"Captain, the flagship has sent a telegram that the air fleet will arrive in a few minutes, and their mission is to disrupt the opposing formation, while we feed the aircraft to take out the lone enemy ships!"

Dönitz did not look back at the operator behind him, but kept his eyes firmly on the periscope, and the roar of thousands of galloping engines and the sound of propellers churning and returning to the water could be heard on the water, and everyone and sailors on the submarine were quietly listening.

"Looks like the big guys of the British are here! Where are our other submarines? Dönitz asked, his U-039 hovering three nautical miles to the left of the British fleet.

"Lieutenant Commander Muller and the rest of the submarines are 7 nautical miles ahead of the British fleet, and the British fleet will be in their range of attack in a quarter of an hour! The High Seas Fleet under Generalissimo Tirpitz was 25 nautical miles ahead of the British fleet, and 20 minutes later they met the British fleet! The navigator quickly calculated the results based on the contents of the telegram.

"Okay, let's give the British some aperitif first! 1/3 speed forward! The bow torpedo is ready! ”

The German sailors sprang into action, and soon they were putting their sea wolves in combat form.

"Torpedo No. 1 ready, mine No. 2 ready, determine the ship!" Dönitz stared intently at his target - the Giant-class battleship "Herculus" at the far front of the left side of the British fleet.

"The ship has been confirmed! Nearest ship! The distance is 1000 yards, and the launch angle is 80 degrees! The weapon commander quickly calculated the attack data.

"Torpedo No. 1 launched! Torpedo No. 2 launched! With the periscope stowed, the submarine descended to a depth of 15 meters. Turn 15 degrees to the left and go full throttle! After seeing the torpedo out of the warehouse, Dönitz snapped the periscope shut. Listen intently with the rest of the boat to the expected explosion.

Dozens of seconds later, two explosions were heard on the sea.

"Oooh!" Sailors and officers high-fived each other.

"1/3 of the speed forward. The submarine rises to a depth of 5 meters! ”

Dönitz could clearly see through the periscope that a fire had broken out on the port side of the "Hercules", and the speed had dropped significantly, leaving only one small destroyer to turn around. Other warships had already begun to take the "zigzag" anti-submarine course, and he again ordered the submarine to dive and begin to turn.

"Excellent! Don't be too greedy, we'll eat it today! ”

U-039 quickly reverted back to its previous attack position, when the periscope was raised again. Just now, only the battleship "Hercules" was hobbling on the sea, and the apparently lonely destroyer.

"Captain, the bow torpedo is ready!"

"Very good, calculate the shooting yuan!" Just as Dönitz was commanding the U-039 to attack again, the British sailors on the destroyer spotted a periscope looming over the sea, and the destroyer then fired in this direction, and the shells continued to fall near the submarine.

"Damn! Put away the periscope! Urgent dive! Dönitz depressedly gave the order, as long as it did not come close to the water. The British have nothing to do with themselves.

"The submarine dives to a depth of 30 meters, the course remains the same, keep going!"

"Captain?" The sailors looked at Dönitz in bewilderment, and at this time the submarine was heading directly for the British battleship.

"Execute the order! We're going to get under that ship and attack it from the other side! Let's hope our periscope doesn't touch the bottom of its ship! "30 meters is already the maximum depth that the U-039 can reach, the height of the boat is 5 meters, the shortest periscope is 3 meters, and the battleship is about 10 meters below the waterline, as long as there are no accidents, the U-039 can completely pass under it.

"1/3 of the speed forward, everyone try not to make noise!" It was also the first time for Dönitz to command a submarine to make such a technical move, and he couldn't help but feel a little nervous.

Everyone stayed quietly in their positions, some even held cups against the bulkhead to listen, and only the slight and rapid rotation of a propeller could be heard above their heads, and it seemed that the battleship "Hercules" had completely stopped.

Time flowed minute by minute, beads of sweat slipped down the faces of the sailors, and everyone feared that the next second there would be the sound of a submarine colliding with the bottom of an enemy warship. Dönitz stared at his watch and counted the distance, and after five minutes, he ordered U-039 to rise again.

Through the periscope, Dönitz saw that the battleship was exactly 500 meters behind the submarine, and the destroyer was still on the other side of it.

"The stern torpedo is ready to be launched, and after launch, the submarine strives to complete the turn in the fastest possible time!"

With his order, the torpedo operator at the stern of the boat couldn't wait to unscrew the launch valve, and the torpedo snorted out, and as the submarine was turning rapidly, Dönitz turned the periscope in the opposite direction, keeping his eyes on the battleship with a standard displacement of 20.225 tons. Losing power, the battleship was the best target for torpedoes, and soon a column of water rose high on the right side of the "Hercules", and the British officers and men on the ship began to run in all directions. Some ran to their gun emplacements, and many more began to lower their lifeboats.

When the British destroyer appeared at the stern of the "Hercules", the U-039 also completed its turn.

"Torpedo No. 1 launched! Torpedo No. 2 launched! The submarine is moving forward at full speed and diving rapidly! Dönitz had no need to observe the surface of the sea at this time, and the British battleship, completed in August 1911 with a standard displacement of 20.225 tons, had already been written in his book of honor.

At 5:45 p.m. on September 2, British naval officers and sailors announced the abandonment of the ship. The "Hercules" began to slowly sink to the bottom of the sea. Historians call this moment the official start of the Anglo-German Battle of the North Sea in 1914.

By this time, the British Grand Fleet, which had been attacked by a large number of submarines and aircraft, was in disarray, and even a light cruiser had crashed straight into a battleship. All the battleships were able to hide from the original formation as much as possible from torpedo attacks, and the commander of the British fleet, Admiral Jerret, was at a loss for this. 15 minutes later. His lookouts wailed in a heart-stopping wail—a large number of German battleships had been spotted ahead.

"Oh God!" Jerlid sat down on the ground, his battleships had been scattered to all corners of the sea, and now not to mention the attack, even a decent defense could not be organized.

At 5:50 a.m., "Frederick the Great" was on board. Tirpitz stared intently at the charts on the table, where several staff officers were marking the position of the fleet based on their calculated ground positions. The rangefinder constantly reported the distance to the British fleet. At this time, the British fleet had been divided into three separate groups, and the closest to the high seas fleet were five dreadnought-class battleships, they were the Giant-class Giant, the St. Vincent-class St. Vincent, the Bellerophon-class Bellerophon, the Bellerophon-class Magnificent, and the Orion-class Emperor, and the main force of the German High Seas Fleet outflanked these warships in two oblique columns.

"15.000 yards!" Tirpitz looked up at the British battleship that was getting clearer and clearer. The order to open fire was given: "Target British fleet, all fire!" ”

The cannons of the German fleet fired the first shells, and before the shells fell, a large cloud of smoke mixed with orange eyes erupted from the muzzles of the British warships in the distance, and the British also opened fire.

The first shells from the German battleship hit the British battleship. And the first shells of the British, bypassing the columns of German battleships, fell on the sea in the distance. German heavy surface ships have adopted a new ship-wide unified azimuth firing command system. When all guns were fired in a salvo, the impact point was distributed, and the firing effect was significantly better than that of the British battleships.

Tirpitz stood on the bridge and surveyed the entire battlefield, and the British and a dozen other battleships were entangled in planes and submarines a dozen nautical miles to the northeast. The five British battleships in front of them were far inferior in terms of firepower and tonnage.

The naval guns of both sides were still firing in a salvo, and the five British battleships were almost fighting separately because they were being flanked from both sides. A volley of shells came over, and the water column was high on the side of the "Frederick the Great". Through the smoke that cleared, Tirpitz discovered that the first starving British battleship at the forefront was the "St. Vincent", which was launched in 1901, and he immediately ordered: "Send a signal, let the Caesar, the King Albert and the Cedritz concentrate their fire, and hit the St. Vincent first!" ”

3 The mighty German battleship concentrated all its fire on the head of the "St. Vincent", and with a loud bang, a shell hit its foredeck, and the bow of the "St. Vincent" sank downward, and on the foredeck, a secondary gun turret flew into the sky. In a few minutes, the "St. Vincent" was shot one after another, and the huge battleship was tossed under the blow of heavy shells, and then a fatal blow came.

The central turret of the "St. Vincent" was a large turret with two 12-inch guns, the turret was tightly protected by steel armor with a thickness of more than 11 centimeters, and dozens of British gunners were constantly busy in the small space inside the turret. The heat of the projectile turned the turret into a large furnace, and although the smoke exhaust fan on the turret was constantly rotating, the turret was still hot, and the observer leaned over the viewing window, discerning the impact point, and occasionally trying to make corrections to the other gunners. Another shell was loaded into the chamber, and a gunner grabbed the arquebus and waited for the order to fire, when a shell from the "King Albert" landed accurately on the top of the turret, and the half-ton shell penetrated the turret armor inside the 11 and fell inside the turret. With a loud bang, shrapnel flew sideways in the turret, and under the powerful air wave and violent vibration, all living things in the turret lost consciousness in an instant. A few seconds later, a giant python-like tongue of fire had burned near the mouth of the ammunition bay passage, and the steel passage glowed a terrifying dark red. Soon, the flames burned through the passage to the ammunition bay below deck, and a terrible explosion sent the entire battleship into another world with all its members.

The sailors on board the British battleship "Gorgeous" had not yet recovered from the huge flames and impact from the explosion of the "St. Vincent", and several shots from the German battleship "Helgoland" hit their battleship, and the violent shaking caused almost all the British sailors to fall on the deck. Several huge mouths appeared near the waterline of the "Gorgeous", hundreds of tons of seawater rushed into the cabin frantically, and the battleship suddenly stalled and broke away from the battle. Three minutes later, two other German battleships, "Thuringia" and "Caesar", sent the standard displacement 18.800-ton battleship to the bottom of the sea with two salvos at a distance of 10.000 yards.

"Frederick the Great" and "Catherine" aimed their guns at the battleship "Imperial" with a standard displacement of 22.200 tons, and in turn hit the "Imperial" with beautiful pinch shots. Two German armor-piercing shells pierced through the armor of its front main gun and exploded in the turret, igniting the propellant in the turret, spreading the flames and rising higher and higher through the turret opening. After 30 seconds, the fire reached the ammunition compartment. Then came the big bang of the landslide and the crack. The thousand-ton turret was thrown to an altitude of 60 meters like a toy, and the body of the Emperor shook violently, and immediately turned to the right and turned into the water. With a huge whirlpool, the massive hull was swallowed by the sea. Of the ship's 752 crew members, 745 were killed on board, and Ensign Hans was one of the lucky few to survive

, when the battleship explodes. A powerful wave of air threw him directly into the sea, which was very fortunate for him, because then there was a lifebuoy at his hand, and in a matter of seconds the battleship tilted 30 degrees to the right, and sporadic explosions occurred from time to time, in a total of less than 20 seconds. The battleship sank into the water. In Hans there were several sailors around, but they were all pulled to the bottom of the sea by the whirlpool of the wreck.

The British battleship "Giant" in the confrontation of the German Caesar-class "Louitpold Regent". Originally at a disadvantage, with the addition of another German battleship, the Oste Freeland, the battle was completely out of suspense. Under the crossfire of the two German battleships, the "Giant" was completely powerless. A cannonball hit the central turret of the Giant. The artillery suddenly failed. Three minutes later, the Ostefrieland hit the Giant again with a salvo, the shell penetrated the thick armor, hit the bottom of the sky and exploded and destroyed the thick keel, and the Giant, with a standard displacement of 20.225 tons, split in two and quickly sank into the sea.

The battle reached a fever pitch with the sinking of the British warship, the shells fell into the water and stirred up a column of water, the flames on the wounded ship burned fiercely, reflecting half the sky, and the sea was floating with soldiers struggling in the water, floating dead fish everywhere, bloody corpses, the scene was terrible.

So far, Tirpitz was very satisfied with his fleet, 5 British battleships were sunk 4 and 1 damaged, and not a single battleship on his side was seriously damaged, after which the "Thuringia" and "Cedritz" were hit by several shells, but the problem was not great. The remaining 10 British dreadnoughts became the last quick stone in his heart, especially the British flagship's combat team still had 6 capital ships in close condition, at this time they were twisting their clumsy bodies to avoid the attacks of German planes again and again, and the 4 battleships and several destroyers of another combat team entered the center of the submarine ambush circle, and now they were all thick smoke.

"Jerryd, now it's your turn!" Tirpitz quietly stared at the British battleship flying the flagship signal flag in the distance, the naval flag of St. George had destroyed almost every dream in his dreams, and today he finally swept away the depression in his heart, he ordered his 16 dreadnoughts and 3 battlecruisers to form 3 columns, consisting of the Nassau, the Rhineland, the Posen, the Caesar, the Catherine and the Oldenburg to form the right column responsible for solving the 4 British battleships caught in the submarine ambush circle, and the other battleships in the middle column of the left wing column to attack the British flagship "George V". The battleship squad in which the ship was located.

The German fleet began to turn to the northeast, and they easily swept away 2 British light cruisers and 1 destroyer within range, and headed straight for Admiral Jerlid and his flagship "George V".

"The British battleship wants to escape!" The roar of German sailors was heard from the watchtower. Tirpitz raised the binoculars, and the "George V" began to turn with the five battleships beside it, and it seemed that Admiral Jerlid was ready to retreat.

The signal was given from the flagship of the German High Seas Fleet, "Frederick the Great": "Battlecruisers plug in at high speed to intercept!" ”

Tirpitz knew very well that by this time the torpedo planes and bombers had returned home, that the British battleships were also outside the submarine ambush circle, and that the second wave of planes would arrive in an hour, and that if they were not intercepted in time, Jerlid might slip out of his hands. At this moment, the sturdy shadows of the three capitals came out of the fleet, cleaving the waves and speeding towards the turning British battleships, which were the gods of speed of the German Navy: the battlecruisers "Cedritz", "Moltke" and "von der Tann".

Tirpitz silently prayed in his heart: it is up to you whether the British fleet can be completely annihilated!

British Admiral Jerry sat dumbfounded in the conning tower of the "George V", the King of England trusted him to put the world's most powerful British Grand Fleet under his command, and now there were only six poor warships left, and the humiliation suffered by the empire in the past two days was something that no one could have dreamed of. In Jerid's lexicon, there was never the word for escape, although occasionally the British Empire's navy would retreat, but it was only temporary, and there was never a time when a soldier fled for his life like a lost dog as he does today. The navy of the British Empire would never leave behind its comrades and partners, but today he left behind several struggling British warships dozens of nautical miles behind.

"General, 3 German battle cruisers and a group of destroyers have appeared in our rear, they are approaching at high speed and will soon be within our range!"

"Drive them away with the stern main guns! The fleet retreated north at full speed! Jerry had no intention of fighting at this time, he just wanted to keep some more hope for the British Navy, and the British dreadnought-class battleships were designed with fast speed and fierce firepower, as long as they evaded the pursuit of the German battlecruisers, those clumsy German battleships could not catch up with him.

"Yes, General!"

After the lieutenant had departed, Jerlid was worried that his broken fleet would flee there, and that the port of Inverness in the Gulf of Mali was too close for German planes to be there at any time, and he felt that it was safe to at least go to Rodel in the northwest of Scotland.

Soon, two twin 45-caliber 13.5-inch guns in the rear of the "George V" began to roar......