"Selling newspapers and newspapers, big news that shocked the world, the German High Seas Fleet attacked and lost both sides with the British Royal Navy, a total of 17 battleships on both sides of the war were sunk, and countless casualties were suffered."

"Selling newspapers and selling newspapers, the Germans swore to carry out unrestricted submarine warfare to the end."

"Selling newspapers, selling newspapers," said Mr. Churchill, former Secretary of the Admiralty, with tears in his eyes; The Germans will never be forgiven, never! ”

Lu Xiaotian looked back in amazement; “……”

LI Jianhua; “……”

Gorgeous Lady; “……”

The news of the Anglo-German Battle of the North Sea quickly spread around the world, causing a global shock and becoming the most concerned major event in the world at the end of April 17.

It was a fierce naval battle that had not broken out in the previous history, and the main force of the German High Seas Fleet once again went out to fight the British Royal Navy, and both sides were defeated.

Why did the German High Seas Fleet once again challenge the British Royal Fleet, which was much more powerful than itself?

The reason originated from the fact that after the aircraft carrier Dinghai arrived in the Yasuol Islands at the end of February and joined the Royal Yasuol fleet, it immediately organized an aircraft carrier task force to carry out escort, submarine search, and submarine attack missions, and to cruise on the Atlantic route.

Since the beginning of Germany's unrestricted submarine warfare, all ships traveling to and from the Atlantic route, regardless of country or purpose, have all been within the strike range of German submarines, and the passenger and cargo ships of the Ocean Empire have naturally not been spared.

More than 100 German submarines used the Atlantic route and the North Sea as their hunting grounds, and began to frantically strangle with impunity, setting off waves of horrific deaths.

The German admirals shouted;

It will take six months to strangle Britain and force it to surrender, and its most powerful weapon is "unrestricted submarine warfare".

After the aircraft carrier Dinghai joined the escort battle sequence of the Atlantic route, it played a huge role and broke the German attempt.

The troop carriers sent to Europe have so far transported more than 720,000 people under the escort of warships, and there have been no casualties on a single ship.

Looking down from an altitude of five or six hundred meters in the air, the German submarine sailing in the periscope state showed a huge black shadow under the sea surface, and there was nothing to hide.

More than a month

The "Dinghai" aircraft carrier task force sank seven German submarines one after another, dealing a heavy blow to the arrogance of German submarines in the Atlantic Ocean and forcing them to stay away from the waters around the Atlantic route.

In this case

The German High Command had no cards to play, and after suffering two successive defeats in the Somme and Verdun battles on the Western Front, and suffering heavy setbacks in the unrestricted submarine warfare, it seemed that the hope of winning the war was gradually dimming.

The Germans, cornered, were crazy, and they thought of the German High Seas Fleet, which had been violently guarded, and after more than a year of restoration, the German battleships that had suffered heavy losses in the Battle of Jutland had been repaired and regained their combat effectiveness.

Thus, the hope of breaking the cage was placed on the German High Seas Fleet.

The outbreak of the world war to the present day

For three and a half years, Britain imposed a naval blockade on Germany with its naval superiority. The British main fleet squatted like a watchdog in the port of Scapaflo and stared at the German high seas fleet, so that it was trapped in Wilhelmshaven and Bremerhaven for most of the time, becoming a veritable "presence fleet".

The German High Seas Fleet had only 23 battleships, while the Royal Navy's Home Fleet had 42 ships, and the difference in strength was obvious, making it difficult for the German High Seas Fleet to conduct a large-scale fleet decisive battle with the Royal Navy's Home Fleet.

Admiral Schell, commander of the German High Seas Fleet, based on the experience of the Battle of Jutland, set his sights on the British main fleet blockading the port of Scapaflo.

More than three years

The Germans had already figured out important information such as the composition of the main British fleet blockading the bay, patrol routes, rotation rules, etc., so they chose the favorable opportunity for some of the British main battleships to return to their home ports to refuel, refuel, and replenish supplies, and dispatched a sneak attack on the British fleet.

In view of the leakage of information about the Battle of Jutland in advance, the Germans did a very strict job of secrecy in this operation, changed the cipher code before the operation, and did sufficient camouflage and secrecy work to achieve the suddenness of the sneak attack.

April 27, 5:30 a.m.

The main British fleet under Admiral Hippel was cruising in the waters of the North Sea, unaware that the Germans were already searching for the British fleet more than 50 miles away.

More than 50 minutes later

As the sky brightened, the British fleet lookout post observed a zeppelin in the sky and sounded the alarm, but the officer on duty judged it to be a false alarm, which was a major mistake.

After the Battle of Jutland, the German High Seas Fleet underwent deep introspection; Due to ignoring the role of air power, it was a mistake in the decision of the British side not to carry 12 zeppelins for reconnaissance and early warning to search for the British fleet.

In this battle, the Germans sent all 17 (including newly-built) zeppelins, and this one hovering in the sky was one of them, and immediately sent a secret telegram after discovering the British fleet, and quickly rose and hid in the clouds.

After receiving the news, Admiral Schell of Germany immediately issued an order for all men to be ready for battle, adjusted the battle formation, and pounced fiercely in the direction of the British Royal Navy fleet.

After clarifying the positions of the enemy and the enemy, Admiral Schell was very cunning and led the German High Seas Fleet directly in front of the British fleet, intending to seize the "T" prefix in advance.

More than two hours later

Around 8:40 a.m

The British Royal Navy fleet spotted the neatly arranged German fleet in front, appearing at the end of the skyline, about 26 kilometers away, in a "long snake formation" at high speed, the front width of the spread was 17 kilometers, and the German ships were black and boundless, full of murderous aura.

This made the face of the commander of the British fleet, Admiral Jericho, change his face greatly, where did he not know that he had fallen into the trap of the Germans?

The Grand Fleet led by him had more than 130 ships, concentrating the essence of the British Royal Navy's home fleet, and in the normal cruising state, the forward fleet and the rear fleet pulled out a queue of more than 40 kilometers, which could not be closed in a hurry.

The day before yesterday, a detachment of four battleships and seven cruisers returned to Scapa Bay for routine replenishment, leaving Admiral Jericho with only 33 capital ships (including eight Metropolis-class battleships purchased from the Ocean Empire).

The German High Seas Fleet brought together 21 capital ships, and the ratio of capital ships of the two sides was 3:2, the gap was unprecedentedly narrowed, and Germany had already taken the lead in occupying the advantageous position, and the situation was extremely unfavorable to the British Royal Navy.

For the sake of the present

Only by trying to entangle the opponent, order the rear fleet to catch up quickly, rely on stronger strength to defeat the Germans, and fight a bloody way.

After a series of orders were issued, the Royal Navy's Grand Fleet began to slowly change formations.

The huge fleet group turned to the northwest course 45 degrees, and the fourth, ninth, eleventh, and twelfth destroyer flotillas in the rear quickly moved forward and galloped at high speed in the direction that the German battleships were pressing.

4 British destroyer fleets, a total of 57 destroyers, bravely rushed towards the German front, drew 57 clear white tracks on the sea, formed 8~9 arrows in the high-speed gallop, and the frontal width of the spread was nearly 20 kilometers, which looked magnificent.

Their task was to quickly approach the enemy fleet and fire torpedoes, disrupt the Germans' positions, and buy time for subsequent operations.

Face a strong enemy

The Royal Navy showed its deep heritage, changing formation while making a wide turn, the alarm bell sounded throughout the fleet, and the officers and men rushed to their positions as fast as they could, ready to meet the German High Seas Fleet.

In the face of the suicidal charge of the British destroyer fleet, the high seas fleet did not dare to slack off, and with an order, it slowed down its speed, made a ninety-degree turn in unison, exposed the side side, aimed at the British destroyer fleet approaching at high speed, and then opened fire fiercely.

The German fleet was like a very patient hunter, taking the lead in organizing large-caliber main ship guns to carry out long-distance interception, and at a distance of 10,000 yards, an exploding forest of water columns was created.

Because of the premeditation, several layers of German battleships, heavy cruisers and light cruisers were formed in several layers, and the speed was uniformly slowed down to 5 knots per hour, and the precise shelling was carried out.

From 10,000 yards to 7,000 yards, from 7,000 yards to 5,000 yards, the density of German naval fire continued to increase, and you could see the crisscrossing tracks on the blue sea, the warships that exploded and burned one after another, and the British destroyers that completed the breakthrough in the peaks and valleys.

The Defender, the Goshawk, the Hydra, the Lap, the Authorization, the Moxie, the Bone Quan, the Mary Rose, the Narwhal, or the other......

Braving the fierce German artillery fire in the high-speed advance, more than a dozen British destroyers were shot and caught fire one after another, either becoming blazing torches on the sea, or slowly sinking, or suffering heavy losses.

When the distance approached within 5,000 yards, the German ship's 152 mm, 122 mm and 95 mm secondary guns erupted into a roar, and the density and accuracy of the fire attack reached a new level, and the dense and terrifying shells in the air fell down like a raging storm.

It's just 4 minutes

The British Lizard, Spitfire and Nomad were hit one after another, and the Nomad caused a torpedo explosion after being hit, blowing up the entire bow of the ship, leaving the second half of the hull into the sea water, advancing dozens of meters before resurfacing, but it had become a pile of broken copper and iron.

The destroyer fleet, which forced its way through the enemy's fire network, suffered heavy losses and was forced to release torpedoes in advance only at a distance of 4500 yards from the battle line of enemy ships.

The British destroyer, moving at high speed, turned at a sharp angle on the surface of the sea and released the torpedo, making a fan-shaped shape.

After only a muffled sound of "puff puff" was heard, a total of about 190 steam torpedoes fell into the sea, and then swooped down at high speed towards the battle line formed by the German warships, marking countless criss-crossing death tracks on the sea.

In the face of the dense torpedo array, the German ships couldn't help but panic, and the small and medium-caliber secondary guns did not have time to continue to attack the British destroyers, but lowered the muzzles of the guns and began to bombard the sea surface, and manipulated the warships to make evasive actions.

Take this opportunity

The British destroyer quickly turned at a large angle, trying to get out of the range of the German naval ships as quickly as possible and escape from this land of death.

The destroyer's small body is simply not enough to see in front of a huge battleship, and when it comes to a distance of 3,000 yards, the main ship's gun with the barrel flattened is like a turkey, and basically a round of artillery fire reimburses a destroyer.

Due to the backward technology, the range of steam torpedoes in this era was generally between 1500 and 2800 meters, and the torpedoes fired at 4500 meters only had a symbolic threat, which was completely relied on.

Because of the distance, the steam gas power was exhausted, and the speed of the torpedo was already very slow, and the enemy ships were easily able to dodge.

But the sacrifice of these British destroyers was not without merit, and they managed to buy 25~30 minutes for their own fleet.

The deafening sound of artillery was like thunder, and the main forces of the British and German navies officially entered the field and launched a fierce battle in the North Sea......