Several years later, when people look back and study the various types of combat ships of the German Second Imperial Navy, it is not difficult to summarize the unique national bloodline of the ships in them. Under the subdivision, people will find that roughly with 1904 as the boundary, the design ideas of German naval ships have turned around. Large ships start from the Schánhorst class, and light ships start from the Dresden class, paying more attention to airworthiness performance and naval gun fire. The popular underwater torpedo tubes

Gradually disappeared from German ships, and the survivability of ships was further strengthened. After the baptism of the war, these baptized ships with balanced performance and comprehensive performance have been recognized and praised, and many designs have been named classics. People explored the reasons for this change. Since various clues pointed to the same name, some people called the related German ships "Joachim", and the German ships designed and built before were naturally classified as "pre-Joachim".

The classifications of "Joachim" and "pre-Joachim" were not finally recognized by the authoritative sector, but it still interpreted the key role of designers in ship performance from a certain perspective. In that war-torn era, many sailors did not have an objective, rational and accurate understanding of the strength of their ships. They devoted themselves to the army with passion, hoping to win honors with their heroic performance, thereby changing the fate of the country, nation and individuals.

Strictly speaking, the small Konisberg-class cruiser that started construction in 1904 belongs to the "pre-Joachim type". It continues the design idea inherited from the Gazelle-class cruiser. It is a reconnaissance light ship that was expanded and improved based on the early notification ships. It has a fast speed and weak firepower. The design assumes that the opponent is a destroyer and large torpedo boat of other countries' navals, so it uses a 105mm caliber naval gun, with the thickest protective armor.

At 35 mm, the first three ships started construction in this class use a traditional combination of Sunnycroft coal-fired boilers and reciprocating steam engines. Only the fourth ship "Stantin" experimentally installed the British Parsons steam turbine. As a result, the "Stantin" achieved a speed of 1.5 knots faster than the sister ship with a weight of 90 tons, and its ultimate speed at overload reached 26 knots. It was the fastest cruiser of the German Navy when it was completed and put into service.

On the night of August 7, 1914, the "Stantin" carried its 320 crew members on the waters west of the Jutland Peninsula to carry out a reconnaissance mission. With the subtle starlight and the residual light of the flares in the distance, the German officers and soldiers watching on the masts and bridges saw a number of hazy ship shadows in the sea ahead. Since their main fleet was in the stern direction, it must be the British fleet. In the warship, how dare the British be careless? At this time, their warships were on

The shells must have entered the chamber, and the gunners were in power, and they would fire fiercely when they saw the enemy ship. Thinking of this, the German crew members were inevitably nervous and nervous. After all, there were only 450 mm caliber torpedoes on the ship that could be used to compete with the British main battleship. In order to increase the maneuver power of the ship, the captain ordered the acceleration twice. The speed of the "Stantin" has been increased to 24 knots, which is almost the highest speed that this "old ship" with 7 years old can drive under the current situation.

At 9:48, a signal light appeared on the sea in front of the right of the "Stantin", which was obviously the light code used by the British ship to confirm identity. In order to delay the time, Captain Major Kernig ordered a reply to the other party with the Morse code: This ship is the Dutch freighter "Lilac", carrying non-military items to Bergen, Norway.

Immediately afterwards, the other party used Morse code light signal: stop the ship immediately for inspection.

Major Kerniger made the crew ready for war while allowing the correspondents to continue to confuse their opponents: Please report their identity.

The other party did not answer. Suddenly, an orange-red light flashed in the darkness. It was obviously the flames generated by the naval guns when they opened fire. The shells flew towards them with a scream and landed on the sea nearly 100 meters away from the "Stantin".

Faced with this situation, Major Kerniger shouted loudly to keep his crew calm. He knew that this was a common temptation trick by the British. Therefore, he ordered the correspondents to send out Morse code light signals: Don't fire, the ship will stop the ship for inspection.

As expected, the other party did not fire shells again, but sent its new request with a signal light: stop the ship immediately and turn on the front and rear navigation lights.

Major Kernig then ordered the warship to turn right 30 degrees, so that the bow faced the other side, and then ordered the crew to turn on the bow navigation light and send a signal to the other side: the stern navigation light was malfunctioning, the bow navigation light was on and the ship was stopping.

Taking this excuse, Major Kernig won a few more minutes for his reconnaissance mission. When the British naval personnel on the opposite side heard the roar of the turbines and felt something was wrong, the "Stantin" had arrived. The British ship that was a thousand-ton destroyer that sensed an abnormality was a thousand-ton destroyer. It hurriedly turned on the searchlight. Within a few seconds, the two front guns of the German cruiser opened fire first, and immediately gave it a slap. Immediately afterwards, the "Stantin" was in a high-speed state and turned left. The gunners on the 105mm and 52mm single-mounted rapid-fire gun positions on its starboard were ordered to aim at the searchlights to shoot. In less than a minute, the lights of the British destroyer were completely wiped out, and a small fire broke out at the tail of its ship.

The "Stantin" not only bullys the small, but also engages in confusion and sudden attacks. This bad behavior immediately attracted a fierce counterattack from the British fleet. Several highly lit searchlights quickly lit up on the sea behind the British destroyer, followed by a dense flash of flames, as if a large group of reporters were using the spotlight to grab a photo. After a while, dozens of shells fell down with horrific momentum, most of which did not pose a threat to the "Stantin", but several of them flew closer.

After preliminary observation and judgment, Major Kernig ordered a flare to be fired into the waters behind the British destroyer.

Ten thousand meters away, German dreadnoughts were moving towards the waves with the domineering state of the British fleet's route with the bow diagonally pointing to the domineering state in front of the British fleet. As the distance between the two fleets has been greatly reduced, the officers were able to observe the battle situation on the sea clearly on the German flagship "Frederick the Great". When the flares launched by the "Stantin" shine on the night sky, they finally saw the figure of the British battleship on the sea. In the past decade, the growing German navy has gradually developed.

We have prepared to challenge the strength of the British navy. Before the war broke out, both sides have regarded each other as the number one imaginary enemy from generals to sailors. In addition to daily training and exercises, they also attach great importance to each opportunity of mutual visits between the navies of the two countries in order to gain as much knowledge as possible about the future rivals. Whether it is the commander of the "Frederick the Great" or the staff officers of the High Seas Fleet Command, they all know the type, characteristics of each British main ship and the various data obtained through intelligence.

Faced with a shocking scene, the fleet commander Ingnoll, the fleet chief of staff Prince Joachim and most of the officers present were thinking in their hearts, and some people muttered to themselves in silence:

"We are facing the British Navy's group of dreadnoughts, with at least five newer warships... Six, seven, eight, I see eight dreadnoughts, and the rest must be outside the light zone..."

"The front is the Iron Duke, the middle is the Orion class, and the back is George V class. The newer the warship, the closer it is. Has this been experienced a forward-back and backward turn..."

For a time, people only focused on peeking at the lineup and formation of the British fleet, and were about to risk their lives to conduct close reconnaissance. Under the searchlights of several British cruisers and destroyers, its gray ship shadows were clearly visible on the sea. The British battleships illuminated by the flares, and the gray smoke rose. The large-scale shooting of the main and secondary guns formed a surprising momentum. The shells of all sizes of the large and small aroused countless water columns around the German cruiser that was evading at high speed, and continued to invade its not-solid hull.

Before anyone made any conclusion, Xia Shu ordered loudly with lightning speed: "The entire ship's rudder turns left by 2 compass points, and after completing the turn, start shooting freely against the enemy fleet."

The German officials gathered in front of the observation window immediately executed the orders in two groups. The staff members affiliated to the Fleet Command were responsible for communicating orders and conducting fleet dispatches. The officers affiliated to the command team of this ship directly carried out the steering and free shooting orders.

The shooting moment finally came again. Colonel Feng Lu calmed down and let his deputy reminded his subordinates in a tireless tone: "Turn left at 22 degrees 50, the shooting command room determines the target distance and shooting position, and each main gun armor-piercing projectile is loaded. First, three rounds of alternate shooting are carried out to correct the bounce point."

A hundred seconds later, the long-lost gun sounded first on the flagship "Frederick the Great". Xia Shu was not in a hurry to observe the first batch of bounce points, but issued two combat commands in succession: the 1st and 3rd battleships grew to 14 knots; the Hippel fleet moved closer to the general flagship at full speed.

After the German battleship group opened fire, the British fleet on the opposite side could determine the distance and orientation of the German fleet through the flames of the naval guns, but it was difficult to judge the opponent's battleship configuration. However, the German fleet had brave scouts like the USS "Stantin", and the British fleet also did not lack fearless sentry surveys. Not long after the super heavyweight artillery battle began, a British destroyer avoided the German escort ship and approached the 2nd battleship team composed of old battleships.
Chapter completed!