In the midst of the stormy waves, the "Dresden", with a combat displacement of more than 4,000 tons, swayed sharply, and huge waves of five or six meters easily surged onto the deck and even to the bridge. www.biquge.info In such sea conditions, it is not easy to control the course of the ship, let alone shoot artillery.

Enduring the hardships of the turbulence on the sea, more than 360 crew members firmly stuck to their respective posts. It has been 23 hours since the fleet left the harbor, and more than seven hours have passed since it entered the state of engagement, and the tense atmosphere, the bad sea conditions, and the process of the battle that cannot afford to make a mistake have doubled the consumption of people's energy and physical strength, and the current situation of the ship is not at all able to cook hot food, so people have to munch on chocolate and canned beef in cold water, and then close their eyes and recuperate in between battles, although no one can get themselves out of gravity and take a nap.

On the bridge, well-dressed German officers stared grimly at the sea. Compared to the ordinary crew members who are conscientious about their duties, they are more aware of the tasks and risks they take on this battleship. Not long ago, they torpedoed and sank a badly damaged British armored ship, which certainly added a boastful touch to the history of the "Dresden", but seeing those surviving British sailors struggling in the ragy seas, except for a few who were able to survive until they were rescued, most of them were quickly drowned in the waves, and the extremely cruel scene left a very profound warning to the victors: if you want to return to your family alive, it is best not to let your battleship sink.

However, as a reconnaissance cruiser subordinate to the main fleet, the tasks of the "Dresden" were almost innate: reconnaissance, vigilance, patrolling, pathfinding and, if necessary, blocking or replenishing guns. Undoubtedly, only the last one is easy and pleasant, but such opportunities are hard to come by, and more often than not, it and those who serve on it are only arranged by fate.

Far away from their own capital ships, this "far" does not mean an absolute distance, but a psychological sense, a loneliness that is completely invisible to the figure of a friendly ship, the "Dresden" sailed towards a deeper sea with a group of dazed and apprehensive crews. Although it was only two-thirds of its maximum speed at this time, the stokers burned the 12 coal-fired boilers with enough steam so that the officers could increase their speed at any time, while at the open open-air lookout of the main and auxiliary masts, the brave crew on duty fixed themselves to their posts on the side of the conditional ship in a shackled manner, and they tried to keep their eyes open in the storm and watch for the possibility of an enemy at any time.

At 1:37 a.m., the final climax of the naval battle in the waters off Jutland was about to be reached, and the lookouts on the "Dresden" suddenly spotted a faint point of light on the sea ahead, then a second, a third, and a fourth. This dense rain curtain effectively obscured people's vision, and these dim ship navigation lights could not be seen from a little distance. Based on the position of these navigation lights and their usual experience, the German lookouts deduced the existence of two large ships, and as the distance between the two sides shortened, they quickly made out the outline of the battleship from behind the rain curtain. One is located in front of the starboard side of Dresden, and the other is in front of its port side, and a majestic and hazy figure gradually emerges......

Alerted by the lookout post, the German officers were equally shocked by what they saw. At this time, the distance between the two sides was only a few tens of meters, and the two powerful British battleships did not even need to use their main guns, and at the snap of their fingers they were able to use the secondary guns on the side of the board to beat the "Dresden" into a sieve, and the "Dresden" had almost no way to threaten the British capital ship except for a direct impact - the torpedoes launched from the deck position needed a certain distance to be able to perform their combat effectiveness normally.

In a situation where the tonnage is less than one-fifth of the opponent's, the weaker side must be the one with heavy casualties.

After hesitating for a few seconds, the German officer on board suddenly realized that the other party had not found him, so he hurriedly ordered the battleship to turn. In extreme danger, the bow of the "Dresden" was almost close to the side of the enemy battleship, and except for the German crew on the mast, who could spy on the British ship above deck, all the rest of the crew saw was a wide and majestic steel wall.

As the distance grew, the silhouette of the British battleship in the eyes of the German crew became hazy and blurred again, but before the "Dresden" had completely escaped, the watchmen on the British ship noticed the abnormality on this side, and they immediately sent a signal to verify the identity of the other party. At this time, the Germans on the "Dresden" did not know that their opponents had changed the identification light code, and still responded with the code they had received earlier. The British on the opposite side did not know that the "Benbang" and the "avant-garde" had caused serious accidental injuries due to a misunderstanding of identification, and when they saw that the identification signal was wrong, they did not hesitate to sound the alarm, and the piercing searchlights were lit on the ship, and the "Dresden", which had the characteristics of a typical German cruiser, soon appeared in the light. The German commander on board ordered the firing to be fired, and the German gunners who were on guard fired before the opponent could open fire, and the "Dresden" had two twin 6-inch guns in the stern direction, one of which fired flares from its high muzzle. Moments later, beneath the low-hanging rain clouds, a German-made flare emitted an intense incandescent light, and the Germans immediately realized that the British warships sailing in the sea were not the only ones that the "Dresden" had almost collided with earlier. Huge triangular masts stand proudly in the stormy waves, and the huge hull of the ship swings through the waves, leaving deep water marks on the sea, and the most powerful warships of the British Royal Navy are marching in a southwesterly direction!

Now that their whereabouts had been revealed, these British battleships no longer held back and stealth, and they immediately bombarded the "Dresden" with intensive secondary artillery fire, and a majestic main gun was already pointed at the German battleships that were ravaging the "Centurion". The deafening sound of the cannon vented the fury of revenge, and the dazzling cannon flame showed the arrogance of the strong. The shrill roar of heavy shells pierced the sky, and they smashed down to the surface of the sea with an unstoppable terrifying destructive force, and the violent explosion turned into a tsunami. Because of the horizontal blockade between the "Centurion" and the British fleet, the German battleships "Rhineland" and "Thuringia" were attacked most fiercely, especially the "Rhineland", the violent waves caused by the explosion of the shells washed over its hull and deck over and over again, shrapnel hit the armor and the walls of the ship as a sound, and the surrounding sea was more like boiling water, constantly tumbling and boiling......

Jericho's "Iron Duke" returned with the British fleet, and the tenacious "Centurion" had been encircled for more than ten minutes. Even though it had a first-class protection design, it was difficult to resist the siege of the German ship group on all sides, the fire on the ship was burning bigger and bigger, the rear bridge, chimney post and the upper deck compartment of the amidship were all collapsing, the main and auxiliary guns were silent for a long time, the waterline armor was even more devastated, and the speed of the ship was slowed down to about 10 knots, and it looked like it could sink at any time. In this case, the indomitable British did not raise the white flag and continued to fight back with underwater torpedo tubes on the ship, but the current sea conditions were too bad. For the German battleships that were close at hand, they fired two rounds in succession, but none of the six torpedoes hit.

On the left flank of the German fleet, the three new dreadnoughts of "Caesar", "King" and "King Albert" were still galloping eastward in the heavy rain. On the "King" in the center, Natsuki watched coldly at the British fleet that was firing wildly. He believed that, in addition to rescuing the friendly ships, Jericho's intentions remained the same - not to turn the tide of the battle, but to sink at least a few German capital ships. Given that the British capital battleships were armed with the most powerful 13 at the moment. With 5-inch naval guns, Germany's capital ships were not invulnerable, especially the Nassau-class and Helgoland-class, which were built earlier, and the protective armor in key areas was not enough to withstand the enemy's close-range fire. With a bit of luck, Jericho's Iron Duke and George V could have taken out the Rhineland, Thuringia, and the more wounded Catherine in a matter of minutes.

Before luck could decide the course of the naval battle, the three old dreadnoughts on the right flank of the German fleet, "Posen", "Nassau", and "Osterfrieland", suddenly warned their opponents with a burst of sustained and rapid artillery fire that it would be an extremely serious mistake to ignore themselves.

In terms of rate of fire, the 11-inch naval guns of the old German dreadnoughts were rated at 3 rounds per minute, and the 12-inch naval guns of the British dreadnoughts were 1 per minute. 5 rounds, and to 13. With a 5-inch caliber, the rate of fire of British naval guns has accordingly dropped to 1 per minute. 4 rounds. In a medium- and long-range artillery battle, the warships of both sides need to spend a lot of time correcting the impact point, and the difference in absolute rate of fire is not so fatal, but in the current artillery battle with bad sea conditions and extremely close distances, only a high rate of fire can make up for the lack of shooting accuracy.

In less than two minutes, three old German dreadnoughts inflicted four shots on the lead ship of the British battlefleet, followed by two shells, and although they showed no visible damage and did not cause a bad fire, how could the cautious Jerichot turn a blind eye to such a threat? Soon, two battleships in the British fleet array turned their guns around and bombarded the "Possen" and "Nassau", and at a distance of more than 800 meters, their guns were also very fierce, and one of the first shots hit the "Bossen", and the German ships immediately burst into flames, and the successive close misses also interfered with the observation of the "Nassau", and only the "Ostfrieland" was able to maintain its original firing state.

Seeing that the silhouette of the British capital battleship reflected by the gunfire was getting closer and closer, Natsuki's waiting time had come, and he calmly asked the communications staff to send a telegram to the three dreadnoughts under the direct command of Reims, asking them to coordinate closely and act on camera, and then inform "Caesar" and "King Albert" to launch a surprise attack on the opponent with the ship, and if necessary, he would not hesitate to engage in a white-knuckle battle at sea.

The ship's communications crew sent a telegram without delay, and just as the horn of attack was about to blow, the starboard side of the "King" suddenly increased in brightness, and a huge fireball was seen rising from the besieged British battleship, a scene that could only occur when there was a violent explosion at the ammunition depot......

Stimulated by the collapse of the "Centurion", which had been struggling to support itself with one enemy and four enemies, the artillery fire of Jericho's fleet seemed to become extremely frenzied, and almost in the blink of an eye, the "Rhineland", "Thuringia" and "Nassau" were hit one after another, and the British armor-piercing shells filled with picric acid explosives caused fire in almost every hit, and the fire on the German battleships facilitated the aiming of the British battleships.

(End of chapter)