In the dark of night, the German Navy's large torpedo boat V-188 sailed alone in the waters off Sood Island at the southern tip of the Faroe Islands. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 At this time, only more than 30 hours have passed since the end of the naval battle in the Faroe Islands, and those thrilling battle images are still in the minds of the officers and soldiers participating in the battle. It was the greatest victory the German Navy had ever won, a true battle of victory, both in terms of both strategic and tactical gains, but in terms of losses on both sides, the naval battle was reminiscent of Ragnarok in Norse mythology, when the British Navy had completely lost its once glorious main fleet, and many of the main ships of the German High Seas Fleet had left the battlefield scarred and overwhelmed. In any case, the German Navy's up-and-coming posture has overthrown the world's largest maritime hegemon for hundreds of years, and the great prospect of the German Ocean Era is showing a wonderful future, which is enough to make every German officer and soldier who is still physically sound after the naval battle feel sincerely happy.

"Hey, man, haven't been frozen yet, have you?"

On the foredeck of the high bow structure, a poncho-clad sailor is on duty at the bow deck gun. Following the familiar voice, the non-commissioned officer with a beard walked steadily towards him, his garlic nose was red, and a flattened silver kettle was dangling in his hand.

The sailors on duty took the silver kettle from the hands of the non-commissioned officer, sent it to their noses and sniffed it, their eyes suddenly lit up, and then they looked at each other very suspiciously.

"It's too cold, take a sip to warm up, the major took care of it." Drinking alcohol is absolutely strictly forbidden while on duty, which is basically the general rule on every warship in every country, and even more so in the disciplined German Navy, but the non-commissioned officer's answer gives a very reasonable explanation.

The sailor, whose cheeks were white from cold, no longer hesitated, raised his head slightly, and the energetic liquor stayed in his mouth for a moment, and then swallowed it in one gulp, and the whole person suddenly returned to the world from the cold world.

The non-commissioned officer withdrew the flask, straightened the lid on, put it in his coat pocket, and pulled out a box of cigarettes.

"I'll stand with you for a while."

The sailor smiled "hehe" and unceremoniously pulled a cigarette from the other's cigarette case, and the two of them struck a match and lit a cigarette head-to-head, leaning behind the shielded deck gun. The V-188 belongs to the large torpedo boats of the 1906 class built by the Volzen shipyard, and a total of 59 ships of the same class were built, making it the largest combat boat group in the German Navy. Their original design was 2-3 naval guns with 3 single-mounted torpedo tubes, but later found that the destroyers built and commissioned by the British Navy were getting more and more powerful, so in order not to suffer too much in naval battles, they replaced three 35 times the diameter of the 88 mm guns with 35 times the diameter of the 105 mm guns, thus improving the artillery combat capability. In the Battle of Jutland, the harsh sea conditions made it difficult for destroyer and large torpedo boat-class light ships to fire accurately, and in both Flanders naval battles, most of the victories of the light ships on both sides were also achieved through torpedoes. After the Second Battle of Flanders, the surviving 1906 large torpedo boat underwent a second modification, removing the amidships and adding a torpedo tube and two Hubert cannons, transforming it from a versatile role to a charging mine-striking ship.

In the Battle of the Faroe Islands, the reloaded German torpedo boats were given two opportunities to make great contributions, one was to launch a torpedo offensive against the Betty detachment, but unfortunately failed to hit two British battle cruisers, and the other was to attack the British capital battleships and British light ships that were basically incapacitated at the end of the battle, and properly killed the "George V", sinking and damaging four British cruisers and destroyers, and drawing a wonderful end to this devastating victory.

"You say...... Will we run into a British battleship tonight? The sailor asked angrily.

The non-commissioned officer shook his head, and just when the sailors thought he was in denial, the garlic snorted coldly: "The British Navy has always liked to engage in surprise attacks and play adventures, and they think that courage can prevail over everything, but this idea has long been outdated. Today's naval warfare is about strength, and the reason why we win is because of the dual superiority of technology and tactics. ”

"It is also said that the British may feel that we are celebrating the victory in the naval battle, paralyzed by alcohol and let their guard down, so this is a good opportunity for them to take advantage of the sneak attack." They will be disappointed when they find out that we have laid anti-submarine nets outside Tórshavn and ambushed gunners on sea cliffs. ”

"It depends on what they do to attack us." Garlic Nose looked left and right with a cigarette in his mouth. From midday, the rain had stopped, the wind had subsided, the waves had become less rough, and the V-188's turbulence at sea had become milder, which meant that ships of smaller tonnage could also move out of port.

"Their two escaped capital ships have been destroyed, and it won't be possible to leave the repair dockyard for a few weeks! I heard that there are quite a few old warships built in the last century in the UK, they are like boars in the woods, they look strong and scary, but in fact they are stupid and stupid, as long as there are shotguns, it is easy to clean them up. The sailor said with a relaxed expression.

Garlic Nose reached out and rubbed his nose: "From now on, we should have more chances to fight with British torpedo boats and submarines." In such a skirmish, our technique and tactics are not very superior. ”

The sailor was a little confused, but the garlic nose was obviously reluctant to say more, and when he had finished smoking, he said to the sailor: "Okay, I have to go down there to see the situation, there are a few steam pipes that are always leaking, but we must not fail at a critical time." Wait another year or two, and we will have new torpedo boat destroyers, I heard that their performance is close to that of small cruisers, and it should be more comfortable to serve on them! ”

The sailor shrugged, in his opinion, even if there would be a large number of new warships in service in the German Navy, ships like the V-188, which had only been built for four or five years, would still serve in the Navy, and ordinary sailors like himself were not qualified to pick and choose.

As soon as the garlic-nosed non-commissioned officer got off the gangway with his front feet, the old man on the mast lookout shouted at the top of his voice: "Attention! Note! Unidentified ships spotted in the southwestern sea! ”

The non-commissioned officer hurried back to the foredeck, his eyes squinting and trying to search the dark sea for the shadow of the ship that the lookout post had spotted. At this time, the battle alarm bell sounded on the ship, and within a few minutes, the crew members who were resting in the cabin of the ship would arrive at their respective combat positions, the gunners would prepare their guns for ammunition, and the torpedo men would be on standby.

"That's ...... Masts for large ships! Could it really be the old battleships of the British? The garlic-nosed non-commissioned officer muttered to himself.

"Are you going to fight with us here?" The sailor unfastened the tarpaulin from the muzzle of the gun and kindly reminded his fellow countryman that he was a mechanical engineer for the large torpedo boat, not a direct combatant.

The garlic-nosed non-commissioned officer knew what the other party meant, and he said disdainfully: "When I finish my officer training at the Kiel Naval Academy, I won't need to hide in the cabin and watch the battle anymore." ”

The sailor grinned: "When that day comes, I will gladly fight according to your orders." ”

As they spoke, a number of gunners swarmed to the foredeck, they opened the storage box, moved the shells, pulled the bolts, and the crisp metal knock swept away the previous peace and quiet, and as the first shell was filled into the chamber by the gunners, the battle mode was already on.

On the dark and windy sea, both sides deliberately took measures to control the lights, and when they spotted each other, the distance was surprisingly close. If the identity can be confirmed at the first time, the V-188's artillery fire and torpedo may have been discharged.

In order to avoid a misfire and to take the initiative, the German large torpedo boat preemptively turned on the searchlight above the bridge, and the strong beam of light instantly pierced the darkness that shrouded the sea, and what appeared in front of the German crew was a large battleship with multiple twin turrets - this was by no means an old battleship!

Only three or four seconds after the V-188's scout was illuminated, a blinding pillar of light was fired from the opposite side, and immediately afterward, the guns of both sides scrambled to fire at each other. In this very short time, the crews of the large German torpedo boats caught a glimpse of several other warships on the surface of the sea, all of which had the proud St. George's cross flag fluttering on their masts, and several of them with relatively large and majestic bodies.

This hurried glance surprised Major Dhanne of the V-188, who had never expected that he would encounter an intact British battlecruiser at this position at this time, and that the quasi-French dreadnoughts that looked like they were at first glance were followed by what looked like French quasi-dreadnoughts, which were not up to the standard of dreadnoughts, but not much different in strength, and had every chance to damage or even sink the German Navy's dreadnoughts in a night battle. Thinking of his own capital ship anchored in Tórshavn, Major Dahn hurriedly ordered the firing of torpedoes and the release of smoke screens, intending to create chaos, even if they could not take advantage of the chaos to escape, to buy enough time for the radio personnel on board.

The leading British battleship, although it is a tireless battle patrol with the notoriety of "battlefield fireworks", its armament is powerful in front of a large German torpedo boat, like an unstoppable road roller, without the need for the main gun, 8 4-inch rapid-fire guns on the single side are enough for it to make a leak, not to mention that in order to enhance air defense capabilities, the ship is also equipped with an additional 37 mm caliber Vickers rapid-fire gun, which has terrible lethality to ordinary ships within one or two kilometers.

The dense fire from the British battleship made the V-188 seem to be alone against the enemy for even a few seconds, and the fragile hull was quickly cut by enemy shells, shrapnel swept over the ship's amidships, the torpedo crews in the battle positions were instantly killed and wounded, and the radio room under the bridge was also swept away by artillery fire. Before that, however, all four torpedoes had been fired, and although the operator had not been able to send a complete telegram, he had already provided the most critical information on the enemy situation to the Theater Command in Tórshavn.

(End of chapter)