ps: Today's 2nd shift, let's smash the votes!

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At this time, on the rippling blue sea, an astonishingly large fleet was sailing towards the south with murderous vigour.

Ensign Fafnier's face turned pale and he counted the warships at sea in horror: "God, thirty ...... Thirty-five battleships, eight armored cruisers ......"

The voice of the observer in the back seat came from behind him, and he gasped and stammered, "...... There were also 12 light cruisers, 52 destroyers...... Oh, and 1 minelayer. That's what it is...... Is this the strength of the empire on which the sun never sets?"

The two glanced at each other and found that the other party was sincerely frightened, and their faces were very ugly.

"Hurry up and send a report to the flagship!" Second Lieutenant Fafnier screamed, finally remembering that he was flying a reconnaissance plane.

When Admiral Schell, commander of the German Ocean Fleet, received this latest information on the flagship "Bavaria", his face was suddenly green with the elation of the reconnaissance fleet's victory, and his whole person was messy in the wind.

This Nima is simply fishing to the great white shark, and it doesn't make people play happily?

Sherton felt like he was lifting a rock and hitting the instep of his foot. Well, in fact, the Germans did not think of a decisive battle with the British at all this time, the number of German battleships is less than two-thirds of that of the British, and Scheer is not a madman, of course, he will not be stupid enough to fight hard.

They came to "fish" this time.

The fishing plan formulated by Scheer was to induce part of the British fleet to come forward, and then if it was in his favor, he would concentrate the main forces of the ocean fleet to concentrate and destroy, so that after weakening the British fleet several times, he could reverse the disadvantage and then defeat the British main fleet in a decisive battle.

His bait this time was a reconnaissance detachment of battlecruisers and light cruisers cruising under the command of Admiral Hipper. According to his thinking, the British would not send their entire home fleet to intercept a limited invasion. The most likely sortie is the faster battlecruisers,

The main force of the High Seas Fleet commanded by Scheer followed fifty nautical miles from the reconnaissance detachment. If the British were fooled, the Hipper fleet, after a symbolic resistance, turned the rudder and brought the pursuers within range of Scheer's main fleet. When the Royal Navy is in the trap, then you can have a beef feast.

However, as we all know, planning never changes quickly, and things don't go according to Scheer's idea at all.

It should be said that Scheer's plan to decoy the enemy was very successful, and it can even be said that it was too successful. The British were indeed deceived, and they were indeed lured over, and the initial development was better than Scheer thought, and the reconnaissance fleet, which was originally only tasked with luring the enemy, actually showed great strength, and before the main force arrived, the British battlecruiser detachment was defeated.

But the British did not just come with a detachment of battlecruisers, but a whole nest of them. In addition to the former dreadnoughts, all 10 dreadnoughts and 25 super-dreadnoughts of the UK now have all come running.

This Nima is going crazy! I made a table of dishes, but three tables of guests came. Scheer couldn't understand why the British reacted so violently, which was not in the style of Niu Niu. It was not until the end of this naval battle that he knew why. This was because the code of the German Navy was leaked, and his plans were all figured out by the British. The British Navy also hoped to be able to settle the German High Seas Fleet once and for all, so it deliberately fell into a trap.

Jericho said in his heart: Scheer, do you want to break each one? Dream on, see how Lao Tzu can kill you!

In a cartoon of the battle in China afterwards, there is such a picture: I saw Admiral Jericho jumping out with two "big daddys" in his hand, and shouted at Scheer: "Great Britain is fearless, the whole gang is here!"

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Scheer now had almost all of the high seas fleet with seven dreadnoughts, four Nassau-class battleships (12 310-mm guns) and three Helgolan-class battleships (12 310-mm guns). Fourteen super-dreadnoughts, namely 5 Emperor-class battleships (aka Caesar-class, 12 360-mm guns), 4 King-class battleships (12 360-mm guns), 5 Bavarian-class battleships (12 390-mm guns).

Ten former dreadnoughts were also brought along, five of the Braunschweig-class and five of the Deutschland-class, all of which had four 280 mm guns.

If you look at the number on paper, the German army also had 31 battleships, which seems to be not much worse than the British 35. But the ten former dreadnoughts in this are basically used to make up the numbers, and their role is extremely limited. Even if they have been replaced with better 280mm guns and newer sighting and fire control systems, they still can't compete with dreadnoughts or even super-dreadnoughts.

And the 35 battleships of the United Kingdom, but all of them are dreadnoughts and super-dreadnoughts, not a single dreadnought, although Britain has the most dreadnoughts in the world, but this time there is not a single one. The quantity alone was a big difference, not to mention the quality, the Germans now had only 5 battleships with 390 mm guns, a total of 60 390 mm guns. And the British had 14 battleships armed with 381-mm guns, a total of 140 381-mm guns.

If the two sides fight, even if you use your knees, you can know how it will turn out.

Well, at the moment the Germans have a numerical advantage in battle cruisers, 7 against 2, but the thin-skinned thing of the battle cruiser is used against cruisers and opponents of the same class, and if you play battle line bombardment with genuine battleships, it is purely looking for death. When the battle line is bombarded, the battle patrol is probably not as effective as the former dreadnought, at least they are more durable and can help block the knife.

According to the results of the reconnaissance, the distance between the main fleets of the two sides is now less than 80 nautical miles, and if they retreat now, they will certainly not be able to outrun the British home fleet because there are 10 dreadnoughts dragging their feet and the speed is less than 18 knots. If you ignore those slow full-speed escapes, it is estimated that only a few of the latest battleships can escape, and ten dreadnoughts are absolutely dead, and even the Nassau-class and Helgoland-class may not be able to escape. You know, the five British ships of the Queen Elizabeth class have a terrifying speed of 25 knots.

Such a loss is unacceptable in any case, not to mention that it was caused by being chased and killed in the escape, and such a humiliating thing must not be dealt with. If Scheer dared to give such an order, he would probably have to spend the rest of his life counting lice in prison.

"Bastard, why didn't the submarine report this?" said Scheer angrily.

It suddenly occurred to him that he had sent a convoy of submarines to Scapa Bay to keep an eye on him, how could he have missed such a large fleet?

Scheer was not a naval newcomer, on the contrary, he was very cautious, and even though he thought that Britain could not be equipped with a fleet, he sent submarines over to monitor it, just in case. But now there is a problem here, and the submarine actually did not report the news that all the local fleet left the port, isn't this a dead father?

The chief of staff said with a stinky face: "Your Excellency, our submarine has just sent a telegram, claiming that due to the sudden intensification of anti-submarine search efforts by the British, three of our submarines have been discovered and chased by British destroyers. Although the remaining five submarines were not exposed, they did not dare to get too close to Scapa Flow, and could only monitor from a distance on the periphery. It is estimated that the three submarines are missing, and there is a hole in our cordon......"

Well, sure enough, there was a leak on the submarine side, but now is not the time to hold accountable, and how to solve this looming crisis is the key.

So what to do now? Scheer only felt that the first three were big, and his staff officers were also arguing, and he didn't know what to do. Whether it's fighting or fleeing, you must come up with an idea immediately, and the British will not be stupid and wait.

At this moment, when everyone was at a loss, the chief of staff, Major Erich Raeder, stepped forward. He said to Scher, "Your Excellency, this time we are not without a chance to win! In fact, although this incident seems to be a crisis, it is also a perfect opportunity for us to annihilate the British fleet in one fell swoop!" Raeder's voice was firm and powerful, showing great confidence.

"How?" Scheer asked as he looked at him in surprise.

"Your Excellency, although our battleships are inferior to the British, we are more than just battleships. We have extremely powerful oxygen torpedoes, which have already shown their combat capability in the battle of the reconnaissance detachment just now! The light cruisers, destroyers, and large torpedo boats in our fleet are all equipped with this weapon! This can make up for the lack of our capital ships......

"Plus, we have 35 more submarines nearby, look here, and here......" Raeder walked to the side of the map and said, "If we retreat a little bit, these submarines will be able to catch up and take part in the battle......"

"And here'......" he gestured to a location on the map.

At first glance, Scheer was Obenro in the south of Jutland. Originally a disputed area between Prussia and Denmark, the territory was completely annexed to Prussia after Denmark's defeat in the Prussian-Danish War (Second Schleswig War) in 1864.

"Obenro, it's a nice view, but what does this have to do with this naval battle?" asked Scher, puzzled.

"Your Excellency, have you forgotten, there is a large base here in the Imperial Air Force!" Raeder said excitedly: "This is less than 300 kilometers away from our position, we can ask the Air Force to participate in the war!"

"Asking the Air Force to participate in the war?" Scheer was stunned for a moment, and then suddenly realized. He and other senior officers were traditional admirals, and it really didn't occur to him to ask the Air Force to help. No way, thinking inertia, the brain didn't turn a corner for a while.

Raeder nodded, "Yes, Your Excellency." The recent Russian-Turkish battle in the Black Sea showed the power of aircraft, in which Turkish planes sank a Russian battleship, three cruisers and six destroyers...... Your Excellency, please report to Your Majesty. The empire rises and falls, and here it is a battle!"

Scheer now regained his confidence and said, "Well, I will immediately send a message to His Majesty and His Excellency Moltke, asking them to mobilize the air force to assist us in the war. "Although he was the commander of the Ocean Fleet, he could not mobilize the air force, which had to be coordinated between Guò Wilhelm II and Moltke, the chief of the General Staff.

The German staff officers who reacted to this reaction also immediately showed extremely high efficiency and soon worked out a plan for joint naval and air operations. Scheer then issued one order after another

"Now, immediately order Hipper to retreat from the battlefield and join up with the main fleet...... At the same time, a telegram was sent to nearby submarines, ordering them to immediately rush to the vicinity of east longitude xxx and north latitude xxx ......"