Vice Admiral Bern could tell without a telescope that the destroyer "Champion", which was serving as a reconnaissance, was engaged with the avant-garde ships of the German fleet along with friendly ships.

Vice Admiral Bern gave a loud battle order, and then came to the bridge, and the alarm of "enemy ship found" sounded in the sea and air, and at this time, the radio station of the "Champion" kept transmitting reports on the number and location of enemy ships.

Knowing that he was facing the four Byrne-class battleships and the four King-class battleships, the main force of the German High Seas Fleet, Vice Admiral Bern smiled with satisfaction and was very satisfied with the performance of the "Champion" and other British light ships that served as reconnaissance.

And the reason why the "Champion" has such a performance is also one of the bloody lessons of the Battle of Deland.

At the very beginning of the Battle of Deland, the British light ships, which had been used as reconnaissance and direct guards by the main fleet, made a major mistake, they patronized and engaged the German light ships, completely forgetting the reconnaissance mission, and not a single destroyer thought of informing the flagship of the enemy's situation, as a result, the fleet commander did not judge the enemy's situation, and there was a series of subsequent mistakes, which finally caused the British to pay a huge price in the whole naval battle.

And in this battle, the British, who had learned the lesson of blood, did not make a mistake in saying Deland, but immediately accurately reported the situation on the battlefield to the flagship.

After learning the position and speed of the German fleet, Bern planned to cross the German ship's column, seize the "T" prefix, and gave the order to turn, and soon the huge shadow of the German battleship appeared between the sea and the sky.

Seeing the British fleet turning, the German battleships quickly caught up and began to turn, the Germans' intentions were obviously the same as the British, but also to seize the "T" prefix, although the British took the lead, but the German ships rushed up with high speed, so that the British attempt was ruined.

When he saw that the German battleship was almost parallel to him, and the distance between the two sides was close to 18,500 yards, Vice Admiral Bern decisively gave the order to open fire. The British battleships opened fire one after another, the huge muzzles of guns spewed out long flames, the first row of shells flew towards the German fleet, and the sea around the German battleships instantly rose high columns of water, and the sea immediately boiled.

It is also the experience of the Battle of Deland, after realizing the inadequacy of the rangefinder, the British, who have always been arrogant and arrogant, had to bow their heads and try to improve them, equipping all battleships with advanced Scott commanders, and the effect of these improvements is reflected in the current battle.

The accurate shelling of the British battleships did not cause the Germans to hesitate in the slightest, and after the two sides were getting closer, the German battleships opened fire, and the leading "Byrne" opened fire first, followed by the "Baden", "Saxony" and "Württemberg", and the "Marlborough", "Revenge", "Resolve" and "Remilis", the four "King" class battleships were slightly slower, and after five minutes caught up with the front team, concentrating their fire on the rear of the British fleet. The "Hercules" and "St. Vincent" opened fire.

Following the Battle of Tereland, another decisive battle between the British Navy and the German Navy at sea began.

The cannonballs fired by the two fleets swept across the sea like meteors, constantly falling into the water and exploding, forming a huge barrage forest on the sea, at this time the battle distance between the two sides was close to 13,000 yards, and the battle between the two sides continued to heat up, the German ships continued to shoot dense shells at the British ships, and the British ships fought back.

And at the beginning of the engagement, Vice Admiral Bern couldn't wait for the signal corps to send a secret "summons" to the Chinese battlefleet behind him.

Since the British fleet was already numerically inferior to six to eight, four "Revenge" class battleships could not be defeated against four "Byrne" class battleships, while "Hercules" and "St. Vincent" were almost impossible to withstand four "King" class battleships with 350 mm guns.

The "Hercules" and the "St. Vincent" are both old ships with 305-mm guns, while the 350-mm guns of the "King" class battleships have a huge advantage in terms of caliber and rate of fire. Therefore, Vice Admiral Bern made the decision to immediately summon Chinese battleships to join the battle.

And what happened later showed that this decision of Lieutenant General Bern was very correct.

"Enemy ships spotted!"

In the commander tower of the battleship "Republic", a correspondent handed the telegram to the deputy commander Shen Honglie. Shen Honglie quickly read the telegram and handed it to the captain, Colonel Schneider.

"It's time for us to play so soon, guys." Colonel Schneider smiled and returned the telegram to Shen Honglie, he turned his head and said to Betty, who had a serious expression, "Let's send the Germans to hell!" ”

"Let's hope Bern will be able to hold off the enemy." Betty nodded and said, "Send a telegram to the fleet and ask them to come over right away." ”

Colonel Schneider gave an order to one of the officers in charge of communications, and the officer turned and walked away quickly.

"I just want to send myself to hell......" Listening to Betty's words, Shen Honglie muttered in his heart, but the expression on his face was not revealed in the slightest.

Captain Schneider immediately gave the battle order, and the battleship "Republic" began to accelerate, breaking the waves at a speed of 28 knots, and behind her, five other ships of the same class also accelerated with the flagship, at this time the wind and waves on the sea suddenly became stronger, Betty, who was standing in the command tower, looked at the huge waves that hit one after another, and scolded with some annoyance.

"Hopefully the weather will get better in a while." Colonel Schneider also noticed the unusual weather, and said with concern.

As soon as Captain Schneider's words fell, the communications officer hurried over and handed a telegram to Betty's with a pale face.

"The Hercules exploded! Sir! ”

"Damn it!" Betty glanced at the telegram quickly, clutching it tightly in her hand, a look of anxiety on her face.

The battleship "Hercules" is the second battleship of the "Giant" class, which is a first-class battleship built to deal with the German Navy Act of 1908, and belongs to the "Giant" class "Hercules" with a displacement of 23,050 tons, a length of 166.4 meters, a width of 25.9 meters, a draft of 8.1 meters, and a power system power of 25,000 horsepower, but the maximum speed can only reach 21 knots, and the endurance is 6,100 nautical miles at a speed of 10 knots. "Hercules" has 10 5-seat twin 12-inch 50-diameter main guns, 20 single-mounted 4-inch 50-diameter secondary guns, and 3 21-inch underwater torpedo tubes. The main armor belt of the "Hercules" was 11 inches thick, the deck armor was 1.75 to 4 inches thick, the turret frontal armor was 11 inches, the gun mount was 12 inches, and the command tower was 11 inches. The "Giant" class battleship is an improved version of the "Neptune" class battleship, and the fire system is the same as that of the "Neptune" class, in contrast, the main defensive armor has been strengthened, the armor thickness of the waterline armor belt, watertight compartments and gun mounts has also been increased, and the protection of ammunition depots has been strengthened. In order to effectively control the center of gravity, the mainmast at the rear of the hull was removed, and after commissioning, the dinghy flybridge that affected the firing range was removed.

Despite all the improvements, by the time of the Battle of Teland, the "Hercules" was weaker than the cutting-edge German battleships, both in terms of armament and armor protection. In the Battle of Deland, the sister ship of the "Hercules" "Giant" was sunk by the German ships, and the "Hercules" was located at the end of the array at the beginning of the battle, and was relatively less cared for by the guns of the German battleships, and finally escaped for her life, but this time, the good fortune of the "Hercules" finally came to an end.

'Report!' Hainan's discovery of enemy ships! One of the officers shouted again, and the atmosphere in the command tower suddenly became tense.

When Betty heard the report, she immediately went to the observation window and held up her binoculars.

In the distance, the clouds covered the sky, making it seem as if night was approaching early, and despite the poor visibility, Betty soon spotted the hazy shadows of the ships on the surface of the sea, and the red-like glow accompanied by the dull sound of explosions.

"It doesn't matter, as long as we can catch the enemy, the price is worth it." Colonel Schneider comforted the commander of the British "Grand Fleet", "We will soon be able to give them some great tastes!" ”

After Colonel Schneider finished speaking, he turned around and shouted, "See it all clearly!" Our enemies are ahead! Let's teach the German mustache a good lesson! Send them to hell! ”

Colonel Schneider's words of encouragement to his subordinates soon spread to every corner of the battleship "Republic", and his words caused a great deal of repercussions among the officers and men of the American Navy, but the effect was not obvious for the Chinese sailors.

And at this moment, a huge column of smoke and dark red flames rose again on the surface of the sea, and the sound of explosions like muffled thunder made everyone in the command tower shudder.

"Look! There was another explosion! That's a lot of smoke! In the No. 1 main turret of the battleship "Republic", Chinese gunner Wang Guosheng stared at the huge explosion on the surface of the sea and his eyes widened in surprise.

"It looks like the British ship is out of luck." Another gunner, Li Zexi, said with some concern, "Look at this explosion, I can't even see the appearance clearly."

At this time, huge explosions came one after another on the sea, and soon, the captain's voice sounded in the loudspeaker again.

"Lads, I'm the captain! I'm here to report to you a sad news! We lost two more valiant warships! The "Hercules" and "St. Vincent" exploded and sank under the brutal and despicable attack of the Germans! Now that the glorious task of striking at the enemy has fallen to us, let us take practical actions to avenge the officers and men who died on these two warships! The battle starts now! I want each and every one of us to be as good as we do in training! A just cause awaits us! Let's fight! Destroy the enemy! ”

Listening to the captain's pre-war agitation, the American gunners let out a burst of chanting, and the expressions on their faces began to become hideous, and for the Chinese gunners, who generally did not have a high level of English, the effect of these words was not seen at all, at least on the surface.

"It's all British ships that just exploded! The one that exploded first was the Hercules! The one that exploded was the St. Vincent! Wang Guosheng said. The British posterity above is all over! ”

"The 'St. Vincent' also exploded? Aren't you afraid of beating people with the word 'holy'......" Li Zexi, who still had an anachronistic thought in his mind, looked at the pillar of smoke rising high on the sea in surprise, and muttered with a dull gaze.

"Focus your energies on! The battle is about to begin! The American gunnery officer in charge of the command raised the command knife in his hand and shouted hoarsely in English. Wang Guosheng, Li Zexi and other Chinese gunners stuck out their tongues, did not speak again, but began to vigorously carry the ammunition machine, lifting a huge shell out of the ammunition depot and pushing it into the huge barrel.

"There's a telegram from the King, and they've sunk the St. Vincent!"

In the commander of the battleship "Byrne", the chief of staff of the fleet excitedly said to Admiral Scheer, "They are really good!" ”

Although Scheer was also very excited, he still looked unfathomable on the surface, he nodded, and did not look at the battle report in the hands of the chief of staff of the fleet, but raised his binoculars and carefully observed the situation on the sea.

Scheer counted carefully, and sure enough, there were only four British battleships standing in front of him, and behind the array of the British fleet were two huge pillars of smoke.

"Let them catch up, we can't let the British run away from their hands." Scheer ordered.

It may be that "the sea was once difficult to water", in Scheer's opinion, the fact that four "King" class battleships were able to sink the "Hercules" and "St. Vincent" is not a remarkable feat.

"St. Vincent" was a battleship built at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in the United Kingdom on December 30, 1907, launched on September 10, 1908, and completed in May 1909. The ships of the same class were "Clingwood" and "Avant-garde", of which "Clingwood" was built at the Davenport Naval Shipyard, which began construction on February 3, 1908 and was launched on November 7, 1908. It was completed in April 1910. The "avant-garde" was built by the Vickers shipyard, construction began on April 2, 1908, and was launched on February 22, 1909. It was completed in May 1910. All three battleships were modifications of the "Belle Lovon" class battleships, with a displacement of 22,800 tons, a length of 536 meters, a width of 84 meters, and a height of 28 meters, powered by a steam engine, and a maximum speed of 21 knots. Compared with the "Bellerophon" class battleships, the "St. Vincent" class mainly increased firepower, equipped with five twin 50x diameter 12-inch main guns, 20 single batteries of 50 times diameter 4-inch secondary guns, and three 18-inch underwater torpedo tubes. Armor protection was also strengthened, with 7 to 10 inches for the main armor belt, 0.75 to 3 inches for deck armor, 11 inches for turret armor, and 11 inches for conning towers.

In the Battle of Derea, the "Avant-garde" was assigned to the British Navy's 4th Battleship Squadron to fight with Admiral Jericho's flagship, the Iron Duke. The "St. Vincent" and "Clingwood" were assigned to the 1st Battleship Squadron. Under the terrible armor-piercing shells of the German fleet, both the "Avantgarde" and the "Klingwood" were killed and sunk by the 380 mm main guns of the "Byrne"-class battleships, which penetrated the ammunition depot and caused a martyrdom.

And this time, the "St. Vincent" followed the "Revenge" class battleship again, and the opponent it encountered was also a "King" class battleship that was one grade weaker than the "Byrne" class, but in the end it was not able to escape the fate of being sunk.

As a matter of fact, after entering the era of "dreadnoughts" and the trend of faster and faster replacement of the naval battleships of the European powers, the "St. Vincent", which was not too old, no longer had any advantage in the face of the "King" class battleships, which started construction four years later than it.

Stimulated by the successive construction of British "super dreadnoughts", Germany, which was bent on competing with the British, began to build the "King" class battleships in 1911. The battleship of the "King" class had a displacement of 28380 tons, a length of 175.4 meters, a width of 29.5 meters and a draft of 9.1 meters. The power system uses a small number of oil-fired boilers to drive 3 steam turbines, with a main engine power of 43,300 horsepower and a speed of 21 knots; The range is up to 8,000 nautical miles at 12 knots and 2,400 nautical miles at 21 knots. The main guns of the "King" class are 10 twin 350-mm 50-caliber guns; 14 single-mounted 150 mm secondary guns; 10 single-mounted 88-mm guns; 5 500-mm torpedo tubes. The broadside armor belt is 13.8 inches at its maximum, the turret armor is 11.8 inches, the conning tower armor is 13.8 inches, and the deck armor is 2 to 4 inches.

The "King" class battleships have been improved on the basis of the layout of the main gun turrets of the original "Caesar" class battleships, and there are two main turrets in the bow and stern of the hull, which are arranged in a knapsack type, with one main turret in the amidships, and all the main turrets are arranged along the center line of the hull, which can ensure the firepower of all the main guns when firing a salvo from the side of the main guns in wartime, and is conducive to strengthening the armor defense capability. At the same time, the Germans also improved the watertight compartment of the ship's hull, which greatly improved its overall protection.

(To be continued)