Hipper finally decided to break through, but the premise of the breakthrough was to rescue the 4 Caesar-class battleships behind him from the Queen-class guns, and it was not a wise choice to go up directly to attack, and it was particularly difficult for regular battleships to resist the Queen's 15-inch naval guns, what if their own battleships were heavily damaged? Therefore, the safest way is to deal with or severely damage the Tiger at the rear of the opponent's palace, and then approach from the side to avoid the opponent's strong main artillery group, so that the Warrior ranked No. 3 can only attack itself with 4 tail guns at most.

The two fast battleships quickly turned under the command of Hipper, and decisively concentrated all the remaining artillery attacks on the Tiger at the tail of the team, and in order to maintain the formation, the Tiger's maneuverability advantage could not be brought into play, and because of the position, the Tiger's firepower could not be fully exerted, and the two German battleships attacked the last British battle cruiser with twice the number of guns.

Soon, a barrage of shells covered the Tiger, and in just three minutes, the Germans made a hit, two shells hit the poor battleship almost at the same time, and one shell hit the horizontal armor of the Tiger's No. 3 turret, because of the angle, the shell did not penetrate but was bounced off, but the fierce armor still caused the horizontal armor of the turret to crumble, and countless fragments fell overhead, not only killing and injuring most of the British officers and soldiers who were operating in the turret, but also destroying the servo of one of the guns.

Another shell hit the stern of the ship, and after piercing the fragile tail armor belt, exploded directly above the dome, destroying several compartments and damaging the steering gear to a certain extent. But it's okay. It's not as bright, but it's still usable.

The Germans' intentions were soon discovered by Thomas, and the sinking of the two dreadnoughts put their rear in jeopardy. The Tiger is much stronger than his brothers. But in the face of two German super-dreadnoughts, there is no future in hard resistance. Maybe the next shell will kill the battleship. Unlike Betty, Thomas is a person who knows the shape clearly, does not get carried away when he has the advantage, and does not get overwhelmed when the situation is critical, Betty's pungent ferocity may make him better in the face of adversity or draw. He was far inferior to Thomas.

"Order the Tiger to break out of formation, and the whole fleet will release smoke to widen the distance between it and the opponent." Looking at the murderous two German fast battleships behind him, Thomas finally decided to slow down. Let's take a look at the anti-plan. As a result, there was such a scene on the battlefield, the Caesar-class battleships that had been besieged for a long time released smoke and retreated, and the three Queen-class battleships that had been fighting smoothly also gave up the attack.

"Ugh." Look at the British fleet that moves cleanly. Hipper was a little dazed. In the distance, Warweary and Barem and two Dutch warships were besieging two national warships, and Hipper had the heart to save them, but the four British capital ships that were eyeing him in the distance still made him unable to let go. There were also heavy losses on their own side, and the two fast battleships were okay, and they have been bullying soft persimmons. And the 4 Caesar-class ships except for the Catherine were heavily damaged, and the remaining main guns of the 4 battleships are only 20! A small half of the losses were lost, and the firepower of the opposing Queen-class battleships was relatively intact. If you really open up the battle to fight. These 6 warships of their own are really not necessarily opponents.

While Hipper was hesitating whether to continue the breakout or go to the rescue, the British had already helped him make a choice. The Seydlitz, known in history as an immortal little power, this new Seydlitz, which is stronger than in history, finally could not withstand the continuous blows of the British's new armor-piercing shells and heavy artillery. Over the course of nearly an hour-long engagement, the Seydlitz repeatedly pierced through the main armor belts on both the left and right strings.

THESE TWO GERMAN BATTLESHIPS INHERITED THE TRADITION OF WEAK TURRET PROTECTION OF GERMAN BATTLESHIPS IN HISTORY, ALTHOUGH THE GERMANS ALSO STRENGTHENED THE BARREL PROTECTION, GIVING THEM A 320MM FACE, BUT IN THE FACE OF THE EQUALLY STRENGTHENED BRITISH GUNS, THIS THICKNESS OF ARMOR IS STILL NOT POWERFUL! Faced with the attack of 16 15-inch guns and 12 14-inch guns, the two tragic German battleships lost the ability to fight back in a short time.

The turret was a cannonball magnet, and in just a quarter of an hour, the four turrets of the Seydlitz were beaten into four flaming flares! The thick barrel shrugged listlessly, or was blown in two. Billowing smoke and flames poured out of the turret breach, filling the entire bridge. The main armor of the Seydlitz was penetrated several times, and although it was a simultaneous engagement on both sides without a strict tilt, the Germans discovered over time that their battleship was sinking "steadily". No matter how delicate the compartments were, the captain of the Seydlitz finally gave the order to abandon the ship, when the water of the Seydlitz reached a certain point and even the capital of the ship disappeared from time to time.

"The Seydlitz has sunk, and the next one is Lütsov." Looking at the slowly sinking battleship, Hipper knew that this time he had lost, and he had lost badly, and he had exchanged two elite fast battleships for two old dreadnoughts of the other party! What a fiasco! The sinking of the Seydlitz indicates that it will not be long before 4 British fast battleships will be free to attack themselves, and if they don't leave at this time, then there is really no chance!

"Full speed out!" Without the slightest hesitation, Hipper decisively commanded all the warships. And Thomas, after a moment's hesitation, did not direct the fleet in pursuit. This disappointed Hipper, and he was going to do it again.

Afterwards, when Thomas was asked why he didn't pursue him and let his opponent go, Thomas's explanation was simple. "According to the intelligence of the Russians, they only found 4 King-class battleships, so where are the remaining 6 dreadnoughts? If they come to the battlefield, my fleet will be in an extremely disadvantageous situation. "The Russians were pinning down the German fleet in the Baltic, but again, they could not guarantee that they would contain the entire fleet of the other side. Scheer only brought 4 King-class and auxiliary ships to confront the opponent, and the other 6 ships really did not appear, so where are they now?

They weren't heading to the battlefield or preparing to go to the battlefield as Thomas thought. FOUR OF THE SIX SHIPS ARE BEING RETROFITTED ON SLIPWAYS, AND THE MASSIVE 3-PACK TURRET WILL BE REPLACED WITH TWIN 350MM GUNS. This will be the most crucial step in Scheer's plan to increase his power, and the other two ships have been refitted by this time, but are hiding in a corner of Kiel Harbor, waiting to surprise their opponents at some point.

Lütsov is very good, he has been resisting, and destroyed the Amsterdam No. 1 turret, but in any case, can not change its final sinking fate, after destroying all the main guns, the British battleship boldly approached the attack, firing at a distance of less than 8KM, a round of armor-piercing shells penetrated the armor of the Lütsov without pressure, perhaps because the distance is too close, so most of the shells fell on the superstructure and the upper armor, so the damage on the waterline is not very large. But as a result, the Lütsov eventually lost all of its artillery. The entire battleship floated on the surface of the sea like a huge torch.

"Sink him with a torpedo, and we'll go." Thomas said after one look. With a few dull loud noises, the curtain came down on the second naval confrontation between Britain and Germany. The British Royal Navy exchanged 2 old dreadnoughts for two fast battleships of the German High Seas Fleet. The German Navy suffered unprecedented losses. And Thomas also became famous because of this battle.

"I knew you were going to make it. Brothers! Jericho himself came out to greet the new hero of the Kingdom of Great Britain. Thomas's actions swept away the frustration and gloom of the British Navy over the past year. It even beat the fast fleet of the German High Seas Fleet to the name of existence, leaving only 2 Moltke-class fast battleships. The German Navy's once formidable avant-garde has vanished.

"This is just the beginning, we will make the Germans pay with blood! We will avenge the sinking of the Royal Navy warships and the officers and men who died in the battle! Sooner or later, we will sweep the North Sea and wipe out the Allied fleets in the Mediterranean. It may be a long time, but we are confident that we will have the perseverance to finish him! Speaking to reporters, Thomas said.

In the photo, behind Thomas is the huge 15-inch gun port of the Queen Elizabeth-class battleship. And the photo ended up making the front page of The Times. The British people cheered for the victory and cheered for the new stars born in the Royal Navy. Thomas finally made his way into the heart of the Royal Navy with an irrefutable record. At this moment, even Churchill had to admit that Thomas's watch was indeed much better than Betty's. He is better suited to master the Grand Fleet.

While the British were celebrating their victory, Hipper was tasting the bitter fruits of defeat. The sinking of the two capital ships reduced the number of German warships from 18 to 16, and the number of warships that could be dispatched in a short period of time did not even exceed 8. Now the German Navy has four ships that can be used immediately, two warships that have just been upgraded to ultra-dreadnought, plus their own Moltke and Goeben. Each of the 4 Caesar-class ships is damaged and needs to be repaired, and the 4 Bismarck-class battleships will be commissioned over the next 4 months. They will take the place of the battle-damaged ships, but it is desperate that the German Navy will not be able to do anything more for two months.

It was no problem to knock the Russians, but it was almost impossible to stop the British Imperial fleet from moving south, and the British could now even mobilize 2 battleship detachments into the Mediterranean, thus covering the French Army's heading to North Africa on the one hand, and launching an offensive against the Allied Mediterranean Fleet on the other. The North Sea may calm down for a while, but the Mediterranean will relapse into a contest of blood and fire.

Thanks to the book friend zhouyu1976 for the tip~~~. (To be continued......)