The torpedo explosion caused the furious waves to soar into the air, and when the waves fell, the thick and solid steel body of the "Blucher" continued to move forward in the sway. Pen ~ fun ~ Pavilion www.biquge.info terrifying flame only appeared at the moment of the explosion, the black smoke soon dispersed with the wind, from the scene, the battleship did not seem to have been seriously damaged, but the damage below the waterline is an absolutely not to be underestimated threat to any ship, in the Russian-Turkish, Qing-Japanese, Russo-Japanese wars there are precedents of torpedoes sinking ships, especially in the Russo-Japanese War 10 years ago, the Japanese Navy did not declare war, sent a destroyer fleet to raid Arthur, and severely damaged the battleship with torpedoes" "Letvizan", "Tsezalevich" and the cruiser "Parada", showed the power of torpedo warfare.

"Blucher", built under the name of a large cruiser, entered service in the 1909 year, due to 1. The 80,000-ton hull is equipped with four 11-inch twin turrets, and is equipped with boilers and turbines capable of providing 45,000 horsepower. Therefore, its chief designer, Prince Joachim, who was then the senior technical commissioner of the Navy and the shipbuilding supervisor, took great pains to improve its anti-sinking performance, not only using a longitudinal rib structure and as many as 24 waterproof compartments, setting up underwater anti-mine armor and shipside anti-mine compartments, but also adding additional protection to the ammunition depot and power compartment, and equipped with unconventional pumping machines and internal drainage pipes. It avoided being sunk by a powerful 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo.

What extent a battleship can withstand a blow, the designer may not be able to pack a ticket, let alone the user of the ship. After the midboard mine, Colonel Erdman and his officers looked extremely nervous, worried about whether the ship's injuries were under control, and on the other hand, they were worried about the torpedoes that could strike at any time from behind. Therefore, Captain Edelman did not slow down the ship, but asked all the crew to hold their positions, and at the same time sent a signal to the flagship "Seydlitz" that "the ship is in a mine" and "is ready to withdraw from the battle".

The damage to the battleship is the most heard by the professional damage management personnel who inspect it on the spot. With a warhead containing 225 pounds (100 kg) of TNT explosives, the British-made MKII torpedo directly blew through the hull armor belt at a depth of 5 meters and destroyed the transverse partitions of the waterproof compartments on the side of the ship, causing 4 waterproof compartments to enter the water directly, and seawater infiltration appeared in the 2 adjacent compartments diagonally, and the well-trained crew rushed into the car, and quickly closed the longitudinal watertight doors of the 6 bottom compartments, the explosion killed 2 people on the spot, and the 3 crew members who did not escape were temporarily included in the missing list.

After the preliminary survey, the first sergeant of the Navy who led the damage management team to the bilge reported to the bridge through the ship's internal communication telephone: "The three watertight compartments 13, 20 and 21 are completely flooded, 22 are seriously flooded, 12 and 14 are partially flooded, and the water intake is about 500 tons, the No. 3 and No. 4 pumps are working normally, the water inlet rate is under control, the standby electric pump is expected to start working in 5 minutes, the divers have been in place, and the damage survey of the No. 20 compartment is requested, and the 12th and 14th compartments are entered at the same time to plug the leak." ”

Inside the battle bridge, Captain Edelman listened to the report from the bilge: "Well, well, agree to the damage survey and plugging operation, and report as soon as there is a situation!" ”

Hanging up the phone, the colonel stared at the floor, hesitated for a few seconds, turned his head to the eager-eyed officers and said: "The damage is better than expected, 3 watertight compartments are submerged, and 3 others are partially flooded, and if seawater is urgently injected into the starboard side to keep the hull balanced, we will not be able to maintain the current speed, 18 knots, maybe lower...... Gentlemen, quit the battle or stick to the fight? ”

The officers looked at each other, the battle was still raging, and the fate of the battleship and all its crew was at stake.

Since the officers did not have a clear opinion, as the commander of the ship, Edelman made a quick decision, and he ordered to fill the starboard bilge with 400 tons of water to basically restore the deck to the level, so as to ensure the normal fire of the ship's guns, and at the same time adjust the power output to the maximum to keep up with the formation speed as much as possible.

In the lower cabin at starboard starboard, as one of the pumps stopped roaring, the damage management personnel wearing diving equipment entered the No. 21 cabin without hesitation. The electrical circuit was completely cut off, and the divers had to use emergency flashlights to illuminate the water, and as the beams of the flashlights grew darker in the dark water, the damage control personnel at the watertight hatch could not help but worry about the safety of their companions. After a full time of two cigarettes, the light of the emergency flashlight reappeared underwater, and the divers came to the surface exhausted, panting and reporting: "The hole is about 2 meters high and 3 meters wide, and the center is 3 meters from the bottom of the ship, so it is very difficult to plug the leak!" ”

The sergeant in charge at the scene ordered his men to pull the diver up and re-close the watertight door of the waterproof compartment. He then reported to the bridge an update on the situation, and his personal damage management suggestion was to plug the cracks between compartments 20, 22, and 13 and compartment 21, and to temporarily reinforce the transverse bulkheads, which would allow the "Blucher" to maintain a certain amount of navigational ability, and eventually need to return to dry dock to repair the damage.

After a fierce battle, the British light ships that threw themselves into this "death shock", except for those who were sunk, wounded, left behind, or evacuated, were able to rush into a distance of 1,000 meters in one go, and only four destroyers were left that could rush into a distance of 1,000 meters in one go. It was as if the two sides were engaged in a pistol duel that was once popular in Europe and the United States, firing face-to-face at a distance of fifteen or twenty paces, fighting for courage, skill and luck. Another gap that should not be overlooked is that the German crews were highly motivated and motivated because of repeated defeats to the enemy, and the appearance of their main fleet made everyone feel that victory was in their hands, while the British sailors were in the opposite situation, they were shocked by the scenes of death and wounding around them, most of them persisted in the fight with tenacity of willpower, and their ships and equipment were not able to play their full role because of minor or severe damage......

A group of torpedoes, the most threatening to the German reconnaissance fleet, appeared on the surface of the sea with a white trail, and the German battleships concentrated on the side of the ship fired as mighty as a sail battleship. In the snap of a finger, the four British destroyers that were turning at full speed were shrouded in ferocious artillery fire, and the stormy waves raised by the heavy shells made them in a state of violent jolting and swaying from time to time, one was hit by a bullet and caught fire, and then another exploded in the stern, and the speed of the ship plummeted, and at this time, the fire on the ship had been completely extinguished, and the hull damage had also been urgently treated, the "Seidlitz" came out of the sea area west of the battle patrol formation at high speed, compared with the friendly ships that avoided torpedoes while shooting, Its biggest advantage at this time was that it was not disturbed by the British mine-striking ship group, so it was able to carry out artillery bombardment calmly, and the hull of nearly 30,000 tons also provided a stable platform for firing large and small naval guns. After a final struggle, only one of the four British destroyers that rushed to the vicinity to fire their torpedoes escaped, and the other three were either on fire or had stalled due to a broken hull, and remained under the guns of the German fleet, their fate predictable.

The British ship group that launched the torpedo attack had collapsed, but the threat to the German reconnaissance fleet had not yet been lifted, and the sea was full of terrifying torpedo marks, and the interceptive fire of the naval guns still had little effect. By this time, the four German battle cruisers and the four light cruisers did not have to worry about the battle formation, but avoided according to their own observations and judgments. Before the dazzling victory was reached, Hipper's fleet suffered another blow, two torpedoes hit the "Moltke" and "Magdeburg" respectively, and the powerful explosion blew a large hole in the bow of the former, and in order to avoid the death of the ammunition, the crew had to urgently fill the bow ammunition depot, and the speed was sharply reduced from 22 knots to 8 knots. The wounded "Magdeburg" was hit in the amidships, and the impact of the explosion almost penetrated the bottom of the ship, even with subdivided compartments and longitudinal rib structures, it did not help, and its hull quickly tilted to the right, and at 7:19 the ship's commander, Lieutenant Commander Ait, ordered the ship to be abandoned.

The "Moltke" and "Magdeburg" were damaged one after another, and together with the "Blucher", which was also hit by mines, the Hipper's reconnaissance fleet paid a much heavier price in just a few minutes than in the previous half-hour artillery battle. Because of the continuous evasion of torpedoes, the distance between them and the Betty's fleet has increased to 27,000 meters, which means that only the tripod mast of the "Lion" can be seen from the bridge of the "Seydlitz......

Within range of the German reconnaissance fleet, there were a number of British ships that had lost all or part of their power floating on the sea, none of them lowered their battle flags, and some were still firing at the German battleships with naval guns, while the sailors who had escaped from the capsized and sunken British ships were still struggling on the sea, and the few lifeboats were mostly crowded with survivors......

Standing aboard the flagship "Seydlitz", the German admiral Franz von Hipperl silently scanned the messy sea. For those British ships who knew that they were hopeless and continued to resist stubbornly, he did not bully the weak and vent his unhappiness, but respected and sympathized with each other, and for those who had lost their combat ability, he ordered the accompanying light cruisers to carry out search and rescue after the battle was over.

After a while, the battlecruisers and light cruisers, scattered to avoid torpedoes, regrouped behind the flagship. Although the Moltke was not in danger of sinking, the damage to the bow was no longer suitable for fast sailing; The injury of the "Blucher" was in a controllable state, but the whole ship entered more than 900 tons of water, and its speed was greatly affected. As a result, Hipper ordered the two battle cruisers to withdraw from the battle columns, and the light cruisers "Stralsund" and "Kolburg" were accompanied back by the crew of the "Magdeburg".

After adjustments, the battle cruisers "Seydlitz", "De Fllinger", "Goeben" and light cruisers "Strasbourg" and "Rostock" went north, and soon caught up with two British light cruisers and a destroyer that had retreated with wounds, and sank them almost effortlessly, and these small victories did not make Hipper proud and satisfied. With the three best battle cruisers under his command, he stared at the sea ahead for a long time, the previous battle of the two battle patrol formations was thrilling, but it ended halfway without distinguishing between the two battle squadrons, if the battle ended here, this may become an eternal regret in his heart. Now that the sword in his hand has been raised again, and the two battle patrol formations are basically in a state of equal strength, if they can win a duel-style naval battle, they will definitely add the most perfect honor to their military career.

The Hipper's fleet only had a speed advantage of 2 knots to catch up with the Betty fleet at a distance of 27,000 kilometers, and the German dreadnought group led by the "Frederick the Great" once closed the distance to 18,000 kilometers, but after the Betty fleet completed the turn, the distance between the two sides began to widen again. If there are no variables, Betty's fleet will survive until dark, and with the cover of night, it will not only be able to avoid the threat of long-range artillery bombardment by the German fleet, but it will not be difficult to escape the pursuit through a wide range of maneuvers.

Six Hubert E attack planes flew over Beatty's fleet and were the first to bring uncertainties to this decisive naval battle.

(End of chapter)