The sea breeze is cold, and the waves are surging.

The fire from the sea roared and resounded with legatos, and the light cruisers of the German Second Reconnaissance Fleet were hugging around the faltering British light cruisers, firing heavily with their 150-mm guns at a distance of less than 3 kilometers. Constant firelight exploded on the hull of the British ship, making the already damaged battleship even more intense. A few kilometres away, seven German battle cruisers had stopped beating the water dogs; They lined up in a column and began to slowly turn on the surface of the sea, aiming all their long and majestic main guns at the enemy ships approaching in the distance.

"Immediately send a report to Frederick the Great that the British battle cruiser fleet has appeared 10 nautical miles south of the reconnaissance fleet, and the location of the other 18 former dreadnoughts is unknown, and the reconnaissance fleet is about to collide with the enemy battle cruiser narrow road!" Hipper put down the binoculars in his hand and said loudly to an adjutant next to him. Although the enemy ship was only the size of an ant in the rangefinder, Hipper was already 100% sure of the identity of the other party; Because judging from the results of the previous reconnaissance, there is no semicolon other than the British battle cruiser fleet with an average speed of 25 knots that can appear in this sea area at this point in time!

Amid the sound of a terrible and rapid alarm, the entire crew of the German fleet began to move quickly. Feng, the gunnery officer who was eating? Hans hurriedly shoved the last slices of bread into his mouth, and then rushed down the gangway to the bridge with the crowd. He had thought that the British cruisers, who had not opened their eyes, had turned back again, and there was still a slight sense of relief in his heart; However, the solemn atmosphere in the central fire control room made him smell a trace of unusual breath. After a short time, the solemn voice of Commander Hipper's warning to all the crew sounded on the radio. Hans then understood. A real battle between the tip of the needle and the wheat mang. It's about to kick off now!

Inside the eight main turrets of two De Fringel-class battle cruisers. The German sailors pushed the 600kg armor-piercing projectile raised by the bomb lifter to the track for positioning; The actuator, driven by water pressure, pushes the one-meter-long round shell into the chamber. The two-stage cartridge was also steadily filled into the chamber at the rear of the gun, and the brass cartridge made a crisp sound as it struck the hard wall of the gun. The gun lock closes, the trunnion pitches, and the twin-mounted turret, weighing more than 700 tons, continues to rotate slightly as the real-time firing count from the other side of the intercom is heard. The gunner shoved the cotton ball into his ear. His eyes began to focus on the red light bell at the top of the turret, which symbolized the order to fire.

In the chart room of the Sedlitz, the well-uniformed navigator turned his gaze to the southeast of his homeland; He drew a cross on his chest and recited the prayer of mercy from Protestantism. On the side deck of the Von der Tann, a young man-dealing sailor in an orange life jacket pulled out a postcard with the girl's portrait on it; His lips were lightly printed, and his eyes flashed with tenderness of remembrance and resoluteness of responsibility.

In the boiler room of the Blucher, a rustic-looking stoker is sweating in an environment of more than 40 degrees, struggling to send a shovel of high-quality anthracite with an average calorific value of up to 27 megajoules/kg into the negative pressure boiler with a roaring furnace. In the main control room of the Pavrell and Moritz, the first mate involuntarily clenched the steering compass of the servo, as if this was the only way. Only then can they truly feel the company of their own battleship.

"Ding." With the crisp sound of the lighter lid opening, a silently burning cigar appeared at the corner of Hipper's mouth. Blue-purple smoke began to spread through the Command Tower. The pungent smell of nicotine sooths the nervous and restless hearts. The British are finally out, and the German High Seas Fleet is about to engage in a head-to-head showdown between the Titans. This kind of desire has appeared in everyone's mind since a few years ago, and all the plans they made before are no longer applicable due to the constantly changing situation, and now all they can rely on is the battleship under them and the play of the game on the spot! A century after the collapse of the First French Empire, there was another powerful Second German Empire, which issued the strongest voice of the era to challenge Britain's maritime hegemony head-on. Will they be able to change the world and create a new era, or will they repeat the tragedy of the French fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar and become another stepping stone for the British Navy to reach a higher peak? The 59,000 officers and men of the High Seas Fleet are nervous and longing, all waiting for the final moment when the mystery will be revealed.

"The enemy ship is at a distance of 20000 meters at an angle of 175." Not long after Hipper's order for Level 1 combat readiness, the current real-time report came from the microphone connected to the central fire control room. At this distance close to the limit range of artillery, Britain and Germany had a tacit understanding that they did not open fire, but narrowed the distance between each other in the continuous brewing and accumulation. The German war cruise, which had completed the turn, was north-westerly, still at an unhurried 18 knots; The British Battle Cruiser, on the other hand, was rushing towards 11 o'clock at a speed of more than 22 knots, and its tactical maneuver was a desperate battle for the death.

The black clouds rolled, the waves were surging, and the sun was revealing wisps of fiery red through the gaps in the clouds. The bitter wind gradually eased, and the water vapor in the air began to gradually dissipate; In the Zeiss rangefinder, which is observed at 23 times magnification, the silhouette of the British battleship is already gradually revealed. The first was led by three Lion-class ships, followed by the remaining six Rangers with eight 305mm guns. Nine British battlecruisers with broad shoulders and waists are like the behemoth Beamon recorded in the Bible, carrying a chilling killing intent; Even with the courage of this detachment of the fleet, no country in the world can show it except for Britain, Germany and the United States!

"The speed of the British has not even slowed down, are they ready to bite us here in one fell swoop?" Hearing the constant number of distances reported from the main control room, Hipper's brows furrowed, and he said in disbelief. Even for a ferocious and swift patrol, 22 knots is not an ideal speed to exert fire accuracy; The other side did this for only one reason, and that was that they didn't want to let the German fleet escape from their eyes at all! Feeling such a fierce and domineering style of the British fleet, Hipper's heart moved, and he instantly understood the choice of the other party's commander. The corners of his mouth hooked up a slight smile, and he said hesitantly: "You just returned from commanding the fleet, and you can't wait to return to the ocean?" It's a pity that I'm no longer the House of ten days ago, and if you want to reproduce the victory in the battle in the Mediterranean, it must be impossible to achieve it! ”

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Tensions are multiplying, and the fleets of both sides are already suffocating in their approach. In the central fire control room, Feng? Hans had already firmly locked the rangefinder on the "Lion", which was the first in the British battle column. At 9:15, a set of 16,500 meters of shooting numbers had just been calculated from the machine. At this moment, the sound of Hipper's "firing" came from the microphone connected to the command tower; Hans, who was waiting next to him, suddenly gave a loud command to shoot armor-piercing shells at each turret. With a roar of thunder that shook the mountains, four 350-mm shells instantly pierced through the clouds and fog like the sky-splitting thunder arrows in Hou Yi's bowstring, and shot towards the British fleet!

The firing of the flagship was the giving of the battle order. In the flags of the port side of the D-Fringer raised, the battle patrols lined up in the rear let out a furious roar against the enemy one after another; The red flames gushed into the sky, and soon disappeared with the sea breeze. The German fleet lined up its firepower in turn, and the six ships De Fringer, Lützov, Seydlitz, von der Tann, Blucher, and Balfoss attacked the enemy in front of them; And because the number of German battle cruisers was 2 less than that of the British, the Moritz, which was at the end of the battle column, directly chose to attack the last British Indomitable ship, and the invincible and unyielding scum ships in front were ignored by the German battle cruisers.

Just as the water column stirred up by the first salvo of the German battle patrol had not yet dispersed, the British battle patrol in the distance suddenly burst into clusters of crimson and brilliant light; Large-caliber shells roared in the wind and thunder, and also swept up an imposing wall of water near the German ships. Thanks to the relatively high charge, the sound of the British shells crashing into the water became even more imposing. Before the British rangefinders could take pride in the horrific noise of their shells, their brows furrowed at the ensuing sight.

At present, the south wind was blowing on the sea, and the smoke produced by the British battleships after firing their guns, and the black coal smoke from the chimneys, were all swept into the middle of the battlefield by this wind, which blurred the view of the British rangefinders on a large extent. In addition, the German battleships were located in the northeast, and the dazzling morning light that occasionally poured down through the clouds made their light gray shadows more and more imperceptible in the sea. On the triangular mast 50 meters above the sea, although the British rangefinder's eyes widened and forcibly captured the figure of the German ship in the distance, its accuracy was really difficult to guarantee. Two volleys were fired in succession, and the British battle cruisers' artillery fire was resounding, and nothing could be found except for the surging water column in the distance.

The German War Cruisers, on the other hand, did not have these observational constraints. In the more scientific way of firing a half-salvo, their artillery fire has been corrected in four rounds of different elevation angles, and the aim has been corrected and gradually found the right head. In the third "Catherine" turret of the De Fringel, the main gun on the right side of the complete new round of loading is being raised to a suitable elevation angle with the main gun on the same side as the "Anna", "Bertha", and "Dora" turrets; With a roar of thunder, the hard cap armor-piercing bullet immediately burst out in a cloud of fire, and in a short time it flew above the heads of the British! (To be continued......)

PS: Thank you for the reward of zhouyu1976~~