At present, the comparison of strength between the two sides is that the British fleet has 12 capital ships, including three dreadnoughts and three battle cruisers. Scapa Bay sank three capital ships, two air attacks cost Jericho six more capital ships, including three valuable dreadnoughts, and Betty's fleet divided nine capital ships, three battleships and six battle cruisers. Through Betty's radio report, Jericho learns that Betty has lost four battle cruisers. That is, before the appearance of Scheer's main fleet, the British home fleet had already lost thirteen capital ships, which was already a loss that the British could not afford.

On the side of the Germans, the capital ships lost only the Hipper's Lützov battle cruiser, and especially the main fleet of Scheer, which was not damaged in the slightest. He had thirteen capital ships in his hands, six of which were the Wuyue ships, and four powerful German-class battleships were not damaged. Judging by the data, the number of capital ships of the Germans has already surpassed that of the British, and the number of Wuyue ships is twice that of the British.

For Jericho, the question now is not to defeat Scheer's high seas fleet, but how to bring the remaining capital ships back to Scarpa Bay. There were still more than two hours left before dark, and as long as it could survive this time, the home fleet would be out of danger, and then the fleet would return to the harbor and enter the court-martial.

At 17:25 p.m., Scheer's fleet appeared on the port side of Jellico's fleet. The German High Seas Fleet rushed directly to the tail of the British main fleet, and once again a "T" line of combat posture was formed on the battlefield in favor of the German fleet. The main British fleet was in the direction of the sunset, its silhouette was clearly visible, while the high seas fleet remained hidden in smoke.

The German battleships opened fire at a distance of 8000 yards, and the British could not see the German ships, only flashes at the distant gun ports. Seeing that the home fleet was once again in a critical situation, Jericho immediately ordered the release of smoke screens and torpedoes, and ordered the Unyielding Battle Patrol of the 3rd Battle Patrol Detachment to carry out a "death charge" to cover the main force to turn back. Jericho later found it difficult to hold back the German fleet with the Indomitable alone, so he ordered three old battleships to join the covering fleet. The surprise attack on Scapa Bay, the attack by German planes, and the loss of Betty's forward fleet completely destroyed Jerichault's confidence in taking the initiative to attack, and when the strength of the fleet was inferior to that of the German high seas fleet, Jericho did not dare to fight a decisive battle with it, and the British Navy's belief in the courage to attack seemed to have disappeared -- this belief essentially came from the strength of the national navy, not from the British Navy's innate offensive spirit.

Four German-class battleships played a key role, in this attack, four German-class battleships fired seventeen shells, heavy damage to the British Daring, sinking the Indomitable, powerful salvo fire made the British fearful, and the protection of the four battleships was amazing, the Bavaria was hit by two armor-piercing shells, one hit the side armor and the turret frontal armor, and did not cause fatal damage.

At 17:33, the German ironclad Hanover was besieged by two old British battleships, and despite being hit by three armor-piercing shells and reducing its speed from 15 to 4 knots, the Hanover held on to the support of the battleship Prussia. Unfortunately, the Hanover eventually sank into the sea, but one of the two old British battleships besieging the Hanover was sunk by the Prussia, and the other failed to join Jericho's main fleet due to damage to the radio system on the way to escape, but was discovered by German reconnaissance planes and surrendered to the Germans.

At 17:42, the most ridiculous scene of the Battle of Jutland appeared, the old British battleship Jones fought alone against the Bavaria, and the two ships almost completely entered the flank fire at the same time, and opened fire almost at the same time, and the confrontation between the first five and the super five was full of fun. At first, the Jones tried to fire within 10,000 meters, but the Deutsche did not use the range advantage to bully the opponent, but instead closed the distance like the opponent - after the battle, the captain of the Deutschland explained that he wanted to close the distance and settle the battle as soon as possible, so as to free up time to pursue Jericho's main fleet. So the two sides began to bombard each other at a distance of seven thousand meters, and in this naval battle the seven kilometers was already very close, the Jones opened fire first, and four shells fell within a hundred meters of the Deutschland. The first salvo from Germany was very accurate, living up to the 7,000-meter engagement distance, with two armor-piercing shells hitting the Jones. The Goddess of Fate patronized the Jones, and the first salvo did not suffer heavy damage, only the D turret was damaged. The next shell hit the Deutsche and made the Jones crew cheer, but the result was that the Deutsche was not damaged at all, and the strong protection ability bounced off the Jones's shells! The second salvo of the Deutsche did not waste shells, sank the Jones, and ended the battle of different ranks.

At 17:55, the fleeing British main fleet, the Avantgarde, was dragged by two German battleships, and seeing that the blocking actions of the Indomitable and the Bold failed one after another, the captain of the Avant-garde automatically stayed behind to cover the retreat of the main force. He ordered the Avant-garde to turn to starboard and tried to fire a salvo from the side, which was clearly a suicidal act. The order of the captain of the Avant-garde was approved by the officers and sailors, and the most tragic scene of the Battle of Jutland was staged, when the Avant-garde was constantly bombarded by the German battleships Deutschland and the German Kaiser, but did not stop returning fire. It continued to fire despite multiple wounds, tilted hulls, and smoke from the fire, and caused minor injuries to the German Kaiser, and finally had no choice but to sink, and only 15 sailors on board the Avant-garde were rescued, and they were released by Germany after the war.

Under the cover of smoke screens and the Indomitable Battle Patrol, the home fleet was once again out of danger. By the time the last ships rushed out of the chaos, the battleship Bold was so baddened that it could no longer sail and was forced to abandon its ships and sink. The battle cruiser Indomitable, which served as cover, did not escape the siege of the German fleet at all, and sank neatly. The Avant-garde also sent a farewell message, saying that Jericho, who had lost three capital ships again, hoped that their sinking would be worthwhile.

At this time, the number of capital ships in Jericho's hands was reduced again, Betty had three battleships and two battlecruisers in his hands, and the main fleet had four battleships and two battlecruisers on his side, and the fleet was almost three-quarters of the way out of Scapa Bay. The balance of naval strength between Britain and Germany is completely reversed, even if the overseas capital ships are transferred back to the mainland, it cannot change this unfavorable situation, not to mention that overseas colonies also need to be protected, Canada, South America, Africa, the Middle East, India, Southeast Asia, Australia, such a vast overseas territory, they are the foundation of Britain, and if it loses control of overseas colonies and maritime traffic, Britain will lose its hegemonic status. And all this could become a reality due to the defeat of Jericho's home fleet.

At 18:30, Jericho contacted Betty and ordered Betty to join the main fleet, and this time Betty did not refuse Jericho's order. In just one day, the situation changed from the British army dominating and pursuing the German army to a situation in which the British army suffered heavy losses and was surrounded and intercepted by the Germans, and a large part of the reason for all this came from Betty's disobedience.

At 6:45 p.m., it was getting dark, and the sun's rays were fading away from the sea level. Fearing a British torpedo and mine attack, Scheer did not pursue him, intending to block Jericho's fleet from the route back to his home base and then annihilate it after dawn. However, the High Seas Fleet has been following the British Home Fleet, because Jericho's telegram with Betty leaked the location of the Home Fleet, and the German Navy has already deciphered the British code, but Jericho and Betty are at a loss and still use the old code to communicate.

Jericho also understood that if his fleet failed to break out of the encirclement at night, then after dawn he would not be able to have any more hope. After careful analysis and calculations, Jericho decided to turn southwest and charge through the tail of the High Seas Fleet at night before returning to base.

To this end, Jericho sent all the destroyers available to intercept the main German fleet and cover the breakthrough of the home fleet. In accordance with Jericho's order, the British destroyers fought desperately, like wolves, to attack the main German fleet from different directions, causing confusion and misjudgment to the German army, so that Scheer could not figure out which direction the British fleet was.

At 21:30, the home fleet and the destroyers of the German rearguard encountered, thus enacting the final scene of the Battle of Jutland. The two sides fired and rammed aimlessly with the help of flares, searchlights, and the light of the ship's bullets. During the night battle, the British battlecruiser Indomitable mistook several huge black shadows heading towards it for friendly ships, so it sent a contact signal, which resulted in a salvo of four German battleships, and the "Black Prince" immediately turned into a ball of fire. (To be continued.) )