The Royal Navy's home fleet led by Admiral Jericho had also driven to the edge of the battlefield.

At this time, rumbling artillery was heard in the distance, and Rear Admiral Hood reported that he was being attacked by 8 German battleships, and to his southwest, the German fleet was in full pursuit of Betty's fleet, which was retreating in his direction. Admiral Jericho stood on the bridge of the flagship "Iron Duke" with some uneasiness, and from all sides he had a preliminary understanding of the intentions of the Germans: Betty was supposed to be the main force of the German High Seas Fleet, and Rear Admiral Hood encountered the German battlefleet in the Kattegat Strait that was conducting the so-called "sea test".

It can be concluded that he will face all the main forces of the German High Seas Fleet, a decisive battle at sea that the British expected.

But his determination wavered somewhat, and around him, 24 battleships were gathered, except for the "Queen Elizabeth" and "Dreadnought", which were being repaired at the shipyard, where all the main forces of the Royal Navy were concentrated.

It was an unimaginably big gamble, but the problem was that he couldn't afford to lose.

The Germans could hold out without a navy, but the British couldn't, and once the home fleet suffered huge losses in the naval battle, it meant that the British Empire had lost the entire war.

Now his fleet was forming six columns, rapidly approaching the enemy's main fleet at a relative speed of 3/4 nautical mile per minute, and in about 15 minutes it would begin to engage them. Jericho was a little hesitant, the safety of his own fleet was always his priority, even if he gave up the opportunity to fight the enemy, he had to ensure the safety of the fleet. On the other hand, he could not judge from which direction the Scheer fleet would enter the battlefield, and if he misjudged his position, the Germans cut a large T-shaped cross-cut and forced to turn in front of the enemy, the consequences that awaited him would be disastrous.

Betty and Hood's battlecruisers were engaged, and the scarred cruiser Chester was trying to extinguish the fire, neither of which sent back the correct intelligence.

At 6:03 a.m., he received a new report from General Goodnow: "Having lost the trace of the enemy's battlefleet, it is engaged with the German battle patrol at 56 degrees 57 minutes north latitude, 5 degrees 43 minutes east longitude, east-northeast, 26 knots." ”

This helped somewhat, and at this point Jericho began to understand the position of the German fleet, which was closer than he expected, and the home fleet had only 15 minutes to turn six columns into a single column. Left or right, it was time to decide, and after about 20 seconds of contemplation, the admiral raised his head and gave the order to Lieutenant Colonel Woods, the communications officer: "To the southeast, spread out a single column, and move forward at a uniform pace!" ”

The "Iron Duke" raised the signal flag of changing formation and moving at a constant speed, and at the same time notified the ships by radio: starting from the left, the fleet turned to the left in turn and spread out in a single formation, and the ships followed the flagship of the detachment.

As a result, the British fleet began to line up with the "George V" as the leader, and gradually lengthened into a 10-kilometer-long sea column.

The shape of the sea was now very complicated and confusing: Betty's fleet had already joined Jellico, and since she could not find a suitable position, Betty led the scarred fleet to the last position of the array, the pursuing Hipper fleet was on their south flank, and the main force of the High Seas Fleet led by Scheer was still slightly southwest of the Hippel fleet.

Spee, on the other hand, was chasing three battle cruisers led by Rear Admiral Hood about 12 nautical miles due east of Jellico.

Due to the appearance of Hood's fleet, Vice Admiral Hipper and Admiral Scheer also realized that the main force of the British Home Fleet led by Jerichault might be behind them. Hipper, who was pursuing Betty's fleet, decided to leave the battlefield first, and he ordered the fleet to reduce its speed to 18 knots, intending to join Scheer, who was following him to the left, and then march northeast together.

However, the Germans deviated in their judgment, and the position of Jellico's fleet was to the northwest of Rear Admiral Hood, not due north. In this way, the Hipper fleet ran headlong into the Jellico's fleet, which had already formed a formation.

The sea breeze at dusk blew away the mist from the sea, and at 6:20 a.m., the lookout on the battlecruiser "Lyuzhov", who had just completed its north-east turn, exclaimed in surprise: "Enemy battlefleet, oh my God! They have thirty of them! Vice Admiral Hippel looked ahead at sea level, and in the distance between the sea and the sky, a long line of jungle-like chimneys and masts appeared, and he was advancing towards all the guns of the British Home Fleet.

Hipper was taken aback and hurriedly gave an order: "The fleet turned left 20 and sent a report to General Scheer, discovering that the enemy's main fleet was located in the northeast and headed east-southeast!" As soon as the order to turn was given, he saw clusters of orange fires shining on the sea in the distance, and the British shelling had begun.

On August 31, 1916, the strongest decisive battle at sea after mankind entered the industrial age finally began. The collision of giant ships, artillery, and steel, the results of the fierce maritime arms race between the two countries for more than a decade will be decided, and this is the strongest naval duel in human history. This is a comprehensive consideration of the economic power, industrial capacity and technological level of the two world powers, and success or failure seems to be answered quickly.

In the firing control tower of the "Grand Duke Franz", Captain Sa Shijun, who had been watching the sea situation, was also stunned by the scene that suddenly appeared in front of him: although the black smoke emitted from hundreds of chimneys made it impossible to distinguish the outline of the British battleship, the battle line of more than 10 kilometers could still be seen in the telescope tube that it was a huge fleet composed of more than 30 dreadnoughts or super dreadnoughts.

"This is the essence of a maritime power!" Sa Shijun couldn't help but feel empty in his heart, and subconsciously turned back to look for reinforcements from his side, and in the southwest direction, the main fleet of 17 battleships led by Admiral Scheer was hurrying in. The two fleets were now moving in opposite directions, and after receiving Hipper's report, the main forces of the German High Seas Fleet also began to turn northward, and the two fleets formed a huge "inverted figure-eight" shape on the surface of the sea, approaching rapidly.

The guns roared on the sea, the guns of the British were shining with fire, and the formation had already begun, and the British fleet, which had occupied a favorable position, concentrated all its broadside fire and launched an attack on the Hipper fleet. Admiral Scheer found himself in too much of a position, so he ordered Hipper to lead a fleet to surprise the British, buying time for his main fleet to complete the turn and spread the formation.

At 6:27 a.m., fierce fighting began again.

The British battleship group took a vantage point and was able to exert all their firepower, with nearly 270 large-caliber naval guns pouring a rain of bullets on the sea. In contrast, the Germans had much weaker return fire, and only the seven battlecruisers led by Hippers and the four "King-class" battleships of the Fifth Battlefleet led by Rear Admiral Barnke had completed their turn and could exert their full broadside firepower.

The situation seemed to be a little critical, and in order to give Scheer's main fleet time to turn around profitably, Hipper gave the battle cruiser an order to turn to the right: "Do not hesitate to sprint to the enemy fleet!" ”

For mobile phone users, please go to M. to read.