As soon as the battle with the British main fleet was over, Schell hurriedly led the German dreadnought fleet back to the rear, and by the time he reached the rear, the remnants of the British Rapid Fleet were still engaged in an exchange of fire with Hipper's reconnaissance fleet under the leadership of the "Ireland". Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info Together with the escort ships of the support fleet, the German fleet has gained absolute upper hand, and the efforts of the British officers and men are nothing more than to defend the centennial honor of the Royal Navy......

As the German battle cruiser's artillery fire hit the "Ireland" one after another, the deck of the British super-dreadnought was surrounded by thick smoke and flames, and there was not a single ship gun that could still fire from the bow to the stern, but the battleship showed no signs of capsizing and sinking, and even maintained a fast speed. However, it has long missed the opportunity to get out of the way, and the time of destruction will come sooner or later. Soon, two large German torpedo boats appeared on the port side of the "Ireland", they were approaching under the fire of British escort ships, and then fired eight torpedoes at the behemoth. Moments later, the super-dreadnought, originally built for Ottoman Turkey, trembled violently with a loud bang, and the majestic hull finally tilted to the left, and the surviving crew jumped into the water to escape, while the nearby British ships ignored their companions. The three German battle cruisers had turned their guns to them, and although the "De Fllinger" and "Goeben" had each lost part of their combat effectiveness, the "Blücher" alone was enough to plunge the British officers and men into despair.

Watching the "Ireland" sink with raging fire and billowing smoke, Davy Beatty's mood sank to the Arctic Ocean, and in order to continue to command the fleet in battle, he moved to a destroyer in advance. At this point, he at least didn't have to worry about it being captured by the Germans and making the cruel decision of having his own destroyers sink it.

Betty's face turned pale, and her eyes showed fierce intent: "Today's humiliation, I will definitely make you repay it double!" ”

Natsuki, who was standing on the bridge of the "King", sneezed inexplicably, and by this time, his expression was much more relaxed than before, and the officers around him did not hide their joy at defeating the strong enemy again. Although it failed to completely annihilate the British main fleet, such a result was already a great victory when the participating forces were weaker than the opponents, and the nine British capital ships that appeared on the battlefield, three were sunk and six were seriously damaged, and both the condition of the ships and the morale of the troops were unbearable to fight again.

Now, Scheer and his command team are faced with a new choice: win or win.

Encouraged by the victory, most of the officers were inclined to extend their gains, and so did Scher. However, the "Moltke" was hit by mines, and the "De Fllinger" and "Goeben" were badly damaged in the battle, and the original plan to break through the strait was certainly not feasible, while among the dreadnought fleet, the "Caesar" and "Oldenburg" were in better condition and suitable for continuing operations, and their speed was faster than that of the British capital ships, but they were not ideal ocean-going assault ships.

"My suggestion is to form an assault formation with the ships 'Caesar,' 'Oldenburg,' and 'Blucher,' and lead a number of light cruisers and torpedo boats to force their way into the English Channel, and if the British Navy transports troops overnight, we will attack their troop carriers, and if not, we will shell Portsmouth at night."

On the observation deck on the bridge of the "King" strewn with bullet marks, Colonel von Trotta spat on it.

Lieutenant Colonel von Lefetsov continued: "It seems that the weather tonight is very suitable for the activities of the ships. ”

Naturally, Scheer turned his attention to Natsuki for advice.

"As soon as the British feel that we are going to send ships into the English Channel, they will certainly suspend the movement of troops across the Channel, and prepare the Channel Fleet and torpedo boat forces to put up a desperate resistance."

Natsuki's words were certainly logical, but the officers around him couldn't help but wonder: this was clearly a refutation of his own plan to break through the strait proposed before!

After a pause of a few seconds, Natsuki said in a firm tone: "We shelled Thames tonight!" ”

Most of the officers on the bridge were taken aback, the Thames estuary was close at hand, but the shelling of land targets must be close to the coast, and the British laid a lot of mines in the near shore area, and they could dispatch a large number of high-speed torpedo boats to defend and counterattack, which was a lot of difficulties and dangers. However, the German officers could not help but get excited at the thought that this was wantonly trampling on the maritime hegemony of the British Empire, and that a fierce artillery bombardment could make the originally high-spirited British, angry, and afraid.

"Wouldn't that be too risky?" Von Lefetsov raised cautious questions on behalf of the officers present.

"Adventure is a matter of course." Natsuki replied disappreciatively, "We may be struck by mines, we may be besieged by British torpedo boats, we may have a night battle with the British fleet, and we may lose one or more of our capital ships, but I can assure you that the value of shelling the Thames will far outweigh the price we pay for it." ”

"But if we have thoroughly provoked the British......" Colonel von Trotta said only half of what he said, and as for the latter half, I am afraid that only the most discerning strategists would be able to make accurate predictions.

"Then let the repeated failures extinguish their anger, and wear down their determination with a long period of hardship, and by that time, it will no longer be the hellhound of the North Sea cage, but a submissive janitor!" Natsuki pointed to Britain.

The blood-colored twilight faded away, the night rose, the sky was full of stars, and the visibility on the sea was no less than that of the early morning just after dawn. On the sea east of the Thames estuary and northwest of the Netherlands, several lightly armed ships wandered and swam in the places where the British and German fleets had fought fiercely, rescuing those who had survived the battle. Both the cabin and the deck were full of faceless faces, and in addition to low moans, there were only long sighs of frustration.

At night, the Thames estuary is as silent as day. Under the starlight, small-tonnage patrol ships are like tadpoles in a pond, moving in an unobtrusive way. They carefully avoided the dangerous areas where mines had been laid, cruising slowly along the few safe lanes available, and occasionally turning on their searchlights to see if the periscope was following the sea behind.

With its long white sand beaches and flat open fields, Great Wackering, on the north bank of the Thames estuary, is one of Londoners' favourite retreats and has been the site of the King's Cup Water Race. Now it is closely linked to a British warship.

The ultra-dreadnought "Ajax" ran aground on the coast of Great Wakeling, and before the British fleet suffered another setback, this news made the British high-level people deeply regret and worry, and when the defeat became an ironclad reality, the four capital ships of "Indomitable", "Indomitable", "Ireland" and "St. Vincent" have sunk to the bottom of the sea, even if all the ships in the dockyard are repaired, the number of capital ships of the British Navy has also slipped below the Germans, and the strategic situation is unprecedentedly bad, and the British Navy will "Ajax" The mood is even more urgent.

The Thames slogan is the gateway to London, but it's still 50 kilometres down the river from London to the estuary, and an extra dozen kilometres to Grand Wickling. Upon hearing the news of the grounding of the "Ajax", the British Admiralty urgently mobilized ships for maintenance from London and surrounding ports, but it was not until around dusk that the first ships loaded with maintenance equipment arrived one after another. After nightfall, the damage management personnel of the "Ajax" and the workers who arrived on the maintenance ship continued to rush to repair the battleship with the mentality that every second counted. They first plugged the breach in the superdreadnought's watertight compartment at the bottom, then pumped out the stagnant water to allow it to float on its own, and then towed it to the nearest large dock by barge. For a large warship of more than 20,000 tons, such work usually takes a week, but with sufficient manpower and equipment, it can be completed in only one or two days.

In the night sky, two gray planes circled the waters of the Thames estuary with a slightly noisy roar, and were soon attracted by the lights of the "Ajax" and the maintenance vessels, and their appearance made the British officers and men feel like they were facing a great enemy. Several British destroyers guarding the side opened fire, and the crew of the "Ajax" also used machine guns to fire at the air, but these weapons could not effectively repel enemy planes during the day, and the only effect at night was to attract the attention of enemy ships, except for making the atmosphere at the scene tense and abnormal.

The "Ajax", which ran aground on its own shore, naturally became an ideal target for torpedo attacks, and in order to prevent another sneak attack by German submarines, the escort ships of the British Navy laid two layers of mine protection nets around it, and this really effectively blocked the torpedo attacks of German submarines. From mid-afternoon to dusk, German submarines fired 7 torpedoes from a distance, and all but 2 were off-track, and the remaining 5 were blocked by mine nets. The British destroyers, who were waiting, pursued the two German submarines for a long time with naval guns and anti-submarine bombs, and finally sank one of them.

The two annoying German planes refused to leave for a long time, and the British officers and men finally gave up their attempt to shoot them down, and quietly watched them toss, and the gunners were sweating profusely from the continuous handling of ammunition, and after being ordered to stop firing, many of them smoked in the open air and rested. At first, some people vaguely saw meteors streaking across the sky, and after making a wish, they were surprised to find that the meteors were getting closer and closer, and a strange scream was heard. At this time, the crew of the maintenance ship did not know why, and it was not until the heavy shells blasted up a column of water sixty or seventy meters high on the surface of the sea that they realized that it was an attack by an enemy ship -- these civilians, who had not faced the fire of battle, were immediately stunned.

In an instant, a rapid alarm bell sounded on the "Ajax". Despite the severe damage to the hull, the ship's main guns can still be used, and the backup motor provides enough power to drive the hydraulics of the main turret, otherwise it would be conceivable to manually drive the turret of thousands of tons and the barrel of the gun weighing tens of tons.

(End of chapter)