Australian Storm 1876 - Chapter 1079

Chapter 1079 The Battle of the North Sea

“Selling newspapers and selling newspapers, big news that shocked the world, the German High Seas Fleet attacked, and the British Royal Navy lost both sides. A total of 17 battleships on both sides were sunk, and there were countless casualties.”

“Selling newspapers and selling newspapers, the Germans swore to carry out unrestricted submarine warfare to the end.”

“Selling newspapers, former Admiralty Mr. Churchill said with tears in his eyes; never forgive the Germans, never!”

Lu Xiaotian looked back in amazement; “…”

Li Jianhua; “…”

gorgeous lady; “…”

The news of the Battle of the North Sea between Britain and Germany quickly spread all over the world, causing a global shock and becoming the most important event in the world at the end of April 2017.

This was a fierce naval battle that had never occurred in the original history. The main force of the German High Seas Fleet was dispatched once again, and it was a reckless fight with the British Royal Navy, and both were lost.

Why would the German High Seas Fleet brazenly challenge the British Royal Fleet, which is much stronger than itself?

The reason stems from the fact that the aircraft carrier Dinghai arrived at the Yasore Islands to join the Royal Yasore fleet at the end of February, and immediately organized an aircraft carrier task force, specializing in escort, submarine search, submarine attack missions, and cruising on the Atlantic route. .

Since Germany started unrestricted submarine warfare, all ships going to and from the Atlantic route, regardless of country or purpose, are all within the attack range of German submarines, and the ocean empire passenger and cargo ships are naturally not immune.

More than 100 German submarines used the Atlantic route and the North Sea as their hunting grounds, and began to strangle them recklessly, setting off waves of terrifying deaths.

the German admiral shouted;

will spend 6 months strangling Britain, forcing it to surrender, and its most powerful weapon is “unrestricted submarine warfare”.

After the aircraft carrier Dinghai joined the **** battle sequence of the Atlantic route, it played a huge role and broke the German attempt.

The troop transport ships to Europe have transported more than 720,000 people so far, with no casualties.

The submarine search and patrol plane taking off from the aircraft carrier controls a very wide range of sea areas. Looking down from a height of 500 to 600 meters in the air, the German submarine sailing in the periscope state presents a huge black shadow under the sea, and there is no escape at all. shape.

More than a month

The “Dinghai” aircraft carrier task force sank 7 German submarines one after another, which dealt a heavy blow to the arrogance of German submarines in the Atlantic Ocean, forcing them to stay away from the surrounding waters of the Atlantic route.

under these circumstances

The German High Command has no cards to play. After the two successive defeats of the Somme and Verdun on the Western Front, and the unrestricted submarine warfare suffered a severe setback, it seems that the hope of winning the war has gradually faded.

The Germans who were driven to a desperate situation were crazy. They thought of the German High Seas Fleet, which had beaten the guards. After more than a year of recovery, the German warships that were severely damaged in the Battle of Jutland have been repaired and regained their combat effectiveness.

So, the hope of breaking the cage was placed on the German High Seas Fleet.

The outbreak of the World War

For three and a half years, Britain imposed a naval blockade on Germany by virtue of its naval superiority. The main British fleet squatted in the port of Scapaflo like a watchdog, stalking the German high seas fleet, making it trapped in Wilhelmshaven and Bremerhaven most of the time, becoming a veritable “existence fleet”.

The German High Seas Fleet has only 23 battleships, while the Royal Navy’s Home Fleet has 42. The strength gap is obvious. It is difficult for the German High Seas Fleet to conduct a large-scale fleet battle with the Royal Navy Home Fleet.

Admiral Scheer, commander of the German High Seas Fleet, based on the experience of the Jutland naval battle, set his sights on the British main fleet that blocked the port of Scapaflo.

More than three years

The Germans have figured out important information such as the composition of the main fleet, patrol routes, and rotation patterns of the British blockade of the Gulf. Therefore, they chose some of the main British battleships to return to their home ports to add coal, refuel, and water to replenish supplies. sneak attack.

In view of the news of the Battle of Jutland leaked in advance, the Germans have done very strict security work in this operation. They changed the cipher code before the operation, and did enough camouflage security work to achieve the suddenness of the sneak attack.

April 27, 5:30 am.

The main British fleet led by Admiral Hipper was cruising in the North Sea, unaware that the Germans were already more than 50 miles away, searching for the British fleet.

more than 50 minutes later

The sky was bright, and the British fleet observation post observed a zeppelin in the sky and sounded the alarm. However, it was judged as a false alarm by the officer on duty, which was a major mistake.

After the Battle of Jutland, the German High Seas Fleet made a profound reflection; it was their own decision-making mistake that they did not carry 12 zeppelins for reconnaissance and early warning because they ignored the role of air power during the battle.

In this battle, the Germans dispatched all 17 (including new) zeppelins, and the one hovering in the sky was one of them. After discovering the British fleet, it immediately sent a secret telegram, and quickly rose to hide in the clouds. inside.

The German Admiral Scheer, who received the news, immediately issued an order for all combat preparations, adjusted the battle formation, and rushed towards the Royal Navy fleet.

After clarifying the positions of both the enemy and the enemy, Admiral Scheer was very cunning and led the German High Seas Fleet straight in front of the British fleet, intending to seize the favorable “T” prefix in advance.

more than two hours later

Around 8:40am

The British Royal Navy Fleet discovered the neatly arranged German fleet, which appeared at the end of the skyline at a distance of about 26 kilometers. Endless, full of murderous aura.

This made the face of Admiral Jellicoe, commander of the British fleet, change greatly. How could he not know that he had fallen into the trap of the Germans?

The large fleet he led had more than 130 ships, which concentrated the essence of the British Royal Navy’s local fleet. Under normal cruising conditions, the forward fleet and the rear fleet pulled out a queue of more than 40 kilometers, which could not be gathered in a hurry.

The day before yesterday, a squadron consisting of 4 battleships and 7 cruisers returned to Scapa Flow for routine supplies, which left Admiral Jellicoe with only 33 battleships (including 8 purchased from Ocean Empire). Metropolitan-class battleship).

The German High Seas Fleet has brought together 21 main ships, and the ratio of the main ships of the two sides is 3:2.

Plan for today

Only try our best to entangle the opponent, order the rear fleet to catch up quickly, rely on stronger strength to defeat the Germans, and kill a **** road.

After a series of orders were issued, the British Royal Navy fleet began to slowly evolve.

The huge fleet turned to the northwest heading for 45 degrees, and the fourth, ninth, eleventh, and twelfth destroyer fleets in the rear quickly moved forward and galloped at high speed in the direction of the German warships.

The 4 British destroyer fleets with a total of 57 destroyers rushed towards the German front bravely and fearlessly, marking 57 clear white tracks on the sea, forming 8 to 9 arrow-shaped, unfolded fronts in the high-speed gallop. Nearly 20 kilometers wide, it looks spectacular.

Their task was to quickly approach the enemy fleet and release torpedoes, disrupting the German positions and buying time for subsequent operations.

Facing a strong enemy

The British Royal Navy showed its profound heritage, changing formations while turning in a wide range, the alarm bells rang through the entire fleet, and the naval officers and soldiers rushed to their battle positions at the fastest speed, preparing to face the German High Seas Fleet.

Facing the suicidal charge of the British destroyer fleet, the High Seas Fleet did not dare to neglect, and with a single order, it slowed down its speed, and made a 90-degree turn in unison, exposing the broadsides and aiming at the fast-moving traffic. The British destroyers then opened fire heavily.

The German fleet is like a very patient hunter, taking the lead in organizing large-caliber main naval guns to carry out long-distance interception, and shooting an exploding water column forest on the sea at a distance of 10,000 yards.

Because of the premeditated plan, several layers of formations composed of German battleships, heavy cruisers and light cruisers reduced the speed to 5 knots per hour and carried out precise artillery bombardment.

From 10,000 yards to 7,000 yards, from 7,000 yards to 5,000 yards, the density of German ship artillery fire continued to increase. You can see the criss-crossing tracks on the blue sea, the warships that exploded and burned one after another, and the peaks and waves in the valley. Complete the advancing British destroyer.

Defender, Goshawk, Hydra, Lap, Grant, Moxie, Full Bone, Mary Rose, Narwhal, either…

Braving the fierce German artillery fire at high speed, more than ten British destroyers were shot and caught fire, or became flaming torches on the sea, or slowly sank, or suffered heavy damage.

When the distance was within 5,000 yards, the 152mm, 122mm and 95mm secondary guns of the German ships burst into roars, and the density and accuracy of the firepower hit a higher level. The densely packed terrifying shells fell in the air like a violent storm.

Only 4 minutes

The three destroyers, the British Lizard, the Spitfire and the Nomad, were hit successively. The Nomad was hit and the torpedo exploded, blowing up the entire bow, leaving the rear half of the hull. It plunged into the sea water, and only after advancing for tens of meters did it float up again, but it has become a pile of broken copper and iron.

The destroyer fleet that forcibly broke through the enemy’s fire network suffered heavy losses and had no choice but to release torpedoes in advance at a distance of 4,500 yards from the enemy’s front line.

The British destroyer, which was moving at high speed, turned at a large angle on the sea, and released torpedoes, creating a fan shape.

After only hearing a muffled sound of “puff puff puff”, a total of about 190 steam torpedoes fell into the sea, and then swooped towards the front of the German warships at high speed, drawing countless criss-crossing deaths on the sea. track.

In the face of the dense torpedo array, the German ships could not help but panic. The small and medium-caliber secondary artillery did not have time to continue to attack the British destroyers. Instead, they lowered their muzzles and started bombarding the sea surface, and manipulated the warships to make evasive actions.

Take this opportunity

The British destroyer quickly turned at a large angle, trying to get out of the coverage of the German naval ship’s artillery at the fastest speed and escape this place of death.

The small body of the destroyer is not enough to see in front of the huge battleship. When it is close to a distance of less than 3,000 yards, the main gun with its barrel flat is like a turkey, basically a round of artillery fire reimburses a destroyer.

Due to the backward technology of steam torpedoes in this era, the range is generally between 1500 and 2800 meters. Torpedoes shot at 4500 meters only have a symbolic threat and are completely blinded.

Because the distance is too long, the steam gas power is exhausted, the speed of the torpedo is very slow, and the enemy ship can easily avoid it.

But the sacrifices of these British destroyers were not worthless. They managed to gain 25-30 minutes for their fleet.

The deafening cannon sounds like thunder, and the main force of the British and German navies officially entered the field, and a fierce battle was launched in the North Sea…

(end of this chapter)