Under the fierce bombardment of the German new dreadnought group, the British Navy's battleships "Gorgeous" and "Giant" capsized and sank one after another, and at the same time, the 2nd battleship squadron, which truly represented the strength of the British Grand Fleet, was entangled by the German Navy's old battlefleet and light ship groups. In more than 40 minutes of fighting www.biquge.info the flagship "Iron Duke" led by Jericho's flagship "Iron Duke" and achieved very remarkable results - confirmed the sinking of 3 German battleships, 2 cruisers, and 7 large torpedo boats, and it is difficult to accurately estimate the number of large and small ships that have been heavily damaged. The euphoria and optimism existed only among the junior officers and rank-and-file sailors, and the command team headed by Jericho was worried about the situation on the battlefield, but in the face of the enemy's near-suicidal attacks, they had no choice but to fight, and the precious fighter plane slipped away quietly.

Fifty minutes later, the destroyer "Garland", which was on the left flank of the 2nd Battleship Detachment of the British Grand Fleet, was the first to spot a suspicious shadow in the darkness, and it sent a light code signal to the other side asking for identification, but the ship that appeared in the western sea gave the wrong answer. The "Wreath" then issued a warning to its own fleet about the encounter with the enemy, and on the other hand, it preemptively opened fire on the enemy ships. The enemy ship quickly turned on its searchlights, and several intense pillars of light quickly converged on the British destroyer, which was less than a thousand tons, and dense artillery fire poured in.

Seeing that the "Garland" was unable to stand alone, the British reconnaissance cruiser "Careful," which was not far away, immediately came to the rescue, and its second salvo hit a target more than 4,000 meters away, extinguishing a searchlight on the spot. In a short time, orange-red flames appeared on the sea in the distance, and heavy shells struck with a terrible scream, and they blasted one column after another of water with amazing sound on the sea, and in the blink of an eye, there were no dry decks on the "Careful".

How could the fierce sound of artillery on the nearby sea not alarm the British dreadnought group that was on the ground? Standing equipment 13. On the 5-inch gun "Iron Duke", Admiral John Jellicoe of the British Royal Navy stared to the port side, although the line of sight could not penetrate the darkness that enveloped the sea, but the Bernie squadron at the forefront of the fleet had already engaged in the exchange of fire with an opponent of equal strength, no matter how the German fleet deployed the battle, if they wanted to seize the initiative in battle, they would inevitably take offensive or diversion measures against these powerful and fast British capital ships here. Because the Betty fleet had been attacked by German torpedo planes and high-speed torpedo boats, Jellicoe was very worried that the current night battle environment would facilitate the surprise attack of the other side, so he ordered the fleet to turn north, intending to disengage from the German fleet and wait until around dawn to wait for an opportunity to fight. During the retreat to the north, the 18 dreadnoughts of the British Grand Fleet formed a single-line column ten nautical miles apart, with armored cruisers, reconnaissance cruisers, and destroyers of various types occupying tight escort positions.

Jericho was an artillery officer by training, and he was convinced that concentrated artillery fire was the decisive factor in all naval battles, and the Grand Fleet was the number one pillar to maintain the hegemony of the British Empire and even the security of the homeland, and the safety of his own fleet was the first priority in his mind, even if he gave up the fighting machine, he would ensure the safety of the fleet. Therefore, it was absolutely intolerable for him to disperse the main forces into several clusters for rapid penetration, which was tantamount to providing the other side with various opportunities to break through, and he believed that all battleships must be arranged in a single column and occupy a favorable position, so that the Grand Fleet could exert its maximum power, and this was the only way to fight. In Jericho's vision, this 20,000-yard battle line is weak in front and strong in the back, once the old dreadnought group in the front is attacked, the new dreadnoughts in the rear can rush forward with high speed, and can also flexibly use tactics such as roundabout outflanking and joint attack according to the specific progress of the battle, this strategy just reflects Jericho's command style, but his opponent in this battle is not blindly attacking and trying his luck. The Bernie formation, which was in the forefront, had just come into contact with the enemy's battlefleet, and the reconnaissance and alert ships of the Jericho formation had exchanged fire with the German battleships that had been missing for a long time, and judging from the situation of the artillery battle, the opponent's strength was far superior to that of the two light ships, "Garland" and "Careful", and their situation had become very bad.

At this moment, Jericho was unwilling to reveal the exact position of his battle line, so he ordered the three armored cruisers of the 3rd Cruiser Squadron to turn to the port side and launch a tentative attack on the German ship group that appeared in that direction. The three Devon-class armored cruisers were all 10,000-ton battleships built in 1902 and had 7. The 5-inch first-class guns and the 6-inch second-class guns were comparable in strength to the German Longne-class armored cruisers built at the same time, and they were not a problem against the ordinary cruisers of the German Navy. A few minutes later, the "Devonshire", "Antrimshire", and "Argyllshire" were thrown into battle one after another, and the momentum of the German ships was suddenly suppressed, and the "Garland" and "Careful", which had retreated for a while, moved forward again with their heads held high, and fired flares at the sea where the German ships were located with their respective naval guns. The first few flares fired were not ideally placed, with only one German cruiser exposed, and its low deck, simple lines, and double chimney appearance made it easy for British crews to identify it as one of the Gazelle-class light cruisers built earlier by the German Navy, and it was a close rival to the "Careful", and its 4-inch guns posed no threat to the large British ships except for the ship's torpedoes.

The German ships engaged in the artillery battle were obviously more than one Gazelle-class, and with the help of the multiple flares that followed, the British saw two more Gazelle-class and two large torpedo boats with two chimneys, and then the "Careful" fired several flares farther away, and when they shone brightly, the silhouettes of several large battleships and more hazy shadows made the British crews of the "Attentive", "Garland" and even the three armored cruisers gasp: they were facing an oncoming German battlefleet!

Seeing the German battlefleet that had just appeared five or six kilometers away, Jellico, who was watching the battle from the "Iron Duke", raised his eyebrows. The Grand Fleet under his command was supposed to be accompanied by two auxiliary ships carrying seaplanes from Scapa Bay, but shortly after setting sail, one was disembarked due to mechanical problems, and the other was attacked by a German submarine in a very unexpected manner, and it was fortunate that it did not sink on the spot. In the eyes of most people, their withdrawal did not affect the strength of the British Grand Fleet, but Jericho had a foreboding feeling from it. With the strong support of some members of the German imperial family, the German Navy devoted great efforts to the construction of capital ships, and also devoted considerable energy to the fields of high-speed torpedo boats, submarines, and aviation vehicles. By the time the war broke out, the Germans had a clear advantage in these three areas. Although the conventional wisdom is that they are nothing more than auxiliary forces outside the core, and that they are not enough to change the balance of power between the two navies, the officers who are actually on the front line of the navy, even a relatively conservative general like Jericho, can realize the potential power of these technical weapons combined with specific tactics. On the evening of the catastrophic blow to Betty's fleet, German zeppelins and carrier-based aircraft visited the main fleet commanded by Jellicoe several times, so that the German fleet commander could understand the opponent's force decoupling unit early, and Jellicoe could only guess the lineup of the German fleet through the battle reports of Betty's fleet. Now, several old battleships of the German Navy can be seen on the illuminated sea, although more ships are still hidden in the dark, Jericho still made the right judgment at the first time: the opponent's tactical intention is to concentrate on attacking the old dreadnought group in the front of his side, and use secondary forces to contain his own cutting-edge dreadnought fleet, use maneuver tactics to form a relative advantage, divide and disintegrate, gradually encroach, and finally defeat the British Grand Fleet, which is superior in overall strength.

Understanding the tactical intentions of the Germans, Jericho suddenly fell into a tangle. When he learned that the Betty fleet was exhausted, he thought that the German fleet would use the battle cruisers as a mobile force to concentrate its forces to start a head-on duel with the British Grand Fleet from afar, but the two main fleets did not meet before nightfall, and the sight of the night was particularly bad because of the change in weather, so Jellicoe made the decision to turn around and retreat north, at that time he thought that the German fleet, which had the upper hand, would disengage from the battle and return with a great victory that had severely damaged the British battle patrol formation. However, the Germans took him by surprise once again.

Friedrich von Ingnoll, is this a tactic you painstakingly devised or a plan to adapt to the situation?

Jericho tries to figure out his opponent's full intentions in an empathetic way. In fact, in terms of military experience, personal personality and command style, the 56-year-old Jericho has many similarities with the 58-year-old Ingnorr. They were both gunnery and torpedo experts when they were junior and junior officers, and they sharpened their will and broadened their horizons through overseas dispatches, and later served as captains, commanders of sub-fleets, and eventually commanders of the main fleet. The difference is that Jericho was a member of the "Fisher Gang", a long-time aid to Admiral Fisher in modernizing the navy, a strong supporter of dreadnoughts, torpedo boats, and submarines, and served as deputy commander of the Home Fleet under Sir George Callahan before the outbreak of war, and succeeded him as commander of the Home Fleet on the day the British declared war on Germany. Ingnoll was a traditional German naval commander, who never played any major role in technological reform, but was diligent and dedicated to his duties. He took over as commander of the High Seas Fleet in 1913, a year before Jericho became commander-in-chief of the main fleet, meaning that he could familiarize his subordinates with his command style through daily training exercises.

As Jellico struggled to figure out his opponent's true intentions, the battle situation in front of him quickly changed. The German outpost ships pointed their searchlights at the three British armored cruisers, and in an instant, the distant sea flickered with flames and the roar of large-caliber guns rang out like thunder. Illuminated by searchlights and flares, heavy shells flew down to the British armored cruiser in a discernible trajectory. This sudden storm was not a passing moment, and the number and distribution of the orange-red flame was beyond ordinary imagination, and the inexperienced crew could easily be misled into thinking that they were facing the main German fleet.

Two minutes later, Jellico's flagship, the Iron Duke, issued an order for the ships of the 2nd Battleship Squadron to increase to 21 knots, and ordered the accompanying 4th Destroyer Fleet to make a long-range torpedo fire at the German fleet on the port side.

(End of chapter)