Major General Felix Fonke, who served as the commander of the Special Fighting Fleet of the German Navy in the Faroe Islands, had no affiliation with Lieutenant General Franz von Hippel, the commander of the reconnaissance fleet. However, after receiving a radio telegram from the "De Fringer", Fonke did not hesitate or resist at all. He immediately ordered his ship to project flares to the British fleet. Not only that, in order to allow Hippel's two main combat patrols to obtain ideal viewing conditions, he immediately ordered the "Regent of Louisport" to illuminate the enemy ships with searchlights to search and lock the enemy flagship flying the commander's flag.

Knowing that this order might bring disaster to his dreadnought, the officers and soldiers on the ship still carried out the order without hesitation. The "Regent of Louisport", which had been bombarded with British fleet artillery fire, suddenly lit up the three remaining searchlights on the main and auxiliary bridge. The mirror surface of this high-power searchlight is more than one meter in diameter and can shine on ships four or five kilometers away in the dark.

"Not this one, turn right, one behind!"

On the blood-stained mast lookout, a senior German sergeant held a binoculars in hand, and loudly guided the sailors who controlled the searchlight while observing the situation of the enemy ship. Three meters below the lookout are searchlight bases with upper and lower structures. Intact, the main and auxiliary bridges of the Caesar-class dreadnought have four high-power searchlights each, which can provide continuous medium- and short-range lighting for its own naval gun shooting in a dark environment. Now there is only one searchlight left in the main bridge, and there are two sub-bridges left in the rear. The main guns on the ship have been completely silent, and only a few sub-blades can be used. Apart from lighting up the enemy for friendly ships, this fleet flagship can hardly play any role anymore.

The searchlights manually operated by the crew quickly aimed at the direction pointed by the Chief Commander. On the sea about three thousand meters away, a British battleship with a kind body and a vigor was illuminated by a strong column of light. On the flagpole, the striking squadron commander's flag was fluttering in the wind.

The German battlecruiser "De Fringer" in the distance quickly found the British flagship locked by the searchlight of the "Louisport Regent". What excited the German crew members was that it made its first hit with just three volleys. The armor-piercing shells landed between the bridge and the main turret, and the explosion destroyed the British ship's infirmary, the artillery maintenance room and the front firepower calculation room. The roof of the lower cabin was also blown up with a big hole. A little further backwards was the front ammunition depot of the battleship.

The front of the warship was hit hard, and the situation at the rear of the "Africa" ​​was not optimistic. An 11-inch armor-piercing projectile from the "Westphalia" hit its rear main turret. The British should be glad that the key protection parts of the Edward VII class had been made with the surface hardened carburized steel technology pioneered by Krupp. The front armor of the 12-inch thick turret was not penetrated, but the pitch device of the main gun on the right side of the turret was damaged. In the fierce naval battle, this was a damage that cannot be ignored.

The fierce shelling from the two German battle patrols frightened the British fleet, not only because of their strong opponents, but also because of their weak and weak counterattacks. Although the muzzle flames of enemy ships exposed their approximate orientation, the optical rangefinders of British warships were unable to accurately measure the distance of the opponent in the moonlight.

If this continues, the British fleet will soon be finished.

Inside the bridge commander of the "Africa", Karthorp, who was struggling, tried his best to maintain his calmness. He ordered all battleships to maintain their current positions and ignored the two German battle patrols that had great threats. Putting aside the three German main battleships that lost all their combat power but were still in a sailing state, attacking the last German dreadnought that had not been hit hard, the "Westphalia".

With the "Moltch", "Louisport Regent" and "Thuringian" successively hurt and the speed was sharply reduced, "Westphalia" could have pulled the outside line to implement support. Obviously, out of a strong team spirit, the Nassau-class dreadnought was cruising near the sea. This move was of great significance before, thanks to the dense firepower of the "Westphalia", the Fonk fleet was able to block the attack of British lightning-striking ships, winning a crucial opportunity to reverse the adverse situation. Now, with the fearless light of the "Louisport Regent" illuminating the enemy's flagship, the "Westphalia" spared no effort to launch a fierce attack. All 11-inch caliber triple guns fired twice a minute, and hit the target four times in two minutes!

"It's unbelievable that the German fleet's night shooting was so accurate!"

On the "Soviet" of the Edward VII-class battleship sailing in front of the "Africa", the officers looked at the flagship that was constantly hit by enemy artillery fire and exploded with great anxiety. The young officer, who expressed his feelings, was immediately stared at by the older officer. Although this is an indisputable objective fact, under the subtle situation, any praise to the enemy may affect the determination of their own crew members to fight to the death.

At this moment, the German dreadnought ship more than 3,000 meters away and two German battle patrol patrols six or seven thousand meters away were unscrupulously outputting firepower. The fire emitted by various artillery fires was like someone constantly igniting matches in the distance, but no match itself has such great lethality.

In accordance with the combat orders of the "Africa", including the moderately damaged Sovereign, every combat ship in the British fleet concentrated its firepower on the Nassau-class dreadnought. The large and small artillery shells aroused countless water columns, but few directly hit the target. If it were during the day, the training level of the British crew was not impossible to hit the target without even being able to hit the target, but the hasty response and lacked effective observation methods, so it was difficult to let the shells fall within twenty meters of the German ship.

In the night surface artillery battle, both sides are fighting for not only the innate conditions of tonnage, speed, and firepower. The commander's on-site command is also very important. When the enemy's shells are single and close to the ship or even hit the ship, the commanders need to change the course to make their warships avoid the enemy's next round of attacks, and at the same time find ways to make their shells hit the other side.

"Note! All personnel immediately evacuate the open-air combat position, keep the cabin aisle open, the medical emergency team deployed according to the C plan, and the fire extinguishing team will be at their disposal."

The sounds of the crew members were suddenly heard on the in-ship broadcast of the "Soviet" and they often heard similar instructions during the usual training and exercises. Each instruction had its intention, and different combinations meant different tactical intentions. At this time, when hearing these instructions, many officers' faces suddenly became solemn, and some even shook hands with each other and wished each other good luck.

At the same time, the German battlecruiser "De Fringer" was completely different. Since the hit, the gunners suddenly found the feeling that the shells hit the target one after another, and the shooting commander on the ship was also constantly adjusting the shooting parameters using their experienced experience.

"Reload armor-piercing bullets!"

In the huge main turret, the voices of the gunmen were as stern as a ruler, but full of heroic emotions.

The order to load shells was issued, and the gunners quickly opened the bolt, loaded the bolt and fired the cartridges, then closed the bolt, shouting in a very breath-taking tone:

"No. 1 cannon is in place!"

"No. 2 cannon is in place!"

Afterwards, the gunman reported to the shooting command room through the sound tube that the main gun under this turret was loaded.

A moment later, the 30,000-ton super warship trembled slightly with the volley of eight 12-inch main guns, and the sound of the deafening guns was like a stirring war drum, keeping every officer and soldier on the ship in a state of boiling blood.

The British flagship in the distance quickly turned into a striking torch, and the cannons on the ship fell completely silent.

Seeing this, cheers rang out on every German warship.

On the messy bridge of the "Africa", Karthorpe's adjutant suggested to him: "General, the "Africa" ​​has no combat power, its power system is damaged, and its radio system has been damaged. We may have to change to another warship to continue commanding the battle."

But the situation before them was very bad. The deck of the warship was full of flames and smoke, the water columns on the sea side were rising and the waves were rolling. How could we safely transfer to other warships?

Karthorp didn't say a word, his face was extremely gloomy, and the idea of ​​sinking with the ship had already emerged in his mind. After a while, the shadow of the ship rushed out of the slant suddenly attracted his attention. Without receiving the flagship command, the "Soteric" actually rushed out.

The searchlight beams of several German warships immediately gathered on the British battleship, which was covered with scars.

"General, the flag of the 'Soul'...it covers our retreat and lets us retreat to Soud Island!"

The adjutant's words made Karthorp's eyes wide open, and even though he was reluctant, the responsibility and mission of the fleet commander forced him to face reality with rational thinking: the tacit cooperation between the two German fleets completely reversed the situation on the battlefield, and the "Africa" ​​was the first prey for the enemy to counterattack. The remaining British battleships were influential, and if they held on forcibly, they would only fall into the enemy's mouth one by one.

In desperation, Karthorp ordered a retreat. Due to the damage to the radio equipment of the "Africa", the crew had to use flags and lights to convey messages. At this time, the artillery fire of the "Westphalia" began to give the brave "Soviet" a heavy blow. The 11-inch armor-piercing bombs knocked off the main turret of the British former dreadnought one by one, and then concentrated the firepower on its front bridge. The two volleys completely destroyed its command system.

In the final stage of the battle, the British crew of the "Soviet" showed amazing tenacity. After losing all the main guns, they still used various weapons on the ship, including machine guns on the side of the ship to shoot at the German ship. Although they could only make some noise on the side of the German ship, they deeply shocked the German officers and soldiers on the ship, which they had always despised, and they also had such perseverance!

Before the battle was completely over, the British ships fired shells and hit the "Westphalia" and the armor-piercing bombs hit the outer armor plate of the commander tower. Although they failed to penetrate the armor and caused direct damage to the commanders inside, they also made the boxer, who had always been full of confidence, punched hard on the beautiful and clean face.
Chapter completed!