In the blink of an eye, two first-class German dreadnoughts, "Frederick the Great" and "Caesar", joined forces with unstoppable courage to crush the two British armored cruisers that were blocking the way. Although the latter is a second-class ship in the British Navy www.biquge.info it is also a 10,000-ton warship built in the early 20th century. With 700 well-trained crews each, they were far more protected than ordinary cruisers, and were not too inferior to the battlecruisers built in the later period. As a result, the two sides just met each other, and after only one round of fighting, a huge difference in strength was revealed. The two British armored cruisers sank on the spot without any suspense, and there were few survivors on board......

"Sir, I have received a reply signal from the ships, and now the actual position of our fleet is the ship and the 'Caesar' in front, the 'King' is 1,500 meters away from the 'Caesar', followed by the 'King Albert', the 'Regent of Louitport' and 'Catherine', and the last 'Catherine' is 4,000 meters away from us."

After listening to Captain God's report, Natsuki faced starboard, holding a telescope to observe the sea to the southeast, and the two dreadnought formations that exchanged fire with each other were in the darkness, and the flashing orange cannon flames outlined their general orientation and battle formation.

"Except for this ship and 'Caesar' to maintain their current speed, the remaining four ships should speed up appropriately, and the distance between each ship should be reduced to about 500 meters, and they will prepare to concentrate their firepower on attacking the leading ships of the enemy's battlefleet."

Natsuki's order meant that the German battle formation under his direct command was about to adopt the tactic of crossing the enemy's T-shape, and the timing seemed to be just right, but unfortunately he only had six dreadnoughts here, which not only could not reproduce the Trafalgar-style scene, but also made it difficult to deal the most lethal blow to the enemy fleet in the shortest possible time, and even possibly encountered the opponent's desperate counterattack.

A few minutes later, the large S-32 torpedo boat, which replaced the "Dresden" as an outpost, issued a warning that an advance ship of the enemy fleet had been spotted in the east-southeast sea, at a distance of 3,000 meters.

Before the second light code signal on the sea was issued, the outpost ships of the two sides had already fought fiercely. Seeing that the British Sentinel was two smaller destroyers, and that the S-32 was at a loss with one enemy and two enemies, but the light cruiser "Dresden" was rushing to support, Natsuki ordered Colonel Lubic to order his ship's gun positions not to fire for the time being, and following the actions of the pilot flagship, the "Caesar" and the four dreadnoughts that were further away were silent. Even so, Natsuki didn't expect the British dreadnought formation in the southeast sea to stupidly bump into the muzzle of his own guns, and the previous battle to sink two British armored cruisers must have aroused enough vigilance from his opponents. Therefore, after the "King" and the next three dreadnoughts approached, he ordered the speed of the battle formation to be increased to 22 knots, trying to keep an eye on the prey in front of him with better maneuverability.

The six German dreadnoughts were like sturdy warriors who stepped up the charge, and the battle between the outposts of both sides progressed rapidly. Under the influence of bad sea conditions, the accuracy of the light ships' guns was greatly reduced, and the S-32, which was alone, did not fall into trouble, and when the "Dresden" joined the battle, the situation on both sides suddenly reversed. The German cruiser, which was full of firepower, rushed violently, one British destroyer was quickly hit and caught fire, and the other British destroyer bravely rushed to a distance of 400 meters to launch torpedoes, but its two torpedoes were derailed in the rough waves, and the two British destroyers finally evacuated in disarray.

Under the cover of "Dresden", the S-32 continued to move forward, and when a sudden dense artillery fire suddenly hit in the dark, it decisively turned on the 60-centimeter searchlight on the boat.

About 3,000 meters away from it, the long and huge silhouette of a British battleship is clearly discerning!

Before being hit by enemy artillery fire, the S-32 sends a series of valuable messages to its fleet with a signal light: enemy battleships...... Heading north-east...... Speed 20 knots...... Visible arc track ......"

At this point, the signal was cut off, and the lone searchlight disappeared into the darkness of the night.

Putting down the telescope in his hand, Natsuki turned to Ingnoll and said, "It seems that the British fleet is turning right!" ”

The commander of the genuine fleet nodded: "Now, we will either forcibly insert into their array, or start a ship-to-side battle." ”

Once again, the choice was in the hands of Natsuki.

When the narrow road meets, the brave wins, and at this time there seems to be no option to retreat.

"Herald ......"

The words had already reached his lips, and the ship's communications officer suddenly turned to the observation report of the mast lookout: the fleet was found in the southern sea, and the identity was confirmed by the light code, it was the 3rd battleship detachment led by General Lance, and it was preliminarily judged that the first ships of the two sides were 7 nautical miles apart.

The appearance of the Reims formation here was part of Natsuki's battle layout, and just as he was about to issue the next combat order, the alert ship located on the left flank of the fleet, that is, to the north, called a light signal: Attention! Unidentified large ships spotted in the east-northbound direction! A confirmation signal was sent but there was no response.

Excluding the lone British battleships, only the Hipper fleet and the British old battleship groups could appear in that direction at this time, and the Hipper's battlecruisers were clearly indifferent to their own confirmation signals.

Because of the new changes in the battlefield situation, Natsuki had to re-examine his combat deployment. After a moment of thought, he looked to starboard with blazing eyes: "Send a signal to the 3rd Battleship Detachment and let them fully cooperate with us in attacking the British battleship formation in the east-southeast direction; send a telegram to the Hipper reconnaissance fleet informing it of its location, the flagship's detachment that needs them to cover the left flank; The 'Nuremberg' was ordered to deploy northward with the 14th Lightning Strike Detachment to find out the enemy's situation and carry out a diversion battle. ”

In the absence of new directives, the six cutting-edge dreadnoughts, including the "Frederick the Great", will continue to carry out the previous order to "prepare to concentrate fire on the leading ships of the enemy battlefleet."

In the next short time, the atmosphere on the bridge became tense and solemn again, and looking down from the bridge, Natsuki could see the crew who had stepped out of the turret to breathe between the battles hurriedly returned to their battle positions, the heavy hatches and hatches slammed shut, and there was no idle figure to be seen on the deck.

After attacking the S-32, the British battleship, which was the first to show its figure, disappeared into the night again. Looking at the pitch-black sea, Natsuki still maintained a calm demeanor. At this moment, he did not think about what a brilliant victory this battle could have, and judging by the battle reports sent by the Reims formation, the British dreadnoughts were by no means as fragile as their battle cruisers. With an objective and rational mindset, Natsuki realized that victory itself was already a glorious glory.

After a while, the darkness ahead was suddenly pierced by several clusters of bright yellow light that bloomed one after another, illuminating a limited stretch of the sea, where there was only a gray ship except for the raging waves. When it reached the crest of the wave, it was high in front and low in the back, and the elevation angle on the hull exceeded 30 degrees, and when it reached the trough, it was high behind and low in the front, and the front half of the hull was almost completely swallowed by the sea. Even so, it sailed towards the enemy fleet without flinching, and a torn German naval flag fluttered on its mast......

"It's our S-32!"

Someone screamed, and the officers on the bridge were immediately moved by the spirit and courage of the warship, and all their original hesitations and apprehensions were left behind, and their belief in victory was unprecedentedly firm.

As the flares lit up, orange flames flashed out of the darkness in the distance. As a rule of thumb, it was most likely from the same ship. The rangefinders in the firing command room of the "Frederick the Great" quickly calculated the distance and bearing of the shooter, which may not be accurate, but not too far off.

Seeing the lonely and brave scouts surrounded by enemy artillery fire and unable to return fire, the officers on board the ship were full of indignation and were eager to sink the British battleship with the heaviest artillery fire.

Before the time came, Natsuki endured it.

"Let's fire! Chiefs! ”

The captain, Colonel Lubic, shouted to the bridge observation deck, and his upright, frank and courageous character was unmistakable.

Ingnoll turned sideways to look at him, no squeak.

Natsuki just glanced at the sea on the port side, and continued to look ahead to the starboard side like a sculpture.

The light of the first few flares gradually dimmed, and the last few flares continued to illuminate the windy sea and the dark night sky, and the shells fired by the British battleship kept falling around the S-32, which looked like it could sink at any moment, but miraculously persevered.

"Enemy ship azimuth 027, distance 7600!"

The report from the firing command room was no longer in a cold and unforgiving tone, but contained indignation and hatred. Natsuki sensed the change, and he knew that the entire fleet's desire to fight was at an all-time high because of the S-32's situation, but the time for him to wait had not yet come.

Poor sight and poor sea conditions greatly hindered the navigation of a large torpedo boat like the S-32, but it was also a talisman for its survival in certain situations. In the course of more than 10 minutes, the British battleship fired no less than 200 shells, but not a single one of them hit directly, and there were very few obvious near-misses. In the process, the S-32 narrowed the distance with the enemy warship little by little, the searchlight and signal light were damaged, the radio antenna was also interrupted, and the crew simply lit a fire at the stern of the ship, and issued Morse code to the capital ship in a way that blocked the fire: 1500 meters in front of the ship, the British battleship, refer to the shooting ......

This was still not the opportunity that Natsuki was waiting for, but it seemed that even the heavens were moved by the group of tenacious and fearless German sailors, and the "Frederick the Great" finally received a telegram from the "De Fllinger": "Seydlitz" was damaged by radio, and the ship was to communicate on its behalf, and the reconnaissance fleet had reached the left flank of the 1st battleship detachment, and the British battlefleet was found in the northern sea, which was preliminarily judged to be an old battleship group.

Knowing the contents of the telegram, Natsuki took a deep breath and glared angrily: "'Frederick the Great' and 'Caesar' turned on the searchlights, and the ships of the 1st Battleship Detachment concentrated on shooting at the British battleships in front of our outposts!" ”

Suddenly, a 90 or 110 cm searchlight illuminated the sea, far more intense than the 60 or 75 cm searchlights on a light ship, and as the searchlight column converged, the British battleship that ravaged the S-32 was nowhere to be seen. Its mast and superstructure had been washed almost once by shrapnel, all the radios and searchlights had been broken, the bow waterline had been opened nearly a meter wide, the bullet holes in the hull were clearly visible, the two secondary guns on the side of the ship had been devastated, and the unrecognizable forward bridge, the ruined amidships, and the aft deck, all revealed that it had just experienced a fierce and brutal battle. The gunners of the six German dreadnoughts showed no mercy, and with their swift and precise control, the powerful guns were already proudly pointed at the abominable British battleship.

(End of chapter)