Among the high-speed torpedo boats in active service in the German Navy, the "Lightning" is like a petite assassin, with the skill of coming and going like the wind and sealing the throat with a sword, while the "Thunder" is a powerful crossbowman, a deadly burst stunt, and has a certain hand-to-hand combat ability. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

In the waters north of Flanders, a second wave of German high-speed torpedo boats, consisting of the "Lightning" and "Thunder", launched a fierce attack on the British fast fleet. In order to cover the main cruiser's fleet, a combat detachment of four British destroyers took the initiative to move forward and inflicted heavy damage on one of the leading German large torpedo boats with rapid artillery fire, which was quickly counterattacked by six Lightning-14s. This high-speed warcraft is a single-man, gunless weapon, and carries only a 450 mm torpedo tube with a G12 steam gas torpedo.

The first two "Lightnings" rushed to the same British destroyer in a parallel attitude, and their pilots were the elite of the German Navy's high-speed warship force - Sergeant Flintz Herthes and Corporal Liman Besler, both of whom had not served for a long time, but both had outstanding performance in the driving of high-speed torpedo boats, and both had the opportunity to represent the Friedrich shipyard in international water racing. Hershes had won second place in the 1913 Venice Championship, Besler had a good finish, and the two had trained as non-commissioned officers at the Danzig Naval School, where they were able to move from ordinary sailors to non-commissioned officers.

Looking out from Hershes' cockpit, the British destroyer's flickering fire, its slender side silhouette reminiscent of a barracuda, but the barracuda didn't have such sharp teeth. Seeing a series of machine shells attacking, causing rows of splashes on the sea, these splashes stretched rapidly, and in the blink of an eye they were about to hit his torpedo boat, Herchis subconsciously turned the steering wheel, and this "Lightning-14" was like a championship racing boat sprinting towards the trophy, making a just right turn at the last corner. More is too much, less is too little, just to avoid the shells fired by the enemy ships.

The number of guns on these British destroyers in front of them has more than doubled compared to the usual arrangement at the outbreak of war, but their main structure has been finalized at the design stage after all, and it is easy to stuff guns into the upper deck, and it is difficult to maintain a coherent and smooth ammunition supply in battle. If it is interfered with by enemy artillery fire, it is even more difficult to ensure continuous combat capability.

Taking advantage of the interval between the opponent's cannon fires, Herthes and Besler invariably chose to strike in a straight line. In the blink of an eye, the silhouettes of the British destroyers appeared in their sights in their entirety, and the sufficient clarity also meant that they were within the effective range of the torpedoes.

Seeing the tongue of fire flashing from the side of the British battleship's gunfire, the two high-speed battleship elites quickly adjusted their course. I saw that the two boats "Lightning-14" were quickly approaching, and they had already separated the front and rear at this time: Besler was ahead by more than 20 meters, and Herthes was close behind. The longitudinal positions of the two "Lightnings" were close to overlapping, but then they did not intersect with each other, but very quickly reversed the shift.

When the sight could no longer fit the full outline of the British destroyer, Besler was the first to fire torpedoes.

Herthys's "Lightning" did not fire the torpedo after him, but made an S-shaped maneuver, and seeing the British destroyer make a right turn to avoid Besler's torpedo, he shrewdly aimed at the front of the British ship and fired the torpedo.

In this era, all torpedoes are direct-course torpedoes that can no longer change direction after launch, and after the torpedo is launched, the first task left to the driver of a high-speed warship is to evacuate safely. So, Herthes and Besler's Lightning-14 continued to writhe coquettishly until they re-entered the smoke screen - before they heard an explosion coming from the sea behind them. Looking back, a cloud of billowing black smoke was rising over the British destroyer they had attacked.

At this moment, it didn't matter whose torpedo hit the target, and the two gave each other a thumbs up through the hatch. However, war is brutal, and not everyone who goes to war can walk away with the glory of victory like Hershes and Besler.

The losses of the high-speed warships attacking this British destroyer detachment were not bad, only 5 of the 16 high-speed torpedo boats that rushed to the British fleet came into torpedo range, and only 1 large torpedo boat and 8 high-speed warships survived in the whole attack wave, and these mine-struck ships became disposable consumables on the battlefield.

Rao, the third wave of torpedo boats of the German Navy still arrived as scheduled.

On the sea, the British fleet once again closed its formation. After the first two rounds of torpedo attacks, the losses of their ships and personnel were not serious, but the consumption of ammunition and energy was very unfavorable for subsequent operations. Seeing that another group of German torpedo boats was approaching, the British officers and men could only bite the bullet and continue to meet them, and this time, the Germans sent a total of 1 large torpedo boat and 12 high-speed warboats, which was only half of the strength of the previous two attacks. If the attack of the first two groups of torpedo boats had gone well, they would have come to test for leaks, but at this point in the battle, the British fast fleet was still strong, and continuing the offensive tactics of the front was tantamount to asking for a dead end.

Due to their respective tasks and missions, the British fleet and the German torpedo boat group faced each other, and another fierce and brutal battle was about to begin, but it didn't take long for the German large torpedo boats leading the formation to suddenly turn, and the high-speed warships behind them also turned around and retreated, apparently they should have received a retreat order from the rear command ship. However, the group of German torpedo boats did not completely withdraw, but remained in the line of sight of the British fast fleet, closely monitoring the movements of the opposing side.

The high-speed warship attack was unfavorable, and the torpedo attack planes of the "Bismarck" seemed to be the best choice for delaying the British fast fleet, but for a long time after that, they did not appear in this sea area again, but not because the take-off and landing of bombs delayed time, but because the German dreadnought group and the British main fleet were inseparable, and the torpedo attack planes played the role of a surprise and winning surprise force.

In particular, they learned that the British fleet had not suffered a catastrophic blow, and the German officers and men on the five high-speed torpedo boats were silently doing their job -- hoisting the returning high-speed torpedo boats from the sea, adding torpedoes and fuel, urgently repairing the leaks, and replacing the wounded or otherwise unable to continue the battle with reserve personnel.

On the command ship, the young Captain Christian August exuded heavy emotions. As a young man, he was also a "high-speed elite". He was one of the first "veterans" to join the high-speed torpedo boat test group, and participated in a total of 62 water races, won four championships, and finished in the top three 19 times.

Today, Christian is Chief of Staff of the High-Speed Torpedo Boat Mothership Detachment and Chief Instructor of the German School of High-Speed Torpedo Boats. Although he knew the battle situation in advance, he was still angry and enthusiastic when he saw the embarrassing scene of the high-speed battleship troops returning home, and from the mouths of the pilots who participated in the battle, he heard that the British fleet had severely damaged the invincible German high-speed torpedo boat group with fierce grenade shots, and he was even more eager to personally drive the boats to participate in the battle and use the top driving skills to break through the dense firepower of the British fleet.

"Humph! The enemy's shotguns were like sand being sprinkled on the water, one after the other, and we dodged multiple attacks, but in the end we still received one. ”

The officer who spoke was a "Thunder" pilot, who was sitting on the deck being treated by a medic officer, and during the battle, his ship was pierced by a shotgun, which was fortunately smaller than a fist and pierced through the tempered glass cover and slanted out of the right side of the hull, causing only a slight leak, and he himself was only cut on his right arm by fragments from the cockpit, and the backseat gunner did not even have a scrape, but the young man was obviously stunned by the experience, and sat in the corner since boarding.

The officers and men gathered around shook their heads when they heard this, although the shrapnel was not a new piece of equipment, but if the torpedo boat group wanted to force a breakthrough through the defenses of the British fleet in a head-on engagement, this shrapnel was a great trouble.

Christian had been standing on the bridge ramp and listening to the private, and although the content was not surprising, he heard something strange and walked down the gangway.

"So...... Enemy ships fired quite a few shrapnel shells in the course of the battle? ”

The first class soldier hurriedly stood up and saluted: "Sir! ”

Christian didn't care about etiquette and asked directly: "According to your estimates, how many grenades did a British battleship fire?" ”

The First Private, apparently abrupt by the question, replied as he struggled to recall it, "Uh...... If at the rate of one shot per minute, a cannon fired at least 15 rounds, a battleship is about ...... 120 rounds. ”

"They spend most of their time facing you with the ship's side in order to play the role of the rear main gun?" Christian asked again, and after receiving an affirmative answer, he nodded thoughtfully: "Even if half of the shells are shrapnels, and one main gun is only about 40 rounds, two rounds of attacks have already consumed most of it. ”

At this time, another corporal who was resting next to him interjected: "When our planes approached the British fleet to drop torpedoes, those British battleships also used shrapnels, but not for that long, adding up to about six or seven rounds. ”

"Oh?" Christian's eyes were suddenly one, unless this British fast fleet was only here to fight hares, otherwise, they must carry a corresponding number of armor-piercing shells, and the load of shrapnel should be within their own estimated range.

With this in mind, Christian walked towards the bridge without looking back.

(End of chapter)