The old German battleship "Pomeen", the light cruisers "Fraunlob" and "Rostock" were torpedoed and sunk by British destroyers, and one light cruiser "Elibin" accidentally collided with the battleship "Posen" and sank. The losses of night battle destroyers were: 5 British and 2 German.

Scheer did not send four German-class battleships into battle for fear of being damaged in the night battle. At 3 a.m., the British fleet finally carved a bloody path from the German blockade and rushed towards Scarpa Bay.

At 23:30, the rear guard of the home fleet had an encounter with the 2nd destroyer fleet of the German high seas fleet, and after a fierce battle, three German destroyers were sunk, but they achieved good results, an old ironclad ship of the British rear fleet was torpedoed, four more British destroyers were sunk, and one British cruiser was sunk.

At 05:55 the next day, Jericho's fleet asked the Germans for pursuit and returned to Scapa Bay. With the return of the Royal Navy's home fleet to base, the Battle of Jutland officially ended.

The brave Germans achieved their goal in this naval battle - the relatively small cost inflicted greater losses on the other side, and the result of the naval battle changed the situation in the North Sea, and the British suffered heavy losses, leaving only seven capital ships, of which only one dreadnought. Only 35 ships returned to Scapa Bay, losing more than two-thirds of the number of ships, and the home fleet was so demoralized that it did not challenge the strength of the German High Seas Fleet for at least a year.

The loss of the British fleet was very painful to the British, and the naval battle woke up many British, who were drunk in the dream of world hegemony, and many could not bear the blow of naval defeat, and fell off the altar overnight, and the psychological gap made them vent their anger by attacking the navy, parliament, and government, and even committing suicide - of course, very few committed suicide, and the British gentlemen, who claimed to be civilized, still cherished their lives.

Among the Britons who committed suicide was Betty, the commander of the Forward Fleet, who committed suicide the night after returning to port, leaving no last words. But death did not stop the anger of the people and the top brass, and the commander of the home fleet, Jericho, and the commander of the forward fleet, Betty, were both investigated, and most of them put the blame for the defeat in the naval battle on both of them.

The investigation concluded that Jericho should not have been transferred back after sending General Hood's Third Battle Patrol Detachment, which was an important reason for the defeat of Betty's fleet. In addition, Jericho should not retreat when encountering the main forces of the High Seas Fleet, but should continue the tradition of British naval attacks head-on, at least inflicting heavy losses on the German High Seas Fleet, rather than the German fleet not losing anything at all, as is the case now, but the home fleet has suffered huge losses.

As for Betty, his responsibility was very obvious, he did not follow Jericho's orders, rashly marched, fought more and fought less, commanded poorly in the engagement with the Hipper's fleet, and lost a number of battleships, which was simply a disgrace to the British admirals. Despite Betty's self-knowledge and suicide, he was spurned by the British, and even his family was disgraced and had to immigrate to the United States.

Naval defeat was not the end of the world, and the Admiralty Fisher and Churchill were admonishing Prime Minister Asquistan that Britain would lose control of the North Sea in the next year and would not be able to prevent the German Navy from entering the Atlantic, but the British Navy would be able to secure its homeland and the Mediterranean. Of course, this period was painful, because the sea routes of the British Atlantic were certainly hit by the German Navy, but as long as they survived this time, it was time for the British Navy to strike back. Because five dreadnought-class battleships and battle cruisers would be launched into service within a year, the British Navy would once again have a numerical superiority over the German Navy's dreadnoughts.

The Germans achieved exactly what they wanted, and the naval battle was perfect, with only one of their capital ships losing the Lützov, and the rest of the ships losing a small number. The four German-class battleships were quite fierce and showed unparalleled combat effectiveness, which pleased the Navy with both firepower and protection, and also played a vital role in the battle.

The short-tempered Scheer was very calm and steady in the crucial decisive battle, with precise timing, and not greedy for success. Hipper, who led the reconnaissance fleet, successfully completed the task of luring the enemy into depth, and in the face of the Betty fleet, which was stronger than himself, he was able to reverse the unfavorable situation in a short period of time and finally defeat the Betty fleet, and his merit was no less than that of Scheer.

The most important thing is that the Germans finally broke through the blockade of the British Navy, broke through the North Sea, broke through the English Channel, and entered the wide and free Atlantic, and the dream seemed to finally come true at this moment. German ships were free to enter and leave the North Atlantic, attacking British merchant ships and transports, completely cutting off Britain's sea transportation routes, and causing Britain to die after losing blood. However, Germany can import more resources from South America, Asia and China, whether it is steel, rubber or oil, which can alleviate Germany's scarce resource situation, which is very important for Germany.

With more steel, new ships can continue to be built, and the navy can continue to grow and warships will not stop building because of war. With more oil, it is possible to expand the size of the armored forces - Moltke Jr. has already shown the importance of tanks in real action. With more rubber, German industry could burst into greater dynamism and provide the army with more and more advanced weapons.

However, at present, the Mediterranean Sea is not an object that the German Navy can covet, and the French and Italian navies have a large number of capital ships, and their combat capability is not weak, and because they are familiar with the Mediterranean combat environment, they pose a very great threat to the German Navy. Until the British Navy was completely settled, it was not easy to enter the Mediterranean, which led to the need for the transportation of supplies in the direction of Asia to detour through southern Africa, as well as the coasts of the Indian Ocean and South Africa, which were controlled by the British. In this way, the task of defeating the British is a long way to go, and more work needs to be done.

For now, Germans can celebrate the event to their heart's content. In the capital, Berlin, Wilhelm II hosted a royal dinner to celebrate the victory for the admirals and officers. The emperor's order to promote Scheer and Hipper to lieutenant generals and Tirpitz to marshal of the navy brought the atmosphere of the dinner to a climax. After that, a grand parade was held on the main streets of Berlin, and people forgot about the bloodshed on the battlefield on the Western Front, and forgot about the dead and wounded officers and soldiers in the naval battle. At this moment, the Germans had the right to rejoice, and they had won the naval battle with their own efforts, pulling the British off the altar and becoming the new maritime hegemon - not counting the Chinese state of East Asia.

"My generals, it is you who have brought victory to Germany and brought me glory as the Emperor of Germany, and I am proud to have you as the best admirals! Field Marshal Tirpitz, Lieutenant General Scheer, Lieutenant General Hipper, tonight belongs to you! Long live Germany! Cheers! ”

"Long live Your Majesty! Long live Germany! Cheers! ”

The festivities did not subside until ten o'clock in the evening, and Scheer and Hippel were the two who received the most toasts, and they were a little dizzy from the drunkenness, but Marshal Tirpitz freed them from the pool. As the new marshal, Tirpitz received more celebrations, but his reputation for not drinking avoided the embarrassment of being dizzy. The three of them walked to a corner and sat down to rest for a while, and the conversation inevitably turned to naval and naval warfare.

"Do you have any new thoughts on this naval battle? I would like to use the views of both of you to determine the future development path of our German Navy. Tirpitz asked first.

"After the naval battle, I thought a lot, and the victory of this war was actually a victory of multi-arms cooperation. First, the submarine attack caused the British to lose three capital ships, which angered the British and left them unprepared for battle, and then the Chinese support aircraft inflicted heavy losses on the British, and these losses were the main reason why Jericho did not dare to confront us head-on. In the end, the use of tactics in the naval duel and the accurate execution of Admiral Hipper ensured that the naval battle was carried out according to our plan, and in both directions, the genius command of General Hipper defeated the Betty fleet, and the main fleet, four German-class battleships, played a key role in defeating Jericho. Finally, we had an information advantage throughout the battle, with submarines, reconnaissance planes, and airships working together to be the first to find the British fleet and accurately calculate the enemy's position, which was the key to our ability to accurately strike the enemy. Scheer thought for a few minutes before returning to the Tao.

Hipper thanked Scheer for a moment, and then said: "I was able to defeat Betty, not only because of the role of the commander, but more importantly, the correctness of our tactics and the excellent quality of the sailors. Just as General Scheer said, the key to victory is the cooperation of multiple arms of the armed forces, and in the future, the development of our navy should not be focused on battleships and battle cruisers, but should also allocate resources for the development of aircraft carriers and submarines, including carrier-based aircraft. We have a good cooperative relationship with Huaguo, which is the best channel. In essence, the secret cooperation with China was also the main reason why we were able to win the war. ”

Neither Schell nor Tirpitz objected to Hipper's outspokenness, and although Germany did not highlight the role of China in its external propaganda, the internal top brass knew that it would be impossible to defeat the British Navy without the support of China. Those advanced submarines and Sea Wolf tactics came from China, the four German-class battleships came from China, and the 100 vital aircraft and sea attack tactics also came from China. Now that the Atlantic shipping lanes have been opened up, there is finally a channel of communication with China, which is the biggest good news for Germany! (To be continued.) )