If the attack on the British fleet by German carrier-based aircraft is regarded as the prelude to the naval battle of the Faroe Islands, then this thrilling battle has lasted for nearly twenty hours, and if the first round of artillery fire after the British and German fleets came into each other's sight as the real opening of this naval battle, this epoch-making battle in the transition from steam engines to internal combustion engines has only lasted more than two hours. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

In the fierce battle, the British fleet lost two battleships, one battle cruiser, seven light cruisers and destroyers, and the casualties reached several thousand, while the German fleet lost only four light ships, and their ten dreadnoughts and three battle cruisers suffered much less damage than the British. By this point, the Germans were not only the tactical winners, but also had the initiative firmly in their hands at the strategic level, and as the scales of victory and defeat tipped in turn, the time had finally arrived......

At 10:32 a.m., the British fleet suffered the heaviest blow of this naval battle. The heroic "Iron Duke" could not escape its tragic fate, its battle bridge was pierced by shells fired by the German flagship from 6,000 meters away, and the explosion instantly destroyed the command center of the British flagship, and many senior officers, including Sir Jackson, Lieutenant General Madden, and General Edward, were killed on the spot.

The suffering of these men came to an abrupt end, but the struggle of the British fleet continued. "George V", "Conqueror", and "Thunderbolt" still followed Jackson's battle orders before his death, concentrating their firepower to attack the enemy flagship "King", but "George V" was beaten to the point that only three main guns could still be used, and the fire control and command system also lost its effect, "Conqueror" and "Thunderbolt" each had four main guns, and their shells hit the German flagship again and again, but what made the British crew deeply desperate was that they could not sink this German dreadnought, And the number of shells it suffered may have set a new record in war history, and the unsinkable hull full of holes and bruises is really incredible!

Shortly after the fall of the Iron Duke's battle bridge, the German flagship delivered a fatal blow with its two remaining main guns, two armor-piercing shells piercing the starboard main armor belt of the Iron Duke, severely damaging the power system of the British super-dreadnought. With the stoppage of the right-hand turbine unit, the Iron Duke slowed down sharply and made an uncontrollable small right turn, and as it continued on and on, it would continue to spin on and off the surface of the sea until it was sunk by the Germans.

Realizing that the "Iron Duke" had lost the ability to command the battle as a flagship, Sir Wallend, who was in charge of the "George V", decided to take over the command of the fleet as the commander of the second battleship detachment, but the acting commander's flag had just appeared on the signal wire of "George V", and the signal corps was still using the signal light to give orders to the friendly ships. The No. 3 main turret, which had one main gun damaged and one main gun usable, was again pierced by armor-piercing shells, and a spare armor-piercing shell and several packs of propellant stored in the gun chamber were killed at a low intensity, and the replacement gunners were not spared. Although the ship's only remaining main turret No. 5 survived, the shells that pierced the hull cut off the last power supply line to this turret, and the gunners could only drive the turret and barrel to move in a human-operated way, which was predictably efficient. At the same time, a coal tank on the starboard side was re-ignited by the explosion of a shell, and the fire not only threatened the power compartment, but also seriously affected the observation of the No. 5 turret.

In this way, the "George V" has become a ruined ship.

For the British fleet, the hope of victory was like a candle in the wind, which could be extinguished at any moment.

The Betty detachment, which was ordered in danger, was actually no more optimistic than the main battlefleet at this time. Under the joint attack of two Moltke-class battlecruisers, the "Tiger," which had been pinned on high hopes, had long been unrecognizable and no longer majestic; its four sharp claws, four triple main guns, were destroyed one after another under the heavy bombardment of the enemy ships, and when the distance between the two sides was reduced to 3,000 meters, its four underwater torpedo tubes actually gained the opportunity to display their might, and one of the torpedoes actually hit the "Goeben," almost sending the unlucky German battle cruiser to the bottom of the sea. But the thick armor belt and the mine-resistant compartment absorbed the explosive power of the torpedo to the maximum, and the design of the subdivided compartment and longitudinal partition in the ship finally saved the large German battleship.

The proverb that if you don't die in a great disaster, you will be blessed, this proverb is not an iron law, but it is often fulfilled in reality. After being hit by a torpedo, the speed of the "Goeben" was reduced from the previous 21 knots to 11 knots, but it did not immediately withdraw from the ranks of the battle, but continued to attack the "Tiger". Under the slower speed, the aiming accuracy and firing efficiency of the German crew finally made a breakthrough improvement in this battle, and the full-speed salvo of three rounds in two minutes caused the British battle cruiser flames to flicker and the smoke to rise, and in less than a single smoke, all the main guns of the "Tiger" had fallen silent, as if they were a sick cat waiting to be killed.

Seeing this, the "Royal Princess" who was accompanying the "Tiger" hurriedly left the dying "Blücher" and turned its guns to the murderous "Moltke" -- after the sister ship was heavily torpedoed, the German battle cruiser slowed down a little and fine-tuned its course, and its trajectory became an arc with the "Tiger" as the center, and the majestic triple main guns were all aimed at the turret and hull at the rear of the "Tiger," and the dense salvo fire unleashed a very terrible destructive force. If these two Moltke-class battle cruisers were allowed to fight like this, in a few minutes, the "Tiger" would be cleaned up by these two German battleships with two grades of smaller guns.

The "Royal Princess" adjusted the target of the attack in a timely manner, and Rear Admiral Lebret Maas, who commanded the battle on the "Moltke", also noticed the change in the battlefield situation, and after the "Tiger" was completely muted, the nine main guns and the starboard secondary guns that could be put into battle on the "Moltke" turned to the "Royal Princess", and at this time, the two armored cruisers commanded by Earl Spee, the "Scharnhorst" and the "Gneisenau", just avoided the torpedoes fired by the two British light cruisers. With a swift artillery fire to play a crisp counterattack, the cross-level battle between the two sides lost suspense early, Count Speese then ordered his two mounted cruisers to support their own patrol with half of the main gun firepower, the lonely "Royal Princess" immediately fell into the siege of four German warships, large and small shells quickly turned its superstructure into a honeycomb shape, the only twin main gun on the rear deck became the key target of the "Moltke", the 9-inch thick Vickers hardened armor failed to block the opponent's successive attacks, The majestic main turret was first wounded by armor-piercing shells, temporarily incapacitated, and then penetrated, the explosion ignited the spare ammunition in the turret, and the turret instantly turned into a steel grave where dozens of crew members were buried.

The "Royal Princess" who was hit hard soon only had one main turret and a few secondary guns still insisting on fighting, and the hull armor that was not strong enough was penetrated by multiple 11-inch or even 8-inch armor-piercing shells, and the damage below the waterline became more and more serious, which led to the water in some of the boiler compartments and the fire went out, and this Lion-class battle cruiser with 70,000 horsepower and a maximum speed of 27 knots was like a beast stuck in the mire, but it could not use its strength, and could only be slaughtered by opponents whose absolute strength was not stronger than itself......

At 10:51 a.m. on November 24, 1914, the final climax of the vigorous naval battle of the Faroe Islands was sung. On two major battlefields about thirty nautical miles apart, the German High Seas Fleet slaughtered the British Home Fleet, which was the abuse of the strong against the weak, the ruthlessness of the victors against the losers, and the natural law of natural selection.

At this moment, Jutland and the two Flanders naval battles, the "Thunderbolt", which had not fallen, finally ran out of its good luck. Due to the fierce blow of the two German Caesar-class dreadnoughts, its hull turned into a blazing torch, the out-of-control fire spread throughout the ship, part of the fuel tank loaded with heavy fuel oil was broken down and leaked, the crew in order to ensure the integrity of the ammunition depot and poured water into the ship, but the auxiliary gun ammunition depot on the starboard side still exploded, resulting in a sudden deterioration of the leakage of the right hull, the sea water pouring into the ship's cabin quickly broke through the design limit, the hull tilted beyond the maximum safety value, and finally caused the "Thunderbolt" to capsize to the right.

As the Thunderbolt was about to capsize, the Caesar and the Regent Louipold had already turned their guns to their fellow ship, the Conqueror. In the first confrontation between the British and German navies in the Jutland Sea, the German Caesar-class and the British Orion class had a fierce confrontation, and the shocking encounter between the "Frederick the Great" and the "Orion" in particular became a scene that will forever be recorded in history. In a fair head-to-head match, both sides would have a chance to win, but in today's long-brewing Armageddon for the Germans, the "Conqueror" fought against a King-class dreadnought for a long time, and the battle immediately became one-sided after the two Caesar-class ships joined the battle.

At 10:57 a.m., while the "Conqueror" was still struggling, the "Iron Duke", the spiritual flag of the British Home Fleet, the symbol of courage, resourcefulness, perseverance, and tenacity, collapsed in a three-dimensional attack by German battleships, torpedo boats, and carrier-based aircraft. 99 years ago, known as the "Iron Duke", Wellington defeated Napoleon, a peerless genius in the military field, at Waterloo, and this victory finally determined the direction of history, consolidating the hegemonic interests of the British Empire in the world, so that it gradually entered a glorious heyday in the next decade, but the prestige of the "Iron Duke" did not help the British Navy win a Waterloo-style turnaround battle in the Faroe Islands, but sank to the cold bottom of the sea with nearly a thousand crew below Jackson, The British were left with nothing but deep sorrow and regret......

At 11:10 a.m., the "Royal Princess", which had been battered by artillery fire, had already hoisted the signal flag to retire from the battle due to injury, but it could not avoid the torpedoes fired by the two Scharnhorst-class armored cruisers, and the huge battleship quickly capsized in a series of violent explosions. Betty and his "Tiger" battle cruisers were unable to support themselves, and upon learning of the rout of the main fleet, he categorically ordered the release of a smoke screen to evacuate the battlefield.

(End of chapter)