Coal mist billowed and gunpowder smoke covered the air. In the roar of artillery fire like the drums of war, a large number of shells whizzed through the air, danced wildly, and then crashed into the sea, stirring up columns of water of varying heights.

Although the Zeiss rangefinders on the two German capital ships did not work as well as they could have in the fog, the aggressive British light fleet was still hit hard thanks to the huge radius of 11-inch shrapnel shells. By the time they had turned to the enemy, there were already four destroyers with bullet holes or flames, and their speed had dropped sharply to a slower rate than that of the Germans. The German fleet showed no mercy to these British destroyers, who had lost their speed, and fired 150-mm or 88-mm shells that crashed into these destroyers like a storm, exploding countless brilliant clouds of red and orange light on board. In a short time, they were all plunged into a raging sea of fire, the smoke rose hundreds of meters high, the hull was irretrievably tilted, and the fate of its sinking was inevitable.

Seeing this, Colonel Browns had no choice but to abandon these robes and let the remaining troops escape from the heavy artillery attack of the Germans as soon as possible. The loss of a few light warships was not a matter at all for the Royal Navy, which had a great business; His only thought now was to report the appearance of German armored cruisers in the Gulf of Helgoland to the rear support fleet, so that the battle cruisers could clean up the two evil German cruisers.

However, in the transmission of battlefield information, the British fleet made a fatal mistake.

According to the British Admiralty's original plan for a surprise attack on Helgoland Bay, there were only two forces to support the British light fleet: the C Fleet, consisting of four armored cruisers, and the K, consisting of two battle cruisers and four destroyers. When Jericho decided to send Betty's fleet. It's time to add another layer of insurance to this operation. The light flotilla under the command of Brigadier General Tirit was already galloping on the rough North Sea. It stands to reason that a staff officer of the British Admiralty. This important news should have been immediately reported to the light fleet, which had already departed, but somehow the British staff officer only threw this written message on the empty desk of the brigadier general!

As a result, no one in the entire British light fleet, from Commander Tyrit to the stoker in the destroyer, knew that there were three more super-dreadnought battlecruisers and six new light cruisers in their rear. After receiving Colonel Browns' report, Tyrit immediately sent a telegram to the flagships of the two detachments in the rear, the "Invincible" and the "Dionysian Priestess", requesting that the main force be sent to support.

At this time. Fleet K had already joined Betty, and Betty, who had a higher rank, became the commander of five battle cruisers. When the "Invincible" 30 nautical miles away received this distress telegram, the commander of the K fleet, Rear Admiral Moore, although he was anxious, could not act unilaterally, because the "Lion", which was flying the flag of the lieutenant commander, did not give any orders! In his opinion, since Betty chose to stand still, she must have a deep meaning, and she just needs to wait and obey orders with peace of mind. However, the reality is that Tylett's complete ignorance of the existence of Bandow Betty means that Betty, who has not received any reports, is ignorant of the fighting in the Gulf of Helgoland; In the spirit of "no news is good news". Betty was leisurely cruising with a large group of ships large enough to crush the German fleet, quietly waiting for the good news from the Gulf of Helgoland.

The complete opposite of Betty's laid-back calmness. On the armored cruiser "Dionysian Priestess", the commander of Fleet C, Rear Admiral Campbell, received a telegram asking for help, but immediately ordered the fleet to turn around and go to reinforce the light ship force that had encountered the enemy's patrol. As one of the final fleets sent by the Admiralty, Campbell is tasked with helping the light fleet in times of danger, and now is the time for him to realize his worth. According to the telegram sent by the front-line troops, the Germans had only two armored cruisers, while Campbell commanded four armored cruisers, which also strengthened his determination to rush into the harbor. No one thought that Betty would be kept in the dark, and no one thought to ask the commander of the fleet.

As a large amount of high-quality naval coal was shoveled into the boiler, the chimneys of the four armored cruisers "Dionysian Priestess", "Cressie", "Hogg", and "Abujir" spewed out thick black smoke, and the old three-expansion reciprocating steam engine made a lot of noise in the violent vibration, gradually pushing the speed of the entire warship to a peak. For the upcoming battle, Major General Campbell was full of ambition. The armament and patrol capital in his hands also belonged to the Cressy class, which was completed in 1902: its standing displacement was 12,000 tons, its maximum speed was 21 knots, and the ship was equipped with two single 234 mm L47 main guns, 12 single 152 mm secondary guns, 12 76 mm rapid-fire guns and two 450 mm torpedo tubes, and the waterline had 152 mm of case-hardened armor.

Although the ships of this class were far inferior to the German kind of strange patrol in terms of main gun firepower, with a huge numerical advantage of 2 to 1, Campbell had no reason to admit it. Moreover, in his opinion, the brave and aggressive Betty must have rushed to the Helgoland Bay with a large group of men; All he had to deal with was a few torpedo boats, two light cruisers at most, and it was clear that they could not be the match for this armed patrol force!

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Because this old-fashioned patrol launched in 1902 was far less valuable than the battle patrol, Campbell's fleet was less than 20 nautical miles from the Gulf of Helgoland at the time of the battle; So it wasn't long before they heard the faint sound of shelling coming from the fog. As time passed, Campbell suddenly felt that something was wrong: judging by his experience in the navy for so many years, the sound of shelling in the distance was clearly not imposing, and it was definitely not emitted by the 343-mm and 305-mm heavy guns on the British battlecruisers!

Could it be that Betty had already eliminated the Germans, and now only Goodno's light cruisers were left to sweep up the remnants of the enemy? If you think about it, this is not impossible: compared to the two old German cruisers launched in 1898, the five battlecruisers in Betty's hands are simply god-like, and it is entirely possible that they can send these two German sheep to the bottom of the sea completely in a very short time. With a slight relief in doubt, Campbell gradually approached the battlefield, but when the real situation in the fog was revealed in front of his eyes, Campbell couldn't help but gasp.

The calm sea that was once sparkling was now a scene of fierce and chaotic engagement: light ships dragging heavy soot shuttled back and forth on the battlefield like barracudas, carrying out various tactical maneuvers such as charge, turn, and evacuation. From time to time, ships were hit by the cannon fire flying all over the sky, and they burst into a dazzling daze. A silvery-white waterline out of the battlefield rushed towards the Cressie, causing the ship to evade and veer. In the distance, two gray shadows were using their cannons to provide fire support to the fighting light ships; The occasional eruption of an earth-shattering roar that was completely different from any of the artillery on the field was enough to confirm their identity!

By this time, the morning fog had diminished considerably as the sun had risen, and the lookouts could clearly see what was happening within ten kilometers: Betty's battlecruisers had not appeared in the Helgoland Bay, and the two evil German cruisers were still alive and well, and were raining heavy artillery fire on their own destroyers. Enraged, Campbell immediately ordered the fleet to turn around and insert it at an oblique angle into the center of the battlefield to attack the German patrol, which posed the greatest threat to his own fleet. At this time, Campbell still did not know that Dou Betty did nothing, believing that he only had to entangle the Germans for a while, and the subsequent arrival of his own battlecruisers would be enough to wipe everything out.

"Boom!" A series of thunderous roars rang out in the air, and the 234mm cannons on the British armored cruisers rushed out with dazzling orange flames; Shells sporadically crashed into the sea a few hundred meters away from the two German ships, and the waves swept and the water column soared into the sky. Amid the cheers of the officers and men on the British destroyer, Campbell's four mounted cruisers moved forward quickly while firing with their main guns, and the battlefield momentum was completely captured for a while.

Seeing the sudden appearance of a turbulent column of water on the nearby sea, Rear Admiral Maas, who was sitting on the Heinrich, couldn't help but be surprised; However, after only a minute, he immediately calmed down from his initial panic. Through the high-powered telescopes, the British battleships that rushed to the battlefield for reinforcements should have been several old armored cruisers, not the fast battlecruisers with the iconic triangular masts that they could not avoid, which can also be inferred from the height of the water column stirred up by their main guns. Looking at the British patrols in the distance that were rapidly approaching him, Maas couldn't help but pout slightly; Although the rapid appearance of this batch of British outfits was indeed unexpected by him, if he wanted to kill him in a decisive battle with such a little strength, then he could only say that the British were too righteous!

"The order was given, and the light cruisers and torpedo boats immediately broke away from the entanglement with the British light ships and returned to their units. The fleet turned four compass points to the right, the main guns were prepared, and the ship and the Yorke attacked the first and second ships in the British ranks, respectively. The corners of Maas's mouth hooked up a calm smile, and he said hesitantly, "In addition, send a telegram to General Hipper, and four more British patrols have appeared off the coast of Helgoland Bay in the 13th District, requesting that the battle cruiser fleet come immediately for reinforcements!" (To be continued......)

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