"Yes, so, we are still not as good as Lao Yuan in this team." Listening to Xu Zhenpeng's words, Shen Honglie thought of the deceased Emperor Yuan Shikai of the "Hongxian Empire", and nodded with a wry smile.

At the beginning, there was a fierce debate in China about whether China should participate in the European war and which side to stand on, and in the end, Yuan Shikai decided to join the side of the Entente to fight. At that time, many people feared that if China was defeated with the Entente, it would fall to an even more terrible end, but now it turns out that Yuan Shikai's choice was very correct.

Regarding the turmoil in China after Yuan Shikai's death and the possibility of falling into the chaos of the division between the north and the south, officers and soldiers like Shen Honglie who are overseas are worried when they think about it.

The two men were talking, and there was a sharp knock at the door.

Shen Honglie got up to open the door, and the figure of an officer appeared at the door.

"Sir, Your Excellency Commander wants you to come to the bridge immediately."

Shen Honglie and Xu Zhenpeng glanced at each other, and each felt an unusually tense atmosphere.

Shen Xu and the two walked quickly to the bridge, and at this time Betty had just put down the phone, and her thick black eyebrows were twisted into two black bumps.

"The Germans came out?" Xu Zhenpeng asked.

"Yes. Xu, the Germans are out again, and this time all of them are out again. Betty nodded, and began to pace with her hands behind her back, "It's strange that the Admiralty didn't give me any orders, not even advice. Why is that? ”

"It may be that they think that we are very familiar with our responsibilities and know our subordinates well, so they think that there is no need to talk to us more and express their confidence in us." "So they just gave us this very important piece of information." ”

"Maybe you're right." Betty smiled bitterly and shook her head, "Perhaps, they didn't want to take responsibility for this. ”

"But in any case, since the Germans have come out, we have no reason to let them go." Captain Schneider said, "We're worried we can't find them." ”

"But the problem is that what they came out this time is a newly created big guy." Betty said with a worried face, "This time there will be a bad battle." ”

"Big guy? Was it a 'Kaiser Wilhelm' class battleship? Xu Zhenpeng suddenly understood why the British Admiralty had such an attitude, "Are they all out?" ”

"Yes." Betty let out a long breath, took a telegram, and handed it to Xu Zhenpeng.

Hearing the name of the new German battleship, some of the young officers had a look of excitement on their faces, while some of those who had participated in many battles looked a little gloomy.

In the Battle of the Gulf of Hellgoland, the German battleships of the "Byrne" class with 380-mm guns showed great combat effectiveness and tenacious survivability. And this time, the even more terrible "Kaiser Wilhelm" class battleships joined the German Navy.

Due to the strict secrecy of the Germans, the information that the Entente has so far obtained on the side of the "Wilhelm the Great" class battleships only knows that the main guns of the "Wilhelm the Great" class battleships are 403 mm guns, with a displacement of nearly 50,000 tons and a speed of 28 knots, and a total of 4 ships were formed, the first ship "Wilhelm the Great", the second ship "Frederick the Great", the third ship "Empress Maria", and the fourth ship "Blucher".

In the Second Battle of Helgoland Bay, the German Navy lost four more "King" class battleships, and the four "Byrne" class battleships have been proven to be no match for the six "Republic" class battleships of the Chinese Navy, but with the addition of these four "Kaiser Wilhelm" class battleships, the strength of the German Navy has been strengthened again, and it is impossible for the Allied Navy to eat each other in one bite as before.

On the Allied navy, although there were six more "Glorious" class battlecruisers, these warships had just been built, and in Betty's words, they were "underage little girls" who could not go into battle immediately. Moreover, the bitter results of the Battle of Teland have proven that it is extremely stupid to allow battlecruisers to participate in the decisive battle of the main forces of the fleet. In the main decisive battle of the future forces, these Chinese battlecruisers will not be of much use.

"Why did the Germans come out at this time?" Captain Schneider asked, somewhat puzzled.

"It is estimated that it is likely that the German spies took the six battle cruisers back to China for us, and as you all know, they are so similar that if you don't look carefully, you can't see the difference between them." "It's impossible for German spies to get close and look at them closely, and they don't seem to know that we have six more new battlecruisers." ”

"You're right, this possibility is very big." Betty bit her lip and went to the chart table.

At this point, the phone rang again, and Betty came to the phone and picked up the microphone.

“…… Yes, I have a copy of the information from the spy here. …… Right! Sounds like that, doesn't it? It is estimated that the Germans took the six battlecruisers returning home for us, because they looked like ,...... Yes, though, the people in Naval Intelligence swear that this information is infallible. I can take whatever I think is feasible...... well, well, we just have time to block their ......, the battleships are all sorted? I totally agree with ......, good. Good bye. ”

Betty put down the phone, turned to everyone and said, "Let's go." ”

Unbeknownst to both sides at this point, they began their respective operations at about the same moment.

At this time, the German fleet with the "Kaiser Wilhelm" as its flagship was approaching the British coast, while the six ships of the "Republic" were following the battleships of the United States and Britain and the three countries to intercept the "Kaiser Wilhelm." As the Republic sailed away from Scapa Bay, the storm began to rage. The bow of the "Republic" sometimes jumped up to the crest of the wave, sometimes fell into the trough, and the splash of the wave overwhelmed the bridge and hit the stern.

At this time, the navigation situation of the "Kaiser Wilhelm" was just as difficult, perhaps even worse. It was jolting forward on a gray sea of sea mist. For the Germans, now this sea is full of enemies. It is impossible for it to meet friends; On the contrary, they can run into enemies at any time. Admiral Lut and Captain Frank were in the captain's room below the bridge, smoking cigars as the ship swayed and swayed, discussing the issue.

"Sir, I think the enemy may have thought we were still in Wilhelmshaven until now. They don't get any definite news of our going to sea. Even if they knew we were out at sea, they wouldn't be able to guess which route we were taking. ”

"Dear Frank, we have to look at another side of the problem. The ocean is still in their hands - all in their hands, so to speak, and we are stowaways. That's where we are now. Even if we change that after this battle, we have to face the reality now. How can you be sure that their warships won't be in front of us at some point, say, right now, or in five minutes? ”

"But our intelligence shows that the Chinese battleships have returned home."

"Your intelligence is inaccurate, you should know that, Colonel. And now the visibility is very poor, the weather conditions are bad. We don't get any warning until the enemy fires. Therefore, we must be ready for battle at all times. Destroy your enemies before they have a chance. ”

"But we're going to be at sea for a long time, sir, and if this is the case, the crew will be exhausted in a few days."

"So no matter what, we've got to beat them this time, and we'll have an easier time in the future." Admiral Lut looked at the rough seas and said, "At the moment I still insist on my orders. Everyone must be at his post, and half of them can rest on the spot, but no one can leave his post. ”

"Yes, sir."

At this time, whether it is the crowded turret and the ammunition compartment below, the longitudinal room, or the engine room and boiler room, all the crew are at their posts. Half of the crew is on duty; The other half staggered to rest. If you're lucky, you can find a place to curl up and lie down, but you really have no choice but to lie on the deck. Still others leaned against the bulkheads, falling asleep from the jolting of the warship, only to be awakened from time to time by the loud vibrations of the ship's hull. This was what happened to the "Kaiser Wilhelm" at that time.

"This is the necessary price we have to pay for not being able to truly seize sea supremacy." Admiral Lut lamented, "As long as we defeat the Americans this time, Britain will beg us for peace." ”

"We all understand that, sir." Colonel Frank said.

"The British will surely know of our departure, and they will have to use all their forces to intercept us, so that Hipper's battlecruisers can be of great use."

"Yes, even if they can't find us, as long as they come out to intercept us, it's our success." Colonel Frank made a pencil on the chart, and then said, "The British must be on guard against all these routes. They had to block those passages, and they didn't know which warships they were going to send to intercept the Yorke and Scharnhorst. ”

"What really works should be the 'Unsinkable Seydlitz' and the 'De Fringer'." Lut shook his head and said, "The Yorks and Scharnhorst have just finished testing, and the sailors are not yet familiar with their ships. I doubt how much combat they can play. ”

The "York" class battlecruisers were the newest first-class battlecruisers to be built in Germany, and the German Navy quickly completed the leap from 11-12 inches to 15-16 inches in caliber as a result of learning that Britain was building battleships and battle cruisers with 15-inch and 16-inch guns. So the battleships of the "Kaiser Wilhelm" class and the battlecruisers of the "York" class were also born. Not to be outdone, the Germans installed the same twin 403-mm turrets on the York-class battlecruisers as the "Wilhelm the Great" class. The size of the hull has increased, and the thickness of the armor has been strengthened again. Since the power equipment of this class is the same as that of the "Wilhelm the Great" class, it is slightly slower. And from another point of view, the battlecruisers of the "York" class can also be considered battleships. Due to the unfavorable situation in the German land war, in order to break the deadlock as soon as possible and "win a decent peace", the construction of the "York" class battlecruisers was greatly accelerated, and finally the German Navy was finally able to enter service in January 1919.

A total of 4 battleships of the "York" class were built, the first ship was "York", the second ship was "Gneisenau", the third ship was "Scharnhorst", and the fourth ship was "Earl Spee". Among them, the "York" was built for the Volken shipyard in Hamburg, the "Gneisenau" was built for the Germania shipyard in Kiel, and the "Scharnhorst" and "Count Spee" were built for Hamburg's Blom? Built at the Foss shipyard.

The standard displacement of the battleships of the "York" class is 43,500 tons, the full load displacement is 48,300 tons, the length of the ship is 227.8 meters, the width is 30.4 meters, the draft is 9.3 meters, the power plant uses 32 "Walter" boilers, 3 groups of "Brown" steam turbines, the maximum power is 95,000 horsepower, 4 shafts and 4 propellers drive, and the twin rudder is parallel. The maximum speed is 32.3 knots, and the cruising range is 9,500 nautical miles at 14 knots. The main gun used eight 403 mm (15.9 in) 45 x diameter guns with four twin turrets. The secondary guns used 12 150 mm (5.9 in) 45 x diameter guns with single mounts. In addition, there were 8 88 mm (3.5 in) 45x diameter guns as anti-torpedo boats and 8 anti-aircraft guns, with single gun profiles.

'I have faith in our lads and they will grow in the fight. Captain Frank said, "Anyway, we don't have any other warships to send right now. If you want to cut off the route of the British, you can only rely on them. ”

Admiral Lut heard the sadness implied in Captain Frank's words, and nodded a little uncomfortably.

Because the protracted war had already caused fatal damage to the German economy, the German shipbuilding industry was able to build the "Wilhelm the Great" class battleships and the "York" class battleships, and the Germans had to sacrifice other shipbuilding plans for the sake of these steel behemoths. That's why Captain Frank has the sigh of "there is no ship to send".

"Hopefully this damn weather will pass soon." Admiral Lut said as he looked at the sky with some melancholy.

At this time, for the Entente fleet, which was breaking the waves, they were also bothered by the same weather problems.

"Sir, the sight distance is indeed equal to zero, and there is no hope of seeing anything on the surface of the sea."

"Damn it!" Betty said with some irritation, "We found the Germans yesterday afternoon. Now—" he looked at his watch and calendar, "it's 12 noon." After all this time, where can the Germans go farthest? ”

A drafting officer drew a large circle with two feet in the center of a point on the chart.

"Sir, at a speed of 25 knots, the range is 670 nautical miles. That is, the Germans could be somewhere in this circle. ”

"Maybe we're asking for trouble, it's likely that the Wilhelm is still docked in Wilhelmshaven." A staff officer said.

"They should be about the same time as we departed." Betty pointed to the charts and said, "The battleships of the Germans might," and he drew in pencil a series of routes that the Germans might take, each ending in a circle. "-- here, or here." Pointing to a route back to the Baltic Sea and then through the Kiel Canal, he continued: "If, as you say, the Germans do not intend to make contact with us, they can only take this route, then we will waste tens of thousands of tons of fuel oil in vain - and we are pulling tens of thousands of people to the sea for a grand free parade!" This would have happened if the rest of our fleet had sailed out of Scarpa Bay. ”

"The Germans do not seem to have any intention of hiding their whereabouts this time." Xu Zhenpeng looked at the charts and said, "I believe that as long as the weather improves, we will definitely be able to find them." ”

At this time, according to Betty's order, the reconnaissance fleet composed of light ships of the navies of China, the United States, Britain and Britain had all set out and opened their nets in the direction where the Germans might appear.

"I don't think the Germans will continue to take risks after getting the information about our departure." Shen Honglie tapped the chart lightly with his finger and said, "Based on our experience in the last battle, once they find us, they will most likely flee without engaging us. Maybe they're getting into action now. But even if they don't fight us, they won't be able to get back in time. We can continue to cut off their way back. There we might run into a patrolling German cruiser, so we'll take it out. ”

"Very well, we'll do it." Betty obviously appreciated Shen Honglie's suggestion, and immediately agreed and gave the battle order.

The British cruisers "Edinburgh" and "Nottingham", having received orders, began to patrol forward. It was already late in the evening, the sun had sunk in the west, and only a faint red halo in the western sky could be seen through the mist. At this time, the sea was full of white fog as far as the eye could see. The wind whistled incessantly across the deck, and the warship swayed and swayed in the waves. The lookouts around the bridge were at their posts, holding binoculars, and searching the sea in a regular manner. They sat in swivel chairs, constantly leaning forward and backward as the ship swayed. There were a number of heavily dressed gunners standing next to the secondary guns. The wind forced them to look for even something small to keep the wind and waves out. Whenever a warship plunges deep into the valley of the waves, it splashes a large amount of seawater and flies over the deck, making it unbearable.

On board the "Edinburgh", after a shrill naval whistle sounded from the ship's cable broadcasting system, the announcement began: "I am the captain, and now I will inform the whole crew of the news from home, the Germans have made another sortie." And this time, all of them were dispatched. Because the weather was too bad for us to conduct an effective reconnaissance. To be sure, however, the Germans will not remain still, and they will likely use a higher speed to evade us. Our job is to spot them and report them in a timely manner. It is necessary for me to remind everyone not to forget that it is equipped with a sixteen-inch cannon that can easily tear us to pieces. That's why we all have to stick to our posts and double down on the lookouts. If anyone does not take responsibility seriously, he will bring danger to the lives and safety of the warship and all the crew. Of course, I'm sure you'll do your duty without reminding you. ”

(To be continued)