Vice Admiral Spee, who stared at the constantly correcting operational charts at this moment, for a full 5 minutes, finally slapped the chart table sharply and pointed to the front position of the French fleet, "Order, the right flank with the Queen-class as the head ship, immediately seize the T-position, attack any enemy ship that approaches, and the left flank with the Bremen light cruiser as the leader, outflank the enemy ship on the left flank and strike at the enemy ships trying to evacuate!" ”

The tick-tock telegram immediately conveyed the order very clearly, and the German fleet queues, which were originally staggered left and right, quickly reversed positions, the boiling steam in the boiler gushed out from the steam turbine nozzle, and the slowly rotating gear structure quickly transmitted the speed increase effect to the long pushing shaft of the battleship through the auxiliary wheel, and after just 20 minutes, the Spee fleet had completely entered a state of imminent battle.

The right flank flotilla consisting of the Empress, Hans, Gneizenau, and Dresden quickly reached the maximum speed of 24 knots in the formation, while the three light cruisers outflanked on the left flank approached 27 knots.

The French did not notice any anomalies, the dark night sky and the misty rain greatly reduced the effectiveness of the observations, and among the French battleships, except for the heavy cruiser Teller, the others were on the left and right flanks of the fleet, and were in the middle of the nearly 20-kilometer-long fleet, and the British light cruiser at the front of the fleet, the nearest was also nearly 6,000 meters away, which completely obscured their vision.

However, the captain of the British light cruiser Blasger, Lieutenant Commander Wilm, did feel the unusual atmosphere, just half an hour ago. The officer in the ship's telegraph room came to report that an unknown radio signal had been found, and that the unknown signal alone was nothing. After all, with the improvement of radio technology, some merchant ships also began to install civilian-grade wireless telegraphy for short-distance communication, but British officers were apparently aware of the frequency of their radio signals. It has gone beyond the need for communication in the ordinary sense.

Lieutenant Commander Wilm's first reaction was not that he was worried about the German fleet, but that he thought that there might be activities of the Chinese Grand Fleet in the vicinity. In the Far East, the navy that can be called powerful, except for Chinese, even the British Empire did not dare to claim this title...... But. He immediately put that worry down. The Chinese left the French fleet behind, and the Strait of Malacca was blocked, which was completely easy to do as easily as a fly.

However, he still ordered to turn on the searchlight to intensify the search, the Royal Navy in the Indian Ocean, there is really no need to hide, as long as the Chinese fleet does not come, other countries ...... Even if it was the German fleet...... The thought made Wilm think of a possibility. Although this somewhat scares itself.

In the next few minutes, the officer on the lookout glanced into the distance. Unexpectedly, there was a bright spot at the end of the rain and fog, but after the battleship deflected at an angle, the suspicious signs in the distance disappeared...... However, this discovery still made Lieutenant Commander Wilm make a positive judgment, and the cruiser Brasg immediately signaled to the cruiser Gloucester that followed closely behind, and then quickly left the group.

The light cruiser Brasgue left the formation and sailed at full speed to the south-west, but in the next 20 minutes or so, it found nothing, and in the dark night in the rain and fog, it was impossible to see the target too far away, and Lieutenant Commander Wilm also began to wonder if it was the guy at the lookout who was delirious by the rain, not enough, and he was cautious and obviously realized that the signal lit on the battleship was a big problem, so soon the signal lights that were originally lit on the battleship began to go out one by one......

At this moment, the alarm of the jingling bell suddenly sounded from the lookout, and a soldier suddenly pushed open the door of the command tower, "Lieutenant Commander, the lookout has found a suspicious target, and the bow of the ship is 10 degrees to the left!" ”

Although Lieutenant Colonel Wilm immediately became excited, he quickly rushed to the observation position on the bridge, raised the telescope in his hand and pointed at the direction reported by the soldier, in the dark, there was no clear object to be seen in the distance, he turned the telescope left and right, but he never found anything, and was about to scold again? When he was at the moment, the officer next to him patted him on the shoulder and stretched out his hand to point to a dark night on the left.

"Lieutenant Colonel, look there, it really looks like a ship, do you want to let the searchlight hit!" The officer reported in some anguish.

"There!" Lieutenant Colonel Wilm pointed his binoculars there, but it was still difficult to distinguish the blackness at the end of the dark night, but at this moment, he was obviously aware of the slightest danger, "Order, all gun emplacements are put on first level of alert, and at the same time...... Command the searchlights to ...... in this direction"

Before the words fell, in the darkness, suddenly a series of soaring fires pierced the black night sky, and under the reflection of the muzzle fire, a huge battleship appeared in front of the light cruiser Brasg at a distance of less than 3,000 meters.

In the midst of the gunfire, an Iron Cross flag suddenly stabbed the eyes of all the British people on the Brasg - the Germans! German battleships!

"God, it's a battleship!" The gun officer complained at the first time! "Where did the Germans get the battleships!"

"Full rudder steering...... Fight back now! Lieutenant Commander Wilm jumped up like a rabbit with an arrow, although he commanded the excellent light cruiser of the Royal Navy, and it was the latest model that had just been launched for two years, but the light cruiser Brasger-class light cruiser had a few pounds and a few taels, he knew very well that he was familiar with the light car when dealing with thin-skinned destroyers, but as soon as the other party opened fire at this moment, as a senior officer, he had already determined that the caliber of the opponent's artillery was definitely not less than 12 inches.

The problem is that the guns of the German battleships also seem to be equipped with 10-inch guns, and the sudden appearance of 12-inch heavy guns is really difficult to explain...... But now is no longer the time to be entangled with the cannon barrel, and after a little hesitation, the two hundred people on the Brasg have to be fed with fish, and the other party appears in the position, and it is completely on the top of the T-shaped top of the entire fleet.

His own 4,800-ton light cruiser, as long as it is a confrontation with a warship of the same class, will definitely not fall behind, even if the Brasger-class has 6 main guns that shoot forward, but the huge gap in the barrels of the guns is simply to send them to death. The generation difference in the barrel and armor is simply incomparable, and continuing to fight can no longer be taken into account! Must be evacuated immediately...... At the same time, notify the French battleship to come up!

Lieutenant Colonel Wilm's series of orders had just been issued, and the battleship was just about to turn the rudder, when the whistling shells had smashed head-on on the front right and left front positions of the Brasger, and six huge waves rose into the air, and the waves set off by the violent explosion even crashed directly into the bridge of the battleship, pouring the lieutenant colonel with seawater.

"Bastard!" Lieutenant Commander Wilm angrily spit the salty sea water in his mouth on the ground, and at this moment the battleship turned sharply, and the 150mm twin main guns in the bow had no chance to counterattack at all, but the 105mm small tubes on the ear batteries couldn't wait to launch a counterattack, and the 3 side guns that had just had time to adjust the horizon immediately fought back violently in the direction of the shining artillery fire just now in the dark night.

Perhaps it was the favor of the god of luck that the Brasger barely had any shooting in the first round, but it actually hit the result of a direct shot, and a few seconds later, at the end of the dark night, a gray cloud mixed with dazzling fire rose violently, and a 105mm high-explosive bomb magically hit the opponent.

When the explosion caused a flame to rise, the monster that had been hidden in the darkness finally revealed its hideous mask, and the three giant turrets were pointing at the Brasger less than 3,000 meters away, and Lieutenant Colonel Wilm was also the first to observe this scene, and his hand holding the telescope trembled involuntarily because of nervousness for a while-

"We're finished!" The surveying and mapping officer on the side looked at the huge cannon barrel dumbfounded, at a distance of 3,000 meters, the first round of the opponent did not hit themselves, this is obviously a complete accident, officers with a little artillery skills can understand this kind of distance engagement, 20 years ago the Chinese used the shooting command instrument can hit more than 60% of the high hits.

"Full rudder...... Veer! Lieutenant Colonel Wilm rushed to the microphone and shouted loudly, at this moment, it is estimated that it is possible to escape the doom by pointing the battleship's butt to the German battleship and escaping at full speed, after all, the hit of the large-caliber main gun at this distance is definitely a fatal effect of a sword to seal the throat for the 4500-ton light cruiser.

At this moment, in the dark and dreary night in the distance, a string of blazing flames that burned at the same time suddenly erupted, and for a while, the turbulent waves, noisy machines, and the rapid-fire cannon that Brasg flanks were still powerless to fight back seemed to fall into silence, and the heavens and the earth seemed to be in control of the six giant projectiles weighing 320 kilograms that roared in the endless night.

The 105mm high-explosive shell that hit the command tower in the middle of the left section of the Empress battle patrol only left a small black mark on the 250mm thick steel armor, but the two cables ignited by the explosive gunpowder were crackling and burning, and the sneak attack was hit by the opponent's first hit of the funny start, which obviously made Lieutenant General Spee unsatisfied...... In fact, a large part of this is due to the fact that the new Queen-class ships have not been fully mastered.

Only a little more than a month of sea trials, so that sailors, boilermen and technical officers can master how to control the battleship, this has almost reached the limit of learning, in fact, the huge 343mm caliber main gun, a total of less than 10 guns have the opportunity to test fire, fortunately, the fire control provided by China for the Empress class, originally authorized to Germany Rafale fire commander upgrade, this is to solve a big problem for Vice Admiral Spee.

Just as everyone was staring at the British cruiser that was rapidly evading in the wind and waves in the distance, the battle cruiser Hans, who had already arrived at the side, also maneuvered into position, pointed obliquely at the heavy guns of the light cruiser of the Brasger, and suddenly fired the first salvo...... At this distance, there is no need to fire a single shot or a half salvo, and firepower is king. (To be continued......)