Before nightfall, the cruiser "Brave" under the command of Colonel Louis Mountbatten engaged in a tentative battle with two German light cruisers, and the two sides exchanged fire and disengaged from the battle in 57 minutes, each consuming hundreds of shells. Judging from the results of the battle www.biquge.info the "Brave" seemed to be the winner, which damaged the German ship "Regensburg" and caused it to set fire on the sea, while it suffered only minor wounds and no crew was killed, but the course of the battle was not as optimistic as the British expected. At a distance of 22,000 to 18,000 long-distance shots, the main gun of the "Brave" fired more than 200 shells, but none of them hit the target, but was hit by the opponent once, and the defects of the large cruiser's high length-to-width ratio and poor longitudinal stability exposed a rather fatal weakness in actual combat; At a medium and long range of 18,000 to 12,000, the "Brave" made two hits, and also inflicted close damage on the enemy ships, at this stage, the guns of the two German light cruisers were quite accurate, and their main gun salvos continued to form a straddle fire on the British ships, but they were unlucky, and the only few hits either penetrated the chimney or hit the bow, in addition to bringing psychological pressure to the British officers and men, only the bow anchor of the British cruiser was left.

After nightfall, the Brave tried to evade her opponents with the help of radar, but the Fiona-class light cruisers in service with the German Navy were also equipped with pulse radars, which were not accurate enough to guide the guns to fire, but at least allowed the Germans to keep an eye on their targets in the dark. A silent electronic warfare was ensued, with the British ships constantly interfering with the adversary's communications, and the German cruisers blocking the British ships from communicating with their bases in the same way, but the two sides were so familiar with each other's usual tactics that neither side succeeded.

After going around the sea, Colonel Mountbatten wanted to see an opportunity to get rid of the entanglement of German ships, and as long as he could successfully reach the preset minefield outside Forth Bay, he would be able to end this exciting journey safely, but at this very critical moment, four enemy ships suddenly appeared between the "Brave" and Forth Bay. The British could not accurately judge the type of ship of the opponent through the radar detection data, it may be only light cruisers and destroyers, or there may be heavy cruisers that the "Brave" cannot confront head-on, Louis Mountbatten did not lead the ship to break through, nor did he flee the way, but carefully maneuvered between pursuing and intercepting, and cautiously waited for the arrival of help -- the command of the North Sea Squadron in Edinburgh had previously given a clear answer to the "Brave's" request for help, and would immediately dispatch a fleet to respond.

Soon after, the Brave received encrypted telegrams from two British submarines, the contents of which indicated that they were waiting for an opportunistic move outside the Forth of Forth, but this did not ease the mood of Colonel Mountbatten and his officers. The night combat environment is conducive to submarines fishing in troubled waters, but their speed is slow, their night vision is poor, and their fire control range is too small, and their past combat experience shows that it is difficult for them to play a role in fleet-level battles.

Just as Mountbatten feared, within a quarter of an hour of the telegrams from the two submarines, flares, searchlights, muzzle flames, and rumbling explosions appeared on the surface. Given that there were no new shadows in the radar range, the battle should have been fought between German surface ships and British submarines, and judging from the circumstances of the engagement, it is not known whether the German ships had found the British submarine by radio direction finding or radar detection, but in any case they were the first to strike, and proved with the same ferocity that they were the hegemons of the North Sea.

Colonel Mountbatten and his "Brave" were too busy to help their submarines out of the siege, and the situation here continued to deteriorate over time—two warships were approaching at high speed from the direction of Germany, and according to the time and speed of the voyage, they must have sailed directly from the German coast after the German cargo ship Passau raised the alarm.

On the radar screen, the enemy ships had formed a flanking attack on the "Brave" from three directions, and although the shadow of the ship also appeared in the direction of Forth Bay at this time, the strength of the British North Sea Squadron was there, and the commander could not let this sea force of great strategic value pour out without absolute certainty. If the four German ships in the southwest were strong enough, the support fleet would probably not even be able to get out of Forth Bay, in which case Mountbatten would not be able to count on reinforcements.

Seeing that two of the enemy on three sides were advancing step by step, Mountbatten made a quick decision and led the ship to turn northward, and the two German light cruisers that had exchanged hands at dusk quickly sensed the change in the target, and they adjusted their course with the situation, apparently trying to intercept the northward path of the "Brave". The Brave continued northward, and under the orders of Colonel Mountbatten, the entire combatant crew was in position, with light and heavy artillery and torpedo tubes ready for fire.

When the two sides were more than 5,000 meters apart, two German light cruisers took the lead in dropping flares, and as soon as the British ships appeared, they could not wait to open fire, and large and small water columns immediately jumped up on the sea around the "Brave."

Colonel Mountbatten took a deep breath, and the battleship continued to move north at high speed, and for a few minutes of completely passive beating, the atmosphere on board was simply suffocating. Fortunately, all the shells fired by the enemy avoided the brave battleship, and the few near-misses were ignored by the high-spirited soldiers.

At a distance of 2,500 meters, Mountbatten suddenly ordered all the searchlights to be turned on, and six dazzling pillars of light pierced the enemy ships, exposing them to the sight of the British gunners.

The pent-up force was instantly unleashed, and the "Brave" poured out its anger on the two German light cruisers in close proximity with its 203-mm main gun, 105-mm secondary guns, and even 2-pounder anti-aircraft guns. The German light cruiser "Nymph" in front was immediately enveloped in a dense rain of bullets, and the rising waves almost enveloped the entire ship, leaving only the lone mainmast and the only chimney exposed.

After two rounds of gun salvo, the "Brave" had the absolute upper hand in this hand-to-hand combat, and the torpedo crews lost no time in sacrificing their lethal weapons, and two sets of quadruple torpedo tubes gradually fired torpedoes, thus forming two flawless attack fans. Torpedoes whizz under the water, shells whistling across the sea, and the eyes of the enemy enlarged with terror......

Under the excellent command of Colonel Mountbatten, the "Brave" made a beautiful climax, and the two German light cruisers fled in panic, narrowly colliding on the way. With more time, Mountbatten and his "Brave" had every chance of achieving greater success, but the two enemy ships that appeared in the southeast were in hot pursuit, and the technical non-commissioned officer deduced from the radar that one of them might be a large enemy ship, so the British had no intention of fighting, leaving the defeated and heading north.

By the time the "Brave" stopped firing, the two German light cruisers were still billowing with black smoke and tongues of fire, apparently having suffered heavy damage.

Soon after, Mountbatten received a telegram from friendly ships that they had engaged the German warships at the mouth of Forth Bay, and that the two sides were close in strength, but the Germans could at any time have stronger reinforcements to join the battle, so they advised the "Brave" to withdraw to the northern base.

Heading to the Bay of Marie, the Gulf of Crommody or the Bay of Donoch in the north-east of Scotland is not a good idea, but at least it will preserve your strength. Now that the "Brave" has stayed at sea for a few more moments, it is one step closer to annihilation -- the fact that it has not been bombed by German fighters does not mean that the enemy air force has done nothing in this sea area, and after half a day and one night of preparation, the German pilots are probably already recuperating and waiting for the dawn to embark on the journey!

The night was light and the sea conditions were good, the main engine of the "Brave" reached full capacity, the sailing speed increased to 33 knots, and gradually distanced itself from the pursuers behind it, but it was close to midnight, and there was about an hour left in the northern bay, and the ship's radar warned again: two enemy ships had been found ahead!

In the previous repeated encounters with the enemy, the damage to the hull of the "Brave" has increased, and the casualties have increased somewhat, but there is no problem with its ammunition, fuel, and morale. After two small victories, Colonel Mountbatten was in high spirits, and since the enemy in front of him was choking his way to the northern base, he resolutely led his ship forward, and decided to test the depth of his opponent before making plans.

At midnight, flares rose in the northeastern waters of Scotland, their incandescent light dispelling the darkness and illuminating the silhouette of the opposing warship. The moment he saw his opponent's face, Colonel Mountbatten was taken aback: the enemy was a combination of a heavy cruiser and a destroyer. The heavy cruiser can't be messed with by itself, and the destroyer is not as powerful as the light cruiser, but it is fast and good at torpedo attacks, and the slightest mistake may be done by this vicious and abnormal combination.

Intimidated by the German heavy cruisers' excellent ability to protect and manage damage, Mountbatten had no intention of challenging his opponent head-on. There was an insurmountable chasm in front of him, and there was no way back to turn back, so he decisively chose the second path other than the glorious battle and sinking: venturing east.

To the east, the vast North Sea hinterland could reach the Norwegian coast, take refuge in the deserted fjords for a few days, and find an opportunity to sneak into the Shetland Islands and hide from enemy planes in the labyrinthine waterways, but Mountbatten had other ideas. If the Brave escaped into the cold Norwegian Sea and then headed for the Barents Sea in the north, the chances of successfully evading the German Navy would be very good.

The Barents Sea was the sphere of influence of Soviet Russia.

During the last World War, Mountbatten was not given the opportunity to participate in actual combat, but his royal status and his experience of studying at the Royal Naval School in Osborne and the Royal Naval Academy in Indat Mouth left a very deep influence on the friendship between Britain, France and Russia in that era, especially the pride and ambition to fight together in the early days of the war. During the interwar period, Russia underwent a radical change, and the ideology of its new regime deliberately alienated the British government, but as the threat from the Allies grew, the two countries re-sided with the anti-German front, and military relations between the two countries gradually warmed. After the outbreak of the war, although the Russian government declared neutrality, it was supporting the British with practical actions. Just four weeks earlier, Mountbatten had led the Brave in a convoy to pick up British merchant ships carrying arms from Smolensk back home. For him, that far northern port was like a torch in the darkness, keeping him from falling into utter despair.

(End of chapter)