47 months ago, the "Frederick the Great" slowly slid off the ship platform at the Vulqiang Shipyard in Hamburg. At that moment, the soldiers were full of confidence and the people were excited. No one would have expected that this new battleship, designed and built with flagship specifications, would continuously hit enemy ships in the Battle of England and Germany. Otherwise, the engineers should have equipped it with traditional impact angles and put additional solid heavy armor on the side.

At 0:00 a.m. on August 8, 1914, just 7 minutes after colliding with the British battleship "Honbon", the "Frederick the Great" carrying the commander of the German High Seas Fleet, Prince Joachim and other commanders, hit the "Orion". There was no explosion flames and smoke, no friction, and only a sensational bang, two ships were 30,000.

The tons of warship hit a bow full of "Frederick the Great" as if it was chopping the trunk of a tree with an axe. It cut open the 12-inch main armor that was hard to shake by the armor-piercing bomb in one breath, and slammed the rear of the "Orion" hull from the port side. The impact point was at the rear bridge between its main turrets of No. 3 and No. 4, which was roughly three-quarters of its longitudinal line, and the cut-out depth was close to ten meters, almost touching the central axis of the warship!

The violent collision caused both battleships to vibrate violently, and the huge inertia caused many unfixed objects to fly out in place. 17 British crew members fell into the water. However, the Orion only remained silent for a moment. The 6-inch secondary gun on the port side barked impatiently, and the shells all rushed towards the bridge of the Frederick the Great. However, these shells could not do anything to the German flagship's 13.8-inch thick bridge armor. They all jumped. The Vicks machine gun equipped with the Royal Navy also swept in vain to the deck and superstructure of the Frederick the Great. The Marine Corps officers were preparing to launch a jumping attack that seemed to belong to the sailing era...

The "Frederick the Great" was undoubtedly in an advantageous position with his bow hitting the other side of the side. Its bow was like a curled sword, and it had undergone serious deformation. The deck was arched high, and the underwater part became a slapped iron box. The anchor cabin and watertight cabin were all damaged, but the injury was not as good as the ammunition depot in the front. As long as the corresponding watertight cabin door was properly closed, the warship would not have the risk of overturning, but it was difficult to parade proudly in the stormy waves at a higher speed.

The port side guns were intensively fired, and the double-mounted 6-inch secondary gun on the front of the starboard side of the German flagship also caught the opportunity to exert its power. The 88-mm single-mounted secondary gun next to the bridge and the 37-mm machine gun above the bridge also seized the opportunity to fire violently at the other side. Except for the thick bridge that these shells could not threaten, other deck buildings were allowed to be "selected". The area between the masts behind the bridge of the Orion was therefore left countless bullet holes.

Unlike small and medium-caliber guns and cannons, in this nearly zero-distance state, the main guns of the two battleships have the ability to completely end the battle. However, any warship caused a large explosion in the entire ship due to the attack on the ammunition depot, and the other warship will inevitably be affected, and may even die together. However, before the commanders of both sides became entangled in the question of whether to use the main gun to bombard the opponent, nor did they give the British Marines the opportunity to show their heroism, the two warships had already escaped this strange fusion state.

What they will be waiting for is completely different fates. The port side of the Orion is not the tearing trauma of large-diameter armor-piercing bombs, but the heavy blows that penetrate deep into the internal organs and hurt the spine. The lightning protection chamber, fuel tank, sailor tank, bottom watertight compartment and even the double deck of the hull at the incision are completely destroyed. The surging sea water directly pours into the boiler compartment and spreads rapidly along the functional compartment and the in-ship passage of the upper layer of the watertight compartment. The warship tilts to the left at a very obvious speed. When the inclination angle exceeds the limit state of maintaining the hull balance, overturning is inevitable.

As for the perpetrator of this major traffic accident, the "Frederick the Great" sailed 60 degrees during the impact. After separation, it crossed the "Orion" trajectory and headed south. The hull was once leaned forward by 10 degrees due to the large amount of water inlet in the front compartment, and the bow deck was submerged in sea water, and the speed was sharply reduced to 8 knots.

At the same time, the British battleship "Benban" that had previously collided with the German flagship has turned into a large group of burning objects floating on the sea under the siege of three German dreadnoughts, Caesar, King, and King Albert. The thick hull armor and good anti-sinking design make it unlike the British battlecruiser that exploded or overturned and sunken as quickly as the British battlecruiser. However, without attack power and no free turn, it has become an excellent training for German gunners to conduct night shooting training.

Target. Before the last moment of the "Benbang" came, "Caesar", "King" and "King Albert" drove at full speed to support the flagship "Frederick the Great". In the next ten minutes, the tenacious "Benbang" was successively bombarded by German warships such as "Louisport Regent", "Catherine", "Helgoland", "Oldenburg", and "Westphalia". It was not until 0:40 that it completely disappeared from the sea with a violent explosion.

The defense level of the British Iron Duke-class battleship can be seen!

When many German naval officers and soldiers who participated in the war were amazed at the excellent protective capabilities of the British naval battleship, their own main battleship, the flagship "Frederick the Great", also showed the opponent the exquisite skills of the German shipbuilding industry. After previous battles and two abnormal warship collisions, its water inlet once reached 2,200 tons, which was close to the theoretical extreme of danger. The casualties on the ship exceeded 300, equivalent to 25% of the full crew. After the close contact with "Orion", most of the damage managers were concentrated in the bottom cabin in the middle and front. In order to increase the floating of the warships, most of the damage managers were concentrated in the lower cabin in the middle and front.

The force made the deck close to the sea rise accordingly. The 30 divers were divided into 5 groups. They entered the cabins filled with sea water one by one, trying every means to block the breakage between the cabins. The dangerous vortex and the sharp angles at the damaged bulkheads threatened the lives of these warriors. With beyond imagination, the ill-armed personnel successfully repaired some of the watertight cabins. With the balanced injection of the rear cabins and the full drainage of the front cabins, the "Frederick the Great" gradually returned to a level state, and the speed increased to 11 knots. However, this situation is obviously no longer suitable to continue leading the German fleet to charge.

Because of Ingnore's silence, the senior staff officer Colonel Hofert and others never mentioned changing the flagship. In the end, the captain Colonel Lu took the initiative to make this suggestion. Ingnore did not express his objection, and Xia Shu became the defender again. Because small traffic boats were difficult to sail on this rough sea, the "Frederick the Great" sent a signal to summon the large torpedo boat V-25 cruising nearby, but the traffic boat used for transition had not yet been put down, and a third British battleship appeared on the sea. This big guy, who was almost the same as the Iron Duke class, suddenly turned on the searchlight and bombarded the German flagship with full-side fire. At a distance of six or seven hundred meters, the British gunners' accurate heads were

Surprisingly good, shells of all sizes fell around the "Frederick the Great". The stormy water column forced the officers of the High Seas Fleet Command to suspend the transfer. The scarred "Frederick the Great" counterattacked with only four main guns and a few sub-cannons. However, not long after, the No. 1 turret on its front deck was hit by the large-caliber armor-piercing bombs of the British warship. After a violent explosion, the German flagship was left with only a double main gun in the stern of the ship and could open fire normally. To make matters worse, the radio antenna on the ship was also blown up. Faced with the fierce attack and the fourth British battleship that appeared, it had to turn to avoid the battle and dispatch helpers with light signals.

The powerful "Caesar" and "King" were already approaching. They ignored the overturning "Orion" and the numerous fallen watermen. They were like two calm and cunning wolves, quietly observing the direction of the target in the dark. Until they entered the appropriate shooting position, they both turned on the high-power searchlights on the ship, locked firmly with dazzling light columns, and then bombarded the opponent with fast and fierce full-side artillery fire. In just three rounds of volleys, the Albert King quickly joined the shelling, hiding its huge body in the rain curtain. The first few rounds of fire opened fire with only 4 main guns in front of the goal. After turning left and bypassing the wreckage of the "Orion", they bombarded the target with full-side fire.

The third British battleship, the Orion-class third ship, which debuted after the "Home State" and "Orion", was thoughtfully attacked the "Frederick the Great" who was basically in a disabled state. Although the harsh sea conditions greatly reduced the close-range shooting accuracy of the naval guns, its artillery fire still hit one after another, but the German Caesar-class battleship had a better protective design than the British Iron Duke class. The thick waterline armor stubbornly resisted the bombardment of the British ship, and the solid barrel-style bridge also stood in the storm-like artillery fire. Some of the lighting, communication and sighting facilities on the ship were successively encountered.

After the destruction, the Conqueror finally turned his muzzle to the German battleship "Caesar", which poses the greatest threat to it. The ship "Thunder" of the same class, which followed the Conqueror, also concentrated its main firepower on the "Caesar" at the call of the friendly ship, intending to defeat it in one fell swoop, but the flames in the rear of the German ship flashed, and more and more shells hit the "Conqueror". As the war of the "home state" sinks, the news of the overturn of the "Orion" was confirmed. The wireless telegram of the "Iron Duke" of the British Fleet's flagship, prompted the "Conqueror", "Thunder" and the "vanguard" who joined the Thomas formation halfway, and "Neptune" turned together and took the initiative to break away from the German fleet.

Before the British warships escaped into the rain one by one, several German dreadnoughts affiliated to the 1st Battleship Detachment thundered in their gradually distant backs, but failed to let any British warship fall behind due to injuries. In the end, only the Germans' own ships remained in sight. At this time, German cruisers and large torpedo boats near the sunken positions of "Home" and "Orion" were transferred to the rescue of British ship survivors. In the stormy waves, no matter how good the water is, the person with good water properties is.
Chapter completed!