The sea breeze was blowing and the waves were shaking. In the mist, a group of gray ship shadows gradually appeared from the southeastern sea. In addition to the slender and thin torpedo boats and light cruisers, the first two were actually huge ships: the tower-shaped mast tower unique to the pre-fearless era was towering, and the modern modification of the Zeiss 4.5-meter baseline rangefinder equipped on the sea surface, turning around like the sharp-toning eyes of a falcon. The black vulture cross battle flag flying in the air more clearly demonstrates the camp of the fleet.

On one of the main battleships, German Rear Admiral Maas saw his torpedo boat being beaten up by the British, and the flames were flying high, and his eyes were filled with anger, and his palms were clenched into fists. No matter from any angle, the British fleet took advantage of the fog to break into Helgolan Bay and shelled the German patrol team, which was an extremely provocative act that he, the defense commander of the base, could not tolerate. Now, he has arrived with a large force including two Prince Heinrich-class armored cruisers, vowing to make these British people who dare to pull their teeth at the corresponding price!

The Heinrich-class mount patrol started construction in 1896 and entered service in 1899. It was undoubtedly the world's top ship in the years of the handover of the century. It was equipped with two twin-mounted 283mm L42 main guns, 10 single-mounted 150mm secondary guns and 10 88mm rapid-fire guns. Its firepower showed an absolute crushing advantage over the "Crown" class first-class cruiser completed by the UK at the same time. As a first-class armored cruiser built by Germany for the purpose of fleet decisive battle, this class of ships has a 250mm thick waterline armor. The speed can also reach a speed of 20 knots. Before the appearance of the dreadnought, the Heinrich-class with a standard displacement of 11,600 tons has always been the most powerful fast main ship besides the subsequent decisive battle patrol of its own.

During the more than ten years since serving, the two Heinrich class have always been inseparable from the main force of the High Seas Fleet as decisive weapons; however, the outbreak of this war gave them a chance to stand alone.

As the British Navy's tactics against Germany were changed to a more secure long-range blockade, the German Navy's range of movement at the doorstep of its home suddenly increased; in this case, the mission of the Helgolan Bay patrol troops, as the outpost of the high seas fleet, suddenly increased. It is obvious that if Germany only deployed a patrol force composed of several light cruisers and some torpedo boats in the Helgolan Bay, then it would be difficult for this force to guarantee its advantage over the British fleet in unknown conflicts. In addition, the water level of the Jed Estuary outside Wilhelmshaven is also a

Hidden danger: Due to the deep tide rise and fall here, the main giant ships of the High Seas Fleet can only enter the North Sea through the estuary within 6 hours each during the high tide in the morning and afternoon; this means that once the estuary is at the tide level, these battleships and battle patrols can only stay in the port and cannot support Helgoland at all. In view of this, the commander of the High Seas Fleet Ingnoll sent two Heinrich-class ships to the Gulf of Helgoland. Once they encounter an enemy, they can use the 11-inch cannons they equipped for timely and effective support.

According to the combat regulations planned by Major General Maas, whether his two decisive battle patrols support the friendly forces depends on the British's lineup. After all, these two old ships have no comparison with the strength of the entire British fleet. According to the report sent by the torpedo boats in front, the British only had one light patrol and some destroyers and other miscellaneous fish troops, which immediately made Maas make up his mind to attack. In his opinion, the British's action was just a small blow.

Xiaoba, even if there were some British warships not discovered by their own torpedo boats, their total strength would not be much higher. To be on the safe side, Mas did not dispatch immediately after receiving the telegram for assistance from the torpedo boats. Instead, he waited for the "York" who was not on duty today to complete the fire before launching a fire. In addition to the two light cruisers and 12 torpedo boats accompanying the guards, Mas was fully confident that he could teach these British people who sneaked into Helgolan Bay a severe lesson!

The coal smoke rolled and sprayed the air. In the thick black smoke surrounding the back, the two armored cruisers quickly drove their speed to the limit of 19 knots they could reach. They drove forward at full speed. Even Major General Maas, who was in the commander tower, could still feel the strong vibration caused by the full power operation of three old-fashioned steam engines. Due to the limited speed of his armored cruisers, Maas did not choose to fight fly-catching directly from the front, but ordered the escaped torpedo boats to change their course and lead the British destroyer behind him to his side at a high angle. After previous communication with ships such as V-187, Maas was able to determine the approximate position of the British fleet that broke into the outer edge of Helgoland Bay.

After a while, a group of faint shadows of ships appeared from the white fog: their front forecastle was taller than that of German torpedo boats, and the three slender chimneys were even more vividly showing their identity and camp. British destroyers were rushing at full speed five thousand meters away from the left front of the German fleet, and their numerous numbers were inevitably reminded of the sweeping locust transit. On the deck of the decisive battle patrol, the magnificent and generous head and tail turret began to rotate slowly, and the thick and ferocious 11-inch heavy cannon raised their excited group of guns; the gunners had already loaded the first shrapnel with the launching medicine, and quietly waited for the arrival of the exciting moment in the continuous fine adjustment based on the observation data.

"What is that? Is it our armored cruiser?" On the flybridge of the Active Light Cruiser, British Navy Colonel Blunt, holding a telescope, was looking at the sudden shadows of his flanks with a little confusion. Before setting off, Blunt was told that a Crossman C, a fleet of four armored cruisers, would come to support him; but this patrol marshal, which was only on the same speed as the dreadnought, should be used as a cover for the battle cruiser on the sea and would not risk rushing into the Bay of Helgoland. His doubts did not last long. The distance between the two sides quickly narrowed at a relative speed of more than 30 knots quickly allowed Blunt to recognize the other party's identity: the tower-shaped mast tower and the two main turrets at the beginning and end. These two characteristics were combined together, and the answer was only the German Heinrich patrol!

Seeing the shadows of ships in the fog, a large number of German warships came out, two of which were German naval standard light cruisers with a standard displacement of 3,900 tons. Blunt immediately softened his hands, and the telescope in front of him fell to the ground with a "splash". Only then did he realize that in order to eat the injured torpedo boats, he had been chasing the direction of the Helgolan Bay for more than an hour; even if the Germans reacted slowly, they should send ships to fight. In the final analysis, it was still a big blame for his eagerness to annihilate the enemy; now the Germans' forces are no longer something that his fleet can withstand. Faced with a balanced fleet with 6-inch or even 11-inch heavy artillery, the little fish in his hands can only retreat!

"Retreat!" With Blunt's loud voice, a striking signal flag was raised to the mast of the Active Light Cruiser; then the warship began to turn rapidly to the right, intending to escape from the German reinforcements. Major General Maas was also unambiguous and immediately issued an order to fire the entire army; after the British had finished his pleasure in his territory, they wanted to pat their butt and sling their feet. Where is such a good thing in the world?

"Boom!" A huge wave of roaring wind and thunder suddenly exploded on the deck. The German gunner with a cotton ball in his ear was still a little dizzy by the sudden violent thunder. The head and tail of Prince Heinrich each rushed out a dozen meters of orange-red light, which looked magnificent and shocking. The shell weighing 302kg was accelerated to a speed of 820m/s in an instant, and shot towards the British fleet like a red dragon going out to sea!

Due to the fog on the sea, Britain and Germany were less than 5,000 meters apart when they discovered each other. At this distance, it was the perfect place for the German 11-inch cannon to show its power. In just a few seconds, the shrill whistle and scream of violent friction between the shells and the air suddenly came to his ears; the roaring sound of heavy shells roaring and roaring made all the British sailors who were in the battle for the first time shocked the hearts. The roaring waves burst and gushing, and the British destroyers were lifted up around the sky-surgent water columns that were higher than their masts, and the waves were rushing and white foams were flying.

Although the first round of volleys of the two German patrols did not directly hit, the characteristics of large-scale killing of the shrapnel made up for this regret. After the fuse was triggered, the explosion of shells would burst out in an instant, and these small steel shells flew and shot around together with the broken pieces of the shells. This was undoubtedly an invitation letter from hell for destroyers without any protection. An 11-inch shell roared and collided.

On the sea surface twenty meters away from the British Sagittarius destroyer, the flames flashed slightly, and a large number of debris shot into the sky like a storm. Only a series of harsh sounds of metal being broken were heard, the poor destroyer was the bridge overturned and the deck was cracked; and the holes in the waterline were as dense as honeycombs, and the sea water rushed in from these countless fists-sized cracks. More than a dozen sailors were suddenly penetrated by shrapnel, screaming everywhere, and blood was shot.

Faced with the dense holes caused by shrapnel shrapnel on the waterline, the British damaging forces could not effectively block it; the water pump on the destroyer had been opened to the maximum, but the extracted sea water was still far less than the influx of sea water. Gradually, the destroyer slowed down like a big cow with full water, and its freeboard was getting closer and closer to the sea. Although the British sailors were still insisting, their efforts were destined to be futile.

PS: Thank you to the book friend Zhouyu1976 and February 30th for rewarding the book~~~ It is said that the subscription yesterday was so sad, and the author's heart was like falling into an ice cellar ╮(╯_╰)╭
Chapter completed!