After "Indefatigable" and "Imperial", "Agincourt" became the third capital ship lost by the British Navy in the Battle of the Faroe Islands. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 In the blink of an eye, the "Agincoot", which cost more than 27,000 tons of steel and other materials and cost more than 2.7 million pounds, disappeared from the sea along with the more than 1,000 British sailors it carried. Looking at the striking column of smoke left behind by the explosion of the British battleship, the German officers and men felt that they were one step closer to a great victory, and they were confidently ready to pack up the remaining British capital ships, and the "Regent of Louispot", which sank the "Agincourt", quickly turned the still hot muzzle of the gun to the "Thunderbolt", and the frustration in the Second Battle of Flanders had long been thrown into the sky......

Returning to the position of the leading ship, the German flagship "King" showed heroic spirit in the smoke of the battlefield, and its interpretation of the fearless spirit was enough to make the British feel ashamed, and in this naval battle, although the flagship of the British Grand Fleet "Iron Duke" also always charged ahead, its heroic example failed to bring the British fleet out of the predicament, but fell deeper and deeper, and it was difficult to extricate itself.

"Two or three shots were missed, no direct hits, and our luck was a little bit worse."

On the bridge, the veteran Edward shook his head regretfully. Since the German dreadnought fleet turned around and killed, the two flagships, the "Iron Duke" and the "King", have started a needle-to-needle fight against Maimang, and the distance has been shortened from 18,000 li to the current 8,000 mist, and more than ten minutes have passed. Got the air calibration of carrier-based aircraft, the German battleship's artillery fire was as accurate as ever, and the "Iron Duke" suffered five direct hits and more than a dozen close misses, although the protection level of this super dreadnought ranked first among the active ships of the British Navy, but in the previous naval battles, the British have repeatedly learned the power of German-made armor-piercing shells, from officers to crews, these more than ten minutes have been worried, but they are full of expectations in their hearts, after all, the "Iron Duke" is equipped with the most powerful naval guns at present, as long as it can sink the German flagship in one fell swoop, The honor, hope, and faith that were lost before may all be recovered at this moment.

When rushing to the northern seas, the "Iron Duke" had already been equipped with the excellent Scott shooting commander, but the crew was not very proficient in the use of this new equipment, so during the voyage, Sir Jackson specially arranged for these capital ships under his command to conduct several live-fire drills at sea, and the shooting results were better and better each time. However, after the start of the naval battle, the "Iron Duke" had consumed 294 rounds of ammunition for the main guns, with an average of 29 and a half shots fired at each main gun, but the hit rate was not even a pitiful one percent. Before sinking the "Indefatigable", the German ship had twice hit the weakly armored British battle cruiser; To sink the "Emperor", the Germans consumed a total of more than 300 rounds of main shells and more than 200 rounds of secondary shells, and there were nine direct hits; The ammunition consumption of the sinking "Agincourt", "Luipold Regent" was also close to four hundred rounds, five of which hit directly, and the last one luckily hit the ammunition depot of the British battleship.

A frustrated Sir Jackson replied to Edward: "The Germans may not be able to win the victory, whether in Jutland or in Flanders, if luck were the slightest more in our favour." Could it be ...... Is it time for Britain's mission to control the seas come to an end? But without the ocean, what can we do to keep the country running? The barren land of the British Isles is only suitable for growing potatoes and cabbage! ”

Such frustrating words came out of the mouth of the fleet commander, and even if the officers present had the heart to fight to the death, they would inevitably pour cold water on their heads. Vice Admiral Madden, the chief of staff of the fleet, apparently blind, sharply said: "The Anglo-Saxons, like the Normans, are great adventurers who conquer the seas, have the heart of the sea, and never bow to anyone. Even if we are destined to lose this naval battle today, we must not allow the enemy to underestimate us. We will fight like the Spartan warriors of Thermopylae! ”

These firm and generous words dispelled the gloom of long sighs and complaints, and the frustrated officers puffed up their chests again, and Sir Jackson and his friend Edward looked at each other, ashamed, and courageous.

"That's right, let's fight like the warriors of Hot Springs! Let this naval battle go down in history because of our fearless spirit! Sir Jackson exclaimed, "If necessary, we will not hesitate to ram the enemy with our ships, and we will die with the enemy!" ”

The current situation does not seem to have reached the level that Jackson said, the British fleet with four super dreadnoughts against the five dreadnoughts of the German fleet, the scene is slightly unfavorable, but it is not completely hopeless, after all, naval warfare is a comprehensive confrontation of strength, strategy, will, etc., these capital ships do not exist on the battlefield in isolation, and each side is accompanied by several former dreadnoughts and a considerable number of light ships. As long as the commander gives the order, most of them will rush to the enemy fleet without hesitation, fighting for victory with naval guns, torpedoes and even hulls.

At this time, on the German flagship "King" on the opposite side of the battlefield, the German officers led by Reinhardt-Schell did not regard victory as their own bag, and the injuries of the capital ships always touched every nerve of them, and this psychological "pain" stimulated the fighting spirit in their bones like stimulating the beasts, and the more they were challenged by danger, the more they had to persevere to the end.

"Report to the chief, the No. 14 to 18 watertight compartments at the rear of our ship have been filled with water, the longitudinal balance of the hull has been restored, the water intake in the ship is about 1,400 tons, and the water intake rate is in a controllable range.

Standing in front of Scheer and Natsuki to report the situation was the assistant to the captain, Admiral Beinke. The German dreadnought was not an unsinkable monster, the damage of the "King" in the battle was actually more serious than the British expected, it was attacked by the British capital ship with 5 heavy shells of 12 inches and above, and when it was bombarded with the British flagship, it took 2 more rounds when it was bombarded with the British flagship, one main turret was damaged and could not operate normally, a twin 6-inch secondary turret was bombarded into the sky, and the broadside armor belt at the waterline position was cut into a large hole two meters square. The most likely fatal damage was a 13.5-inch armor-piercing shell that hit the upper armor plate, blasting through the 10-inch armor plate and piercing the mid-air side fuel tank, causing a fire that went straight to the ammunition depot under the No. 2 main turret. In order to ensure safety, the crew had to take emergency measures to fill the ammunition depot with water, and after the situation was brought under control, they had to fill the stern with water in order to restore the longitudinal balance of the battleship in the shortest possible time. During the whole process, the appearance of the battleship was not greatly damaged, and the British were blinded by this, and the accompanying German ships did not realize that such a thrilling scene had happened on their flagship.

As soon as they heard the report, the shells from the British ships fell with a whistling sound, and the huge and majestic hull of the "King" shook suddenly, and the huge explosion was like a thunderbolt from the sky, which shook people's ears.

As soon as the aftermath of the explosion had passed, the officers were busy inspecting the damage to the battleship, and a few men were left standing in place. Scheer suddenly expressed his emotion: "If we fall before the last step of victory, as Nelson did, it will be a great honor in this life, but also an eternal regret!" ”

Natsuki smiled slightly: "If that's the case, let's enjoy the final victory of Germany together in the Valhalla Sanctuary!" ”

Sher said: "At my age, I am fortunate to participate in these sea battles that are destined to go down in history, and I am already satisfied and have no regrets." But Your Highness is still so young, and you still have most of your life to continue to write your great legend, how can you be satisfied with this? ”

"Human nature is greedy, so life never has a satisfying end." Natsuki replied, "A glorious curtain call at the greatest moment is not a kind of fulfillment. ”

Scheer paused and said, "We have done what we have to do, and everything is left to fate!" ”

Do your best, obey the destiny of heaven. This used to be a philosophy that Xia Shu admired very much, but as the magnificent war became the theme of his life, the scenes on the battlefield made his life philosophy have been greatly impacted.

"Remember the flag signal that the British fleet gave us when it sailed out of the port of Keele after the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand?" Natsuki asked in a soft tone.

Scheer turned his head to look at his partner in surprise and replied, "Today as a friend, tomorrow as a friend, and forever as a friend." ”

"Do you think that's what they're hoping for?"

Scheer hesitated for a moment: "No, they will never regard the already powerful German Navy as their friend, and every challenger in history has been ruthlessly suppressed by them. After the departure of the British fleet, I have been alerting my captains to what happened to the Danish fleet 107 years ago. In the presence of Admiral von Ingnoor, I have also mentioned this notorious historical event several times, although the British Navy did not make a dangerous move during that sensitive period, and I think it was a matter of political rather than military strategy on their part. If radical officials like Winston Churchill had been in control of the British government at the time, we could have been attacked by the British Navy on August 4 or even 3. ”

"So, we don't need to show mercy to them." Natsuki looked up at the sea, except for the damaged No. 2 main gun turret, the other three pairs of main guns on the ship were firmly locked onto the British flagship. He had a vague premonition that most of the British main fleet, including the "Iron Duke", would disappear into the icy northern sea with the last glory of the British Navy, but this bad news would not be as the German top brass wished - to completely defeat the British royal family, government and people, and the catastrophe suffered by the Royal Navy was likely to arouse the national will of the British who were unwilling to give in, and they would continue to fight, in France, in Britain, in Ireland, in the vast Atlantic, in the blue Mediterranean, in the vast and distant Africa, In mystical and rich Mesopotamia......

(End of chapter)