Heydrich stood in front of the chart with a frown, and although it was only a brief exchange of fire with no losses on either side, his mind was full of doubts. Before dark, torpedo planes attacked the British fleet 20 nautical miles southwest of the fleet, and although only two British ships were sunk and damaged, the British fleet had to turn in circles. After that, the British actually caught up with themselves at the fastest speed in the vast sea, and without planes, submarines could not have tracked at such high speeds, did the British catch up in the right direction by coincidence? Or have they deciphered their own telegrams? Still is......

An emergency plan arose in his heart.

Soon, the flagship "Frederick the Great" sent an encrypted telegram to the whole fleet, ordering the whole fleet to turn around and head 30 degrees north-east, and at the same time using signal lights, the battlefleet accelerated away from contact with the British fleet at a speed of 18 knots.

After this, the telegraph room of the "Frederick the Great" was enveloped in a tense atmosphere, and the dozen or so transmitters stopped transmitting, and people listened intently to every sound coming from the headphones.

The sea was calm.

A short time later, a radio wave signal silently left the German fleet, and almost at the same time, the telegraph operators in the telegraph room were busy.

"Your Royal Highness! We've heard a radio signal coming from our fleet, but we can't decipher its contents right now! As the officer in charge of radio listening hurried into the command room, Heydrich chuckled inwardly, and the worst had really happened.

By this time, the battlefleet had gradually caught up with the seaplane carrier formation, and Heydrich again ordered that the battlefleet be reduced to 17 knots, moving at the same speed as the first and third fleets. The second squadron, the aircraft carrier group, was already 20 nautical miles ahead of them.

"Frederick the Great" signaled to the 3rd Detachment via a signal light, ordering the destroyers "Jazz" and "Authority" to break away from the fleet, ambush to the rear of the fleet for monitoring, and fire flares if an anomaly was detected.

The "Jazz" and "Authority" are the latest steel-class destroyers to be launched, with a standard displacement of 1,500 tons, three single-barreled 120 mm main turrets arranged in the front and one in the rear, and four 500 mm torpedo tubes.

On the destroyer "Jazz", except for the captain of the ship, Captain Nelinger, who is a 20-year-old navy, the others are all young sailors who have served less than three years.

"Listen to me, no one is allowed to talk from now on, your ears are to be as prick as a cat's ears, and your eyes are to be as staring as an owl's, understand?" Nelinger summoned the sailors on deck and confessed that his battleship and the Authority were bypassing the battlefleet, and the sailors were focused on the huge black shadows.

Nelinger was a little helpless, this group of sailors was much worse than the veterans many times, "Ahem! Anyone who doesn't want to take a vacation next week? ”

Now the sailors all turned their eyes back to their captain.

"Alright, disband!"

"Jazz" and "Authority" stopped 5 nautical miles behind the fleet, the engines stopped turning, and the lights in the face cabin were extinguished. The watchtowers, bridges, and shipside sailors all listened intently to the movement of the water, and as the large number of ships of the First and Third Fleets had departed, the sea became quieter and quieter, and the whole world seemed to be left with only the sound of waves and the wind.

As the minutes ticked by, the sailors began to relax a little, some yawned incessantly, and the cool of the summer night breeze soon brought some strange noises.

The sailors focused their gaze on the southwest sea, and the sound came faintly from that side. People try to widen their eyes and see through the dark world like owls, only to find that they still can't see anything.

Captain Nelinger closed his eyes and listened intently, what seemed to be the roar of the ship's engines and the hull of the ship crossing the water, and it should have been a fleet approaching quickly from far and near.

"Flares ready!" He shouted softly, and the two sailors quickly slipped the flares into the specialized launch tubes.

Soon, a flare rose into the air, lighting up the night sky.

The crowd did not have time to admire the beautiful fireworks, and they were horrified to find a large group of British warships appear on the sea in the distance under the bright light of the flares.

"Oh God!"

In the distance, on the German battlefleet, Heydrich also observed a scene through a telescope, and dozens of British battleships, large and small, followed his fleet closely.

"Quick! Start your engines and retreat at full speed! Nelinger ran to the microphone and shouted.

The "Jazz" and "Authority" restarted, and as they retreated to the fleet, they continued to fire flares over the heads of the British fleet, which illuminated the British fleet and seriously interfered with the British view.

Nelinger stood on the bridge and looked at the noisy sea, and with the roar of a huge cannon, a row of red cannonballs streaked across the silent night sky, and fell near the British fleet with a beautiful arc. The design of the Caesar-class battleships with stronger rear firepower than front firepower was finally reflected at this time, and the rear firepower of other classes of German battleships was not weaker than the front firepower. The muzzles of the huge main guns erupted in thick balls of fire, reflecting the sea behind the fleet in red. On the surface of the sea illuminated by flares, columns of water, spray, firelight, and gunpowder smoke enveloped most of the British fleet.

The British fleet began to return fire, but their artillery fire was disheveled by the onrushing blows. Many small bright spots simply did not reach the German battleships in the distance, but fell aimlessly on the empty sea. Huge bright spots also flew out of the British fleet from time to time, but they were more alone than the German fleet's salvo. Soon, the small British battleships poured their fire on the retreating "Jazz" and "Authority", and the small body of the destroyer tossed up and down in the waves.

At the stern of the "Jazz", Nelinger commanded his men to desperately return fire with the only 120-mm guns in the rear of the battleship. Countless red dots flew towards them at great speed, as if they would hit the poor little boat in the next second. The water splashed by the explosion rushed onto the deck wrapped in shrapnel, and the wails of the sailors were constantly being shot. After the flare was extinguished, the darkness of the night flickered like lightning, and countless bright spots staggered in the sky.

"Turn! Zig! ”

The two German destroyers behind the palace made two sharp turns in succession, and finally avoided the falling shells.

After a few volleys, the German battlefleet's artillery fire became more and more accurate, and several burning British battleships became the best targets. In the night, 10 battleships passed by the burning battleship quickly, they rushed to the front of the fleet and quickly formed an oblique column, and the main guns in the bow and stern began to fire a salvo, and the fire of the British fleet suddenly became much fiercer. A dozen British cruisers and destroyers quietly broke away from the fleet and quickly disappeared into the night.

At the same time, two German seaplane carriers, accompanied by the destroyer "Siegen", quickly left the combat sea area and continued to the northeast.

The signal lights on the "Frederick the Great" flashed rapidly, and the nine German battleships were transformed into oblique columns like the British battlefleet. Two minutes later, the German battlefleet launched its first salvo from the port side, 56 280 mm and 305 mm cannons roared almost at the same time, a large array of shells streaked through the night in an orderly manner, and several huge fireballs rose in the British fleet, reflecting the hideous hulls of the British battleships and the huge white water columns on both sides of the battleships.

Only a dozen seconds later, large balls of flames erupted from the guns of the British battleships, and thick smoke slowly rose in the night, which was soon blown away by the sea breeze. Their second salvo finally showed the British Navy's excellent combat prowess, and 52 280 mm or 305 mm cannons also brought great shock to the German battleships.

No one would have guessed that a battle between Britain and Germany, in which the naval forces of similar strength would take place in such an environment.

The two fleets moved parallel at a distance of 10,000 yards, shells constantly falling over the heads of both sides, and at the critical moment, the excellent armor protection of the German battleships came into play. In long-range fire, the British armor-piercing shells appeared powerless, and the shells bounced off the tight armor as soon as they touched it, and then fell into the water and exploded. Even falling directly on the deck of a German battleship often did not penetrate the thick armor of the main turret. Therefore, such an explosion only caused some damage to the deck of the German battleship, and could not deliver a fatal blow. On the contrary, almost every hit of a German shell could easily penetrate the turret or main deck armor of a British battleship and explode inside the battleship, causing terrible damage. The two principles of British shipbuilding theory: "speed is armor" and "large-caliber artillery is the key to victory", were now shattered by German shells.

"The whole fleet concentrates its firepower to attack the battleship at the front of the British fleet first!" Heydrich stood in the conning tower holding a telescope, the fire of the explosion of the cannonballs and the fire on the wounded battleship reflected the entire British fleet on the sea, and the foremost ship was Betty's flagship "Ajax".

The signalmen busily used their signal lights to relay orders, and after a volley, the huge main turrets of the German battleships moved and the gun muzzles adjusted up and down, and finally all the guns were pointed at the 23,000-ton George V-class battleship.

In the command tower of the "Ajax", Betty was also watching his opponent. At the beginning of the battle, the enemy had already established its position with the help of flares, and its own shells had not come into contact with anything other than sea water until after the last few salvos. A fire broke out on a German armored battleship, which became the best target in the far darkness of the sea.

"The whole fleet concentrated its fire on the German battleship that caught fire!" Betty waited for the cannon to roar after giving the order, but the sudden violent oscillation caused him to stumble and fall to the ground.

"Commander, our battleship has been shot!" The staff officers all over the ground shouted, the ground was still shaking, the inside of the control tower became pitch black, and the lights flashed again a few times before they came back on.

"Report the damage!" Betty was about to stand up when another oscillation from inside the battleship sent him down.

Everyone in the command tower is praying: "Don't be an ammunition depot ......"

Outside the conning tower, the neat deck had become dilapidated, the ship was littered with fire, and the most worrying thing was the billowing smoke from the No. 1 main turret.

"Report to the commander, turret No. 1 was pierced by a German armor-piercing shell and exploded, fortunately the last batch of ****** in the front turret has been loaded into the chamber to avoid a chain explosion, and now we have urgently filled the water!" A staff officer shouted after answering the phone, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"It's fine!" Betty reluctantly stood up, "We seem to have been subjected to concentrated fire from the Germans, so there should be other losses!" ”

As Betty expected, the entire battleship was hit by a total of 6 rounds of 280-mm and 5 rounds of 305-mm shells, two of which almost pierced the 11-inch-thick conning tower armor, the No. 1 turret was paralyzed, the No. 2 turret was stuck and could not turn after being hit by the German turret that exploded at close range, the rear bridge had completely disappeared, the No. 2 chimney was also badly damaged, and the speed of the "Ajax" was decreasing.

"Oh God! It seems like we're having to get out of the fight! The staff officers exclaimed when they heard all the losses, and Betty felt a chill in her heart.

"We can't retreat now, we have to hold on and buy more time for the cruisers and destroyers to complete their mission!"

At this time, there was also a violent explosion in the German fleet in the distance. The armored battleship "Hanover", which had been shot earlier, once again became the prey of the British fleet, after hitting 5 large-caliber shells, its front and rear main turrets were dumb, and the fire spread throughout the deck, after which the ammunition depot exploded, and a huge ball of fire rose, and the battleship, launched in 1901, disappeared from the sea.

The German fleet soon returned to color, and their second salvo blew up the entire "Ajax" on the surface of the sea, turning it into a floating pile of incendiary materials. Ten minutes later, Betty's command flag was raised on the mast of the last British dreadnought in active service, the Orion-class battleship Thunderbolt.

The signal was again given from the German flagship "Frederick the Great": "Hit the fire and shoot the second battleship of the British fleet!" ”

After just one salvo, the 14,000-ton British armored battleship "Lion" was martyred, giving people another splendid fireworks display.

With a grim face, Betty commanded his remaining battleships to fire a salvo on the German battleship "Rhineland", and after two salvos, the Nassau-class battleship, completed in 1910, was forced out of battle.

While the commanders of both sides were focusing on the opposing battleships, there was also a disparity of strength in the center of the two battlefleets, and the destroyers "Jazz" and "Authority", which were on the mission of the rear, did not return to the seaplane carrier formation, but stood guard next to the battleship. When a large number of British cruisers and destroyers rushed over, they bravely met them.

The numerous British cruisers and destroyers had a huge advantage in firepower, but since both sides were moving at high speeds, neither side did any damage to each other in their initial shots. "Jazz" and "Authority" bravely rushed to a distance of 1,500 yards from each other, quietly threw 8 torpedoes into the water and then quickly turned. Darkness became the best cover for the torpedo's track, and the British had no choice but blind evasion, and dozens of seconds later, 2 British cruisers were blown in two, 2 destroyers were sent off the sea, and two cruisers collided in a panic, and the originally orderly British lightning strike fleet became a mess.

After this, the "Jazz" made another bold move, it turned to approach the British fleet alone, and then fired two flares, pulling 11 British cruisers and 8 British destroyers out of the darkness. Dense shells rained in, and the last action of Captain Nelinger and his sailors was silent prayer. Soon after, all 116 officers and sailors aboard the "Jazz" were posthumously awarded the Iron Cross by the Kaiser.

Many of the secondary guns on the German battleships fired wildly, and the British ships that attempted to carry out lightning strikes were shot and caught fire one by one, and finally the remaining British battleships had to turn away in embarrassment. Betty's plan for a night lightning strike was shattered by the fearless sacrifice of the "Jazz".

The fierce firing between the two battlefleets lasted for a full hour, until the firepower of the British fleet gradually weakened, and Betty reluctantly commanded the fleet out of the battle, and the British had a total of 3 armored battleships sunk, 2 lost power and were paralyzed on the sea, and the other 2 were heavily damaged; The situation with Heydrich was no less optimistic, the armored battleships "Hanover" and "Pomerania" were sunk by bullets, and the dreadnoughts "Rhineland" and "Thuringia" were hit hard, and the "Rhineland" had to lie quietly in the dock for at least half a year.

Prince Heydrich breathed a long sigh of relief after the British battlefleet turned to flee, but a sense of foreboding suddenly came over him, Betty's fleet had been weak from the beginning of the bombardment, but he had not made any action to turn the tide, and the British fleet seemed to be missing some small ships.

As Betty had planned, the British fleet suffered far greater losses than Heydrich, but a group of his smaller ships managed to use the one-hour to bypass Heydrich's battlefleet, which faced a formation of seaplane carriers that were almost defenseless. At the same time, under the guidance of 008, 7 destroyers desperately pursued the German aircraft carrier formation to the northeast at a maximum speed of 26 knots, and at the current speed, they would catch up with the two German aircraft carriers that had pushed the British Navy into the abyss of destruction before dawn.