Not long after the "Purple Fox" turned around, the relatively close "Berlin" suddenly turned around and fired a salvo at the British destroyer at a distance of about 13,000 meters. The 10 single-carrier guns of this old German cruiser were distributed in the bow and stern and on both sides, and could only concentrate at most 5 guns on the single side. They did not have the conditions to use the unified shooting command system for the entire ship, nor did they lack tactical value. Moreover, the German Navy's 40-diameter 105mm gun has a maximum range of 12,000 meters. The shooting of the "Berlin" was obviously just a threat. The "Purple Fox" quickly made a steering action, but realized that the other party could not cause substantial damage to itself, it followed behind unyieldingly.

These two German cruisers, which had no absolute advantage in speed, did not have the patience to accompany them to the end. They slowed down their speed slightly and used the stern guns from time to time, making the British destroyers dare not get too close. About a quarter of an hour later, two Hubert-e-type attack aircraft equipped with bombs took off from the Bismarck. They unceremoniously found the "Purple Fox" that had escaped before, ignored the weak firepower of the British using two machine guns, and threw the bomb at a flight altitude slightly higher than the mast. This time, the "Purple Fox" ate two bombs in succession, and violently exploded to destroy a 77mm naval gun, and triggered a small fire at a rear position in the rear.

Taking advantage of the damage to the British destroyer, the Berlin turned around again, and the Danze also rushed up from the other side. As the flames rushed to the boiler compartment, the power of the Purple Fox was deteriorated. What's worse, its wheel rudders also had problems, and the steering speed was much slower than normal. Soon, two German cruisers entered the range one after another, and the water columns stirred by the shells began to rise around the Purple Fox.

Since the enemy ship is still outside its own range, the British crew had to endure this passive attack situation. They tried their best to extinguish the fire and tried their best to repair the damaged equipment. Their spirit was highly concentrated, so they temporarily threw their uneasy and hesitant pessimism to Java. Under the command of the experienced Major Laris, the "Purple Fox" dodged left and right. With the two German cruisers constantly approaching, it was not hit by the enemy's artillery fire for a long time. At a distance of about 8,000 meters, the "Purple Fox" began to counterattack. Most of the time, it could only shoot with the 77mm gun in the stern of the ship. The rhythm of 3-4 rounds per minute could hardly pose any threat to the two 3,200-ton German cruisers.

Seeing that the situation was in control, the two German cruisers continued to approach the Purple Fox. Their tireless attack finally destroyed the lightweight British warship. Several shells fell against the side of the ship, and one hit the stern and exploded. The Purple Fox was silent for two or three minutes. The Germans thought that the British destroyer had lost its combat effectiveness, so they asked it to give up resistance with an international signal, but the British answered very firmly: No!

The proud cross flag of St. George flies on the flagpole of the Purple Fox. As the coal smoke spewed from the chimney becomes thicker again, the waves raised on the bow return to a cheerful jumping state from weakness and weakness. It is like a drunkard who wakes up, and its moving posture is no longer clumsy and staggering, and its flexible turn can vaguely see its agility in its prime.

After quickly completing the 180-degree steering, the "Purple Fox" pointed the bow at the "Berlin" and drove at full speed at the enemy's gunfire. The seemingly dying target suddenly launched a fierce counterattack. The Germans did not expect that their speed of fire suddenly accelerated, and their accurate heads decreased. In the next short period of time, the "Purple Fox" with a single force became the initiative of the battle. It ignored the damage to the hull and rushed forward. Until the two ships were more than 3,000 meters apart, the German cruiser had completed the steering and was escaping towards its own fleet with all its strength. The "Purple Fox" that was shot again could not maintain its fierce charge momentum. It aimed helplessly and shot two torpedoes.

Seeing the torpedo tracks appearing on the sea in front of the British destroyer, the Danze issued a warning to the friendly ships, and while using the cover position to storm the artillery fire to the Purple Fox. In just a few minutes, the front and rear decks of the "Purple Fox" were lit everywhere. Not only did its speed drop sharply, the hull also began to tilt, and the naval guns were all silent. However, until this tragic moment came, the British crew could not see the situation where their torpedo hit the enemy ship.

Although the British destroyer still had a battle flag on its flagpole, given that it had essentially lost its combat effectiveness and there were no other British warships around, the Danzer stopped the shelling, slowed down its speed, leaned over carefully, and lowered four lifeboats from the ship.

When the German crew began to rescue the fallen water, the Purple Fox had already become a stance facing upwards. After the last few minutes of struggle, it completely disappeared from the sea.

At the same time, on the flagship of the German mixed fleet, the communication officer sent a freshly released radio monitoring report to the officer's lounge, a salon-like leisure place, which is specially designed for middle and senior officers on the ship to chat and entertain, smoke and drink.

Although the process of "Danze" and "Berlin" fighting against British destroyers was not smooth, the fleet commander Reinhart Schell and his partner Prince Joachim did not ask much. They were spending time leisurely. The fleet's staff officers and the flagship's main commanders were also rotated in batches. Non-duty personnel could choose their favorite rest methods, including sleeping in the cabin and resting their energy to wait for the battle to arrive.

"I can't believe that after losing many ships, the British Navy was not worried that our communication password book would be seized by us!"

The reason why Schell was so emotional was because he received a completely deciphered British communication telegram, which was sent from the British destroyer that had just been sunk. The tenacious British crew fought to the last moment, but unfortunately their understanding of the German mixed fleet was limited to "there were aircraft-borne ships and multiple cruisers."

Xia Shu, who was lying on the sofa, had already read the telegram content first. He seemed a little proud: "It may not be that he was not worried, but it took time for the entire army to change the communication password. How could the British, who had great confidence in victory during the war, be fully prepared to be in trouble like us?"

Schell signaled the officers present to circulate the telegram, and then continued Xia Shu's words just now and said, "After this battle, their mentality will be very different."

Natsuki looked up at the unpretentious cabin roof: "It depends on the end of the battle... and the rationality of the British ruling class."

Schell then asked: "If we fully realize the intention of this combat plan, will the British withdraw from the war in His Highness's opinion?"

Natsuki shook her head slowly: "I don't think so."

"I don't think so, either," said Schell.

Hearing this, most of the officers present showed confusion.

Natsuki and Sher did not explain their judgment.

Everyone was chatting in a cold and heartless manner. When it was lunch time, a report suddenly came from the bridge, saying that their reconnaissance planes saw a British fleet of fifty or sixty ships in the northwest waters. There were about 5 to 6 large warships, and the rest were light ships.

"5 to 6 battleships?" With such speculation, several staff members looked depressed.

Xia Shu walked towards the officers' restaurant indifferently. According to the tonnage and size of the ship, the armored cruisers built later were also large warships. Due to the amount of information that the light signals can convey, it is difficult for the reconnaissance aircraft to describe these extremely detailed situations clearly.

Scher, who was walking in the front, did not show any strange behavior. The worried officers just now looked at each other. Although they didn't understand why, since the commanders were calm, they had to swallow their worries.

While the opponent was enjoying lunch safely, in the Orkney Islands, about 400 nautical miles away, the British combat fleet commanded by Sir Bailey was still trying to get out of the predicament with the help of minesweepers. In this era, there are two main ways for minesweepers to deal with anchors. One is to use minesweepers to cut off the anchor chains of fixed mines, so that the mines can float up and then deal with them. The other is to use minesweepers to find and directly detonate mines. No matter which method is time-consuming and dangerous, it may cause all mines to die if they are not careful. Sweeping mines has become the most difficult problem in the navy.

Within an hour, a main battleship, an old-style battleship and an armored cruiser were hit by mines one after another. Due to this nightmare experience, every explosion on the sea surface would make Sir Bailey and his officers and soldiers frightened. All this happened under the eyes of the German airship. They were thus burdened with another heavy worry, that is, the German fleet suddenly arrived, and took advantage of the fact that the British fleet had almost no mobile ability to kill, and sent the British Navy's hope to guard the local area to the bottom of the sea.

Since the aircraft equipped by one side was not as high as that of Zeppelin, Sir Bailey had to force the communication departments of the fleet and the naval base to forcefully interfere with the radio frequencies that appeared nearby, thereby preventing the German airship from providing real-time reconnaissance information to the fleet. This method is usually effective. However, seeing that the German airship did not leave, but continued to fly towards Scapa Bay, Sir Bailey couldn't help but wonder: Did the Germans find a means to avoid radio interference?

By the benefit of the Second Industrial Revolution, Germany's industrial technology was at the forefront of the world. In the World War Jutland, the German dreadnought's resistance to sinking and attack power far exceeded the British's expectations. The use of torpedo aircraft was associated with the catastrophic losses of the Betty fleet and was exclaimed by the British Navy as a "terrible secret weapon". So in Bailey's view, it was meaningless to consider whether the Germans made some breakthroughs in communication technology, so they simply made the worst plans, mobilized all the strength of the Scarpaflo Naval Base, and fought to the death against the German fleet that could arrive at any time.
Chapter completed!