On the sea where the wind and waves are gradually rising, 16 destroyers move from east to west in roughly standard V-shaped arrays. Their speed is very fast. The sharp bow of the ship is sometimes pressed down into the water, and sometimes it raises and splits the waves. The orange flame light in front of the sea faintly reflects the agile lead-gray figure. The white light bursting in the sky reflects the St. George's battle flag on the white background, and the circular light column pierces into the depths of the darkness is an excellent beacon for their prospects.

In front of the sea in which the word V refers, German Lieutenant General Reinhardt Schell was carefully observing the changes in the battlefield situation from his flagship "Germany". Practical combat is different from exercises. Each other cannot predict each other's actions. Until now, the tactical main line and detailed deployment of the German High Seas Fleet have deviated far from the combat plan signed by German Emperor William II. The only thing that remains unchanged is the tactical theme of reversing the overall weakness with local advantages. Everyone knows that the German main fleet has been cautious and steady Von Ingnor

As the commander, few people realized that the young and promising warship designer of the German royal family was also a talented and talented general with unique vision and outstanding strategy. He was a master of war chess and a tactical theory expert. The exercise plans he compiled were always eye-catching. Moreover, his understanding of various types of ships and technical equipment of the German Navy was unparalleled. His image and status in the minds of naval officers and soldiers were also unattainable. More importantly, no second person could gain the absolute trust and support of the imperial rulers like him.

Due to his experience working on the "Alsace" and "Nassau", Scheller has a lot of knowledge about the character and way of thinking of this special person. He noticed that after the German High Seas Fleet and the British Fleet entered the war zone, the telegram commands sent from the "Frederick the Great" had changed. This change was reflected in the tone and wording, and also reflected a firm and courageous position. Therefore, while Scheller was executing these combat commands, he also had a

Based on his judgment on the battlefield situation, he made some specific arrangements. Before the two sides exchanged fire, he was already very clear about the role his old battleship team would play. In order to make his subordinates give up their luck and prepare for a tough battle, he sent out a light signal from his flagship and asked the 2nd battleship team to transmit in turn: When the battle at sea has begun, the side with a desperate fighting spirit can win! May God bless the will of Germany!

Schell's 15 old battleships and five Vecchelsbach-class battleships were slightly behind due to poor speed. The two Brunswick-class "Prussia" and "Lorraine" ships suffered some mechanical failures during the continuous high-speed navigation. Although they were quickly repaired, they were still rushing behind. The actual ones that remained in the battle formation were 5 German and 3 Brunswick-class ships, from the front to the back were "Germany".

Will", "Silesia", "Schleswig-Holstein", "Hannover", "Pomeren", "Brunry" Ke, "Hesse", and "Alsace". Under Scher's prescient dispatch, these eight old battleships entered the battlefield in a stepped array. The horizontal distance between each ship is about 200 meters and the vertical distance is 300 meters, and the forward shooting angle and shooting distance of each ship are taken into consideration.

The complex night battle environment increases the probability of various occasional events. Considering that the speed of these old battleships is much slower than that of the dreadnoughts, in order to avoid being entangled by enemy light ships, Schell arranged considerable avant-garde forces in front of the battleship, including 6 gazelle-class light cruisers, 4 1913 and 6 large torpedo boats in the 1911 grade. The British outpost warning ships discovered only one of this avant-garde unit through flares and artillery fire.

Part. After Schell led 8 old battleships to open fire on the British armored cruiser detachment, the four gazelle-class and three large torpedo boats located nearby the sea continued to concentrate their firepower to attack the enemy's "Garland" destroyer and "Assince" light cruiser. The remaining two gazelle-class and seven large torpedo boats followed Schell's pre-set instructions to move forward in the dark, trying to avoid the outposts of the British fleet to carry out torpedo attacks on their main fleet. These "sneak attackers" were divided into three teams.

Rapidly advanced from an unconnected area, one of the team soon encountered the British destroyer fleet playing the same role. With the help of the light from the center of the battlefield, the German crew discovered that this was a large group of British lightning strike ships. If they were allowed to move forward, they would inevitably pose a threat to their own battle fleet. So the captains made a quick decision and fired nine torpedoes to the British destroyer fleet at a distance of about 600 meters. At this time, the wind and waves on the sea had begun to show signs of shadow.

The normal operation of the torpedo and when attacking light ships, the torpedo's depth was shallow, and more than half of the torpedoes deviated from the target, but the remaining torpedoes still played an unexpected role: two British destroyers were hit by torpedoes on the spot, one of which had two violent explosions, and the hull sank at a speed visible to the naked eye. The other destroyer was hit. The violent explosion broke its fragile hull into two, and the surviving crew had to abandon the ship in a hurry to escape.

Under this unexpected attack, the British destroyer formation was not in chaos. Under the command of the leading ship, several destroyers in the direction of torpedo attack turned to search and attack the attackers. The remaining destroyers continued to advance at high speed. Although the combat qualities of these British naval officers and soldiers were commendable, their cruel fate was destined. The previous violent explosion aroused the vigilance of the German fleet. The two leading battleships successively launched multiple flares. The pale light illuminated the sea and also illuminated these brave and fearless "assaulters". In a flash, 283 mm, 170 mm, 105 mm, 88 mm and other various

Caliber shells came like rain, and the surging sea surface suddenly turned into a pot of boiling water. Due to weight limitations, destroyers usually do not install fully enclosed turrets. Some naval guns are placed in open semi-enclosed turrets at the rear, some are equipped with single-sided artillery shields, and some are small-caliber rapid-fire cannons even without any protection. Therefore, even if the shells do not hit the warship and land nearby, they can still kill the combatants on the ship. In a short while, the decks of several British destroyers were already flowing blood, and the casualties were injured. As they continued to approach, German warships began to directly fire these attackers with searchlights, and the artillery fire became more accurate.

Under the gaze of Schell and his staff, British destroyers with newer ages were completely exhausted by the fierce bombardment of old German battleships and old cruisers. In addition to the impact of the bumpy waves, the gunners on the German warships were aiming, shooting and loading step by step like daily training. Various rapid-fire guns prepared for close-range fleet artillery battles were fully utilized here. In this process, the British battleship fleet, which was within the effective range of the main gun, always maintained a surprising silence.

Jellico would rather sacrifice some light ships than spend time on the old German battleship group, but the British destroyer group was in purgatory, and his fearless fleet failed to get rid of the entanglement. The "Iron Duke"'s lookout post found a high-speed attack on the port side of the sea, and then discovered the torpedo tracks. At the beginning of the war, the main ships of the British Fleet removed the bulky torpedo net, reducing the burden while reducing a piece of equipment to resist torpedo attacks, and the interception effect of naval guns on torpedoes was not very good.

Ideally, maneuvering based on torpedo tracks has become the most common and effective response method. Under the command of the captain Major General Duff, the "Iron Duke" hurriedly turned right, and the "Honbon" and "George V" who followed the flagship had to turn urgently in order to avoid the torpedoes. Before the crisis had passed, several George V-class battleships in the front were suddenly attacked by German torpedo boats. These new dreadnoughts with the strongest strength at the beginning of the war turned right one after another. At this point, the neat maritime battle lines were gone.

The meaning of silence no longer exists. A signal was finally on the "Iron Duke" to instruct the main warship to open fire. In an instant, a 13.5-inch large-caliber naval gun made a stunning roar that had been enduring for a long time, and a series of cannon flames illuminated the night sky with low clouds and the rolling sea surface. The searchlight used by the old German battleship fleet to guide the shooting has now become a "huge magnet" that attracts the enemy's heavy shells. The first shell landed more than 200 meters in front of the "Germany", and the harsh whistling suddenly turned into a shocking roar. The water column jumped on the sea exceeded any of the German crews' past. Moreover, because the shells were filled with powerful pico acid explosives, the water column was yellow-green from the root to half the height, the brighter the color often meant the more violent toxicity.

When it was just designed and built, the German Navy's Brunswick-class and German-class battleships had first-class defensive equipment, but just a few years later, the high-quality Krupp armor they wore seemed too thin, and the 40-fold 11-inch naval guns were also behind the technological development trend. Even with twice the numerical advantage, these old German battleships were difficult to compete with the British fearless fleet. In tactical deduction, close-range artillery battle at night was the only opportunity to win besides torpedo attacks. Only with nearly face-to-face attacks, 11-inch naval guns could penetrate 11-inch turrets and commander tower armor. This happened in 1916 in history.

In the Battle of Jutland in 2018, a total of six old-fashioned Brunswick and German-class battleships participated in the battle with the German High Seas Fleet. These old-fashioned battleships that slowed down the speed of the main fleet did not withstand the real test. The only loss was the "Pomeren" that sank in the late stage of the battle. In fact, in addition to making up the numbers, they were not useless. These German battleships followed a relatively successful flat deck design, with increased freeboard height, and the turret races of the front and rear main guns were 7 meters higher than the waterline, and could still exert firepower normally under harsh sea conditions. Moreover, under the organization of Tirpitz, they adopted a subdivided compartment design, which significantly improved the resistance to sinking and damage resistance compared to the previous large warships.

The first round of artillery shelling of the angry British Fighter only caused a psychological deterrence to Schell's old battleship group, and the nearest shell was a hundred meters away from the target. Under Schell's command, the German fleet continued to turn on the searchlight to slam the British destroyer group directly in front of the sea. The dense fire net blocked their pace of progress. As a result, no British destroyer could approach a distance of 1,000 meters. With the bow facing each other, eight German old battleships avoided enemy torpedoes one by one without much effort. Jelico's new dreadnought almost collided with friendly ships during the emergency avoidance of torpedoes. Before they returned to the team, only half of the British Fighter fired at Schell's fleet, but no hit was hit within ten minutes.

On the cloudy sea, Jeliko's 10 new dreadnoughts were arranged in a battle line of 6 kilometers in front and back. At first glance, they looked majestic, but the distance between the ships was not neat, and Jeliko was most reluctant to see that the situation had already occurred. Due to this torpedo attack by German light ships, the 2nd battleship squadron of the 8 old dreadnoughts in the first squadron in front had been distanced from the 8 old dreadnoughts in the first squadron in front, and the principle of concentrating forces was ruthlessly subverted by reality. In fact, if this naval battle was postponed for two years, the British main fleet would have five unprecedentedly powerful Queen Elizabeth-class battleships, and the two ships built by the British Navy built for Turkey and one ship built for Chile.
Chapter completed!