Without warning, the sound of artillery that had been echoing on the surface of the sea for a long time subsided. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 info Night has come, the sky is not moonless, and the faint starlight resists the invasion of darkness alone. On the undulating seas, the faint flash of fire came from several damaged British warships, some of which had lost their combat capability, and some of them chose to remain silent because the enemy ships were too far away, and the German high-speed warships that had previously launched the torpedo attack had all withdrawn, and the world, which had weighed heavily on many British sailors, finally quieted down. The waves crashed against the hull, the engines rumbled, and even the German planes lingered like flies, and the feeling of depression was much lessened......

On the bridge of the "Frederick the Great" battle ship, the staff officers did not question the decision made jointly by the fleet commander and the chief of staff, but their faces were full of doubts and unwillingness, and this feeling was like a striker facing an empty door and not shooting.

Natsuki didn't say anything more, he waited for God's report while thinking about the next deployment, while Ingnorr folded his hands in front of his chest and paced back and forth with his head down. Suddenly, there was a jolt of whistles from outside the bridge, and Major Muras and the lieutenant of the captain, Colonel Rubich, hurriedly walked out of the bridge to find out, and after a while, the colonel's lieutenant was the first to return, and the young ensign officer reported loudly: "The first units of torpedo boats have returned, and they have confirmed that they have sunk three British battleships, severely damaged two capital ships, and the British mobile fleet no longer exists." ”

Colonel Lubic immediately exclaimed: "Well done! ”

The commander of the fleet and the chief of staff were indifferent to this, and the officers of the fleet did not speak indiscriminately, but expressed their joy with their eyes.

"The British mobile fleet no longer exists" is a rhetoric that is truly inspiring. However, a competent commander should keep an objective and cool head at all times, and this is especially true of Natsuki. In his opinion, Betty's British mobile fleet has indeed suffered heavy losses, but so far, only the "Invincible" and "Lion" can be confirmed to be sunk among the six battle cruisers, although none of the other four are intact, but they may not hurt the vital point, if the damage is well managed and some good luck, one or several of them may still participate in the next battle, then the ratio of the capital ships of the two fleets is no longer 17 to 17, but may be 17 to 18, 17 to 19 or 17 to 20. In addition, judging from the last reconnaissance report sent back by the German airship before dark, the 17 dreadnoughts of the Betty fleet were all listed in three columns separated by 1 nautical mile from each other, and were covered by more than 70 armored cruisers, light cruisers and destroyers, ensuring the situation of all personnel entering the battlefield at the cost of losing the maximum speed. Fifteen former dreadnoughts and auxiliary combat vessels were far behind, and Hipper's three battle cruisers sailed in separate formations in the western seas, completely scattered.

A short time later, Captain Gord returned to the bridge with the communications information.

"General Scheer's second battleship detachment is 6 nautical miles from us, General Funk's 3rd battleship detachment is 9 nautical miles from us, and General Mauss's auxiliary fleet is 14 nautical miles from us."

Listening to these figures, the corners of Ingnorl's mouth twitched slightly, the distance between the detachments was a little larger than expected, but they still had time to close the battle column before making contact with the enemy's main fleet.

I don't know if it's a psychological effect or an intuition, Natsuki feels a hint of danger. If you want to concentrate the ships, either the front one slows down and waits for the one behind, or you can turn to the place by maneuvering. At the moment of the big war, the two ways have their own advantages and disadvantages, Natsuki thought for a moment, turned his head to Ingnoll and said, "Sir, order each team to slow down in turn!" Strive to assemble all capital ships in half an hour and all battleships in an hour, while putting the auxiliary fleet in an effective combat support position. ”

Ingnore, who seemed cautious in terms of major events, was naturally hesitant about how to choose, and Natsuki made up his mind for him - in a sense, it was also for him to share the responsibility, his tangled emotions were swept away, and he instantly showed a calm and calm commander's demeanor, and deployed with the momentum of strategizing: "Use the tactical code, send a telegram to all detachments: the 1st battleship detachment slows down to 6 knots, the 3rd battleship detachment slows down to 14 knots, and the 2nd battleship detachment maintains a speed of 16 knots; The reconnaissance detachments and lightning strike groups continued to carry out mobile escort escort for the battleship detachments, and on this basis, the speed of the voyage could be slowed down accordingly; All tactical units must act in unison, and the lead ship will confirm the combat command to the wingman by light signal after receiving the telegram. ”

Having calculated these very clear speed figures, it seemed that it was impossible to achieve Natsuki's intention of assembling the capital ships in half an hour and the battleships in an hour, so Ingnoll paused and instructed the chief of staff - which can also be interpreted as an explanation in passing: "After the 3rd battleship detachment comes up, the two battleship detachments will form a battle column, and then slow down to 5 knots as a whole, and wait for the 2nd battleship detachment." ”

Natsuki had no objection to this, and he immediately gave the fleet commander a reminding look, and Ingnoll blinked his eyes and added an order: "Send a report to the reconnaissance fleet with a tactical code, and ask Hipper to lead the remaining ships to choose a safe route to move closer to me." ”

A simple command just shows Ingnoll's flexible and meticulous thinking.

The order to slow down was quickly communicated and executed accurately. The six newest dreadnoughts led by the USS Frederick the Great have to go from high speeds that cleave the waves to slow down slowly, unlike vehicles on land, which use braking systems to slow down in real time. In the case of large deceleration required, these large warships with boiler-steam turbine-reduction gear-propeller power mode had to adjust the reduction gear gear and reduce the power output. As a result, more than two-thirds of the boilers begin to release steam, and the large amount of steam spewing out of the chimney during the day is a spectacular and striking sight, and on a moonless night, it is difficult to judge what the condition of these huge columns of steam can be observed. And, since the fleet was still in the zone of engagement, and new battles could break out at any time, the ships routinely kept all their boilers in working order to quickly increase their speed if necessary.

On the bridge of the "Frederick the Great", the officers silently felt the sense of stall caused by the sharp reduction in the power of the battleship. Everyone should rejoice that this is a controllable active deceleration rather than a combat loss. After the speed was stabilized, the six German dreadnoughts ahead of their companions passed by the wreckage of the Lion, which had completely capsized by this time, leaving only a small part of the bottom of the ship that looked like a whale's backbone, and a large amount of debris and debris floating in the surrounding sea, as well as hundreds of escaped crews. Ingnoll ordered the two large torpedo boats to take care of the survivors, who were not too lucky, while the rest of the ships continued to follow the dreadnoughts north.

Suddenly, the rumbling of cannon was heard from the northwest, and bursts of fire lit up the silent night sky.

Natsuki and Ingnoll looked at each other, but did not speak. If they were asked to write down what they wanted on paper, they would inevitably come up with the same name: Hipper!

The line of sight shifts to the northwest16. 72 nautical miles, on the bridge of the battle ship "Cedritz", the flagship of the German reconnaissance fleet, Rear Admiral Franz von Hipper, stared indifferently at the starboard sea. Under the strong searchlight, the three battleships more than 4,000 meters away clearly showed their lead-gray livery, and the St. George's cross flag on the flagpole was waving in the wind. The one in the center is the largest, with an exceptionally slender hull, a large main turret and a typical barrel-style bridge, and there are many bullet holes and traces of fire smoke throughout the hull, and the other two hulls, although also slender, are obviously much smaller in tonnage and deterrent.

Hipper knew that the big guy in front of him was the British battlecruiser "New Zealand", which had been seriously injured by the "Blucher" more than an hour earlier and withdrew from the battle. The fierce artillery battle was a stalemate, and the German reconnaissance fleet had far fewer ships than its opponents, so Hipperer did not send any ships to the ground, but watched it withdraw north from the battlefield. Now, Hipper with three battle cruisers and two light cruisers is planning to outflank Betty's fleet with the main fleet, but he didn't expect to meet this unlucky guy on the way. Relying on the absolute superiority of his own fleet in strength, and learning that the main British fleet was approaching this sea, Hipper decided to fight quickly. He resolutely ordered the "Seydlitz" to turn on its searchlights and guide the accompanying ships to attack the three lone British warships.

In the dusk artillery battle, the British battle patrol formation was still beaten by the Hipper's fleet with more capital ships, and the current situation was not suspenseful. Although the British Battlecruiser, which had withdrawn from the battlefield, had extinguished the fire and was able to sail slowly under its own power, it was evident that it was in very bad condition: the bow deck was particularly low from the sea, and after being attacked, its forward main guns did not "speak", and the forward main ammunition depot should have been filled with seawater; The main body of the bridge is still there, but the firing command room in the upper part of the combat command room has been changed beyond recognition, and the rangefinder is gone, although the firing distance at this time is only more than 4,000 meters, and the two main guns on the amidships and the secondary guns on the side do not dare to compliment, and none of the shells they fired can cause damage to the "Seydlitz", and in just a few minutes, the main guns of the three German battle cruisers have completed the straddle fire one after another, and their secondary guns, together with the guns of the two German light cruisers, quickly received hits, and caused a fire on the chimney and rear bridge of the British War Cruiser.

"Main gun...... Hit the main target amidship deck! ”

The calm and loud voice came from the chief of staff of the German reconnaissance fleet, Major Erich Raeder, a 38-year-old officer who had served under Hippel for three years and was admired by Kaiser Wilhelm II for his knowledge of naval history and tactical theory, and whose military prowess was tested in his daily training exercises. Despite this, he did not do a good job here with Hipper, more often than not, he was only the transmitter and executor of combat orders, rather than the planner of tactical strategy, not because Raeder was too junior and inexperienced, but because of Hipper's independent and arbitrary character.

Hipper, standing motionless in front of the observation window, with binoculars given to him by the Kaiser on his chest, his small, cunning eyes were not only fixed on the prey in front of him, but he occasionally looked farther out into the sea, but the faint starlight hindered his vision, preventing him from getting more information through his eyes.

In a moment, another roar came out of the ship's main gun, and Raeder's voice once again made the officers in the battle bridge jump: "The main gun...... Hit the main target, the amidships! ”

After a few seconds, Raeder reported: "The British cruiser piloting the ship was hit by bullets in succession, and the whole ship was on fire, and the hull of the ship capsized." ”

At about the same time, the light cruiser following the British battlecruiser "New Zealand" was also on fire by the intensive artillery fire of the German fleet, and in less than five minutes, the three British battleships had been reduced to burning buoys, and only a handful of guns on board were still fighting, while only the "Seydlitz" and "Goeben" on the German fleet had eaten a few insignificant shells.

It seemed only a matter of time before the three dying British battleships were sunk completely, but out of concern or intuition, His Majesty Hipper, who had been silent since the order to open fire, suddenly frowned, and he coldly ordered: "Turn off the searchlights, and order the ships to turn left 16 compass points at full speed!" ”

The turn of the ships instead of the fleet means that the three battle cruisers and the two light cruisers will turn around and leave the battlefield as quickly as possible, and the accuracy of the ship's guns will be significantly reduced during the rapid turn. So, Raeder cautiously proposed: "Sir, should you send the 'Strasbourg' or 'Rostock' to fire torpedoes and put an end to their suffering?" ”

Hipper looked at him expressionlessly, and said in a non-negotiable tone: "Execute the order, Major!" ”

The aura of killing the god was so cold, and Raeder's gaze immediately lowered a notch.

"Yes, sir!"

(End of chapter)