Whenever the rumbling cannon sounds, the coffee in the cup always ripples in a circle with the fluttering of the tabletop. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 As the long-term temporary flagship of the German fleet, the King's officers' meeting room was spacious, neat, and decorated in a simple and sophisticated style, with two young officers in German naval uniforms sitting at a long wooden table, who were of similar age, handsome in appearance, and had an easily noticeable aristocratic temperament.

At this time, through the round porthole of the officer's conference room, you can see the flickering fire in the distance. The battle was going on, but it was not fierce, and there was no tension in the expressions of the two young officers. In fact, six of the main German ships were unhurriedly shelling the damaged and stranded British battleship, and many shells landed on the shore beyond the target - whether the British thought so or not, the German fleet was indeed attacking their sacred home coast.

"In the war years, only war heroes are worthy of such a noble princess as Louise!" The young officer, who wore the rank badge of the Navy, said in an affirmative tone.

Another young officer, dressed in a well-fashioned double-breasted uniform, with golden epaulettes embroidered with a shining star, and a brilliant cross-shaped medal on his left chest, said earnestly: "There are many ways to become a war hero, but if you die in battle, Louise will surely become someone else's wife. ”

"I understand, how can you be a real hero just if you don't participate in the battle?" The young captain retorted softly, "Your Excellency Prince Joachim, who is brave and invincible, has not also followed the flagship to participate in battles many times, and has not also faced danger to his life at any time and place? ”

"There's still a big difference between the two." The young rear admiral retorted, "'Frederick the Great' and 'King' were both ships that I had helped to design, and I knew very well what they could do, and even if they were sunk by the enemy, the officers on board had a good chance of surviving, unlike high-speed torpedo boats. Just a few hours earlier, we had lost half of our high-speed torpedo boats, and the crew of the damaged boats had a death rate of more than 90 percent, which meant that once the boats were damaged, the crews had only a very small chance of survival. ”

As far as the risk of war is concerned, there is no essential difference between soldiers on the front lines who may die at any time, regardless of their branches.

After a moment of silence, the young captain lowered his head and stared at his hands with melancholy eyes: "From Jutland to Flanders, from Flanders to Thames, opportunities to make history are constantly appearing around me, and I can only stay on the torpedo boat carrier from beginning to end, giving the commander some ideas that have nothing to do with the overall situation...... Jochen, I know you're thinking about my safety, but can you relate to my feelings? A few years later, even if I could step into the ranks of admirals with your help and support, people would say: Hey, you see, this guy from Oldenburg has never been on the battlefield, and all he did during the Great War was to find a good position to watch the battle, and he was able to become a general because of his origins, because of his personal relationship with the great, genius His Highness Joachim. ”

These words silenced the young major general, who has always regarded himself as a protector. After a long moment, he sighed softly, "Okay, I see, Chris! I allow you to participate in the battle, and in these glorious years of war, use courage and wisdom to create your own legend! ”

The captain was relieved, and he quickly got up and expressed his emotion in a tone full of romanticism: "Thank you, Jochen. Fighting, only fighting, can earn me the least dignity, and give me the opportunity to pick the pearl of the Hohenzollern royal family...... If I can't get the favor of my lover, then I'd rather die a glorious death! ”

The young general stood up and hugged him: "Hey, Chris, you know, someone like me who misses the old days will live in lingering sorrow for the rest of his life if he loses his most precious friend. You're not going to watch me suffer like this, are you? ”

The captain smiled peacefully and walked quickly out of the conference room.

After seeing his companion leave, the young rear admiral turned and walked to the porthole. He knew that this battle was likely to be the last head-to-head confrontation between the main British and German fleets, and that no matter whether Britain withdrew from the war or not, the British would try to avoid a fleet-style decisive battle when the naval forces of both sides had reversed, and the German navy would blockade the British Isles by breaking diplomatic relations with the ocean and submarines. So, if he misses this opportunity, Christian August may be left with a lifelong regret.

After the conversation, Prince Christian of Oldenburg quickly left the "King" in a transport boat and returned to the torpedo boat carrier "Victoria Louise" amid the rumbling of guns.

Immediately after boarding the ship, he made a request to his immediate superior, Commodore Michelson, the commander of the support fleet, to join the battle.

Michelson dared not be careless, and he ordered the signal corps to confirm with the flagship with a signal light. However, at this time, there was only one "Thunder" on the ship with a faulty engine, and the technicians were still using spare parts to repair it. Michelson then consulted with Christian to wait for the group of high-speed boats from the previous sortie to return from the voyage, and then let him participate in the battle as a combat commander of a fleet of warships.

What Brigadier General Michelson did not expect was that a few minutes later a squadron of "Lightning-14" returned to the fleet. According to the crew's combat reports, they ambushed a unit of British light ships near the mouth of the Medway River, torpedoed at least three British ships, and lost none of their own.

Michelson had no reason to let these victorious high-speed warships quit the battle, and five torpedo boat carriers operating at the same time could refuel and torpedo these Lightning-14s in less than a quarter of an hour.

Christian is a first-class water racer and is naturally adept at piloting a solo boat, but before he can select a Lightning-14 for the battle, Victoria Louise's technicians have repaired the Thunder that had been damaged by enemy shotguns in the previous battle. In accordance with the operational strategy formulated by the chief of staff of the fleet himself, in this battle, all the "Thunder" warships sailed lightly, unloading light torpedo tubes and carrying four additional bases of 13 mm rotary tube machine gun ammunition, transforming from heavy mine-loading boats on the battlefield into high-speed warship hunters.

As a veteran of Germany's high-speed warship force, Christian is well aware of the essential difference between the two roles, and knows which type of battleship gives him a better chance of becoming a combat hero. Therefore, he did not hesitate to choose "Thunder" and chose a skilled shooter to partner with him.

Commodore Michelson did not break his promise, he assigned all the "Lightning-14" to Christian's command, and let everyone know that Prince Oldenburg would personally lead them into battle, in other words, to let the boats protect the noble Prince Oldenburg as much as possible.

Before Christian could set off, flares suddenly lit up in the night sky ahead, and then the Victoria Louise received a radio signal from the outpost alert ships: a large group of British torpedo boats were approaching from the Thames and were about to attack the main German fleet.

At the outbreak of the war, the British Navy's high-speed torpedo boat force was second only to Germany's, and the largest number of models in service was the "Exocet" series, which secretly imported technology from Italy, and they were born from the same family as the German Navy's "Lightning" series, adhering to the style of high-speed light boats. Conventional artillery shells are difficult to deal with these maneuverable ultra-light combat ships, and large-caliber shrapnel is required to kill a large area at medium and long ranges, while in close combat, only high-velocity machine guns and machine guns can play a certain interdicting role.

Seeing the British Navy's group of high-speed torpedo boats sweeping in like the wind, the German large torpedo boats responsible for guarding and escorting the ship formed the first line of defense. They lit up the battlefield with flares and searchlights, directing the capital ships to interdict with heavy artillery fire, and intercepting with onboard weapons. However, the British high-speed torpedo boats were no less than their German counterparts, and they made their way through the field of bullets and bullets until they were very close to firing torpedoes at the German large torpedo boats, easily breaking through this fragile line of defense. The six main German warships, which had been shelling before, quickly closed their troops and turned around and sailed away from the British coast.

The British torpedo boats were not satisfied with merely driving away the German capital battleships, they rushed down the mountain and chased the German capital battleships to cover the past.

At this moment, 14 "Thunderbolts" ambushed in the sea near the main fleet came out of the shadows, and they did not rush head-on into the British torpedo boats, but slowly approached the target from the flanks and rear. Thanks to the powerful Daimler VI engines, they were only 2 knots slower than the Lightning-14 at an absolute speed under light load, and had the same maneuverability as the cockpit, tempered glass, and light armor to withstand the machine-gun armament of some British high-speed torpedo boats. What's more, they are equipped with the star product of Hubert Orbots, the proud work of Technical Director Tony Beretta: the Hubert M-11A 13mm rotary tube machine gun. The machine gun is controlled by an ingenious and not complicated mechanical adjustment device, which is capable of firing both a round drum or a belt of 120 rounds of 72 rounds in one go, as well as a short fire of 10 to 20 rounds, with an effective range of 1,200 meters and an actual rate of fire of 400 rounds per minute. Beginning in 1913, each new large torpedo boat was equipped with 6-10 Hubert M-11A rotary machine guns, and the light ships in service earlier were also equipped with this low-cost, high-performance melee defense weapon, and seeing the incredible power of this automatic weapon, the German Army also purchased 200 for armoured fighting vehicles, armoured trains, and cavalry combat units.

(End of chapter)