"The impact point of the first wave of shells was about 1,000 yards, and the second wave was about 800 yards!" Schneider measured the distance between the water column and the British fleet, and at the same time sent the shooting data back to the fleet as quickly as possible, which is what the school plane had to do.

On the "Elector" and "Oldenburg", which were 10 nautical miles away, the communications officer quickly forwarded the reports sent back by the reconnaissance aircraft to the firing commander, who would revise the firing elements based on these reports and eventually send them to the gun commander in the turret.

The exhaust fan inside the turret turned desperately, expelling the turbid air after the cannonball was fired, and at the same time filling the turret with a slightly fishy smell of fresh air from the sea, but the gunners still felt stuffy, and the gunner tore his throat and shouted:

"Well, boys, our shells didn't hit far enough!"

The gun muzzles on the main turrets at the front of the two battleships were slightly adjusted, and another batch of shells was fired with a loud bang and a loud shock, and the fiery red shells disappeared into the clouds in an instant. Despite the huge recoil, the two battleships did not slow down in the slightest, and the white smoke that rushed out of the breeches along with the shells was quickly dispersed by the oncoming sea breeze.

When the eerie whistle once again tore through the air and reached the ears, the hearts of all the people in the British fleet were as if they were being tightened by an invisible rope - the hearts were not only suspended in mid-air, but also had to endure the suffocating colic. The captains can't escape if they want to, they can't descend if they want to; The captains can't fight if they want to, and they can't go if they want to; Sailors don't know where it's safe, staying on deck is likely to be swept into the sea by sea water and shrapnel in the next second, and staying in the cabin will lose hope of escape after the ship is hit; The sailors did not know what to do, they tried to shoot back but could not see the shadow of the enemy, the pillar of smoke in the sky was beyond the reach of the poor guns on their ship, and they wanted to escape but the honor of the navy did not allow them to leave the freighter that had no ability to resist.

"The impact point of the third wave of shells fell around the southernmost destroyer of the opposing fleet, and the impact point of the fourth wave of shells was nearly 500 yards!" Schneider took notes very carefully and professionally, pressing his finger quickly on the transmitter, while Schwell only had to operate his plane to circle over the British fleet over and over again, and then lament the missed shells of his own battleship. The sound of large-caliber shells piercing the air seemed much clearer in the air, despite the constant roar of the aircraft's engines.

When the British flotilla withdrew in a panic in the opposite direction of the shells, Dönitz's two submarines took the opportunity to launch another wave of torpedoes. Seeing the torpedoes scurrying on the surface of the sea and their long wake, the British captains hurriedly ordered evasion, and one freighter managed to dodge the oncoming torpedoes, but almost collided with another freighter, which turned its bow to the course of other freighters in order to dodge. The whole scene looked a little comical, the British ships were like slow-moving turtles, but they were desperately trying to wriggle their clumsy bodies to avoid the impact of shells, torpedoes and their own people.

General Lennon stood on the bridge of the "Moray Eel" in a cold sweat and looked at the chaotic situation on the sea, feeling sad and helpless. Now, even without the interference of German submarines and torpedoes, this fleet could not escape the pursuit of the German fleet behind, and perhaps these ships were sunk by shells before the German battleships caught up.

"Damn German planes!" Lennon scolded indignantly, in this almost over-the-horizon shelling, the German battleship was able to have such a high accuracy of fire, and that plane was the key point. He hoped in his heart that the plane would leave sooner because it ran out of fuel, so that the German shelling would be much less powerful. However, Lennon knew that his idea would not save his fleet in the slightest, and no matter how long the plane could fly, perhaps another German reconnaissance plane had already refueled and was ready to replace the plane to continue the firing, or perhaps the German fleet would have caught up by the time it returned.

In the end, Lennon had no choice but to give an almost tragic order: "All the freighters will retreat at maximum speed to the port of Seysfjörður, and all the cruisers and destroyers will turn and attack the German fleet in the rear of the fleet!" ”

After seeing the signal from the flagship "Moray Eel", the British naval officers and sailors on the other warships knew exactly what it meant. Judging from the waves of falling shells, there were at least two very violent battleships in the German fleet behind, and they alone were enough to kill the remaining nine British warships, not to mention the kind of annoying and headache German planes that kept roaring above their heads.

Reconnaissance Aircraft No. 1 quickly reported the British warship's move back to the raiding formation, while the German battleship waited for the outlaws as the shelling continued.

"Reconnaissance aircraft No. 1 continued to monitor the British battleships that were separated from the fleet, and reconnaissance aircraft No. 2 took off and was responsible for monitoring the remaining British fleet; The ship and the USS Oldenburg are ready to meet the British fleet with port fire! The 'Frenburg' was responsible for covering the flanks of the ship and ensuring the safety of the prisoners as much as possible during the battle! Lieutenant General Hipperer then gave the order.

When the No. 2 reconnaissance plane rumbled out of the water, the British fleet headed by the cruiser "Moray Eel" formed two columns, one column was four light cruisers, two of which were auxiliary cruisers converted from merchant ships, and the other column was five destroyers, all of which were older models, and their combat performance was really not flattering, and only the two torpedoes in the bow could pose a threat to the German battleships.

For the British Navy, the newest and most elite cruisers and destroyers were lost in two major naval battles in September, which made the road to revival of the British Navy even more elusive, and it now seemed very difficult to even defend itself.

Eventually, the shells that fell on the heads of the British fleet stopped, and many of the British steamers pushed their speed to the extreme, and the whole fleet was thinned out by the different speeds of each ship. The two fastest kerosene-powered new steamers had complained for a long time about the other slow old freighters, and after receiving the order to free detached, they left the other ships far behind with a maximum speed of 18 knots, and the other ships with a speed of 16, 15, and 14 knots also started waves, and the most helpless were the seven freighters loaded with heavy loads, which could only be slowly dragged to the rear, and there was almost no hope of escape.

However, the German battleships did not stop shelling, on the contrary, when they turned the ship to the side, the guns on the side and stern of the ship were able to exert their power, and the firepower of the entire formation was nearly doubled. The first salvo of 10 305-mm guns on the five twin turrets of the "Great Elector" caused a lot of shock to the British, while the "Oldenburg" looked a little at a loss, and the firepower of its four twin turrets was only slightly higher than the three in frontal fire.

For General Lennon and his sailors, the firepower of the German fleet was simply staggering, as evidenced by the two high and wide walls of water rising in front of them. The Germans' first salvo was still some distance away from their warship, but the German plane was still on its heels, and the Germans' shells were as accurate as they had been until they hit themselves.

As Lennon had predicted, the Germans blew up one of their cruisers with a second salvo, and the 4,900-ton auxiliary cruiser, converted from a fast merchant ship, was transformed into a brilliant firework in an instant, as was the case with large-caliber shells smashing into a ship with almost no armor protection.

The British sailors did not have time to close their eyes and mourn the silence of their fallen comrades, as the figures of the German battleships finally appeared on the surface of the sea as far as the eye could see. Although he could not see the silhouette of the opponent with a telescope, Lennon was relieved to find that the opponent had only three battleships, which was completely different from the imaginary scene of cruisers and destroyers surrounding the battleship, and his hope of repulsing the opponent was rekindled in his heart.

"Moray Eel" soon signaled:

"The ships shall be deployed in battle diagonal columns, charging at the German fleet at full speed, striving to fire torpedoes at the closest possible distance, and the ships shall have the enemy battleships as their primary target!"

As soon as the destroyer formation began to accelerate, the last of them was hit in the head, and the latest salvo of the German battleship dropped several shells around it, although only a few of them were nearly missed, but the destroyer superstructure became unrecognizable, shrapnel smashed the command platform and semi-enclosed turret, the entire deck was soaked with the blood of the sailors, a large amount of sea water poured into the breach near the waterline, and the speed of the entire warship dropped rapidly, and finally became a powerless floating object. The sailors at the stern of the other ships stared blankly at the shot destroyer, which did not seem to be on fire, but the lifeless sight was even more disturbing, as if all life had been lost on it.

General Lennon had no time to care about the life and death of the other battleships, he only thought that his battleship could rush to the torpedo range and fire torpedoes, and then watch the German battleship sink with a bullet.

The officers and men of the German fleet knew very well what the British meant, but they had no need or reason to worry, because they unconditionally believed in their commanders, in the excellent warships designed and built by their own country, and even if the British torpedoes did crash, the pride of the German people would return to Germany with them safely. However, everyone's thinking on the battleship was still tense, from the rangefinders visually inspecting each other's data, the officers communicating the firing instructions to the gunners loading the shells, everyone tried to complete their tasks with the fastest speed and the most standardized process.

Vice Admiral Hipper and his generals watched the British fleet through telescopes, all looking forward to the next salvo and the next wave of shells to hit more British ships.

The lieutenant general's lips moved slightly, but he didn't say anything.

No one wants to break the calm in the command room, all the orders that should have been given have been given, and now there is only a silent waiting for the result.

The guns on the German battleships were lowered little by little, and when the distance between the two sides approached 8000 yards, the British lost 2 more cruisers and 2 destroyers, and now they were left with only the cruiser "Moray Eel" and 2 more destroyers.

After entering the firing range, the guns on the British warship began to shoot desperately, and the British sailors' long-suppressed emotions finally exploded at this moment, and they almost frantically filled the shells into the barrels, even half faster than their daily training.

However, the shells fired by the British battleships were either far or far, and even General Lennon had to admit that the gunnery of both sides was not at the same level at all. With the cooperation of the school-firing aircraft, the shooting accuracy of the German Navy has been brought into full play.

While the British sailors were leisurely basking in the sun on the deck, the German sailors were sweating and repeating the boring and hard shooting drills; While the British warships were flaunting their might in the world's oceans, the German warships were tirelessly firing live ammunition again and again in the harbor. The outcome of the war did not depend entirely on the quality of the weapons, and the arrogance of the British and the rigor of the Germans were evident in all campaigns.

The British were still waiting for a maximum torpedo launch range of 3000 yards, an effective hit range of 2000 yards, an efficient hit range of 1000 yards, and if they were lucky, they could also get into an absolute hit range of 500 yards. The unmarked lines of distance were like the end of the British sprint, and under the accurate fire of the Germans, they had no way to retreat, and no one thought that they would leave alive at this time. This is the case with the heat of battle, which can completely distract from all distractions, provided there are no cowards here.

When the muzzles of the German battleships flashed orange fire again and again, the British suddenly felt that even the maximum torpedo firing distance was so unreachable. The clear outline of the German battleship had appeared in front of them, and the two battleships were like huge steel castles, with thick barrels sticking out of the turrets like hills, blowing the horn of death again and again.

Under these circumstances, there was no longer the need for tactical maneuvering in Hipper's formation, and the addition of the guns of the cruiser "Frenburg" and the secondary guns of the battleship made the last three British battleships seem to be bathed in a rain of bullets, and the orange points, large and small, converge on them.

For Lieutenant General Hipper, the game seems to have lost its suspense.

Another British destroyer ship was shot, its speed was reduced, death sentence!

The last British destroyer was shot, this time a large-caliber shell, and it exploded!

The last one, the flagship of General Lennon, the cruiser "Moray Eel", actually held out to the end. It's a pity that even it didn't cross the maximum torpedo launch range of 3000 yards.

Hipper and the officers next to him slowly lowered the binoculars in their hands, although they were confident, but they were more nervous than anyone else just now, and when the cheers of victory sounded in the cabin, they could only smile indifferently, and then continued to maintain the temperament of a general who was not arrogant or discouraged by victory.

Hipper looked up at his watch, it was just after 3 o'clock, and the remaining British freighter had become a bunch of rabbits that could only escape.

After leaving the "Frenberg" to clean up the battlefield and contain prisoners of war, Hipper led two battleships across the "corpses" of the British warships and quickly pursued the remaining freighters of the British fleet. Because they were all British merchant ships, Hipper's battleships poured shells at each other with impunity, and this rare opportunity to exercise also made the officers and men of the "Elector" and "Oldenburg" the most adept at cross-vision shelling in all of Germany.

When the sun went down, only the two fastest British freighters were able to hide in the port of Seysfjörður, and the Hippert formation followed them outside the harbor after cleaning up the pieces.

After sinking 25 British freighters and 10 British warships, the "guest rooms" prepared by the "Frenberg" were already overcrowded.