At 7:56, "Frederick the Great", "Caesar", "Catherine", "King Albert", "Regent Louitport" and "King", these six cutting-edge German dreadnoughts formed a powerful battle group to reach the position of 5,800 meters behind the starboard side of the "Lion". www.biquge.info At this moment, a 12-inch German-made armor-piercing bullet hit the British War Cruiser, which was already covered in bruises. In the past half an hour, torpedoes and near-misses blew up in a number of holes below the waterline, causing about 2,500 tons of seawater to pour into the ship, and the British crew who stayed behind on the "Lion" failed to plug the leak twice, and the seawater eventually soaked many important parts including the stern ammunition depot, engine room, and aft boiler room, and the speed of the ship was reduced again and again, and it had become a floating steel fortress. Under the continuous attack of the German fleet, its bridge, mast and chimney almost all collapsed, the No. 4 main gun tower and the stern auxiliary gun were all destroyed, and the power supply and communication lines in the ship were basically interrupted, but the stubborn British crew continued to fire at the German fleet with the No. 3 main gun tower behind the amidships and between the two main chimneys.

The last German shell that indirectly crushed the British Lion penetrated through the upper deck at the rear of its No. 4 turret, successively penetrated the material warehouse, the flue of the No. 3 chimney and the medical operating room, and exploded in the backup power supply room, destroying the working backup generator and emergency battery on the spot, so that the 30,000-ton battleship completely lost its power supply, and the crew could only use two pumps with their own engines to pump water from the bilge, and the drainage rate was far less than the water inlet speed of the bilge. The hull tilt angle continues to approach the limit value for capsizing. Since the transceiver on board the ship had long been damaged, the captain of the ship, Colonel Roderick, did not know the exact situation of his own fleet, and seeing that there was no point in rushing to repair it, he ordered the ship to be abandoned three minutes later, that is, at 7:59. As the crew evacuated, a small group of brave volunteers carried explosives into the bilge, placed them in a position that would end the ship's suffering, and lit the fuse before evacuating.

At 8:06 a.m., the battlecruiser Lion, which cost more than £2 million and took 32 months to build, accelerated to the right in a modest explosion, and a few minutes later its black bottom had flipped upwards and remained that way for some time. More than 400 crew members below Captain Roderick abandoned the ship and escaped, plus some of the personnel who were evacuated in advance, about half of the ship's 1,250 officers and men survived, and the rest sank to the bottom of the sea at a depth of more than 200 meters with the ship......

The sunken Lion was the first British capital ship to fall in front of the German dreadnought group, and at this time, the attention of Frederick the Great and his entourage could finally be turned further ahead. Through the attacks of torpedo attack aircraft and high-speed torpedo boats, the remnants of Betty's fleet were never able to take advantage of their absolute speed. For a whole hour, the "Royal Princess", "Queen Margaret", and "Australia" sailed north for less than 17 nautical miles, while the six German dreadnoughts maintained a stable combat speed of 21 knots while practicing targets with the "Lion", and the two sides thus narrowed to 14,000 meters, which was already within the range of gunnery training for the main ships of the two navies. And Betty's three battlecruisers were also capable of a fierce counterattack. By this time, night had fallen, and with the help of reconnaissance planes and flares, the six German dreadnoughts raised their guns and fired several rounds of "alternate fire", and the shells all landed far from the target, and the British battleships also "knew nothing" in their return fire.

The firing commanders continued to attempt long-range artillery bombardment in conditions of night warfare, and the fleet commanders on the "Frederick the Great" received two more important telegrams, both of which were sent by the Zeppelin unit. The first was that the LZ-05, which was conducting reconnaissance in the vicinity of the engaged waters, once again found traces of the British Grand Fleet, and its advance ships were only 20 nautical miles from the battlefield. If it's a clear day, the lookouts on both sides will already be able to see each other's masts!

The second was LZ-09, the newly commissioned Zeppelin, which was in charge of cruising in the northern and central North Seas that day, and the report it sent had nothing to do with the whereabouts of the British Navy ships, but a "weather forecast": the storm clouds from the north were moving southward at a speed of more than 40 knots, and the airship reconnaissance ended prematurely due to bad weather.

Judging by the reaction of the staff officers, most people paid much more attention to the first telegram than the second, but for a general who had a good view of the big picture and was able to think holistically, the second telegram was absolutely impossible to ignore. The North Sea, located between the British Isles, continental Europe and Scandinavia, is one of the most complex meteorological conditions on the planet, with frequent rain, fog and storms in winter and severe storms in summer. The establishment of weather stations in the Arctic region can predict the weather in the North Atlantic and even the vast Nordic region, but for the North Sea, where the weather is changeable, a sudden squally wind and a rain storm cannot be predicted by existing technical means.

Fleet Commander Ingnoll frowned in thought, and Natsuki also thought quietly on the sidelines. The battlefield is intertwined with all kinds of accidents and inevitable factors, and no matter how meticulous the plan is, it is impossible to take all the details into account, so a commander must have a good command ability to respond to changes in the situation and adjust the plan at any time.

In fact, from the moment the Hipper fleet sailed out of the mouth of the Yad River (the necessary passage in and out of Wilhelmshaven), the German Navy carried out a dynamic timetable. The influence of wind and waves on the speed of the ships, the reaction speed of the British Navy, the speed of the fleet's southward movement, and so on, these factors that are difficult to accurately estimate were combined to make it impossible for the German main fleet to cooperate with the reconnaissance fleet to completely achieve the expected goal of encircling and destroying the British mobile fleet before dark, and the results of the torpedo attack planes and high-speed torpedo boats were slightly better than expected. In view of the fact that the remnants of the British mobile fleet, especially the three battle cruisers, were too wounded to retreat with all their might, if the six German dreadnoughts led by the "Frederick the Great" continued to pursue at high speed, perhaps they could be dealt with in half an hour.

"What does Your Highness think?"

Ingnoor's inquiring tone brought Natsuki back to reality from his contemplation, the bow main gun had just fired another round of fire, and the other five dreadnoughts that accompanied him had also opened fire one after another, and judging from the impact point of the previous round of shooting, the night sight did have a great impact on the precision optics. Only when radar appeared would night artillery warfare be revolutionized.

Before answering, Natsuki turned to Captain Gold, the senior of his Keele Naval Academy, to inquire about the monitoring of radio signals, and the answer was that "strong radio signals appear frequently, and the contents of the code have not been successfully deciphered except for the call sign of the general flagship of the British Grand Fleet."

Natsuki was not good at radio, and could not provide technical assistance to the German naval intelligence department, but through his own influence, he gave more personnel and financial support to the radio monitoring and interpretation team under the intelligence department. In the current situation, even if the content of the British Navy's communications cannot be obtained, judging from its frequent contacts, Jericho, who commands the British Grand Fleet, must have obtained the real-time situation of the battlefield through Betty, so as to formulate corresponding combat strategies.

"Night battles are full of serendipity." Natsuki told Ingnoll, "In a night battle, our advantage lies in the anti-sinking performance of airplanes, high-speed torpedo boats, and capital ships. ”

"Yes." Ingnoll replied, "With our full attention, we can win this game." ”

Natsuki then asked God, "How far are 'Helgolan' and 'Nassau' from us now?" ”

Captain Gord looked down at the manuscript paper he was holding: "Based on the situation twenty minutes ago, Helgoland is now 5 nautical miles away from us, and Nassau 7 nautical miles. Sir, do you need to verify the exact figures? ”

Natsuki looked at Ingnoll and turned to Gord and ordered, "Go and verify." ”

As Captain Gord left the battle bridge, Colonel Hoffert, a senior staff officer, brought a schematic diagram of the battle from the drawing room, and the officers spread it out on a simple platform, marking the positions and courses of the ships on both sides, including the British Grand Fleet, which was about to enter the battlefield. Naturally, there is a large amount of estimation and extrapolation, and there may be a certain gap between them and the actual situation, but they can still fairly intuitively reflect the warring situation between the two sides.

"Their battle patrol detachment has been crippled by us, and we still have three basically intact battle cruisers available in our hands, and the number of capital ships is 17 to 18."

Colonel Hofert's tone was always calm and calm, but when he said 17-18, his eyes and facial expression showed unprecedented excitement. Since the promulgation of the Naval Act in 1898, the strength of the German Navy has grown by leaps and bounds, and in a certain period of time from 1909 to 1910, Germany had 8 dreadnoughts in service, while the British Navy had 9, which was the closest number of core capital ships of the two countries. By the time the war began in 1914, Britain and Germany had neither the 5 to 4 or 4 to 3 as Tirpitz had hoped (i.e., the German Navy had 80 or 75 percent of the British Navy's capital ships), but 3 to 2 (66) in the "Deep Danger Zone." 7%）。 Although the British navy defended Britain mainland and the Empire's vast overseas colonial territories, the signing of a secret agreement with France allowed most of the British capital ships to concentrate in the Mediterranean, with only three battlecruisers deployed in the Mediterranean. Therefore, when Natsuki's plan of attack was finally carried out, the German naval officers and sailors who accompanied the fleet knew very well how powerful the British home fleet would be, and they prayed for God's protection while preparing for the worst in their hearts, and Colonel Hofelt must have done the same. Now that the German Navy has earned a crucial point thanks to successful deployment and excellent performance, the prospects for the battle look bright.

At this time, Major Muras, another fleet staff officer, answered: "You should have noticed that in the reconnaissance reports of our submarine and airship units, which are basically the same, the British Grand Fleet only has 9 old battleships built before the 'Dreadnought'. It is clear that the more old battleships you bring, the more you will slow down the fleet, and we have 15 old battleships with decent combat effectiveness, which are enough to deal with 9 old battleships and 11 armored cruisers of the British. ”

According to this logic, the German fleet was already in control, but Natsuki was not so optimistic. On the contrary, the better the situation in front of him, the more vigilant he felt in his heart. Since they could use the Hipper's fleet as bait to smash the British, why couldn't the British just do it and use the remnants of Betty's fleet as bait? If the German Navy's six best dreadnoughts faced the entire British battleship group alone, even if they could get out, they would have to peel off the skin, and the tide of the war would inevitably develop in favor of the British fleet.

"Let's cease fire for now! His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief of the Fleet. Natsuki said to Ingnoor.

"Ceasefire?" There was a hint of surprise in Ingnoel's eyes, and before the staff officers could react, he figured it out and turned his head and ordered: "Order the ships to stop shooting." ”

(End of chapter)