"Dreadnought", "Courage", "Gorgeous", "Bellerophon", "Collingwood", "Avant-garde", "Neptune", "Giant", these resounding names basically represent the pride of the British Royal Navy in leading the era of dreadnought. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 infoSince 1906, to the enthusiastic cheers of the British military and civilians, the "Queen's warships" have slid off the slipways one after another, loaded with powerful and terrifying heavy guns, hoisted the St. George's Cross and sailed out to sea, demonstrating their indestructible hegemony with unquestionable strength.

On the night of August 7, 1914, in the waters off Jutland, under the command of Vice Admiral Cecil Burney, the eight British dreadnoughts in a single-line battle column preempted the German fleet and fired their searchlights directly at each other, thus gaining an advantage for their gunners' ranging and aiming. With Vice Admiral Bernie's ship, the Courage, unleashing an earth-shattering roar with a salvo of all its main guns, the rest of the British dreadnoughts scrambled to open fire, and the port side of the battlefleet was suddenly covered in orange-red flashes. This extremely dense naval gun firing has not been seen for many years since the Sail Battleship retired from the stage of history, and today 68 12-inch guns fired in unison at intervals of no more than 20 seconds, which is almost unique in spectacle and momentum (although the Dreadnought, Palerrophon and St. Vincent classes had 10 guns, the turret layout allowed them to fire a single salvo with a maximum of 8 guns, while the 10 guns of the Giant class could fire a single salvo at an angle).

Following the orders of the squadron's flagship, which was also the dominant tactic in fleet artillery warfare in this age of chivalry, the eight British dreadnoughts each opened fire on their German ships in their respective order. At a distance of 4,000 to 4,600 meters, the first round of shelling of the British fleet showed the solid foundation of the world's largest navy, except for the two German dreadnoughts that were slightly out of array because of the avoidance of torpedoes, the other six were immediately surrounded by the column of water rising from the sea. Of course, these German dreadnoughts were 20,000 tons of behemoths, and even if they were attacked by heavy fire from the British fleet, they would not be as helpless as the British destroyers that had been ravaged before, and the waves of shells washed over their empty decks, and they did not infringe on the thick turrets and towering bridges on the ships.

The orange-red flash of heavy artillery fire was fleeting, and soon only the glow of bright yellow searchlights was left on the sea, and the gray-white smoke filled the port side of the British fleet, and the dense spots almost had the effect of obscuring the face of the battleships, while on the side of the German fleet, the line array of six dreadnoughts was not as neat as that of the British fleet, and the two ships that were behind were trying to return to the battle formation. Time passed quietly, and these German battleships, which were also heavily armed, were surprisingly silent. Suddenly, people seemed to return to the Teutonic Forest more than a thousand years ago, and the fierce Germanic soldiers waited in the dense Black Forest for the horn of the charge, and the shouting and provocation of the Romans did not make them lose their minds, but ignited the pent-up anger in their hearts.

The last splash fell, and the sea where the German fleet was located could be seen everywhere with tumbling white splash foam, and the waves swelled disorderly, slapping against each other and colliding into eddies. Suddenly, the masts, bridges, and searchlights of the German battleships were lit on the outer platforms at the half-height of the chimneys, and the sea between the two fleets suddenly became as bright as day, and even the splash on the crests of the waves regained its crystal clear luster. However, the artillery fire of the German fleet did not appear with the searchlights, and the sea was still dominated by an eerie calm. The first round of shelling of the British fleet had passed almost a minute, and the rate of fire from the main guns of their dreadnoughts was allegedly 1. 5 rounds per minute, which is a considerable improvement over the old heavy artillery more than ten years ago. Just when people thought that the British fleet on the right side of the battlefield, that is, in the northeast direction, would inflict a heavy blow on the enemy with a second round of artillery fire with a high hit rate, the German dreadnought "Helgoland" at the front of the battle column suddenly let out a battle cry, and the 12 283 mm main guns on the ship opened fire in an extremely coherent manner like firecrackers, and the orange cannon flame reflected the night sky and the sea red, and also dyed the right hull of the battleship with a layer of bloody red.

In addition to the slightly lagging "Rhineland" and "Posen", the dreadnought battleship under the command of German Vice Admiral Wilhelm von Reims launched a salvo with a momentum that was not inferior to that of the opponent, and at this very time, the British fleet led by the "Courage" also began a second round of firing. While the German fleet was still firing shells, the British fleet was bursting in, and a strange and powerful scene appeared on the battlefield - a force that could only be produced by the collision of two steel behemoths, and no number of light ships could piece together a similar scene.

In the case of the very close flight speed of the shells, the artillery fire of the German fleet naturally fell first, and each 302-kilogram armor-piercing shell carried a huge kinetic energy, and each of the water columns they stirred up far exceeded the height of the mast of the British battleship.

Due to the firepower configuration of the German Navy's Nassau-class and Helgoland-class with four triple main guns, six ships were able to fire 72 shells in one salvo, and the two slightly backward battleships also fired half a beat slowly, limited by the course bearing, they only fired at the front main guns, not counting the 150 mm caliber secondary guns, and the first round of artillery fire of the German fleet still slightly overwhelmed the opponent with 84 large-caliber armor-piercing shells.

The number of shells fired in a salvo is only a one-sided factor in a fleet artillery battle, considering that these eight British dreadnoughts are all armed with 12-inch main guns, and the standard weight of the armor-piercing shells they fired is 386 kg, which is 27% heavier than the 11-inch armor-piercing shells of German battleships. It is worth mentioning that the British armor-piercing bullets were loaded with picric acid explosives, which were powerful but highly sensitive, while the German armor-piercing shells were filled with less powerful and less sensitive TNT explosives, and these factors also affected the course and outcome of the battle.

The waves that enveloped the British fleet had not yet receded, and the German fleet began to meet the second round of artillery fire from its opponents. At a distance of less than 5,000 meters, corrected by the previous impact point, this salvo of the British dreadnought basically formed a straddle fire on the German battleship, and not only that, but the officers and crews of the British battleship also recognized the spectacle of the enemy's battleship being shot - the lead ship of the German battle formation and the fourth ship in the line appeared one after another, and two slightly different sounds appeared in the dense and terrifying roar......

The German battleships that were hit were "Helgoland" and "Westphalia", the explosion was quite amazing, even if they were prepared, the German naval personnel in the battlefield had a sense of shock, but fortunately, the design concept of the German capital ship was survival first, and two British armor-piercing shells were not enough to make this fierce fleet artillery battle lose suspense early. The "Helgoland" was only shot in the hull and appeared to be fine, while the rear deck of the "Westphalia" was exposed to fire after the explosion, and the injuries are unknown.

As the last British shell fell into the sea and exploded, the momentum of the battlefield in which the two fleets were located slipped from the peak to the trough, but the sea did not completely calm down, and the secondary guns of the battleships of both sides and the guns of the escort light ships were involved in the engagement. Countless shells streaked across the battlefield in varying trajectories, landing on the sea at a distance or near the target, and occasionally hitting the opposing ships failed to produce remarkable results. Here, the battleship groups of both sides were destined to be the unshakable protagonists.

Between breaths, time flows. Ten seconds passed, and then another ten seconds, and the German fleet fired first, as expected, but such an interval of fire made the British on the opposite side unwilling to believe reality......

In an earlier artillery exchange, the "von der Tann", which was equipped with triple 11-inch naval guns, had demonstrated the ability to fire three salvos per minute in front of the British navy, but even if the officers and men of the two sides had the opportunity to board the ship and communicate, the turret and inner compartment were absolutely forbidden areas, so the British did not know the internal structure of the German battleship, nor could they determine whether the high-speed fire of the "von der Tann" was the exception or the norm, and whether this extremely advantageous rate of fire was widespread in the German fleet. Of course, it is no secret that the German Navy favored rapid-fire guns, and under the influence of the Battle of Dadonggou of the Qing and Japanese fleets, starting with the Caesar-Frederick III class battleships, the Germans took a "non-mainstream" route, and ten battleships of two classes in a row were armed with 240 mm guns, while almost all British battleships built in the same period were 305 mm guns. The reason why the German Navy was able to accept the huge gap in caliber was that the 240 mm naval gun was the largest rapid-fire gun that could be built at that time, and the naval battle distance at that time was relatively close, especially in the North Sea with complex meteorological conditions, and the large-caliber naval gun was not as good as the rapid-fire gun. In addition, the German battleships' secondary guns and small-caliber secondary guns also had excellent rapid-fire performance, a gap that did not change until the British Navy was equipped with mechanical, semi-auto-loading small-caliber secondary guns.

As for the accuracy of the shooting of naval guns, the range measurement method adopted by Germany at that time was also more advanced than that of the British. The Germans first calculated the distance of the opponent by a rangefinder, then added a certain distance to this reading, fired the first round, fired a second round based on the reading, and finally fired a third round based on the reading minus a certain distance. The range interval of the three rounds is the same, the time is similar, and the trajectory can be quickly corrected according to the impact point, which is called echelon ranging, while the Royal Navy still uses the traditional dichotomy method of ranging, that is, one shell is fired first, and the next shot is adjusted according to the impact point until two consecutive shells fall on the opposing side, and then the median value is taken. Obviously, it takes a long time to measure the correct distance in this way.

Thanks to the efforts of hundreds of German gunners in 84 combat gun crews, the Krupp 283-mm naval gun, which was particularly beloved by Kaiser Wilhelm II, began to flourish. In this round of shelling, the German fleet not only straddled a number of British dreadnoughts, but also caused close damage by multiple shells, and the rapid and fierce fire also invisibly caused additional pressure on the British crews. After more than ten seconds of painful suffering, the British fleet finally began the third round of shooting, this time, the eight British battleships had a large difference in firing, and when there were still two battleships before they could fire, the German fleet actually launched another round of salvo, although the two backward German battleships could only put into battle with the previous main guns, but their performance suddenly overwhelmed the British fleet in momentum!

After the first two observation corrections, this round of firing between the two fleets began to show a heart-pounding rhythm. The British fleet's artillery fire directly hit three German battleships, and the lead "Helgoland" bore the brunt, and two piercing fireballs exploded in the starboard front and middle of the main ship, and the main bridge was immediately ablaze, and the radio room was also damaged, and only backup radios could be used for command and communication; The "Oldenburg" that followed was also hit by two British armor-piercing shells, one on the starboard side, which burst the steam pipe, and the white steam immediately filled the deck and bridge, and the other hit the seat of its second turret.11 The 8-inch thick Krupp armor successfully protected this critical position, but the explosion caused a serious failure of the turret's steering gear, and in the ensuing battle it could only fire at a fixed angle, which meant the loss of almost a quarter of the ship's firepower.

Compared with the previous two Helgoland-class battleships, the second ship of the Nassau-class "Westphalia", which was hit one after another, was not so easy. The bow side was penetrated, and the fire in the ship once threatened the ammunition supply channel of the front main gun; Turret No. 4 suffered heavy damage, half of the gunners were killed, and two main guns were damaged. Because of tonnage limitations, its defense was the weakest in the entire German main fleet, and the maximum speed of 21 knots was also the "shortcoming" of the German dreadnought group. In fact, the greatest significance of this class of dreadnoughts is that the designers and builders have accumulated very valuable experience, after all, from the former dreadnoughts to dreadnoughts, the navies of all countries have experienced a leap forward in progress, compared to the British "Dreadnought" and Palerlophon class, the German Nassau-class battleships in front of them can be called excellent!

In the two rounds of firing from the British fleet, the three German dreadnoughts were hit by six armor-piercing shells, and the "Nassau" and "Thuringia" also suffered 1-2 close misses each, and the overall combat strength was less than one-tenth of the loss, and the third round of firing of the German fleet like a storm also brought an unprecedented threat to the British fleet. The "Dreadnought", which was originally at the rear of the fleet, was turned into a lead ship by mistake, and it naturally received heavy care from the enemy's artillery fire. Although it was called "boiled old egg" by Fisher when it was built and put into service, that is, it could not be broken, this epoch-making battleship actually had a number of weaknesses. The first German armor-piercing shell that hit the "Dreadnought" almost pierced its starboard main turret, and the second shot neatly pierced its stern armor, causing its wheelhouse to enter the water, and its maneuverability was affected to a certain extent, and the third armor-piercing shell that arrived almost at the same time hit the bridge, instantly destroying its firing command room, and killing all the firing commanders.

The defensive arrangement of the Palerophon-class was almost identical to that of the "Dreadnought", with the turret, gun mounts, and bridge all covered with 11-inch rear Vickers armor, which could barely withstand the dense and accurate 11-inch armor-piercing shells of the German fleet at medium engagement distances, and the hull and deck armor in the bow and stern were their weakest points, and the German armor-piercing shells that hit here could easily penetrate the armor and enter the ship. Vice Admiral Bernie's "Courage" was shot in the bow and the front main gun could not fire normally, and the "Gorgeous" was hit by three shells in succession like the "Dreadnought", and the two direct hits near the amidship position only caused minor damage, but the one that hit the front of the hull blew a large hole in the waterline armor, and tons of seawater poured into the bilge, forcing the British crew to urgently close part of the watertight compartment, and before the water intake was controlled, the 20,000-ton battleship had a slight tilt, The supply and firing of the main guns in the front also had a direct impact.

(End of chapter)