As the British and German naval shipbuilding competition continued to heat up and the hostile atmosphere between the two countries became increasingly intense, British Admiral Winston Churchill proposed a war strategy of "North Sea Cage", that is, to abandon the traditional near-shore blockade, hold the two sea lanes from the North Sea to the Atlantic, cut off Germany's maritime trade, and let the powerful German High Seas Fleet be trapped in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea without doing anything. For this reason www.biquge.info the British Navy vigorously reorganized its armaments, a large number of new ships were built, and the two most strategically located harbors, Scapa Bay and Dover Harbor, were also built into modern naval bases during this period.

At the outbreak of war, the British Navy stationed the main force of the home fleet in Scarpa Gulf to prevent German ships from slipping into the Atlantic Ocean from the waters of the Danish Channel and the Faroe Islands, and laid a heavy line of defense in the English Channel with old battleships and light ships. In order to resist a possible attack by the German fleet, the British Navy laid a large number of mines in the Strait of Dover in the first week of the war, blocking this important waterway, which was only 28 kilometers at its narrowest point, with dense mine barriers.

In order for Allied ships to pass through here, they had to be able to pass safely under the guidance of British pilot ships.

In addition to mines, the British Navy deployed a small fleet of lightning, minelaying and minesweeper ships in the port of Dover, as well as additional coastal artillery equipped with the latest large-caliber fortified guns. With such a well-developed defense, German surface ships could not easily pass through the Strait of Dover.

At about 3 p.m., the scorching summer sun shone on the sea, and the German fleet appeared in the sea northeast of Dover.

Fierce sirens rang out from the British coastal forts and military ports, and this time it was a real battle.

Soon, four khaki-colored land-based planes flew over Dover's iconic chalk cliffs, their number-only numbers and flag logos indicating that they were from the Royal Flying Corps of the British Army. These biplanes were well-proportioned, sturdy, smooth, and had a two-seat layout with good visibility from the rear seat pilot - they were B-E-2 school planes for the British artillery, designed and produced by the Royal Aircraft Factory, and by the outbreak of the war there were 22 of them, the largest number of aircraft in service in the British Army.

After the German air raid on London, the British military realized that pistols and rifles were clearly unsuitable for air combat, and they decisively loaded their planes with machine guns and bombs. However, the Maxim water-cooled heavy machine gun was too cumbersome, and the Belgian Ordnance Company, which produced the Lewis light machine gun, was hastily relocated due to the German invasion, and the British had to ask for a batch of Hatch Chase 1909 light machine guns from their French allies, which were close in performance to the Madsen light machine gun.

In the waters off Dover, this group of British reconnaissance planes had to deal not only with a German fleet with a certain air defense capability, but also against two water reconnaissance planes piloted by experienced German pilots. However, the British pilots did not take advantage of their numerical superiority to compete with each other, they knew that finding out the enemy was the most important task at the moment, and two planes carried naval officers rather than specialized observer--machine gunners. They resolutely avoided the entanglement of German water reconnaissance planes and flew close to the German fleet to carry out low-altitude reconnaissance. In the course of the reconnaissance, one British plane was eventually shot down by German fire, and the other was damaged and forced to land, and despite the unexpected losses, the remaining two planes sent a valuable reconnaissance report back to the ground command: the raging German fleet consisted of 4 battle cruisers, 4 light cruisers, and 14 large torpedo boats, and the battle cruisers were 1 Seydlitz-class, 2 Moltke-class, and 1 Blucher-class.

Before the Royal Flying Corps' reconnaissance report was sent to the Naval Staff, the mine-striking ships in the Strait of Dover had been ordered to strike - three destroyers, seven medium torpedo boats, and 47 high-speed torpedo boats had resolutely sailed out of port.

The heavy shore guns also couldn't wait to open fire, and the first round of artillery fire fell on the sea thousands of meters in front of the German fleet, as a warning to the Germans: one step further is the iron fist of the British!

As if frightened by the British shore guns, the imposing German fleet began to turn, but after a few minutes they were transformed from a double column to an unstandard array of fish scales, each with their ships starboard facing the British group of lightning strikers at high speed.

Amid the rumbling roar of British shore guns, the German fleet was eerily quiet. It was not until the British lightning strike ship group sailed into the effective range that the four battle cruisers took the lead in making a majestic cannon sound, dozens of shells exploded in the middle of the flight, and hundreds of shotguns rained down, the range was so large that it easily covered the position of the British lightning strike ship group. Such a dense attack method seems very terrifying, after all, since the Germans designed the first high-speed torpedo boats, in order to ensure the speed of the sprint, these "dangerous assassins" are often designed to be very light, most of them can not even withstand the attack of bullets, a fist-sized shotgun is enough to destroy their boats.

Comparatively, destroyers and medium torpedo boats were less resistant to shrapnel shells, and only a few of them did not cause fatal damage to them, but after all, the German fleet's fire volleys were not only shrapnel, and the four battle cruisers were given the ability to deal with various scenarios on the design board - the 150 mm medium-caliber secondary guns were placed in the auxiliary turrets in a twin way, and the gunners were fully protected, which was conducive to improving the rate of fire and accuracy; The 88-mm single-mounted secondary guns are arranged in large numbers on the upper deck of the ship, and they can win by numbers, forming a dense barrage at medium and close ranges; The 37-mm guns were both a weapon for short-range defense and for anti-aircraft fire, and they were streaked in various spare places, giving the impression that the German cruisers and above were well-armed and powerful.

The four battlecruisers took the lead, and the four light cruisers built after 1910 were not ambiguous, their ship structure was equivalent to a miniature version of the battle cruiser, with fierce main guns, sharp secondary guns, and strong maneuverability, suitable for performing various types of combat missions, and the construction cost was low, the cycle was short, and it was a very cost-effective ship. It is a pity that in the ten years before the war, the German Navy not only needed to concentrate on the construction of capital ships, but also needed to simultaneously develop light surface ships, submarines and aviation forces, and only 12 light cruisers were completed and put into service, so the commanders of the German fleet had to use these ships with superior performance very economically.

In less than a puff of smoke, the extremely fast British torpedo boats rushed to the German fleet from a distance, and the battle between the two sides quickly entered a white-hot stage. British torpedo boats are constantly being hit by artillery fire on the sea, they are not like conventional ships, and after being shot, there is still a chance to repair the pipe or abandon the ship to escape, and an ordinary machine shell may kill it instantly, let alone a larger caliber rapid-fire gun. The four battle cruisers of the German fleet had lowered the muzzles of their main guns to a depression angle, and they were still calmly firing grenade shotguns, and if they did not have time to burst out in the middle of the flight, these guys exploded in the water, most of the shotguns were useless, but some of them pierced the bottom plate of the torpedo boat directly from the bottom up, and the blow was also fatal. If it bursts close to the surface of the sea, the next scene will be eerie and terrifying, with fist-sized shotguns jumping forward at extremely high speeds, and the ships in a large fan-shaped area will not escape the fate of being destroyed.

At the risk of dying at any moment, the British naval crews drove their high-speed torpedo boats through the dense fire network of the German fleet, and only three of the squadrons in the front were able to reach the range of the torpedoes, one of which was hit by an oncoming shell before it could fire its torpedoes, and was immediately reduced to pieces in a blinding burst of flames, and less than five hundred meters in front of it, the large German torpedo boats were across the right side of the battle cruiser, and its chimney was not even as high as the deck of the battle cruiser. However, with their fearless spirit, they built the last line of defense for the main force of the fleet -- every officer and soldier who participated in the battle proved his courage with his life.

At this time, for the warring parties, life and death are only a thin line.

Rushing to within 500 meters, two British battleships decisively threw torpedoes, and two frightening white water marks appeared on the sea, facing an open sea, but a battle cruiser of the German fleet was heading there. The watchman on the ship spotted the torpedo trail and immediately issued a warning to turn around, and the huge battleship turned sharply at a speed close to 25 knots, but there was no panic on the ship, all the ship's guns were still firing in an orderly manner, and the officers on the bridge continued to stay on the open-air observation platform and calmly direct the battle.

The two torpedoes ended up passing over the sea twenty or thirty meters from the side of the German battleship, which looked very different, but if the German battleship had turned the rudder a few seconds late, the result would have been very different.

A few seconds later, another group of British torpedo boats arrived, and the companions in front used torpedoes to force a German battle cruiser to turn with all its might, and a hole in the German fleet's originally tight firepower network suddenly appeared, and a crew with excellent insight and a keen sense of smell accurately found this weak position, and the potential of the ace was ignited at this moment - he drove the boat straight over, and actually broke through to a position less than two hundred meters away from a German war cruiser unscathed.

The battle cruiser in front of him was the flagship of the German reconnaissance fleet, the "Moltke" personally commanded by Hipper.

The torpedo entered the water, leaving only 10 seconds for the "Moltke" to make an emergency evasion.

The watchman gave the first warning, the officer gave the first order, and the helmsman spun the rudder without hesitation, but none of this was enough to allow the Moltke to avoid the killer blow.

With a loud bang, the battlecruiser's steely body trembled slightly.

The waves rose high and the water splashed down, but there was no trace of damage on the outer wall of the ship, and there was not even a black trace left by the explosion, because the mine was under the water surface. Even the most experienced officers had to investigate the field before they could determine the actual damage to the ship.

(End of chapter)