Just as the Ariadne sent its final telegram to Wilhelmshaven, the same cannon fire rang out in the other direction northwest of Helgoland.

At 6:10, the Helgoland Bay Defense Command in Wilhelmshaven received a telegram from the Z-49 about the discovery of a British submarine.

At 6:20 a.m., the telegram was confirmed and delivered to Lieutenant General Hipper.

At 6:25 a.m., Lieutenant Commander Knezelbeck, commander of the 5th Destroyer Group stationed on Helgoland Island, received an order from Vice Admiral Hippel to dispatch two detachments of the 5th Destroyer Group to cooperate with the 2nd Detachment of the 1st Destroyer Group in the search for submarines.

At 6:47, the eight Type 1905 destroyers of the 1st and 2nd Detachments of the 5th Destroyer Group had just been on fire for 15 minutes, and the boilers were only able to provide a small amount of steam and sailed at a speed of only 12 knots.

However, only five minutes after leaving the port, the telegram received from the telegraph room changed the face of the leading destroyer, Major Anshutz, the destroyer Z-69.

"The second detachment of the 1st Destroyer Group encountered British surface ships in the waters northwest of Helgoland! The number of enemy ships is unknown! The casualties of our ship are unknown! ”

At this time, the formation had just driven a few nautical miles out of the dock, and Major Anschutz was in a dilemma, whether to immediately go to the area where the incident occurred to support the 1st Destroyer Group or wait for the enemy near Helgoland Island?

The enemy's situation is unknown, and there are only 8 destroyers on our side, so rushing to help may not only fail to save people, but also may put oneself in it. If cruising near Helgoland, the two remaining detachments of the 5th Destroyer Group, the flagship destroyer Nyopa lead ship, and two Bismarck-class heavy cruisers will soon be in battle. And the fleet will be supported by 210-mm shore defense guns on the island of Helgoland.

Except that the shore defense artillery was actually not able to observe the target well because of the fog on the sea now, and once the two fleets were entangled, they would not open fire for fear of accidentally injuring friendly troops, Major Anschutz's judgment was actually very correct.

However, a telegram from Helgoland helped Major Anschutz to make a decision: "Lieutenant Colonel Knezebeck's order: ZB5.1 and 5.2 immediately support ZB1.2, ZB5.3 and 5.4 will arrive later." ”

"Reply to the lieutenant colonel, ZB5.1 understands."

Major Anschutz would not have known that the order of Lieutenant Commander Knezelbeck, commander of the 5th Destroyer Group, had been a severe blow to the two detachments.

"Light signal, notify the ships, first-class combat readiness! The British are coming, let's go kick their ass! ”

At 7:29, the Z-69 was the first to spot the enemy on the lookout post: "Shadow of the ship found on the port side, number!" More than 10 ships! ”

At 7:30, the three 105-mm naval guns on the Z-69 were the first to burst into orange-red fire!

On the opposite side was not the 3rd Destroyer Fleet, which was pursuing the Z-49 at this time, but the 1st Destroyer of the Harwich Fleet, led by Colonel Brent. When the Ariadne was beating the Linsen, Colonel Brent, who had been three nautical miles behind Commodore Tyritt's flank, led his team to overtake the dragged Third Destroyer Fleet, overtook Commodore Tyrit, and then collided with the two German destroyer detachments that had been searched.

The British fleet, consisting of the reconnaissance cruiser HMS Fearless and 13 Rank I destroyers, immediately engaged in an artillery battle with eight German destroyers.

However, not long after the battle began, Colonel Brent was surprised to find that the outnumbered German fleet was extremely ferocious.

The Germans' Project 1905 destroyer was an enlarged version of the Project 1895 destroyer, with a standard displacement of 970 tons, 88 mm guns replaced with more powerful 105 mm guns, and a speed of 31 knots, the torpedo attack capability was not improved, but the 3 twin 450 mm torpedo tubes were replaced with 2 3 units.

Its performance indicators can completely compete with the cutting-edge L-class destroyers in Commodore Territt's formation. In terms of lightning strike capability, the L-Class with two twin 533mm torpedo tubes may be slightly better, but it is 2 knots slower than the Type 1903, and the performance gap between the two is extremely small.

The standard displacement of the I-class destroyer against the Germans was only 750 tons, equipped with two 4-inch naval guns, a speed of 27 knots, and a lightning strike capability of only two single 533 mm torpedo tubes.

The Fearless is an Active-class reconnaissance cruiser of the same class as the silent Amphion, with a standard displacement of 3,400 tons, 10 4-inch guns, and a speed of 25 knots.

What's more, although the Germans' 105-mm naval guns were 3 mm larger than the British's 4-inch naval guns, they continued to use horizontal sliding wedge gun latches on small and medium-caliber naval guns, and the Germans were a full 5 rounds / min faster in rate of fire than the British with partition threaded gun latches!

As a result, the 32 4-inch naval guns of the British, who were numerically superior, were pressed and beaten by 24 105-mm naval guns of the Germans!

The accuracy of artillery battles in this fog is no longer important, what the two sides fight for is the amount of firepower. The loaders on the gun emplacements of the German destroyers took off their black and gray overalls, which had long been stained by the smoke of gunpowder, and threw them on the deck at will, showing off their strong physique on the sea.

The Germans, firing frantically at 15 rounds per minute, threw the British formation into a column of water that was constantly rising into the sky, and the scene that had happened to Z-49 and Ariadne was repeated around Colonel Brent.

At least 3 destroyers, including the Z-69, aimed their guns at the Fearless, the largest in the British formation, and looked at the continuous explosion of water columns around him, and Colonel Brent's mood was broken at this moment.

Even though the Germans' shelling was not accurate, the Fearless still had 17 shells hit in 20 minutes, three 4-inch guns on the side were destroyed, the superstructure was completely shattered, and the flames rising from the lit painted teak deck enveloped the deck, making the Fearless look terrible at this time.

A piece of debris also swept across the bridge of the Fearless, and a large piece of the neck of the intelligence officer standing next to Colonel Brent to report the damage was severed, and the blood spurting from the major artery in his neck smeared Colonel Brent's face.

After 30 minutes of engagement, in Colonel Brent's fleet, although the power system of the Fearless was intact, its combat effectiveness was greatly damaged; The boiler room and engine room of the Akeron were hit, the whole ship lost all power and electricity, seawater poured in from the breach, the pumping pumps that did not work without an electricity supply could not stop the ship from starting to tilt, and it was only a matter of time before it capsized; A piece of the bow of the attack ship was torn off, and the influx of sea water caused a trim and had to break away from the formation; The two main guns of the Elf were dumbfounded, the bridge was hit, and all the personnel on the bridge from the captain down were killed; The lightest wounded shooter was shot in the boiler compartment, and although the boiler was lucky not to be damaged, the boiler steam pipe rupture, which caused the pressure to drop and the speed to drop, which could not be repaired for a while.

On the German side, the Z-75 servo compartment was shot, the servo was stuck, unable to maneuver, had to reduce the speed, operated the two propellers to work at different speeds, crookedly adjusted the course out of the queue, Z-83 was shot in the boiler compartment, two boilers were destroyed, and they had to withdraw from the battle.

The situation had already begun to move in favor of the Germans, and if this continued fighting, Colonel Brent's 14 ships would be humiliatingly defeated by the Germans' 8 ships.

However, reinforcements from Colonel Brent arrived.

The 12 L-class destroyers under Commodore Tyrit entered the battlefield on the other side like saviors at this time, and the situation was reversed in an instant!

At this time, it had been just five minutes since the sinking of the Ariadne.

The nine torpedoes fired by the Ariadne did cause great confusion to the British, but the Ariadne, which had lost power, was unable to take advantage of the chaos and escaped.

After the Ariadne lost power and collapsed on the sea, the British destroyers, whose formation had been scattered, pounced on the Ariadne from different directions like a hound biting its fallen prey. In the last resistance, the dying Ariadne still hit two shells from the destroyer Laurel, destroying one of the opponent's main guns and blowing up the rear chimney. The Laetis was hit in the engine room, but the shell did not explode, so the Laetis's engines were not damaged, but the strong shaking caused both engines to stop and had to be repaired immediately.

However, this was the end of the Ariadne's victory, in just 5 minutes, all the main guns of the Ariadne were destroyed, most of the equipment was damaged by a bullet in the lower part of the bridge, Lieutenant Colonel Varys's legs were severed by fragments, and the rest of the personnel were wounded.

Even so, the sailors on the Ariadne put up sporadic and useless resistance with the remaining 37mm rapid-fire guns, and were quickly torn to pieces by the British return fire.

Ten minutes later, the Ariadne's boilers stopped working, the emergency circuits were all extinguished, and the ship was plunged into darkness. Brigadier General Tirit asked the Ariadne on international signals if it had surrendered, but the Ariadne gave him no response.

At this time, Brigadier Tyrit received a telegram from Colonel Brent asking for help, and the Ariadne was about to sink, so Tyrit left behind the wounded Laurel and Laetis Detachment 4, and ordered the 12 destroyers of the remaining 3 detachments to rush to the aid immediately.

At this moment, Lieutenant Commander Varys, who endured severe pain, gave the order to abandon the ship. In the face of the Germans who began to jump into the sea to escape, Tyrit asked the Linsen to lower the dinghy to salvage the German sailors who had fallen into the water, and the captain of the destroyer Laurel, Major Ross, who had been injured by two shells from the Ariadne before, saw that there were a large number of wounded people on the deck of the Ariadne, and took the initiative to order to approach, risking to engage the enemy ship that would sink at any time.

Amid the constant collision and friction of the sides of the two ships, a large number of German wounded were transferred to the Laurel in an orderly manner under the command of the deputy captain, but he himself refused Major Ross's persuasion, saluted Major Ross and returned to the bridge, and accompanied Lieutenant Commander Varys to sink with the ship.

At 8:05 a.m., the Ariadne disappeared into the sea in the Gulf of Helgoland, and at the last moment before she sank, the battle flag of the Royal German Navy fluttering on the mast was still hunting in the sea breeze.

At 8:10, 12 L-class destroyers arrived at another battlefield and formed a flanking attack on the Germans! (To be continued.) )