"What a waste of the British! Totally unreliable! ”

Seeing the sinking of the British Royal Navy's battlecruiser Lion, the commander of the French Navy, Charles Dayle, who was an ally, gloated. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

"Gentlemen, the only way to save the world is by our great Royal Navy of the French Empire!"

As soon as Dai Le finished speaking, another coalition battlecruiser was hit, and the hull quickly tilted and sank at a speed that could be seen.

"Hey, it's only been less than an hour, and the British have lost two battlecruisers!"

The adjutant next to him instantly reminded Dai Le bitterly: "General, which sinking battlecruiser seems to be our Diderot!" ”

"Well, what? Our battle cruisers were sunk? Oh no, God, no jokes like that! ”

Dai Le looked confused, so he polished his eyes, put down the telescope in his hand (the magnification is not enough), and moved forward two times, and used a fixed high-power observation telescope to re-examine the target.

Sure enough, it was the three-bar military flag of the French Empire, and looking at the gunwales and liveries, it was undoubtedly the Diderot battlecruiser.

"O pig! ）”

"Jebaisetamere (the dirtiest French word, where the light of harmony floats by...... ）”

The most embarrassing thing in life is that you are slapped in the face as soon as you hurt others!

Dai Le was about to go crazy, his face was beaten hot, and he couldn't wait to find a crack to turn in.

Within an hour of the start of the war, the British Royal Navy lost one of its most advanced battlecruisers, the Lion, and the Royal French Navy lost one of its most advanced Denton-class battlecruisers, the Diderot.

This made the British and French navies very depressed and was a huge blow to morale.

However, the British and French armies did not realize the seriousness of the problem, because at this moment, whether it was Lawrence or Daile, their eyes were on the main force of the German High Seas Fleet.

At this moment, many battleships of the German High Seas Fleet were hit by large-caliber shells of the British and French navies, and black smoke was emitting from the hull, and fire was faintly visible.

The sinking of the Lion and Diderot not only did not alert Lawrence and Daile, but stimulated their desire for revenge.

"Sink the battleships of the Germans for me!"

Lawrence and Dale roared almost in unison, staring at the German High Seas Fleet more than ten kilometers away with red eyes, they didn't care about anything at the moment, except to sink a few main battleships of the German High Seas Fleet as soon as possible.

Their starting point was simple, they hoped that by sinking a few of the main battleships of the German High Seas Fleet, they would be able to revive the morale of the combined Anglo-French fleet.

However, in this way, they entered a tactical misunderstanding, relying on the strength of the combined British and French fleets, especially the combat effectiveness of the Royal Navy of the British Empire, in the case of numerical superiority, it was no problem for the shells to hit one or two German naval battleships after a salvo of concentrated fire.

But the problem is that the battleship has thick skin and thick flesh, and it is difficult to sink even if it is hit by one or two shells, especially the main battleships of the German High Seas Fleet, which originally paid attention to armor protection, so it is even more resistant to beating, as long as it is not hit by the vital point, and a fatal penetrating hit will not immediately sink the German battleship.

On the other hand, the German High Seas Fleet concentrated its firepower on the battle cruiser formations of the British and French navies, and the armor of the battlecruisers was very thin, and they could not stop the bombardment of large-caliber shells fired by the battleships, even if they were not hit by the fatal penetrating bullets fired by the opponent, as long as they were hit by three to five shells of more than 381 mm, it was enough to be severely damaged or even sunk.

It was under these circumstances that the Lion and Diderot were sunk by the German High Seas Fleet in unison.

It can be seen that the German Navy already knew their tactical goal, that is, regardless of the main British and French fleets, they took the lead in gathering fire and aiming at the British and French battle cruiser formations. Make use of the strengths and avoid the weaknesses, and first concentrate superior forces and firepower to destroy the battle cruiser formations of the British and French navies.

Clearly, Tirpitz's tactics were the most correct, while Lawrence and Dale were blinded by hatred and did not realize the crux of the matter.

In the next hour of fighting, the German ships were shot one after another, and Tirpitz's tactic was to let the German ships that were on fire retreat, and let the intact German ships go forward to block the shells and take turns to get on the line of fire, so that the German ships that were shot could seize the time to repair and take turns to share the damage of the British and French fleets' guns, so that a single ship would not be sunk due to continuous damage.

The combined Anglo-French fleet fired several salvos, and each time it was about to severely damage or even sink a German ship, it would be replaced by other German ships, so that the British and French fleets could no longer sink it with a salvo.

On the other hand, the German High Seas Fleet kept an eye on the battle cruisers of the British and French fleets, and severely damaged all six battle cruisers, and several of them even caught fire, burned so much that they were not even recognized, and there was a tendency to be sunk.

When Lawrence and Dale notice that something is wrong, they are angry and want to bang their heads against the wall.

The battlecruisers of the German High Seas Fleet were hidden in the snow, far beyond the range of the main battleships of the British and French Combined Fleet, but they could continue to fire large-caliber shells to attack the British and French battleships, because these German ships were equipped with artillery made in the Chinese Empire and imported long-range artillery shells produced by the Chinese Empire.

Tirpitz used the rough-skinned battleships of the High Seas Fleet to attract the artillery fire of the main forces of the British and French fleets, and then concentrated the artillery fire of the main forces of the High Seas Fleet to attack the British and French battlecruisers.

Four of the British and French battlecruisers, whose hulls were severely damaged and even set on fire, had stalled and slowed down, unable to escape the heavy bombardment of the German High Seas Fleet.

At 12:17, the battlecruiser HMS Princess Royal exploded and sank.

Seven minutes later, the British Navy battlecruiser USS Liberty was pierced by a 381-mm armor-piercing projectile, and the hull did not have time to drain and sank at an angle.

At 12:29, the French Navy Voltaire failed to extinguish the hull fire, and the ammunition depot was blown up and sank in two.

At 12:42, the British Navy battlecruiser Prestige was torpedoed and sunk by the German ship Prussia.

The German High Seas Fleet sank four more British and French battlecruisers, but did not sink any of its own capital ships, but most of the German ships were wounded in the face of multiple salvos of fire from the main forces of the combined British and French fleet.

At this point in the battle, Tirpitz's first plan had been perfectly realized, and he immediately ordered the entire fleet to retreat.

To chase or not to chase?

This choice question in front of Lawrence and Dale is not easy to make a decision, and the pursuit may severely damage the German high seas fleet, or even completely annihilate the other side, but it also means that the ship group has lost the protection of the capital ship, which is very dangerous. But if they didn't chase it, the British and French navies lost six battle cruisers in this battle, suffered a big loss, and the psychology of revenge was unbalanced.

"The boat group matters! Don't chase anymore! ”

Dai Le said directly to Lawrence, in his opinion, the safety of the ship group is the most important, after all, the French Empire is facing a moment of life and death, if the ship group cannot be safely sent to the Tsarist Empire, then the French Empire is afraid of extinction.

Therefore, from Dai Le's position, it doesn't matter how many warships are lost, as long as the ship group is safely sent to the Tsarist Empire.

But Lawrence was very entangled, the British battleships suffered heavy losses, and he wanted to pursue them very much, but Dale did not agree, and the British Navy went to chase the German Navy alone, and the cautious Lawrence still did not dare.

Eventually, Lawrence gave up the pursuit.

Tirpitz was also surprised to find that the combined Anglo-French fleet had not come to pursue, and as a result, his previous battle plan failed.

Fortunately, there was plenty of time, so Tirpitz sat down to reformulate the plan, while the ships of the German High Seas Fleet were urgently repaired and prepared for another battle. (To be continued.) )