"Ships are free to attack and fire!"

In order to convey the battle order to the accompanying ships through the shield of the rain screen, the flagship of the British Grand Fleet, the "Iron Duke", used a 90-centimeter searchlight to send the light code signal. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 Therefore, when the rumbling of cannon began to resound over the sea, the officers and men of the British battleships at the rear of the fleet did not know that their own fleet had launched a fierce attack on their opponents. In fact, all they could see was the rain and the waves......

After giving the first order to attack, John Jericho, who commanded the fleet of the "Iron Duke", issued an order to the battleship "Centurion" that was closely following the flagship: follow me forward and concentrate fire on the enemy's tail ship!

Unlike the old dreadnoughts of the Bernie formation, the array attacking the German fleet at this moment was the proud ultra-dreadnoughts of the British Royal Navy, and the fierce artillery fire immediately blasted up columns of water around the German capital ships, and their height far exceeded the mast of any battleship, and even the monstrous waves were dwarfed.

The British main fleet was fierce and imposing, and the Germans on the opposite side did not show the slightest panic. The four dreadnoughts on the right side of the battle opened fire in an orderly manner, and their impact points were tightly distributed around the British battleship at a distance of less than a kilometer, and the large and small, high and low columns of water almost enveloped the pilot ship that first appeared in front of the searchlight. I saw this majestic Iron Duke-class battleship turn to the right with a vigorous posture, and the bow pointed directly at the "Catherine" in the tail of the German 1st battleship detachment.

On the King, the temporary flagship of the High Seas Fleet, the fleet commander and his staff officers were staring at the starboard sea. Before the battle, they were nervous about the strength of their opponents and their own lack of combat experience, and in the seven hours from dusk to late at night, the succession of victories had accumulated so much confidence that some had gradually forgotten the strength of the British Navy, and in their eyes, the main German fleet with a well-formed and high morale was enough to remove all obstacles to victory, but such optimism never appeared on the faces of Ingnoll and the senior officers. They are well aware that their opponents are not only technically and materially powerful, but also their spiritual combat strength, which is based on glorious traditions and willpower beliefs, has also been a key factor in the repeated victories of the past few hundred years. When the Iron Duke-class battleship that led the team in battle unabashedly put on an offensive posture, the invincible edge and the domineering spirit of the brave forward were undoubtedly revealed!

Once again, the time had come to make a decision, and Natsuki knew he couldn't get unambiguous advice from Ingnorr or his staff officers. Some of these German officers trained in the German naval academies and active fleet were knowledgeable and quick-witted, some were brave and aggressive, and some were resolute in their will, and some were meticulous in their thinking and steady in their actions, but these were only differences in style, and the vast majority of them could not get rid of the limitations of the times -- they did not have a long-term vision, were not bold enough, were not precise in their judgments, and were constrained by imperial power and political factors, and were often constrained by imperial power and looking ahead. In contrast, Natsuki is not only a "newborn calf is not afraid of tigers", but also a member of the privileged class, and he has won excellent conditions for himself to show his ambitions.

Looking at the new battlefield situation, Natsuki felt that his opponent was not necessarily "desperate", because the Royal Navy was the foundation of the British Empire, and the loss of the entire battle cruiser fleet and 5 dreadnoughts would change the balance of power between Britain and Germany, and even force Britain to withdraw from the war, but as long as the main force of the Royal Navy was still there, the prosperous homeland was guaranteed, and the vast and fertile colonies were not lost, the hegemony of the world empire would not be easily lost. On the other hand, if the British Navy loses 70 percent of its capital ships in this battle, and overnight it falls from the world's largest navy to the last rank, not only will the mainland lose its security barrier, but its overseas territories will also face ******** from the great powers. It is impossible for a cautious and steady general like Jericho not to weigh which is more important.

On the one hand, the British Grand Fleet could not tolerate devastating losses, and on the other hand, the existing war situation had put Britain in a precarious situation - to destroy several old battleships of the German Navy at a huge cost of sinking or severely damaging more than a dozen capital ships. As soon as the news came out, not only did the confidence and morale of the officers and men of the navy fall to the bottom, but the British people would also feel panicked, and their determination to fight together with France and Russia against Germany and Austria would surely be shaken, and the expeditionary force that had been assembled in southern England would have to stay behind to defend their homeland, which would have an unpredictable impact on the course and outcome of this war. Therefore, before leading the main force of the fleet to withdraw from the battle, Jericho must find a way to sink a few more German capital ships, so as to reduce the proportion of battle losses on both sides, save the face of the Royal Navy, and avoid catastrophic political consequences.

Thinking about this, Natsuki turned his gaze to the sea behind starboard, although the tail of the fleet could not be directly observed from the bridge, but judging from the direction of concentration of lights and artillery fire of the British fleet, they were fiercely attacking the "Catherine". At this time, he couldn't help but feel a little glad in his heart, if he hadn't adjusted the fleet battleships before, so that the 8 old dreadnoughts of the 3rd Battleship Detachment and the 5 cutting-edge dreadnoughts of the 1st Battleship Detachment were lined up, then the British fleet would now just cut off the battle line of the German fleet, and in this raging rainy night, the medium and long-range shooting of the naval guns would tend to be useless, and the British fleet, which was numerically but concentrated in strength, would form a huge local advantage in a short time, even if the German battleships had a level of protection that was second to none, It is inevitable that the mistakes of the "Benbang" will be repeated.

"Catherine" is a hostile one, the situation is unfavorable, but after all, it is a well-balanced and powerful Caesar-class battleship, the main armor of the waterline and the bridge armor have reached an unprecedented thickness, and the use of high-quality carburized armor steel made by the Krupp factory in peacetime, as long as it is not too lucky, there will be no risk of war damage for a while and a half, and the adjacent "Louis Poel Regent" is also a Caesar-class, it has almost no loss of combat power in the previous battle, and at this time it can be used with vigorous skills to "Catherine" Give assistance.

The current situation does not look too bad, but limited by the poor vision, the two sides are quite close at the beginning of the battle, and the British capital battleship is in a state of high speed, even if it is only a moment of hesitation, the battlefield situation may undergo subversive changes, this sense of urgency to judge the situation prompted Natsuki's brain to run rapidly, from the beginning of the artillery battle is only a momentary effort, he issued the main fleet after the second order after the "free fire and return fire": the 1st battleship detachment strictly guards the array, The ships of the 3rd Battleship Detachment turned to the right and attacked through the battleships of the 1st Battleship Detachment.

Strict adherence to the array means that even if the subordinate ship is firmly locked by enemy fire, it must not evade the attack by maneuvering without authorization. In naval warfare, this is a resolute and cruel directive, and one or several ships must make great sacrifices for the victory of the entire fleet. If discipline or command is not clear, this order may not be carried out, and in the event of a loss of a flagship or a failure of communications, it may become a shackle for the captains to judge for themselves.

Whether it was a semaphore or a radio, it would take time to convey this order, which was neither too complicated nor very simple, and the two leading warships of the British fleet were obviously more efficient, and they quickly passed through the middle area of the two warring fleets, and the bow was still pointing to the "Catherine" at the end of the right column of the German fleet, as if they were ready to ram the opponent if the artillery fire was not enough to sink the opponent, but the British commander did not seem to have the fierceness and decisiveness with which Natsuki led his ship to ram the "Orion" before-or, rather, He adopted a more civilized and skillful combat strategy. When the distance between the two sides was close to 100 meters, the two British battleships turned to the left in unison, and judging from the posture of the battleships, they were making a sharp turn at the maximum rudder angle of high-speed sailing, so that what remained on the sea was two full and smooth arcs, and when the arcs gradually converged into a straight line, the two British battleships with a majestic posture had already pointed all their main guns at the "Catherine".

This is a 20-door high-performance 13. 5-inch naval guns!

Seconds later, the German capital ship "Catherine", which was fully loaded with crew, was subjected to the most terrifying fire bombardment since the engagement. Under the light of the searchlights, the guns of the two British battleships spewed terrifying flames one after another, and the huge shells passed through the field of vision at a speed that was recognizable to the naked eye but difficult to follow. "Catherine" faced the enemy on the starboard side, and after the shelling, there was no point of impact on the sea on its port side, and near the starboard side, a wall of water far greater than any rampart was instantly raised, and its hull, deck, and superstructure were also shrouded in the flames and smoke of the explosion in an instant. Witnessing such a scene, many distant spectators thought that the "Catherine" had exploded!

The torrential rain extinguished the flames, the wind blew away the smoke, and only a few seconds later, the solid and concise hull of the "Catherine" reappeared in front of people's eyes, all the searchlights had been extinguished, all the decks had been changed beyond recognition, tongues of fire were running from many parts of the ship, and thick black smoke was dragging from the damaged positions, but it still remained in the array of the German fleet, and declared its indomitable will with artillery fire!

"Catherine" was not sunk, at least just a heavy blow did not break its body, and the two British battleships were amazingly powerful13. The 5-inch gun group was still aimed at it, but their next round of fire would not be until at least 40 seconds later, and the two sides were sailing in parallel directions, and in half a minute they would be completely out of position. In this case, to someone's surprise, the two British battleships made a rather tacit right turn, intending to cut in from behind the "Catherine" and thus maintain a superior position for a close-range full-board salvo. At this moment, a black shadow suddenly rushed out from the left and right behind the "Catherine", which completely surprised the British. Seeing that the collision between bow and bow was about to occur, the German battleship that suddenly appeared had no intention of avoiding it, and the Iron Duke-class battleship leading the way had no choice but to continue to turn right. In this way, although it was able to narrowly avoid the comers, it inserted the "Catherine" into the German battle columns, forming an unprecedented naval spectacle.

Apparently inspired by the sinking of the enemy ship by the "Frederick the Great", the German battleship that rushed out from the rear of the "Catherine" suddenly turned left and forcibly rammed into the other party under the condition that the "Iron Duke" took the initiative to avoid it.

(End of chapter)