As the night begins to droop, the sky is dotted with clouds, looking like a wrinkled flannel cloth. On the undulating sea, the battleships with hard lines and concise contours drag out long white trails. As the vigorous flagship sends out a light signal representing a specific meaning, this formation of 22 ships quickly changes its formation. Looking down from the air, the adjustment process is like a giant octopus spreading its tentacles in the water. Most of the ships are heads in different directions in an orderly manner, forming a fan that is close to 180 degrees and continuously extending and expanding. The remaining ships are the heads of the octopus. As part of the whole, the work of exploring the enemy situation is mainly handed over to the tentacles in front...

Among the tentacles of this big octopus, one is composed of the German Navy's 1932-grade torpedo boat destroyer T-802 "Heinz Butch" and the 1930-grade torpedo boat destroyer T-727 "Otto-Schkira". Both are one in front and one behind, and it looks like a light cruiser leading a destroyer to carry out cruise operations. In fact, the 1932-grade torpedo boat destroyer is indeed an alternative among the German Navy's destroyer. Its displacement is almost twice that of ordinary destroyers. It is equipped with four dual-mounted 127mm naval guns and four triple-mounted 533mm torpedo tubes. In terms of tonnage, equipment and surface firepower, it can be called a miniature version of the cruiser.

The airworthiness performance is indeed significantly improved compared with conventional destroyers. The cruising distance of 6,500 nautical miles is very suitable for cooperating with the main fleet. Some people think that the Germans designed such large destroyers is an outdated attempt to lead the destroyer, while others think it is a bold exploration of the concept of modern destroyers. Regardless of right or wrong, this ship with strong military equipment and superior airworthiness performance has shown excellent practicality on the battlefield, and thus has been highly praised by German naval officers and soldiers. But it is a pity that when the war broke out, only three destroyers of this class were in service. If 20, 30 or even 40 were in service, the combat operations of the Allied Navy in Britain and even Azores would be much easier.

The Heinz-Buch, which participated in the brine blockade on the east coast of Britain at the beginning of the war, is now the command ship of Christian von Oldenburg, the little prince of the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg. It is equipped with the mc-iib short-wave pulse radar used by large ships. Its effective detection radius is 40% larger than that of the German-made Lorentz-i-carrier-based pulse detector used by the ships, which means it can detect traces of enemy ships first. Of course, the premise is that enemy ships will enter the sea area they search and monitor at night.

After dinner, Christian, dressed in neat military uniforms, patrolled the battle positions of the ship with his adjutant. At the end, they stopped on the stern deck. This naval general who came from a royal family and was known as the "Oldenburg Double Eagles" together with his brother August, stared at the vast and boundless sea in a daze.

After a long time, the young adjutant asked curiously: "Your Highness, do you say that the enemy's battleship will go from Texel to Floris tonight?"

Christian did not answer directly, but asked back: "Do you hope the enemy will come, or will you not?"

The adjutant replied without thinking: "Of course I hope they will come! Looking at this situation, His Majesty Joachim I will defeat the opponent with a night lightning strike. If the enemy can reduce the two main battleships, then the situation where the enemy is strong and we are weak in the Azore battlefield will be completely reversed!"

Christian calmly pulled out his top pocket, took out a delicately packaged cigar, opened it without rushing, pulled out the torpedo-shaped cigar, took out the cigar cut from another pocket, and skillfully trimmed it into a standard state, put away the cigar cut, took out the lighter, covered his hands to block the wind, ignited, and ignited it.

In a moment, a fragrance that was completely opposite to the smell of gunpowder finally spread.

The royal general who was already in middle age recalled in a low and slow tone: "That summer 19 years ago, I experienced the most tragic naval battle in history. Since then, the name of Jutland is well known. Looking back at that naval battle, most people talked about the magnificent fleet artillery battle, but did not notice that the light ships on both sides had many desperate battles. Under the night sky, flares and artillery flames jumped in front of them, and torpedo tracks approached quietly. Death might come at any time, instantly taking the lives of the entire ship. At that time, I was only in my early twenties and watched my companions drive high-speed battleships away, knowing that many of them would not come back, and all their longings for honor and victory were overwhelmed by cruel reality..."

The adjutant listened silently, as if he had realized something, but he also felt that something deeper was elusive for a moment.

After pausing for a while, Christian continued: "If we encounter an enemy fleet tonight, no matter which side the victory belongs to, both sides will inevitably suffer major casualties, and you and I may appear on the list of those who are dead."

The young adjutant turned his head to look at his idol, and his eyes showed confusion. Has the great hero who had driven a high-speed battleship twice in the Second Battle of Flanders, ventured through the rain of bullets to attack enemy ships and won prominent merits for himself? Has he lost his most precious fearless spirit in the long years?

Ol, Christian exhaled a long breath and suddenly accelerated his speech: "Whether they come or not today, this collision of wills is destined to appear, because this is his favorite way to win. In the war script he wrote, there will inevitably be such a climax. Since he has come here, he is the unique master of the battlefield battle."

"Are you saying..." The deputy stopped talking to his mouth. Since they knew each other well, why bother so straightforward?

Christian continued to smoke a cigar, his tone turned again: "But then again, this cruel battle is indeed an excellent way to hit the enemy's anger. As Marshal Schell said in "Jetland Memoirs", a kind commander is not a qualified commander. When you are on the battlefield, it is best to regard all casualties and losses as simple numbers, so that you can make objective and correct decisions."

The adjutant was stunned: "I always thought that the sentence was directed at the time of the commander of the High Seas Fleet and later dismissed for no reason."

Christian shrugged: "Maybe it's a pun!"

The rapid fleet of the Allied Navy temporarily formed by the Navy was west of Texel overnight, and the southeast of Floris Island was spreading a big net, and the US-British Joint Fleet, which changed its generals, did not get in. British Admiral Chatfield, who took over the command, believed in his judgment. If a ship was sent to aid Floris at this time, he would inevitably be intercepted by strong enemies halfway. Moreover, because of the limited intelligence at hand, he could not be sure whether the cunning opponent would send out the main force or choose an elite soldier to win another battle in the form of night lightning strikes. Different deployments are needed for different situations. Now, the US-British fleet is not only facing the dilemma of low morale, but also has difficulty in attacking the 24 main warships in the Azores, plus the five reinforcements on the front line.

The main battleship and four quasi-main battleships, most of the essence of the US and British navies were damaged. So far, only 9 remaining ships can set sail at any time. Among them, there are 7 ships deployed in the Texel Sea, namely the South Dakota-class battleships "Indiana", the Colorado-class battleships "Colorado" and "Washington", the New Mexico-class battleships "New Mexico" and "Mississippi", the Queen Elizabeth-class battleships "Queen Elizabeth", and the only battle cruiser "Hao" that can still be put into combat in the United States and Britain. What is ashamed is that the most critical reason why the Colorado-class and New Mexico-class have two ships each is that they are slow in speed and have been dragged in the backroads in several important naval battles. With their unsatisfactory maneuverability, many tactics are simply unavailable.

If time goes back a week, Hart's task force and Block's main aircraft carrier are still there, Chatfield decided to set up a plan and dispatched fast ships to confront the enemy head-on, and at the same time, the main fleet and aircraft carrier formations were to support them. In this way, he would not suffer any losses in night battles or day battles. But now he had to worry about losing to his opponents in night battles, and he was also worried that his ships would be bombed by enemy carrier-based aircraft in turn during the day. So he decided to avoid the enemy's edge, and dispatched several light ships to the waters west of Texel for fire reconnaissance and tactical restraint, and assigned the "Hao" to lead seven light cruisers to set off eastward, and launched a shelling operation on San Miguel Island after midnight.

The American and British ships started to move in groups, and the Allied submarines that were vigilant and surveillance in the waters near Texel Island were unaware of it. In fact, most of their regular patrol routes and surveillance contact points have been discovered by their opponents. In this way, it would be easy for Chatfield to formulate a safe and hidden route for the attack of the artillery fleet.

The straight line distance from Texel to San Miguel is about 90 nautical miles. Chatfield's artillery fleet traveled around the path, and the range has nearly doubled. Fortunately, the British Admiral-class battlecruiser is powerful, and the Parsons steam turbine is efficient and reliable. It can run all night at a speed of nearly 30 knots. The artillery fleet rushed all the way and finally arrived at the waters north of San Miguel at around 1 a.m. As a result, as soon as it entered the sea detection range of the shore-based radar, the new radar detector equipped by the "Hao" emitted a rapid alarm. Not long after, the Allies' warning whistle was

Ships and seaplanes came one after another. Even so, the US and British artillery fleet followed Chatfield's order and forcibly broke through the obstruction of the Allied alert ships and continued to approach San Miguel Island. At 1:20 a.m., the "Hau" fired 62 shells on the central area of ​​San Miguel Island with its maximum elevation angle of its main gun. The light and heavy cruisers projected 744 rounds of ammunition to the northern end of San Miguel Island. The entire artillery operation lasted for more than half an hour. As more and more Allied ships appeared on the British radar screen, the artillery fleet quickly retreated northward and arrived in the northeastern waters of Tssel by dawn.

On the other hand, the US and British destroyers sent to the waters west of Texel Island did not exchange fire with the Allied ships, and most of the destroyers did not even see the shadow of enemy ships. The reason was that the mc-iib type shipboard radar contributed by the Irish Navy department allowed the Allied light ships who had received clear instructions to walk in a straitable way. Since rabbits did not see them out of the hole, they did not have to hunt eagles, and exposed their tracks in vain.
Chapter completed!