"Starboard direction...... Watch out for torpedo ......"

The piercing shouts began with the reconnaissance cruiser "Emden", and in the blink of an eye, the watchmen of the new dreadnought "King" issued the same warning. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 info Not long after, the three dreadnoughts "Regent Louitpold", "Catherine", and "King Albert", together with the reconnaissance cruiser "Cologne" and the large torpedo boats G38, G39, and G40, all noticed the British destroyers approaching from the starboard side and the torpedoes they fired. In an instant, the battleship's secondary guns and the various types of naval guns of the light ships opened fire, and the rumbling of the guns was like a thunderstorm in the middle of summer, coming quickly and fiercely. The sea where several British destroyers were located quickly boiled, and the large and small columns of water constituted a strange sea spectacle, but it was clear that the heavy night provided good cover for the attackers, and hundreds of shells fell around them, but very few could actually cause damage to them. Before the German fleet could retaliate even more violently, the British destroyers turned around decisively, and without releasing the smoke screen, they quickly disappeared into the depths of the night.

While intercepting the attackers with naval guns, several German battleships on the torpedo route turned according to the experience of the commanders, and they were finally able to avoid the torpedoes fired from a long distance, but this not only affected their shooting accuracy, but also caused the battle formations that had just adjusted their position to lose their neat formation. Frederick the Great, Caesar, and several escort ships, unthreatened by torpedoes, stood abruptly in front of their companions, like two heavily armored cavalrymen with four or five light horsemen, and even if they had the strength to force a whole array of British cavalry in full force. As a last resort, the German battleships "Frederick the Great" and "Caesar", named after the famous emperors, had to slow down and wait for their companions. At the same time, the 3rd Battleship Detachment, which had been scattered in order to avoid the previous torpedo attack, was approaching the British fleet non-stop, and by the time the 1st Battleship Detachment, consisting of six new dreadnoughts, reorganized itself and continued to advance towards the British Fleet at a speed of 18 knots, it was already less than 5,000 meters away from the British fleet!

Vice Admiral Wilhelm von Reims was a veteran of the German Navy, and some of them became more cautious as they aged, but the naval commander's style was as fierce as ever. He was a solid supporter of the doctrine of fleet warfare and excelled in and admired gunnery. When he learned that the High Seas Fleet had come out in full force to fight the main force of the British navy, he was overjoyed and convinced of the final outcome of the German fleet's victory. At this moment, with steely determination, he led the formation to meet the British fleet, but did not notice that the 1st Battleship Detachment, which was in the vanguard, was slightly behind due to the interference of British destroyers. When the lookout post reported that a number of suspicious ships had been spotted in the sea ahead, Vice Admiral Lance ordered four large torpedo boats of the 7th Detachment of the 4th Lightning Strike Group to preemptively launch lightning strikes on those suspicious targets, clearing an offensive path for the dreadnought group.

V-25, V-26, V-27, V-28, these four large torpedo boats of the 1913 class built by the Volzon shipyard in Hamburg, had already sharpened their fists, and when they saw the signal of the command ship, they immediately rushed out of the array and cleaved the waves on the sea at a speed of 32 knots. At the outbreak of the war, the large torpedo boats of this class were the newest and best escort ships of the German Navy, with a displacement of more than 1,000 tons, a range of 1,200 nautical miles at a speed of 20 knots, and an unprecedented level of firepower. In addition to three 105-mm guns to rival the British destroyers, they were also armed with a new 500-mm torpedo for the first time, with six rotatable torpedo tubes placed in twin front, middle and rear decks, providing powerful single-boat and cluster combat capabilities.

In just a few minutes, the formation of German torpedo boats advancing at high speed encountered several British destroyers on a guard and reconnaissance mission on the periphery of the fleet, and the appearance of dark clouds further weakened the visual effect on the sea, and the artillery battle at the rear of the fleet diverted a considerable part of the attention, until the four large German torpedo boats suddenly opened fire, and the British crews realized that the enemy was close to sight. Afraid of the terrifying fire of the German battleship group, they did not dare to turn on the searchlights, so they had to follow the fire of the German torpedo boats to counterattack, and the German torpedo boat formations did not indulge in the pleasure of the artillery battle, they boldly rushed to a distance of less than 500 meters from the British destroyers to launch torpedoes, these torpedoes were set at a depth of between 2 and 3 meters, and if hit, they would cause fatal damage to the lower part of the hull and the bottom of the most vulnerable light ships.

Moments later, a British destroyer that could not turn was hit by a torpedo fired by the V-28, and the tremendous force instantly penetrated its hull, and the stirred up column of water rushed straight from the side of the ship to a height of 100 meters, and the destroyer's mast tilted at a speed that was discernible to the naked eye. The sea suddenly fell silent, and the only sounds in people's ears were the splash of water and the creaking sound of the sea pressing against the hull. Seeing that there was no hope of damage, the surviving British sailors abandoned their ships, while the rest of the British destroyers did not come to the rescue, and they wandered in the nearby sea. Not long after, the German torpedo boats were hiding in the direction of the high-speed movement of torpedo boats, and the British destroyers, fearing to be passive, fired several flares into the sea. Their energy was only enough to light up the night sky and illuminate the sea, and most of the enemy ships were still hidden in the darkness, and the few ships that appeared suddenly stunned the British sailors who looked directly at them: the sharp bow in the shape of a blade easily cut through the waves, the majestic hull steadily carried the tall bridge, towering mast and majestic heavy artillery, thick black smoke billowed out of the huge chimney, and the ships with the same silhouette were stacked on top of each other, giving people the illusion of dazzling ghosting......

In the bow gun position of a British destroyer, several gunners with acceptable psychological quality quickly adjusted their muzzles, and only heard the sound of a cannon "dong," and the 102-millimeter armor-piercing shells came out of their chambers and flew straight to a huge target on the sea in front of them. It lived up to the return of the gunners under heavy pressure and hit the enemy ship on time. I saw that the bridge position of the German battleship flashed, but there was no follow-up - the shells that were thrown into the sea were instantly swallowed by the waves rolling around the hull.

The British gunners on the gun emplacements were dumbfounded, this was by no means a battle of equal strength, and courage, will, and skill were just a piece of tin foil with a metallic sheen in the face of the huge gap.

On the bridge, the commander of the British destroyer decisively abandoned the useless attempt to confront a strong enemy with naval guns, and he hurriedly shouted: "Full rudder on the right, torpedo on the port side!" ”

In the blink of an eye, the afterglow of the flares faded into the night sky, and the sea in front of them returned to darkness. The hideous face of the enemy disappeared from sight, and with it the tremendous pressure exerted on the British crews, and their numb bodies could move again, but at the same time a deep horror filled every inch of their minds with reason: it was a battlefleet of the German Navy!

On the broadside of the British destroyer, or in the torpedo fighting compartment in the lower compartment, the torpedo crews adjusted the torpedo depth as fast as they could. Since the previous direct threat came from the large German torpedo boats, they set a shallower torpedo depth, and to deal with the German battleships, the torpedo depth should be increased to 7 to 8 meters, so as to avoid their most defensive waterline armor and maximize the destructive power of the torpedoes. Rushing to a distance of several hundred meters from the enemy battleship and firing a torpedo is, after all, an act that borders on suicide, and most of the torpedoes fired at a normal distance will be avoided by the opposing ships, and if a torpedo hits, I don't know how many lives of our own crew will have to be paid.

Just as the British destroyer turned and fired its torpedoes, four ghostly German large torpedo boats actually came back. At a distance of seven or eight hundred meters, their naval guns fired accurately and fiercely, and the subsequent torpedoes gave the British destroyer commanders no choice but to let their battleships twist their bodies again and again on the sea, and when they turned back and wanted to see the opportunity to fire torpedoes, the oncoming German battleships had already set up their artillery columns, and when their long sideways gradually appeared, The 150mm naval guns mounted in the twin secondary turrets and the single 88mm guns protected by curved shields also showed sharp fangs, and what was even more terrifying was that the main guns of these battleships also had their muzzles depressed, and each of them was equipped with up to 12 main guns in the form of four triple turrets, which for a non-battleship-class ship could simply be described as terrifying!

The subsequent Kaiser-class and King-class battleships in service with the German Navy returned to the traditional configuration of the twin main guns, but this was not a negation of the triple main guns, but with the increase in the caliber of the main guns, the weight of the triple turret exceeded the payload of the existing traditional technology. In the artillery drill of the British and German Navy, the Germans painstakingly set up the triple main gun several times have performed brilliantly, and the "von der Tann" battlecruiser, which is equipped with three triple 283 mm naval guns, has taught the British its power in advance by virtue of its medium and long-range accurate shooting, so after this fast battleship was transferred to the Mediterranean, the British Navy had to maintain the deployment of at least three battle cruisers in the Mediterranean, and in their latest design and construction of the "Tiger" Three triad 13 were experimentally installed on the battlecruiser. 5-inch naval guns, but this fast battleship with strong firepower was still in the final state of outfitting at the outbreak of war, and it will not be included in active service until the end of the year at the earliest.

Relying on the pressure of their own battlefleet and firing another torpedo, the four large German torpedo boats did not retreat in a hurry, they circled the sea, suddenly turned on their searchlights, and guided the German dreadnoughts to attack the British destroyers, and this tacit and effective cooperation exacerbated the asymmetry of the battle. In the stroke of a cigarette, two of the three British destroyers were hit by successive German fire, the most unfortunate one was sunk on the spot, and the other was filled with scorching steam because of the boiler explosion. As for the third ship, which was not fatally attacked, the officers and men of the British Royal Navy on board were enraged by the atrocities of the German fleet, and they made a death charge with fearless courage, rushing to a distance of 500 meters from the German fleet to fire torpedoes, and with the favor of Lady Luck, they were able to survive the guns of the German fleet, but to the gritting teeth of all the British crews, the German Helgoland-class battleships exceeded their expectations, and the four 21-inch torpedoes were actually avoided by them one by one.

Two German battleships were temporarily separated from the battle formation by avoiding torpedoes, and six German battleships pursued the lone British destroyer with strong artillery fire, and the battle situation was completely one-sided, and at this moment, the deep darkness of the right front of the German fleet, that is, the sea east of them, was suddenly broken by a blinding light. The powerful 120-centimeter searchlights lit up one by one, and they quickly joined in a line, pointing out the German battleships that had just flaunted their strength in front of the British destroyers, and on the sides of these searchlights, the imposing and powerful naval guns were glaring ahead.

(End of chapter)