The ubiquitous British spies had already spread the news of the dispatch of the German battle cruisers.

In London, the chief of naval intelligence was reporting to a dozen people in different identities, including the Minister of the Navy, the Minister of Transport and the officials in charge of supplies in civilian clothes, as well as members of the Naval Command in uniform. Admiral Fisher resigned because of his strong opposition to Admiral Churchill's plan for operations in the Dardanelles, and Admiral Ray replaced him as commander of the Ocean Fleet.

The Chief of Naval Intelligence stood in front of a large chart and explained the current shape to everyone in the room. The expressions of those present were a little stern, and the sea attack they had feared since the beginning of the war finally appeared.

"The Germans dispatched 4 battle cruisers, and there may also be a follow-up, and the two Austro-Hungarian battle cruisers stranded in Germany also participated in this operation." The chief of naval intelligence introduced.

"So, they're six?" Admiral Churchill frowned after listening to the report, the Germans' actions were not unusual.

"Yes, Your Excellency," said the Intelligence Chief.

"It's also possible that they just stayed in the harbor for a long time and ran around the North Sea." Vice Admiral Betty, commander of the cruiser, said, "Just drive them back." ”

"It's not scary for them to operate in the North Sea, the question is in case they run out of our ring." Admiral Jericho was more worried about this situation, and in the North Sea, it was too difficult to find those ships in the vast North Atlantic.

"Strengthen sea patrols, we must not let them run to the high seas, once discovered, we must make every effort to annihilate them!" Churchill said that several powerful surface ships pose a much greater threat to sea lines than submarines, and they can even cut off transportation on several routes.

Orders were soon issued to the fleets.

The "Devonshire" is docked at the pier in the Faroe Islands, where it is being coaled. As a territory of the neutral Kingdom of Denmark, the port facilities were nominally accessible to all belligerents, but in reality, the ports of these neutral nations could only be used by the British Empire and its allies.

A carriage pulling the commander of the British fleet, Bell, stopped at the dock, and the brigadier got out of the carriage and boarded his flagship. In the command tower, he said to the captain, Colonel McCall, "Gather all the sailors who have come ashore and return at once, and the fleet will depart in three hours!" ”

Orderly Rochette was entering the headquarters with a plate of drinks, and when he heard the brigadier general's speech, he couldn't help but have a bitter face, "It's over, it's finally my turn to take a three-day vacation." He said in his heart that he should not have promised Ryan to exchange holidays with him, and this time it would be a big loss.

On July 21, a patrol flotilla consisting of the armored cruiser "Devonshire", the reconnaissance cruiser "Blanche" and two destroyers "Mosquito" and "Lizard" left the Faroe Islands for a cruise in Norwegian waters.

Colonel McCall, a tall, lanky middle-aged man with a clean-shaven face, was standing outside the command room on the third floor of the bridge, holding up his binoculars and staring at the sea ahead. The midsummer sun is shining on the sea, the water is blue, and a flock of seagulls are chasing the white track of the waves behind the "Blanche" in front.

Commodore Bell appeared at his side, as if to explain to him why the warships were suddenly ordered to be dispatched, and as if to say to himself, "The German battle cruisers have been dispatched, and it is possible that they want to break out of the blockade we have set up, so the Admiralty ordered all the cruisers and destroyers on the North Sea line to be dispatched." ”

"Perhaps another futile patrol, the Germans never seem to have intended such since the beginning of the war, General." Colonel McCall said lightly that the bureaucrats in the Admiralty always like to make a big fuss.

"Hopefully, I don't want to run into them." Commodore Bell frowned, as if realizing something, that there were no British warships in this area as their opponents compared to the German battle cruisers. In the northern part of Shetland, there may be only two old Majestic-class dreadnoughts that can compete with their opponents, but those two 17-knots old ships will never be reinforced in an emergency.

And if they really?

"The Admiralty will immediately send a large number of capital ships to encircle and suppress them, and the Germans do not have the courage to do so." He subconsciously comforted himself like this.

The problem was that there was an Austrian behind the Germans who was egging on.

Meanwhile, in southern Norway, the formation of the "Radetzky" and the "Grand Duke Franz" was heading for the Skagerrak Strait at a speed of 12 knots, seemingly preparing to return to the Baltic Sea through the Guò Strait.

On the bridge of the flagship "Radetzky", Rear Admiral Cromwell is leisurely leaning on the railing, squinting at the Nordic scenery of the Norwegian coast. The coast in the distance is steep and steep blue cliffs, the sunny sea is calm, and of course, the waves in the North Atlantic are much bigger than in the Mediterranean, even on such a clear day.

"I wonder how long this bad weather will last?"

The captain, Colonel Clemens, frowned at the blue sky overhead, where some white clouds occasionally floated, and a clear day was indeed "bad weather" for an assault fleet. The expected stormy weather did not materialize, and the entire battle cruiser fleet had no choice but to turn around and turn to the Skagerrak Strait.

This was an anticipatory action to confuse the British into believing that the fleet had returned.

During the day, it was inevitable that the entire fleet would encounter some merchant ships on the busy Nordic routes, and even if there were no British patrol ships here, they would have been spotted.

Now the three battle cruiser formations were about thirty nautical miles apart, and this formation of the Austro-Hungarian Navy was at the rear.

Perhaps it was Clemens' prayers that worked, and the weather in the North Sea was indeed unpredictable. In the afternoon, the sky began to become gloomy and gloomy as the sun was obscured by large dark clouds, and after a while, a light rain began to fall in the sky, and a white rain mist filled the sea.

"Order, the fleet begins to turn!" Having received a telegram from the command of the German Navy, Rear Admiral Cromwell gave the order to turn the fleet.

As the order was given, the fleet picked up speed, and the two warships drew a semi-circular arc on the sea, and the bow and sides of the ship stirred up huge waves, leaving two arc-shaped white traces behind them that spread far to both sides. At the same time, two other German battle patrol formations are doing the same, taking advantage of the rain, fog and night, to break through the British blockade and into the vast North Atlantic.

Now, on the contrary, the formations of the Austro-Hungarian Navy have become avant-garde.

By midnight, the 22-knots ground fleet had passed through the blockade laid by the British between Shetland and Bergen, Norway, and continued north along a course about seventy nautical miles from the Norwegian coast.

There were no surprises, and on such a dark and rainy night with low visibility, they might have been able to spot each other only by encountering oncoming British patrol ships.

As soon as the fleet continued to sail north in radio silence, it was planned that they would sail the Norwegian Sea for three days before entering the North Atlantic through the Guò Channel of Denmark.

A plan was shattered by an unexpected battle.

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