After the combat distance reached 13,000 meters, the "Seydlitz" was surrounded by waves of water caused by artillery shells from time to time, and several explosions occurred on the ship, which was in a very disadvantageous position. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 As the flagship of the German reconnaissance fleet, it can at any time make the rest of its battle patrols turn their guns and bombard the enemy's flagship "Lion", thus reducing the pressure on the ship, but it will always have only the lonely and proud battle flag on its signal line......

"Gentlemen, aim some more! Fight for two salvos to finish off this annoying guy! ”

In the battle bridge of the German battlecruiser "De Fllinger", the young captain of the ship, Colonel von Brovo, who felt that he was unable to do anything, was eager to go to the firing command room or the main turret himself. The head-to-head confrontation between the two battle patrol formations had lasted for more than a quarter of an hour, and the ships had fired at least seventy or eighty rounds of main guns alone, and the "Blucher," which had not performed particularly well during the exercise, had an unexpectedly good start; after severely damaging the "Invincible," it hit the "New Zealand" on fire in the ass within a few minutes; The "Moltke" and "Goeben" in the battle column each had 12 main guns, and the broadside salvo was not only impressive, but also accurate at all, they formed a straddle fire at their respective targets, the "Queen Margaret" and the "Australia", and each hit several shells. "Queen Margaret", the latest battle cruiser in service with the British Navy, soon only half of the main guns could function normally, so its target, the "De Fllinger", from the beginning of the battle to the present has only eaten two innocuous close misses, even in this situation, "De Fllinger" took nearly ten minutes to complete the first straddle fire on the "Royal Princess", and the subsequent six rounds of salvo fire basically maintained the straddle firing posture, but there was no direct hit.

After a while, the staff officer forwarded the forecast password sent by the firing command room: "The port side of the main gun is ready to fire ......."

The officers' attention was focused on the port side.

The deck shuddered violently, and a deafening roar was heard at the same time, and the smoke of the gray propellant drifted past the observation window. Listen intently, and the whistling of the shells fades away until there is no sound. In an instant, the water column on the sea surface 10,000 meters away rose and the waves flew, and the British battlecruiser "Royal Princess", which cooperated with the "Lion" to attack "Seydlitz", was suddenly shrouded in white waves.

When the waves scattered, the expected fire and wolf smoke did not appear.

"Well, how did you do it......"

The good-looking Colonel von Brovo looked anxious. Objectively speaking, this cutting-edge warship has only been in service for more than two months, and the training and run-in of the officers and men of the whole ship is not sufficient, and the performance of the two fleet drills before the outbreak of war is only barely qualified. At the outbreak of the war, the German Navy's battle cruisers were three fewer than the British Navy, and the "von de Tann" was strategically deployed to the Mediterranean, which contained three British battle cruisers, and in the case of the "De Fllinger" participating in the war, the Hipper's fleet was still at a disadvantage of 5 to 6, and as a new German battle cruiser, the Deflinger class not only had a larger tonnage than its predecessors, but also the best design indicators and equipment assembled among the active warships, under the premise of ensuring a speed of 26 knots, Its armor protection is close to that of the Caesar-class dreadnoughts, and it is a typical "rough skin and thick firepower", and even if it is not pinned on by the high command of the navy, the officers and men of the fleet are still eagerly looking forward to the return of their mighty giant ship with full honor.

Some of the officers around him have served in the navy for many years and are experienced and well-informed, while others have just graduated from the Naval Academy and are full of vigor and high morale. For this overwhelming situation, they are entangled, depressed, and itchy with their teeth, but there is nothing they can do. After all, the German battleship was equipped with the latest and best unified firing command system and optical ranging equipment, and the formation of straddle fire on the target meant that the firing parameters were correct, and the delay in the battle seemed to be due only to luck.

After a moment, the staff officer shouted again: "The port side of the main gun is ready to fire......"

Several officers silently drew crosses on their chests.

Boom Rumble......

Eight 50 times the diameter of the 12-inch guns roared majestically, and if these weapons, which took a long time to produce and many complicated processes, also had the mentality and emotions of people, they would inevitably be ashamed of the results of repeated misses.

Thundered......

The heavy shells fired by the British ship "Queen Margaret" fell into the water and exploded, and the huge sound was deafening, and the waves of water stirred up frightened the rookies on the "De Fllinger". About a third of the more than 1,100 crew members were drafted into the army after the fall of 1913, and by the standards of seamen, they were not yet sophisticated, but they were able to follow the rules in an orderly manner, whether it was handling guns or supplying ammunition.

More than ten seconds later, the "Royal Princess" in the opponent's array was again surrounded by the water column blasted by the cannonballs, but there was still no fire and smoke from the battleship, and just as the disappointment further permeated the "Deflinger", the delicate situation was broken by the fireball that suddenly rose in the distance -- the "Royal Princess" was in the back of the amidships, the tongue of fire was swaying, black smoke was billowing out, and the lead-gray battleship seemed to have turned into a strangely shaped oil lamp, with an inferior wick and inferior kerosene, and the fire light carried black smoke, so it appeared to be flickering and dim......

It turned out that a shell of the "De Fllinger" hit the starboard side of the "Royal Princess", and the 405-kilogram armor-piercing shell directly tore through its broadside armor like an open can.

Seeing the "Royal Princess" on fire, the morale of the whole ship of the "De Fllinger" was greatly boosted. Having made a breakthrough, the captain of the ship, Colonel von Brovo, had no scruples, and immediately ordered the ship's main guns to fire a rapid salvo, and the secondary guns to fire freely, and the officers, gunners, and ammunition supply personnel all did their best. In the next three minutes, the "De Fllinger" successfully fired four volleys, the rate of fire far exceeded that of the British battle cruiser on the opposite side, and the three twin 150 mm secondary guns on the port side also opened fire quickly, and in less than a cigarette, the British Lion-class battle cruiser "Royal Princess" was actually beaten to the ground, and the command and communication inside the ship also seemed to have problems, only the forward main gun continued to fire at the "Seidlitz", and although the amidships and tail main turrets were alive, they were completely muted during this period.

Returning to the most seriously injured flagship of the German reconnaissance fleet, the "Sedlitz", with the efforts of the damage management and repair personnel, the fire on the rear bridge was finally extinguished, and the damage to the port side waterline was also effectively controlled, after injecting 350 tons of water into the starboard waterproof compartment, its hull has been restored to the level, and the full load operation of the power system also ensures that it and the entire fleet continue to be at the same combat speed, and the two main turrets that have been directly hit by enemy shells, the No. 1 in the bow of the ship quickly re-entered the battle, However, due to the cracks in the joints, the rate of fire was affected by the fact that cartridges were no longer stored in advance in the turret, and the No. 3 main turret, which had suffered serious mechanical problems, was still undergoing emergency repairs.

Despite the loss of almost half of its firepower, several rounds of accurate shelling of the "Seydlitz" also added new wounds to the British flagship "Lion".

"Sir, look, the Indefatigable class at the tail of the British fleet is out of battle! What a beautiful job our Blucher is doing! Its state today is simply invincible! ”

Hearing this exciting news, the officers in the bridge of the "Seydlitz" looked behind the port side, and the British battle cruiser, which was on fire in many places, really hoisted the signal flag of "This ship is out of battle".

Compared with the "Invincible", which was the first to withdraw from the battle, the "New Zealand" has an additional tonnage of 1,200 tons, the hull has been lengthened by 7 meters, and the deck armor has been slightly enhanced, but there is basically no difference, while the "Blucher", which was built at the same time as the Invincible class, is 1,300 tons lighter than the "Invincible", and its body size is correspondingly half a yard smaller, and its firepower and speed are inferior to those of the British ships, and only the armored defense and subdivision compartments have a slight advantage. It was such a German battleship that was more appropriately labeled with "quasi-battle cruise", with four twin 11-inch (280 mm) naval guns newly equipped with 6-meter baseline rangefinders, it actually hit an invincible-class and an indefatigable class one after another, and became the top star of this naval battle, which probably no one expected before the war.

From a 5-6 disadvantage to a 5-4 advantage, Hipper's expression did not change significantly, and he stared at it. At this time, the combat distance of the two fleets has been shortened to 11,000 yards, after the initial adaptation, the accuracy of their respective guns and the rate of hit have been stabilized, if at this time to implement maneuver and take advantage of the situation to adjust the firing targets of each ship, the German fleet with reconnaissance aircraft to calibrate the fire must have an advantage, however, this battle is not a duel between the British and German battle cruisers, Hippert did not forget that his real task is to lead the British mobile fleet to the guns of the high seas fleet, and finally complete a battle with as little loss as possible. Naval battles with as many results as possible. From the signals sent by the aircraft carriers and carrier-based planes that flew to the battlefield, it can be seen that the main force of the High Seas Fleet is close at hand, and at this time, the British fleet in front of it must not be allowed to turn around and escape!

Thinking of this, Hipper suddenly turned his head and instructed his chief of staff, Major Erich Raeder: "Hang the signal flag, the ship will withdraw from the battle, and at the same time send a coded signal to inform the ships to still shoot at the existing target, and the Blucher will cooperate with the Goburn to attack the fourth ship of the British fleet." ”

The 38-year-old Major Raeder was a little surprised when he heard the order, but he did not hesitate to convey the order, and then after thinking for a while, he quickly realized the purpose of Hipper's intention in making such an arrangement, and cast an admiring glance at the wise and courageous fleet commander.

As soon as the order was delivered, the British shells provided an excellent cover for the exit of the "Seydlitz" - an armor-piercing shell landed near the port side and caused damage to the hull, and an armor-piercing shell hit the ship's apostle, penetrated the base of the chimney and then exploded on the starboard side. Immediately afterwards, the signal flag "This ship is out of battle" appeared on its signal cable, but the flag of the flagship of the detachment was still flying on the mast.

After the telegraph was sent by the communications department, Hipper gave the order to turn around, only to see the "Seydlitz" turn right and leave the fleet battle column with billowing black smoke, just leaving a lonely back for the British fleet in the distance, and its stern guns still did not stop firing, but the impact point of the bullet had deviated far from the "Lion", and it was doing useless work towards the open sea.

4 against 4, the artillery battle between the two battle patrol formations returned to a state of parity.

With the withdrawal of the "Seydlitz", the "Lion" began to turn its guns to the new lead ship of the German fleet, the "De Fllinger", which had only been in service for more than two months, and ordered the "Royal Princess" to continue to attack the same target with herself, because the target of the "Queen Margaret" was also "Deflinger", the battle situation between the two sides became three British battle cruisers besieging "Deflinger", which was of course able to give full play to local advantages, but at the same time, the "Goeben" and "Blücher" were left unattended The trumpet was able to exert its attack power very calmly.

In the German Navy's autumn drills in 1913, the "Goeben" and "Blucher" ranked third and 10th respectively in live firing among all capital ships, and the hit rate of 10,000 meters when firing on the move reached 9 percent and 6 percent respectively.

(End of chapter)