On February 19, 1909, the wind was mild, and there was a hint of coolness in the sea breeze. Carden sailed into the entrance to the Dardanelles with a powerful fleet. Carden was a cautious general, he knew it was a big battle for his future career, he had no previous experience commanding large fleets, and he was both excited and daunted by the 36 ships and ships of all sizes, as well as the flagship of battleships like the Queen Elizabeth. Carden ordered only his fleet to shell the fortress of the Dardanelles with artillery fire at a distance of 5 km. After the sun set, the Turks' fortress had not yet collapsed, and he ordered the warships to stop the attack. His Vice-Fleet Commander John Brown. Drobek demanded to continue the bombardment, breaking through the Turks' defenses in one fell swoop, but Carden refused.

The next day, the sea storm suddenly changed, and it also rained heavily, the line of sight on the sea was very poor, and the battle plan formulated by Carden was scrapped and there was no attack. Turkey's Chief of the Army General Staff, German Special Envoy Otto. LI Man. Feng. General Sanders decided that a major invasion would follow, and he ordered the Turks to brave the rain to fortify their fortifications.

The Dardanelles was in the midst of monsoon season, and the bad weather lasted for about a week, and Carden's fleet launched a second attack only on 25 February. After a week of turbulence at sea, Carden had diarrhea and was extremely unwell, and the whole fleet was headed by the deputy commander of the fleet, John Brown. Commanded by Drobek, he ordered the British fleet to storm the fortresses of the Turks.

The battleship "Queen Elizabeth" had a full load displacement of 33020 tons and a length of 195 meters. It is 27.6 meters wide, powered to 75,000 horsepower, and can reach a top speed of 25 knots. Equipped with 8 twin 15-inch guns, 12 6-inch secondary guns, 4 533 mm torpedo tubes, and the armor alone weighs 8,100 tons, it is like a sea giant. The artillery fire of the other battleships was also fierce.

Ten thousand artillery bombardments, the firepower of the fleet was too strong, although the Turkish defensive fortress was maintained and strengthened after a week. But the outer fortresses lost their ability to resist within 24 hours, and Drobeck commanded the British marines to land with little resistance. The Turkish guards of those forts threw away their armor and killed those who fled slowly. Four large warships burst into the Dardanelles and reached the central narrow part of the Dardanelles, where they could not go any further.

In these narrows. The width of the strait is only 1.6 km. The front was covered with mines, the high ground on the shore, and the fortresses that were eyeing each other, and the muzzles of the guns were facing the invading warships. The removal of mines became the most troublesome task for the British and French fleets, because the requisitioned civilian crews were too frightened to advance at the first encounter of Turkish artillery fire.

Dropec had no choice but to send the navy to replace these civilian crews, but it was not very efficient. Because these Royal Navy have no experience in maneuvering civilian trawlers. Determined to solve this problem, Drobeck sent a small fleet of seven minesweepers to venture into the strait.

Against large British warships. The Turks were weak, but the heavy artillery that the Turks bought from Germany had no problem attacking a couple of minesweepers.

As soon as the seven minesweepers entered the minesweeper, they were immediately subjected to heavy artillery fire from the Turks.

After a few "booms", a British minesweeper was sunk. What is even more terrible is that the Turks occupied the commanding heights, their howitzers were fired from behind the ridges along the strait, and the cannon rays on the British ** ships were relatively flat, and they could not hit these fortresses at all. The other six minesweepers were soon also surrounded by heavy Turkish fire, and some shells fell into the water, stirring up a column of water several feet high in the Dardanelles.

Dropek had no choice but to order the minesweepers to retreat. The acting commander of the fleet, Carden, believed that in this case, the fleet should not move on, and Drog had no choice but to follow Carden's orders. However, since the British Admiralty Churchill was far away from the battlefield, he wanted to lure the German High Seas Fleet to come and annihilate it in one fell swoop, so he asked Carden to continue the attack.

At this time, the German Vice Admiral Hipper, led his formation of battle cruisers lurking in the dangerous waters of the North Sea. Ingnoll, the commander of the German High Seas Fleet, knew that after the British fleet had invaded the Dardanelles, he knew that it would definitely not work hard, and the firepower of the British fleet was fiercer than that of the Germans. He decided to adopt the method of "encircling Wei to save Zhao", and ordered Vice Admiral Hipper to lead a fleet from the Gulf of Yard to the British to attack the Dogger Sandbank.

Hipper, who was experienced in combat, was not born into the Junker aristocracy, but was born on September 13, 1863 in Vilheim, Bavaria, to a family that made a living. In 1881 he became an alternate officer in the Imperial German Navy, and in 1884 he was appointed as an officer. He served first on minesweepers in the North Sea, then as a pilot officer on the Reich speedboat Hohenzollern, commanded many light armored cruisers, and previously headed the reconnaissance detachment of the German High Seas Fleet.

When the war broke out, Hipper led his battle cruiser squadron to carry out many "hit-and-run" sneak attacks on the British coast, especially the bombardment of Golston on November 3, 1908 and Scarborough and Hartpool on December 16, 1908, which injured many British civilians, and he was called the "baby killer" by the British. Under the pressure of public opinion, the British Admiralty had been sending warships to try to find Hipper's fleet and destroy it completely.

Vice Admiral Hipper's German fleet to the Dogger Shoal was large, consisting of 3 battle cruisers and 1 heavy cruiser, as well as 6 light cruisers and 19 destroyers.

The commander of the German High Seas Fleet, Ingnoll, ordered Vice Admiral Hipper's fleet to reconnoiter the area around the Dogger Shoal and to intercept and destroy any British reconnaissance warships and fishing boats in the area. It is a vast sandbar halfway between the British and Denmark in the North Sea, famous in Europe for its cod, with many fishermen, and one of the most famous fishing grounds in the North Atlantic.

By this time, the British Royal Navy had deciphered the German code, intercepting and deciphering Hipper's order to sail through radio interception. British Admiral Winston Churchill was overjoyed to receive the news and personally approached Vice Admiral David Churchill. Betty.

Betty was a young and promising general, January 1884. At the age of 13, Betty boarded the training ship "Great Britain" as a naval officer and entered the British Royal Navy. Betty has always excelled in the military and has been constantly promoted. He is presented with an energetic and aggressive image. Becoming the youngest officer in the Royal Navy to attain the title of flagship, Churchill liked Betty's character and promoted him to the position of Undersecretary of the Admiralty, and then appointed him commander of the First Battle Cruiser Squadron of the British Home Fleet, and promoted to Vice Admiral.

Churchill said, "Dear Betty, you know. The task I have given you this time is to completely disappear Hipper's fleet from the North Atlantic. ”

Because Lieutenant General Hipper is also young and promising, he is known as a talented lieutenant general in the German army. Betty gave Churchill a military salute and replied: "I will prove by battle who is a truly genius vice admiral!" ”

The German Navy did not notice that the British had deciphered their communication codes, and did not change the contact codes and ciphers on the ships.

That night. Dense fog is thick over the North Sea. In the dark moonlight, the fleet led by German Vice Admiral Hippert quietly left Wilhelmshaven and headed straight for the British Dogger Sandbank. The fleet of 29 warships appeared and disappeared in the thick fog, and in a short time it was drowned in the gloomy sky of the North Sea.

At this time, Vice Admiral Hipper, who was sitting on the German flagship "Seidlitz", looked at the vast North Sea, and his heart fluctuated like the waves in front of him. He was calculating how to wreck the British trawlers and knock out the light British fishing frigates.

British's Vice Admiral Betty received a telegram from Churchill: a German fleet was heading for the Dogle sandbank. In accordance with Churchill's orders, Betty immediately led the battle cruisers "Lion", "Tiger", "Royal Princess", "New Zealand", "Indomitable". Accompanied by the light cruiser "Godinave", sailed into the North Sea to intercept the German fleet.

In order to completely destroy Hipper's German high seas fleet, Churchill also sent a telegram to Admiral John Murphy, commander of the main fleet of the British homeland. Sir Jericho, with 40 ships from Scapafloch, to join Betty's fleet and destroy the German fleet.

A naval battle of the century seems to be about to be staged.

At 7:3o a.m., the North Sea was foggy and wonderland-like, and Betty's battleships rendezvoused with Tyrit's fleet operating in the northeastern waters of the Dogle Sandbank, and the assembled Betty fleet had 5 battle cruisers, 7 light cruisers, and 33 destroyers. The German Hipper's fleet consisted of 3 battle cruisers, 1 heavy cruiser, 6 light cruisers and 19 destroyers, and the British had an advantage in the number of battleships and firepower.

That morning, a light breeze was blowing from the northeast, the sea was calm and visibility was good. Half an hour later, a British cruiser reported to Betty's flagship "Lion": "The enemy fleet is 4 ships with a speed of 24 knots. ”

As the lead reconnaissance ship of Vice Admiral Hipper, the German light cruiser "Kolberg" sailed from the southeast, and at about 7 a.m., the British light cruiser "Aresusa" was sighted. They shelled each other, attracting the attention of Hipper. Hipper found a fleet far more powerful than his own, with ships with three-pillar masts and the white flag of the British Royal Navy flying on the mainmast. Because this operation was a sneak attack that set off at night, Hipper was taken aback when he saw such a powerful British fleet. Seeing that the situation was not good, he understood that there was no hope for a sneak attack by the German fleet, so he quickly ordered the "Seydlitz" to turn around, and ordered the entire fleet to immediately reverse its course and return at full speed to the safety of Wilhelmshaven, where they attempted to get rid of Betty's British fleet.

"**, full speed ahead, pursuit!" Betty was not willing to let the fat slip away from her mouth, and ordered the British fleet to pursue at full speed.

In the ensuing battle, the slightly faster British ** ships gradually shortened the distance with the German fleet.

At 8:30, the two sides were about 20,000 meters apart. Knowing full well that the British warships had an advantage in caliber and range, Betty ordered the German ships to open fire, attempting to inflict heavy damage on the German ships beyond range. The "Lion" unhurriedly began to measure the range, made the first salvo, and the dense shells fired immediately surrounded the German fleet, stirring up a tall column of water like a white forest, the German ship "Blucher" was the first to be shot, and the blown up deck was covered with German corpses.

Ten minutes later, the "Blucher" began to return fire with its tail guns. Betty felt that this was an easy prey, so she ordered the main guns of the "Lion" to aim at the "Blücher" and bombarded it, and an hour later, a shell hit the ammunition depot of the "Blücher", and the "Blücher" shook violently due to the internal explosion. But it still didn't sink.

After that, Betty made a meritorious contribution and ordered the "Lion" to accelerate to a maximum speed of 29 knots. Rush to the German fleet. At 9:43, the "Lion", which was the first to rush into the enemy position, fired 343 mm shells at the German battle cruiser "Sedelitz", and the rear turret of the "Sedelitz" was hit, and the powerful shells ignited the gunpowder in the heavy gun loader, and the violent explosion killed 159 people, and the two rear turret mounts failed. And burst out of the sky-high smoke and flames up to several hundred meters. However, the courageous actions of 1 sergeant major on board the "Sedlitz" saved the flagship.

At that time, the wheel disc that drove the relief valve burned red. However, the sergeant major still firmly grasped it, turning it, despite the scalding of the flesh on his hands. The pain is unbearable. Ultimately. The sergeant major unscrewed the valve and poured seawater into the ammunition depot, avoiding a fatal explosion on the ship.

At this time, Hipper commanded the retreating German battlecruisers to concentrate on Betty's flagship "Lion", hoping to capture the thief and capture the king first, so that it would withdraw from the battle and leave the British fleet without command. The gunners on the German battle cruiser "De Fringel", fired multiple rounds of eleven- and twelve-inch armor-piercing shells at Betty's flagship "Lion".

The other four high-speed British battlecruisers were chasing the German fleet closer and closer, and Betty immediately signaled: "Attack their respective designated targets." ”

Because at that time, there were 5 British ships and 4 German ships in the sea area. This order caused some confusion in the British fleet, since the "Blucher" was at the end of the German column. Slow and exposed, all the British battleships bombarded it, and it soon caught fire and capsized, but still did not sink.

Since the British battleships were stubbornly staring at the "Blucher", the German ships were able to take the opportunity to concentrate their firepower to attack the "Lion" that rushed to the front. At about IO hours, the "Lion" was hit by 3 shells from the German battlecruiser "De Fringer", one of which hit its former ammunition depot, but was saved by being released into the sea. Another shell blew through the hull, the sea rushed in, the port side engine was forced to stop, and the speed of the "Lion" immediately slowed down.

At 10:52, the entire ship of the "Lion" lost power and could not use radio and light signals to direct the battle, and soon fell to the back of the team. Betty instructed Moore to lead the other ships in pursuit of the enemy ships in order to destroy them all. He gave a command signal: "Attack the rear of enemy lines." He was referring to the last battlecruiser of the German fleet, which was still firing.

Archibald, who was taking over the command of the British fleet aboard the British New Zealand. Major General Moore thought that Betty was referring to the "Blucher", which was originally in the rear of the German army, but was nothing more than a pile of burning wreckage in the northeast.

Moore carried out what he considered to be a very clear order, and led the whole fleet to bombard the "Blucher" with a storm of cannonballs with the British light cruisers, and Moore turned the guns of the "Tiger", "Princess Royal" and "New Zealand" with the "Indomitable" and fired a concentrated fire on the "Blucher", which had been heavily damaged. The two 21o mm forward turrets of the "Blucher" failed, the boilers and steering wheels were damaged, and the casualties were heavy, and the battleship was like a hell on earth. But it was as tenacious as most German ships in the Great War, with seven torpedoes and about 100 shells in its body, and it fought back to the end, and the opportunity for a great victory was lost.

Betty immediately waved the flag again to "get closer to the enemy", his original intention was to let Moore pursue the German ** ship, but he didn't expect Moore to get his squadron closer to the unlucky "Blucher" and hit it hard! If you don't sink it, you won't stop! Thus, the "Blucher", which was on fire from bow to stern and several small cannons firing irregularly, finally capsized at 12:15 p.m. in such a fierce but hopeless battle. And the other warships of the German Hipper's fleet, speeding up their flight, disappeared on the southeastern horizon.

Betty was so angry that she vomited blood and hurriedly moved his command flag to the fast destroyer "Attack", caught up with his squadron, and then moved his command flag to the battle cruiser "Royal Princess". Continue to lead the fleet in pursuit!

But at 12:30 p.m., a telegram from Churchill warned him that the entire German High Seas Fleet had sailed to escort Vice Admiral Hipper's group to Wilhelmshaven, Germany.

Although Betty's fleet consisted of 45 warships, the entire German High Seas Fleet consisted of 5 battleship subfleets, including 14 dreadnoughts, 22 dreadnoughts, 8 shore defense battleships, 4 battle cruisers, 7 armored cruisers, 12 small cruisers, 89 destroyers, and 19 submarines. Apparently not something Betty's fleet could contend with, Betty had no choice but to command the British fleet to return.

On Betty's return voyage to England, Admiral John Brown. Sir Jericho's main fleet had just arrived on the scene. Assist him in towing the broken "Lion" back to Rosace for repairs.

The Battle of Dogel Sandbank was the first head-to-head confrontation between Anglo-German battlecruisers. Naval warfare has always been dominated by large-caliber long-range artillery, and small-caliber guns and destroyers have never been useful. For the first time, British large-caliber naval guns attacked at a range of more than 16500 meters.

As a result of this naval battle, the German armored cruiser "Blucher" was sunk, and the battlecruiser "Sedlitz" was seriously damaged, suffering 1,034 casualties. In the British Navy, only the "Lion" was severely damaged, killing 15 people. 80 people were injured. After this naval battle, Churchill inquired about the course of the battle, expressing great anger at the incompetence of Rear Admiral Moore's command. He even pointed to his nose and said, "Are you already senile dementia?" I really doubt that your rank of major general is muddy! "Moore was considered a disgrace to the British Royal Navy, and he was immediately removed from his post.

This result also angered Lieutenant General Betty. When Churchill tapped him on the shoulder to comfort him, he replied: "The disappointment of that day is too much for me to look back on." Everyone thought it was a big win. In reality, it was a fiasco. I had made up my mind to sink all four of the main German ships. We turned out to be able to sink at least 4 of the main German ships. ”

Kaiser Wilhelm II was also dissatisfied with the outcome of the naval battle. He immediately relieved Ingnoll of his post as commander of the German High Seas Fleet because his battlefleet had failed to come to the aid of the Hipper's fleet in time, and Wilhelm II also ordered the Hipper's fleet to avoid further adventures lest it lose its main ships again.

After the Battle of Dogle, the Germans learned from the heavy damage of the "Sedelitz": preventing the turret from catching fire and exploding is the key to ensuring the survival of the naval battle. They immediately took corresponding measures, separating the shells from the propellants, and placing them in two steel cylinders to strictly protect them to control the fire. And the complacent British Navy not only did not recognize the flaws in the design of the turrets of the battlecruisers. Instead, they came to the conclusion that "large-caliber guns are the key to victory", and the sailors continued to pile up shells and propellants. Take fire control work lightly.

In addition, the German Admiralty was most uneasy because the British knew its naval operations in advance and saw the great artillery power of the British Navy. After that, the German High Seas Fleet entered the harbor and anchored, focusing on submarine activities.

Germany was the first belligerent country in Europe to recognize the potential of submarines. Naval officers originally saw such ships as reconnaissance units, or as defending the harbor against defensive vessels attacking from the sea. In the early weeks of the war, German submarines were only used to machine gun British fishing trawlers in the North Sea, but not when British ships were also machine-gunned or escorted by armed patrol boats. At the beginning of the war, Britain had thirty-six submarines, all of which were limited to coastal patrols. Germany had twenty-eight ships, but only ten were capable of cruising to a distance of two thousand miles.

Less than two months into the war, the submarine was already showing its capabilities. U-9 submarine, Otto. At dawn on September 22, 1908, when Wedigan commanded on his first duty, his journal recorded two hundred miles of uneventful. Lying six feet below the surface of the water off the coast of the Netherlands, Wiedigan decided to take one last glimpse through the periscope before returning to Wilhelmshaven. From the hazy silhouette, it was immediately recognizable as the form of three British armored cruisers. At 6:30 a.m., about twelve feet underwater, the "Abucoul" fired a torpedo as the Abuukor sailed into his ray. The captain of the Abucol mistook it for a mine explosion and signaled the other two ships to come closer to rescue the survivors. But the ship sank so fast that it didn't even have time to lower the lifeboat.

While the "Crecy" lowered the lifeboat, the U-9 fired another torpedo. Without moving his bearings, Wavedigan fired a third torpedo into the Hogg, which was firing indiscriminately in all directions. Only the "Cressie" is still half-floating on the list. Captain U-9 brought the submarine to the surface and eliminated the Crécy. Only then did the survivors understand what had happened, the battle in which more than 1,600 British Navy officers were killed, and the U-9 also set a record for sinking three cruisers in 75 minutes in the history of world naval warfare. 23 days later, the U-9 sank another British cruiser "Eagle" with a displacement of 7700 tons!

Submarines, from 1909 onwards, became the secret weapon of the Germans against the British Navy! (To be continued......) u