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The night gave the German fleet good cover, and the visibility was very low in the pitch-black night, even the tall hulls of the battleships were very well covered. However, the prerequisite is that the lights are controlled. Otherwise, the lights on the battleship will be the best guide for the enemy. The bright moon was obscured by thick clouds, and the bright moonlight was gone, which gave the German fleet an excellent opportunity to retreat.

However, the British Navy clearly did not want the German fleet to retreat unscathed, and they hoped for a more perfect victory. As the German fleet retreated, the British Navy was in hot pursuit. And sent a large number of light cruisers and destroyers out to track the German fleet and ensure that the German fleet would not take advantage of the chaos to escape. The speed of German battleships was generally low, and after the brutal command of naval battles, many battleships could only maintain their speed at about eighteen knots. To want to get rid of the British fleet at such a pace is simply delusional.

In order for the fleet to be able to escape, Reinhardt. Admiral Scheer ordered the battleships to disperse and break out and return to Wilhelmshaven as much as possible. Although, the use of a scattered breakout would further weaken the strength of the German fleet. But that's the best thing to do in this case. A single battleship is always less likely to be detected by the enemy than a fleet.

The German fleet broke through in a scattered way, which presented a difficult problem for the British fleet. The British Navy wanted to completely annihilate the capital ships of the German Navy, and in such a situation it had become impossible. John. Admiral Jericho realized this problem and ordered to sink as many German battleships as possible. In particular, the four 'Bavaria-class' battleships of the German Navy were the key targets of the British Navy. Since the start of the war, although these four 'Bavaria-class' battleships have suffered some damage to a greater or lesser extent, their combat effectiveness has not been greatly affected. On the other hand, the British Navy's 5 'Queen Elizabeth-class' battleships. Although no battleships were sunk, two had already withdrawn from the battlefield due to heavy damage. Therefore, John. Admiral Jericho believed that the four 'Bavaria-class' battleships of the German Navy posed the greatest threat to the British Navy, and focused on asking the British Navy to besiege these 'Bavaria-class' battleships.

The four 'Bavaria-class' battleships of the German Navy also had very tragic endings, or rather tragic. When Reinhardt. Admiral Schell realized that the British Navy's target was to command the four 'Bavaria-class' battleships, and directly ordered these four 'Bavaria-class' to take up the heavy responsibility of the broken back, and led the British Navy to retreat from different directions as quickly as possible. Create an opportunity for the retreat of the other capital ships.

In the end, among the four 'Bavarian-class' battleships, except for the 'Saxony', which had a little better luck, although it suffered heavy damage, it still escaped the pursuit of the British Navy. And after insisting on returning to Wilhelmshaven, the other three battleships were sunk by the British Navy. The battleships "Bavaria", "Baden" and "Württemberg" were all laid siege by the British Navy. Even though the armor of the 'Bavaria-class' battleship was very thick, when besieged by several enemy battleships, it was still invincible with two fists and four hands. Commander of the High Seas Fleet of the German Navy, Reinhardt. Admiral Scheer also sank into the North Sea at 10:12 p.m. with the battleship 'Bavaria'. Originally, he had a chance to escape at that time. But Reinhardt, who believed that because of his own incompetence, caused the German Navy to suffer a crushing defeat in this naval battle. Admiral Scheer chose to sink with the ship.

Merely. In order to sink these 'Bavaria-class' battleships, the British Navy also paid a considerable price. The battleship Malaya was sunk in the decisive counterattack of the battleship Bavaria. At the same time, the flagship 'Queen Elizabeth' was also hit hard. In addition, the battleship 'Ajax' was also heavily damaged.

The retreat of the other 9 battleships of the German Navy was also not smooth. In addition to leaving a large number of battleships to besiege the German Navy's 'Bavaria-class' battleships, the British Navy also sent a large number of battleships to hunt down those who escaped.

In the end, only 6 of the 9 battleships escaped back to Germany, and none of them were intact. More or less all took some damage. The other three, the battleship HMS Elector. The battleships "Caesar" and "Hanover" were sunk. And the British Navy also paid the price of the sinking of the battleship "Orion" and the heavy damage of the battleship "King George V".

However, even if the losses of the British Navy were not small, on the whole, the British Navy won this naval battle. The main force of the German Navy had ceased to exist after this naval battle, while the main force of the British Navy remained, able to continue the blockade of the German coastline. It can continue to control the sea supremacy in the North Sea and even in the eastern Atlantic. Even though the German Navy still had some battleships, and those damaged battleships and battlecruisers that had been repaired and were able to continue fighting, they were no longer able to challenge the British Navy. Until the end of the war, these battleships and battlecruisers remained in the military harbor and served as a storage fleet under the protection of shore fortifications. However, this also made the German Navy pay more attention to submarines as a weapon, and after the defeat in naval battles, a large number of submarines were built and put into operation in the North Sea and the Atlantic. These submarines frantically attacked Britain's sea lines, causing losses of more than 100,000 tons every month, severely weakening Britain's war potential. However, these are all later stories, at least after the fiasco of the German Navy's High Seas Fleet, it has had a shock to Germany and the whole world, and it has also had an extremely far-reaching impact on the ongoing world war that is in full swing.

Potsdam's Sanssouci Palace, the study of Kaiser Wilhelm II, is always brightly lit. Although it was late at night on May 31, the German high-ranking people had gathered here since yesterday afternoon, when the German High Seas Fleet and the British Navy met and a fierce battle began. Everyone is paying attention to the news of the naval battle and waiting for the outcome of this naval battle. Whether the German Navy could defeat a strong enemy was especially important for them. If the German Navy could win this time, the predicament facing Germany would be solved. On the other hand, if the German navy loses, then the chances of Germany winning this war are very slim. At the very least, the most important force to defeat the Entente will not be Germany, but China, Germany's nominal ally.

Kaiser Wilhelm II, Crown Prince Wilhelm, Imperial Chancellor Theobaden. Feng. Bateman. Holwig, Admiral Tirpitz, Minister of the Admiralty, Falkenhain, Chief of the General Staff of the German Army, and others were quietly waiting for the final result. Although, except for Crown Prince William, everyone else is not young, staying up late makes these people look tired, and everyone can only rely on cups of coffee to refresh themselves. However, no one wants to rest at the moment, and everyone wants to know about the situation of this naval battle as soon as possible. This naval battle is so important to Germany that it is no exaggeration to say that this naval battle will have a direct bearing on Germany's fate.

The atmosphere in the study was rather solemn, although in the afternoon naval battle, the reconnaissance detachment of the German Navy's High Seas Fleet achieved good results, but then the main forces of the two sides began to duel, and the high seas fleet in the fierce battle never sent a telegram back. This made everyone's hearts rise to their throats. Although, there was a lot of confidence in the German Navy's High Seas Fleet. But their opponent is the British! This is the hegemon that has dominated the world's oceans for hundreds of years. In front of the British Navy, the German Navy was nothing more than a toddler. If it were not for the rise of new battleships, the German Navy would not have been qualified to challenge the British Navy at all. But even so, the British Navy's hundreds of years of strong accumulation could not be defeated so lightly.

At 10:45 p.m., there was a knock on the inside of the study, and a naval officer walked in. German Admiral Tirpitz greeted him with a quick step and received a telegram from the naval officer. At this time, he didn't care about etiquette, and opened the telegram on the spot. It's just that his face immediately darkened, and when he finished reading the entire telegram command, the whole person seemed to have aged a lot all of a sudden. Admiral Tirpitz is now sixty-three years old, but he has always been physically strong, and he has made the development of the German Navy his lifelong belief. And now, that belief is shattered at this moment.

The others had also been paying attention to the expression of Admiral Tirpitz, and after discovering his demeanor, everyone's hearts gradually sank to the bottom. Although Tirpitz had not yet told the story of the telegram, these men were old men who had already guessed the outcome from Tirpitz's demeanor. That is, in this naval battle, the German Navy's high seas fleet had already lost.

"Your Excellency Tirpitz, how is the situation at the High Seas Fleet?" Kaiser Wilhelm II's eyes were also full of loneliness, and all his former ambitions were no longer there.

"Your Majesty, in the fierce battle from this afternoon to the evening, the High Seas Fleet has suffered a heavy defeat!" Tirpitz said sadly.

"Fiasco? What's going on with the fiasco? Why is this happening? The High Seas Fleet deserves to be victorious! Crown Prince William roared out of his own hands. The hope of Germany's rise was shattered in front of his eyes, no wonder he had such an appearance when the city was not deep!