Like the sinking of the Invincible, the damage of the Indomitable was only the beginning of the severe blow to the British Rapid Fleet, and the three German cruisers quickly turned their guns on the Indomitable. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 If it weren't for the British Navy's lessons learned from the Battle of Jutland to improve the bomb supply channels of the main battleship and add fireproof and explosion-proof doors, the "Indomitable" would have sunk twice, and even though it avoided the fate of destruction, the damage to the two main turrets still brought a heavy blow to the entire battleship. Parkenham knew that with the protection of the Invincible-class battlecruiser, he would surely die if he held on, so he had no choice but to order the Indomitable to withdraw from the battle.

In order to cover the evacuation of the "Indomitable" from the ferocious fire of the German fleet, the British destroyers covering from the side hurriedly released smoke, but the main guns of the German battle cruisers had a very fast rate of fire.

At this moment, the observers in the shooting command room of the "Goeben" noticed that the clear outline of the British battle cruiser was obscured by another battleship, which was not as long as the battle cruiser, but its majestic hull was taller and more solid.

The situation came suddenly, and the firing commander of the "Goeben" made the decision to continue firing. The German battle cruiser's salvo half a minute earlier formed a straddle fire on the "Indomitable", and one hit and one missed, and the parameters of this round of firing were completely calculated according to the relative displacement of the "Indomitable", and the observation of the impact point was unexpected: one shell hit the bridge of the "Ireland" and the other hit the port side wall, neither of which could penetrate the heavy armor of the British super-dreadnought.

During the fierce exchange of fire, the observers of "De Fllinger" and "Blücher" also made the decision to fire directly without adjusting the parameters when they found that the positions of the two British capital ships partially overlapped, and the intensive artillery fire covered the area where the "Indomitable" and "Ireland" were located, Betty's battleship suffered three shots in a row, and there were five or six close misses, while the "Indomitable", which was in critical condition, only received one 11-inch armor-piercing shell.

The German reconnaissance fleet lost no time in bombarding the target, and the British destroyers were also racing against time to carry out cover operations, and the crew opened the smoke canisters, lit the tobacco agent, and released a large amount of man-made chemical smoke in front of and in front of the "Ireland" and in the front and rear areas.

Although the "Indomitable" disappeared from the field of view of the rangefinder, with the observation of the maritime reconnaissance aircraft, Hipper still had a chance to continue to attack the British battle cruiser, but it was wise to calmly weigh and concentrate firepower to deal with the "Ireland" in front of him - in the rapidly changing battlefield, all of Hipper's command decisions were made based on tactical instinct at the first time, without hesitation, and accurately.

After the "Indomitable" withdrew from the battlefield, the battle became that of the "Ireland" in one against three, and the two fleets traveling in opposite directions had been reduced from 18,000 kilometers at the time of the initial fire to 9,000 meters. In the next few rounds of shooting, both sides played at a high level. "De Fllinger," "Goeben," and "Blucher" all hit, and in a short time, the "Ireland" burst into flames and sparks flew everywhere, but the German battle patrol attack failed to grasp the opponent's vital point, and the "Ireland" rushed out of the encirclement of the flames and smoke, majestic and domineering. Its firing frequency was significantly slower than that of the three German battle cruisers, but the powerful 13.5-inch armor-piercing shells hit Hipper's ship three times, two of which pierced the starboard armor belt, and made a shocking breach in the broadside wall, destroying the twin secondary turrets in the front of the port side with one shot, causing a more violent explosion, which caused considerable damage to the "De Fllinger".

In theory, as long as the distance is close enough, the 12-inch naval guns of the "De Fllinger" can penetrate the armor of the "Ireland" at will, and the "Goeben" and "Blücher" can also destroy all the deck buildings of the "Ireland" except for the bridge command tower.

With the departure of the Indomitable, the Irish became the acting flagship of the British fast fleet, and since Parkenham did not board the ship, David Betty became the de facto commander of the fleet.

The signal line of the "Ireland" soon appeared in Betty's style. The light cruiser at the front of the fleet was the first to turn to the right, and the ships behind followed closely one after the other, and the intention to maintain the engagement distance was clear.

According to normal logic, Hipper should use the speed advantage to quickly reduce the engagement distance between the two sides, but the signal command sent by the "De Fllinger" was not to turn left, but to retract the formation and move forward at full speed.

With the implementation of the new battle order, the spacing of the three German battle cruisers was adjusted from four or five hundred meters to about three hundred and fifty meters, the light cruisers and large torpedo boats accompanying them, the outposts leading the formation, and the rearguard ships that pressed the formation stepped forward, the battle queue of the entire reconnaissance fleet was shortened by at least one-third of the length, and the ships that were on combat alert on the left and right flanks also moved closer to the axis column.

When a soaring falcon finds its prey ready to pounce, it retracts its wingspan and swoops down from a great height.

Five minutes later, the "De Fllinger" ranging reading of the "Ireland" became 11,000 kilometers, which was completely within the acceptable range of David Beatty, so he did not make any new adjustments, but during these five minutes, the "Ireland" fired no shells hit, and even lost the straddle fire on the "Deflinger". The accuracy of the three German cruisers also decreased, and the two armor-piercing shells hit still did not cause serious damage to the target, and the actual threat of a near-miss was negligible.

At this time, the "De Fllinger" raised the tactical signal flag of "the fleet turned left at full speed 8 compass points", which meant that the course of the German reconnaissance fleet would turn 90 degrees to the left.

In a very short period of time, 17 German ships, including the outpost ship, the main battle cruiser, the escort ship, and the rear ship, completed the tactical action of the overall turn in an orderly manner, and the combat formation still maintained the compactness before the turn, and the ships that deviated slightly from the predetermined course quickly adjusted back to the correct position.

After the turn, the range reading of the "Irish" by the "De Fllinger" had increased to 12,000 kilometers, and this large-scale tactical maneuver caused the firing command departments of both warships to recalculate the gunnery parameters, and there was a brief silence on the battlefield.

This brief gap between fights is the only chance left for David Betty to gauge his opponent's intentions and respond in a timely manner.

The immediate state of the battlefield was that the German reconnaissance fleet was heading north-northwest and the British fast fleet was west-southwest, and the routes of the two sides changed from roughly parallel to nearly vertical, and the extension of the German fleet's route was in front of the British fast fleet. The British fleet would soon occupy the standard T-shape, but the distance from the German fleet would be about 10,000 meters, and when the German fleet occupied the tail T-position, the distance between the two sides would be only about seven kilometers.

Since the number of capital ships of the two fleets was one to three, it was of no practical significance for the British fleet to occupy the T-line position while the German fleet was able to gain a valuable opportunity to annihilate the opponent in its own T-position.

David Beatty quickly turned his gaze to the south-west, and he noticed that another German fleet, consisting of two old battleships, two armored cruisers, and a dozen light ships, had also adjusted course. Although no match for the British Rapid Fleet, it bravely rushed straight ahead, apparently preparing to cook a delicious sandwich burger with the Hipper fleet.

Tactically, Betty's best bet was to lead the fleet to the north to avoid a combined attack by the two German fleets, but this also meant that he voluntarily abandoned the attack and destroyed the German support ships. At this moment, the standing and reserve communication bands of the main British fleet were still blocked, and no definite information came from them about their engagement. If Jericho can defeat his opponent, then the temporary retreat of the fast fleet will not hinder the overall situation, but if Jericho is defeated again, the retreat of the fast fleet will lose the best opportunity to counterattack.

The lion of the British Navy quickly made his choice.

Under the command of the "Ireland," the five destroyers on the left flank of the fleet took the lead in rushing towards the front of the German reconnaissance fleet's route, followed by the six destroyers at the rear of the fleet galloping south in a single column.

With the strength of the German reconnaissance fleet, it was difficult for these British destroyers alone to threaten the three German battle cruisers, and they would inevitably lose their heads if they fought hard, but they could use torpedo attacks to force the opposing ships to evade, interfere with the tactical rhythm of the German fleet, and buy time for their own fleet to break through the opponent's encirclement.

In the smoke of artillery fire, the "De Fllinger" issued a new battle command in flags, and 10 large German torpedo boats divided into two groups and rushed forward against the attacking British destroyers. The three German battle cruisers were now in a position where they could only attack the "Ireland" of the British fleet with their forward guns, and Hippers simply ordered their rear guns to be loaded with shrapnel in advance, so that they could meet the British destroyers head-on when they came into range.

(End of chapter)