The British 3rd Battleship Formation opened fire again, this time targeting the German 3rd Battleship Formation, which was dispersing the opposing auxiliary ships. 4 Caesar-class ships immediately released a smoke screen and began to evade, and how could the British give up such a good opportunity? A dense rain of bullets from 40 13.5-inch guns sent huge columns of water around the German fleet, and from time to time a shell would hit the German ship, causing a fire on the superstructure. Although the distance was close, the British found that it was almost impossible to hit the ammunition compartment close to the waterline, the German battleships had a relatively low drystring, and the British battleships after the artillery leveling were more likely to hit the shells on the superstructure of the counter than near the waterline, although they made a hit, but because the accuracy was still lower, it did not pose much threat to the four Caesar-class battleships of the German second battleship formation in a short time.

And just when the British third battleship formation was easily hitting the German fleet that could not see the target from a distance and could not return fire, Hipper's avant-garde fleet had secretly approached the position less than 7KM away from the opponent, 7 capital ships, of which 4 were Bismarck-class battleships equipped with these 15-inch heavy guns, while the opponent only had 4! This can be described as a killer knife! Although Hipper adopts a hit-and-go strategy, he believes that a large caliber of more than 70 guns is a short fire, which will still bring huge damage to the opponent!

"Immediately after firing, release smoke grenades and move closer in the direction of the main fleet." After Hipper's last telegram before the exchange of fire, he began to wait for the two sides to get closer. But at this time, the mutation was abrupt! A group of British destroyers spotted the detachment of light cruisers that were covering the Hipper fleet on the periphery, and attempted to signal identification. And the signals of the British, the Germans, naturally, did not understand either, and after a short silence, 4 German light cruisers opened fire!

As soon as these light cruisers opened fire, they immediately startled Jericho and Hipper! Jericho didn't expect that there was a German fleet hidden near the third battleship formation, and Hipper was shocked because his carefully planned layout actually failed at the last moment! Not only was the British Third Battleship Formation on guard, but I am afraid that the Grand Fleet not far away already knew about its own existence! At this time, the main force of the British Grand Fleet was still hidden in the shadows, and there was no need to think about the rest. The British auxiliary warships will definitely rush over to find out, and they must not be able to hold the fire here. "It's a little farther away, but it shouldn't be much worse!" Look at the British 3rd Battleship Detachment not far away, which was spewing tongues of fire. Hipper's heart is unwilling!

"Fire!" The order to shoot was quickly communicated, and Hipper's flagship, the battleship Bismarck, fired the first salvo first! 10 thick barrels spewed out 10 dragons, and in such a crisis situation, Hippel didn't have time to continue playing with a half-salvo. The other party's tentacles are right next to him. Grand Fleet won't give itself too long! When the sound of Bismarck's cannons still echoed across the sea. Before the smoke from the muzzle of the guns had cleared, the other six capital ships also opened fire. The fire generated by the firing of more than 70 guns illuminated the surrounding area as if it were daylight, and huge figures were displayed in the night, and the officers and men of the British Third Fleet were immediately stupefied! They didn't expect that there would be such a powerful fleet hidden at such a close distance from them! But fortunately, Jericho, the big boss of the British, reacted quickly. Shortly after the Germans fired the first salvo, Jericho ordered all the battleships to open fire on the Hipper's fleet!

"The whole fleet was facing a tidal wave of flames, the enemy's artillery was close at hand, and the dense shells rained down on it like a wall. It feels like a devastating version that we can't even see the opponent clearly. You can only see the opposing battleship hidden in the flames. Ten seconds later, countless shells exploded around the fleet, some of them hit the bridge, blocks of steel plates and various equipment were destroyed by violent explosions, and a storm of flames raged on the battleship. It's like hell for us! One surviving British officer recalled.

The Iron Duke became the target of public criticism, and in just two volleys, it was hit by three main gun shells, and the turret on the amidships of the hull was directly penetrated, but the British learned the lesson of the past, there was no extra ammunition in the turret, but the two guns were destroyed, and the ammunition was not destroyed. Another shell blew the rangefinder at the top of the mast to pieces, and the last shell opened a large hole in the waterline, but fortunately did not explode. This was followed by the Thunderbolt, which also lost a main turret and hit 2 guns in the bow. Started a medium-sized fire. Hipper's attack was relatively successful, at least the timing was good, but alas, he had a good start but could not last long, because the counterattack of the British Grand Fleet had already begun! Countless fires rose from not far away, and cannonballs fell from the sky like meteor showers. The dark night sky was lit up by artillery fire and gunsmoke, and the whole sky presented a situation where red, gray and black blended together, giving people a strange and dangerous feeling!

"Attack and disengage!" In the face of the anger of the British Grand Fleet, Hipper did not dare to stay any longer, and the whole fleet continued to attack the British Third Battleship Formation while turning away, while at this time, the Luftwaffe planes continued to fly in the direction of the British Grand Fleet, and a flare exposed the entire British fleet. Huge figures appeared in the night, and at the edge of the darkness could be seen some slender but fast-moving creatures, which were light cruisers and destroyers that provided various auxiliary services to the entire fleet.

The British third battleship formation was scurrying in the attack of Hipper, and Hippert could only choose to avoid the attack of the British Grand Fleet, and at this time, Schell finally broke the silence, and all the capital ships of the remaining German High Seas Fleet began to attack the British Grand Fleet, 3 King-class battleships, 4 Caesar-class battleships and 4 Nassau-class battleships, nearly 100 350MM guns roared at the steel dragon in the distance, The whole battlefield immediately changed from an engagement between detachments to a decisive battle between the main fleets, and the British discovered that the German light cruiser was like a fuse detonating explosives, which made the whole battlefield completely boil!

The Germans no longer left any backhand at this time, almost all the planes and airships that could fly rushed to the battlefield and threw flares on the sea, and the British were unequivocal, almost all the battleships turned on the searchlights, and the farthest distance between the two sides was only 11KM, although this distance was still far away in the night battle, but there were too many artillery and too many shells! At this time, the two sides are not thinking about how to hide the problem at all, but how to completely kill each other!

The first to be destroyed was the Honbon, the 13.5-inch battleship that had survived the three major battles at sea did not escape from Hipper's hand after all, after the successful turn of the Iron Duke and the Thunderbolt, the third-ranked battleship was fired by the Bavaria and the Saxony in the process of turning, and the distance between the two sides was only 5KM! With the help of searchlights and flares, the two Bismarck-class super battleships smashed at least 6 shells on the poor battleship in a single salvo, the interval between hits was extremely short, and the explosions were one after another, and the entire battleship's flank was completely torn apart by this steel storm, and some even claimed to have seen the battleship move visibly with the naked eye!

The attack in just a very short period of time had completely decided the fate of this super dreadnought, and the ship's side was constantly shot, and the entire battleship's side chord was almost beaten into a honeycomb shape. Thousands of tons of seawater instantly poured into the inside of the hull, and the battleship, which was already somewhat overweight, quickly lost its balance, and the continuous blows made any damage ineffective, and in less than ten minutes, the battleship sank because of too much water! The entire hull of the ship slapped straight on the surface of the sea, and then was violently impacted into several pieces!

Soon, however, the British reaped the first success of the day, and the Goeben, located at the tail end of the Hipper's fleet, became the target of the Royal Oak, the Revenge, and the New Mexico because of its proximity! 16 15-inch guns and 12 14-inch guns fired a round of lethal salvos from 9KM away, although this distance was a bit far at night, but the opponent's firepower was too fierce! Nearly 50 tons of ammunition are poured out every minute! The Royal Oak even scored beyond the theoretical rate of fire, 2 shells a minute! The Goeben, the only remaining battleship of the German High Seas Fleet that could reach speeds of more than 25 knots, had absolutely no reason to survive, and the dense rain of bullets soon completely overwhelmed this poor battleship!

The York, which was next to Goburn, and the Mackenson, attempted to save the ship, and the 24 14-inch guns on the two ships turned their guns to attack the British Grand Fleet in the distance, followed by the Byrne. Hipper had to come up with more than half of his warships against the mighty British Grand Fleet. But even so, the dense artillery fire of the three British capital battleships still tore the Goeburn to pieces! So many shells hit the poor battleship that neither the Germans nor the British knew how the battleship sank, and according to the recollections of the German officers and men on the York, they could only hear a succession of assurances from the Goeburn, the whole battleship was wrapped in flames, and under the continuous explosions, the Goeburn finally disappeared into the sea, as for whether it was because of too much water or because the ammunition depot was detonated? This one is not clear!

But the climax of this night battle came and went as fast as it came, because soon the fleets of both sides could not see each other because of the thick smoke of gunpowder, the moving bulbs of the British were affected by the heavy artillery fire and sank a lot, and the German planes also ran out of flares, and soon, the invisible sides began to reduce the rate of fire, and when the muzzle flames went down, it was really dark! How do you fight if you can't see it?

Thanks to book friends Long Xinyue, zhouyu1976, hukaikaka for their tips~~~, and book friends ly3, Armani 1, jack21yzj, ranky, and dramekyo for their monthly pass support ~~~. (To be continued......)