Late at night, the moon was bright, the blue sky was filled with gray smoke, and the dazzling lights were constantly blooming, piercing the haze of the night. The boiling sea surface was always echoing with the sound of cannons, explosions and sharp roars of shells flying by. Water columns of all sizes rose and fell on the sea surface. On this nearly boiling sea surface, various ships were moving on completely different trajectories. Some were sailing at full speed, with black smoke spraying out of the chimneys, some were ignited, emitting smoke, and their speed continued to slow down. Some were already tilted, and the deck gradually disappeared from the water surface...

"Sir, all the torpedoes have been loaded! Our current position is 5,500 yards away from the enemy!"

On the bridge of the British destroyer Comet, a young blonde officer reported the latest ranging reading to Captain Major Hawke. In front of their sight, two black ship shadows kept leaping with flashes of artillery flames. At this time, there was no direct evidence to determine their exact identity. However, observing their body shape and combining information from all parties in the process of the war, the British realized very painfully that the most powerful double-ship formation of the German Navy had only hit the British and French fleets in the southern waters of Ireland not long ago.

The battlefield situation, which was originally very beneficial to the British fleet, suddenly changed drastically.

Before this, the key to the fact that Carthorp's six front dreadnoughts could overwhelm the German fleet, which was mainly composed of three dreadnoughts and one battlecruiser, was that the two torpedo attacks of the British high-speed torpedo boat group and the lightning strike group. The German warship in the middle of the thunder was like a warrior who had injured his legs. Although the sword and shield in his hand were still there, their combat effectiveness was greatly reduced. Moreover, due to this, the mentality of the officers and sailors was temporarily unbalanced, which led to the disarray. Although the overall combat power of the two main combat patrols, "Deferringer" and "Sedlitz", was not as strong as the four friendly ships, they had the objective advantage of concentrated firepower and flexibility. Their sudden appearance also caught the British off guard mentally.

Unlike high-speed torpedo boats, destroyers and most small lightning strike ships carry spare torpedoes that can be reloaded and attacked on the battlefield. Previously, Comet and friendly ships carried out torpedo attacks on the German fleet. Although they failed to expand the results, they successfully attracted the firepower of two German main battleships, at the cost of many destroyers and small lightning strike ships being severely damaged and basically lost the ability to continue fighting. Now, Comet follows the flagship's orders and attacks with two other destroyers and two small lightning strike ships. If you can achieve something, the British fleet will have the opportunity to regain control of the situation, but the experienced officers know how difficult the road ahead is.

With the help of the faint cabin light, Major Hawke looked at his watch and muttered in a low voice: "22 minutes, it took us too long to load the torpedo. After this attack, the enemy will never give us so long. God bless us to hit it with one blow!"

The blonde officer seemed to hear only the last words Major Hawke said to himself, and he made a grinning expression: "I have a strong premonition, sir, the most difficult period will be full of hope until tonight. Britain will win!"

Major Hawke had just opened his mouth, and the heavy shells fired by the German Battle Patrol whizzed past their heads, and the sharp sound brought an invisible sense of oppression. As a result, the officers and soldiers on the ship were glad that they did not hit them, but were worried about their battleships that the armor thickness of these former British dreadnoughts was much thinner than that of the dreadnoughts. Some of them used Harvey nickel steel before the surface carburizing and hardening process. Any part, as long as they were hit by a large-caliber armor-piercing bomb, would be very difficult to get caught by a German in any part.

The whistle of the shells passing by gradually faded away, and Major Hawke let out a sigh: "Let's talk about it when we have the fate to see the end of this naval battle!"

The blonde officer nodded, and after a moment, he reported a new distance reading: "4500 yards!"

The design speed of the Comet is 27 knots. It has been in service for several years and has good maintenance. It can basically reach its state when it is completed. The two German battle patrols in front are guys with a sprint speed of more than 26 knots. Although the two sides are not sailing completely at the same time, their relative speed is still astonishingly high.

Major Hawke stood motionless and thought quietly.

"Ah! It's so deadly. One of our battleships was hit! A violent explosion occurred. I don't know which unlucky guy was. May God bless..."

Someone said this on the bridge. Major Hawke walked quickly to the starboard side. From a distance, the ships on the sea were faintly visible on the light and dark sea. Some of the two fleets of firefighting were visually overlapped together. It was indeed difficult to identify the identities of each warship. The explosion was located in the front of the British fleet. From the position, it might be Carlthorp's flagship "Africa", or the "New Zealand" that followed.

“3500 yards!”

In a blink of an eye, the young blonde officer reported the distance reading again. The white-headed torpedo used by the British Navy at this time had a theoretical maximum range of 10,000 meters. However, in the combat mode of direct torpedo, it would be difficult to hit the ship after 2,000 meters unless it attacked a stationary ship under extremely small winds and waves.

"Turn right and a prayer dot!" The major suddenly issued an order.

The first mate in charge of the helm turned the steering wheel without hesitation.

"The No. 1 torpedo team is ready to launch!" The major's tone was as cold as his expression, and his expression was like a ground supervisor under the guillotine. When the Comet was designed, there were only two underwater torpedo tubes, located on the left and right sides. During the past few months of combat, British naval officers and soldiers increasingly felt the backwardness of the underwater torpedo tubes and the insufficient torpedo weapons. Under their strong request, more than half of the active destroyers were modified, removed the underwater torpedo tubes, and equipped the ship with double-equipped water torpedo tubes. The two sets of dual-equipped torpedo tubes are located behind the chimneys of No. 1 and No. 2 respectively. They are located at the centerline of the hull, and theoretically they can launch torpedoes in either direction on the left and right sides.

Before the torpedo was launched, suddenly, a loud bang resounded throughout the ship, and almost all the officers on the bridge fell in a violent shock. Many of them had already experienced the cruelty of the battle. They knew very well how a warship would tremble like this three or four thousand meters away. The gun was almost in direct shooting, which meant that the probability of the shell hitting the target was greatly increased. Judging from the explosion impact just now, at least one 150mm shell hit the Comet!

The violent shock in an instant almost made the officers faint. Through the broken porthole, people could see that the front deck was surrounded by dazzling flames. The choking smoke was pouring in through every thorn in the command tower. The two German battle patrols had obviously discovered these British lightning-striking ships trying to move forward in the dark. Since the distance between the two sides was relatively close, they didn't even need flares, and they could use the help of moonlight to shoot straight aiming.

Major Hawke staggered to the front of the sound tube and shouted loudly: "Torpedo group No. 1... aim at the enemy's front ship... launch! launch!"

Fortunately, the communication line on the ship was still running, and a clear voice came from the sound transmission tube: "Yes, sir, the No. 1 torpedo team aimed at the enemy's front ship, and the torpedo was launched! It has been launched!"

At this moment, few people noticed two torpedoes rushing into the water one after another. The raging fire above the deck attracted the attention of almost everyone. Some brave sailors, led by officers, tried to put out the fire, while others provided emergency treatment to the wounded on the deck.

The major didn't care about the bleeding forehead and turned around and shouted to the first mate: "Turn left two saccharus points!"

Immediately afterwards, he ordered through the sound tube: "The No. 2 Torpedo Team is ready to launch!"

But the sound tube did not respond.

"I'll deal with it." The blonde officer bravely volunteered to Major Hawke.

The major nodded and reminded: "The enemy ship may turn at any time. Do not set the two torpedoes at exactly the same angle, and the interval should be at one degree."

The blood-faced mate stood tenaciously in front of the rudder. The injured warship quickly began to turn, and the fire on the deck quickly rushed towards the bridge with the wind, and the flames had even begun to pounce on the porthole.

Major Hawke stared at the sea ahead with red eyes. He found that the cross-section of the two German ships of the shadow suddenly widened, which meant that the target was turning rapidly. If the two torpedo tubes of the No. 1 torpedo group set a completely consistent firing angle, then the two torpedoes launched before were most likely to be lost.

As soon as the Comet turned, several shells hit its original voyage. The major frowned. The German artillery technique was indeed stronger than they expected. If they had known this, the British Navy should have adopted a more cautious strategy at the beginning of the war, rather than going out to the port to fight again and again.

After a moment, a familiar voice came from the sound tube: "Sir, all members of the No. 2 torpedo team were killed. I have led some members of the No. 1 torpedo team to take over. The torpedo team has been in place and is waiting for the launch order."

Major Hawke clenched his fist and resolutely ordered: "Aim at the enemy's front ship... Launch!"

Two torpedoes quietly left the ship. After a few seconds, there was only a loud bang, and the 800-ton destroyer trembled violently again. Against the backdrop of the fire, many unprepared sailors were shaken out of the ship's side, and a more dazzling fireball still rose from the front deck of the warship, and bright red blood was seeped on the tempered glass remaining on the porthole.

At this moment, on the German battlecruiser "De Fringer", the gunners were busy. The powerful 12-inch main gun held its muzzle and smashed more than 400 kilograms of armor-piercing shells on the British battleship more than 6,000 meters away; various types of secondary guns on the starboard side lowered the muzzle and fired at British lightning strike ships two or three thousand meters apart at extremely fast speeds of fire.
Chapter completed!