"The target sinks! Each squadron can freely switch targets! Drake's words were filled with joy.

Watching the Count Zeppelin disappear into the sea, Owen, who was hovering in the sky, let out a sigh of relief.

The lives of hundreds of comrades-in-arms were finally sacrificed in vain, he thought secretly.

The sinking of the Count Zeppelin created a hole in Germany's already tight fleet air defense circle, and the remaining British fighters seized on this loophole.

By the time the last British torpedo bomber dropped its torpedo and returned, two more aircraft carriers of the German aircraft carrier fleet had been severely damaged, one of which was the flagship Leon Andrés, and Raeder himself was seriously injured by the British dive bombers.

On the other side, Lütjans was unaware of the news that one of the aircraft carrier fleet had sunk and two were seriously wounded, because he was busy engaging the British battlefleet.

The battle between the outpost fleets of the two sides soon ended, and the German outpost fleet, relying on its advantage of three heavy cruisers, bombarded the British outpost fleet with 203mm guns, successfully sinking four British ships, including the light cruiser Edinburgh.

However, the British main fleet soon joined the fray, and the six 14-inch/45-diameter Mark VII guns in the front of the King George V opened fire first, forcing back the heavy cruiser "Lutzov", which was intending to pursue the British outpost fleet.

Not long after the British main fleet joined the battlefield, the German main fleet also included the British ships in the range, and Lütjans's flagship Bismarck used six 406mm/L52 guns in the front to hedge against the battlecruiser Hood in the front and launched a salvo, six heavy armor-piercing shells weighing 1.225 tons spun at high speed and flew towards the Hood, but none of them hit the target.

This is normal, after all, the two ships are still separated by nearly 40 kilometers, and if the naval guns hit the target at such a distance, then it must be God who fired the guns.

However, the main guns of the British battleships are now not even enough to reach the German battleships, which is the performance gap between the two warships.

In this way, the two fleets fired at each other and shortened the distance until they were within 30 kilometers.

"All warships! The turret turns to the right, the warship turns to the left, and the battle line is against the enemy! The ships take off the water reconnaissance planes and prepare to calibrate the ballistics! With his own range advantage, Lütjens took the lead in the battle line at 28 kilometers.

Although the main guns of the British battleships also had a range of 28 kilometers, the maximum caliber of the British ships was only 15 inches (metric 381mm), not to mention penetrating the latest German Bismarck and Tirpitz at this distance, and even the Admiral Schell and Friedrich Albert, two old ships built in 1925, may not be able to penetrate it. However, the large caliber of the guns of the German fleet, and because of the high-speed heavy bombing, could smash through the horizontal armor of the three British battlecruisers at this distance.

Therefore, after the German fleet set up the battle line, Baron Tovey did not follow in a hurry, but ordered the fleet to continue to approach the German fleet at a high speed.

The two sides approached 22,000 meters before Baron Tovey ordered the fleet to turn to the right and engage the German fleet in the same battle.

At the normal combat distance of 22,000 meters, the two sides fired a total of more than 100 shells, but I don't know if it was because of the exhaustion of both sides or what, these more than 100 shells not to mention hit, not even a single straddle shot.

The commanders of both sides had no choice but to continue to order to approach each other, and it was not until 19,000 meters that the British fleet, relying on the heritage of the old naval power, was the first to be shot at Friedrich Ebert by the wounded battlecruiser Counterattack.

The captain of the battlecruiser Counterattack quickly radioed the firing elements to the ships, and the other ships also achieved a straddle of the Friedrich Albert after a round of test firing fine-tuning the firing elements.

"Turn! Veer! Rear Admiral Kurt Hoffmann, the captain of the battleship Friedrich, panicked when he saw the shells raining down on both sides of the warship, and hurriedly ordered the warship to change course to get rid of the straddle fire.

But the order was too late, and the second round of artillery fire from the Counterattack soon came, and two of the six 381mm armor-piercing shells hit the battleship Friedrich after more than twenty seconds of flight.

One of them hit the chimney of the Friedrich, piercing through the left and right two thin layers of steel plates, after which the shell fell into the water several tens of meters away.

The other hit the starboard side of the battleship Friedrich, under the No. 1 turret.

However, this was the core armor area of the battleship Friedrich, covered with a 380mm thick armor belt with a 20° inclination, which successfully kept the 381mm shell out.

However, the huge shock caused by the armor-piercing bullet hitting the armored area still caused many sailors to kowtow and bleed, and some structures were also damaged due to the shock.

After all, this is an old ship that is more than ten years old.

Rear Admiral Kurt Hoffmann was also shaken to the ground, and he hurriedly got up and continued to urge the warship to turn away from its current course.

The helmsman at the helm also immediately turned to the left in an attempt to deflect the ship to the left, which would allow the warship to withdraw from its current channel and at the same time increase the distance from the British fleet.

But the helmsman soon found that no matter how much he turned the rudder, the ship did not seem to change course, and he hastened to report the news to Rear Admiral Kurt Hoffmann.

Rear Admiral Kurt immediately inquired about the situation in the stern steering engine room by telephone from inside the ship, but the steering room gave him very bad news.

"Captain! The servo was damaged by the shelling just now, and we are rushing to repair it! The helmsman clutched his freshly broken head and reported loudly to Rear Admiral Kurt.

"What?!" Major General Kurt's face was full of surprise, "How long will it take to fix it?" ”

"It's going to take at least half an hour! Captain! The helmsman said with a sad face.

“scheiße！” Rear Admiral Kurt scolded, "We're really being targeted by the whole fleet of the British, half an hour is enough for us to go to the sea to feed the fish 10 times!" ”

"Then I can't help it, Captain." The helmsman replied, "It will take at least half an hour to fix this big guy!" ”

"Okay, I'll think of something else!" Kurt hung up.

After thinking about it, Kurt grabbed the wireless telephone and said to Lütjans over the radio: "General Lütjans! The steering gear of our ship is damaged! Request to circumvent with differential steering method! ”