In the absence of battleships and battlecruisers, light cruisers became the current protagonists of this naval battle.

Betty hesitated to ask Colonel Field for advice:

"What do you think we should do? I should go to the aid of Terit, but the whole country will not forgive me if I lose a valuable battlecruiser. ”

Field, who was not responsible at the time, was just "desperate for excitement" and blurted out:

"Of course we're going."

So Betty made up her mind, and at 11:30 Betty's battle cruiser galloped southeast.

Now that the Great War has begun, there is no reason for the Germans fighting at their doorstep to hold back on the enclosed sea, which is blocked by mines and submarines on the periphery.

The Germans are continuing to deploy troops, and their goal is to trap all the British ships here.

Just as the great ships of Wilhelmshaven were anxiously waiting for the high tide to come so that they could set off for the battle, they received news that a formation of five British battle cruisers was approaching the battlefield.

The entry of the British battle cruisers turned the battlefield sharply, and the German light cruisers, seeing that the situation was not good, began to flee.

The luck of the "Cologne" was clearly not good enough, and Betty, with the advantage of the speed of the battlecruiser, easily cut off the retreat of the "Cologne".

Within a few minutes, the "Cologne" was a wrecked ship. Then another German cruiser appeared in front of Betty.

This is the "Ariadne", which has just arrived on the battlefield, and it is still ignorant of the battle situation, and the scene that has just happened to the "Cologne" is played out again.

In just 10 minutes, it was completely enveloped in fire and smoke.

The long-awaited tide level of the Germans finally arrived, and with a cheerful whistle, 6 battlecruisers were the first to sail to the area of engagement.

By this time, five British battle cruisers had arrived in the area of engagement, and with asymmetrical firepower and tonnage, they strangled the German destroyer and light cruiser formations on the sea.

Of course, the Germans on the sea had also received news from the rear, and they now had only one purpose, which was to die here rather than leave the British ships behind.

Many German light cruisers escaped doom due to the fog, and if the weather was clear, they would have died in front of the British battlecruisers.

Even in the one-sided battle, the strings in Betty's heart still burst tightly.

By this time the water level at the mouth of the Jed River had risen, and the main German fleet was probably already on its way.

At 1 p.m., Betty signaled the retreat of all British ships in the bay, less than 40 minutes before he joined the battlefield.

As the fog gradually faded, a formation of six German battle cruisers led by the "Blucher" arrived in the area of battle.

For the arrival of this moment, the Germans have already paid a heavy price.

The British fleet did not love the war after the success, and quickly evacuated after picking up some of the German ships that had fallen overboard, and when the German battlecruisers arrived at the scene after the high tide at noon, the British were already nowhere to be seen.

The Helgoland Bay Raid was the first naval fleet engagement of World War I, and there is no doubt that the British inflicted a humiliation on the German fleet under the noses of the Ocean Fleet.

Although the Ocean Fleet was close at hand with huge ships and heavy guns, it could only watch the British fleet fly away due to the low tide.

The news spread throughout Britain, and for most Britons, who did not understand the process and only cared about the result, this long-awaited victory was undoubtedly a shot in the arm.

But for insiders, there is only a fine line between victory and disaster.

The naval battle had a major impact on Germany's naval strategy, and the Kaiser ordered the fleet to "remain on the defensive and avoid combat activities that could lead to greater losses." During this period, the German Far East Fleet in the Pacific off the coast of China began a naval guerrilla war.

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However, just as the writers had finished the script, the Admiralty issued a new directive to add the second naval battle of the Gulf of Heligoland.

This is even more puzzling, although the second naval battle of Heligoland Bay is closer from the main line of the movie, it does not seem to be necessary.

And trapped in the relationship of the length of the movie, if you add this content, the total length is enough to cut out two movies.

Do you want to make it into two parts? It's too risky.

The most important thing is that the cost of filming will also skyrocket!

The naval battle, later known as the Second Battle of Heligoland Bay, originated from a plan developed by the High Seas Fleet to gather intelligence on large minefields and mine nets deployed by the British outside the main German mine lines in the Horns Reef-Tscherling area of Heligoland Bay, near the main base of the High Seas Fleet.

The German fleet needed to figure out the areas covered by minefields in order to find a route to the North Sea that would be able to avoid the main minefields.

To this end, a series of so-called "path-findings" were planned, each of which was a large-scale operation, with mine-detecters and minesweepers opening the way, followed by torpedo boats, U-boats, barrier-breaking boats, and light cruisers, and reconnaissance planes probing in front of them to warn the British warships of intelligence.

The "Pathfinder" fleet can only be escorted by heavy capital ships in areas known to be free of mines.

For the British, extensive minelaying has become their main precaution in protecting sea lines of communication, communications and trade.

They hoped that the minefield would blow up the U-boats and raiders that were trying to sneak up and at least make them take a detour.

The threat of German raid ships became very urgent in October 1917.

Because two modern German high-speed light cruisers, the Bloomer and the Brems, both joined the High Seas Fleet around 1916 and were armed with 150mm guns, were ordered to attack the British convoy between Lerwick, Scottish, Shetland, and Bergen, Norway.

The two German ships arrived at their intended positions on the night of 16-17 October and waited for the appearance of a convoy that they had already heard from radio communications.

Originally designed as high-speed minelayers, the Brummer-class was armed with four single 150 mm guns, two 500 mm torpedo tubes, capable of carrying 400 mines, but the main armor belt was only 40 mm.

The design speed is 28 knots, and the actual test speed is as high as an astonishing 34 knots. Due to its high speed, the Royal Navy quickly designed the E-class (Emerald-class) light cruisers capable of reaching 33 knots as a countermeasure

Official German records indicate that the flotilla consisted of 10 merchant ships and two or three escort destroyers, but Admiralty records indicate that there were actually 12 merchant ships, escorted by two destroyers, the Marirose and the Strongbow, on which the flotilla headquarters was located.

The flotilla was on its way back from Bergen to Lerwick, sailing in a double column.

Before dawn on 17 October, the German ships visually spotted the convoy about 61 miles off the Shetland coastline and engaged the Strongbow, who then bravely turned to the German ships in an attempt to protect the fleet.

German records show that the Strongbow opened fire on two light cruisers, while the Maryrose turned north and broke away.

With the overwhelming firepower of the two light cruisers, the Strongbow was quickly sunk, and the German ships turned to merchant ships, which were already at this time stopped and hurriedly lowered their lifeboats to flee for their lives.

At this point, the Mary Rose turned back and began to attack the German ship, but again it did not last long.

Ten of the 12 merchant ships were sunk by German ships, only 10 on board the Mary Rose survived, and all 47 people on board the Strongbow were killed.

Immediately after the attack, the Royal Navy sent light cruisers and the battlecruiser Indomitable to pursue the German ships, but were unable to find any trace of the German ships that were fleeing back to their bases after the attack.

The Indomitable only rescued the survivors of the Mary Rose.

Subsequently, from the beginning of November 1917, the convoy between Norway and Scotland was strengthened to consist of battleships and light cruisers to ensure that any possible attack could be repelled.

November 1917 seemed to bode well when a group of light cruisers and destroyers of the Royal Navy caught up with and sank the German auxiliary cruiser Wilhelm, along with 10 trawlers.

By the weekend of the first week, November 11, 1917, a squadron of battle cruisers, accompanied by light cruisers and destroyers, conducted another patrol in the North Sea over the minefields of the Helgoland Bay, without encountering any enemy ships.

At this time, Germany was planning the next "pathfinder" operation, which took place on November 17, 1917.

The operational forces included the 2nd, 4th and 6th Auxiliary Minesweeper Squadrons, the 6th Minesweeper Squadron, the 12th and 14th Torpedo Boat Squadrons, the 4th Barrier-Breaking Group and the Light Cruisers of the 2nd Reconnaissance Group, commanded by Brigadier General von Lürt of the 6th Auxiliary Minesweeper Squadron.

The battleships Kaisers and Empress Catherine from the 4th Battleship Squadron, commanded by Captain Glashof of the Catherine, served as a covering force for the fleet.

The two dreadnoughts were each armed with 10 12-inch guns, but they were still west of Heligoland Bay when the Pathfinder flotilla had arrived at a predetermined rendezvous point near Horns Reef-Techering Island in the middle of Helgoland Bay at 7 a.m. and began their formation.

Since it was impossible to send land-based airships for reconnaissance and light cruisers could not take off for water reconnaissance, the German fleet could only rely on two land-based reconnaissance aircraft taking off from Borkum Island, far on the mainland, to provide forward reconnaissance.

Just after 8 a.m., the German minesweepers were suddenly attacked by British light cruisers, the C-series light cruisers Caledon and Calypso, with a speed of 29 knots and five 6-inch guns.

According to German records, the light cruisers Königsberg and Nuremberg immediately accelerated to the northwest to meet the British ships to protect the minesweepers.

At the same time, the torpedo boats of the 12th and 14th squadrons also received orders to maneuver in the north and northwest directions, interspersed with the release of smoke screens between the British and German ships.

At this time, the V45 torpedo boat took the opportunity to occupy an advantageous position and fired torpedoes at the British ships, while the minesweepers turned east and retreated with the help of smoke screens.

A German testimony stated that the Königsberg, the flagship of the 2nd Reconnaissance Group, was still close to the minesweepers of the 2nd and 6th Squadrons when the British opened fire, so the Nuremberg, commanded by Captain Hildebrand, was the first to turn northwest for engagement.

The torpedo boats spread out to the northwest and north and released smoke screens, and after the retreat of the minesweepers, the torpedo boats and light cruisers turned to the southeast and released more smoke screens to cover the retreat, while interspersing themselves between the British ships and minesweepers to fend off the fire.

The British light cruisers then turned their attention away from the demining sweepers that were evacuating, and the German light cruisers who came to intercept them.

At this time, the embarrassing thing was that the large amount of smoke released by the German side was blown by the wind towards the light cruiser formation that was being evacuated downwind to the south, which gave the British ships valuable opportunity to observe and attack.

At the same time, the official German record states that the large British capital ships (battle cruisers) did not dare to cross the "windward side of the smoke screen" due to the threat of mines and tried to follow the course through which the German light cruisers passed.

Soon the German light cruisers discovered that in addition to the light cruisers, the battle cruisers Brave, Glorious and Counterattack were approaching, and then a salvo of 15-inch naval guns rained down on their formation, and the German ships were forced to start a zigzag evasive maneuver.

German records show that at 9:24 a.m. the German light cruisers scored one hit each of the two Valiant cruisers, and the Pilau hit a destroyer several times in succession and successfully forced it to turn and withdraw from the battle.

Post-war documents show that the German ships were sailing south at full speed in an attempt to tow the British light cruisers and destroyers away from the battlecruisers in order to attack them.

However, they were soon disappointed to discover that the Valiant class's incredible speed allowed them to easily keep up with the light cruiser formation, making this tactic ineffective.

In fact, the light battlecruisers that fought at that time – the Brave, the Glorious and the Counterattack – were all faster at maximum speed than the vast majority of light cruisers on both sides.

Earlier, a U-boat formation from the German auxiliary minesweeper squadron was sailing east-southeast at 8:50 and collided with the destroyers of the British fleet's northern group.

The U-boat soon reported being suppressed by the British destroyers and was forced to evacuate after a brief engagement between 9:05 and 9:30 a.m.

The British destroyer fleet continued to advance and subsequently encountered the 6th minesweeper squadron, but there was no record of a successful attack, and the German ships quickly turned to withdraw to the port, and the British destroyers did not pursue.

Prior to this, the 6th Minesweeper Squadron encountered a fleet of German light cruisers that were being chased southeast by British battle cruisers, and the Nuremberg and Pilau released more smoke to cover the minesweepers, and then the 14th Torpedo Boat Squadron made up another wave of smoke.

According to German records, the smoke successfully forced the destroyers in front of the British fleet, which had been very close, to turn and evade, allowing the German minesweepers to turn and retreat to the east-southeast.

German documents after the war show that they believe that the commander of the British destroyer formation seems to have mistakenly believed that the large amount of smoke released by the Germans was poison gas, so he gave the order to evade.

But in terms of actual reality, it is more likely that the British suspected that the German light cruisers and torpedo boats had secretly laid a large number of mines behind their own course during the retreat, and tried to cover them with smoke so that the British ships could crash into them.

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