As the sunset gradually sinks to the sea level, the afterglow reflected in the horizon is quite sad. On the sea, four British battlecruisers with the Saint George's battle flag flying on the mast are turning 315 degrees (14 foramen points), adjusting their course from southeast to north to avoid the terrifying edge of the German daggers. During the tense turn of the atmosphere, they were not violently bombarded by the Hippel fleet as expected, and the artillery fire of the four German battlecruisers has turned to those who are ordered

British light cruisers and destroyers carrying out torpedo attacks did not mean that the four British battlecruisers could safely retreat. At a distance of 21,000 meters, the four front main guns at the German High Seas Fleet's general flagship "Frederick the Great" suddenly roared. Under normal loading, the 405.5 kg shell accelerated to 855 meters per second in a 50-dia barrel, and then flew to the target at the other end of the sea at a large angle...

At 7:09, the "Frederick the Great" opened fire for the first time since the outbreak of the war, and this moment was destined to be recorded in history as a symbol of the desperation of the German high seas fleet's dreadnoughts group entering the battle.

If the German dreadnought group was heading north in a straight single column, then after the flagship at the front end of the column opened fire, the subsequent ships would be unable to exert their power due to their obstruction of sight and shooting angle. This is also the mystery of suppressing the other party by seizing the t-head in the fleet naval battle. Before this, Von Ingnor first ordered the fleet to turn right one prayer point together, and after 5 minutes, he ordered each ship to turn left one prayer point, which seemed to be slowing down the pace of progress. After this adjustment, the single-line column quietly changed into a small-angle step formation, and the main guns of each ship had the angle of aiming and shooting on the front targets.

At 7:10, the "Caesar", "Catherine", "King Albert", "Louitport Regent" and "King" after "Frederick the Great" opened fire one after another. Since the distance between the ships was close to 400 meters, the actual distance between the "King" and the British Battle Patrol formation reached 000 meters, reaching the limit range of the German 50-diameter 12-inch naval gun at an elevation angle of 18 degrees. The four Helgolan and four Nassau classes followed behind were all equipped with 45-diameter 11-inch naval guns, with less range and far distance, so they just held their muzzles high and did not "speak".

After more than 40 seconds of arc flight, the shells fired by the Frederick the Great fell to the sea first. With a distance of more than 20,000 meters, the first-class optical rangefinder could not accurately determine the distance between the bounce point and the target. The significance of the aircraft's shooting was highlighted in this situation. Soon, the German reconnaissance aircraft lingering over the British fleet sent a correction report: 450 meters long and 200 meters left.

This means that the shells flew over the British Battle Patrol formation to the sea in front of their left, and such a long-distance shooting, the deviation of less than 600 meters was already very impressive for the British.

The thunder of heavy artillery fire echoed on the sea, and another twenty shells from the German fleet fell one after another. The reconnaissance planes rushed to send correction reports. The nearest landing point was only more than 200 meters away from the British battle patrol. The splashes that were stirred up high must have wet the flags on the British masts.

As soon as the smoke from the launching medicine was dissipated, people suddenly discovered that the "Frederick the Great" hung a new signal flag: "Every ships assaulted at full speed!"

Unlike the previous "all-round advance at full speed", the new tactical instructions mean that the five Caesar class and one King class in the forefront of the German Dreadnought Group will run forward, and the four Helgolan class and four Nassau class will also gradually increase the distance due to the differences in speed performance. However, these 14 Dreadnoughts are generally classified as a fleet battleship, far ahead of their old battleships and auxiliary ships.

With sufficient steam, the five Caesars quickly accelerated from 20 knots to 22 knots, and then continued to speed up with a relatively slow trend. At this time, the smoke emitted from their chimneys became black and thick, just like a chemical factory with extremely polluting properties. In each group of boiler cabins, the furnace stewards also opened strong ventilation facilities according to the instructions and used special coal-fired evenly watered, which made the heat output of the naval boiler quickly approach the maximum value. The King, which followed closely, also adopted the same pressure measures. After the speed exceeded 22 knots, its acceleration momentum was slightly sharp. As a result, the distance between it and the "Regent of Louis Porter" was constantly narrowing. For equidistant obsessive-compulsive disorder, such a queue was definitely a nightmare existence.

At 7:11, after recalculating the shooting parameters and adjusting them, the "Frederick the Great" fired twice. In order to increase the hit rate and at the same time, the four main guns in front of the goal were still partially fired. After the shelling ended and the smoke of gunpowder was exhausted, the young fleet chief of staff, the "key gentleman" who led to this large-scale naval battle, Prince Joachim, a member of the German Empire, came from the relatively clean and tidy battle bridge to the upper shooting command room full of gunpowder. In this crowded and cramped enclosed space, the technical officers were

The 5-meter stereoscopic rangefinder is used for observation of the bounce point. Under the same technical conditions, the longer the baseline length of the rangefinder means the higher the distance measurement accuracy. However, large rangefinders with a baseline of more than 6 meters require a large space, usually only suitable for large turrets or special observation tables built on the upper part of the bridge. The artillery observation room on the upper part of the mast of the "Frederick the Great" can only be equipped with an omnidirectional cyclotron rangefinder with a baseline of 2.5 meters. This optical instrument's judgment of the long-distance bounce point is naturally not as exquisite and accurate as the direct observation of the calibrator aircraft over the battlefield.

In the German Navy's unified directional shooting command system, the shooting command room functions like a human eye and retina. Officers with sharp ears and eyesight and responsiveness observe the target and bounce point from here, and then pass the observation results to the drawing room below the bridge, where technicians conduct careful calculations based on the shooting data to obtain shooting parameters and use mechanical instruments to ensure that all main guns can be volleyed according to the same parameters, so as to exert the power of the main gun's volley.

When he arrived at the shooting command room, the Xiashu neither affected the normal work of the officers nor occupied the key observation position. The bulkhead here was embedded with portholes, which could be directly observed through tempered glass, and was higher than the two decks of the combat bridge, making the field of view wider. He stood silently in the corner next to him, holding his own binoculars, and observing through a circular porthole. A passionate battle was taking place on the sea in front of the left, with the light gray painted German battle patrol and the light patrol group of British lightning strike ships in the same way as lead gray painted

Fighting, in the hazy twilight, the stars of flames flashed and jumped, and the smoke rose and floated. The shells falling on the sea were like raindrops, and the faint explosion sounds came from each other. On the far side of the sea to the left of the bow, a string of lead-gray ship shadows formed a curved arc. The leading ship was trying to turn to the north, and the dragged bow was still facing the east. The waves of water from the shells in front had fallen, but the white water marks could be identified on the sea, which was the landing point of the 12-inch ordinary shells.

"The next round... loading armor-piercing bullets!"

When the shooting commander's instructions came into his ears inadvertently, Xia Shu's calm mood suddenly rippled. According to the structure, performance and purpose, the shells used by the warships can be roughly divided into ordinary bullets, armor-piercing bombs, and incendiary bombs. Since this battle was for the British fleet, German battleships and battle cruisers naturally had armor-piercing bombs, and a small number of ordinary bullets were mainly used to bombard coastal targets, dealing with light ships and correcting shooting. The armor-piercing bombs entered the chamber mean that the preparation for naval battle has passed and is asymptotic.

The complicated and orderly commands were conveyed one by one, and the scene that seemed to be still in Xia Shu's sight finally changed. The four 12-inch shells fired previously fell "silently", and the white water columns that were stirred up high were far higher than the mast of any British warship. The bounce point was not only closer to the British fleet in the steering than the previous first shooting. One of them landed at the close end of the British ship and three at the far end, which seemed to have formed a cross-fire.

The subsequent shells were basically arranged on both sides of the British fleet, and the cross-fire situation became clearer. At about the same time, the shells fired by the British combat patrol formation also roared, falling from a distance of kilometers, and the nearest ones were four or five hundred meters. Although it did not cause any kind of damage to the German dreadnought group, the huge roar of their explosions revealed the British mobile fleet's attitude that they did not surrender easily, and their large caliber naval guns were capable of causing trouble for the German fleet.

Before the long-range artillery fire of the British fleet fell near, the officers in the shooting command room of the "Frederick the Great" rushed Xia Shu back to the combat bridge. It was not because the protective armor of the shooting command room was weak. This battleship built by Xia Shu had an excellent defense system. The bridge and the front armor on the main turret were 13.8 inches, which theoretically could completely withstand the direct attack of the 13.5-inch gun of the British main battleship. The bridge armor also extended from the bottom drawing room to the upper shooting command room. Even the top was covered with armor plates of the same thickness, and the side facing the main chimney was slightly weakened. Relatively speaking, the protruding position of the shooting command room is more susceptible to artillery attacks. Although the inlaid portholes are made of very thick tempered glass, there are still certain hidden dangers.

The atmosphere of combat became stronger and Xia Shu was unwilling to distract the officers and returned to the combat bridge without hesitation. In just a few minutes, the ever-changing battlefield situation had once again undergone some positive changes: the torpedo attack aircraft taken off from the Bismarck had just flew over the long German dreadnought battleship, and in more than ten minutes it could launch a restrained torpedo attack on the British Battle Patrol formation that attempted to flee north. The first batch of high-speed torpedo boats that attacked were also coming at high speed. Even if the British Battle Patrol increased to full speed, they could catch up within an hour. The gradually dimming light on the sea would not only not have too much impact on their torpedo attacks, but could cover their movements, making it more difficult for the British fleet to guard against.

After a long layout, it was finally time to close the net. Don’t let the fat big fish in front of you slip away! Xia Shu thought in his mind, and before nightfall, the naval airship responsible for keeping on the outside sent the last telegram of the day. The British main fleet heading south at full speed was only more than 70 nautical miles away from the battlefield. As fast as an hour and a half, the dreadnoughts group of both sides entered each other's range, and by then it was already dark.
Chapter completed!