The sky was covered with dark clouds, and the wind was still noisy. The dark sky began to shine from when the three slender and wide main battleships were sailing to the southeast accompanied by 9 slender and light medium-sized battleships, without any light ship guards following them. On the towering triangular mast, the wide St. George cross flag was flying in the air.

A middle-aged general with a angular face was standing on the majestic bridge and quietly watching the sky and sea that was gradually lit up in front of him. It was Major General Thomas, the commander of the fast fleet. At the end of November, the morning breeze of the North Atlantic was biting cold, and even the young sailors with strong internal fire could not withstand it. However, he was always standing at the top of the bridge, moving like a wooden stake. In his heart, perhaps only in this way can he slightly relieve his guilt of not being able to participate in the battle group and the anxiety of waiting for the unknown war report ahead?

The sea breeze blew, his clothes were dancing, breathing the slightly salty air, and Thomas was filled with pain of not being able to calm down. Four hours ago, Jelico ordered the destroyers he commanded to rush to the near the main fleet for support at full speed, but he named the three battle patrols and nine new light patrols to turn to another direction, and they were absolutely not allowed to join the battlefield. In fact, the Tiger and the Royal Princess could run to 27 knots without power, and had no essence with those destroyers.

The difference in sex can be done with them. However, the risk of night combat is far higher than during the day, and an inadvertent accident will cause irreparable losses: when the main force of the large fleet is already in it, the precious fast battle patrol must not be allowed to be involved in this death vortex. A seven or eight hundred tons destroyer is not valuable, and mass production only takes more than half a year to complete. However, the main battle patrol is extremely cherished. Even if the light patrol is compensated, it is an extremely unpaid deal!

As a well-known general and officer in the Royal Navy, he and Jelico had been in love with each other for twenty years. How could Thomas not know what his old friend's plan? However, when the fleet was in danger, his approach of standing by and watching made it difficult for him to accept this bitterness. If Betty was here, he would most likely disobey the order and rushed forward, fighting to the death with the Germans; but he was Thomas, and keeping the safety of these three battle patrols was the most important task that Jelico repeatedly told him before departure. How could he do something contrary to this? What's more, Jelico had already made him retreat!

"German... Damn German!" Thomas clenched his right fist and slammed heavily on the railing in front of him. He felt angry. The Royal Navy, which had been traversing all over the world for hundreds of years, has now become a weak brigade of cowards who dare not even shine in front of his opponents. The scorching sun over Britain is really about to become the evening sunset!

"Dingdeng..." As he was in pain and anger, a sound of intimate contact between the military boots and the escalator suddenly came from his ears. Thomas felt a little nervous in his heart, and then turned around. A captain sailor was climbing up from the deck quickly, as strong as a monkey; and the white paper page he was holding made Thomas' heart suddenly hang up. After a while, the officer who ran up to the bridge over ten meters in one breath did not breathe, and handed the paper in his hand to Thomas. He shouted: "General, the Trafalga sent a telegram!"

Thomas took a deep breath and spread the telegram in front of him. The captain officer in front of him clearly saw that in just a few seconds, the muscles on Thomas's face suddenly twitched.

Late at night on November 25, 1913, the British and German main fleet launched their second-large clash 70 nautical miles southwest Ireland. After three months, the main naval battle between the two sides actually changed from a battleship with strong helmets and thick armor to a lightning striker with bare artillery and bare defense. The scene of the battle was no longer as powerful as the first time, and it was completely capable of returning to the chaotic bloody battle of humans at the most primitive time, with almost no routine to follow. The reason was that the British fleet, which had been severely weakened, was no longer able to compete with the German fleet; the roles between the bait and the hunter were changed, and they played against each other in planning and navigation, and finally ushered in the unexpected highest point with an accidental encounter in the dark night.

After a chaotic battle, at around 5 a.m., lightning strike ships from both sides from the fast fleet appeared next to their respective fleets without any time difference. The cruel and fierce close-range battle was staged again. In the darkness of the eyes, neither Jelico nor Ingnoll could grasp the complete first-hand information, nor could they command each team as if they were armed. The frequent conflicting reports caused each commander to be puzzled. Finally, as Jelico's large fleet continued to escape from the battlefield, the roar of artillery fire that had been heard in the sea for a night gradually became silent as the morning light came. The sudden accurate artillery fire of the main fleets of both sides and the targeted attacks of the escort warships made the lightning strike ships that lacked defense lost the conditions to stay on the battlefield, and could only choose to save their lives and retreat quickly.

Both sides began to gather ships scattered over the sea to count the losses in the night battle. Groups of bloody wounded soldiers were screaming and groaning, and were sent to the gangway of the main warship by the roaring traffic boats. Because the temporary rescue room on the small warship was already overcrowded, and even the medicine for simple treatment of wounds was used up. Some of the intact ships that later joined searched back and forth on the sea where debris floated, and saw that there were still survivors struggling and breathing; the ships trapped in the sea of ​​fire were still floating and unwilling to sink. The friend ships that were fighting side by side could only send it torpedo with tears in their eyes.

The British battleship Ireland sank. Although this battleship built for the Turks is the best in the entire fleet in terms of defense, the British designers' style of cutting corners has once again pitted their own soldiers. The first torpedo hit the door was absorbed by most of the energy by the TDS next door, and did not cause irreparable damage; however, the second torpedo exploded at the bow of the ship without the absorption and blocking of TDS. The poor underwater cabin system that this ship inherited from other British battleships immediately took its own life. The sea water rushed and poured wildly, and the cabin was lost everywhere. The tragic fate of the warship was inevitable.

In addition, the two battleships, Hercules and Collingwood, did not endure the morning light of the sun rising the next day. After all, in this plane, the British warships built ships almost increased by one-third compared with the same period in history, reaching the peak bottom line that their finances could bear: In this way, the details of their ships were even worse than in history. They were still sunk due to the failure of the damage, and the 195kg strong** loaded by the German 500mm torpedo was not something these slag ships could withstand? Even the Trafalga, which Jelico himself was riding on, almost became a thunder-sinking soul: but fortunately, this torpedo hit the British flagship happened to be a dud!

When the German torpedo boat was withdrawn, the British sailors immediately jumped into the biting sea water and carefully pulled out the torpedo stuck in the hull. Dozens or hundreds of British sailors were able to save their lives. The Ajax, who had escaped by chance in the day, was not so lucky. It was quickly discovered after the second wave of German torpedo boats. A volley of four torpedoes instantly destroyed the watertight system it struggled to support, and the warship overturned and sank in less than twenty minutes. If it weren't for the 30 new British destroyers and reinforcements that arrived at the battlefield in time and effectively curbing the second wave of attacks on the British large fleet by the German torpedo boats, the High Seas Fleet would have achieved greater results.

Including the losses of the previous day, the British fleet lost 6 battleships, and another 14 destroyers sank. Seeing the lineup withering and having completely become a second-rate large fleet, even though he was as calm as Jelico, he felt a strong dizziness and pain in his head, and he almost felt unconscious. The only thing that supported him not to sever himself, that was, he did not know the specific losses of the German fleet. In the previous night battle, the British destroyer's advantage in quantity effectively made up for the lack of lightning strike capabilities and achieved several definite hits, of which one of which was confirmed to be sunk. Perhaps his loss was not too ugly, and the situation did not collapse to the point where he imagined.

Jeliko expected that it was not bad. In addition to the Ronn, none of the 2 533mm torpedoes hit the unit where TDS absorbed the torpedo explosion, and the warship suffered severe water inflow. Although the water inflow was finally controlled, the rear deck of the warship was almost flush with the sea surface and completely lost the power to navigate alone. During the subsequent return towing, the German fleet encountered a storm again; and the Nassau, which had originally completed the blockage, also had water inflow again, and ultimately failed to struggle to return to Germany. After evacuating all personnel, it sank itself. The losses of the German fleet have since increased to 2 battle patrols and 2 battleships, and another 17 torpedo boats were destroyed. The losses of the torpedo boats accounted for almost one-quarter of the total German Navy, becoming a veritable death cannon fodder.

"The era of the big fleet is over. The fast fleet will become the core pillar of defending the British ocean." On the bridge of the Tiger Battle Patrol, Thomas put away the telegram in his hand and whispered silently in his heart. After this chaotic naval battle, the strength of the main fleets of both sides was further widened, but the gap between the fast combat patrol was narrowed: with the completion of the Queen-class battleships one after another, the Royal Navy still has the ability to make a last-ditch effort! (To be continued, please search for astronomy, the novel is better, updated and faster!

ps: Thanks to book friends Hugetiger, Beibei Shell, Model Husband, Pigeon Model, 720609 monthly ticket support, Magic Jack's reward, and 6 updated tickets for Pigeon Model~~~

It’s not that the author doesn’t want to update more, but the time is really limited... I usually have to go to work during the day, and there are also a lot of other things on weekends...
Chapter completed!