The first to spot another German dreadnought fleet coming from west-northwest, the reconnaissance cruiser "Riflemen", which was part of the 2nd Cruiser Squadron of the British Grand Fleet. www.biquge.info It was still more than an hour before midnight, and if it weren't for the thick rain clouds that the wind had not brought in, the bright moonlight would have illuminated the sea, but now, people could only keep their eyes open in the dark, and when the watchmen on the British cruisers noticed that the situation was not good, the enemy's outposts were only more than 2,000 meters away!

This is a sea battle of steel and blood, and no one will remember the old friendship and show mercy until the other side loses its combat effectiveness. Because of this, everyone in the middle of it must do their best, and dare not be careless at any time. The "Rifleman" preemptively turned on the searchlight and used a blinding pillar of light to find and lock onto the opponent's figure. It was a much more formidable German cruiser, with a thick twin main gun turret and a rounded bridge, which meant it belonged to the "Joachim" class, and their design was well-balanced and tactically targeted, and their appearance allowed the German naval personnel to gradually develop a sense of honor and superiority with German national characteristics.

As the most direct challenge to the Germans, the British Navy took great pains to maintain its existing superiority, so it had to spend more energy and financial resources on the design and construction of various types of ships. By the time the war broke out, the cost of an ordinary British cruiser had increased by more than 70 percent compared with five years ago, and their comprehensive combat power had also risen, and the brand-new squadron of dreadnoughts, cruiser squadrons, and destroyer squadrons were certainly majestic and domineering, but it was impossible for any navy to complete a thorough replacement in a short period of time. The stronger the new battleship, the more the old battleship seems to be in decline, and the best officers and crews are given priority to the new battleship.

Seeing the fierce German cruiser and the group of German dreadnoughts looming in the sea behind it, the "riflemen" hurriedly opened fire with the ship's guns. At dusk, the waves in this area are less than 1 meter high, and now there is a heavy rainstorm coming, and from time to time there will be waves of more than 2 meters. The most affected were the destroyers and large torpedo boats of about 1,000 tons, which swayed no less than the pirate ships in an amusement park, and the gunners had a hard time gaining a foothold, and it was an unthinkable task to maneuver the guns and ensure the accuracy of their fire. As for the 3,000-ton cruiser such as the "riflemen", the hull jolting and the waves on the deck were also very bad, and not only was it difficult to keep sighting, but once seawater poured into the barrels, there was a possibility of a bad explosion accident during firing.

After firing several shells in succession from several 76-mm guns in the bow and port forward, the 10-year-old "riflemen" hurriedly turned to the right. Under normal circumstances, the sound of artillery was sufficient to serve as a warning, but the Bernie detachment was not out of engagement, and for the sake of safety, the "riflemen" used both radio and signal lights to warn the Bernie detachment to the south. Soon, the German ships responded strongly to its searchlights, and medium-caliber shells whistled and fell, and the sea conditions at this time obviously affected the accuracy of the Germans' shooting, and their shells almost did not pose a real threat to the "riflemen", but after a few minutes, the situation changed, and the two leading German dreadnoughts adjusted their course to the left, and their twin 150 mm secondary guns and single 88 mm secondary guns on their starboard side obtained a more ideal firing angle. Moreover, these secondary guns located above the high freeboard are not as susceptible to the effects of waves as the guns of light ships, and the reduced aspect ratio of the hull is also a fairly stable firing platform.

At a distance of about 5,000 meters, the two German dreadnoughts were like night shooting training, with their single side secondary guns firing fiercely at a rate of 6-7 rounds per minute, large and small shells raining down on the retreating British reconnaissance cruisers, and the German light cruisers serving as outposts followed closely behind, using searchlights to guide the guns of their capital ships. In less than three minutes, the "rifleman" received four shells in succession, the tail gun was destroyed, and the detonated ammunition caused a fire, which then invaded the engine room and caused the engine to stop, and the stalled British battleship became a very eye-catching navigation light in the darkness.

Seeing that the "riflemen" and its more than 200 crew members could only be slaughtered by the Germans, the dreadnought formation commanded by Vice Admiral Bernie could not rush to the rescue. Perhaps it was considered unchivalrous to beat the water dogs, or perhaps to disdain to execute such a weak opponent as the "riflemen", the German dreadnoughts actually stopped shelling, and their outpost cruisers continued to approach their unpowered British battleships, and the distance between the two was soon shortened to 500 meters. The surviving British sailors began to abandon their ships and escape, the flickering light of the fire reflecting their desperate figures.

In the face of the Germans' signal to surrender, the battle flag was still flying on the mast of the "riflemen", and the German cruiser, like a cold-faced and ruthless executioner, got close to a distance of two hundred meters, fired a torpedo at the British cruiser, whose stern had already sunk into the sea, and hit it in one shot. The violent explosion immediately destroyed the hull structure of the "Rifleman", destroyed its will to survive as a warship, and took the lives of hundreds of British sailors in an extremely short period of time. Moments later, the dilapidated British cruiser rolled down on its port side, the fire on board was finally extinguished, and the amidships, painted with the gunwald hull facing the sky, lingered for a few seconds on the water when the light had dimmed again, and completely disappeared from view......

Following the captain's instructions, the German cruiser that sank the "riflemen" lowered its lifeboats, and two large German torpedo boats joined the search for survivors. Without waiting for the three German light ships to put away their lifeboats, the cannon light flashed on the sea in front of them, and the rumbling of artillery seemed to be the prelude to this North Sea rain storm, and the screaming and falling shells showed the cruel side of the war. Regardless of whether they knew the current situation here or not, the two British battleships, which had arrived at the alert of the "riflemen", did not hesitate to open fire on the German ships on the sea.

At the bridge observatory of the "Frederick the Great", Ingnoll and others, who came up from the battle bridge to breathe, had already sensed the precursor of the impending rain storm from the change of the sea breeze. Tens of thousands of tons of steel ships can be described as the essence of the great industrial age, their existence far beyond the limits of the human body's capabilities, but in the face of the forces of nature, they often not only cannot rampage, but also have to bow humbly and retreat. When the rain storm comes, even the best dreadnoughts of Britain and Germany will no longer be the ideal battle platform, and light and heavy naval guns and even torpedoes will temporarily lose their usefulness, unless both sides are willing to put aside the equipment technology and the quality of the crew, and so on, and decide the fate of this naval battle with the most primitive ramming engagement.

When orange-red artillery flames appeared on the sea ahead, the "Frederick the Great" and the accompanying "Caesar" sailed at the forefront of the 1st battleship detachment, and the four dreadnoughts that had been disturbed by torpedoes before also gradually caught up, and the course of these six German battleships was to the north of the British cruiser that had just been sunk, and if they continued to maintain this course and speed, they would soon be able to cross in column in front of the British dreadnought formation engaged with General Reims, so that they could not only seize the advantageous position of the T-shape, You can also join forces with Vice Admiral Reims' 3rd Battleship Detachment to flank each other, and try to get rid of these early-built and less powerful British dreadnoughts once and for all before the best dreadnoughts of the British fleet can get rid of the entanglement of the German 2nd Battleship Detachment.

"Sir, we have received a report from the 'Dresden' that two large enemy warships have been found in the sea 4,000 meters in front of the fleet, and our lifeboats cannot be recovered for the time being."

Before the communications officer brought this interpretation of the light code signal issued by the outpost ship, the fleet commander had already formed a relatively intuitive understanding of the changes in the battlefield situation through visual observation. As the official commander of the German High Seas Fleet, von Ingnoll was supposed to be the direct commander of the naval battle, but before the head-to-head confrontation between the two main fleets began, he showed a hesitant character weakness under heavy pressure, which Natsuki, who had studied the naval history of the Second German Reich, had anticipated. With the special status of a member of the royal family, as well as his personal prestige, he managed to "usurp" the command, thereby bringing the combat operations of the fleet under his will.

Despite working together for many years, Natsuki and Ingnorr's tactical thinking and command style are very different. If Ingnoll was to be in command of this naval battle from beginning to end, he would inevitably let the main ships of the German High Seas Fleet line up closely, and use his own strongest strength to confront the British Grand Fleet, and then pin his victory on the battlefield and the combat performance of the officers and men. Natsuki chose a flexible tactic, anticipating that the British Grand Fleet was eager to support Betty, and when he entered the battlefield, the array patella was tight, so he divided his main ships into three formations and attacked separately. The 1st Battleship Detachment and the 3rd Battleship Detachment under the command of General Lance dealt with the old dreadnoughts of the British fleet, and the 15 old battleships of the 2nd Battleship Detachment of Reinhardt-Schell dragged the most elite British dreadnoughts. The only thing Natsuki can be sure of is that all of his ships are within a radius of 20 or 30 nautical miles, and the performance of the commanders of each formation directly determines the course and outcome of the entire naval battle.

When the cannon flame reappeared, looking at the hazy shadow of the ship reflected by the orange-red flash, Natsuki narrowed his eyes and said in a cold tone like the sea breeze: "Two insignificant old armored ships, let's go up and crush them directly!" ”

Many officers in the Fleet Command, especially those who were older and accustomed to acting steadily, were uneasy over time because of their lack of knowledge of the situation on the battlefield as a whole, and this sentiment crept over the inexperienced young officers. Xia Shu's words can be described as bursting with confidence, domineering, and even giving people a sense of conceit, and when the battle situation is not clear, the general flagship of the fleet is the vanguard to break into the hinterland of the battlefield, which has no small risks and hidden dangers, but in turn it has also played a significant role in boosting the morale of officers and men and enhancing the will to fight.

Suddenly, the "Dresden" took the lead in spying on the incoming with searchlights, and although the two British battleships that were speeding up were of the 10,000-ton class, when the bright pillars of light pulled them out of the darkness, the old ship's shape, clumsy posture, and weak firepower suddenly exempted the German dreadnought officers and men from being lured.

In a near-face-to-face battle, how could two British Devon-class armored cruisers be a match for two German Caesar-class dreadnoughts?

At a distance of 4,200 meters, the Frederick the Great gracefully turned one compass point to the left, allowing eight 305 mm guns to point the black holes in unison at the leading British armoured ship. In the bridge firing command room, which had not been damaged by artillery fire, the officers who had warmed up to the ideal condition quickly used the ZEISS stereo optical rangefinder to determine the orientation of the target. Night and wind and waves to a certain extent affected the accuracy of the optics, but the firing commanders on German battleships were able to compensate for this effect with a rate of fire that was significantly superior to that of their opponents. After two rounds of alternating fire, Frederick the Great formed a straddle fire on the target, followed by the "Caesar" also locked on to its own target.

Even if they ignored the warning of the "riflemen", the two British armored ships should have known at the moment of attack from the 305-mm naval guns that they had encountered the invincible German capital ships, but they did not immediately turn around and retreat, but adjusted their course to show the side and launched a close confrontation with the other side. The German Navy's marksmanship was widely praised for its excellent training and combat performance, but the British Navy's centuries-old tradition is also not to be discredited. Despite the fact that there are only 4 doors and 7 single ships. With 5-inch or 191 mm guns, the two British armored ships were better than the Germans. An armor-piercing shell hit the main armor belt of the German flagship, and the strong shock was clearly felt by those commanders watching the battle from the bridge, but it failed to penetrate the 350 mm thick Krupp armor, leaving only a pit on the smooth surface of the battleship, and the Germans' main guns were able to pose a deadly threat to the opponent with only one shot. The fierce and disparity in the artillery battle lasted only three and a half minutes, the brave armored cruiser "Antrimshire" was hit by the ammunition depot and exploded, the "Argyllshire" was hit by a direct blow to the front of the amidships, the ammunition detonation threatened all the secondary guns on the port side, the coal storage in the two coal tanks was ignited, the fire on the ship soon reached an uncontrollable point, and the order to fill the inner compartment with water was like drinking water to quench thirst. In its last moments, the German cruiser "Dresden" once again became an executioner, and this was not the last time it played such a role in this naval battle.

(End of chapter)