In the command tower of the "King", the flagship of the German High Seas Fleet, Natsuki calmly watched the changes in the situation of the naval battle. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 In Info's sight, the British battle patrol detachment consisting of two battle cruisers and four light cruisers was drifting away, and the torpedo attack of their own large torpedo boat group had once overwhelmed them, but the addition of British destroyers turned the tide of the battle at once. Seeing that they could not bargain, the large German torpedo boats that attacked quickly retreated under the cover of artificial smoke, and the British destroyers pursued them for some distance, apparently fearing the ambush of the Germans, and quickly gave up the pursuit.

As a result, the theme of this naval battle returned to the long-distance confrontation between the two main fleets.

Natsuki knew, of course, that the British battle patrol detachment was turning around against his 2nd reconnaissance formation, and apart from the large torpedo boats he had sent earlier, he had not made any adjustments to interfere with and stop the other side, as this was part of his intended strategy. As a result of the combat operations in the Irish waters in the early stage, the German reconnaissance fleet was divided into two, Hipper led the 1st reconnaissance formation composed of "De Fllinger" and "Seydlitz" to the southern waters of Ireland, and the remaining ships formed the 2nd reconnaissance formation to stay in the northern seas, and the two Scharnhorst-class armored cruisers led by Earl Spee and the "Blucher" formation, which carried out surface assault warfare in the North Atlantic, joined the 2nd reconnaissance formation one after another. At the time of the Battle of the Faroe Islands, Hipper's two main cruisers had not yet returned, and the German main fleet failed to take on the strongest lineup. However, the superiority of naval aviation allowed Natsuki to see in advance the strength of his opponent's participation in the war - counting the newly commissioned "Tiger", the British fleet heading north to the Faroe Islands had only six dreadnoughts and three battle cruisers, and one of them was an embarrassing Indefatigable class. Ten dreadnoughts of the German fleet were enough to oppose the British fleet, and if the three battle cruisers Moltke, Goeben, and Blucher were concentrated in formation, there was basically no suspense of victory.

However, Natsuki now wants more than just a victory. After the capture of Paris, most people felt that the war situation in Germany was very good, and from the height of history, Natsuki's vision of things was more profound and thorough than ordinary people, and he clearly knew what kind of crisis was hidden behind the flowers and cheers. On the Western Front, the Anglo-French forces were defeated again and again, and even lost Paris, a city of great strategic significance, they were demoralized and struggling, but they showed an amazing will not to admit defeat in a desperate situation, and the German officers and soldiers were exhausted in the Battle of the Marne and the Battle of Paris, exhausted, and the overconfident German base camp also transferred more than 200,000 troops to the Eastern Front at this time, intending to win on two fronts at the same time.

At this time, although there was no serious shortage of basic materials needed by the German army for combat and people's livelihood in a short period of time, the production rate of weapons and ammunition, aircraft vehicles, and combat ships was much higher than before the war, and the output of steel was also rising in recent months, but in Xia Shu's eyes, these were only short-term effects brought about by the stimulation of the war. In fact, Germany's prosperous industrial economy is highly dependent on imported raw materials, and more than half of the imported raw materials are by sea, and now Germany's war machine is in full swing, the demand for industrial raw materials has increased greatly compared with the pre-war period, but 90 percent of the sea transportation has been stopped, and the rail transport with Ottoman Turkey has been subject to many restrictions due to the transit of two neutral countries, and the decline in industrial potential is tantamount to a normal artificial blood function problems, and a little longer will become a big problem.

Before this naval battle, Natsuki's consideration was mainly based on the strategic situation of the Allied camp, and in the course of the battle, the British new battle cruiser that made its debut was one enemy and three enemies, and actually damaged two German dreadnoughts in succession in ten minutes, this amazing performance made Natsuki more determined to his idea: this naval battle is not to defeat or defeat, but to completely annihilate!

In fact, the German Navy received information a long time ago that the British Navy was building a number of unprecedentedly powerful capital ships, the new battle cruiser continued to use the 13.5-inch caliber main gun, but used the British had never tried the triple main gun, and the new battleship used a new 14 or 15-inch caliber main gun, and the speed will also exceed that of all previous battleships. Before these new British warships were put into service, the German High Seas Fleet took the initiative to launch the Battle of Jutland and the two Battle of Flanders, which inflicted heavy losses on the British Navy and seized the strategic initiative at sea. In the eyes of many, the British Navy was over, and even if these new warships were put into service with very superior performance on paper, the British would still not be able to compete with the German fleet. This naval battle has been fought so far, and the "Tiger" has driven low and gone high, and has responded to people's doubts with ironclad reality: Britain's shipbuilding industry can still design and build super-first-class warships!

If the war drags on for another two or three months, the first Queen Elizabeth-class battleship should be completed.

With unwavering determination, Natsuki turned his gaze back to the British main fleet. Two British battle cruisers and four light cruisers broke away from the battle, and the main opponent of the German dreadnought fleet was left with only 4 super-dreadnoughts and 1 dreadnought of the British. Excluding the "Rhineland" and "Nassau", who were seriously injured and retreated, Natsuki still had 8 dreadnoughts in his hands, but perhaps in the eyes of the British fleet commander, the ratio of capital ships between the two sides was 6 to 5 instead of 8 to 5, because the two dreadnoughts led by the German fleet were also heavily damaged. In fact, naval warfare and land warfare have a lot in common, and a damaged battleship is like a wounded soldier, not only losing its original combat capability, but also having to distract the energy of its companions to cover.

At Natsuki's behest, Beinke ordered his sailors to follow the rhythm of the British battleship's bombardment and ignite the prepared gunpowder and smoke to create the illusion that the ship had been heavily damaged. In this way, the number of dreadnoughts on the side of the German fleet increased to three, and the situation in the fleet artillery battle seemed to become 5 against 5, and the British, who had 4 super-dreadnoughts, suddenly reversed the situation.

Now, Natsuki is not sure that the theorist who is in charge of the British Grand Fleet has fallen into his trap, and he still needs a small "test". Soon, the "King" raised the signal flag for the ship's withdrawal from the battle, and at the same time lowered the flagship flag of the fleet, and the "Caesar" raised the acting flagship flag on the flagpole. Immediately after that, the "King" began to turn to the left, and the large torpedo boats responsible for covering it desperately released smoke screens, while the "Elector" and the "Border Governor" also withdrew from the battle column.

The guns of the British fleet, however, never gave up biting the "King".

Seeing this, Natsuki decided to increase the amount of bait, and he ordered the remaining five dreadnoughts to turn en masse, and the large torpedo boats accompanying him followed behind to release the smoke screen, assuming a posture of full retreat.

Natsuki speculated in an empathetic way that Sir Jackson, who was commanding the British Grand Fleet for the first time, would definitely not follow Betty with his capital battleships with a maximum speed of just over 20 knots to hunt the German reconnaissance formation - no matter whether the opponent was two battle cruisers, three battle cruisers, or three battle cruisers and two armored ships, with Betty's ability and the strength of "Tiger" and "Royal Princess", even if he did not take advantage, he would not suffer a big loss, and he had four heavily damaged German capital ships in front of him. Regardless of the severity of their damage and whether the damage was contained in a timely manner, their performance must have been affected, and even if only one ship was left behind due to the loss of speed, the British fleet would have the best chance of revenge since the defeat at Jutland.

After the five German dreadnoughts turned en masse, the British fleet made adjustments: the four super-dreadnoughts that had been arranged in a single column and the dreadnoughts with seven main turrets turned to the right, the battle column became a pursuit column, and the light ships with the covering task also turned around.

By the time the British fleet had completed its turn, the distance between the two fleets had increased to more than 17,000 meters. The overall speed of the German fleet was slightly faster, and the rear main guns of each ship continued to attack the opposing British battleships, while the pursuing British capital ships opened fire with the front main guns, and the speed of each other's shelling slowed down a lot, and the frequency of close misses and direct hits decreased a lot, like the second half of a fierce football game, where the players on both sides slowed down due to physical exertion, and this delicate balance lasted for nearly twenty minutes, until a German dreadnought gradually fell behind its companions.

The Nassau's fall was not intentional on Natsuki's part, as the ammunition depot was filled with water and the hull leaked, and nearly 2,000 tons of seawater were poured into the bilge, the hull tilted forward by more than 5 degrees, and the speed dropped to 6 knots. Thanks to the efforts of the crew, several damages to the outer wall of the ship were controlled, and the ship's water pump was fully opened, and if there was no new damage, the speed could be increased to about 12 knots in two hours, and any higher could cause the wooden bolts and partitions used to temporarily plug the leak to be washed away by the seawater.

The British fleet was like a pack of wolves that smelled blood, eager to pounce on it and tear its prey to pieces, but the Germans had several large torpedo boats circling the "Nassau" all the time, using artificial smoke to cover the lagging capital ship, and the two groups of large torpedo boats on the left and right of the fleet also turned around and rushed towards the British fleet, and they fired torpedoes seven or eight kilometers away, making it clear at a glance the intention of intercepting the British fleet.

The Germans' large torpedo boats posed no threat to the British fleet, and then several German carrier-based planes hanging on aviation torpedoes appeared in sight, and the British noticed that the wind and waves on the sea had weakened slightly, but their few remaining seaplanes could not land smoothly in such sea conditions, and they had to let the German naval aviation do whatever they wanted. While the British fleet was busy dealing with the torpedoes of the Germans, the German main fleet, whose whereabouts were obscured by the smoke screen, quietly completed the tactical adjustment, and the eight dreadnoughts except for the "Nassau" and "Rhineland" were organized into two battle columns, and the "Elector", "Frontier Governor", "King", "Caesar", "Regent of Louitpold" on the side, "Westphalia", "Helgoland", and "Thuringia" on the side, rushed out from the left and right sides of the "Nassau", respectively. Every chimney of these German dreadnoughts was spewing smoke and dust, their engines were overloaded, and their speeds were at extreme speeds.

(End of chapter)