As the distance to the target grew, the British destroyer seemed to notice that something was wrong.

The Austro-Hungarian and German battle cruisers were still very different from the British in appearance, the Austro-Hungarian and German battle cruisers were both shorter and thicker double chimneys, while the British war cruisers were arranged with two front and one rear three chimneys, and their chimneys were also relatively high.

At the same time, the lookouts also noticed two black plumes of smoke behind the small destroyer, and it was now certain that they had encountered a small enemy fleet.

"Target 23000, azimuth 108!" The gunnery commander's report stated that the enemy had come within the maximum range of the ship's main guns, and Cromwell immediately ordered the signal corps to prepare for a salvo of fire from the wingman.

"Target 21000, azimuth 106, one high-explosive bomb!" The Gunnery Commander continued to give instructions to the turrets.

"Target 18000, Bearing 102!" The voice of the artillery commander sounded again.

At the same time, the watchtower reported that the other party was emitting an identification signal and appeared to be turning.

"Fire!" Cromwell decisively gave the order.

A thunderous roar suddenly sounded on the sea, and the fire spewed out from the muzzle of the cannon instantly lit up the sea, and the left side of the entire warship was suddenly shrouded in a brown gunsmoke. The huge recoil generated by the salvo of ten main guns caused the entire battleship of tens of thousands of tons to sink downward, and even from a dozen nautical miles away, people could still clearly hear this huge roar.

The cannonballs flew into the distance in mid-air with a sharp whistling sound, but the officers who were observing the sea in the control tower could not see the sea surface of the bullet point at all, only the upper watchtower and the gun control tower could always observe the distant bullet point, and after ten seconds, several huge white water columns splashed on the sea behind the British destroyer.

At this time, a telegram had been received from the "Lizard" on board the armored cruiser "Devon", which at first only reported that it had found two plumes of smoke, and believed that they were two merchant ships.

Commodore Bell ordered the warship to go on alert, and then ordered the "Blanche" and "Lizard" to go over to check on the situation, and the news that came with it made him uneasy.

From the "Lizard" sent a light signal, "I - think - for - that - is - two - warships!" The signalman read word for word. Then, the lookout on the "Devonshire" also reported to him that the target had been found.

Commodore Bell ordered the fleet to turn and head towards the target.

"Oh my God!" At this time, the signalman shouted and reported loudly, "The 'Lizard' raised the signal flag and spotted the enemy ship!" ”

Bell immediately ordered: "Raise the battle alarm!" ”

A terrible siren sounded on the sea, and the crew hurried to their combat positions, Bell stood on the bridge and observed the situation in the distance from the telescope, and Captain McCall hurriedly gave the order: "All boilers in parallel, running at full capacity!" ”

The battle flag was raised on the warship, and the steam engine made a loud clatter, and the whole warship seemed to tremble.

"That's two battlecruisers!" The lookout continued to report.

"Report to the command of the Navy: two enemy battle cruisers were found, target position 36." Commodore Bell ordered the situation to be reported upwards, and then ordered the warship to turn, as if to get away.

As soon as the Devon began to turn, a roar was heard on the sea.

"It's firing at the Lizard!" The lookout shouted eagerly.

"Order all warships to begin retreating!" Bell gave the order again, realizing that the difference between his strength and that of his enemy was too great.

At that moment, the shell flew over the warship and into the sea about 300 yards away, immediately blasting several columns of water on the surface.

"They seem to have turned their guns on us!" The lookout and the gunners appear to have reported the situation at the same time.

As he spoke, another volley came at him, as if it had been fired from another warship. Colonel McCall heard the sound of the shells and said, "It should be 300 caliber shells!" ”

Bell nodded, "Get out of the battlefield at maximum speed!" ”

"They're coming after you!" "Oh my God, the Blanche has been shot, and it's stalling dramatically!" ”

Brigadier General Bell hurriedly looked to his left, and it seemed that the shell fired at them had missed the target, and a close miss hit the "Blanche" that was turning, and the speed of the light cruiser was suddenly reduced. He closed his eyes for a moment, his expression a little pained. The "Blanche" is finished! He immediately realized that something was wrong.

The Devonshire finally turned around and began a rapid retreat to the south, with the two destroyers also releasing smoke and retreating quickly.

At this time, on board the "Radetzky", Rear Admiral Cromwell ordered to ignore the battered British reconnaissance cruiser, and instead chase the British armored cruiser with all his might. The other side informed Hipper that the German fleet was currently about 35 nautical miles south of them.

A chase battle ensued on the sea, with the two Austro-Hungarian rangers firing non-stop at the British armoured ship with their front guns, while the Devon returned fire with two rear guns. Now the enemy ship was within range of its 203 mm guns. As a 12-year-old "County" class armored cruiser, it was designed to speed only 25 knots, but due to the aging of the ship, the "Devonshire" could only run a little more than 22 knots even if it tried its best, while the two "Radetzky" were four knots faster than it.

However, in the high-speed chase, none of the shells fired by the three warships could hit their opponents, and some were even ridiculously off, but as the distance between the two sides continued to close, the shells seemed to become more dangerous. At 11:06 a.m., Rear Admiral Cromwell's long-awaited fire finally rose on the sea, and the "Devonshire" was hit by a high-explosive bomb at the back of the amidships, and billowing black smoke suddenly rose from the ship.

"Okay, hit, continue!" The slightly excited voice of the gun commander shouted, after which more and more shells fell on the "Devon".

After another five minutes, the British warship had lost power and was floating in a circle on the sea.

"Signal them to surrender!" Rear Admiral Cromwell ordered, and the answer to him was that the British continued to return fire with the ship's small-caliber guns. The two Austro-Hungarian warships again began a heavy shelling, and only a minute later a large flame rose from the amidships of the Devonshire, and then it broke in two and soon disappeared into the sea.

The Austro-Hungarian battleship threw some lifebuoys into the sea and immediately sailed away.

They did not have time to rescue the British crew who had fallen overboard.

Behind them, Hipper, who had hurried to the battlefield, sent the battered "Blanche" to the bottom of the sea with only a few rounds of artillery fire, but the destroyers "Mosquito" and "Lizard" were able to escape with their speed.

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