Faced with the considerable pressure on the nascent "Allied fleet", the Germans planned to destroy it in a decisive battle with the main force before the fleet, which was strong but after all, a multinational navy could not effectively cooperate in the battle. Based on this idea, Schell readjusted the combat mission of the German High Seas Fleet, and he entrusted the task of destroying the enemy's sea routes to Hipper's battle cruisers and submarine forces, while he himself personally led the battlefleet to attack the British coast, taking advantage of the fact that the "Entente fleet" had not yet completed a full assembly and broke each one.

But what Scheer didn't expect was that these giant battleships built by the Americans for China would be so powerful.

As for China's order of six battleships and six battlecruisers in the United States, the German spies in the United States had already received some information and sent them back to Germany as soon as possible. The German Emperor Wilhelm II expressed concern about this matter, but the German naval leadership, including Schell, did not think so, believing that the Chinese government, which had always been heavily indebted, had to use most of its revenue to repay reparations, and that it was impossible for the Chinese government to spend so much money to build these huge "sea swallowing beasts". On the one hand, he asked the intelligence services to find out the situation as soon as possible, and on the other hand, he asked the German Navy to act cautiously and "make the preservation of our fleet the first priority." At the same time, Wilhelm II also actively carried out activities through secret channels, trying to dismantle the "Britain, France, the United States, Japan, Russia, and China" Six-Power Entente bloc.

Ignoring the Emperor's admonitions, Scheer was determined to follow his plan, and once the arrangements had been decided, he and Hipper split up and led the fleet. But what Scheer did not expect was that the "legendary" Chinese battleships not only existed, but were as strong as the battleships built by German workers, and their firepower and speed far exceeded those of German battleships.

Schell's rashness cost the German fleet dearly, and now the four German "King" class battleships not only have no chance of winning against two Chinese "Republic" class battleships, but even have difficulty in saving their lives.

"In any case, we are fighting against an enemy who is much stronger than ourselves, and even if the final result is defeat, we are worthy of the glory of the Imperial German Navy," Vice Admiral Barnke said tragically, gazing at the Chinese battleship Independence, which was still pouring fire on his King.

"What should we do now?" Hearing Vice Admiral Barnke's sad words, Captain Brauninghouse asked with some sadness.

"Your Majesty's opinion is right, our task now is not to defeat the enemy, but to find a way to save our precious warship. We are not far from the Gulf of Helgoland, and the Chinese do not have enough strength to wipe us out, so let's take advantage of this last advantage," Vice Admiral Barnke said, looking at Captain Brauninghouse, "but we have to sacrifice." ”

Captain Brauninghouse understood what Vice Admiral Barnke meant, he sighed, unconsciously reached out and touched the photo of his wife and children hidden in his pocket, and nodded.

"Give the signal to disband the formation and sail at full speed to the Helgoland Bay," Lieutenant General Barnke ordered in a loud voice.

"The Germans were cunning, and our worst fears arose."

On the bridge of the battleship "Independence", the American captain Colonel Johnson said to the deputy commander, Colonel Yang Qixiang, "They are going to separate and escape." ”

Colonel Yang Qixiang held a telescope and observed the situation on the sea, at this time the German fleet columns had dispersed, and the "Border Count", which had been seriously injured before, was the first to break away from the array, staggering and turning around and sailing into the distance, and now the "Crown Prince William" and the "Elector" also retreated in different directions, and only the German flagship "King" rushed towards the "Independence" like a mad tiger. …,

"This German ship wants to sacrifice itself to hold us up and give their comrades time to escape," Colonel Johnson looked at the "King" who was struggling to fight back in the hail of bullets from the "Independence", and seemed to admire the bravery of the Germans, he turned his head and asked Yang Qixiang in a slightly questioning tone, "What do you think we should do now?" ”

Yang Qixiang's name is Changhou, and he is a native of Yichang, Hubei. In 1905, he went to Japan to study, and then entered the Japan Merchant Marine School and the Japanese Naval University. Before returning to China, he later served in the Sixth Bureau of the Admiralty and General Staff Headquarters of the Beijing Government of the Republic of China. Due to factional disputes within the Chinese Navy, non-Fujian naval officers were not allowed to serve on ships, so after the establishment of the "Sino-US Naval Academy," Yang Qixiang, who was unwilling to sit in an office all his life, was sent by the Admiralty to study in the United States to obtain the qualifications and skills to be able to command warships. Yang Qixiang already has a naval foundation, coupled with his intelligence, diligence, and hard work, he has won praise from American instructors for his excellent grades during his studies at the school. On June 26, 1917, Yang Qixiang was awarded the rank of Lieutenant Commander. On January 30, 1918, he was promoted to Captain and was appointed Deputy Captain of the battleship "Independence".

"Let's get rid of the boats that they can still run on, and the cripples that have been seriously injured can be handed over to the cruisers and destroyers to clean up." Yang Qixiang thought for a while and replied.

Listening to Yang Qixiang's answer, a hint of satisfaction flashed in Johnson's eyes.

"You answered very well, Yang." Colonel Johnson smiled and nodded, "Come on, let's give this brave German warship the salute it deserves."

The U.S. Navy Colonel said and gave the order to fight, and soon the "Independence" concentrated its artillery fire on the "King," while the "Nation" turned its head and pursued the fleeing "Elector." After receiving the order, the Chinese Navy light ships, which had been watching from the sidelines, began to converge like a swarm of sharks devouring whales, towards the "Crown Prince William" and the "Border Earl", which had been seriously injured and greatly reduced.

A fierce chase broke out.

At this time, the damaged power system had been repaired and the speed of the "Crown Prince Wilhelm" was desperately rushing towards Helgoland, trying to seek shelter from the island's 210-mm shore guns. Soon, the Germans were only one step away from their doorstep, and it was here that the Chinese convoy also caught up with the "Crown Prince Wilhelm", and the Chinese direct guard fleet led by the light cruiser "Haiyue" took advantage of the scene, but at this time a strong wind suddenly blew on the sea, large black clouds appeared in the sky, and the sharply reduced visibility and turbulent waves affected the play of the Chinese gunners, but the Chinese cruiser still achieved a lot of results, and a cannon ping-pong fight was about to pass, and the German mine strike ship "V32" No. sunk. Soon, the "Haiyue", which was struggling to break through, broke through the inner defensive circle of the Germans, and the German destroyers and torpedo boats scattered and fled, and the minesweeper "D122" was shot on the bridge, the captain was killed, and the "T139" was also seriously wounded. At this time, the German warships had approached Helgoland Island, and although the German ships vigorously sent signals to the shore for help, the German coastal artillery could not identify the target because of the dense fog, and they never fired a single shot.

At this time, the German light cruisers "Ulm" and "Kaufboyen," which were on patrol duty, received a distress signal from the "Crown Prince Wilhelm" and hurried to the rescue. The shells of the 150-mm main guns of the "Haiyue," which belonged to the "Hainan"-class heavy mine-armed light cruisers, rained down, and for a time the "Ulm" seemed to be sailing in boiling water, and soon one of the "Ulm's" 105-mm guns was destroyed. Although it was clear that the firepower was outnumbered, in order to achieve the purpose of covering the retreat of the friendly forces, the "Ulm" did its best to engage the "Haiyue" until the entire surface of the ship was destroyed and all the guns were destroyed. At the same time, another "Hainan"-class heavy mine-mounted light cruiser "Haizhou" also got into a bitter battle with the "Kauf Boylen." Although the "Haizhou" was significantly superior to its aging opponent launched in 1906 on paper, the shortcomings of her short run-in time seriously affected the display of combat effectiveness. Soon after the start of the battle, one 150-mm gun in the stern of the ship jammed, the remaining one was also damaged, the torpedo tubes were scrapped, and for a time only one 150-mm gun in the bow could return fire, and the other two intact 76-mm guns were also unable to fire at the "Kauf Boylen" because of malfunction, and the scene was extremely passive for a while. In the fierce fire, the "Haizhou" was hit by 18 bullets, but miraculously only 15 people were killed and 12 were wounded. One of the dead was the signal officer of the "Haizhou", Johan. Captain McCroft, who was standing beside the Chinese captain Rear Admiral Song Shishan, was killed by shrapnel and became the first U.S. Navy officer to be killed in the naval battle. Although the density of the "Haizhou's" firepower was limited, the efficiency of the return fire was still very high, and she hit a total of 11 shells of the "Kauf Boylen", one of which hit the bridge of the "Kauf Boylen", causing 47 people below the captain to be killed or wounded, and the "Kauf Boylen" had to drag the right-leaning hull out of the battle. …,

When the light cruisers of the two sides were fighting each other, the Chinese destroyers launched a fierce attack on the "Crown Prince Wilhelm", which was desperately trying to escape, and fired more than 20 torpedoes in one breath, but due to the fierce interference of the German battleship's secondary guns, these torpedoes were all lost and failed to hit the target, and after the sea breeze stopped, the dense fog on the sea surface became bigger and bigger, and both warring sides soon lost the ability to identify the target, and the cannon sound gradually subsided.

The two Chinese heavy mine-loaded light cruisers that had defeated the German light cruisers did not chase the enemy, but turned their heads to look for the German battleships, at this time the Chinese direct guard fleet drew its swords and looked around, but there was no trace of any German ships, and the sea was empty, only a thick fog of hidden hostility shrouded the surroundings. Due to the excessive pursuit to the east, they were very close to the German base, and in the engagement, the "Haizhou" was wounded early, the engine room was flooded, the speed dropped to 19 knots, and it was impossible to break away at high speed, and the Chinese direct guard fleet began to regroup.

After some futile searching, the Chinese Guards began to turn back to the west, and at this moment, they almost immediately met another German lightning strike fleet that had come through the fog

At this time, it was the German lightning strike fleet guarding the "Border Count", these German ships used the cover of fog to successfully bypass the Chinese light ships, and seeing that they were about to arrive home, the Germans were all relieved, but they did not expect that the ghost had come to meet a fleet composed of Chinese light ships here, and the flagship of the German lightning strike fleet "V197" immediately ushered in a sudden rain of bullets. The German ship turned sharply south, and to his horror found two Chinese light cruisers that had appeared in front of it blocking the way

The two light cruisers belonged to the direct guard fleet of the battleship "Minukh" and searched all the way here when they pursued the "Elector" with the destroyers, and at this time the "Haiji" and "Haixi" inadvertently reached a flanking effect with the destroyer led by the destroyer "Haiyue" and "Haizhou". Seeing that there was a wolf in front and a tiger in the back, the "V197" decided to make a desperate bet and turn around. The Germans' haste seemed to have played a role, and the 1st Chinese destroyer detachment was caught off guard by this, and was stunned for a while before firing, and the dense fog and the relative speed of both sides at this time of more than 50 knots also affected the hit rate, and the "V197" actually passed through the first column of Chinese destroyers unscathed. And the second column of Chinese destroyers was already prepared, and a platoon of guns quickly paralyzed the "V197" on the sea. The group of Chinese destroyers, with little combat experience, circled around their wounded opponents like Indians in American Westerns, and fired indiscriminately from a distance of 700 yards with their main guns, turning the "V197" into a colander, and the steam mixed with thick smoke filled the ship, and from time to time it spread to all sides because of flames and explosions. After resisting for a while, the "V197" finally fell silent in the artillery fire, and her fate was sealed, and the seriously wounded captain ordered the explosives to be planted and sunk herself. The Chinese destroyers immediately ceased fire and lowered their dinghys to salvage the survivors. Some German naval officers and men misunderstood the good intentions of the Chinese, and at this moment the flag of the German Imperial Navy was still flying on the top of the mast, and did not lower it to indicate surrender, and out of the instinct of the soldiers, they firmly believed that the boat was carrying the enemy to seize the ship. To declare that the battle was not over, a German captain commanded an 88-mm gun to hit the destroyer Hunter 12, which had arrived 200 yards away, and the enraged Chinese sailors immediately resumed shelling. At this time, the self-sinking explosives also exploded, and the "V197" sank into the sea with the battle flag hoisted.

Almost at the same time, a series of tragicomedy caused by ridiculous misunderstandings was quietly staged.

The cause of this misunderstanding was the negligence of the Japanese in communications. …,

After secretly completing the build-up, the Japanese fleet sailed for Helgoland at full speed. Soon, the Japanese fleet arrived at the predetermined ambush battlefield, and the Chinese warship, which was completely ignorant of the "Japanese reinforcement fleet", immediately and logically judged it to be an enemy ship when it saw the figure of two warships that were not its own passing in the distance.

And in fact, it was the Japanese armored cruiser "Kasuga" that appeared in front of the Chinese light cruiser.

The armored cruiser "Kasuga" has a displacement of 7628 tons, a length of 111.73 meters, a width of 18.9 meters, and a draft of 7.32 meters. The main guns were one 254 mm gun and two 203 mm guns, as well as 14 152 mm guns, 10 80 mm guns and six 47 mm guns, the power system was 2 reciprocating steam engines, the output horsepower was 13,500 horsepower, the maximum coal load was 1,180 tons, the maximum speed was 20 knots, it had four 450 mm torpedo tubes, its waterline armor belt was 88 to 180 mm, deck armor was 50 mm, turret armor was 150 mm, and conning tower armor was 75 to 360 mm.

The armored cruiser "Kasuga" was purchased by the Japanese Navy in accordance with the "Sansan Fleet" emergency additional proposal proposed in 1903. There are two ships of this class, namely "Kasuga" and "Nisshin". The two ships were originally built in Italy, but after being launched, they were sold to the South American country of Argentina, and were named "Rivadavia" and "Moreno" by the Argentines to be used in the war with the Chilean Navy. However, relations between Chile and Argentina eased, and the Argentines cancelled the purchase contract, and the two ships were left in the shipyard in Italy. Before the Russo-Japanese War, the two ships were snapped up by Japan and added to the navy. The two ships are typical of the Italian style, that is, the mainmast is located in the center of the hull, and the two chimneys are arranged in front of and behind the mainmast.

Construction of the "Kasuga" began on March 10, 1902 at the Ansaldo shipyard in Genoa, Italy, and was launched on October 22, 1904, and was renamed "Kasuga" by the Japanese on January 1, 1904, and completed on January 7. On February 16, he returned to the port of Yokosuka, Japan. On April 6, he was assigned to the 1st Sentai of the 1st Fleet. On May 14, 1904, the "Kasuga" collided with the cruiser "Yoshino", a meritorious ship of the Sino-Japanese First Sino-Japanese War, in the waters of Arthur, and as a result, the "Yoshino" was directly rammed and sunk. "Kasuga" later took part in the Battle of the Yellow Sea and the Battle of Tsushima. During the First World War, on April 26, 1917, the "Kasuga" was assigned to the European Dispatch Fleet and sailed to England to participate in the war against Germany .......