With a terrible scream, four heavy shells of 305 mm caliber fell to the surface of the sea with a majestic momentum. www.biquge.info In an instant, these high-explosive bombs weighing more than 400 kilograms and with a speed of more than 700 meters per second stirred up column-like waves of water on the sea surface, and the snow-white water waves had not yet risen to the highest point, and suddenly a great change occurred below -- the extremely violent explosion instantly formed a huge wave like a flower blooming, rising upwards beyond the height and width of the previous water column, and splashing all around, falling dozens of meters away. When the waves of water fall, a large number of water droplets left in the air form a mist shape, refracting a crystal bright light in the bright sun. It is a pity that at this moment, there is not a single star of appreciation and praise in the hundreds of pairs of eyes on the scene, but is full of fear and hostility. The relentless steel hull of those broken waves shook and trembled under the impact of the torrential waves set off by the cannonballs, and the waves swept up, repeatedly washing the already clean decks and gun mounts, and the crews who had nowhere to avoid had become embarrassed chickens, and what made them feel even more palpitating was that their ships had only a faint chance of torpedoes to sink the enemy's large warships by torpedoing, and before that, the chances of sinking and dying were frustratingly high!

The hearts of the British sailors were still struggling between death and survival, and more heavy shells had already smashed their heads and faces, but fortunately, the ladder-shaped battleships of the German fleet were facing this side head-on, and the five battlecruisers with the Black Eagle flag could only shoot with the front main guns for the time being, but even half of the firepower output made the officers and men of the British battleships bear the brunt of the distress - the German battlecruisers were equipped with the most advanced Zeiss stereo rangefinder at that time, and its baseline was 6 meters long, and the time required for ranging was short and the accuracy was high. The two Moltke classes also had a four-seat triple gun configuration with a higher concentration of fire than the traditional twin guns, while the front and rear twin turrets of the "Blücher", "Seydlitz" and "De Fllinger" also adopted a knapsack layout with excellent visibility.

Three Magdeburg-class light cruisers against one Weymouth-class light cruiser, five battle cruisers against one Aggressive-class light cruiser and six E-class destroyers, the German fleet had an overwhelming advantage at the beginning of the engagement, and the advance ships of the British mobile fleet were almost only beaten. At the same time, one of the members of the German reconnaissance fleet, the light cruiser Mainz, fell alone behind the fleet, not because of a mechanical failure, and not far from it, two gray-painted Junkers 3-C seaplanes floated on the surface of the water like ducklings. One was the R-024, which was the first to discover the whereabouts of the British fleet and report its return, and the other was the R-030, which damaged the British battlecruiser "Princess Royal" with aerial bombs, and they rested here to wait for the "Mainz" to provide fuel. The reason why they were not recovered by their respective aircraft-carrying ships was that the five battle cruisers were now in battle formation, and if they wanted to lift the reconnaissance planes from the water, they would have to slow down, which would inevitably affect the rest of the fleet battle, and in the heat of the artillery battle, their decks could be hit by shells or swept by shrapnel at any time, and it would be safer to stay behind.

Approaching the two water reconnaissance planes anchored next to each other, the German sailors on the "Mainz" threw down a number of iron oil cans with life jackets tied to them, and the pilots on board scooped them up one by one with wooden poles with hooks, and then poured fuel into the plane's fuel tank. The whole process seemed simple, but for the sake of secrecy, the German Navy's earlier training and exercises did not include this content, and it was not until the start of the war that all the carrier-based pilots were called for temporary training, and although the weather was sunny at this time, strong winds and waves brought great challenges to this sea supply. In this difficult "fun race", the duo of Ensign von Insedel and Sergeant Lohr showed a more tacit understanding, taking the lead in scooping up four oil cans and filling most of the empty tanks with high-quality fuel. The second lieutenant then used a signal light to send a communication signal to the "Mainz": the fuel is sufficient, the condition is good, and it is requested to take off!

The first task of the R-026 that took off from the "Goeben" was to closely monitor the movements of the capital ships of the British mobile fleet, and the artillery battle between the German reconnaissance fleet and the British advance ships did not carry out impact point firing by its own reconnaissance aircraft. The "Mainz" sent three signals in succession to the flagship, which was being shelled on the sea ahead, and finally received a reply: the reconnaissance plane took off - carried out a school firing mission.

With a crisp roar, R-030 staggered across the sea, and after a long period of effort, it finally struggled out of the water, flying towards the surface of the sea with an ignorant hope of victory......

After about 10 minutes of artillery fighting, the hull of the British cruiser "Falmouth", which was outnumbered by one enemy and three enemies, had already caught fire in many places. Its 8 6-inch naval guns are all single-mounted, and are equipped in a semi-enclosed shield-type turret with less satisfactory protection, the 3 naval guns on the foredeck and on both sides of the bridge have 2 dumb fire, and most of the gunners whose fate is unknown lie around the gun emplacement, the scene of blood is shocking, the naval guns on the starboard side are damaged by direct shells, and the firepower of the whole ship has been almost halved. A majestic British battle cruiser is heading into battle at high speed.

In contrast, the "Active" squadron that attempted to carry out a torpedo attack was much more depressed, and before it could reach the torpedo range, the destroyers "Liberty" and "Laetis" suffered fatal blows one after another, and the "Positive" and the remaining four destroyers were also constantly damaged by the enemy's fierce main and auxiliary artillery fire. In order to avoid the dismal end of total annihilation, the light cruiser "Positive", which had a hull flooding due to a near-miss, began to lead the four surviving destroyers to turn around and retreat, and before leaving the battlefield, they fired nine torpedoes at three German light cruisers at a distance of 4,000 meters, and although none of them hit, they forced the three German battleships to turn to evade, temporarily lightening the burden on the "Falmouth".

At 6:37 a.m., the sun gradually sank to sea level. It was still summer, and it was almost two hours before it was completely dark. In this noisy sea, the heavy shells that swept through the air repeatedly screamed like brakes, and the British sailors faced the heavy shelling of the German battle patrol formations with astonishing courage, and now it was the turn of the Germans to taste the taste - huge columns of water rose around the "Magdeburg", "Strasbourg" and "Strasund". The sea seemed to be boiling, full of dancing fires and tumbling waves, thousands of tons of steel hulls swayed in the surging waves, and the German naval battle flag on the bow flagpole was swallowed up by the waves again and again, and again and again the wind was waving again. The German crews on deck not only had to fight against the raging waves, but also had to be on guard against the untraceable shrapnel, which could reach out to them even if a shell fell tens of meters away......

The "Magdeburg", the unfortunate ship that sank early in history and "gifted" the German Navy's communication code book to the Russians, was one of the most advanced light cruisers in the German Navy's combat sequence at the outbreak of the war. At the beginning of the design and construction, under the leadership of Prince Joachim, then head of the technical department of the German Navy's General Staff and director of ship construction, the Magdeburg-class was not only equipped with efficient Hubert steam turbines, but also adopted a bow design with a gunwald arc, so it had excellent high-speed performance. Equipped with twin 150 mm guns and fully enclosed armored turrets, cruisers of this class could not improve survivability by increasing the thickness of their armor, but the longitudinal rib structure, 18 waterproof compartments, and 45% of the hull's total length with a double bottom greatly enhanced their ability to sink.

Shortly after the British battle cruisers joined the battle, a 343-mm heavy shell landed on the port side of the "Magdeburg", and the violent explosion easily tore through its broadside armor belt, which was only 60 mm thick, and was up to 1. The 2-metre breach was located exactly adjacent to compartments 6 and 7, causing water to enter both compartments at the same time. A cool shower in the sweltering inner compartment seemed to be a comfortable thing, and the seawater that could be pressed into the cabin through the breach was comparable to a water hose shot out of a high-pressure water cannon, and many German sailors were injured on the spot, and the rest were also stunned by the sudden explosion, and the first reaction of the subconscious was to evacuate as soon as possible -- like the German dreadnoughts built during this period, the waterproof compartments of the Magdeburg-class cruisers had no transverse hatches, and personnel could only enter and exit through longitudinal watertight doors located between the upper and lower compartments. In this way, even if the panicked German sailors were only concerned about escaping, and when they climbed down the ladder to the upper cabin, there was still plenty of time for them to calm down, close the watertight door with the help of their companions, and report the damage to the command room.

Hundreds of tons of seawater poured into the watertight compartments No. 6 and No. 7, and the hull of the German light cruiser quickly tilted, but fortunately the wounds did not reach the boilers and engine rooms, and the "Magdeburg" remained in the advance column, firing at the retreating British outpost ships with two ships of the same class. Within minutes, their guns had hit the Falmouth three times, and the British cruiser, which had returned fire with its tail guns, was so blazing and smoky that at first glance it appeared to be badly wounded and difficult to save, but as long as the fire could be contained, it could still be properly and quickly repaired in a well-equipped harbor.

The distance was shortened, and the six British battlecruisers that had joined the artillery battle gradually formed a threat to the three German light cruisers, and the "Stralsund" at the end of the ship was hit by two 12-inch shells one after another, the first shot broke the mast antenna and fell into the sea and exploded, startling the Germans into a cold sweat, and the next second shot was not so cheap, it directly hit the No. 3 main turret located in the stern, and the violent explosion instantly destroyed the twin turret equipped with 150 mm naval guns. At the moment of the explosion, the whole cruiser seemed to be struck hard by an invisible giant, the stern sank and the bow was upturned, and many witnesses were worried about its hull, fearing irreparable fracture damage to its steel skeleton. Two sergeants and eight gunners in turret 3 were killed, and the flames of the explosion caused a near-fatal crisis in the supply tunnel. If it weren't for the fact that the fuse of the British shell was too sensitive, even if it was too late to 0. Exploding in 01 seconds, the German cruiser could have suffered a catastrophe.

The damaged Magdeburg poured the same amount of seawater into the right compartment to keep the deck level, and at the same time took the lead in steering at the command of the flagship "Seydlitz" to avoid shells fired by the British war patrol from outside its range, while the officers and men of the "Stralsund" also extinguished the fire and treated the wounded. At this point, the battle between the two outposts came to an abrupt end, and the battle cruisers, a new type of capital ship built by the two navies at great expense and regarded as a strategic weapon, began their first duel in the history of warfare.

(End of chapter)