Rear Admiral Felix Funke, who was the commander of the German Navy's special operations fleet in the Faroe Islands, had no subordinate relationship with Vice Admiral Franz von Hipper, commander of the reconnaissance fleet, but when he received the wireless telegram from the "De Fllinger," Funk did not hesitate or resist at all, and he immediately ordered his ships to drop flares at the British fleet. Not only that www.biquge.info but in order to provide ideal viewing conditions for Hipper's two main battle cruisers, he immediately ordered the "Regent of Louitold" to shine a searchlight on the enemy ships to search for and lock on the enemy flagship flying the command flag.

Knowing that this order might bring death to his dreadnought, the officers and men on board still carried out the order without hesitation. The "Regent of Louispoel", which had been bombarded by the British fleet before, had three remaining searchlights on the main and auxiliary bridges. This high-power searchlight has a mirror diameter of more than a meter and is capable of illuminating ships at a distance of four or five kilometers in the dark.

"It's not this one, turn right, the one behind!"

On the blood-stained mast lookout, a veteran German non-commissioned officer with binoculars in his hand loudly instructed the sailors operating the searchlights while observing the enemy ship. Three meters below the lookout is the upper and lower two-layer structure of searchlight holders, in the condition of intact, the main and auxiliary bridges of the Caesar-class dreadnoughts each have four high-power searchlights, which can provide continuous medium and short-range illumination for their own naval guns in a pitch black environment, and now there is only one searchlight left on the main bridge, and there are two auxiliary bridges left in the rear, and the main guns on the ship have all been muted, and only a few secondary guns can still be used, except for lighting up the enemy for friendly ships, this fleet flagship can hardly play any role anymore.

The searchlights manually operated by the crew were quickly pointed in the direction pointed by the master chief, and about 3,000 meters away on the sea, a large and majestic British battleship was illuminated by a strong pillar of light, and on the flagpole, the eye-catching flag of the commander of the detachment was waving in the wind.

In the distance, the German battlecruiser "De Fllinger" quickly pinpointed the British flagship, which was locked by the searchlights of the "Regent Louitold", and to the delight of the German crew, it achieved its first hit with only three salvos. The armor-piercing shells landed between the bridge and the main turret, and the explosion destroyed the British ship's infirmary, artillery maintenance room, and forward fire calculation room, and a large hole was blown up in the roof of the lower cabin, and a little further back was the forward ammunition depot of the battleship.

The front of the battleship was hit hard, and the situation in the rear of the "Africa" was not optimistic, and an 11-inch armor-piercing shell from the "Westphalia" hit its rear main turret. The British should be glad that the Edward VII class had been protected by the Krupp case-hardened carburized steel technology, and the 12-inch-thick turret frontal armor was not penetrated, but the pitching device of the main gun on the right side of the turret was damaged. In the heat of naval battles, this is a damage that cannot be ignored.

The heavy shelling from the two German cruisers terrified the entire British fleet, not only because of the strength of the opponent, but also because of the weakness of its own counterattack. Although the muzzle flames of the enemy ships revealed their general position, the optical rangefinders of the British battleships could not accurately determine the distance of the opponent in the moonlight.

If this continues, the British fleet will soon be finished.

In the bridge command tower of the "Africa", the troubled Carl Thorpe tried his best to maintain his composure, he ordered all the battleships to maintain their current positions, ignored the two German battle cruisers that were very threatening, and put aside the three German capital ships that were still in sailing condition, and attacked the last German dreadnought that was not hit hard, the "Westphalia".

With Moltke, Regent Louitold, and Thuringia suffering damage and a sharp reduction in speed, the Westphalia could have been pulled out of the line to carry out the strategy, apparently out of a strong team spirit, the Nassau-class dreadnought cruising the nearby sea, a move of great significance - it was thanks to the intensive firepower of the "Westphalia" that the Funk fleet was able to stop the attack of the British mine-struck ships, and won a crucial opportunity to turn the situation around. Now, with the intrepid light of the "Regent of Louispold" illuminating the enemy's flagship, the "Westphala" spared no effort to launch an onslaught, with all 11-inch triple guns delivering a burst rate of fire twice per minute and hitting the target four times in two minutes!

"It's unbelievable that the night fire of the German fleet was so accurate!"

Aboard the Sovereign, another Edward-class battleship sailing ahead of the "Africa", the officers looked with great trepidation at the flagship, which was constantly hit by enemy fire and exploded. Although this is an indisputable objective fact, any praise of the enemy may affect the determination of one's own crew to fight to the death.

At this moment, the German dreadnought more than 3,000 meters away and the two German battle cruisers six or seven thousand meters away were unscrupulously exporting firepower, and the fire emitted by various artillery shots was like someone constantly striking matches in the distance, but no match itself could have such great lethality.

In accordance with the battle orders of the "Africa", including the moderately damaged "Sovereign", every combat ship in the British fleet concentrated its fire on the Nassau-class dreadnought, and the large and small shells stirred up countless columns of water, but very few directly hit the target. In the daytime, the British crew's level of training was not such that they could not even hit the target with a salvo, but the hasty response and the lack of effective means of observation made it difficult for the shells to fall within 20 meters of the German ship.

In the surface artillery battle at night, the two sides are not only fighting for the innate conditions of tonnage, speed, and firepower, but also the commander's on-the-spot command is also very important. When an enemy shell falls close enough to hit the ship, commanders need to change course to avoid the next attack of the enemy, while at the same time trying to find a way to make their shells hit the enemy.

"Attention! All personnel immediately evacuated from the open combat position, kept the ship's cabin aisle clear, the medical emergency team was deployed in accordance with Plan C, and the fire extinguishing team was on call at any time. ”

The "Sovereign" was suddenly heard on the ship's radio with a very familiar voice from the crew, who often heard similar commands during their usual training exercises, each with its own purpose, and different combinations meant different tactical intentions. At this time, hearing these orders, the faces of many officers suddenly became solemn, and some even shook hands with each other and wished each other good luck.

At the same time, the German battlecruiser "De Fllinger" had a completely different atmosphere. Since the hit, the gunners have suddenly found their senses, and the shells are hitting the target one after another, and the ship's firing commander is constantly adjusting the firing parameters with his veteran experience.

"Reload armor-piercing bullets!"

In the huge main turret, the voices of the gun commanders were as stern as a ruler, but they were full of heroic emotions.

As soon as the order to reload the cannonballs was given, the gunners opened the cannons with their hands and feet, loaded the cannons and fired cartridges, and then closed the cannons, and shouted in a neutral tone:

"Gun No. 1 in place!"

"Gun No. 2 in place!"

After that, the gun commander reported to the firing command room through a microphone that the armor shells of the main gun under the jurisdiction of the turret had been loaded.

After a while, the 30,000-ton super battleship trembled slightly with the salvo of eight 12-inch main guns, and the deafening sound of the cannon was like a stirring war drum, which kept every officer and soldier on the ship in a state of blood boiling.

The British flagship in the distance quickly turned into a striking torch, and the ship's guns fell completely silent.

Seeing this, cheers rang out from every German battleship.

On the bridge of the "Africa" in disarray, Carl Thorpe's adjutant suggested to him: "General, the 'Africa' is no longer combat-effective, the power system is damaged, the radio system has also been damaged, and we are afraid that we will have to change the ship to continue to command the battle." ”

But the situation before them was very bad, the deck of the battleship was full of flames and smoke, and the water column on the side of the sea was rising and the waves were rolling, how could they safely transfer to the other warships?

Carl Thorpe didn't say a word, his face was gloomy to the extreme, and the thought of sinking with the ship had already arisen in his mind. After a while, the shadow of the ship rushing out suddenly attracted his attention. Without receiving orders from the flagship, the "Sovereign" actually rushed out.

The searchlight beams of several German battleships suddenly converged on the battered British battleship.

"General, the banner of the 'Sovereign'...... It covers our retreat, let's retreat towards Sood! ”

The adjutant's words made Carlthorpe's eyes wide, and even though there were 10,000 reluctances in his heart, the responsibility and mission of the fleet commander forced him to face the reality with rational thinking: the tacit cooperation of the two German fleets completely turned the situation on the battlefield, and the fall of the "Africa" was only the first prey of the enemy's strong counterattack, and the remaining British battleships were in vain, and if they held on, they would only fall into the enemy's mouth one by one.

In desperation, Calthorpe ordered a retreat. Due to the damage of the "Africa's" radio equipment, the crew had to use flags and lights to transmit messages. At this time, the Westphalia began to hit the brave "Sovereign" hard, and the 11-inch armor-piercing shells knocked out the main turrets of the British former dreadnoughts one by one, and then concentrated the fire on its front bridge, and two salvos completely destroyed its chain of command.

In the final stages of the battle, the British crew of the "Sovereign" showed amazing tenacity, and after losing all their main guns, they still used all the ship's weapons, including the machine guns on the side of the ship, to fire at the German ship, although they could only make a little noise on the German side, but the German officers and men on the ship were deeply shocked - the British counterparts they had always despised had such a perseverance!

Before the battle was completely over, the British ship hit the "Westphalia" with a shell, and the armor-piercing shell smashed on the outer armor plate of the command tower, although it failed to penetrate the armor and directly injure the commander inside, but also made the beautiful and clean face of the boxer, who had always been full of ambition, take a solid punch.

The last salvo of the German ship finally silenced the "Sovereign" completely, and there was not a single figure on the deck, which had become a purgatory of fire and smoke, and the original square bridge was like a house burned by fire.

(End of chapter)