Chapter Eighteen Alas! He Belongs Not to Britain (I)

  "The tottering Seventh Division, the main fleet of the Ocean Fleet which had just formed its battle line, the unfavorable light and the annoying smoke screen. In March, after being suppressed by the German Navy Department for many times, the young man finally showed his full strength for the first time after getting a good hand, choosing the perfect timing, location and opportunity to strike out, almost flawlessly!"

  In the last salvoes of the High Seas Fleet's gunfire, the British achieved a higher rate of hits than the Germans, who were renowned for their gunnery skills. Taking advantage of the smoke screen not completely blocking the view of the Grand Fleet, the four battleship squadrons that were already close enough to fire over each other continued to hit their targets with some inertial support.

  Victory seemed to be just a stone's throw away, and although the King-class battleship was powerful, once it took more than ten or twenty hits, the King-class would only end up with its hull flooded and capsized. However, when Iron Duke received the bad news from Ruby, the Grand Fleet began to realize that victory had slipped away in an instant.

  After the disastrous Battle of Jutland, the dejected Grand Fleet commander wrote a pithy sentence in his diary:

  "What a pity he is not a Briton!"

  "The Deutschland breaks through the main fleet's line of battle, and the British haven't fired a shot!"

  His frostbitten hands were wrapped in snow-white gloves. A rough sketch was stuck to the golden case of his pocket watch, on which a girl with bright and charming eyes was printed. Wang Haitian's tense nerves unknowingly took a detour, and as time passed, emotions flashed by, and the gray mist swirled around his dark eye sockets until the loud shout of the lookout on the Lyubov Orlova came clearly through the tube.

  Inside the small command tower, younger than the 37-year-old naval commander-in-chief, pairs of naval staff and department heads with subtly packaged eyes stared at Wang Haitian, their gazes warm and meaningful. Wang Haitian slightly turned his body, the First Class Iron Cross Medal and the Great Red Eagle Medal on his chest followed their owner's almost imperceptible trembling until the ticking clock hands stopped at 7:52.

  With a snap, the pocket watch was closed, and that bright and charming smile was put away in a dark corner, a word on the tip of her tongue.

  “grden！”

  A deafening roar suddenly resounded through the command tower of the Levushof. Fifteen minutes ago, Wang Haitian had given the order to cross the battle line and cover the retreat of the Seventh Detachment, and all the officers and men of the First Reconnaissance Fleet were stunned that their commander had gone mad. A few seconds ago, the First Reconnaissance Fleet released smoke bombs and charged into the narrow passage between the Seventh Detachment and the main fleet, with less than 1

  The 000-meter distance swept over the long 14-kilometer battle line of the fleet, and as a result, the British did not fire a single shot, so everyone turned to suspect whether they had gone mad.

  "Lookout tower, tell me if the Grand Fleet is deploying in formation!" General Staff Officer Singler was not among those excited. He took the phone from the commander's hand and asked a more meaningful question.

  "Without a doubt, General Staff Officer! Moreover, Admiral Hipper's Seventh Squadron has also returned to the main fleet, and the Imperial Navy's counterattack is imminent!"

  The excellence of German electrical products is beyond doubt, and the loudspeaker reproduces the slightly arrogant and complacent voice of the lookout without any loss. It's very convenient that through the armor on top of the command tower and the telephone lines placed in the pipes, Wang Haitian can also roughly imagine the appearance of those unruly young people who are pleased with themselves in the lookout tower.

  "This might be the crucial point of this prolonged naval battle, although it was created by us, but obviously there are more wonderful things ahead than remembering the past!" Wang Haitian's face finally flashed a sparse smile, clapping his hands to gather everyone's attention. Seriously said: "Betti must take advantage of the time to adjust the formation after escaping the entanglement, but even if he can recover seven fast main battleships in his hand, I have confidence to pull the British numerical advantage! The first reconnaissance fleet turns left 15 degrees, heading northwest, full speed ahead! Since each of our battle cruisers still has about thirty armor-piercing shells... let's decide the outcome with a decisive battle!"

  "Then... let's settle this once and for all!"

  On the towering triangular mainmast of the Levushof, the commander's powerful and stern voice pierced through the loudspeaker, throwing his words to the ground. The lookouts glanced at each other, and the iron blood deeply buried in their bones was ignited, boiling over!

  "Then... let's settle this once and for all!"

  Any chief engineer knows that prolonged or frequent use of strong draft will increase the wear and tear on boiler parts, and steam pipe seals will leak due to excessive pressure, leading to boiler failure. However, in the face of victory, all this is not a thorn that hinders progress.

  Wang Haitie's order was repeated by signal flags and wireless telegraph. The chief engineer of the five main battleships of the First Reconnaissance Fleet received the command and ordered the coal-fired boilers to be strongly ventilated. The stokers swung their powerful arms, shoveling high-quality coal into the boiler for combustion, and the blowers forced air into the boiler, accelerating the combustion of the coal, increasing the temperature, airflow, and pressure inside the furnace. The steam pressure value suddenly soared, and in an instant, the warship's speed was boosted to its peak.

  While the speed increased, tactical maneuvers were also underway. Under the simple and effective command of the navigator, the entire fleet moved like a Swiss watch, accurately and cleanly executing the turning motion, advancing in the predetermined direction.

  "At 08:15, a British light cruiser fleet was spotted heading due east in the northeast direction. There appear to be over ten columns of smoke behind them, but the target cannot be confirmed for the time being!"

  He turned his head to avoid the cold wind that came rushing towards him, and the sentinel, with a tilted head, picked up the receiver and accurately reported the intelligence.

  Putting down the internal ship's telephone, Wang Haitie saw from a distance in the northeast direction the British light cruiser fleet. The British had apparently discovered the German "cruiser killer" with the Iron Cross and black shadow flag, and were hastily escaping the range of the German battle cruisers to avoid unnecessary disaster.

  At 08:17, several light cruisers emerged from the battle scene, shrouded in thick smoke and hiding behind the British fast fleet.

  "The battle has begun!"

  The Queen Elizabeth, which had dropped astern, rejoined the fast division, and the New Zealand, which was also falling behind, came up again. Avoiding the Eleventh Flotilla, which was getting in the way, the fast division passed round the north end of the battle line and at 8 o'clock finally reached the van.

  "Is it worth sacrificing speed for a tired crew, Commander?"

  At 08:13, the propulsion system of the weary ship continued to deteriorate in the breaking dawn, forcing Betty to repeatedly reduce speed. Although the speed problem was still within the rapid fleet's expectations, the sensitive poet and deputy commander of the fleet had already sensed danger.

  "A whole night of entanglement, whether it's the First Reconnaissance Fleet or our ammunition reserves are already approaching the warning line. As in previous battles, engaging in a gun battle at full speed or high speed is absolutely impossible!" Betty turned sideways, gesturing vaguely in the direction of the sun, without concealing his greed: "On the basis of recovering numerical superiority and gaining an advantage in observation and firing lines of sight, are these two advantages still not enough for you to take a risk?"

  As soon as Betty's words fell, the telephone tube connecting the command tower and the lookout tower came a burst. The lookout told Betty in stuttering language an astonishing fact: at 8:15, the fourth light cruiser squadron following the main fleet's battle line on the southwest side was like a startled gazelle, rushing eastward at full speed, and continuously sending warning signals to the Lion war cruise.

  No need for the Lion's signalman to rush up to the bridge, at 08:17, when the last light cruiser burst out of the Lion's lookout's line of sight, the truth about the owners of those few columns of smoke behind the light cruisers was finally revealed.

  "Command tower, first scouting fleet detected, bearing 249, range... 17,600 yards!"

  "Approaching seventy degrees of T-formation?" Betty muttered, unable to believe her ears. "Damn it, how did Seilern manage to do that? Did he abandon the Germania, which had lost its high speed, and pushed the speed to the limit?"

  "Betti, my old friend, don't be surprised. Germany has the best damage control teams, the best damage control designs, so even if the Deutschland's speed had dropped to 20 knots, even if the bow was flooded and the Emil turret was destroyed, as long as the engine room didn't suffer too much damage, it could still possibly run at 26 knots again under forced draft conditions! And you wasted too much time waiting for the Indomitable and the Elizabeth to rejoin, in order to avoid the destroyer squadron's line of sight!"

  Wang Haitie won the gamble, using his ships to block Betty's fast fleet. Although Betty had foreseen the disaster and began to turn north at a small angle, Wang Haitie still seized an advantage of 65 degrees. Although the first reconnaissance fleet was at a disadvantage in terms of observation conditions, Germany had an advantage in main gun numbers, 42:28!

  At 8:19, Betty was unable to pull out of the parallel column line, and the artillery battle began. The massive body of Lützow trembled violently, everything tilted to the left, and eight large-caliber shells whizzed like unbridled wild horses towards the British.

  Even with earplugs, the eardrum still felt a slight numbness, and before she could comfort her ringing ears, the orange-red color of the cannon's muzzle flash had already been imprinted on Wang Haitian's blue eyes through the small observation hole in the command tower.

  "Order, all ships of the First Reconnaissance Fleet to turn left by three degrees, maintaining and expanding the advantage of the horizontal angle." Wang Haitie loosened her tightly clenched fists and quickly said: "Since we don't need to use high speed to fight for numerical superiority, let's reduce our speed, maintain shooting accuracy, and decide the outcome in a decisive battle!"

  The first round of trial firing has ended, and due to the interference from sunlight, the error in the trial firing was a bit off the charts. However, Wang Haitian still had enough patience. When the British equipped their first super dreadnought, the Orion class, with an initial manual fire control computer, there was once a debate within the German Navy Ministry, and the conclusion was that Germany did not need it - Germany's excellent artillery officers were the best fire control computers of this era.

  The facts did not betray Wang Haitian's expectations, and after the three rounds of main gun fire, even though the sunlight was so strong that it made it hard for German observers to keep their eyes open, the First Reconnaissance Fleet still harvested its first near miss.

  At 08:25, after repeated adjustments to the firing angle, the gunners of the First Reconnaissance Squadron were getting into their stride. The eighth salvo hit Derfflinger at 1

  At a distance of 300 meters, the first hit was scored, and the Tiger-class cruiser's A turret at the bow was hit by a shell.

  Tiger was originally the fourth Lion-class battlecruiser, but due to major changes in hull, boilers and main armament layout, it existed as a separate battlecruiser. However, Tiger, which was derived from the Lion-class battlecruisers, still had only thin armor protection.

  The 9-inch (229 mm) frontal armor of the Tiger turret was junk in front of a 350mm AP shell. After penetrating the turret armor, the shell ripped through the Tiger's only one inch thick first layer horizontal armor and almost grazed the loading chamber before burrowing deep into the hull.

  One minute later, the Indomitable suffered a similar fate to that of the Tiger. Similar was the turret being hit by shell, different was the location of the hit. The Indomitable was hit in the Y turret at the stern, and unlike the Tiger, she had no luck.

  In two consecutive dogfights, the Indefatigable's propulsion system was severely damaged. According to custom, the Indefatigable could have declared withdrawal from combat, but Betty prevented this.

  On the 4th, the fast fleet and the First Scout Fleet were in a delicate situation after a night of fierce fighting. In order to ensure the number of main guns, David Beatty hesitated for a long time before deciding to leave Indomitable behind, but did not think that the order would eventually doom Indomitable.

  The 350mm armor-piercing shell of the Deutschland easily tore through the less than three-inch upper armor belt of the Indefatigable, penetrated the thin sloping roof of the magazine and the one-inch anti-flash bulkhead outside it, and bored deep into the magazine.

  A deafening crash, the stern of the ship underwater part of a violent explosion, x turret underwater ammunition depot was detonated. Iron blocks, seawater, thick smoke, orange flames and heavy turrets were all thrown into the air tens of meters high.

  After the magazine exploded, four adjacent propellant magazines also failed to escape. The continuous explosion caused a one-inch thick horizontal armor near the No. x turret of the Indefatigable to have terrible cracks, and the crimson light and stunning temperature came to the deck through the gap. Finally, the Indefatigable battlecruiser broke in two from the main gun turret position at the stern, and sank into the sea within less than two minutes, with only 17 of the 850 crew members rescued.

  After sinking the Indefatigable, the good fortune of the Deutschland came to an end. The New Zealand's 12-inch shell hit the Deutschland, causing a fierce explosion that once again engulfed the stern of the ship. But things didn't end there, as if the resentment accumulated on the Deutschland had also affected the innocent Moltke, at 8:27, the Queen Elizabeth's 15-inch heavy armor-piercing shell hit the Moltke's amidships between the two main turrets and below the No. 2 funnel, putting the unsinkable ship to another test of life and death!

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