At about 2 o'clock in the morning, at the coastal fort of Dover, the British sentries on duty spotted the black outline of a fleet on the sea sprinkled with silver moonlight. Writing "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info Because of the size of this fleet and its location at a distance from the coast of England, the sentinels mistook it for an attack by the German fleet and raised the alarm in great horror. In a short period of time, the entire fortress was put into a state of battle, with heavy guns raised and torpedo tubes placed in concealed positions ready for launch, and thousands of British officers and soldiers were on standby, vowing to use their flesh and blood to prevent the enemy from trampling on the British mainland.

Time slipped away in a suffocating atmosphere, and the British officers and men did not wait for the order to open fire, and they finally learned that the crisis of German naval aggression turned out to be a false alarm, and that it was not the German fleet that sailed through the sea ahead, but the British Channel Fleet, which had been ordered to sail to the Dutch waters. Seventeen battleships, four protective cruisers, 11 destroyers, and 20 minesweepers formed a sea column nearly 10 nautical miles long, which meant that by the time the stern ships sailed out of the Strait of Dover, the leading outpost had approached the port of Dunkirk - they had not taken the British route as usual, but had chosen the middle route of the channel.

Without prior news of the imminent passage of the fleet, the defenders of Dover's fortress nearly opened fire on their own fleet, and the French were equally taken aback by the unidentified fleet. After receiving a report from the patrol vessel, the mobile maritime unit based in Dunkirk quickly dispatched one destroyer and 14 small mine-striking ships. Knowing that the British fleet was heading for Dutch waters, some French ships volunteered to join the escort, and only when the long British fleet was completely out of French waters did they turn around and return to Dunkirk.

Out of the Strait of Dover, more than 40 nautical miles to the north is the Thames estuary, more than 40 nautical miles east to the Belgian coastline, and northeast to the Dutch seas. After leaving the Strait of Dover, the British Channel Fleet under the command of Vice Admiral Benard Kerry headed northeast, only at the current speed of the fleet it would be a dozen hours before it reached the position where the Harwich fleet had engaged the German fleet the day before—much slower than expected. In a telegram sent to the Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Kerry explained that "the battleships of the 7th and 8th fleets generally had power problems, the 'Ocean', 'Goliath', and 'Albion' could only run 14 knots, and the 'Dreadnought' engines had problems, and most of the time they were moving slowly at 11 knots, but if these ships were left behind, the remaining battleships would probably not be enough to deal with the German fleet of elite dreadnoughts and battlecruisers." ”

In the early morning, the dark night slowly faded, and the east was white, and the officers and men of the British Channel Fleet were about to welcome the new day by cleaning their decks, when a light gray painted seaplane flew over their heads with a noisy roar, and the Iron Cross badge on the wings suddenly made everyone's mood depressed.

Seeing this German reconnaissance plane, Bennard Kerry and his officers realized that the situation was not good, but before they could make tactical adjustments, the lookout on the mast exclaimed loudly - the German fleet was seen in the northern sea!

"De Fllinger" was the first, "Goeben", "King", and "Caesar" were followed in a compact echelon, and five light cruisers and nine large torpedo boats followed at high speed.

On the open-air observation platform at the top of the bridge of the flagship "King", the senior officers led by Reinhardt Schell greeted the battle with majesty and pride. From this position, they can clearly hear the parameter instructions reported by the firing command room.

"Target distance, 22,000 meters! Alternate Shooting Preparation! ”

On this new dreadnought ship with strong firepower, the four 12-inch main guns on the front deck have long been pointed at the British fleet in the distance, because it is in the state of facing the enemy in the bow, the main gun turret on the rear deck does not have a firing angle for the time being, but after many sea drills and actual combat tempering, the officers and men do not feel anxious about this, and they devote themselves to work with a serious, rigorous, and down-to-earth attitude, as if they are the parts and components of this huge warship, operating accurately and full of tension.

Boom! Boom!

The leading "De Fllinger" took the lead in sounding the battle horn, it is the largest, heaviest, and strongest capital ship of the German Navy at present, and the firepower configuration is completely consistent with that of the King-class battleships, except for the waterline main armor belt and deck thickness is slightly reduced, and the protection capabilities are not inferior to the first-class battleships, so it is regarded as the third capital ship between dreadnoughts and battlecruisers - "high-speed battleships". In the thrilling Battle of Jutland, "De Fllinger" charged into battle as a member of the German reconnaissance fleet, and successively fought against the British battle patrol formation, the old battleship group and the main dreadnought, and successfully resisted the enemy's artillery fire with its strong armor.

After the "De Fllinger" opened fire, the "Goeben", which shone in the Battle of Jutland, also let out a roar that resounded across the sea. The actual tonnage of this battle cruiser was comparable to that of the Caesar-class, and the protection and power were not particularly excellent, but it was in the spotlight before the war because it was equipped with the same four-seat triple main guns as the Nassau-class and Helgoland-class dreadnoughts. Whether it was a live firing within the German Navy or a joint exercise of the British and German Navy, it had performed excellently, and was regarded by many naval critics as a formidable opponent of the British Invincibility and Indefatigable class battlecruisers. It is a pity that the "Blücher", which was inferior to "Goeben", played the role of "terminator" in the naval battle, although the "Goeben" hit the "Australia" many times, but failed to sink it, but near the end of that naval battle, "Goeben" and "De Fllinger" jointly sank the British dreadnought "Avantgarde", which can be regarded as making up for the regret of missing the opportunity.

As the two German battlecruisers opened fire one after another, there was a screech of large-caliber shells on the sea, and "King" and "Caesar" soon joined the symphony. The old British battleships on the opposite side, limited by the elevation angle and range of the main guns, watched as the German shells fell without any protest.

In the high-powered telescope, Natsuki saw that the four battleships at the front of the British fleet began to turn, and the gradually revealing stern meant that they were turning to the right. The neutrality of the Netherlands was not violated by any of the parties, so it was impossible for the British ships to withdraw to Dutch territorial waters, they just did not want to get too close to the German fleet in the process of closing the battle formation.

The opponent's intentions were very obvious, and there was no need for Natsuki to remind him, so Scheer decisively ordered: all capital ships moved forward at full speed, 1 away from the enemy. Turning to a salvo at 20,000 meters.

After receiving the battle order from the flagship, the ships were injected with stimulants, and soon there was a very noticeable change - all the chimneys were spewing black smoke outward, especially the two dreadnoughts, which were simply small factory complexes; The water splashed violently as the propellers swirled, and the waves in the bow of the ship became larger and higher, and the degree of the hull jolting up and down increased dramatically......

The design power of the main engine is 6. The 50,000-horsepower "De Fllinger" had 7 in overload tests. 40,000 horsepower output, and from this 27 was obtained. Ultimate speed of 1 knot. At this time, the battle situation obviously did not require it to show the ability to play with its life, and I saw that this slender large battleship soared from a formation speed of 22 knots to 26. A sprint speed of 5 knots, which was beyond the reach of not only the old battleships on the opposite side, but also the many British destroyers present!

The main engine firing power is 5. The 40,000-horsepower "Moltke" has an ultimate speed of 26 under overload. 5 knots, it ran 25 at full load at this time. 6 knots, although this speed is not as fast as the "De Fllinger", but the two battle cruisers will not have a large position gap in a short period of time, which will affect the tactical coordination of the two.

The two battle cruisers spread out and galloped, and the two main battleships, with "balanced performance" and "survivability" as the primary design indicators, could only honestly follow behind - the "King"24. The 5 knots already surpassed any of the British battleships in service, second only to the British Queen Elizabeth class under construction, and the 23 of the "Caesar". The 2nd section has also greatly exceeded the outside world's estimates of the German dreadnought of this class.

In this way, the four compact German capital ships gradually split into two groups, and their trajectories were not completely straight. I saw that the two battlecruisers made a slight arc outward, and the bow finally pointed to the middle and front of the British fleet, while the track of the two battleships was relatively straight, and their bows pointed to the front of the British fleet.

In the process of high-speed assault, the turbulence of the hull caused the four German capital ships to invariably slow down the frequency of firing, and their shelling accuracy was correspondingly affected, and the impact point never fell within 50 meters of a certain British battleship, but this was obviously only a temporary situation. A quarter of an hour later, the "De Fllinger" was the first to make a beautiful arc on the surface of the sea, majestically showing its full starboard side before the eyes of the enemy. Eight 12-inch guns of 50 times the diameter were pointed at a British battleship more than 10,000 meters away.

Realizing that great danger was coming, several old British battleships in the front of the fleet opened fire on the "De Fllinger". In the blink of an eye, more than a dozen heavy shells roared in, stirring up a large wave of water around the German cutting-edge war patrol, but the "De Fllinger" was seen majestically breaking through the water curtain formed by the waves.

The sun shone through the smoke on the brand-new hull of the German war cruiser, and the cold light shimmered and the edge was exposed.

(End of chapter)