Artillery fire roared, and wild waves erupted into the sky.

As time went on, the Lion's hull continued to sink into the sea, and a large number of British sailors continued to jump into the sea and cling to the lifeboats dropped by the ship's robes. Thankfully, the German war cruisers were now busy dealing with their own destroyers, and they had no time to bombard them again, which allowed the abandoned ship retreat on the Lion to proceed quickly and in an orderly manner. Within a short time, more than 300 British sailors were drifting in the lifeboats; Several destroyers, which had stalled in the water earlier, also slowly approached and brought the officers and men back into the cabin.

"Boom!" Under the cross-attack of Blucher and the Balfoss, the indomitable Indomitable also came to the end of its service life. The 152-millimeter-thick main armor belt was torn apart by 283-millimeter armor-piercing shells without any suspense, and the violent explosion made the 17,400-ton battleship tremble violently. The cabin exploded, the air waves rushed, and the raging raging energy tore and broke the surrounding large swaths of pipelines and circuits, and several main pumps suddenly stopped due to the interruption of power supply. And after losing the mechanical pumping, the inlet of the indefatigable number lost control. With one cabin after another being flooded, the British captain, who had no choice but to give the order to abandon the ship!

"The Indomitable is sinking too." Seeing the soldiers on the battleship behind her jumping into the water one after another, Betty struggled to speak, and her heart ached, as if a sharp spear had pierced him through her chest. Pain, anger, shame, loss...... All kinds of feelings were mixed in his heart, and finally converged into an unprecedented strong self-reproach, which choked his throat. Under his command. The British battle cruisers suffered devastating losses. Defeated in battle with the Germans; Even today, he died here. Nor can they offset the sins they have bore on their bodies!

"General, let's go, today's defeat is not your responsibility at all! Every officer and soldier of the fast fleet did their duty, and the wrong ones were the damned designers, who should all be brought to a court-martialed trial and put on a noose! Seeing that Betty had already had a will to die, Captain Chatfield of the Lion was shocked and couldn't help but shout dissuasion, "Although we have lost some battle patrols today. But there are also eight new Queen-class high-speed battleships on the British slipway, and when these ships are commissioned, the Royal Navy will be able to deal a fatal blow to the Germans. The Royal Navy can do without me Ernier, but must not lose you David! ”

Yet, no matter what Chatfield could say, Betty just shook her head; The rolling waves were blowing and spreading, and they were almost reaching the freeboard of the battleship. After a while, there was a sudden terrible screech in the air, like a comet rushing from the sky; A moment later, a column of clouds and water suddenly rose into the sky around the battleship, and there was a violent tremor like a mountain shaking the sky on the Lion's hull!

"Boom!" A loud roar thundered from outside the command tower. Deafening; Betty suddenly lost her balance and fell heavily to the floor. There was a sharp pain in the knee joint of the right leg. The crimson purple light spurted and rolled, and the surging flames danced wildly across the bridge of the Lion. Looking at the captain Chatfield and several young staff officers who were still lingering in the command tower, Betty, who fell to the ground, was instantly stunned and yelled at them: "What are you still doing here, why don't you jump into the sea like a boar in XX immediately!" This is the order, it must all be given to me within 20 seconds to disappear into this boat! ”

Everyone looked at each other, their faces full of anger and panic. Chatfield gritted his teeth, took a sudden step forward, and slammed his right hand, clenched into a fist, into the back of Betty's skull; Caught off guard, Betty felt a flash in front of her eyes, a sharp pain in the back of her head, and then lost consciousness in a whirlwind.

"You are responsible for lifting the general onto the lifeboat, move quickly!" Chatfield withdrew his aching right hand and said aloud to the stunned staff officers next to him. The staff officers woke up like a dream, and hurriedly helped the unconscious Betty up, and began to quickly escape outside the command tower.

When the last lieutenant staff officer rushed out of the door, he suddenly found that Captain Chatfield had not yet come out; He instantly understood something in his heart, and immediately stumbled to stop his body, turned around and rushed back. However, he was greeted with Chatfield's last smile behind the crack in the door of the Command Tower, and then the door slammed shut!

"Captain! Captain! Amid the roar of artillery fire, Chatfield could faintly hear the anxious voice of the lieutenant already crying from outside the heavy steel door. The corner of the colonel's mouth tugged at a smile that he didn't know whether it was moved or sad, and then he ignored the lieutenant's shouts and walked slowly to the observation window facing the battlefield. The artillery fire was flying beautifully, the waves were bursting one after another, and the destroyer groups that had torpedoed the German fleet had been forced to retreat; And although the five broad and tall capital ships of the other side were completely disfigured, their bodies were charred and black, and the flames were rolling and rolling, they still stubbornly held on to the battlefield, and from time to time they gushed out a sparkling light of red, purple, orange and red!

Chatfield's heart twisted like a knife. He slowly removed the St. George's Cross naval flag hanging from the conning tower, and reverently held it in his hand and slowly polished it. It was as if he had gone back to thirty years ago, and had become the childish boy who had just boarded the capital ship of his dreams and became a reserve naval officer. Great Britain ruled the world at that time, and the Royal Navy ruled the sea power at that time. But at what point did God stop favoring his people in the British Isles, so that the Prussians, hatched out of shells, rose to Central Europe and became the most feared and feared enemies of the empire?

There was another jolt beneath his feet, and the deck of the Lion was completely submerged under the sea. The fear in Chatfield's heart was fleeting, replaced by silence and peace like never before. After a while, the sea water sprayed through the cracks in the four walls and poured wildly into the command tower, and soon it reached his chest; Chatfield smiled slightly, his heart mixed with joy and sorrow, and his palm clutched the pocket case containing the photograph of his late wife.

The next moment, he was plunged into eternal darkness.

――――――――――――――

"General, the Lion Patrol has sunk, and the British Rapid Fleet has begun to retreat!" On the De Fringle, an adjutant with a blackened face from the smoke of gunpowder ran quickly into the command tower and shouted to the commander in front of him with excitement. In two consecutive battles of two and a half hours, our fast fleet achieved an unprecedented victory that no one had ever imagined before; Although the Moritz Cruiser unfortunately exploded and sank, this was completely insignificant compared to the brilliant achievements of the fleet!

Hipper snorted and didn't speak immediately, but the rest of the staff in the command tower suddenly burst into jubilation, and its huge sound seemed to tear off the top of the command tower directly. When the cheers subsided for a while, Hipper said: "Send a signal to the ships in the rear, so that they can immediately report the damage to the flagship." The fleet turned two compass points to the right at the same time, preparing to capture the T-shaped head of the main British fleet! ”

Soot is blowing, and the sea breeze is gray. Not long after the fleet led by the D-Verblinger turned around, the losses of the ships were also reported: the most damaged Lützov was hit by a total of 21 343-mm shells, the battleship was flooded with up to 3,500 tons, and only one of the four main turrets was still functional. The Seydlitz was hit by 15 large-caliber shells and 1 ship-fired torpedo, the hull was flooded with 2400 tons, and half of the main gun fire remained; Both the Von der Tann and the Valfoss had been flooded with more than 1,000 tons of seawater, and their hulls were tilted, and the two ships were also unable to match the firepower of one at the moment. In the previous fierce firefight, the German battle patrol was also frequently frequented by the enemy's artillery shells except for the main equipment, and some artillery fire hit above the waterline would also loosen the steel plate and cause water to enter the water due to violent vibrations. The hospitals on several German war cruisers were also overcrowded, and due to the lack of space, many of the wounded could only lie on the deck or on the bridge, forcing themselves to endure severe pain from their limbs.

Knowing this, Hipper's face was slightly solemn. Although the British battle cruiser fleet was routed, it also suffered considerable damage from the enemy's large-charge shells; More importantly, the guns and ammunition of the ships have been left with very little ammunition, and most of them are high-explosive shells, and the capabilities of anti-heavy armored ships have been reduced to a fairly low level. From a normal tactical point of view, returning to port for repairs was clearly the best option for this fleet; However, at this critical moment, how can I not go all out and pursue more brilliant and epic victories?

"It is ordered that all officers and soldiers must stick to their posts and continue to fight until the moment of final and complete victory comes." Hippert spoke lightly, but his words were already full of irresistible firmness. The sea breeze is inspiring and the waves are roaring. Five large battleships, scarred, began to maneuver with strong pressure and ventilation under the escort of a torpedo boat that was also attritional; And their target is the George V-class battleship in the leading position of the British Grand Fleet!

"Boom!" Twenty large-caliber guns roared again in a cloud of red-purple fire, and an additional wall of water rose around the first two ships, the George V and the Centurion. With the distance between the two sides being less than 10 km, the German battle cruisers, whose main guns were greatly reduced, still achieved results in a relatively short time, and a few minutes later, a fireball exploded from the George V. In the main turret, fire control room, and ammunition depot, the tired German sailors are still full of fighting spirit, and what drives them to continue their mission is the dream of the sea that has been accumulated in the empire for a long time! (To be continued......)

PS: Thank you book friends Ding zi, Xichen, zccharles for their monthly ticket support, and Zephyr. Knight, zhouyu1976's tip~~~