Under the command of the general flagship and the flagships of each detachment, the 29 battleships of the German High Seas Fleet began the sea maneuver of the fleet turning right at four compass points, and according to the instruction that "the rear ships must start turning after seeing the indicator light of the forward ship turning to completion", it takes at least half an hour for the entire fleet to turn, while it only takes half the time for a simple fleet to turn, and if all ships turn in unison, it can be completed in about 5 minutes. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 The reason why info went to such great lengths was that it not only adjusted the course of the fleet, but also adjusted the battle formation of the fleet with the trend - the single-line battle column thus became a ladder with the front ship on the right and the rear ship on the left.

While the German battleship group was making a fleet turn, two light cruisers and four large torpedo boats, which had been on guard on the right flank of the High Seas Fleet, were assigned to carry out a sector reconnaissance search in the northeastern seas. At the same time, Natsuki did not forget the auxiliary fleet that lagged behind the main fleet, and he ordered the communications officer to send a tactical secret telegram asking the auxiliary fleet to sail in a north-westerly direction, so that no matter how the British fleet moved, the German auxiliary fleet with six torpedo boat carriers and the "Bismarck" as the core could hide behind the high seas fleet and provide tactical support with carrier-based aircraft and high-speed torpedo boats at any time.

At 9:39, the 14 German dreadnoughts had completed their turn in turn, each ship spaced 300 to 350 meters apart, thus forming a stepped battle column about 4,500 meters long and 1,500 meters wide, this large-angle staircase as a whole went 60 degrees north-west direction, the stern of the ship pointed exactly to Helgoland Bay, and the bow of the ship roughly pointed to Scapa Bay, the base of the British Grand Fleet.

The atmosphere on the bridge of the "Frederick the Great", where the officers of the fleet command and the command line of the ship were in their respective positions, was rather strange because of the previous situation in which the chief of staff of the fleet forcibly gave orders in place of the commander of the fleet, especially when it was necessary to report the situation to the commander of the fleet. Most of the officers chose to report to both Ingnorr and Prince Joachim, omitting their titles or referring to the term "chief" in general, while a small number of officers, young officers of relatively junior but very capable young officers, lost no time in taking a stand. Whenever a report was passed through their hands to their superiors, it was first reported to Prince Joachim.

The intuitive feeling that the battle was approaching became more and more intense, and Natsuki had no intention of dwelling on this internal power struggle. He had worked with Ingnoll for many years and was well aware of his cautious style, and at this point in the battle, it was clear that a strong and bold decider would have a better chance of winning this shocking battle.

"Sir, we have received a light signal from the cruiser Augsburg of the 4th Reconnaissance Squadron, which has met and confirmed the 1st and 2nd Reconnaissance Squadrons, and that Admiral Hipper's fleet is now located to the southwest of us, about 12 nautical miles from us."

After listening to Captain Gold's report, Natsuki first looked at Ingnoor's reaction, and the fleet commander turned his head to look at him, his expression calm and his eyes showing frustration.

Natsuki thought for a moment and instructed Captain Gord, "Order the Hipper's fleet to move closer to the flagship." ”

Captain Gord looked at Ingnoor, then turned to Natsuki and replied in a calm voice, "Yes, sir! ”

Through the ship's communications phone, Captain Gord gave the order to the ship's communications department. Within two minutes, the phone hanging on the bulkhead rang, and Captain Gold, who was on duty there, answered the phone, and then hurried to Ingnoll and Natsuki: "I received a tactical telegram from 'Standin', and a large fleet battle column was found on the starboard side of the sea, with a preliminary estimate of 75 degrees north-west, a speed of about 14 knots, and a distance of about 24,000 to 26,000 meters from us. 'Stantin' has gone to reconnoiter and reminds us to prepare for battle. ”

What the?

Listening to this report, Natsuki couldn't believe his ears. The German fleet headed northwest, and the British fleet headed northwest, with only slight angular differences in course, and the two huge fleets were actually parallel in the same direction? The reconnaissance plane that took off from the "Bismarck" has been circling in this sea area all this time, and has also dropped a lot of flares before and after.

Although the mood was affected, when it came to the critical point, Ingnorr had no intention of picking on it, and he said to Captain Gold: "Send a telegram to 'Stantin' to confirm the course of the British fleet that it has just reported." ”

Captain Gord was naturally suspicious of this situation, he glanced at Natsuki, and seeing that the chief of staff of the fleet did not say anything special, he ordered the ship's communications department to send a telegram in tactical code through the ship's telephone.

Natsuki then discussed with Ingnoll: "Did the British decide to abandon the last two capital ships of Betty's fleet, or did they have no room for rescue?" ”

Ingnoll lowered his head and thought for a while: "It's not impossible, after all, we now have a complete battlefleet and a reconnaissance fleet that still has combat strength, and there are also aircraft and high-speed torpedo boats, which together have obvious advantages." The British, fearing great losses in the night battle, withdrew from the battlefield, and if we followed and waited until dawn the battlefield shifted from the southeastern part of the North Sea to the central part of the war, then some of our large torpedo boats would not have enough range and would have been weakened. ”

Natsuki agreed, "That's right, I think with Jericho's character, he'd rather fight us day than night when he has lost Betty's fleet. And on the other hand, it took only 11 hours for the British Grand Fleet to arrive here from Scarpa Bay, one hour earlier than we had originally anticipated, and their old ships and auxiliaries were far behind the main fleet, so it was clear to them that it was in their favour to push back the engagement. ”

Ingnoll was looking at Natsuki and replied without thinking, "Then we'll find a way to bite them!" ”

Within a few minutes, the communications department received a confirmation telegram from the "Stantin". Ingnorr then went down to the drawing room with Natsuki. The portholeless cabin is lit day and night, and there is a backup generator to power it at all times. On the chart, the officers marked the latest movements of their fleet, and Natsuki picked up the ruler and gestured a few times, and was about to speak, when he suddenly heard someone shouting "There is a firefight on the starboard side". Everyone quickly returned to the bridge, and by this time, they could already hear the rumbling of cannon from a distance.

"Did you receive a light code or radio report?" Natsuki asked urgently.

Because Captain Gord had just followed him to the drawing room, Ensign Dasov, who was on duty at the phone in place of Captain Gord, replied in a loud voice: "I haven't received any information yet, Your Highness!" ”

Xia Shu thought for a moment and directly ordered: "Inform the 2nd Battlefleet to increase to 14 knots, and the previous steering order will continue to be executed. ”

"Let's also speed up the Hipper's fleet to move closer to us!" Ingnoll commanded in a gesture of additional opinion. The fleet commander's reaction to the chief of staff of the fleet gradually changed from consternation to acquiescence, and even began to cooperate. Perhaps as he understood, no one but the gifted Prince Joachim could get Kaiser Wilhelm II to sign an order to attack the fleet, because he regarded the German navy as the "jewel in the crown" and feared that they would lose in naval battles, nor believed that his admiral had the ability to defeat the British fleet. Although there was no written or verbal authorization, it is conceivable that Wilhelm II, at this time, would have placed the resourceful Prince Joachim in the helm, with Ingnoll and others in charge.

Natsuki nodded at Captain God, who quickly relayed the order word for word.

Shortly after, a bright light code signal appeared on the starboard side of the sea, apparently from a searchlight rather than an ordinary one, which traveled longer and was easier to identify, and was one of the common means of communication in the fleet. The officers in the battle bridge could almost read this code with the naked eye: the ship was attacked by the British battlefleet at a distance of 8,000 meters, and the single-line battleship sailed to the northwest, numbering more than 10 ships, K-23.

K-23 is the tactical number of a large German torpedo boat, the initials are the code name of the shipyard that built it, K stands for the Friedrich Royal Shipyard in Danzig, and 23 means that it is the 23rd large torpedo boat built by the shipyard. As a result, Natsuki knew its specifications and performance better than any officer beside him. It belongs to the 1911 class of large torpedo boats, although not designed and finalized under the personal auspices of Xia Shu, influenced by its design ideas, this class of torpedo boats attach importance to the improvement of seaworthiness and endurance, and is equipped with a new 4-inch naval gun, 450 mm torpedo tubes and customized ship light armor, the performance is more balanced, and the overall strength is greater than the previous 1898 and 1906 classes. However, one could not expect a 700-ton ship to compete with the enemy's battleship in any way. After a while, the light code signal on the starboard side of the sea suddenly stopped, and after a while, the flickering cannon flame also disappeared from the sea.

After a while, the shooting command room reported a distance reading: "The point of sending out the light code signal is about 12,000 meters away from us. ”

From this calculation, the enemy battlefleet observed by K-23 was only about 20,000 meters away from the "Frederick the Great", which was 2,000 meters less than the previous reconnaissance figures of the "Stantin", and the two sides were already within the maximum range of each other's main guns, but because it was a night without moonlight, it was difficult for optical equipment to accurately locate long-range targets, and firing at such a distance would hardly play any role except to remind the other party of their own existence and strength. Thinking of this, Xia Shu immediately decided: "All ships turn right with 3 compass points." ”

The steering command was quickly sent out by the signal corps, and at this time, the battleship group was organized into a stepped battle, and the lookout officers of each ship could directly observe the light code signal sent by the flagship. In an instant, the command to turn right with full rudder was transmitted on one 10,000-ton warship, and finally drove the huge rudder oars to deflect at their maximum angle. Due to the differences in hull line and power performance, there are practical differences in steering radius, and the large battle formations do not reach a very precise degree. Among the 14 dreadnoughts, the maneuvers between the warships of the same class were the most coordinated, and after all the capital ships completed the turn, the width of the ladder battle column was increased to nearly 2,000 meters, that is, if each ship attacked a target located on a parallel line, the tail ship "Posen" would shoot at a distance of 2,000 meters farther than the flagship "Frederick the Great", or it could be understood that the "Posen" would enter the battlefield one step later than the "Frederick the Great". Of course, for the same technical reasons, there is also a certain deviation in the position of the battle formation of the enemy fleet, and not as precise as the figure drawn with a ruler.

(End of chapter)