Chapter 16 Hole Cards (7)
The tactical deceptions played before the war have been fermented by time. The Royal Navy, who tried to split the troops and attack, were humiliated and discovered that they were dragged down by the Germans with their speed advantage. The First Battlecruising Fleet led by Betty and the Second Battlecruising Fleet led by Major General Moore were beaten up by the thick-skinned Germans one by one.
It was like a nightmare. The Royal Princess sank in the outpost battle, and the War Warfare was destroyed in the subsequent encounter. If it weren't for a little luck, it would have been killed by the German torpedo.
Fortunately, Nightmare has retreated, and the War-weary servo proved to be difficult to recover with simple repairs. He had to retreat to the British coastline under the protection of the First Destroyer, which suffered heavy losses. But even so, David Betty, who met the Second Battlecruiser, had a lot of cards in his hand. He still had eight fast battleships, while his old rival Heidi Sileme had only four!
The fast fleet lined up in two columns on the ocean surface, the first team was the Lion, Tiger, the Fortune, and the Fortune. The second team was located on the starboard side of the First Battle Cruise, and was slightly pulled down 100 meters, namely the Elizabeth, Australia, New Zealand, and the Fortune. In the cool sea fog, the Rice Flag was flying high, and the Steel Fleet sprayed coal smoke and pulled out white wanderings on the northern ocean surface, searching for this shallow pond.
Everyone knows that the war is not over yet. Maybe just before sunrise, maybe it is the moment when the morning mist has disappeared, maybe on the Jutland coastline, or on the Skaglak Strait, the Ocean Fleet and the Great Fleet will surely decide the well-deserved master of the Atlantic Throne! Under the cold night, the majestic muzzle of the main battleship pointed to the north where the Germans might appear. The sailors on the watchtower widened their eyes and looked around, while the staff in the Commander of the Lion were fighting for the possible direction of the Germans.
The fast fleet searched for the northwest direction where the German First Reconnaissance Fleet lasted for two hours but found nothing. They could only give up Wuwang's search. At 0:55, the fast fleet turned to the northeast and reduced its speed to 18 knots, approaching the Skagerak Strait.
The Skaglak Strait is the address of the large fleet. This is no secret in front of his old rival Heidi Sileme. The First Reconnaissance Fleet should be on the way to the strait!
At 2:51, with the faint light, the Lion Battle Patrol Watchtower accidentally discovered a huge shadow moving rapidly on the port side of the fast fleet.
Betty was a little surprised, and a familiar and dreamy term flashed through his mind. The attack command was issued. On March 4, 1915, the only one who could appear in this sea area was the first reconnaissance fleet. As for Scher's main force of the ocean fleet, they might still be chasing dozens of nautical miles away, with a maximum speed of only 23 knots.
The fire control command tower conveyed the rough data of the watchtower, and the bulky main gun began to drive the winch by electric power to adjust the shooting direction; the hydraulic device was activated, and the main gun was quickly flattened, pointing at his opponent in a vigorous manner.
"The enemy fleet is at the junction of sea fog, with three main battleships with a position of 201 and a distance of 3,100 yards."
More detailed data was fed back by the range-measuring tower. The thick armored commander tower disappeared for a moment, and then cheers burst out. The three main battleships, the number of the first German reconnaissance fleet in the British, was slightly different from the British's impression, but the sea fog made all this reasonable: directly in front of the fast fleet is the sea fog area, maybe the German flagship, the Luzov, had already drilled into the sea fog; the southwest direction of the German main battleship drilled out was inexplicable, but the course was towards Skagerak after all!
"The Lion targets the enemy ship No. 1, the first team of each target the enemy ship No. 2, and the second team of Elizabeth target the enemy ship No. 3!" The expectation finally came. Perhaps the main forces of Schell's Ocean Fleet were not far away, but Betty was confident that he would give his old opponent a heavy blow within half an hour! "Rise the battle flag, fight the Royal Navy!"
The Royal Navy, who had been struggling for most of the night, finally found a place to use it and vented all the energy and resentment left on the opponent. Huang Chengcheng's large and medium-caliber shells were pushed into the main gun and the 4-inch secondary gun. The eight main battleships selected their opponents to fire according to the flagship's orders!
In an instant, the ocean with only the roar of steam engines played a strange variation in an instant. One fire broke out and a hustle and fierce attacked straight into the dark night, unfortunately in the horizontal line of the t-shaped column, which fell like raindrops, and soon splashed a group of strange water columns.
The British's T-shaped horizontal head advantage is not obvious, but their numerical advantage is that the Germans cannot compete with them no matter what. The German main battleship did not choose to fire and kill, but chose a heart-wrenching turn and turned around and accelerated towards the sea fog area directly north.
The British's terrifying artillery density made this attempt temporarily futile. At 2:57, the German ship No. 3, which was surrounded by four battle patrols, finally could not support it. In the British's sixth round of artillery bombardment, the ammunition depot exploded and sank on the spot. However, this is also the final masterpiece of this encounter. The main ships of Britain and Germany entered the sea fog area one after another, while the Luzov did not appear from beginning to end.
"The Germans are nearby, find them and bite them!" Betty sneered and issued a bloody strangle order.
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How dangerous is the Skaglak Strait?
The main force of the large fleet approaching the strait from the central North Sea has twenty battleships. At a night battle distance of less than 3,000 yards, perhaps the First Reconnaissance Fleet has not yet responded. 100 12-inch main guns, 60 13.5-inch main guns and 40 15-inch main guns are enough to tear the Empire's Battlecruising Fleet to pieces!
Furthermore, the trend of the two British war patrol fleets being irreversible. Wang Heidi would not think that God would have any favor to him because he was a time traveler. Even though the British Royal Princess and War-War-Will have suffered heavy damage, they still have eight fast battleships after all.
At 3:03, the North Sea, as David Betty expected, the First Reconnaissance Fleet was driving forward to the Scarglake Strait at high speed.
"Traveling, this word is really intriguing..." After two naval battles, the superstructure of the Luzov looked a bit scary, the armor stained by gunpowder, the shocking marks of knife and chisels, and the broken iron chains and steel cables were presented in front of Wang Heidi in the most intuitive way, telling him what war is!
The sailors on duty patrolled the deck, and the damaging team members were busy repairing, while the gunners gathered together in groups of three or three and whispered. Wang Heidi sat on the spiral ladder of the bridge, allowing the salty and wet sea mist to wipe out the cigarette butts at the corner of his mouth.
He stretched out his frozen hand and carefully stroked his battle patrol hull, and Wang Heidi felt a little tired after all.
"Commander, aren't you optimistic about the end of the naval battle?" General Staff Officer Singhlaire wandered over, leaned against Wang Heidi, and asked, holding his military cap.
"No, staff officer, I never doubt that the Ocean Fleet will fail." Wang Heidi turned his head and looked at his fleet, unconsciously feeling ashamed. "But this does not include the First Reconnaissance Fleet!"
Singhlaer understood the commander's subtext. He turned his head to look at the fleet under the light control and sighed. He didn't know how many people could escape the fate of soldiers, and the dawn that came soon after the battle formation.
"Commander, the Ocean Fleet is in urgent need of telegraph." The confidential officer of the Telegraph Room of the Luzov hurried over and said with a serious expression: "The Fourth Detachment of the Second Battleship, which was in charge of the reconnaissance mission, encountered the British rapid fleet, the battleship of the Schleswig-Helstein sank, and the Silesia suffered heavy damage!"
[Although the writing is bad, it is not so useless. Why do you advise me to be eunuch? Recently, I work part-time, work at afternoon, get off work at 1:00, and get off work at 9:00. It is really not easy to code a few words. After writing Jutland, I don’t write it. I watch the Olympics, play girls, and do part-time jobs. It’s actually quite happy...]
Chapter completed!