At dawn, the wind and waves on the sea did not abate, and the torrential rain from the second half of the night did not stop, which made Sir Jackson, who led the LinkedIn home fleet pounce, a little comforted. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

The night before, a British submarine and a British destroyer staged a fratricidal tragedy in the waters northwest of the Faroe Islands as a result of a fatal low-level mistake in identifying friend or foe. The destroyer "Lessander" was sunk by a torpedo fired by the E-15, and more than 100 officers and men below Major Johnson were unfortunately killed, and the E-15 was also injured by the machine gun fire of the "Lessander" and temporarily lost its ability to dive. When the British Home Fleet arrived in the sea with the firm determination to strike at the main German fleet, all they saw was the uneasy surface of the sea and the restless E-15, and the deck of the submarine was lined with dead members of friendly ships salvaged from the water......

The moment he learned the truth of the incident, Sir Jackson could only look up to the sky and sigh. At this time, he was like a gambler who thought he had seized the opportunity to turn the tables, and pressed the bet without hesitation, but picked up the last card and found that the situation was not good, so he was shocked and annoyed, but it had come to this, he had no chance to regret it, and could only take one step at a time. Find a way out of the crisis first, and then consider whether there is a real chance of a comeback.

However, the wind, waves and heavy rain did not tie the wings of German naval aviation, as the British expected. Shortly after dawn, more than a dozen gray-painted carrier-based aircraft appeared in the northern sky. They ranged from light-looking monoplanes to sturdy biplanes, some with round aerial bombs, and some armed with cigar-shaped aerial torpedoes.

The Hubert-D combat reconnaissance plane is already a veteran of the battlefield, and the Hubert-E3 carrier-based bomber gave the British fleet a disadvantage as soon as it appeared the day before yesterday, while the Hubert-E5 two-seat biplane torpedo plane took part in actual combat for the first time. Under the watchful eye of the British officers and men, the gray skuas passed through the loud and seemingly dense interception fire, and they easily approached the British fleet, dropping round and black torpedoes from low altitudes. The slender G-4 18-inch aerial torpedo maintains a certain downward angle when it falls, like a graceful diver, only a small splash when entering the water, and after entering the water, the hidden energy in their bodies is stimulated, and they quickly gallop towards the target on the sea at a speed of 40 knots.

This aviation torpedo, with a total weight of about 700 kg and a charge of 145 kg, is nearly a quarter less powerful than the conventional G-2 torpedo used by German submarines, but under normal circumstances, its power is enough to kill an ordinary destroyer in seconds, tear the cruiser's waterline armor, and even have the opportunity to severely damage the battleship!

Several Hubert-E5s came and went like the wind, dropped torpedoes and flew away, and the accompanying Hubert-D combat reconnaissance planes and Hubert-E3 carrier-based bombers swooped down from the middle altitude to distract the British officers and men with machine guns and bombs. Although the British realized that torpedoes speeding under the surface of the sea were their greatest threat, it was extremely difficult to stop torpedoes with guns, not to mention the courage of German pilots, and several Hubert-Ds flew slightly higher than the masts and fired at the crews of British battleships with rear-gun guns.

A moment later, only a loud bang could be heard on the sea, and a huge column of water exploded on the side of a British armored cruiser, the highest point of the white splash far beyond the apex of the mast.

Immediately afterward, the second explosion resounded in the sky again, and it was still the armored cruiser that had just been hit by the torpedo. Despite its displacement of tens of thousands of tons, armor with a thickness of 4 to 6 inches could not withstand the onslaught of torpedoes. After the second explosion, although the interior of the ship did not immediately cause a series of explosions, it was already close to fragmentation. As for the hundreds of crew members on board, some were already killed when the torpedo exploded, and some were a little lucky, but when the battleship quickly tilted, what awaited them would also be a cruel test......

Within three hours, such explosions sounded seven times on the sea, and only once was a torpedo detonated by British gunfire during the voyage. The British fleet, which was originally well-formed, had become unrecognizable, one ordinary dreadnought was damaged, an armored cruiser was sunk, a destroyer was martyred, and two seaplane carriers were kicked out of the battle sequence. The most terrifying thing for the British was not only that, but one torpedo almost grazed the side of the flagship "Iron Duke", and if it were not for the deviation in centimeters, Sir Jackson would have had to replace his flagship before the great war.

This does not bode well.

Gradually, the interval between sorties of German carrier-based aircraft groups was reduced from 50 minutes at the beginning to 30 minutes, which meant that the German fleet was getting closer and closer. The British fleet sent all the seaplanes at all costs, and the British pilots, who had nothing to gain the day before, finally spotted the traces of the German fleet on the sea, but the bad news was that the German fleet, which had set up a battle formation, was heading straight for the British home fleet commanded by Jackson!

"The enemy fleet is seen from the northern seas...... Twenty-eight thousand yards! ”

When the flagship's firing commander reported the ranged figures, Sir Jackson, the knowledgeable and intelligent commander of the fleet, looked out to sea with a silent gaze, and the striking column of smoke could already be seen in the dark clouds.

At this critical moment, the staff officers, who always had different opinions on various things, closed their mouths in amusement. One by one, they stood in a position where they could see the sea in front of them, either showing gentlemanly composure, or with anxiety on their faces, or full of ambition.

"Twenty-six thousand yards!"

This means that the enemy fleet has entered the extreme range of the 13-point 5-inch guns of the British super-dreadnoughts.

In a suffocating atmosphere, time continued to pass, and the distance between the two sides gradually narrowed to 25,000 yards, getting closer and closer to the exchange of fire between the battle patrol formations of the two sides in the Battle of Jutland.

The weather was still bad, but with the help of high-powered telescopes, the British naval officers could still get a glimpse of the huge array of the German fleet, not to mention the seaplanes that had risked their lives to reconnoiter had brought back first-hand information about the German fleet: 10 main dreadnoughts, 8 cruisers, and 19 destroyers (large torpedo boats).

The British pilots did not observe the German battle cruisers, nor did they report the location of the enemy aircraft carriers - in just one round of reconnaissance, only three of the nine seaplanes sent by the British fleet made it home, and the rest were either lost due to bad weather or shot down by German carrier-based aircraft.

"The German fleet changed course, they turned the rudder to the right, and the distance was twenty-three thousand yards!"

As soon as the battle broke out, the voice of the commander of the flagship shot became more and more agitated. At this moment, Jackson ordered all ships to concentrate their artillery fire and hit the enemy's lead ship first.

The staff officer in charge of the herald was stunned for a moment, and then it took a full second before he shouted into the microphone: "Order the ships...... Aim for the enemy's lead ship! ”

After about 10 seconds, with a loud roar, people clearly felt a shock under their feet, and the smoke blocked people's vision for a while, but it didn't matter anymore. Now, with the exception of the gunners in the main turrets and the officers who were responsible for organizing the firing of the main guns, everyone else was keeping a close eye on the sea in the distance, waiting for the enemy ship to be hit. In addition to the excellent defense of the German battleships and the accurate marksmanship of the German sailors, the British officers and men seem to have little match for the prestige of the Royal Navy.

Sometimes stress can be a heavy burden on people, but sometimes it can turn into a powerful motivator. The British sailors were under unprecedented psychological pressure, and they were full of strength to fight each other, even if the enemy seemed stronger, they were fearless.

The German fleet was slow to fire, the British gunners were more eager to reload the breeches, and the officers were busy making observations—although they had no guidance from the air, optics seemed sufficient at such distances.

Thanks to the efforts of all the personnel, the second salvo of the "Iron Duke" was only 45 seconds apart from the first salvo, reaching the highest training level of the 13.5-inch main gun.

In the Battle of Jutland, although the German fleet only hit the target with the first shell after several rounds of shelling, they completed the straddle fire on the enemy ship early; In the Second Battle of Flanders, the long-range shelling of the German fleet posed a great threat to the British fleet, and later in a night battle it destroyed the stranded British ultra-dreadnought "Ajax" with heavy artillery fire.

Just as the optical rangefinder measured the distance between the two sides to 22,000 yards, that is, more than 20,000 meters, the German fleet finally opened fire.

The first to roar was the "Elector", the lead ship of the German dreadnought formation.

This time, the Germans did not put their flagship in the first place, not even the second. The "Frontier Governor", which completed the task of escorting the landing fleet, was immediately followed by the "Elector", followed by the flagship "King" of Scheer. This was followed by the Caesar-class dreadnoughts "Caesar" and "Regent Louitold", which were similar in strength to the King-class, and then the Nassau-class and Helgoland-class dreadnoughts built earlier - "Westphalia", "Nassau", "Rhineland", "Helgoland", "Thuringia".

Ten German dreadnoughts were majestic and imposing

The officers and gunners on the German battleships were not gods, and their first salvo was huge, but not a single shot hit the target, but judging from the landing point of the shells, their unified firing command system of the whole ship was obviously a step higher, and unlike the British fleet's attack options, their shooting still used the enemy's ships of the same order to shoot one-to-one. In this tactic, if the number of your own ships is greater than that of the opponent, the battleship that does not have the corresponding enemy ship will concentrate on attacking the last enemy ship, and after sinking or seriously damaging the enemy ship, you can divert fire to attack the new corresponding enemy ship.

In parallel queue engagements, each ship is affected by its position, and its main gun crew can only cover the same or similar position in the opponent's queue, so catching and tearing is the most common in modern naval warfare. After the firing began, each of the capital ships on both sides continuously adjusted the impact point in an alternate manner, and corrected the firing elements under the command of the gun commander, until there was a straddle or hit, and then switched to the main gun salvo.

(End of chapter)