Chapter 468: Reaching the Peak
The sea breeze howled, the clouds surged, and the waves more than a meter high constantly slapped against the steel sides of the gray-black painted warships, stirring up waves of water and white mist.
Ingnoll stood on the tall bridge of the Frederick the Great, staring solemnly at the deep ocean in front of starboard star. In the distance, there was a faint roar like thunder, and a little orange-red light like a starlight, as the light ships of our fleet were engaged in a fierce battle with the British patrol detachment. The location of the main force of the High Seas Fleet had been exposed, while the traces of the British Grand Fleet were still hidden in the fog of the battlefield, which was very different from the battlefield situation he had expected. In the current situation, however, he could not get the 3rd Light Cruiser Detachment to go out to investigate, but ordered it to cooperate with the torpedo boat force first to drive away the spies who were watching on the periphery.
Behind Frederick the Great, 18 Dreadnoughts, 8 Decisive Cruisers, and 8 Dreadnoughts were lined up in nine columns to attack, a gamble unimaginably large. All the cold and glamorous magic weapons that the German Empire had built with the strength of twenty years were now concentrated in the hands of Ingnorr; They carry the hopes of nearly 60,000 officers and 66 million Germans for the sea, and vital news has yet to come. Ingnoll was well aware of the responsibility on his shoulders, and even if he could not win the T-shaped lead of the British, the High Seas Fleet had to open the battle line without losing the upper hand. In order to achieve this, your main fleet must detect the position of the enemy fleet in advance and start forming a queue out of sight. Once you wait until you see the enemy before you turn around. Apparently it will be too late; Some of the battleships were blocked from firing angles, and some of the battleships were turning in front of the enemy, so the British could either concentrate their artillery fire and bombard them in advance, or send destroyers to carry out a torpedo attack!
Ten minutes earlier, he had already given an order to the Hipper fleet, ordering it to send fast warships to quickly reconnoiter the western sea area on the starboard side of the main fleet; However, due to its location, the reconnaissance fleet was almost unable to send back effective information in a timely manner. Now Ingnoll has some sense of why his opponent Jericho has been retreating to the military port before. A fleet that is related to the fortunes of the country is indeed as heavy as a mountain, and it is by no means that anyone can afford this responsibility and pressure!
"I cannot let the fleet that Germany has spent twenty years building destroyed in my hands. Immediately after the British patrol fleet had withdrawn, the fleet turned two compass points to the left. "Ingnoll, after careful weighing, gave a more conservative order. At the moment the High Seas Fleet is heading southwest. And the left-turn maneuver heading due south. Undoubtedly, it can greatly reduce the probability of the British Grand Fleet suddenly appearing in front of it with a T-shaped crosshead. After he regrouped, he would naturally turn back and compete with the British fleet.
The flag is flipped and the wake is excited. After the turn of Frederick the Great, who led the fleet. The entire German fleet drew a wonderful arc on the sea. Sail south. In the bitter sea breeze. The sound of battle artillery in the distance gradually became inaudible; The bridge of the Frederick the Great was crowded with people, and from time to time staff officers reported to Ingnorr various kinds of information, which were either vague or very different, and this was left to the commander's decision. What Ingnoll didn't know was. Jericho's Grand Fleet is now about 40 nautical miles away from him in the north-western seas, and is in the process of transforming the battle array. If he kept sailing in the same direction in such a daze, he would most likely be attacked by the British Grand Fleet, which had launched its formation in advance.
War is certainly a contest of strength, but sometimes luck can dictate the overall situation of a battle. When Ingnorr learned the exact location of the British Grand Fleet after the war, he couldn't help but congratulate himself on his prudent choice: "Holy Angel Michael blessed me without making a mistake in the most crucial decisive battle; This smooth and ordinary but complete and rigorous answer sheet made me finally not bury the national transport warship in my hands. ”
Due to the imminent shift of the German High Seas Fleet, the original V-shaped trajectory between the British and German main fleets became nearly parallel, and an unprecedentedly fierce battle was postponed. Forty minutes later, when the Grand Fleet, which had been waiting in battle for battle, still had no sign of the German fleet, the experienced Jerry Coden realized that the cunning German commander must have smelled something unusual and had chosen to make a cautious evasive turn to the enemy.
Jericho didn't have any effective strategies to deal with this situation. Their own patrol detachment had been forced to retreat under the threat of the enemy's massive torpedo boats, and could not detect the current position of the German fleet; And even if he guessed the current location of the German fleet with half experience and half luck, the poor condition of his own fleet did not allow him to carry out a normal large-scale rapid transfer as usual. For Jericho, who is at the helm of the current large fleet full of wounded soldiers, what he is also pursuing is to fully unfold his battle line in a posture that does not fall behind. A little more than a week earlier, the German High Seas Fleet had gathered at the mouth of the Thames, including a large number of decisive cruisers and dreadnoughts, while its own Channel Fleet had not yet joined up with his Grand Fleet. In the current situation that the speed of the Grand Fleet has been slowed down by Yanzhòng, these old ships, with an average speed of only 17 or 8 knots, can just share a large amount of artillery damage from the other side for the main fleet.
At this point, in addition to carrying out normal dispatch and command, Jericho also remotely commanded these scum ships through the guò radio, so that they could get closer to the main fleet and become a member of the glorious cannon fodder like those dozens of destroyers. After nearly an hour of moving in opposite directions, the two fleets docked north and south were already quite close together, and in a short time the main lookout of the Trafalgar saw a group of triangular masts appearing in the sea ahead. At the same time, the scarred fast fleet was approaching from the southwest, its hull littered with blackened hollows that had been hit by shells. More than 4,000 Royal Navy officers and sailors have died at the bottom of the ocean in previous battles; Such a terrible death toll is close to the total annihilation of the Russian fleet in the Battle of Tsushima!
On the aft deck of the destroyer USS Hope, First Class Sailor Mondok wept bitterly as he looked at the once-glamorous Fast Fleet, and his father, who was about to retire, served as a signal officer on the Indefatigable; On the mainmast of the battleship George V, lookout Henry was anxiously scanning the sea with his binoculars, because he never saw his brother's queen Mary. On the "Ireland", which is currently the leading naval gun in the Royal Navy, Ensign Dick, who had just graduated from the officer school, was extremely glad that he had given up the Invincible and chose to be assigned to this battleship; The helmsman of the battleship "Dreadnought" drew a cross on his chest and recited a prayer for the officers and men who died on the battleship with all heavy guns.
The Trafalgar flag was raised and lowered, and the signal lights flashed back and forth. The 18 former dreadnoughts that had once made the Royal Navy their pillars accelerated behind the Orion at the very end of the column, allowing their broad, sturdy juniors to hold up the skies. The 6 remaining battle cruisers drove to the front of the ship, and their high-speed heavy artillery attributes could still allow them to turn and plug in at high speed during the decisive battle of the battleship, forming a local T-shape and slamming the opponent's horizontal head. 49 stout and majestic warships pulled up a formidable brilliant column, and the distance between the front and rear reached 22,500 meters; Seen from above, it seems that an epic dragon of the flood era has appeared on the sea, breaking the waves towards the sea area to the east of the south; It's amazing, it's spectacular!
At 11:07, three Magdeburg-class fast light cruisers were ordered to arrive at the predetermined reconnaissance site. When he saw the Royal Navy, which was almost invincible, Rear Admiral Berdick, who was still immersed in the victory of several light cruisers on the other side, was completely awakened in an instant. The urgent telegram was sent quickly under the swift tapping fingers of the correspondent, and Ingnoll on the Frederick the Great instantly realized the current situation: the British Grand Fleet had already been dispatched from Scapa Bay, and the decisive battle was imminent!
Under the command of Ingnoll, the main forces of the huge German High Seas Fleet also began to change rapidly; Although their current lineup is unprecedentedly strong, thanks to the arduous and repeated training on weekdays, this complex maneuver has also been perfectly demonstrated by German officers and soldiers at present. At the same time, the German reconnaissance fleet, which was supported a few nautical miles behind the light cruisers, also made a sharp turn to the east at the call of the general flagship, and then merged with the main fleet with a beautiful 90-degree right turn, and sailed at the front of the fleet. In two battle lines moving side by side, the tactics of inserting the T with the battle patrol at high speed were not the preserve of the British; With this in mind, Ingnoll also made the same layout as Jellico. The 41 capital battleships are like a cluster of legendary Titans, slowly walking towards the final decisive battle venue with solid and heavy steps; The monstrous murderous intent that came to his face was as irresistible as the wheel of fate.
"Report! A large number of German battleships appeared in the eastern seas, heading due south; In front of this team is a column of southbound capital ships of the Germans, and they have already started a battle queue! Just when Jericho was unsettled by the exposure of his position, the report sent back by the 4th Light Cruiser Fleet that had been sent to reconnoiter earlier calmed his nervous heart a little. It seems that he did not make much mistake in judging the position of the German fleet, and the light cruiser fleet, which had previously reconnoitred to the southeast, really caught this enemy again.
"So," Jericho and Ingnoll voices sounded on the flagship at the same time, "let's get started." (To be continued......)
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