The first thing to discover is that another German Fightless Fleet was the reconnaissance cruiser "Rifleman" belonging to the 2nd Cruiser Squadron of the British Fleet. At this time, more than an hour before midnight. If it weren't for the strong wind that brought thick rain clouds, the bright moonlight would illuminate the sea. But now, people can only open their eyes in the dark. When the alert officers on the British cruiser found that the situation was not good, the enemy's outposts were only more than 2,000 meters apart!

This is a collision of steel, a sea battle with blood and fire. Before the other party loses its combat effectiveness, no one will show mercy and think of the friendship of the past. Because of this, everyone in it must do their best and dare not be careless at any time. The Rifleman turned on the searchlight first and used a dazzling light column to find and lock the opponent's figure. It was a German cruiser that was more powerful than it. The honest double-mounted main turret and round floor-style bridge meant that it belonged to the "Joachim" warship. They were exquisitely designed and balanced in performance, and their tactical uses were very clear and targeted. Their appearance made the German naval personnel gradually cultivate a sense of honor and superiority with German national characteristics.

As the most direct challenge target for the Germans, the British Navy took great pains to maintain its existing advantages, and had to spend more energy and financial resources on the design and construction of various types of ships. By the outbreak of the war, the cost of an ordinary British cruiser had increased by more than 70% compared with five years ago, and their comprehensive combat power also increased. The new Dreadnought Squadron and Cruiser Squadron and Destroyer Squadron were indeed majestic and domineering, but no navy could complete a complete update in a short period of time. The stronger the new warship, the more declining the old warships, the better the best officers and crew were given priority to the new warships. As for those old warships, the state of the hull and the mental outlook of personnel are often worrying.

Seeing the fierce German cruiser and the German dreadnought group with hideous faces vaguely exposed on the sea behind it, the Riflemen hurriedly opened fire with their naval guns. At dusk, the waves in this sea area were less than 1 meter high, and rainstorms were coming, and there would be large waves of more than 2 meters from time to time. The most affected were naturally those destroyers and large torpedo boats of about 1,000 tons. Their swings were no less than pirate ships in the amusement park. It was difficult for the gunners to set foot on the gun, and it was simply unimaginable to operate the artillery and ensure the shooting accuracy. As for cruisers such as Riflemen, the bumpy hull and the waves on the deck were also very bad. Not only was it difficult to sustain the sighting, but once seawater poured into the barrel, a harsh chamber explosion accident may occur during shooting.

After several 76mm naval guns at the bow and front of the port side fired several shells, the "rift soldiers" who had been 10 years old quickly turned right. Under normal circumstances, the sound of the gun was enough to serve as a warning, but the Bernie squadron had not yet left the war at this time. For the sake of safety, the "Rifle Squadron" issued a warning to the Bernie squadron in the south with radio and signal lights. Soon, the German ship responded strongly to its searchlight illumination, and the medium-caliber shells fell down, and the sea conditions were obviously also

The German shooting accuracy affected the Germans. The shells they fired almost did not pose a substantial threat. However, a few minutes later, the situation changed. The two leading German dreadnoughts adjusted their course to the left. The twin 150mm secondary guns and single-mounted 88mm secondary guns on their starboard side thus obtained a relatively ideal shooting angle. Moreover, these secondary guns on high freeboards are not as susceptible to sea waves like light ship naval guns. The hull that reduces the aspect ratio is also a fairly stable shooting platform.

At a distance of about 5,000 meters, the two German dreadnoughts were like night shooting training. The single-sided secondary gun opened fire violently at a speed of 6-7 rounds per minute. The shells of all sizes hit the British reconnaissance cruiser like raindrops. The German light cruiser, who served as the outpost, followed closely behind and used searchlights to guide the artillery fire of its main battleship. In less than three minutes, the Rifleman was hit by four consecutive shells, and the tail gun was destroyed. The ammunition that exploded caused a fire, which invaded the engine compartment and caused the engine to stop. The stalled British warship turned into a very eye-catching beacon in the dark.

Seeing that the "Rifleman" and its more than 200 crew members could only be slaughtered by the Germans, the dreadnought formation commanded by Lieutenant General Bernie could not come to rescue. Perhaps he felt that the act of knocking down the water dog was contrary to the spirit of the chivalrous, or he was disdainful to execute the death penalty on a weak opponent like the "Rifleman", the German dreadnought actually stopped shelling, and their outpost cruisers kept approaching the British warships that had lost power. The distance between the two quickly narrowed to 500 meters. In this case, the German cruiser's shooting was accurate, and the British cruiser's guns were all destroyed, and the messy hulls were blown out. The surviving British crew began to abandon the ship and escape, and the swaying flames reflected their desperate figures.

Faced with the German signal of persuasion, the battle flag was still floating on the mast of the "Rifleman". The German cruiser was like a cold-faced and ruthless man. It was close to two hundred meters and fired a torpedo at the British cruiser that had already entered the sea. The violent explosion immediately destroyed the hull structure of the "Rifleman", destroyed its will to survive as a warship, and took away the lives of hundreds of British crew members in an extremely short period of time. A moment later, the damaged British cruiser rolled in a port-side down state, and the fire on the ship finally went out. The shell of the ship coated with the hull was facing upwards, and the breathing lasted for a few seconds on the sea where the light was dimmed again, completely disappeared from people's sight...

Following the captain's command, the German cruiser that sunks the Riflemen lowered his lifeboat. Two large German torpedo boats joined the ranks of searching and rescue survivors. At this moment, the lookout on the German cruiser found two quickly approaching figures in the east and issued a battle alarm. Without waiting for the three German light ships to put away their lifeboats, the light of guns flashed in the sea in front, and the rumbling cannon sounded like a prelude to the North Sea storm, and the falling artillery shells showed the cruel side of the war. Whether they knew the current situation here or not, the two British warships that received the "Riflemen" alert opened fire at the German ships on the sea without hesitation.

The "Frederick the Great" bridge observatory, Ingnoll and others who came breathable from the combat bridge, had already sensed the signs of the coming of the rainstorm from the changes in the sea breeze. Tens of thousands of tons of steel ships are the essence of the era of large-scale industrialization. Their existence far exceeds the limits of the human body's ability, but in the face of the power of nature, they often cannot rush around, but also have to bow and retreat humbly. When the rainstorm comes, even the best dreadnoughts of Britain and Germany are no longer an ideal combat platform, light and heavy naval guns and even torpedoes will temporarily lose their place to use, unless both sides are willing to put aside the equipment technology and crew quality and other factors, and use the most primitive collision combat to determine the fate of this naval battle.

When orange-red artillery flames appeared on the sea at present, the "Frederick the Great" and the accompanying "Caesar" were sailing at the forefront of the 1st battleship detachment. The four dreadnoughts that had been harassed by torpedoes gradually chased after them. The routes of these six German battleships were on the north of the British cruiser that had just been sunk. They would soon be able to cross the line in front of the British dreadnought formation that was fighting with General Lance in column battles. This would not only seize the favorable position with the t-head, but also join forces with Lieutenant General Lance's 3rd battleship detachment to attack the other side, striving to solve these early-built and less powerful British dreadnoughts once and for all before the best dreadnoughts in the British fleet got rid of the entanglement of the German 2nd battleship detachment.

"Sir, we received the report of the 'Dresden'. Two large enemy warships were found on the sea 4,000 meters ahead of the fleet, and our lifeboats could not be recovered for the time being."

Before the communications officer brought this interpretation of the light signal sent by the outpost ship, the fleet commanders had used visual observations to form a more intuitive understanding of the changes in the battlefield situation. As the genuine commander of the German High Seas Fleet, Von Ingnor should have become the direct commander of this naval battle, but before the head-on confrontation between the two main fleets began, he showed his hesitant personality weakness under heavy pressure. For this, Xia Shu, who had studied the history of the Second German Navy of the German Empire, had long expected it. With the special identity and personal prestige of the royal family, he successfully "usurped" the command power, thus putting the fleet's combat operations under his will.

Despite working together for many years, Natsuki and Ingnol's tactical ideas and command styles are completely different. If Ingnol were allowed to command this naval battle from beginning to end, he would inevitably let the main ships of the German High Seas Fleet line up closely and use their strongest strength to fight against the British Fleet, and then place victory on the battlefield and the battle between the officers and soldiers. Natsuki chose flexible and changeable tactics. He expected that the British Fleet was eager to support Betty, and the patella was tight when entering the battlefield, so he divided his main ships into three formations to attack separately. The 1st Battleship Detachment and Lan, where the general flagship was located.

The 3rd battleship detachment commanded by General Si dealt with the old dreadnoughts group of the British fleet. The 15 old battleships of the 2nd Battleship detachment of Reinhardt-Sher dragged the most elite dreadnoughts in Britain. This tactical configuration is quite like Tian Ji's horse racing. However, in this era without satellites and battlefield data link systems, the biggest drawback of division of troops is that the commander-in-chief has no way to know the real-time status of each unit. Most of the time, the only thing that Xia Shu can confirm is that all the ships on his side are within a radius of twenty or thirty nautical miles. The performance of the commanders of each formation directly determines the process and result of the entire naval battle.

When the cannon flames appeared again, looking at the hazy ship shadows reflected by the orange-red flash, Xia Shu narrowed her eyes and said in a cold tone like the sea breeze: "Two old-fashioned armored ships that are not worthy of words, let's go up and crush them directly!"

Due to insufficient understanding of the situation on the entire battlefield, many officers of the Fleet Command, especially those older and accustomed to acting steadily, felt uneasy over time, and this emotion also quietly infected young officers with inexperienced. Xia Shu's words were full of confidence, domineering, and even gave people a sense of conceit. When the battle situation was not clear, they used the Fleet General Flagship as the vanguard to break into the hinterland of the battlefield. This poses a considerable risk and hidden danger, but in turn it has also played a significant role in encouraging the morale of the officers and soldiers and enhancing the will of fighting.

In a moment, the "Dresden" took the lead in spying on the visitor as a searchlight. Although the two British warships that were quickly sailing in 10,000 tons, when the bright light columns pulled them out of the darkness, their old ship shape, clumsy posture and weak firepower immediately eliminated the temptation of the German dreadnought officers and soldiers.

In the case of nearly face-to-face combat, are the two British Devon-class armored cruisers the opponents of two German Caesar-class dreadnoughts?

At a distance of 4,200 meters, the Frederick Great elegantly turned left by a prayer point, so that eight 305mm main guns pointed the black hole muzzles at the leading British armored ship. In the bridge shooting command room that had not been damaged by artillery fire, the officers who reached the ideal state after warming up quickly used the Zeiss stereoscopic optical rangefinder to measure the target's orientation. The night and wind and waves affected the accuracy of the optical equipment to a certain extent, but the shooting commander on the German warship was able to make up for this effect by using the shooting speed that was significantly better than the opponent. After two rounds of alternate shooting, the Frederick Great formed a cross-fire on the target, and the Caesar, which followed closely behind, also locked its own target.

Even if we ignore the warning of the Rifleman, the two British armored ships should be clear at the moment when they were attacked by the 305mm naval gun. They encountered the German main battleship that they could not compete with, but did not immediately turn around and retreat, but adjusted their course and launched close-range bombardment with the other side. With excellent results in training and actual combat, the German Navy's firing skills have been widely praised, but the British Navy's fine tradition that has been passed down for hundreds of years cannot be slandered. Although a single ship only has 4 7.5-inch main guns, that is, 191mm caliber, these two British armored ships have hit the German flagship. A armor-piercing bomb directly hit the main armor belt of the German flagship. The strong vibration is clearly felt by the commanders watching the battle on the bridge.
Chapter completed!