The final voyage of the Far Eastern Fleet was rather miserable, but the MLM was much luckier than Lukins, at least, Schell knew that he was no match for Samoville, and from the very beginning was very clear about his mission, to bring the fleet back to the ports of the German homeland, rather than to fight the British home fleet on the rough seas. To a greater extent, it was not Scheer's decision that changed the fate of the "Far Eastern Fleet", but those warships procured from the Don Empire that ultimately changed the fate of the fleet.

At the end of February, Satsumville received an order to reorganize the home fleet as soon as possible and prepare for a decisive battle with the German "Far East Fleet." Then. The damage to the Brave was severe, and the battleship crawled in the North Sea for three days before it crawled back to Aberdeen. The situation of the other three "Avant-garde" class battleships was not much better, the "Avant-garde" had one turret knocked out, the "Challenge" had almost a fifth of its cabins blown up, and the least wounded "Resolve" had three guns damaged. Satsumville received a death order, and he was fortunate that none of the eight old battleships were damaged and could go to sea immediately, and Aberdeen had enough repair capacity and spare parts.

In order to ensure the smooth return of the three lightly damaged battleships, the repair work of the "Brave" was put last, and even a lot of parts were removed from the unfinished sixth "Avantgarde" class battleship to ensure that the other three battleships could be repaired within 10 days. Outcome. The Aberdeen shipyard took fourteen days. It was only on 9 March that the three damaged "Avantgarde" were repaired, and the "Avantgarde" was replaced with a main turret. The watertight compartment of the "Challenge" could not be completely repaired, but this did not affect the combat effectiveness of the battleship, but in the end it became a fatal hidden danger. The Resolve was replaced with a damaged main gun and replaced with a new radar. Other than that. The destroyed secondary guns on the three battleships were also replaced. On March 10, when Satsumville led the fleet to set off urgently, the state of the three Avantgarde-class battleships was a little problematic, but there was no more time for Satsummerville to put his fleet in order.

March 12th. The British Home Fleet reached the strait between the Shetland Islands and the Ornik Islands. On the same day, Summerville received information that the German "Far East Fleet" had appeared in the waters near the Faroe Islands, and that a long-range seaplane had followed the German fleet for two hours, but later lost its target because of heavy fog, and the German fleet was still sailing north. Samoville immediately judged that Sher was going around the farthest course. From the sea between the Faroe Islands and Norway, it moves south into the North Sea. Therefore, in the afternoon of the same day, the British Home Fleet rushed north, preparing to intercept the German "Far East Fleet" in the eastern part of the Shetland Islands.

Scheer received news of the departure of the British Home Fleet from Aberdeen on 11 March, and his hunch was accurate that the British were ready to intercept him. At that time, Scheer had planned to pass through the southern Faroe Islands, and this intelligence forced him to change his plans and decide to make a further detour to avoid the British fleet. Other than that. The Luftwaffe deployed fighter jets in Norway and, if necessary, was covered by the air force during the day.

At that time, Scheer was not in a hurry to send a telegram back, after all, the concealment of the fleet was much more important than getting air cover, and Satmoville had already acted, and if he rashly revealed the position of the fleet, the result would be disastrous. But the problem is that if he does not contact the command of the Navy in time, then he will not be able to determine the new southbound route. It was not until the 13th, when the "Far East Fleet" had reached the waters northeast of the Faroe Islands and was preparing to go south, that Schell sent a telegram asking the Luftwaffe stationed in Norway to provide air cover as much as possible and to dispatch reconnaissance planes to find the British home fleet operating in the North Sea.

The telegram eventually exposed Scheer's intentions. British listening stations on the mainland and on the Shetland Islands received the signal, and although British intelligence had not yet been able to decipher the German Navy's new code, Summerville immediately figured out Scher's intentions upon receiving the news. The "Far Eastern Fleet" will sail as close to the Norwegian coastline as possible, and will certainly strive to go south during the day, and not at night. In this way, the Luftwaffe bombers deployed in Norway could provide cover for it.

Samoville was an extremely experienced admiral, and he made extremely accurate judgments. Scheer must have been hiding in a Norwegian bay, and if Scheer was to cross the North Sea into the Skagerrak Strait in 12 hours during the day, and his fleet had a maximum sustained speed of 30 knots, then Scheer's hiding place must be in some bay near Birgen in eastern Norway. Perhaps a little further north to avoid premature entry into the North Sea, while entering the Skagerrak Strait after nightfall.

After determining Scheer's approximate hiding place, Summerville quickly drew up a battle plan. He wasn't the kind of person to be reckless, and although he did act recklessly during Operation Ballista in North Africa, Summerville was calm at this time. He was also a little afraid of the Luftwaffe bombers. German bombers deployed in Norway sank hundreds of merchant ships bound for Russia, and dozens of British warships. What's worse is that the weather in the North Sea these days is quite abnormal, and the fog at sea is not too dense, and the fleet is easily exposed. If he had approached Norwegian waters too soon, he would have been spotted by German reconnaissance planes and besieged by German bombers. Therefore, Satsumville had only one option, to approach at night, and to try to keep the battle to night without provoking the Luftwaffe.

The time for the battle was set, but the new problem almost made Satsummerville abandon the combat operation, because the eight old battleships could only reach a maximum speed of 22 knots, and they could not fight with the "avant-garde" class battleships with a maximum speed of close to 30 knots. If those eight battleships are dropped, Summerville will promote the superiority of troops, and the performance of the "New Provincial Capital" class battleships sold by the Tang Empire to Germany is by no means under the "avant-garde". But with those eight battleships, it would have been impossible for Sarmoville to reach the southbound course of the German fleet in the first half of the night, let alone stop Scher.

What to do? It was impossible to abandon the interception, and if the "Far East Fleet" had fled back to the port of Kiel, the Germans would have been greatly demoralized, and the British home fleet would have to remain in the North Sea, and would not be able to go south against the fleet of the Tang Empire. But if you really want to fight, how should you fight?

On the 14th, the reconnaissance plane again sent a message that the German fleet had appeared in the waters northeast of Norway, and a British submarine operating nearby also confirmed this information, but because the fog in the Atlantic Ocean was still very strong, the reconnaissance plane and the submarine had lost their target, and Schell hid again. Judging by the reports of reconnaissance aircraft, the German fleet was heading south. Summerville calculated that the German fleet would most likely pass through the North Sea during the day on the 15th, while he was still active in the waters east of the Shetland Islands, and that he could not hesitate to intercept the German fleet.

In the afternoon of the same day, Summerville ordered the fleet to sail in a southeasterly direction, and the interception area was set up near Baergen, where the German fleet had to pass. Instead of forcibly taking the eight old battleships that couldn't get up fast, Satmoville took three "avant-garde" on the road first. (Fastest update: n).

Samoville's plan was a bit complicated, if Scheer went south, he had to try to delay Scheer's southward speed, if he could delay Scheer for a few hours, then the German fleet would not be able to enter the Skagerrak Strait after dark, and at that time, Scheer would most likely slow down his southward movement or find another opportunity to go south. If Scheer is going to force his way through. Then it was possible to intercept the German fleet again outside the straits. It is on the basis of this analysis. Satsumville decided to intercept the German fleet with three "avant-garde" ships first. The other eight battleships headed south at full speed and held near the strait, forming a second line of defense.

It can be said that this was an extremely serious mistake made by Samoville. If Scheer had been able to accurately judge the movements of the British Home Fleet and seize this opportunity, it would have been possible that Scheer would have become the first German admiral to defeat the British Home Fleet. At that time, the Sherdi fleet was fully capable of defeating the Northern Detachment composed of the three "avant-garde" class battleships led by Satsummerville himself. Then Scheer could take advantage of the speed of the battleships of the "New Provincial Capital" class. The range of the guns, as well as the superiority in the power of the guns, crushed the Southern Detachment, which consisted of eight other battleships, at long range. It's a pity that Scheer was not determined to fight the British at all, all he could think of was to flee back to his homeland, not to fight a good naval battle!

Fourteen days and nights. The Scherdi fleet reached the waters near Norway, and he did not rush south, but again made contact with the Luftwaffe in Norway and determined that the fleet would go south during the day on the 15th, and before dawn, Scheer would reach the waters near Balgen, and after dawn, the Luftwaffe would send fighters and bombers to escort the fleet. It is also because of the fog on the surface of the North Sea. The Luftwaffe reconnaissance planes did not detect the British fleet approaching at full speed from Shetland during the day, much less the other British fleet that was heading for the Skagerrak Strait.

Hereunto. Both Scheer and Summerville took a crucial step, both advancing towards the sea where the battle broke out, but neither side had a bottom in their hearts.

At the end of the day, Summerville is not very confident that the three "avant-garde" will be able to defeat the three "new provincial capitals", and he is well aware of the performance advantages of the "new provincial capitals". A battleship capable of crushing the American "Iowa" in an artillery battle will never be worse than the "avant-garde". In terms of main artillery firepower, the "new provincial capital" had nine, while the "avant-garde" had only eight. In terms of defense, the armor of the "new provincial capital" was no worse than that of the "Iowa", and even a little better, while the armor of the "avant-garde" was at most comparable to that of the "Iowa ", and even a little better, while the armor of the "avant-garde" was at most comparable to that of the "Iowa", and even inferior in some parts. The biggest gap is still the fire control system, the Tang Imperial Navy has repeatedly applied radar in actual combat to command ship gun shooting, and its night artillery combat capability is quite strong, even if the German "Far East Fleet" does not have such an opportunity, but those "new provincial capitals" are also installed on the artillery aiming radar, which is much better than the radar on the "avant-garde", and this is quite critical in night battles.

Summerville had read the combat reports of the US Navy, and the US military was envious of the performance of the "new provincial capital," otherwise it would not have been in a hurry to build the "Montana"-class battleships. As a "veteran" expert in artillery warfare, Sarmoville was well aware of the good and bad performance of battleships. The "avant-garde" was built in response to the German "Bismarck"-class battleships, as well as those that still existed only with the H-class battleships on the drawings, and the "new provincial capital" was much better than the "Bismarck" class, and in the case of equal strength, he would not necessarily be able to take advantage. What Satsumville didn't know was that the "new provincial capital" obtained by the German Navy was only a "defective product", which was much worse than the similar warships of the Tang Imperial Navy in terms of performance!

Similarly, Scheer to the north did not have much confidence, and his concern was not the performance of the battleships, but the number of them. The British still had 11 battleships, and he had only three, and this huge quantitative difference was enough to make his little qualitative advantage meaningless. For the German Navy, its biggest problem was quantity, not quality. From World War I to this war, German shipyards built better ships than the enemy, but they were never able to compete with the enemy in numbers. In the Battle of Jutland in World War I, German warships were better than those of the British, but they were still driven back to the Baltic Sea by the British home fleet. In the previous battle, Lukins ended up suffering a crushing defeat because of his numerical inferiority.

If it was a one-on-one battle, Scheer would not be afraid of any opponent, he had enough confidence in the performance of the "new provincial capital", but now it was almost a pair of fours, and he didn't have the slightest confidence. Of course, Scheer didn't know that at this time, there were actually only three "avant-garde" ships in Samoville, which were blocking his south, and the ratio of forces between the two sides was one to one, not one to four.

The naval battle itself was fraught with chance, with both sides groping their way in the foggy North Sea, and both fearing because they didn't know much about the enemy, and the battle was fought under such a serious lack of confidence on both sides.