Under the faint starlight, the "Active" was sailing alone on the undulating sea surface. All British crew members, including Colonel Brent, were ready to fight and contact with enemy ships at all times. Of course, they did not forget their mission. From the mast watchtower to the bridge deck, all the crew members with clever ears and eyes were observing the sea surface with concentration. Time passed by one by one, and the huge German fleet was still missing, as if they were afraid of the great reputation of the British fleet and fled at full speed.

On the battle bridge, Colonel Brent had to check his watch with the help of a flashlight every few minutes. He had agreed to have a radio contact with the Betty fleet for 20 minutes, but now it was only 15 minutes, but it seemed as long as a few hours. With the cruise speed of the "Active", a quarter of an hour meant another 4.5 nautical miles southward. On the vast ocean, this was a small distance, but a fleet usually had no more than ten nautical miles of span, and the one who had shelled Betty's fleet before was obviously part of the German main fleet. Thinking of this, Colonel Brent felt that it was difficult to continue searching for the German fleet southward. He thought of Betty's instructions to ask Betty to either speed up the southward and completely rule out the possibility of the German fleet turning around and retreating, or turning to other directions, searching for the sea areas that the German fleet is more likely to go.

Two minutes later, the colonel called the communication officer and ordered the content of the communication telegram to him. At this moment, the officer outside the bridge stepped into the cabin door with rapid pace: "College, there is a situation in the sea ahead, and it is a light signal sent by the ship!"

The colonel quickly grabbed the telescope and through the porthole on the front of the combat bridge, he saw a tiny spot of light flashing on the chaotic sea. It was very regular, but it was not the internationally universal Morse code.

"What should I do now? Colonel." asked the officer at the door of the cabin.

Colonel Brent made a decision without hesitation: "Reply to the other party as it is."

Immediately afterwards, the colonel ordered the deputy in the bridge: "Let the battle positions be prepared for shooting, and no fire should be opened without my command."

Following the commander's order, the signal soldiers on the main mast of the "Active" sent light signals to the other party with the same beat, and the light spots on the sea ahead disappeared. The anxious atmosphere lasted for several seconds, and suddenly, a bright light column pierced the darkness that enveloped the sea. After a brief displacement adjustment, it locked the lead-gray hull of the "Active".

The moment the light beam appeared, Colonel Brent shouted like a lion, "Open the forward searchlight!"

Before the British crew members could adapt to the sudden strong light, there was a roar of the sea in front of them, and the harsh sound of the shells scraping over the porcelain plates with tableware. It landed in front of the starboard side of the "Active", and instantly burst out a water column more than 30 meters high.

An officer with rich artillery experience could tell at a glance that the shell came from a naval gun with a smaller caliber.

A moment later, the forward searchlight on the "Active" was lit, and the light column it emitted was thicker and brighter than the other party. On the sea ahead, a gray warship with a low hull appeared from the darkness. There was a cannon with a cannon shield on the bow deck of its ship, and several figures could be seen vaguely next to it. It must be the one who had just opened fire.

Less than 2,000 meters apart, both sides saw each other's faces clearly under the illumination of searchlights. Compared with the old-fashioned 1898-grade large torpedo boats in Germany, the "Active" has obvious advantages in size, tonnage and firepower, but this is not a battlefield between the two warships, but a naval battle between the navy and the two main fleets of the two countries. In this case, any light ship is just a piece on the tactical chessboard. Since there is no real-time combat information sharing system, the officers and soldiers on these ordinary warships cannot understand the battlefield situation like the fleet commanders. In many cases, even the fleet commanders may not have a comprehensive and accurate grasp of the battlefield. Therefore, the two hostile ships that unexpectedly encountered were looking at each other while speculating on the power behind the other.

Once in the state of war, time is like the river thawing from the frozen ice, flowing smoothly. As the order of "Free Fire of Artillery" came from the bridge, the British crew members responsible for gunning on the front deck of the "Active" completed the shooting aim at the fastest speed. The old mk-iii 4-inch naval gun immediately roared in battle. The British reconnaissance cruiser designed to equip two forward artillery, but one was damaged in the previous battle. The battle with distinct strength and weakness became a single battle between two naval guns, and the distance between the two sides was only more than a thousand meters, giving people the feeling that they could hit it by aiming. However, after the gun was fired, the British crew members found that their bounce point was more than twenty meters away from the target.

Next, the two warships opened fire on each other and reported the combat situation to their respective superiors. Since the "Active" was far away from its own fleet, it could only use radio communication at this time, and the large German torpedo boats on the opposite side only needed to use the tail signal light to emit lights. By the time each of them reported, the battle had been ongoing for three minutes, and both sides' artillery fire also hit. The German Navy's 1898-grade large torpedo boats were the weakest among the active ships in the High Seas Fleet. The later model had only more than 600 tons of displacement, usually equipped with 2 88mm cannons, 3 50mm cannons and 3 450mm torpedo tubes. The firepower was good but the defense was very poor. After being hit by a shell from a British cruiser, its bridge suddenly became flames and black smoke rolled. If this continued, the battle would be one-sided.

Seeing that the situation was not good, the German boat quickly turned to avoid the battle. The "Active" adjusted its course slightly to allow the naval guns placed on the side to obtain the shooting angle. Immediately afterwards, the shells flew towards the German boat one after another. The tall water column almost submerged it, and the shrapnel of the shells continued to kill the people on the boat. At this moment, a black shadow flashed across the edge of the searchlight area of ​​the British ship's searchlight. The British crew quickly turned the searchlight and found a large 1898-grade torpedo boat of the same type. Its narrow body swayed left and right in the waves, and the bow of the ship occasionally stirred up waves higher than the bridge. The black hawk battle flag on the flagpole at the tail of the ship was twisted and rolling. The two chimneys were spewing out at the same time. The speed had reached the point where the "Active" could not reach...

Colonel Brent immediately judged: "It wants to come from the right wing pocket to fire torpedoes and order each gun to attack it first."

Even without the clear instructions of the colonel, British crew members with good combat qualities, especially those non-commissioned officers who have been in service for many years, knew very well how to deal with this situation. German boats were coming at high speed, and the 102mm single-carrier guns on the central axis of the Active and starboard side and 47mm small-caliber rapid-fire guns opened fire, and the sound of rapid artillery filled the sea. In a blink of an eye, the German lightning strike boats that were rushing at high speed were covered with water columns, and the sea surface was almost boiling, and the surging waves were shaking its body, and the swaying horizontally and vertically were present at the same time. The crews seemed to be operating weapons, and even maintaining balance was difficult. After several rounds of fire, the fire of shell explosion appeared on the boat, and when a large amount of thick smoke poured out from its inner position and spread out, its speed suddenly decreased, and it had to fire torpedoes at a slightly longer distance.

The German Navy's large torpedo boats at all levels were installed with rotatable torpedo launchers at the deck position, so they could launch attacks without the ship's course adjustment. Seeing the black torpedo rushing into the water, the British officers and soldiers did not dare to slack off at all. The "Active" then turned at the full rudder angle and successfully avoided the German torpedo. At this time, the German torpedo boat that first exchanged fire with it rushed up to cover its severely damaged companions and fired three torpedoes one after another at a distance of about 600 meters. The "Active" turned sharply again. Although the rapid turn had a great impact on the shooting of the naval guns, the artillery fire on the ship was still very accurate. In a few minutes, the two large German torpedo boats had lost their speed advantage and turned around and retreated.

Most crew members focused on the two injured German lightning boats, but Colonel Brent vigilantly swept the distant sea, especially the southern waters where the two German ships appeared. He knew that German ships of this level were usually accompanied by large ships, escorting operations or torpedo attacks in response to tactical needs. Although they may also be sent to perform peripheral reconnaissance missions, if there are indeed German main ships around, with the terrible attack power shown by the German fleet before, once contact occurs, as long as the "Active" moves at the first half of the beat, it is very likely to be killed by the opponent. If it cannot be sent to the Betty fleet in time, the warship and the officers and soldiers with commendable courage will be sacrificed in vain.

Soon, the fire that suddenly appeared in the dark south confirmed Colonel Brent's concerns. The whistling shell landed on the sea more than 100 meters away from the port side of the "Active". The splashes of water that rushed nearly 100 meters instantly made the British crew feel shocked and frightened. Although Colonel Brent knew that the situation was not good, he felt a strange relief: finally found the trace of the German high seas fleet?

At most half a minute later, flashing artillery flames appeared again in the darkness on the south. They were in groups in two and echoing each other. From the distance, at least two warships were shooting with dual-equipped artillery.

Colonel Brent suddenly came to his senses and shouted, "Switch off the searchlight! Stop shooting!"

In order to attack the two German torpedo boats on the sea, the "Active" turned on two searchlights. Their bright light certainly provided the gunners of this ship with convenience for aiming and shooting, but it also made them present themselves in front of the enemy without any cover. It seemed too late to turn off the searchlight and stop shooting at this time. The German warships in the distance had already obtained accurate shooting parameters, and the two German torpedo boats that were caught on the fire were also an effective auxiliary reference. Heavy shells came one after another, and soon one of them formed a near-lost bomb on the side of the "Active". What's worse, judging from the flashing flames, the enemy ships were getting closer and closer, and the rumbling roar of large turbines could be heard on the sea.

Under Colonel Brent's command, the "Active" tried to avoid the shelling of enemy ships through maneuvering at sea. However, the two German torpedo boats retreating due to injuries suddenly turned around. The British crew was not sure whether they had torpedoes, and one of them had a searchlight that had not been destroyed. The location of the "Active" was soon pointed out by this searchlight with not much power. The British crew had no choice but to fire violently at the two German torpedo boats under enemy artillery fire.

Seeing that the two large torpedo boats fighting with injuries were once again ravaged by British cruisers' artillery fire, German warships from the south suddenly fired. Not only did their large-caliber naval guns continue to fire at surprising rates, but medium-caliber naval guns were also put into battle. Although the dense artillery fire did not hit immediately, it put strong psychological pressure on the British crew. The shells that fell at a slightly closer range were also causing trouble for the old victims under its waterline.

In a dangerous situation, Colonel Brent still kept his mind clear. Seeing the enemy warships approaching, he decisively ordered the searchlights of the entire ship, and three high-power searchlights that could still work were shining south together.

In an instant, two majestic large warships appeared in the sight of the British. On their forecastle-style fore deck, the black holes of the double-mounted main guns suddenly faced each other.

Colonel Brent was shocked, not because the opponent had an overwhelming advantage in combat power, but because they were not the old German battleships they had previously estimated, although the two German armored cruisers were also 10,000-ton warships, their appearance here was not enough to infer that the German main fleet was nearby.

With more than 3,000 meters, the searchlight of the "Active" not only did not disturb the vision of the German gunners, but also provided great convenience for the other party's ranging positioning. Two German armored cruisers quickly fired precisely. Before the British crew could send the battle telegram, a 150mm caliber secondary gun shell directly hit the bridge and blasted through the radio room without hesitation...
Chapter completed!