Because the lights were not turned on, the battle bridge of the "Frederick the Great" was dark, and only when the guns were fired, the flames refracted through the observation window would illuminate the vicissitudes of life in the bridge, whether simple, cold or vivid. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

"It's getting dark."

The deep voice came from the commander of the German High Seas Fleet, von Ingnoor, a steady, dedicated naval commander, who, in his character, would not have the idea of fighting to the death with a strong enemy at the beginning of a war, and once persuaded to join this bold plan, he threw himself into it without hesitation, without wavering in the hope and hesitation.

"Uh-huh, there's still half an hour." The answer was the chief of staff of the German High Seas Fleet, the soul of the operation, Prince Joachim of Prussia, who had another name that he had not forgotten, Natsuki.

The noble birth and the wisdom of the future generations are almost a perfect combination.

"The opponent is more cunning than we expected." Natsuki's implication was that if the British mobile fleet hadn't turned in time, it would have already experienced purgatory under the heavy fire of the German dreadnought group.

"David Beatty, the self-confessed Royal Admiral of Nelson's reincarnation, admired the bravery of his attack, and fled before he could even meet us." The sour ridicule came from Captain von Lubic, captain of the "Frederick the Great".

Neither Ingnor nor Natsuki spoke up, and if they found themselves in a trap and rushed forward, they should be called stupid people instead of brave generals.

After a while, the telephone hanging in the bulkhead made a monotonous sizzling sound, and the diligent fleet staff officer, Captain Gord, took off the receiver before Colonel Lubic's staff officer, and after a brief conversation, he turned his head and reported loudly: "Our torpedo machine has hit the enemy flagship!" ”

"Great!" Colonel Lubic exclaimed excitedly.

Ingnoll and Natsuki were also excited about the news in their hearts, but they still maintained a steady demeanor on their faces.

The blunt Colonel Rubich didn't care about this, he picked up his telescope with joy and searched the twilight sea, and after a moment he cried out again: "That unfortunate lion has been caught in our lasso, ha, the fire on the ship is very strong, what a perfect target!" What does it matter when it's dark? We'll be able to send it to the bottom of the ocean in no time! ”

At the age of 57, he followed the pace of German expansion and traveled the world, serving as a sergeant and non-commissioned officer on early protective cruisers and ironclad ships, and then as an officer on armored cruisers and battleships. Since its commissioning, the Frederick the Great has long held the title of shooting champion of the German High Seas Fleet, and has twice been awarded by the Kaiser for her outstanding performance.

At this time, Natsuki said to Ingnorr: "If it is unfortunately seriously injured, the British may abandon it, and then the remaining four battle cruisers may still be able to escape in one piece." ”

The reason why it is four ships is because so far only the "Invincible" has been confirmed to have sunk, and the "New Zealand" that was damaged and voluntarily withdrew from the battle has not been found, even if the "Lion" is lost, the British can still keep the "Royal Princess", "Queen Margaret", "Australia" and "New Zealand", with their battle injuries, they can return to the battle in a month at most, and according to the information obtained by the German naval intelligence, the "Tiger" battle cruise, which is stronger than Queen Margaret, is about to be completed, in addition, The British Navy is in full swing on the Queen Elizabeth-class battleships, which are expected to be completed by early 1916 with excellent firepower, defense, and speed, and their addition will give the British Navy an unprecedentedly strong core. Seeing this trend, Natsuki was determined to inflict heavy losses on the British Navy at the beginning of the war, and only two battle cruisers were killed, which was far from the expected purpose of the war.

Under the direct command of Colonel Lubitch, the "Frederick the Great" continued to fire at the British fleet at the edge of the range with four front main guns, and the six German dreadnoughts fired for more than ten minutes, and the rumbling guns were like the rhythm of a heavy thunderstorm. In the state of long-range shooting-adjustment-re-firing, although the continuous firing time is long, the average ammunition consumed by each gun is actually not much, and the hit rate remains at zero for the time being—this situation is of course only "temporary". A few minutes later, the mast watchtower observed a light signal from a Hubert D reconnaissance plane: a shell hit a cruiser, an explosion occurred on board, and the speed slowed down.

As night progresses, the distant firelight becomes easily recognizable. Disturbed by torpedo attacks, the battle cruisers in the British mobile fleet no longer fired back as frequently as before, and from the battle bridge of the "Frederick the Great", there were two constantly flickering points of light at the end of the sea level, like misplaced stars, which were clearly distinguished from the occasional flickering flames, and against the background of the deep canopy, a long column of smoke above the light points could be faintly observed......

Although he was not sure that the fire that hit the enemy ship was from the ship, Colonel Lubic approached Ingnoll with a pleasant look and said to his old colleague: "There are still 16,000 meters left, and perhaps we can overload the engines for half an hour, so that we can quickly catch up with the rabbits." ”

"There's no need for that right now!" Ingnoll replied in a gentle tone. The first high-speed torpedo boats had already passed the dreadnought group, and with their unrivalled sprint speed, coupled with the effective attack of the British fleet by torpedo attack aircraft, it would not be long before they could catch up, and even if the Betty fleet could avoid all the torpedoes, the retreat would have been greatly delayed.

Natsuki on the side didn't interject, as the chief designer of the Caesar-class and King-class, his knowledge of these cutting-edge dreadnoughts was almost unmatched. There are many innovations in their design, and they also continue the "power secret" of the German ship - the maximum power of its design is not the limit value of the machine, in the case of overload of the main engine, the output power can often reach 120%-140% of the maximum power, and the ultimate speed is increased by 1-2 knots, and this overload does not appear instantaneously, theoretically it can exceed 3 hours, and the overload test of more than 2 hours has been carried out in the test, although such a "power secret" is not the exclusive characteristics of German machinery, But few countries consciously consider it a tactical skill. Because of this difference in consciousness, the British always thought that their own warships had an advantage in speed over German warships of the same class, and only when they actually fought each other did they realize how "one-sided" this understanding was.

As the minutes passed, the visual environment of the sea became darker and more blurred, the royal blue sky was dotted with more and more stars, and the air that had become hot from the fierce battle gradually warmed up. Suddenly, a silvery white light burst out in front of the sight, as if a flashlight had suddenly turned on in a closed dark room, first one, then a second and a third, and these light clusters that slowly descended from the sky each illuminated a piece of the sea, instantly reappearing the British ships that had already escaped into the shadows.

As Natsuki had predicted, Colonel Lubic decisively shouted, "Aha, their damaged capital ship is only 12,000 meters away from us. Either surrender with dignity or sink with honor, there is no other way! ”

In the new observation and aiming environment, the firing commander on the German dreadnought needed some time to re-determine the firing parameters, and there was a temporary silence on the sea.

In a few moments, the heavy artillery roar of the German fleet rolled in, and the meteorite shells fell mercilessly on the battlecruiser "Lion", which had been damaged by aviation torpedoes. When she left on the transport boat, Betty was already aware of its tragic end, but there was still a trace of luck in her heart, hoping that the crew who stayed on the ship for damage management and emergency repairs could make a miracle happen, but the miracle did not happen, and the column of water began to rise around it, although it has not yet hit directly, but judging from the impact points scattered around the battleship, the appearance of that scene will be a matter of time.

Seeing the originally majestic "lion" staggering in the rear like a dying "sick lion", miserable to endure the German artillery fire, on the light cruiser named after the capital of Ireland, the officers and men were silent one by one, some regarded this as a great shame for the British Royal Navy, and vowed to make the Germans repay, while others felt the rise of the fierce enemy and were worried about the fate of the Royal Navy and even the British Empire......

"Sir, sir, I've received an encrypted telegram from the Grand Fleet!"

The captain of the light cruiser, a young lieutenant commander, hurried to the stern and presented the telegram to Betty.

With the last glimmer of twilight before nightfall, Betty's gaze swept over the telegram, and his sad face suddenly changed, and he turned to look north, as if he could already see the scene of revenge.

"Send me to the Royal Princess." He instructed the captain.

"Yes, yes, sir!" The lieutenant colonel hurriedly turned back to the bridge, and when Betty faced the stern again, the "Lion", which could only move slowly at a speed of 8 knots, was still illuminated by the flares dropped by the German reconnaissance planes, and another round of German artillery fire came immediately. It was already dark, and the shells that had exploded in the water were also clearly visible, and a large ball of dazzling fireball suddenly rose from the stern of the "Lion," which had lowered its flagship flag.

Betty's heart sank, the first time she boarded the "Lion" seemed to be yesterday, but at this moment she could only watch it on its last journey with great pain, how sad!

(End of chapter)