The howling sea breeze gradually dissipates the morning mist that permeates the North Sea.

With the addition of four British armored cruisers, the offensive and defensive roles on the field were once again deflected: the British, who had absolute tonnage and numerical superiority, rushed across the country and launched a fierce attack on the German fleet. The German fleet, led by two Prince Heinrich-class cruisers, gradually converged under the command of Rear Admiral Maas and fought and retreated towards the Helgoland Bay. Under the threat of 150-mm cannons on German cruisers and light cruisers, the British destroyers, who had not been given the order to advance, wisely chose to disengage from the German torpedo boats; They stand guard like a horde of hounds, ready to launch a powerful charge against the enemy.

Soot billowed from the air, artillery roared, and stout columns of water rose from time to time on the sea. Looking at the British patrol that was rapidly inserted at a speed of 20 knots, Major General Maas's heart moved, and he instantly understood the intention of the British commander. The other party must be trying to make their 6-inch secondary gun, which has an absolute advantage in numbers, play a role by closing the distance; And due to the limited number of 150mm secondary guns on your own decisive battle, if you put it into the battle between the patrols, you will not only be at an absolute disadvantage of almost 1 to 2.5 in projection, but also unable to take care of those British destroyers rushing in!

With this in mind, it was clear that Major General Maas would not let the British succeed in their scheme. The decisive battle of the patrol turned again, forming a small angle with the chasing British patrol, and the trend of the two sides getting closer suddenly stagnated. The huge main turret began to rotate slowly under the drive of the electric motor, and the two 4.5-meter baseline rangefinders at the bow and tail were already facing the enemy, and the stout gun muzzles were adjusted several times, and the most common ones were all aimed at the first British armored cruiser 8,000 meters away.

"Boom!" Four 283-mm cannons burst into a roar that resounded through the sky in an instant. The orange and red muzzle light waves spurted and dispersed. The surface of the water below stirred up a continuous white ripple like fish scales. Several at the same time. The front and rear main guns of another Yorkie in the rear also burst out with magnificent red-purple flames, which looked particularly clear and spectacular on a blue sea. Due to the small number of main guns of a single ship, the two Heinrich-class did not use the semi-salvo commonly used by German capital ships, but used salvo to ensure the density of firepower. However, under the guidance of the fire control of the dreadnought-class and the control of well-trained and sophisticated sailors, the main guns of the German decisive battle still possessed quite good accuracy!

The third salvo of the German fleet hit the mark. A 302-kilogram armor-piercing projectile flew like a meteor and slammed down on the right side of the Cressy with a terrible scream; Without any suspense, the shell tore through the pitiful layer of 102 mm thick armor in the upper part and exploded inside the hull. The immense energy released by high explosives. Instantly raises the temperature and pressure of the surrounding air to terrifying levels; Waves of fiery red air swept through the sky with a large number of irregularly twisted shrapnel and liquid metal, spewing like a hurricane volcano. More than a dozen British sailors didn't even have time to snort before they were instantly swallowed by high-temperature shrapnel, and in an instant, their limbs flew sideways, and blood sprayed like a flash flood. The violent explosion also swept through the adjacent cabin, and the flames swept wildly, and the steel armor shattered, and it was a mess. The massive hull of the Cressy shook violently, making a heart-palpitating tearing sound; Smoke billowed from the hole. It looks extremely embarrassing and poignant.

Seeing that the Cressy was heavily hit, three other British armored cruisers tried their best to open fire on the two German battleloaders. In the hope of helping Pao Ze relieve some of the pressure, their efforts have hardly been fruitful.

The British Crécy-class cruiser, which began construction in 1898, was originally built to counter the French "Dupleix"-class armored cruisers; Compared with the French armored cruisers that were generally only equipped with two 193 mm L40 guns at that time, the two 234 mm L47 cannons owned by the Cressy class were indeed a huge advantage. However, with the rapid development of large-caliber artillery and fire control techniques, the battle distance of capital ships after entering the era of dreadnoughts has become farther and farther, so that it is several times that of before; Under these circumstances, the British armored cruisers, which had no main guns at all, were immediately resounding in long-range artillery battles. Although the British gunners were firing at a rate of 3 rounds per minute, the inherent disadvantage of only 2 main guns was too obvious; They fired more than a dozen rounds in a row, but not a single shell fell within 100 meters of the German patrol!

"Send a telegram to General Betty, hasn't his battle patrol arrived yet?" Campbell said with some irritation. Seeing that the Germans had seen through their intentions and began to deliberately distance themselves from their own fleet, Campbell couldn't help but be angry. Although the number of main guns of their own fleet was comparable to that of the Germans, one caliber was far inferior, and the other was scattered over four battleships, and its strike effect was far inferior to that of a German ship equipped with four 283 mm cannons on a single ship. If you continue to fight like this, even if you have twice as many patrols as your opponent, the final result will be extremely unfavorable to you!

"Boom!" Campbell was anxious about his current situation, when suddenly there was a violent tremor like a mountain collapse beneath his feet, followed by an unimaginable cascading roar of rage. Caught off guard, Campbell slammed and fell heavily on the hard steel deck, his bones shattered from the violent impact, and tears were squeezed out of his eyes. He turned his head around with difficulty, and saw that around him were all staff officers who were stumbling and bleeding from head to head; A surging wave of fire swept from the side of the command tower, and a blazing air mixed with gunsmoke and scorching stench was already blowing in the face!

"Quick...... Ahem, report the damage......" The choking breath suddenly poured into his nose, causing Campbell's voice to be completely distorted by the suffocating pain. Several staff officers heard the noise and struggled to get to his feet, covering his nose and mouth with wet towels. Campbell gasped for a moment, and the signs of poisoning had finally subsided slightly. However, before he could recover his strength, the report from the microphone made his heart sink to the bottom: an 11-inch shell flew like lightning, and suddenly swept across the 152-mm gun on the starboard side adjacent to the conning tower, and the violent explosion not only blew the cannon into the sea dozens of meters away, but also detonated the ammunition stacked next to it!

According to Campbell's strategy, our fleet was to sail at high speed to within 5,000 meters of the Germans, in order to bring into full play the power of the large number of 6-inch secondary guns equipped by the British cruisers; In order to increase the rate of fire in the run-up to the battle, the British gunners wrenched more shells from the ammunition depot in advance. However, before the target could enter the firing range, the 283-mm cannon on the German decisive battle patrol was already thundering. Although the power of this 45.4kg shell is far from being comparable to that of a 283mm shell exceeding 300kg, it is superior to a large number of them;

Smoke billowed and a sea of fire churned. The flames on the "Dionysian Priestess" were vigorously surging, soaring into the sky and rising hundreds of meters high, looking from afar, like a moving torch on the sea. The power of a dozen 6-inch shells was obviously far greater than that of the German cannonballs fired on the decisive battle of the battle, and the heat of molten iron and the poisonous yellow-green smoke produced by the burning of picric acid raged on the ship; Rao was the best of the British damage control forces, and it was difficult to extinguish such a fire in a short time. Seeing this, the morale of the German sailors was greatly boosted; The 283-mm cannon roared and thundered, firing deadly steel projectiles at the British Cruiser at its highest rate of fire.

"General, General Betty is calling back, they are at 317 directions 27 nautical miles away, and they are currently coming towards us at full speed!" Amid the spraying water dragons of rubber hoses, an officer hurried into the conning tower and handed Campbell a telegram that had been wetted with water. Campbell didn't look at it for a moment, and a pair of eyes suddenly widened, and his pale blue pupils were full of disbelief and shock. He had thought that Betty would be not far from him, and would be there in less than ten minutes; Judging from the position reflected in this telegram, Betty was still 27 nautical miles from the Gulf of Helgoland, and it seemed that she had stayed where she had been and had not moved!

"How so?" Campbell muttered, a hint of pain on his face. At present, even if Betty's battlecruiser is at full speed, it will take an hour to reach the battlefield at the earliest; And judging from the current combat situation, it seems that his armored cruiser is not at all the opponent of Germany's alternative cruiser!

"Boom!" A flame of orange-red light rose from the side of the German decisive battle patrol in the distance, and the flame licked and spread in all directions. Before Campbell could savor the joy of victory, however, the ship proved itself alive with a round of accurate cross-fire on the Dionysian Priestess. In the face of the German decisive battle patrol, which was born to fight for the decisive battle of the fleet, the British patrol used to arrest those French sea thieves seemed so weak and vulnerable; Although they served 3 years later than their opponents, they were a whole era behind their opponents in terms of frontal combat effectiveness!

After a moment's thought, Campbell decided to keep fighting. If they had withdrawn like this, the Germans would have returned to the harbor, and Betty's fleet, which had arrived later, would have made a vain trip. Knowing that he was invincible, Campbell decided to maneuver in the grapple to lead the German fleet to Betty's guns. However, this understandable move sounded the death knell for his life. (To be continued......)

PS: Thank you for the monthly ticket support of the floating hearts of book friends and the reward of February 30 Ring Book and zhouyu1976~~~ Anyway, today's subscription is very sad, and the author has no motivation to write