction immediately, the Hull Design of the Dresden basically followed the Königsberg class, except for the installation of an updated power system and the adjustment of the gun installation position, in the case of reducing one main gun, to ensure the same side-fire power as the Königsberg class, The biggest change in appearance is that the original single column mast of the Königsberg-class has been changed to the barrel-shaped mast of the Kolberg-class in the design, except for the open aft deck gun mount like the Königsberg class, which cannot be equipped with a rangefinder, the same rangefinder is installed in the same position, and the configuration of the fire control room in the ship is also exactly the same as that of the Kolberg-class.

The Szczecin, the last of the Königsberg class, was built late and was built to the standards of the Dresden class.

As a result, three of the four light cruisers engaged in the battle on the German side were equipped with fire control systems of almost the same standard as the capital ships, and with this advantage, the Germans began to carry out fairly high-precision artillery bombardments on Britain from 7,000 yards away.

The British were initially dismissive of the Germans' installation of twin rotating turrets and firing commanders on light cruisers, believing that such a design would increase costs and seriously affect the number of equipment of light ships of the Royal Navy. Moreover, the rate of fire and range of small and medium-caliber naval guns determine that they can rely on the amount of projection to compensate for their accuracy in medium and close range engagements. However, this time the British realized in the face of the facts whether such a design had any value or not.

The Mainz used only five and a half rounds to form a pinch fork against the Wu Dread, and the Dresden hit three shots on the Linxian in the 7th and 8th half salvos, and the two cruisers were not in very good condition, and the situation was even worse when they were attacked again.

The Wu Fear was hit by 12 150 mm shells in 5 minutes, causing more damage than before, 5 perforations in the position of the central waterline in front of the side caused the bow and port side of the Wu Fear to enter the water and caused bow roll and ****, 1 shell hit the rear base of the bridge, and the severed foremast hit the bridge when it fell, and the violent impact caused various bridge personnel, including Colonel Brent, to be injured.

Although the Lin Xian was hit by a lot fewer shells than the Wu Fear, the situation was not much better, the power compartment that was originally hit by the Ariadne was hit again, and the 150 mm shells that smashed into the power compartment completely broke the British could still save the idea, and the repair personnel and the entire cabin were blown into the sky, and they could have expected to recover to a speed of 20 knots completely finished.

Tyrit could only call for help from Goodenough while ordering the destroyer to assault.

Twenty-two destroyers, including the destroyer Shooter, which had been restored to speed after emergency repairs, immediately launched a charge on the German fleet, and Major Anschutz, who had only narrowly escaped under the guns of the British, saw his enemies and rushed forward with five destroyers to make a mess with the British, while the 12 150-mm guns of the Szczecin and Lübeck continued to pour fire on the British destroyers in the rear.

However, this did not have much effect, and at this time their own flagship was in danger, and the destroyers of the Royal Navy showed unparalleled courage and superb manoeuvring skills at this moment. Five single columns turned into five single columns after a perfect 70-degree change, and 22 destroyers turned into 22 spearheads to pounce on the German fleet.

The 150-mm shells fired from the Szczecin and Lübeck hit 2 ships, and the German destroyers got entangled with an equal number of British destroyers. But the remaining destroyers paid no attention to it, and their only goal was to rush in front of the German light cruisers and use torpedoes to force the Germans to avoid them, so as to save their own cruisers from danger.

The 15 destroyers that rushed in a row forced the Mainz and Dresden to abandon the two British cruisers, which were being beaten by themselves, and turn their guns to intercept the approaching British. When the British rushed to a distance of 4,000 yards, the British fired nearly 40 torpedoes, forcing Lieutenant Commander Pasher to lead the fleet to start evading.

The British destroyers did it! Lin Xian and Wu Xian were saved! ~？

Before they could breathe a sigh of relief, 12 German destroyers burst out of the fog that had not yet dissipated, and the 5th Destroyer Group arrived.

At this time, there were only a few damaged destroyers around the Lin Xian and Wu Fear, and they had no ability to resist in the face of the German destroyers that pounced like wolves. Eight Project 1905 destroyers took the lead, and the two detachments rushed to a distance of 2000 yards and fired 8 torpedoes at each of the two cruisers.

At this time, the Lin Xian and the Wu Xian, who could only sail at a low speed, were unable to dodge, and could only eat the torpedoes of the Germans.

The Linxian was hit with 3 torpedoes in the middle of the hull, which immediately began to tilt and capsized after 20 minutes.

The Fearless was even worse, although it was only hit by 2 torpedoes, but the original **** hull was equivalent to water injection balance because of the water ingress in the right mine. Seeing that although the Wu Fear was slightly bowed, the German destroyer, which was still floating smoothly on the water, concentrated its artillery fire on the Wu Fear and continued to pour ammunition on the Wu Fear.

The Germans fought from 2,000 yards to 900 yards, and at this time, no matter who looked at it, the Fearless was already a wreck.

Having dealt with the two British cruisers, the German destroyers continued to advance, past the still burning Fearless and the already tilted Linsen towards the battlefield further ahead. The few damaged destroyers that were originally next to these two cruisers were lost to the first detachment of the 1st Destroyer Group and the destroyer Nyopa to solve the problem.

The addition of these 8 destroyers allowed the Germans to start a siege of British destroyers! The light cruisers, which had been forced out for 20 minutes in order to avoid torpedoes, finally came back, and the captain of the Mainz, who was robbed of their heads by the destroyers, and Captain Pasher, who was unhappy, did not regroup and commanded the battleships to plunge headlong into the battle group.

Anyway, the British finished throwing torpedoes, and now there is nothing to be afraid of.

The light cruisers that turned around scattered and slaughtered like sharks that had rushed into a school of sardines.

Seven destroyers were sunk, five were heavily damaged, and the rest were scattered, and this was what Goodenough had achieved when he arrived at the battlefield with six light cruisers and two of Case's destroyers.

And at the moment of Goodenough's arrival, the Fearless Fearless, which was already a ball of scrap metal, ushered in the end, and the fire spread to the ammunition depot and the explosion shattered the bow of the Fearless, and the skyrocketing fireball threw tons of steel shards into the Celestial Maiden like scattered flowers, and twisted steel plates the same size as the room crackled into the water.

Tillit's fleet was finished, and the fleet, which was responsible for securing the western coastline of England and escorting British fishermen and merchant ships, was affectionately known as the Harwich fleet by the people and the newspapers.

Goodenough was so enraged by such a tragic scene that he was eager to rush in front of the enemy with his fleet and tear these damned Germans to pieces.

However, he could not do it, and the 7 light cruisers led by Rear Admiral Maas had already stopped in front of him. Not far away, 4 light cruisers led by the Mainz gave up the pursuit of the British destroyers and began to regroup, 11 to 6, Goodenough is now starting to worry about himself. (To be continued.) )