In the bridge command tower of the King, the temporary flagship of the German High Seas Fleet, most people expressed surprise when they heard the news of the defeat of their high-speed torpedo boat group, but few expressed frustration. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Natsuki didn't find it strange at all about this seemingly weird atmosphere. Since the advent of high-speed warships, the unique position of large capital ships in the navy has been affected and challenged, for a few years, Germany was full of doubts about the navy spending huge sums of money to build a dreadnought fleet, and when the Anglo-German relations deteriorated because of the shipbuilding competition, some opponents pointed the finger directly at the ruling class of the Reich, believing that it is better to build a large number of new battleships than to use the same funds to build a super-large force of high-speed torpedo boats, which can ensure the absolute security of Germany's territorial waters. It can also ease the contradictions between Britain and Germany -- it is this kind of tactic that the French navy used to resolve a century-old feud with Britain, turning from an antagonist to an ally.

Because of these origins, the generals and commanders of the German main fleet had quite conflicting views on the high-speed warship force, on the one hand, they recognized the attack power displayed by the high-speed warships in the training exercises, and on the other hand, they were worried that the outstanding performance of the high-speed warships would further affect the use and construction of the capital ships. In the previous combat operations, the German Navy's high-speed torpedo boats did play some positive roles, cooperating with the main fleet to sink and damage a number of British ships, and the German fleet also thwarted the British high-speed torpedo boat force with strict firepower organization.

"Without shrapnel bombs, the fleet's ability to block speedboats will be greatly weakened." Natsuki analyzed to Scheer, "The situation on the battlefield doesn't look good, but at this time we should still give the speedboat troops a chance. My opinion is for Commodore Michelson to concentrate all the existing speedboats, use 6 to 8 large torpedo boats as cover ships, and crush the opponent in one fell swoop. ”

Scheer didn't speak, just nodded, his eyes moving back and forth on the four British capital ships on the opposite side of the battlefield, as if he only cared about the battle in front of him, but Natsuki knew that he was not such a commander who cared about the front and back, but fully trusted his own judgment.

"Please send a telegram to Brigadier General Michelson." Natsuki turned to Captain Gord and said, "Just follow what I just said, and tell him that victory in battle often belongs to the side with more perseverance and determination." ”

"Yes!" Captain Gord glanced at the officers around him and walked straight away from the bridge.

After making a decision, Natsuki quickly turned his gaze back to the front of him, if he had to divide the priorities, the competition between his own support fleet and the British fast fleet was in a subordinate position in this naval battle, and the exchange of fire between the two main fleets was the real duel.

After inflicting heavy damage on the British fleet with a St. Vincent-class dreadnought, the German fleet was four-to-four with the rival's capital ships, and the course of the battle was both orderly and dramatic. Among the four German capital ships, the "Oldenburg," which had the smallest tonnage and the oldest ship, was the most eye-catching, and another St. Vincent-class dreadnought of the British fleet was close to being unrecognizable under its ravage, and not only could not pull out its own assistance to other ships, but could also drag down the combat operations of the entire fleet at any time.

The battle between the old dreadnoughts quickly broke up, and the exchange of fire between the new capital ships of the two sides was like two groups of heavily armored warriors slashing each other, the heavy armor affected the accuracy of the action, and there were many empty swings, even if they hit each other, there were sparks splashing and clanging sounds, and there were very few that really hurt the muscles and bones and even hit the vital point.

In this fierce battle of capture and killing, only the "Caesar" on the German side achieved a relatively clear advantage. Its shooting rate is relatively stable, almost every three rounds of fire can get a direct hit, and from the exchange of fire to the present, it has hit the opponent with the main gun as many as eight or nine times, the first few rounds are either bounced by the main armor of the British ship, or only cause minor damage, and when the two fleets turn twice, the German fleet takes advantage of the speed advantage to close the combat distance, at a position of about 13,000 kilometers, the "Caesar" begins to exert power - it has achieved four effective points, and one shell penetrates the main armor on the side side, One hit the bridge, two more landed on the rear deck of the enemy ship, and a fire broke out on the ship. At this moment, the four main turrets of the British super-dreadnought were alive, and all the main guns could fire, but the firing rate had slowed down a lot, and there was a misalignment, presumably the telephone line, microphone tube, and firing command device were damaged, and each turret could only aim and fire on its own. Since the British ship's flagpole was flying the Fleet Commander's Flag, if its communications equipment were indeed damaged, the ensuing battle would have been more favorable to the German fleet.

"Hit...... Explode...... Good job! ”

Commodore Beinck, the captain of the battleship "King", uttered these words word by word, making no secret of his flamboyant personality.

The Frederick the Great's stunning feat of crashing into the enemy at the Battle of Jutland made the flagship of the High Seas Fleet truly a spiritual symbol of the German Navy, but its structural damage could not be repaired in time. After repeated examination and calculation, the ship engineers of the German Navy believed that it was no longer capable of high-intensity combat missions, and out of the consideration of deterring the opponent and encouraging the military and civilians, the German Navy top brass decided to keep it secret from the outside world, and after the "Frederick the Great" completed its maintenance, it will still nominally serve as the general flagship of the High Seas Fleet, and at the same time increase the construction budget for the lead ship of the Bavaria-class battleships under construction, equipping it with the communication and command equipment required for the flagship, and before the new flagship is put into service, the "King" will continue to act as the tactical flagship of the High Seas Fleet.

According to common sense, even if the "King" as the flagship was incorporated into the battle fleet, it should be commanded and dispatched in the rear position, but in the face of such a formidable opponent as the British Navy, the German fleet really needed a leading standard-bearer to instill the strength of spiritual conviction in all its officers. Such flagships were quite popular in the era of sail warships, and they had to not only play a good role as pilots and withstand enemy attacks, but also had to be a powerful attacker. After the artillery battle began, the accuracy of the "King's" artillery fire was not inferior to that of the enemy's leading ships, but it was the opponent who was the first to get a direct hit, and then almost blew off the command tower of the "King".

In the officers' binoculars, the King's target, the heavily armored and ferocious Orion-class super-dreadnought, had just been hit hard, and its entire main bridge was shrouded in billowing black smoke, making it look like the main turret at the front of the bridge had been devastated. Unlike the earlier British dreadnoughts, the Orion class eliminated the aft tripod mast, the tall main bridge and the only large tripod mast were centrally arranged in the forward part of the hull, the foredeck was very compactly mounted with two knapsack main gun turrets, and the aft deck was equally compactly mounted with twin main turrets, so that there was enough space in the amidships for the fifth main turret, and all 10 13.5-inch naval guns were able to fire a salvo to the same side, considering that the armor-piercing projectile of this caliber weighed 635 kg, And the Germans had a 12-inch shell of 405 kg, and the British Orion class delivered almost twice as much ammunition as the German King class in a single salvo!

The result of a naval battle naturally cannot be measured simply by the amount of ammunition delivered by the battleship, after all, before the British Queen Elizabeth class and the German Bavarian class were put into service, the King class designed by Natsuki is the best protection level among the active ships of various countries, and the Orion is much inferior to it, and the "King" is also equipped with the best optical equipment and unified shooting command system of this era, coupled with the first-class power configuration, the German flagship has the strength to pick the opponent off the horse.

Based on the experience of the Battle of Jutland, British dreadnoughts had armor that was difficult to penetrate, and the main turret or their greatest weakness - the turret itself was very well armored, but the passage between the turret and the ammunition depot was not adequately protected, and once the main turret was penetrated, the explosion and the explosion caused by the explosion in the turret were likely to spread to the ammunition depot, and then cause a devastating explosion. Therefore, all the officers, including Natsuki, stared at the enemy lead ship and observed. At this moment, someone said happily: "Look, the 'Great Elector' has finally hit the enemy ship!" ”

Everyone directly moved the telescope a little, and so far in the battle, the four British capital ships are the third hull is the most complete, at this time there is a cloud of explosion smoke floating behind its starboard side, and judging from the black marks left on the wall of the ship, the shell hit the armor belt in the front part of the starboard side, even if it forms a penetration, the damage to the interior of the hull is very limited.

After nearly 20 rounds of firing and more than 100 shells, the "Elector Emperor" scored its first hit. The friendly ships fought with great success, and the enemy ships were repeatedly hit by gunfire, so one can imagine how anxious the crew of this newly commissioned battleship would be. In fact, there were many experienced officers and non-commissioned officers among them, the weapons and equipment on the ship were only new and not old compared to those of the "King", and the live-fire results during the training in the Baltic Sea had also reached an excellent level.

The smoke of the explosion on the side of the British ship gradually dissipated on the battlefield filled with smoke and fire, except for a black mark left on the wall of the ship, the majestic George V-class super dreadnought looked unharmed, but after it was shot, even the "Elector" with a slow rate of fire fired another round of fire, and the ship's main guns were slow to fire, which could not help but make people reverie about its internal situation.

(End of chapter)