Unlike in the other world, the strength of the Royal Navy's Grand Fleet and the German High Seas Fleet was now so close that it was bound to turn into an evenly matched naval parity: the Germans had 23 battleships and 7 battlecruisers, while the British had 28 battleships and 9 battlecruisers. In addition to the superiority in the number of cruisers and destroyers, the tonnage, number of main guns, and caliber of the main guns of the two fleets were so close that those cruisers and destroyers could not play any role in the decisive battle of the capital ships, and could only watch the battle from the sidelines, or salvage and rescue the people who had fallen overboard.

The fast cruiser fleet under Vice Admiral Hippel sailed north along the Danish coast in a single column, with two Austro-Hungarian cruisers at the back of the line. The "Grand Duke Franz" followed behind the "Radetzky", and behind it was the battlecruiser "Moltke", each of which was about 60 chains apart, and the sea was starry and there was no moonlight, and in order to lure the British to come and intercept them, the ships were in radio communication without scruples, and the senders even joked with each other in the telegram.

The fast fleet led by Betty sailed out of Port Roses at 11 p.m. on the 30th. A few hours later, the German submarines stationed outside the port of Rosseth sent back a telegram to the home fleet that "the enemy fleet has sailed". And Hipper's "decoy fleet" was already under the surveillance of the British. The two fleets that almost came out of the nest considered their "decoy tactics" to be successful, and they rushed to the predetermined battlefield. At this time, neither Spee, Scheer, Hipper, nor Jellico and Betty expected that the opposing fleet had been fully dispatched. Unexpectedly, they would soon direct and perform the world's largest battleship fleet battle that will forever go down in the annals of naval warfare.

In the early morning of 31 August, when a glimmer of light was beginning to rise on the eastern sea, Vice Admiral Hipper had spent the whole night on the bridge of the flagship "Luzzo". On this past night, the fleet he led sailed north for more than 100 nautical miles, and there were no accidents on the way.

The morning breeze was blowing and it was a nice sunny day.

Before sunrise, the exhaustion of a sleepless night reaches a new level, and the deep burnout makes the mind feel drowsy. To drive away the weariness, the lieutenant general walked to the open platform on the side of the conning tower, held a cigar in his hand, and leaned against the railing. The air outside was fresh, with a slight chill, and a few vague gray shadows of the scattered fleet could already be seen on the sea.

When the morning sun was about to jump above the sea level, Captain Hader, who was on rest in the second half of the night, also got up, so Raeder summoned the staff officer and the main responsible persons of the various departments on the ship to the conference room set up in the stern, held a brief breakfast meeting, and personally conveyed the battle plan to them.

Basically, at the same time, the captains of the ships began to convey this new combat order downward.

The officers were more excited about this plan to have a good chance of fighting Betty's fleet, which often chased them behind and fled, and although the hit-and-run tactics adopted by Hipper for more than a year made the British angry, it also made his soldiers feel extremely depressed.

Now they have a chance to vent.

The subtlety of the plan drawn up by the senior commander and the Fleet Staff was revealed when the staff officers had marked the whole plan on the chart table—the fast cruiser fleet under the command of Admiral Hipper was in front at a speed of 18 knots, and the battlefleet under the command of Admiral Scheer was about 40 nautical miles behind them at this speed, while another battlefleet under the command of Admiral Spey was to cut diagonally from the Skagrak Strait to intercept the retreat of Betty's fleet.

A qiē looks perfect.

According to the plan, they might meet Betty's fast fleet in the waters south of Norway between 1 and 3 p.m., while Admiral Spee's fleet would turn south at the same time and intercept Betty's rear.

The staff officers looked excited, and over and over again laid out on the charts where Betty's fleet might now be, and his own three fleets did show that they were encircled.

Vice Admiral Hipper sat down at the table and said in a flat tone: "According to the reports sent back twice by the submarine forces, Betty's fleet left about two hours before us, and they set off from the military port of Rieses and sailed along about such a route...... "He drew a straight line on the chart with his finger, and suddenly realized that Betty might start his return voyage at Horn Reef, "We will also turn our target to Horn Reef." ”

He made this decision on the fly, adjusting the course a little, and it was not much of a problem.

But the distance between them and Admiral Scheer's fleet threatened to increase to 45 nautical miles.

"Well, it seems that the speed of Betty's fleet is about 20 knots, and the British seem to be very anxious." "We'll have to be ready for battle at about 1 p.m. ”

"Okay, that's it, have lunch early." Lieutenant General Hipper walked to the door and prepared to return to his bedroom next to him, "I'll go back and rest for a while, if something calls me." He said to Hart, the lieutenant with him.

Since the cabins on the "Radetzky" were partially occupied by the staff officers of Vice Admiral Cromwell, it was difficult to provide a more comfortable living environment for the guests from China, and the members of the Chinese viewing group were arranged on the "Grand Duke Franz".

After more than a month, the officers and men of the Austro-Hungarian battleship had become accustomed to the existence of these yellow-skinned oriental guests.

After breakfast, Wang Chongwen and the others went for a walk on the back deck of the warship. The calm sea is full of sunshine, and the residual heat of late summer has long been blown away by the cool sea breeze on the Atlantic Ocean. At this time, the deck of the "Grand Duke Franz" was also full of officers and men who came out to ventilate, and some sailors in work clothes were cleaning the deck.

"Didn't sleep well?" Wang Chongwen leaned his left hand on the railing on the port side and said to Shen Honglie beside him.

Shen Honglie nodded, and looked at the German fleet on the sea, Hipper's fleet consisted of more than forty warships, even such a detachment was enough to compete with the Japanese Combined Fleet, which he originally thought was very powerful, "Well, from the captain's delivery of the combat order last night, it can be seen that this is a planned large-scale naval operation." I had a hunch that there might be a big fight. Shen Honglie nodded, "The British and German fleets are too strong. ”

"Warfare in the industrial age is a contest of national capabilities, and the role of the commander is lower and lower." Wang Chongwen said: "As the Austro-Hungarian crown prince said, the outcome of the naval battle was actually decided on the slipways of both sides. ”

The topic silenced several naval officers from China, and a trip to Europe for more than a month made them realize how far their country was from the real powers.

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