Despite the heavy blows of four German battleships, the "Bright Boil" became more and more courageous, and in just five minutes, the "Bright Boil" fired seven accurate salvos.

A 406-mm shell hit the bow of the "Byrne" directly, and Scheer saw a flash of red light in front of him, followed by a huge explosion, and the entire hull of the "Byrne" began to tremble violently as if it were an earthquake.

A scorching wave of heat rushed through the observation window and into the command tower, and Scheer felt his breath suffocated, and the entire inside of the command tower was immediately filled with a heavy smell of gunsmoke.

"They fought well," Scheer exclaimed, standing up straight, "it's unbelievable, it's the first time they've had a fight like this." ”

"yes." Colonel Malfoy also lamented, "It's hard to imagine that this is a novice score." ”

Scheer stood in front of the observation window again and raised the telescope, at this time the distance between the Chinese battleship and the "Byrne" became much closer, and Scheer saw that the fire of the battleship "Ming Boil" in the telescope had been extinguished a lot, but it was still smoking thick smoke, and despite the terrible blow, the main guns of the giant ship did not stop for a moment, spitting long tongues of fire from time to time.

Looking at the angry roar of the giant ship and the unfamiliar flag with the Chinese character "ren" fluttering high on the mast, Scheer's heart once again appeared in the poetic sympathy that had just been written.

At this time, the hull of the battleship "Ming Cook" flashed again, followed by a thick column of black smoke rising. And the giant ship, having just completed a salvo, stopped shelling.

"We've hit it in the spot!" Captain Malfoy shouted excitedly.

Scheer and the officers in the command tower stared closely at the "Ming Cook", as if waiting for the moment when the other side would explode violently, like those thin-skinned battlecruisers of the British, and then break in two, and quickly sink into the sea, but after a long time, such a scene did not appear after all.

Two more shells hit the "Ming Boil", which set the giant ship on fire again, but the fire was extinguished after a while, and the three huge triple main guns of the Chinese battleship were all silent, and only the secondary guns continued to fire, firing at the German light ships that tried to attack them on the sea.

Perhaps seeing an opportunity, the four "Byrne"-class battleships concentrated their firepower and desperately poured a rain of bullets on this giant ship, but the Chinese battleships still stubbornly broke the waves on the sea and withstood the baptism of the Germans' steel bullet rain.

"They won't leave." Captain Malfoy sighed.

"They're fighting for the other [***] ships." Scheer nodded, and then ordered loudly, "Let's not fall for them!" If there is another such Chinese battleship......"

Before Scheer could finish his words, a dazzling fire suddenly rose from the array of the German fleet, followed by a loud thunderous noise.

"It's the Border Count! She was shot! Captain Malfoy exclaimed.

Scheer looked through the binoculars, and sure enough, he saw that the "Border Count" had already caught fire.

In the smoke in the distance, the figures of the four Chinese battleships were rapidly growing.

"They want to cross-cut our tail!" Realizing the great danger to his fleet, Scheer immediately ordered in a loud voice, "Let's go!" Right away! ”

At this moment, the battleship "Mingzhuo", whose main guns had been silent for a long time, suddenly resumed firing, and a high wall of water was instantly lifted around the "Byrne".

The German battleships gave up the attack on the "Ming Boil" and began to turn the rudder and escape, while the five Chinese battleships tightly bit the German ships and opened fire fiercely at the "Crown Prince Wilhelm" located at the rear of the array, and the "Crown Prince Wilhelm" fired four 406-mm shells in five minutes, and the ship was in disarray, but the "Crown Prince Wilhelm" also hit the Chinese battleship "Constitution" one after another with its main guns, causing the bow of the ship to burst into flames.

"Damn the Germans! They fled! The American captain of the battleship "Constitution", Colonel Garland, watched this scene with some annoyance and shook his fist fiercely.

“…… The firepower of the German ships is not as fast as that of our ships, but their tactics are flexible, their artillery skills are superb, and their fighting spirit is high, and the German ships are solid in quality, and although they have been hit many times by our ships, they still insist on refusing to ......sink them." At this time, in the commander tower of the battleship "Constitution," Deputy Captain Li Jingxi looked at the German ships that were constantly firing in the distance, and wrote down such words on a piece of paper.

For the resourcefulness and tenacity shown by the Germans in the naval battle, the officers and men of the Chinese Navy also gave the enemy due praise from the bottom of their hearts.

"There is only one main turret left for the 'Ming Cook' to fire." Li Jingxi said, "The Germans are really stubborn. ”

"The Germans fled separately." A Chinese naval staff officer, who has observed the battlefield in great detail, said in fluent English, "We should also pursue them separately, and we can't let them run away like that." ”

Listening to the officer's words, a hint of hesitation appeared on Captain Garland's face.

'Look!' 'Mingzhuo' seems to have something wrong. An officer said, pointing to the battleship "Mingzhuo" in front of it, which was shrouded in smoke.

"The Germans seized the 'D' prefix just now, and there were too many shells, so something may have gone wrong." Said another officer.

Li Jingxi looked at the "Ming Boil" carefully, and he quickly judged that the speed of the "Ming Boil" was slowing down rapidly.

"Send a signal to the 'Ming Cook' and ask how they are." Captain Garland ordered, "Once the radio signal is given, repeat it again in the flag." ”

An officer said yes and took the order, while the "Constitution" still maintained its original speed to pursue the German ship, and at this time the "Ming Cook" suddenly deviated from the queue and slowly stopped.

"What's going on? They didn't answer us? After waiting for a while, there was no response from the "Ming Cook", and Captain Garland couldn't help but be very surprised.

Li Jingxi held up the binoculars and carefully observed the "Mingzhuo" that was still smoking all over its body, and said to Garand, "The "Mingzhuo" should have been seriously injured, had a mechanical failure, and stopped advancing, and they did not answer us, it is likely that the radio communication system and the signal flag were damaged. ”

"According to the wartime scriptures, we should now take over the command of the fleet." The staff officer, who had just suggested splitting up the pursuit of the German ship, said with some anxiety, "We don't have much time!" Can't hesitate any longer! ”

Captain Garand looked at the German battleship, whose shadow had become smaller, and nodded with some difficulty, "Okay! Tell them that it's our conductor now! ”

"Send a signal to the other warships! Let the 'Free Spirit' come with us! Kill those four 'Byrne'! Let the 'Reader' and the 'Nation' pursue those four 'Kings'! ”

Soon, the four Chinese battleships on the sea, which still maintained full combat effectiveness, were divided into two teams, each heading for a different direction at full speed.

"What kind of brainless guy came up with this stupid idea? How can you spread your forces so much? ”

In the commander of the battleship "Republic", Betty could not help but be taken aback after receiving a signal from the battleship "Constitution".

"Maybe the situation on the battlefield has changed differently." Xu Zhenpeng was a little dissatisfied with the word "stupid" in Betty's words, but out of politeness and respect for Betty, a battle-hardened tiger general, he did not show it on his face, "Up to now, almost half an hour has passed, and the Germans are likely to have suffered heavy losses under our blows and want to flee separately, so this is the case." ”

"You have a point, Xu." Betty got up and walked to the chart, and couldn't help but smile bitterly as she looked at the routes of the ships and her own position depicted by the mapping officer on the chart.

"Before we knew it, we were in Herigolan Bay again."

Xu Zhenpeng looked at Betty with some surprise, not understanding why he was so impressed by Helgoland Bay (author's note: "Helgoland" in German and "Heligoland" in English).

For example, this naval battle that was fought while running has now reached the waters near Helgoland Bay, and the rudder of the "Republic" has malfunctioned here, Xu Zhenpeng has long known about it, and he did not react until Betty said it.

Xu Zhenpeng, who doesn't know much about the history and strategic significance of this small island, does not know what kind of thrilling stories have happened around this small island.

Situated at the throat of the depths of the German Gulf, close to Germany's major ports and river estuaries, Helgoland is of great strategic value disproportionate to its aggressiveness. Before 1890, this small island had been under the protection of the British Empire, and the Germans were like a fish in their throats, but on July 1 of that year, with the signing of the Treaty of Helgoland between Britain and Germany, Lord Salisbury, then British Prime Minister, despite Queen Victoria's strong objections, went against the wishes of the islanders of Helgoland and ceded this important island known as "Gibraltar of the North", in exchange for the guarantee that Germany would not continue to expand its colonial power in eastern Africa, which was thousands of miles away.

Ostensibly, Germany was clearly a beneficiary of the above-mentioned treaty, and from then on Helgoland Bay became a completely German forecourt. The treaty originally stipulated that Germany should keep the tranquil semi-autonomous island "as undisturbed as possible" by the original laws and customs, but the German Kaiser Wilhelm II simply ignored this, and the island was soon built into a military base against the British. At the outbreak of the First World War, Helgoland had shore guns, ports, barracks, fortifications and other supporting facilities. All of the island's indigenous people were sent to mainland Germany, where eligible men were drafted for military service. In order to prevent the British from using obvious geographical signs for nautical positioning, the cautious Germans forcibly demolished the 17th-century Wangrok Church on the island.

When the British transferred Helgoland Island to the Germans, many British "indignantly" denounced the "Helgoland Treaty" as an out-and-out "traitorous treaty" that humiliated the country, and went so far as to easily give up a perfect outpost for war against Germany, "like selling a cage of chickens." But Salisbury's vision was far from being as narrow as the "indignation" had suggested, and in the Treaty of Helgoland, Britain had gained far more than it had lost: as the German navy grew and Britain's "blockade policy" toward Germany changed, it was questionable whether it was possible or necessary to maintain the outpost in wartime; However, this treaty effectively curbed German expansion in East Africa and consolidated British colonial interests. After the start of the war, Britain was able to uproot German power from East Africa with relative ease. The Germans, who had obtained Helgoland Island and the nearby bays, were once ecstatic that their front had been extended to the outside world, but after the war they found that although the "short-range blockade" did not exist, the "long-range blockade" of the British still did not make much change in the strategic environment of the German Navy.

The shrewd Germans vaguely guessed that the British fleet was consciously trying to disengage from the German fleet so as not to be depleted. The German navy, which refused to give up, decided to stick to the established line of thought of war of attrition and continued to extend the battle line outward, and while minelayers and submarines were heading for the British coast, the defense zone of light ships was gradually expanded.

Since the war between the two naval powers, Britain and Germany, had been looking forward to the appearance of a second "Trafalgar". Although the "long-range blockade" was a safe victory, the process was as uneventful as distilled water, which was a considerable gap from the British people's ardent expectations for the Royal Navy. Centuries of deep-seated maritime superiority have fueled the flames of competitiveness, and taxpayers' hard-earned money in the arms race needs to be repaid with good returns. As the news of the retreat on the Western Front continued, the British public was even more desperate for a victory to restore the psychological balance. However, the Germans have been closed, and the British "Grand Fleet" has been waiting outside the Helgoland Bay, quite alone with a sense of loss and chagrin.

The British Navy, eager to win, saw that the Germans were unwilling to easily get out of Helgoland Bay and be beaten, and British Commodore Keys, who had figured out the law of German ship activities, planned to lead a fleet of light ships into the bay to take the German patrol fleet to kill him. Churchill was overwhelmed by the cries of the people and the navy for war, and was in need of an offensive to soothe the restlessness at home, and the Admiralty was also planning to send marines to land in the Belgian port of Ostend, and it was necessary to eliminate the flank threat of German light ships in advance. This "simple and bold" (Churchill) plan of Case's plan soon impressed the Admiralty-Chancellor. Churchill was quick to approve the plan.

On August 28, 1914, the Battle of Helgoland Bay officially began, and the British Navy first used submarines as bait to successfully lure out the German patrol fleet, but after the battle began, the situation was repeated, and the original support fleet rushed to the battlefield but could not find the target, and the careless dereliction of duty and bureaucratic style of the communications personnel turned this battle in the fog into a chaotic melee in which we did not know the enemy and us, and the continuous arrival of German support ships quickly put the British light ships in a dilemma of not being able to distinguish between the enemy and us. Had it not been for Betty's decisive decision to take the plunge of five battlecruisers to come to the aid and repel the German fleet, the sneak attack would have turned into a disaster.

The Battle of Helgoland Bay was the first large-scale naval encounter between Britain and Germany during World War I, and victory certainly belonged to Britain. In this battle, the German Navy sank 3 light cruisers and 1 minesweeper, 1 light cruiser, 1 minesweeper and 2 minesweepers were heavily damaged, and none of the British naval ships were sunk, 1 light cruiser and 3 destroyers were seriously damaged.

For most Britons, who don't understand the process and only care about the outcome, this long-awaited victory is undoubtedly a shot in the arm. But for insiders, there was only a fine line between this glorious victory and disaster, and it exposed the Royal Navy's many problems in planning, communications, coordination, etc. But for Betty, the naval battle was an unforgettable highlight of his naval career.

The naval battle in the Gulf of Helgoland, although small in scale, had a profound impact. The defeat prompted the Germans to rethink and fill in the major holes in their original defenses (in contrast, the British, who were reeling in the joy of victory, did not learn their lessons), and the confrontation returned to a stable and boring state. Soon Betty had a bad premonition, and he wrote in a letter to his wife: "...... They knew we were coming, so they shrunk their heads and didn't come out. I'm afraid that these nasty embryos will never come out again, and will only send some minelayers and submarines. …… They may also take the initiative and send a battle cruiser for a lunge. …… It seems that we are going to get through this war without getting a chance to fight a good fight, and this is a really unbearable thought. "Betty's prophecy was surprisingly accurate. Until the beginning of 1916, the Germans were on the defensive in the North Sea, and the breaking engagements starring submarines and minelayers became the representative repertoire of the German Navy; The occasional sorties of battlecruisers constitute a rare tidbit; The flashy clash between the battlefleets was still wishful thinking on the part of the British. The Royal Navy sailors, who were eager to see the spectacle, were disappointed to find that it had just started a bland soap opera, and they leaned back in their chairs sullenly, not knowing that one day, when the long-awaited "Ragnarok" drama actually took place, the end result would be a pin-and-needle struggle for them.

And now, only 4 years have passed, and Betty feels that almost the same scene is going to be staged in Helgoland Bay again, only this time the protagonist is no longer the Royal Navy.

(To be continued)