As soon as the 16-member delegation of the Republic of China Navy led by Wang Chongwen and Colonel Shen Honglie to Europe arrived in Vienna, they were received by the Austro-Hungarian crown prince. Wang Xudong, the Beiyang government legation in Vienna, told them that their luck was very good. Archduke Friedrich was quite friendly to the Chinese, but he was not usually seen in Vienna at all. This time it was thanks to the visit of the Chief of the General Staff of the German Navy, Admiral Spee, that he returned to Vienna.

The Austrian crown prince received the small naval delegation from the East at St. Buren Palace, dressed in a fancy Austro-Hungarian marshal's suit, with his hair cut short, and without a beard like other Westerners, and with a cleanly shaved face. He appears relaxed when he receives guests from China, and sometimes his face exudes a strange, almost childlike intimacy.

"Welcome to Austria!" Grand Duke Friedrich said in Chinese, although the tone was a little jerky, but it still surprised the officers from the East. No one would have imagined that the heir to the throne of Austria would be fluent in Chinese.

Shen Menglin, Minister of the Republic of China in Vienna, introduced the names of the members of the Chinese Navy Observation Group to the Austrian Crown Prince one by one, "Colonel Shen Honglie, Chief of the Naval Bureau of the General Staff Headquarters and Deputy Head of the Navy Observation Group to Europe!" When he was introducing Shen Honglie, Li Haidun's hand stopped, he looked at Shen Honglie's face, as if he remembered something, but quickly let go of his hand and said, "Everyone is welcome to come to Austria-Hungary and Germany to learn from the experience." ”

Shen Honglie also froze, and he said awkwardly in the German he had just learned, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Your Excellency!" ”

The crown prince laughed, "It seems that your German is not as good as my Chinese." He said, then reached out and continued to shake hands with the people behind him.

At the end were seven young officers who had just joined the navy for a few years, and twenty-year-old Sa Shijun was at the end of the line, and when Shen Menglin said his name, Li Haidun said: "You should be from the Fuzhou Sa family?" What is the relationship with General Sa Zhenbing? ”

"That's my uncle." Sa Shijun said.

"I have met General Sa twice before, and he is a respectable soldier." Helton Lee said.

Wang Chongwen briefed Li Haiton on the composition of the officer observation group sent by the Admiralty of the Republic of China, most of them were studying warship command, three were studying ship construction, one was studying submarines, and a captain named Jiang Kui had studied at the Nanyuan Aviation School after graduating from the Yantai Naval School.

Lechelton listened to the introduction, and from time to time turned his head to explain something to an adjutant behind him. The meeting was not long, but the Austrian crown prince said that China is the "sleeping lion of the East" and will sooner or later become a world power, which still encouraged the officers present.

The problem is that the great powers do not even bother to say such polite words when dealing with China, especially such a big figure as Archduke Friedrich, who has attracted the attention of the world, and rarely comes out of their mouths words to praise the Chinese.

Two days later, Helton sent his lieutenant to the Legation in Vienna to contact Wang Chongwen, and the Austrian crown prince said that the naval officers from the East could be offered an opportunity to participate in the battle, but he said that the battle was very risky and could be lost, and that everyone could participate voluntarily.

The interest of these officers was great, but Wang Chongwen and Shen Honglie discussed that it was not of much significance for those officers who had learned to build ships, submarines, and airplanes to experience naval warfare firsthand, and finally decided that the two of them and seven naval officers with professional piloting and commanding specialties would participate in this naval battle arranged by Li Haidon.

On 16 July, Wang Chongwen and his entourage, accompanied by an Austro-Hungarian naval lieutenant named Kohl, boarded a train from Vienna to Germany.

What they didn't expect was that it would give them the experience of being personally involved in one of the most famous naval battles in the history of world naval warfare.

The German cruiser fleet under Vice Admiral Hipper's repeated attacks on the British coast since May became a red cloth to tease the British Betty fleet. Now the British were furious, and as soon as Hipper's fleet made any move, Betty's fast fleet would rush at him.

The tactics developed by Spee and Schell have succeeded, and now it is time to start the next steps and actions.

On 30 August, the British Admiralty telegraphed Jericho, stationed in Scapa Bay, of signs of the German fleet's sortie, ordering him to lead the main fleet to the sea ahead of schedule and to assemble east of the Lunfortis Shoal.

At 9 p.m. on the evening of 30 August, Jellicoe was ordered to personally lead a large group of 24 battleships, 4 battlecruisers, 20 cruisers, and 50 destroyers out of the port of Scapafolo, which the Germans were unaware of because of the strict radio silence that was maintained.

A few hours later, in the early hours of August 31, Admiral Spee sent a telegram aboard the "Bavaria" in the northern part of the Kattegat Strait, ordering the battle plan to proceed as usual.

At 1 a.m. on August 31, 1916, Vice Admiral Hipper sailed out of Wilhelmshaven with a "decoy fleet" consisting of 7 battle cruisers, 5 light cruisers, and 30 destroyers. By order of the General Staff of the Navy, this "decoy fleet" was to sail north along the west coast of Denmark towards the Skagerrak Strait. In this way, numerous British spies on both sides of the Channel would report to London the location of the Hipper's fleet passing. During the voyage, Hipper also had the ship's radio transmitters constantly transmit messages to lure the British into taking the bait.

Two hours after Hipper's departure, Scheer personally led the main force of the home fleet and quietly left Wilhelmshaven. It was a huge fleet of 17 battleships, 6 light cruisers, and 31 destroyers, concealed 50 nautical miles behind the "decoy fleet" fleet, ready to gather and destroy the bait. In addition, a reconnaissance and support force consisting of 26 large submarines, 6 small submarines, and 10 large "Zeppelin" airships has been deployed in advance in British waters and the North Sea waters to closely monitor the movements of the British Navy.

In addition, the "sea trial fleet" led by Admiral Spee, consisting of 6 battleships, 3 cruisers and 16 destroyers, also began to turn in the direction of the North Sea.

In contrast to the fanfare of the Hipper's fleet, which acted as a "decoy", the departure of the main formation led by Scheer maintained strict radio silence. At the same time, the radio station in Wilhelmshaven continued to use the call sign of Scheer's flagship "Frederick the Great" to communicate with the outside world, creating the false impression that Admiral Scheer and the main force of the home fleet were still in the port.

The German Navy's battle plan seemed to be impeccable, however, they did not expect that the secret of this operation had been leaked. This is because in August 1914, after Russia sank the German light cruiser "Magdeburg" at the mouth of the Gulf of Finland, Russian divers accidentally found a code book and flag book of the German Navy in the wreck of the German warship and provided it to the British, so that the British could easily decipher the radio code of the German Navy.

Admiral Jellicoe made a battle plan almost identical to that of the Germans: a fast fleet of six battlecruisers and four Queen Elizabeth-class battleships led by Vice Admiral Betty departed from the port of Roses, Scotland, and arrived in the waters off Jutland east of Norway on the afternoon of the 31st, with a view to meeting the German fleet. Jericho personally led the main fleet from the port of Scapafolo and also reached the waters near 60 nautical miles northwest of Betty's fleet on the afternoon of the 31st. If Betty and the German fleet were to exchange fire at this moment, after taking the initiative to show weakness, he would direct the opposing fleet in the direction of the main force of the fleet led by Jericho, so that Jericho's huge group of ships would appear behind the German ships. With the sheer firepower and speed of the British fleet, Jerichale believed that he was completely certain of annihilating the German fleet that appeared in the intended waters.

Inevitably, two of the world's most powerful maritime fleets will collide.

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