Just when Emperor Yang was full of intrigues and preparing to harm the Indonesian people, in the distant European North Sea, a decisive battle with the largest battleship in the history of warfare had begun.

For the first time, the German Imperial High Seas Fleet would face its old enemy, the Home Fleet of the British Royal Navy.

It was a battle without any fancy fancy, a collision of pure steel and will, fire and blood, a pair of fated enemies opened fire on each other almost without the slightest hesitation, countless cannons on the opposite side roared at the same time, and in the explosion of cannonballs, fire burst out, steel splashed, and the sea boiled instantly.

At the same time as the fire was fired, all the escort cruiser destroyers retreated at the same time, giving way to these sea monsters, and the sixteen battleships that the British had originally sailed in three columns began to turn left into a column to seize the T-shape, while the eight battleships of the High Seas Fleet opposite them began to turn right as if they had a heart, and the two huge fleets showed terrifying side firepower, and gradually turned to parallel and began to fight against each other.

At this time, the formation of twelve battlecruisers of the British began to speed forward to the limit of thirty-two knots, preparing to bypass their own battlefleet and cut horizontally to the front of the high seas fleet, also seizing the T-shape, while the six Swedish high-speed battleships and four battlecruisers of the German fleet advanced in the same way. It was clear that the Germans' goal was to use the armor of the battlefleet to carry twice the guns of the British battleships, and to fight a decisive battle with high-speed battleships and battlecruisers with the British battlecruisers, and then return to the battlefleet after victory.

Originally, the High Seas Fleet did not want to fight a decisive battle with the British this time, but only used it to contain it, after all, it was not far from Helgoland Bay, and it was not much difficult to escape back to the cover of the mine array. But the miraculous result of the Dutch fleet was too much for William and Tirpitz to hold, and it was clear that this was an excellent opportunity. Two sunken and four serious injuries have drastically reduced the strength of the British Home Fleet, and if this opportunity is missed, when their four battleships are repaired, the High Seas Fleet will have no chance.

And they also had to buy time for army reinforcements to the Netherlands, the second landing force of the British had already set off, but it was difficult for the German reinforcements to reach Rotterdam before them, and if the high seas fleet could gain an advantage in naval warfare, then it would be difficult for the British to have the courage to continue fighting in the Dutch theater in the future.

"This is a decisive battle, a decisive battle for the fate of the Empire!" On the Deutschland, the flagship of the High Seas Fleet, Prince Heinrich said lightly.

"Your Highness. Your identity is the guarantee of our victory. The chief of staff, Major General Scheer, who was next to him, said. He was not wrong in what he said, as the only surviving brother of Kaiser Wilhelm, Prince Heinrich personally sat in the flagship, which undoubtedly had a huge effect on the morale of the German naval officers and men, even if the British firepower was fierce, looking at the flag representing the royal family on the Deutschland, the soldiers who were fighting against twice their own enemy would not care about death.

Of course, courage is only one aspect, and the Germans do not rely on spirit and courage to win battles.

Their greatest reliance was on the protection of their battleships, unlike the British battleships that had to be partially armored with Bofors alloy because of cost. William, who plundered the United States without losing money, gave all his battleships the strongest armor at present, and the increased watertight design at the expense of speed made the German battleships as protective as the Chinese battleships.

Now, that's the assurance of their confidence.

Under the dense fire of British battleships twice as large as their own. Almost as soon as there was an exchange of fire, all eight battleships, including the Deutsche were shot one after another, and the piercing bombs that were bounced off by the solid armor exploded one after another in the columns of water that were close at hand, and the impact of huge waves was blown. In the flames of the explosion of the picric acid charge high-explosive shells, dozens of 305 or even 356 main guns, all pointed to the port side, kept roaring, and one by one the piercing bombs whizzed across the sea. Like a meteor, it smashed into the British battleship more than a dozen kilometers away.

However, at such a distance, the Germans' piercing bombs could not penetrate the main armor of the British, and the two fleets invariably approached each other to shorten the engagement distance, and at this time, the battle patrol formations that came out at high speed had also begun to exchange fire, because it was impossible to achieve the original goal, the two formations also set up battle lines to exchange fire, and on the sea, forty-four steel giant ships lined up in a battle line stretching for 20 kilometers, each frantically pouring artillery fire towards the opponent.

At this time, the performance advantage of the six Swedish high-speed battleships was immediately demonstrated, the Braunschweig at the front fired first, the target British Dreadnought battle cruiser, the first salvo of ten 280 mm guns on the side of the side hit one shot, although the distance of fifteen kilometers, this piercing bomb still penetrated the armor less than two hundred mm thick at the waterline of the Dreadnought in an instant, and then the flames of the explosion erupted from the inside, and even a riveted armor plate was blown off, Immediately, seawater began to pour into the huge ship, with a displacement of nearly 20,000 tons.

The Prussia that followed almost simultaneously opened fire, the target Resistance, then the Lorraine, the target Rapid... Two formations, twenty-two battleships and battlecruisers, all joined the battle in less than five minutes. At this time, the British discovered that the 305 main guns used by their war patrol could not penetrate the armor of the Brunswick-class fast battleships at such a distance, and even if they were not the main armor, they could not penetrate it. However, the Brunswick-class 280 main gun, at such a distance, almost every shell, as long as the angle is not too large, can always get a satisfactory harvest, under the frenzied bombardment of these 280-mm guns with a single rate of fire can reach three rounds per minute, the battle lasted only a few minutes, including the flagship of the battle patrol formation, the five British battle cruisers were shot and wounded one after another.

Obviously, this distance was very unfavorable to the British war patrols, and these huge ships, which sacrificed their armor for the sake of speed, immediately began to accelerate forward to close the engagement distance, and the Germans opposite them were also closing the distance, and they had to get a greater chance of hitting, so that in the two battlefields in front and behind, all the battleships were close to each other and poured shells on each other, and the whistling sound of breaking through the air, and the sound of huge explosions resounded across the sea.

As the distance got closer and closer, the hit rate of the shells on both sides rose sharply, and the penetration also soared, especially the 280 main guns of those Braunschweig-class fast battleships, like giant tomahawks, easily chiseled one terrible hole after another in the armor of the British battle cruiser, and before it could be approached to ten kilometers, the side guns of the Rapid were directly penetrated through the frontal armor and detonated the ammunition ready to be fired, and the entire turret and the base hull were blown away in the huge explosion, although there was no danger of sinking, But the fire that quickly spread inside forced the battleship to withdraw from the battlefield.

But even at such a distance, the British's 305 main guns were still unable to penetrate the main armor of the Braunschweig-class fast battleships, and although the British desperately poured shells at these six battleships, but unfortunately in addition to hitting the weak point of the upper armor, all the piercing shells that hit the waterline were bounced off by the alloy armor 250 mm thick. The poor British battle cruisers, it can be said that they were beaten violently by these sturdy and fast battleships, and after the Rapid, it was not long before the Dreadnought was also heavily damaged, and a 280 shell that pierced through the waterline armor exploded in its power compartment, and a group of diesel engine lines were damaged, losing a third of its power, and the speed immediately slowed down.

By this time, the battle between the battle patrol formations had become a one-on-one heads-up, but such a heads-up could be said to be a disaster for the British, except for the last face of the four Nassau-class battle cruisers, the remaining six British battle cruisers were not qualified to go head-to-head with the Braunschweig-class at all, although after the distance was shortened to seven kilometers, their main guns also began to penetrate the opponent's main armor at a certain angle, but the same German shells were becoming more and more accurate, and shells exploded in the British battle cruisers almost every minute.

"Your Excellency, Commander, we must withdraw the battle cruisers, they cannot stand against the fast battleships of the Germans, and it will be difficult for us to penetrate the main armor of the Braunschweig class except for three, five, or six main guns." Looking at the battle patrol formation in the distance, which was struggling under German fire, Rear Admiral Jericho, chief of staff of the home fleet aboard the Edward VII, said to Admiral May.

Admiral Mei also looked at the battlefield in the distance with a solemn face, he didn't expect that these fast battleships produced by Yang's shipyard were so strong, with a full load displacement of less than 20,000 tons, and their protective performance was not inferior to the Edward VII class, which was close to 30,000 tons.

"Order the battle patrol formation to slow down to twenty knots and wait, and the battleship formation accelerates forward!" Thinking of this, he immediately ordered, the distance between the two fleets is not very far, and the battlefleet that can reach twenty-seven knots at the fastest can easily catch up, and then the thickly armored battleships will deal with these fast battleships, anyway, the local fleet now has enough numerical superiority.

He then turned his gaze back to the German battleships on the opposite side, at this time the battleships of the home fleet had occupied an overwhelming advantage, although the German battleships were still resisting stubbornly, but under the double firepower, they were all wounded, among which the Hesse even suffered a three-five-six-millimeter piercing bomb at the waterline, because the water had been slightly tilted, but the protection of these German battleships was indeed a headache, although they had been beaten all over the body, but none of the eight battleships had been severely damaged, Not even the speed was affected. (To be continued......)