At 9:14 a.m., the British and German fleets were less than 19 nautical miles away from each other, and visibility on the sea seemed to have improved a little, and the lead ships of the two fleets invariably discovered the target.

When the slender shadow of the German warship in pursuit of high speed appeared in the field of view of the telescope, the hearts of all the British officers and men were in their throats, 1, 2...... 8 ships, as the distance closes, the outline of the warship becomes clearer and clearer, the latest Jane's warship identification manual is placed in front of the officers to check one by one, and the veteran non-commissioned officers have begun to visually identify them with experience.

"1 battle cruiser of the Scharnhorst class, 1 heavy cruiser of the German class, 2 heavy cruisers of the Hipper class, 4 destroyers ......"

"2 Hipper-class and not 2 Scharnhorst-class?"

The sailors hesitated, then carefully identified them again in the binoculars, and after two minutes confirmed again: "That's right, it's the Hipper-class." ”

"It seems that 1 more new Hipper-class has been built...... "One more operational staff officer muttered to himself, immediately reporting the enemy situation to the commander of the formation, Colonel Christopher.

He asked with concern: "You said there is a fleet behind?" ”

"The lookout vaguely observed that there seemed to be a force 10 nautical miles behind the German vanguard fleet, but now the distance was too far to see the number and type of ships, and the radar room also reported that there were bright spots behind."

Christopher was nervous, but vaguely excited: the Home Fleet Command had given the fleet a clear directive last night that he must find out what was going on with the two German aircraft carriers. Now it seems that the enemy aircraft carrier is likely to be following behind this pilot fleet, the specific type of warship, the technical parameters can not be detected by radar, under the premise that the aircraft cannot be used, he must rely on the most traditional visual identification, it is obvious that the Germans will not stupidly put the aircraft carrier in the front, if you want to see clearly, you must get close enough, so he must risk getting closer.

He gritted his teeth: "Let the Watchman and the Loyalty go up and take a look, and pay attention to safety." ”

The Overwatch and the Loyalty, newly built L-class destroyers, with a displacement of about 2,000 tons and a maximum speed of 36 knots, immediately separated from their own fleet and swooped down behind the German formation as fast as they could.

At the same time as Christopher gave the reconnaissance order, the alert level in the Zeppelin command tower was also raised to the highest level: "Sir, there is a report from the front, the target has been confirmed, it is a British cruiser formation, there are 1 London-class heavy cruiser, 1 Norfolk-class heavy cruiser, 1 Linxian-class light cruiser, and 4 destroyers, and the model cannot be identified for the time being." ”

"There are no battleships behind?"

"I haven't found it yet, and the radar has not detected any suspicious targets!"

Martial breathed a sigh of relief - no battleships were good! He turned his head and asked Richthofen in an inquiring tone: "Carrier-based aircraft still can't be dispatched?" ”

Richthofen spread his hands and shook his head helplessly.

"Well, whether they are a pure cruiser formation or the vanguard of the main fleet, since they encounter it, there is no reason to let it go easily, let's have a traditional artillery battle and kill them with naval gun fire." After confirming in advance that the British Navy had sent out all the George V-class battleships, the German Navy Command, which had formulated the tsunami plan, breathed a sigh of relief from top to bottom - the heavy cruiser Admiral Scher, the slowest in the North Sea Fleet, could sail up to 26 knots, and as long as the George V-class was not there, it would have the strength to escape if it could not be beaten by other "iron turtles" of the Royal Navy. Now it was nothing more than three cruisers, the shelling fleet had a completely overwhelming superiority, and the enthusiasm of Machar was aroused at once.

"Tell the Scharnhorst to ...... a quick fix"

Seeing that the four warships, including the Scharnhorst, the Admiral Scheer, the Sedlitz and the Prince Eugen, were rushing violently, Christopher could only reluctantly give the order to meet the battle, but the four German ships on the opposite side were all equipped with guns of 203mm caliber or above, and the tonnage of one Scharnhorst alone was worth all the cruisers in his hands, but in order to cover the destroyer's smooth advance, he had to fight with the Germans in order to create a good opportunity for the destroyer.

Rear Admiral Eric Bey, commander of the artillery fleet under the command of the Scharnhorst, also saw the two destroyers rushing from the left and right flanks, and as the commander of the destroyer fleet for many years, he certainly understood what the British wanted to do, but he was unmoved, and fixed his attention on the several British cruisers in front of him, except for informing Machar to mobilize light cruisers to deal with the British destroyers, the formation and speed of the shelling fleet were not affected in the slightest.

At 9:28 a.m., the high-speed approaching fleet was closer to each other to less than 26,000 meters, and the main guns of the Scharnhorst opened fire first, and one minute later, the naval guns of the Admiral Schell also opened fire - both guns were of the same caliber of 283mm, but at the current exchange of fire, the first fire was more of a deterrent than to hit the target. In order to interfere with the German artillery aiming, Colonel Christopher decisively ordered the fleet to release smoke, and soon thick smoke billowed from the sea, enveloping the entire British cruiser formation.

At this point, The two British destroyers behind the German artillery bombardment fleet and the two wings of the Seydlitz and Prinz Eugen were closer to less than 15,000 meters, and the latter's main guns were all turned to one side to fire at the destroyer, which was the effective coverage of the 203mm naval guns, and the British destroyers' guns could not return fire, their only advantage was the maneuverability brought by high speed, and in the end their adventurous strategy was obviously successful, and in the course of more than 5 minutes of shooting, the latest shells fired by the Seyrid and Prinz Eugen caused only minor damage to the Watch- A British soldier was wounded by a burst of shrapnel from a near-miss.

Seeing that the British destroyers had left the effective firing range and rushed to the rear, the two ships, Sedlitz and Prince Eugen, could only turn their guns and follow the Scharnhorst back to the main formation of the British cruiser formation.

Christopher, under the cover of the smoke screen, wisely did not choose to return fire - once fired, the muzzle flame could easily reveal his position, so the other British warships strangely did not fire, and the sea saw only a huge column of water caused by German fire. The British formation not only did not return fire, but after confirming the successful breakthrough of its reconnaissance destroyers, it also took the opportunity to quietly adjust its course under the cover of smoke, from 120 degrees to 90 degrees, which means that the German formation is still moving in the northwest direction, and the British fleet is moving from the southeast direction to the east, and the gap between the two sides will gradually widen after shortening it slightly, as long as it remains for more than 15 minutes, even if there is no smoke cover, he can slip out of the sight of the German fleet, and then he can quietly disengage with the speed advantage of 5-6 knots.

But luck did not seem to be on the side of the British today, and although Scharnhorst and Admiral Scheer fired blindly for 10 minutes in vain, the re-caught Sedlitz radar locked on to the British fleet, and immediately informed Rear Admiral Eric Bey of the intelligence upon discovering that the British fleet was turning.

"A bunch of cowards! Where is the courage of the Royal Navy to fight against the enemy? Major General Bei, who learned that he was pursuing in the wrong direction, was so angry that he immediately turned around and chased him. If Vice Admiral Kumetz was known within the Navy for his particular caution, Rear Admiral Bey was a particularly famous admiral within the Navy - he was a tall man, with a high nose, a thick neck, and a fierce light in his blue eyes, and at first glance he looked like a boxer, and his colleagues called him "Fierce Bey".

However, he also had a rough and delicate character, and in less than 15 seconds he gave a second supplementary order: "Admiral Scheer will keep its current course unchanged, and the rest of the warships will follow me in pursuit of the British cruiser, and the speed will be increased to 31 knots." ”

His reason for this supplementary order was evidently to take into account the fact that the Admiral Scheer could only run 26 knots, and that he believed that the British fleet could not always go east, for any further east would run headlong into the Norwegian mainland, and the enemy ships would inevitably turn—and that would be the opportunity to intercept.

"You guys pounced so easily?" Looking at the German artillery formation that was chasing after him, Christopher said indignantly: "If I follow the E fleet behind, those aircraft carriers behind you should all be finished by now!" ”

It's a pity that now he has only one cruiser formation in this sea area, not to mention the battleships, not even an additional destroyer, he can only let the formation as a whole accelerate to the maximum speed of 32 knots, and then turn the course again, slowly row a large circle off the coast of Norway, from due east to north, and Major Admiral Bei, who followed behind, did not hesitate to adjust the course to due north.

At 9:45 a.m., the two British destroyers, the Overwatch and the Loyalty, finally approached less than 10 nautical miles from the aircraft carrier group, and although the specific design is still poorly known, at least the outline and general appearance of the ships can be clearly seen. The two British destroyers initially thought that at most one of the rear was an aircraft carrier, and the other should be a ship of the same class as the Scharnhorst-class, because only one appeared in the front shelling fleet, but after approaching, it was discovered that this judgment was wrong, and the two giant ships had typical aircraft carrier characteristics, with a displacement estimated to be at least more than 40,000 tons in appearance, and a speed of about 27 knots - it seems unlikely that any tanker could run at this speed, so the evidence of "aircraft carrier" is conclusive.

"Sir, German cruisers and destroyers are coming for us, we must hurry ......"

"Torpedo ready!" The captain of the Overwatch carefully looked at the two aircraft carriers with his binoculars, and without looking back, he explained, "Closer, closer, take some pictures and go—Admiral Tovey and Prime Minister Churchill are waiting to see these things." (To be continued.) )