"The Germans also suffered great losses in Jutland, and their capital ships are not replenished now," said Major Evans, assistant staff officer of the British Navy, who heard Betty's sigh, as if to show the Royal Navy's record at Jutland, "and this is why we have been here for a while, and we have not even seen a larger German ship." ”

"Just because the Germans don't have big ships doesn't mean we're safe." Betty seemed to be a little dissatisfied with the officer's words, and he said in a corrective tone, "If we stay like this, we will become a living target for German submarines." ”

The dull-minded British officer did not understand the other meaning of Betty's words, and when he heard Betty's concern about the attack of the German submarines, he immediately suggested: "We should let the cruiser tow this battleship back." He turned his head to look at Xu Zhenpeng and several lieutenant officers, "It is very dangerous to let this precious warship stop here." ”

"Give them another twenty minutes to make repairs." After listening to the advice of his subordinates, Betty's face was a little ugly, and he forcibly did not do it, but looked at the watch on his wrist and said unwillingly.

"Do you want to give a signal to the Japanese fleet?" The British ** officer looked at the commander's face and made a suggestion again.

After he made this suggestion, the Commander Tower fell silent.

"Do you think those broken ships of the Japanese will work on such a battlefield?" Betty asked Major Evans with some annoyance, and peeked out of the corner of her eye at the Chinese admirals present.

At this time, the lieutenant officers in the command tower had calm faces, and they all focused their eyes on Evans.

"The Japanese ships can still come in handy." Major Evans said solemnly, "At least it will help us entangle the Germans." ”

After listening to the explanation of this British ** official, several middle ** officials changed their eyes.

"It's not a bad idea." Betty obviously didn't have a good impression of the Japanese either, so he pondered for a moment and nodded, "It's time for the Japanese to contribute something to this war." ”

"Telegraph to the Japanese fleet of our position, asking them to come to their aid," Betty ordered in a loud voice.

And just as Betty finished speaking, the hull of the battleship "Republic" suddenly trembled, and then there was a slight tremor under the feet of the people.

"They fixed the servo?" A British ** official shouted in surprise.

"Our mechanics and sailors are good," Betty looked at her watch, her eyes flashing with approval.

With the joint efforts of American mechanics and Chinese sailors, it took only fifteen minutes to repair the damaged steering gear of the battleship "Republic".

"Telegraph to the other ships, asking them to report the battle and their location at once," Betty ordered again in a loud voice, and in his words there was indescribable excitement, "Come on, let's find the Germans and beat them up."

"Report to the Chief Commander of the receipt of a telegram from the British fleet"

On board the battlecruiser "Kurama", an officer delivered a telegram J that had just been received to Vice Admiral Kato Kanji, commander of the Japanese European Dispatch Fleet.

Kanji Kato took the telegram and glanced at it with a grim smile on his face.

"I have long said that the Chinese will only do some tricks of stealing jī dogs, and when they encounter real battles, they will be in the same form, even if they have the most powerful battleships in the world at the moment."

Kanji Kato gave the telegram to the chief of staff of the fleet, Tetsutaro Sato, who was next to him, and after reading it, Tetsutaro Sato also let out a sneer.

"This shows that the British are in trouble again." Tetsutaro Sato looked at Kanji Kato and said, "Are you going to help them?" ”

"Do you think we should go?" Kanji Kato asked rhetorically.

"If the British want to fight a sneak attack between light ships in the Helgoland Bay, we can go over and help." Tetsutaro Sato smiled and said, "But now, it's a battle between battleships, and we're not even battlecruisers." What's more, our task is to escort the ship, not to participate in such an offensive. ”

Kanji Kato understood the meaning of Tetsutaro Sato's words, and couldn't help but look up to the sky and laugh.

"Yes, that's right, in their eyes, our ship is 'garbage.'"

The "garbage" that Kanji Kato refers to in his self-deprecating words is the battlecruiser Kurama and the battlecruiser Ibuki behind him, which he is currently stepping on. ,

"Kurama" and "Ibuki" are ships of the same class, with a standard displacement of 14,626 tons, a full load displacement of 15,595 tons, a length of 1,478 meters, a width of 23 meters, and a draft of 8 meters. The power system of the Kurama is two vertical four-cylinder three-stage expansion steam engines and 28 Miyahara-type coal-fired boilers with a total power of 225 horsepower, and the power system of the Ibuki is two direct-drive gear reduction turbines and 18 Miyahara-type coal-fired boilers with a total power of 24 horsepower. The high voyage of the "Kurama" is 25 knots, and the "Ibuki" is slightly higher, which can reach 215 knots.

The Kurama class has 178 mm of broadside armor, 76 mm of deck armor, 178 mm of turret armor, and 228 mm of conning tower armor, and the fire system is 2 "41" 35 mm 45 x guns, 4 twin "41" 23 mm 45 x guns, 12 single "41" 12 mm 4x guns, 4 single "41" 76 mm 4x guns, and 3 457 mm underwater torpedo tubes.

The Japanese called the Kurama class "cruisers", but in the eyes of the British, these two ships could only be regarded as large armored cruisers. In fact, in the Japanese records, the code name of the "Kurama" class is "In's armored cruiser". Although the two ships had already been changed to "cruisers" in August 1912, that is, battlecruisers.

The Kurama class is an enhanced version of the "Tsuku-B" class, and Japan has claimed more than once that the "Tsuku-B" class is the world's first battle cruiser. And in fact, it is really difficult for the "Tsuku-B" class to say that it is a battle cruiser. In fact, the "Zhu B" class was built according to the standards of armored cruisers at the beginning of its construction in 195, and the design scheme did not have the slightest innovation, but the armor was thicker, with the 35 mm main gun of a battleship, and its 1375-ton stature also made it a big brother among armored cruisers. Because the Japanese Navy at that time did not need to use the battle cruiser, this was very different from the nose of the two battle cruisers of Britain and Germany, and the 25 horsepower of the "Tsukub" class also made it only reach a high voyage of 25 knots, not to mention the 265 knots of the British "Invincible" class battle cruisers, even the 23 knots of the "Én Merth" class armored cruisers built in 1899. Therefore, even the successor to the "Tsukub" class, the "Kurama" class, could only reach a level close to 22 knots (the subsequent "Kongo" class was a real Japanese battle cruiser after the British master, and the 27 knots sail was also worthy of its title). Such a warship was called a battle cruiser, and the title of "junk" given by the British was not excessive.

The construction of the Kurama began in August 195 at the Yokosuka Naval Yard in Japan, but because the Russo-Japanese War had ended at this time, a large number of captured Russian battleships needed to be repaired and refitted, so the construction of the fortifications was greatly delayed until it was launched in January 197, at the same time as the sister ship "Ibuki", which was launched one year and four months later. The Ibuki belonged to the same group of warships as the Kashima and Katori, codenamed "First Armored Cruiser", ahead of the Chiku-B and Kurama, but construction was delayed because its slipway was given to the hull construction of the "Aki". It was easy to wait until the start of construction, but the progress was extremely fast, and it was launched after 6 months. The reason for this is to counter the record of the British "Dreadnought" being launched within 4 months of starting, and all workers have stopped working overtime.

The Ibuki and Kurama are very similar in appearance, except that the chimney of the Kurama is slightly elongated. Lieutenant General Kiki Kondo, the head of the design of the "Tsuku-B" class, also referred to the design scheme of the "Satsuma" class battleships when designing the "Kurama" class, and it is worth mentioning that the "Ibuki" is mainly driven by turbines in the Japanese capital ship, and its main engine is a gas turbine imported from the United States. The US Navy carried such hosts on the battleships of the "North Dakota" class a few years later. This small technological preemption once made Japanese shipbuilding technicians and technicians as well as historical researchers complacent.

Construction of the Kurama began on August 23, 195, was launched on January 21, 197, and completed on February 28, 1911. In April 1911, he went to Europe under the command of Second Fleet Commander Shimamura to attend the coronation of King George V, and in 1912 it was listed as a battle cruiser, and after Japan's participation in the European War, it was the flagship of the European Fleet, which searched the German East Asian Fleet in the Pacific. After the Battle of Jutland, he was stationed in the British mainland to fight against the Germans. Construction of the Ibuki began at the Kure Naval Shipyard on May 22, 197, was launched on November 21, 197, and completed on November 1, 199. In 1911, he traveled to Siam to attend the coronation of King Rama VI of Siam. After the outbreak of World War I, he was first sent to the coast of Australia to fight against the German East Asian Fleet, and then escorted Australian troop carriers to Europe, and in 1915 he participated in Operation Gary Bliden 6 with the combined British and French fleet. The "Ibuki" was one of the first Japanese warships to be under the command of the British Admiralty during the war, and Kanji Kato was the first Japanese general to come to Europe on the "Ibuki" to conduct tactical training with the British. Because Japan had no enthusiasm for the war in Europe at all, and refused to send capital ships to Europe to help in the war, but was interested in invading China, and sent excellent battle cruisers such as the "Kongo" to fight neutral China, the British became more and more dissatisfied with this eastern ally full of small calculations, and even the warships sent to Britain with "Kurama" and "Ibuki" were not welcomed. The British gave these "junk" ships of the Japanese fleet to take care of the task of escorting a kind of dirty and tired jī and not easy to produce results, so that Kato Kanji not only did not learn the tactics of the British, but instead provoked a sulk.

But for Kato, this visit to Europe was not all for nothing, and from what he saw and heard in Europe, Kato realized that Germany was ahead of Britain and France in terms of warships, submarines, artillery, tanks, and aircraft technology. This made Kanji Kato, who had been a teacher of the British Navy, realize the gap between Japan and develop a sense of admiration for the Germans in his heart.

In fact, there was nothing to do with the Japanese in this naval battle, and the previous task of the Japanese fleet had always been to escort the convoy, and since the Japanese ships could not be compared with the sharp German "Byrne" class battleships in terms of firepower, protection, and navigation, the British generally did not tell the Japanese about their plans for a decisive battle against the fleet. It wasn't until after the Japanese fleet went to sea that Kanji Kato learned through a secret telegram from his base radio station that the British Admiralty had a plan to take the initiative to attack the enemy and annihilate it. Some staff officers of the British Admiralty believed that such a secret battle plan did not belong to the tactical information urgently needed for the Japanese fleet's cruise, so there was no need to inform Kato Kanji, who was at sea, but only to send a general briefing to the Japanese fleet's station via submarine telegram to the Japanese fleet's station, and to read it after the Japanese fleet commander returned to port. The Japanese were obviously more conscientious than the British in keeping communications open, so as soon as the news arrived at the Japanese fleet's station, the Japanese fleet's supervisor at the station immediately informed Kato Kanji.

When Kanji Kato learned of the urgent arrival of the base, he greatly despised this battle plan of the British.

In Kato's view, since the arrival of the battleships built by the Americans for China, the disadvantage of the Allied navy in terms of strength has been reversed, and it is really stupid to engage in what kind of "deep into the enemy" Rausch when he has superior forces, and he has to take risks. As a naval officer, Kanji Kato, who had a strong sense of innate superiority, wanted to help Betty revise this plan, but as a commander of the Allied fleet, he actually only controlled Japan's own fleet. For the plans of the British Admiralty, he had only the power to advise. So Kato reported to the British Admiralty twice, asking for more details of the plan, and suggested in euphemistic terms that the so-called "Yu enemy" would be abolished and that all forces should be concentrated on another "Jutland-style battle" with the German fleet, and that the Japanese fleet would be willing to participate in such a decisive battle. And the mental activity of the British Admiralty at the time of receiving these two telegrams was really interesting. The chief of staff of the British Navy, like many Britons, did not have a good opinion of the Japanese, and the relationship between Britain and Japan was originally delicate. Although the Japanese are eggs, after all, they are the guests he invited, and if the Japanese fleet is allowed to participate in the war, once the Japanese fleet's "character" is too good and it is cheap, it will be a very faceless matter for the British. Now that the Japanese commander had hinted that he wanted to get in, Study felt that his authority was being challenged by the Japanese. At the same time, he was also worried that this risky operation would snowball and eventually involve all the Allied fleets, and that if anything went wrong, the consequences would be catastrophic. Probably, for this reason, the British's reply to the Japanese was brief and cold, and the first half of his telegram to the Japanese was unquestionable: "The convoy is in dire need of a Japanese fleet escort." But in the second half of the telegram, the attitude of the British seemed to have softened a little: "If it is convenient, you can send battle cruisers to the nearest support." Considering that this reply still did not provide even the slightest detail about the battle plan, and accepted Kato's suggestion, the Japanese could basically conclude that the British reply lacked the sincerity to cooperate fully with their allies, and that the British were still on guard against the Japanese in their hearts. But Kanji Kato had already got what he wanted by this time, and he immediately took the initiative within the scope of the authorization of the second half of the telegram, and after completing the escort mission, he ordered the 1st Battlecruiser Squadron (2 battle cruisers) and the 1st Light Cruiser Squadron to rendezvous with the originally planned coastal patrol ship detachment to carry out the "support" mission together.

The Japanese undoubtedly made this decision to pick up a ready-made bargain after the Chinese fleet and the Germans, who had always been envious and jealous of them, fought for both sides, but Kato Kanji began to arrange all this at that time, and he felt very much like a little boy who ate an extra candy behind his parents' back, and until the Japanese fleet was assembled at sea, Kato Kanji did not reveal his "support" plan to the British Admiralty.

"Now, it's time for us to prove our strength." Kanji Kato finally stopped his laughter and said to Tetsutaro Sato, "The current British, after seeing us, are afraid that they will take back all the irresponsible words they said before. ”

"That's right." Tetsutaro Sato looked at the commander who was a little carried away, carefully took a word, and reminded Kanji Kato, "However, Your Majesty, this telegram only asks us to rush to the vicinity of Herigoland Bay to participate in the battle, but it does not reveal the situation about the battle, and there is no mention of the losses of the enemy and us, don't you think there may be a problem here?" ”！