The sea breeze blows and the sunset shines obliquely. The outer ocean, adjacent to the mouth of the Thames, is already a scene of hustle and bustle. The German battleship group, which was originally arranged in a neat matrix, has now begun to do "zigzag" anti-submarine navigation; A large number of German torpedo boats were like a swarm of hornets that had been stabbed in their nests, and they were violently shuttling back and forth on the sea, determined to deal a devastating blow to these British submarines who dared to pull out their teeth.

"Boom! Rumble! The muffled sound exploded, the water waves burst into the sky, and the surging waves like meteorites rushing down exploded angrily, and the momentum was amazing. On the aft deck of the torpedo boat, which is low on the freeboard, German sailors are busy setting up next to cylindrical objects weighing more than 40 kg; From time to time, sailors moved it to a special guide rail, and then it was pushed by machinery and thrown into the sea more than ten meters away. Under the impetus of Qingying, the frigates of the German Navy have been widely equipped with this simple and practical anti-submarine weapon; When the bomb dives into a pre-set water depth area, the spring firing pin will trigger the fuse under the corresponding water pressure to detonate the high explosive charged with the bomb. The effective transmission of the blast wave by the seawater can easily tear open the fragile pressure-resistant shell of a nearby enemy submarine, leaving it to rest at the bottom of the ocean forever.

Bombs go into the sea, and waves rise. The British submarine that caused the accident did not seem to have expected that there would be weapons to attack itself underwater, and did not escape quickly after committing the crime; Under the massive retaliatory attack of several German torpedo boats, a colorful stain of oil and a few pieces of wood scraps floated up from the sea. And if the British submarines are experienced in combat, there is still no sonar that can effectively detect underwater objects. The submarine could have been calmly departed after the attack.

News of the sinking of a British submarine was received from the torpedo boat unit. Admiral Ingnoll aboard the Frederick the Great was still in the water. There was no hint of joy on his face. According to the damage management report sent back by the "Pomerania", the 457-mm torpedo hit the front bow of the battleship, and it is obviously impossible for this non-core compartment to have a longitudinal partition against torpedoes. The front of the battleship was torn open by the explosion of 145kg of TNT, a huge breach of 8 meters ×5 meters, and the adjacent bulkhead was twisted by the impact of high-pressure seawater; A large amount of seawater and poisonous smoke poured in, and soon occupied almost all the watertight areas in the bow of the ship!

Although the Germans reacted quickly, relying on an excellent watertight structure to keep the water outside the core and effectively control the further spread of the water ingress, the battleship was also flooded with more than 1,200 tons of seawater. There was a bow tip close to 13 degrees. After reverse-filling the stern with 300 tons, the ship's nose roll was reduced to 3 degrees, but the ship's speed dropped to 15 knots, which made it easy for even the longest-serving Dreadnought in the German fleet to overtake it in the race.

After much deliberation, Ingnorr decided to keep the damaged ship at his post and did not give it the order to return to Wilhelmshaven for repairs. Although its speed has dropped by more than 20%, the fleet rarely spends its speed at high speed under normal circumstances, and the speed of 15 knots can barely keep up with the fleet in most cases. And with the passage of time, the damage management troops of their own side may not be able to do effective work of plugging and draining leaks. Besides. Although Pomerania belonged to the earliest German dreadnoughts, its strength was inferior to that of later generations such as Nassau and Helgoland. But it was still a formidable force in the High Seas Fleet capable of effectively countering British contemporaries; At present, its weapons and armor systems are not damaged, so it is a pity that it has returned to Hong Kong. What's more, if the opponent's fleet comes up as soon as it comes up, the confidence that the emperor has accumulated in his heart to fight the decisive battle against the fleet will be lost, and it will be difficult to have this kind of opportunity to go out in the future!

"Now we are moving in an irregular course, and if the British submarines want to ambush us, it is impossible to estimate in advance, and we must use periscopes to locate our navigation in real time. The order was that all ships should pay close attention to the movements on the sea, and immediately cover the attack as soon as they found the trace of the British submarine! The minesweepers continued to clear the mines and withdrew two hours later. Ingnoll glanced at the pocket watch in his hand and then ordered.

The sky is blue, the light moon is shining, and the sunset can still be seen in the west. The seaplane with a huge wingspan stopped on the surface of the sea and stumbled with the waves in a splash of water; The Cormorant, a converted fast merchant ship, then sailed to the side and retrieved it from the sea with a stout boom. A group of cannon fodder minesweepers also withdrew with relief, although the German battlefleet had helped them to firmly suppress the shore artillery fire, greatly reducing their threat; However, working in a dangerous minefield is an extremely dangerous thing in itself. Two cannon fodder minesweepers accidentally hit a mine and were blown into thousands of pieces on the spot, and none of the people on board survived; Another minesweeper was affected by the explosion, its hull flooded, and it eventually capsized and sank.

But the results they have achieved have been encouraging. More than 800 mines have been cleared, and the road to Britain's richest estuary is less than 10 kilometres. German cannon fodder torpedo boats had already moved out to the waters to guard against the British from re-laying mines at night. According to Ingnoll's estimates, in another five to six hours or so of minesweeping, a completely safe body of water would appear in front of his fleet.

The stars twinkle and the moon rises in the east. The German fleet, completely controlled by the lights, was hidden in the dark far open sea, and no one but themselves knew of them. To Ingnor's delight, good news came from the Pomerania, which had unfortunately been hit by a mine: although the damage crew was unable to plug the huge 40-square-meter gap created by the direct torpedo hit, the restoration of the watertight compartment of the battleship that had previously been flooded had achieved gratifying results. Some of the watertight cabins, which were not badly damaged, were plugged with gaps, and the seawater inside was quickly pumped out. By eight hours, the ship's water ingress had been reduced from more than 1,500 tons to less than 900 tons, and several large steel plates that had rolled around the hull, causing great navigational resistance, had been removed. The Pomerania's top speed rose to 18.5 knots, and the ability to accompany the fleet was greatly restored.

At the same time, all the British submarines that had arrived from the Strait of Dover surfaced, hurrying to recharge their batteries and drain the murky air from their interiors. Unlike their German counterparts, whose surface displacement is generally more than 650 tons, the surface tonnage of these British submarines is only 190~490 tons, and their overall performance is only comparable to the first generation of small submarines in service in Germany in the last century. And even the latest 655-ton E-class submarine commissioned by the British last year was far surpassed by similar German products in terms of torpedo firepower, power speed, cruising range, and diving depth.

That night, the British ships, under the cover of the destroyers, came to set up a minefield, and a fierce exchange of light ships broke out between the two sides. Since the German torpedo boats were not aware of the situation in the British minefield here, they could only passively defend and did not dare to carry out a large-scale rapid assault, and the counterattack of the British Harwich fleet was fruitful. At the cost of sinking 1 destroyer, they sank 3 German torpedo boats in a melee, creating their first victory over the German Navy since the beginning of the war. The requisitioned British fishing boats also took the opportunity to drop a large number of mines to stop the advance of the German fleet. By the next morning, the Germans were dismayed to find that more than half of the waterway they had cleared yesterday was faintly reflecting the luster of metal.

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At the same time that the British light ships took advantage of the delay in delaying the main German fleet on the home field, the British Admiralty also began a new round of propaganda to the people. The day before, news of the German High Seas Fleet sailing the family off the mouth of the Thames had spread; The British people, who had just been immersed in the joy of victory in the Mediterranean for less than two days, felt as if they had been knocked on the head in XX, and the grievances and hatred in their chests were surging in an instant.

When they came to the door of the Admiralty building in a menacing manner, ready to fight to the death with the guards of the police, they found that the fat figure who made them hate to eat flesh and bed skin had appeared at the main entrance in formal dresses. Through the megaphone in Guò's hand, Churchill spoke to the angry crowd about the current situation facing the Royal Navy and the countermeasures that the Admiralty wanted to take, like "a scoundrel in a desperate situation willing to abandon his lifelong vices". In addition to his aristocratic origins, his heroic escape from prison in the Boer War, and his quick and energetic qualities, Churchill's powerful speeches were also an important reason for his entry into the Cabinet at the age of 37 and his powerful Admiralty.

Under Churchill's emotional speech, the angry curses of the British people gradually subsided; After hearing the news that a German battleship had been torpedoed, their expressions finally calmed down. As Churchill put it, waiting for Betty, the "Nelson of the New Age," to return and recreate the dream script of the second Battle of Trafalgar is an irresistible wish of every Anglo-Saxon. Out of hope for this splendid goal, the majority of the British people once again tolerated the killing of merchant ships flying the flag by German submarines in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans, and tolerated the historical humiliation of the Germans coming to the door, and only after Betty returned, they repaid the Germans a hundredfold. (To be continued......)

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Recently, the author has some card text, and the length of the written article has been changed and deleted in large paragraphs, and the update time is therefore late, so I hope you will forgive me~~~