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On the afternoon of May 31, 1910, the only major battle between the British and German navies, the Battle of Jutland, took place in the Skagerrak Sea north of Jutland, near neutral Denmark.

At that time, the dense fog at sea was almost clearing, and Vice Admiral Betty of the British Navy ordered his six battle cruisers to rush ahead at a maximum speed of twenty-four knots per hour, and behind him, four more battleships, with heavy but slow artillery fire. Betty's opponents were five battle cruisers, including the flagship of the German Vice Admiral Hipper, the "Lützov".

"Lützov" is a De Fringer-class armored battle cruiser, with a full load displacement of 30,707 tons, four-axis steam engine power, which can reach an astonishing 63,000 shaft horsepower, and the maximum speed exceeds 26.5 knots, at this time there are 1391 German Navy on it, and the armament is 4 twin 50 times the diameter of the 12-inch caliber main gun, 12 single batteries of 45 times the diameter of the 5.9-inch secondary gun, and 4 19.7-inch underwater torpedo tubes. With this strength, there was no problem in beating Betty's battleship, but after firing five or six shots according to Admiral Scheer's plan, he pretended to flee and galloped southeast, where the capital ships of the German High Seas Fleet were in ambush.

Lieutenant General Betty was popular for her handsome appearance, and in 1901 she married the daughter of an American millionaire. Brave, resourceful and ambitious, he showed extraordinary tactical skills and leadership, and the more ships he was given. The bolder he gets. Betty led six battle cruisers in pursuit of the five battlecruisers of the German Vice Admiral Hipper, and soon the two sides were only twenty-one thousand yards apart.

German Lieutenant General Hippert commanded the "Lützov" to fire back at Betty's flagship "Lion".

The Lion was designed to lighten the armor of the Orion-class battleship, and was also Betty's flagship in the previous Battle of Dogger Sandbank. At this time, the armor was strengthened, the full load displacement was 29,680 tons, the tonnage was about the same as that of the "Lützov", and the firepower was mainly 4 twin 13.5-inch guns, which was larger than the "Lützov" 11-inch and 12-inch caliber cannons.

The two sides began to shoot at each other. The shooting technology of the German Navy turned out to be superior to that of the British Navy, and the "Lion" and the "Tiger" with a full load displacement of 35710 tons were repeatedly hit.

4 p.m. A shell from the "Lyuzov" flew and pierced the middle of the turret of the "Lion", and there was a loud "boom". The turret of the "Lion" exploded, and a huge wave of air overturned the British Navy in the turret. Only Harvey, the commander of the turret and Major of the Royal Marine Corps, survived in the turret, but his legs were blown off. He fell to the ground and was dying. Then. The explosion blew open the turret's bolts, setting the powder bag on fire, and the fire spread to the ammunition depot, which would surely be blown to pieces.

Harvey was still a little conscious, he touched his command and communication equipment, and weakly reported to the control tower: "Water... Put water on the ammunition depot! ”

Harvey had no strength and was not loud. The operator didn't hear it, and Harvey watched as the flames rushed towards the ammunition depot. Shouted with all his might: "The ammunition depot is on fire, release water!" ”

With that, he fell unconscious, and later died of blood loss. In the end, his heroism saved the British "flagship".

However, the German artillery fire was also fierce.

The British Navy's battlecruiser "Queen Mary", a battle cruiser with a thirteen-and-a-half-inch cannon with a displacement of twenty-six thousand three hundred and fifty tons, received a shocking blow.

A salvo of German naval armor-piercing shells pierced through its nine-inch-thick steel plate, causing a small cloud of dust that looked like soot, and a few minutes later, terrible yellow flames and a large thick cloud of black smoke rose from the front of the "Queen Mary", the ammunition depot exploded, the British Navy and everything was blown into the air, the ship quickly sank to the bottom of the sea, and only nine of the thousand two hundred and seventy-five crew members on the battleship survived.

A few minutes later, the ammunition depot of the British "Indomitable" also exploded, and it was taken from the twenty-one thousand tons of equal strength of the "von . Morality. Two projectiles fired by the Tarn hit. Thirty seconds later, with no smoke or fire in sight, the ship exploded with a deafening explosion and perished to the bottom of the sea along with the crew of 1017.

Betty wore a beautiful white cap of the British Navy and walked on the bridge of the "Lion" to look out at the battle scene at sea, and he saw the flames on the British ships that had been hit soaring into the sky, and the shells flew into the water and exploded as if they had hit steel plates, gushing up a fountain a hundred feet high. Dead fish float on the surface of the water, as far as the eye can see. Swirling up and down among them were struggling people, bloody corpses and fragments of broken ships.

The sinking of the "Queen Mary" and "Indomitable" made him bitter and had to accept the fact that the German battleships were not as weak as he thought. Except for two ships of the British Navy, which were sunk, except for the "New Zealand", the rest of the warships were also damaged. The British Vice Admiral Betty did not give up, convinced that the four British Dreadnought-class battleships behind him would soon arrive, and he was determined to continue the skirmish. He looked annoyed and said to Adjutant Chatfield, "Our damned ships have something wrong today. Turn two compass points to the left", this direction, is headed towards the German battleship.

Half an hour later, four Dreadnought-class battleships under the command of British Rear Admiral Thomas, HMS Barham, HMS Malaya, HMS Valiant and HMS Revenge, arrived. Their top speed is only about 20.75 knots, so it's late. At this time, Betty's fleet was still at war with warships such as the "Lützov" commanded by Vice Admiral Hipper, which meant that Scheer's plan to ambush Betty had now been thwarted.

Because Thomas commanded the arrival of four British dreadnought-class battleships, Scheer had to order the German battleships that were preparing to ambush to rescue him, so that all five of Hipper's battleships would not be destroyed. But as soon as the German High Seas Fleet was dispatched, it was spotted by a light cruiser two miles away from the "Lion", which immediately informed the British Admiral Jellicoe and Vice Admiral Betty. British Admiral Jericho received the message. Overjoyed, after waiting for so long, the main forces of the German High Seas Fleet were finally dispatched. So he ordered the British Royal Navy to attack with all its strength and gallop in the direction of the German High Seas Fleet!

Betty commanded the British fleet to continue sailing in its original direction until the main German fleet loomed on the horizon, and then made a 180-degree turn and headed north at full speed to seek the protection of Admiral Jericht's battleship's large-caliber guns.

But alas, the commander of the British Second Detachment, four battleships equipped with 305-mm main guns, was commanded by Evan Brown. Major General Thomas did not see the signal for the turn. His battleship became the target of German naval fire, and before evading the German navy, suffered heavy damage and casualties.

The British "Barham" and "Malaya" were hit several times. The steering mechanism of the "War of Vengeance" also temporarily failed. Rear Admiral Thomas hurriedly commanded the battleship to counterattack, and the German "von . Morality. Every cannon of the Tarn was twisted into useless remnants, and Vice Admiral Hipper's flagship, the Lützov, was also crippled, and could only barely rely on its own steam to continue to escape.

5:30 p.m. The German advance destroyers saw several British light ships approaching them from the northeast. These ships are reconnaissance ships. Belongs to Rear Admiral Horace. The group of three battle cruisers commanded by Hood was a battleship sent by Admiral Jericho to reinforce Betty's squadron.

In a brief encounter, the German light cruiser Wiesbaden was hit in succession and most of its crew sank. Two destroyers, the German V-48 and the British Shark, were killed.

Two obsolete British cruisers, the 14,600-ton USS Defense and its sister ship, HMS Warrior, engaged Hipper's battle cruiser at 6,000 yards.

Within four minutes, the "Defense" was blown up. Nine hundred and eight of its crew members died; The next day, the Warrior also sank while being towed into a Scottish port. Until this time. The German achievement was to sink three battleships, two battle cruisers and three destroyers of the opposing side, and it itself lost only one light cruiser and two destroyers.

At this time, the battle had just begun, and the two large fleets of the British and German navies were now rushing towards each other, but only the British navy knew about it. Jellicoe kept corresponding, and the deciphering experts there - the captured German Navy code book was in front of them - intercepted the telecommunications between Schell, Hippel and the Admiralty in Berlin. Relying on radio detectors and charts of the German Navy's square area of the North Sea, British technicians determined the changing position of the High Seas Fleet. At 5:45 p.m., Jellicoe was notified of where the German High Seas Fleet had been an hour and a quarter of an hour earlier.

The British fleet sailed south in a formation of four battleships in a row of six parallel rows. Each row is two thousand yards apart, and each boat is five hundred yards apart. This formation was a mistake and did not suit the needs of the battle, as only a few of the great cannons could fire forward; The maximum firepower can only be exerted if the ships are lined up on the broadside and allow the bow and stern gun groups of each ship to aim at the same time.

At 6 p.m., Jericho's flagship "Iron Duke" and Betty's "Lion" were already able to see each other across the sea.

Jellicoe signaled Betty: "Where is the German combat fleet?" ”

Betty called back in frustration: "I lost Scheer's fleet. ”

Ten minutes later, the British Betty suddenly signaled Admiral Jericho with a flashing light: "The position of the German combat fleet is already in sight south-southwest." ”

The German High Seas Fleet was at this time moving precisely to the right flank of the main British fleet. Jericho studied the compass for a moment, and then ordered the British fleet to spread out to starboard. Within seconds, his left column was moving forward at full speed, and the other five columns were moving smoothly until twenty-four Dreadnought-class battleships lined up in a fifteen-thousand-yard combat line and headed southeast.

Before this maneuver was completed, the commander of the German High Seas Fleet, Schell, did not know that the main British fleet was in this area. When the northeastern horizon turned into a panorama of silvery-white and orange flashes, followed by a hail of huge explosive shells, his light reconnaissance ships barely had time to signal him. The British fleet, under the command of Jellicoe, was making a strategic maneuver in the "T" line, so that the rows of Scheer's ships were greatly hindered in the use of artillery fire, while the British capital fleet was able to bombard the German fleet with all its artillery.

The "T-shaped cross-head" tactic is effective, and the fleet is in battle. Line up as much as you can, trying to aim your own flanks at the bow of the enemy, so that the two fleets fighting each other form a "T-shaped crosshead". This was not invented by the British Royal Navy, but was used in the decisive battle between the Christian Combined Fleet and the Arab Fleet in the Mediterranean.

So the British Royal Navy was the first to open fire in favorable conditions. Within ten minutes, the forward ships under the command of the German commander Schell were shelled with at least twelve hits, and the German Navy suffered heavy losses: the "Koenig" caught fire,

The flagship armored battle cruiser "Lützov", with a full load displacement of 30,707 tons, sank in the bow, and Vice Admiral Hipper fled in a transfer to the "Moltke". "Feng. Morality. The superstructure of the "Tarn" collapsed. The cannon slumped to the deck, next to which lay the corpses of dead and dying German naval soldiers. On the "De Fringer" lay the bodies of more than five hundred German soldiers. The main turret was in ruins. The surviving crew wearing gas masks, staggered to dodge the deadly smoke from the flames below.

The German commander Schell looked at the dense British battleships on the sea, realized that the German fleet had been fooled, and he immediately

A standard naval command was issued "Turn to starboard combat". This was actually prepared for the escape of the German fleet.

According to this order, the combat formation turned to starboard. Turning their course in reverse, the German ships turned one hundred and eighty degrees in unison, and then disappeared in the thin vortex. Before escaping, the German navy carried out a surprise attack. Although the "D-Fringer" had been hit several times, it fired a salvo at the British flagship, the Invincible, before it fled, and in a thunderous explosion, the 17,250-ton British battleship with a displacement split in half, and the bow and stern of the ship rushed a hundred feet into the sky. Then, the two halves of the battleship. Together with 1026 British Navy, they sank to the bottom of the sea.

After the German High Seas Fleet fled, Admiral Jericho did not even give the order to pursue! Fearing that the British ships would be damaged by the mines dropped by the enemy or torpedoes fired by destroyers, he ordered his fleet to reverse course.

The clock was fading, the sky was getting darker, and the mist was thickening.

At 7 p.m., Schell decided to flee quickly back to his home harbor through the waters behind the British Navy, but he miscalculated and panicked into the firing range of Admiral Jellicoe's Grand Fleet, at which point the "T" shape of the British battleships was more threatening than before, and the German fleet was outlined in the still bright sky in the west, while the German Navy could only see the vague shape of the British fleet.

Four minutes after discovering the German navy, Jericho was overjoyed and ordered the British fleet to change course in order to shorten the range and open fire from 9,000 yards. Fifteen minutes later, the British artillery roared, 10,000 cannons fired in unison, and the explosion of shells was deafening. The British battleship emerged from the whirlpool like a ghost of the sea, fired a salvo or two, and then disappeared again. The German ships at the front were covered by concentrated artillery fire. Except for the flash of the muzzle, the German commander Schell could not see the British fleet.

In order to divert the attention of the British fleet from the main German fleet, Schell ordered the German fleet to cast a smoke screen so that the German destroyers could fire torpedoes, but all the torpedoes fired by the Germans did not hit the target.

Subsequently, Scheer commanded his battle cruiser "to rush towards the enemy; Straight to it". Behind this protective smokehouse, the rest of the ships of the High Seas Fleet once again reversed course. When the last of the warships quickly sailed away from the British Navy. The cruiser also broke away from the battle, and the German fleet would meet.

Still worried about German torpedoes and submarines, British Admiral Jerichale turned around and did not follow the Germans any longer, and the darkness made his remaining chances of victory disappear.

Annoyed by the conservatism of the British Admiral Jericho, Betty directed the fast battle cruisers to pursue the German fleet, and fired their guns within range of several German fleets sailing westward. The German navy responded with several salvos, but soon both sides were out of sight.

Betty sent a telegram to Jericho telling him to hurry up and pursue, but Jericho was reluctant to resume fighting during the night. He felt that the British Navy had only an advantage in the longer cannon range and numbers, and that it would not be advantageous to deal with small boats that had sneaked into the range of torpedoes. Accidental collisions or mutual shots in the dark also endangered British battleships.

Jelliko replied to Betty that the return route of Scheer would be through one of the three waterways in the German minefield, and that it was not advisable to pursue it again and wait until dawn tomorrow to fight.

Earlier that night, the British and German fleets were sailing on roughly parallel routes, six miles apart, neither of them knowing each other. The German commander Schell was keen to avoid another battle or move further away from the German coast. However, he had to rush past the British outpost and make his way to the Horn Reef waterway.

The battle took place at 11:30 p.m., when the vanguard of the German fleet, heading east towards Horn Reef, encountered the British rearguard destroyer. At that time, the sea was foggy, the two sides collided chaotically, and frenzied battles were fought under the glare of flares, searchlights and the dazzling glow of the battleships on fire. A British destroyer fired a torpedo at the obsolete "Pomerne", and the German capital ship "Pomerne" sank. Hipper's light cruiser Elpin sank in an accidental collision with the battleship Posen. The British destroyer "Spitfire" rammed the German battleship "Nassau". Only a few survived.

Scheer's fleet detached and continued towards Horn Reef, arriving at 3.30 a.m. Two British battleships kept watch less than three miles away, but did not inform Jericho, who was disappointed and headed for Scappafllo.

At the end of the Battle of Jutland, the British Navy lost a total of 3 battle cruisers, 3 light cruisers and 8 destroyers, 6 other ships were heavily damaged, and the number of casualties was 6945; The German Navy lost 1 obsolete battleship, 1 battle cruiser, 4 light cruisers and 5 destroyers. Four other ships were heavily damaged, with 3,058 casualties. In actual tonnage, the British Navy lost 115,000 tons and the German Navy lost 61,180 tons.

In his report to Kaiser Wilhelm II, the German commander Schell said that the Imperial German Navy could "inflict great losses on the enemy, but even the most favorable results on the high seas could not compel Britain to reconcile, and that our geographical disadvantage in comparison with that of the island nations made unrestricted submarine warfare indispensable, even at the risk of war with the United States."

Wilhelm II was quite disappointed in this battle, which meant that the German navy did not succeed in breaking out, Germany was still blockaded by the British navy from the sea, and some German cities were already rioting due to lack of supplies. The battles of the German army on the Western Front, there were no major breakthroughs. At this time, Italy was on the Eastern Front, coveting the territory of Austria-Hungary and preparing for war against the Central Powers at any time. Kaiser Wilhelm II clearly felt that once China and the United States joined the Entente, Germany's defeat was inevitable! He had to consider the reconciliation plan proposed by China and the United States, and sent the German ambassador to China, Klinder, to contact Song Xiaofei.

In order to show the sincerity of German reconciliation, Kaiser Wilhelm II is ready to marry the 23-year-old Princess Reuss of the German family to Song Xiaofei as his wife. The Reuss family was a family of magistrates in Vogtland in the 11th century, and the territories of two princes became states of the German Confederation and the German Empire. (To be continued......)