People often say that the battlefield is the place where courage is best reflected. In the waters of the Jutland Peninsula on August 7, 1914, the battles showing fearless will and great courage were staged again and again. Under the muzzle of the Schell fleet, the British destroyer fleet fought tenaciously and unyieldingly. Some crew members were fighting on the gun position until the moment before the ships sank. They defended the honor and dignity of the Royal Navy with their actions. In the process of bombing the British destroyer group, the Schell fleet also suffered from artillery fire from the British dreadnought formation. You must know that the 10 British dreadnoughts that started construction after 1909 had a total of 100 new mains of 45 times the diameter of 13.5 inches.

Cannon, this naval gun uses 635 kilograms of armor-piercing shells with an initial muzzle speed of 759 meters per second. Its power is the best among the navy of various belliger countries in 1914 (the United States served 45 times the diameter of 14-inch naval guns). The latest completed King-class battleships of the German Navy can also withstand the bombardment of this British heavy artillery with nearly 14-inch thick armor. But Schell's command is old German battleships built and put into service more than ten years ago. The best German-class armor belts have only 11-inch armor (the thickest position of the waterline armor belt, turrets, command towers and other key parts), which means that every main shell sent by the British fleet may pose a fatal blow to Schell's battleship.

The strong wind in the north was mixed with the strong smell of gunpowder. On the wet bridge of the "Germany", Reinhardt Schell held the railings in front of him with both hands. Faced with the bombardment of the enemy fleet, he and his soldiers were always gritting their teeth and persevering, and their fighting spirit had already burned. On the surface, Jelico's dreadnought formation had an absolute advantage. Unless both sides narrowed the distance to face, the old German battleships could not even penetrate the main armor of the Orion-class, the Iron Duke and George V-class. These British dreadnoughts had a clear advantage of 4-5 knots. If these two battleship formations fought alone

Jelico can pull or shorten the combat distance at will, or get rid of the entanglement of the opponent, but the extremely complex battlefield situation limits his maneuver space. With his experience in the Japanese and Russian naval battle against Mahayana nine years ago, at a combat distance of about 6,000 meters, medium-caliber naval guns also have extremely strong damage to the target warships. Even if these shells cannot directly penetrate the main armor belt, they can destroy the hulls and equipment in non-key defense areas by killing the crew a large number of people, weakening from the outside to the mainland, consuming the combat capabilities of the ships, and winning even a decisive victory without sinking enemy warships.

"4,000 meters away from the enemy!"

When a new range finding report came from the shooting command room located on the upper part of the bridge, Schell turned his head and ordered with a domineering voice like a lion:

"Send a signal, the fleet turns left to 8 prayer points, and prepares to adopt alternate searchlight cover tactics, use the flagship searchlight as a battle signal, and concentrates firepower to attack the starboard."

On the battlefield, every second is precious. In this era when radio call technology is not available, whether it is light signals or radio codes for communication, the length of the command often means the level of communication efficiency. "Searchlight Alternate Cover Tactics" contains rich content in just a few words. Before the outbreak of the war, the German high seas fleet fought against the old battleship formation several times with a group of dreadnoughts. Through training and exercises, the officers realized that the searchlights played double in naval battles.

The role of the blade sword not only points out the target's position for the gunners, but also exposes its position to the other party, but its directionality and sustainability are far stronger than that of the flares. In order to reduce the negative effect of the searchlights in use, the German Navy adopted several prefabricated tactics. The "scanning alternate cover tactics" mean that each ship is paired from front to back. When the flagship searchlight is on, the front ship turns on the searchlight first, and then switches it to the rear ship to turn on the lights one after another, alternates in turn, thus disrupting the other party's sight and judgment.

After repelling the British destroyer group, the Schell fleet immediately turned off the searchlight. The British fleet opposite was aiming and shooting with the help of the light of the flares. On the flickering sea, German warships followed the weak navigation lights of the front ships to maneuver. Without sufficient training and rigorous regulations, it was almost impossible to maintain formation and avoid collisions. In just less than ten minutes, the eight old battleships led by the Germans completed the steering at a speed of 17.5 knots. With the order of Reinhardt Schell, the four ships "German", "Schleswig Holstein", "Pomeren" and "Hesse" turned on the searchlights one after another. More than a dozen bright light columns instantly penetrated the dark fog and stabbed straight towards the British fleet several thousand meters away.

Since leaving the military port the night before, they embarked on an uncertain adventure, the naval officers and soldiers under Schell were exhausted for a long distance and could only guess the changes in the battle situation through various incomplete information. At this moment, they finally saw the face of the British main fleet, and everyone seemed to have been doped. In various artillery positions, the commands of the officers echoed each other. The soldiers completely ignored the reality that the other party was far stronger than themselves, and worked extremely hard to load the artillery. In an instant, eight old German battleships facing the enemy on the side of the side began the first round of volleys, and the vast momentum was no less than the artillery bombardment of the British dreadnought formation.

Under the light of the searchlight, the flight trajectory of the shells is clearly visible. What a terrible and spectacular scene that is a normal person with naked eyes. Before the German fleet's shelling was over, the first shells shot had already fallen into the opponent's array, and the white columns of water rose high in the rolling waves. These were neither equipped with a unified shooting command system for the entire ship nor the latest rangefinder were equipped. The first round of shooting was quite accurate, and most of the bullet points were concentrated around the British dreadnought.

The powerful British dreadnought formation could not allow a group of old German battleships to show off their power in front of them. They immediately reciprocate with color. The 13.5-inch naval cannons emitted a roar like a sea. The orange-red cannon flames almost formed a long and airtight wall on the sea. These heavy shells with terrifying attack power flew over the battlefield with a breathtaking roar, and in a blink of an eye the entire Scher fleet was shrouded in man-made storm.

In this round of artillery, the British fleet that fought in the dark still had not made a direct hit, but long before this, many warships in the German fleet were attacked by nearly missing bombs. A crack was blown out of the rear of the starboard side of the "Silesia" and water inflowed by hundreds of tons. The crew was forced to close two bottom cabins, barely keeping the power cabin from threat. The "Pomeren" was blown through the bow, causing the anchor chain to be stuck, and the poison gas produced by the picric acid explosive spread in multiple cabins, and more than a dozen crew members were infringed. The "Alsace" at the end of the first battle line was also damaged in the bow, and completely blocking the leakage required to reduce the speed. However, in order to continue to be in the battle line, the crew had to give up the bow watertight compartment. Since the water inflow quickly reached 200 tons, the deck of the battleship was tilted forward by 3 degrees, which brought some trouble to the main gun shooting.

Under the clear guidance of the searchlight, the German fleet's shooting accuracy showed strong momentum from the beginning. The "Schleswig-Holstein" was once the three-time artillery champion of the German Navy from 1905 to 1907. Its second round of shooting hit the target. A gorgeous fireball suddenly rose from the bridge of the Iron Duke-class battleship. The "Hannover" that followed was not to be outdone. Its shooting caused the second regiment of the British battleship opposite to explode.

The flames were exploded, while the other ships continued to maintain high-precision shooting, and the seven soldiers who were even behind also caught up. "Prussia", "Lorraine", "Swabian", "Viting", "Vichersbach", "Mecklenburg", and "Zalingen". Before they were modified and fully repaired, some of them were already in the old state of retirement. Danze's two first-class shipyards gave them a new mental outlook and strong motivation in a short period of time.

Compared with Jelico's new dreadnought, the rate of fire is the only technical advantage of the Schell fleet. The 283mm main guns of the German-class and Brunswick class have a firing speed of 3 rounds per minute, twice that of the British 13.5-inch naval guns, while the 240-mm main guns of the Vitchellsbach class have a record of firing speed of battleship main guns. Not only the main guns, these old German battleships' large-caliber secondary guns also have a shaming rate of fire for most opponents. As long as the gun battle lasts not too long, the 150mm of the Vitchellsbach class, the 170-mm guns of the German-class and Brunswick class are enough to fight against the Armstrong 6-inch rapid-fire guns that use the mechanical assistance system.

Faced with the old German battleship group that was striving for strength, Jeliko was reluctant to fight at this time, he could only fight with all his strength. While he ordered the ships to maintain a speed of 21 knots on the sea where the wind and waves were gradually rising, he made clear allocation of the fleet's firepower: except for the flagship "Iron Duke" and the command ship of the 1st Battleship Squadron, the other ships were in groups in pairs and attacked the four German battleships with searchlights in order. Only more than a minute later, Jeliko's command was effective. Under the joint attack of two George V-class battleships, violent explosions occurred in the main bridge of the "Pomeren" and the rear deck. More than 30 people below the captain were killed on the spot. The main guns in the rear were completely damaged, and the raging flames on the ship actually illuminated the battleship behind him.

Almost as the "Pomeren" was severely damaged, the "Hessen" was in an unprecedented danger. The two Orion-class battleships and the flagship "Iron Duke" in charge of Jelico both aimed the muzzle at it. In addition to the 13.5-inch main gun, they were equipped with 12 single-mounted 45-diameter 6-inch secondary guns (most British dreadnoughts of only 4-inch secondary guns during World War I). The dense artillery fire soon enveloped the unlucky "Hessen" and was not waiting for the German crew to close them on their own.

Searchlights, flying shrapnel and violent impacts have destroyed them one by one. Immediately afterwards, the waterline armor belt of the German battleship was hit by two large-caliber British armor-piercing bombs one after another. The amazing power of the explosion instantly tore open the armor, blowing through the inner coal cabin and destroying some of the bottom cabin support walls. The uncontrollable water inflow caused the warship to tilt to the right quickly, and even the reverse emergency water injection failed to curb its flip. The "Hesse" became the first German battleship to announce abandonment in this naval battle.

In just a few minutes, the "Pomeren" became the second ship.
Chapter completed!