The tactics of the Russians were very conservative, at least in Hipper's opinion, with several destroyers behind the rear hall and constantly jamming Hipper's shelling with smoke canisters. Both sides were in separate columns, and it was difficult to exert all their firepower. So even if the Russian fleet was already in range, the sparse shelling did not seem to be able to cause much interference to the adversary.

"That's not going to work. The speed is too fast, and it is difficult for the submarine forces to find opportunities. "Essen has devoted a small half of his energy to submarines in recent years, and by now, the German Baltic Fleet has nearly two dozen submarines, and at least nine submarines have been deployed in this sea area. But it backfired, the speed of the Russian and German fleets was too fast, and the speed of the submarine in a few knots underwater really could not find an attack window, and the Germans also seemed to be on guard against the submarine, and they did not go straight but on a broken line. All this leaves the Russian submarine forces with no way at all. I can only do it in a hurry.

"Why don't you hold them back?" At this time, Essen's mind changed, and now the follow-up German fleet has not yet appeared...... At least 2 hours are still safe to go. If you don't fight, you're really unwilling! When the two sides move to the battle line, the speed of the fleet will inevitably decrease. This is an opportunity for the submarines that the Russians have arranged in advance! …。

"The fleet turned right 3 compass points. Grab the T-shaped horizontal head. With a temporary safety assured, Essen decided to fight with Hipper. The auxiliary warships of the two sides are equal, and it is better to protect themselves as battleships. There's no reason why you can't beat your opponent! What's more, he still has a hidden arrow underwater!

Four Gangut-class battleships made a huge white trail on the sea. Thirty-six 14-inch naval guns were aimed at the approaching German fleet in turn. A dignified dreadnought duel began. Facing an evenly matched opponent, Hipper rubbed his hands excitedly. Hopefully we can get a new record today! According to past experience, the British shells were not enough to penetrate the armor of German battleships. However, French and Russian warships with American shells were not necessarily the case, so Hipper decided to use his marksmanship and the quality of his officers and men at long distances. Slowly kill your opponent. And the shells were replaced with semi-armor-piercing shells with a larger charge but slightly worse armor-piercing.

"For an American battleship with a thick main armor, unless you can penetrate its main armor, it would be better to use semi-armor-piercing shells, if I had 4 King-class battleships in my hands. Then I would not hesitate to choose to attack closely, but the protection of my Moltke-class fast battleships is very problematic, and I cannot guarantee that my armor will be able to block the enemy's shells. So I'd rather hit it from a distance. Then wait for the arrival of the main fleet. Hipper explained..........

Facts have proved that the quality of the officers and men of the battle-hardened Hipper's fleet is indeed superior to that of the Russian fleet as a whole, which is practicing target shooting in the harbor. Don't look at the fact that they have 4 guns missing, but before the Russian fleet can get a hit, the Gangut has already hit twice. One of the shots hit the Gangut's turret No. 1. It turned directly into an orange fireball, leaving a dimple of about 2 inches in the armor plate. And another shell left a hole in the bow of the ship. Not a big problem.

Strategically, though. The battle-hardened Hipper made the mistake of imagining the tactic of suffocating the opponent with high-explosive shells, which had little effect when both sides projected the same amount and were both capital ships. The reason is simple, let's say an unlucky guy was hit by 20 350mm shells. A half-piercing high-explosive bomb is less than about 20kg of explosives, and the sum is only 400kg. You have to say that the underwater part hit mines and torpedoes with 400kg of explosives. That's really damn enough. But you said that 400kg of explosives were hit in the upper building, and some of the shells will inevitably hit places like armored turrets. In fact, it works very poorly. Historically, since the beginning of the dreadnought, not a single capital ship has been killed by another capital ship of the same class with a high-explosive shell. Even the deceleration effect is average, because although the Russian battleship did not have an upper armor belt, the length of the waterline armor belt was sufficient, reaching more than 6 percent. Therefore, there are not many places where water may enter after breakdown. (During the Battle of Jutland, there was a time when the Lütsov used semi-armor-piercing shells to attack British battle cruisers, I don't know if it was because of her self-confidence or some other reason.) ）…………。

So, although Hipper made some hits during the shelling for a long time, the effect was very poor. With the passage of time, the Russian battleship also quickly formed a straddle fire, and made a hit, a heavy armor-piercing bullet weighing 600+ kg smashed into the Hipper fleet, in the rain of bullets, Hipper's flagship Moltke barely resisted the opponent's attack, reliable fuse with stable D explosives is still very challenging for the Moltke. Shells hit the side like a hammer, and although the heavy armor could barely withstand it, the fierce armor still caused a certain amount of misalignment and cracking. Such an engagement was obviously not something for light cruisers to participate in, and the escort warships on both sides had a tacit understanding to hide on the side, and Hipper believed that time was on his side. And Essen also believed that he could achieve the result before the arrival of Scheer's main fleet!

As time passed, Hipper found himself at a disadvantage, not to say that his hit was lower than his opponent's...... On the contrary, the total hits of the Hipper's fleet are at least 20% higher than the opponent's, but the problem is, you can't beat people! Soon, Essen also realized this, and in general, a battle cruiser of the same class was obviously a bit difficult to get along with himself when fighting a battleship on the battle line. It was the same with German battleships! Maybe because of the smooth sailing some time ago, Hipper's confidence is bursting, and this time, he will inevitably pay the price for his mistakes! …。

The Essen fleet began to approach, and the powerful 14-inch naval guns repeatedly put a huge pressure on Moltke and Goburn! Finally, at a distance of 12,000 meters, a 14-inch 45L shell fired almost vertically managed to penetrate the lower edge of the Moltke's side armor! After shattering nearly 12 inches of inclined armor, this shell drilled into the hull of the ship against the edge of the power room, directly blowing up the adjacent power supply compartment, and the lack of power caused the two turrets in the rear to immediately mute fire!

"Distance!" Hipper looked at the billowing smoke coming out of the motor room. A grim face commanded. So the whole fleet, led by Moltke, began to turn right half of the Luo Jing point, ready to cut the diagonal line and break away! There was nothing wrong with this order, but what was not expected was that near their course, a shark gradually opened its sharp teeth and waited for the arrival of the German fleet!

"It was definitely an accident, although we tried to get close to the other side's course, but because of the slow speed of the voyage, we were unsuccessful, and the Germans passed through the ambush zone of most friendly ships without danger. But for some reason, it drove straight in my direction. And in order to avoid artillery fire, the German destroyers were relatively far away, so we could calmly launch this attack. Captain Goryunov, the submarine commander of the 57th, said this afterwards..........

Originally, he had intended to aim for the Moltke, which was at the forefront. But considering that the battleship in the middle of the attack will have less space for the other side to dodge, he decisively locked the target at the Goeben in the back, and at a distance of less than 1,000 meters from the two sides, the No. 57 submarine fired all 4 torpedoes! Four deadly torpedoes cut white trails on the surface of the sea. Fan-shaped towards the German fleet. In the fierce artillery battle, the Germans had no idea that a submarine would launch a torpedo so close to them, and when the lookout post discovered the killing machine lurking underwater, it was too late for Goeben to dodge!

Rumble! With a loud bang, a huge column of water rose in the middle of Goeben's hull. The violent explosion of hundreds of kilograms of TNT explosives caused enormous damage to the first German superintrepid, and in a matter of seconds, three watertight compartments were torn apart by intense energy. In a few minutes, nearly 1,000 tons of seawater poured into the breach, and the entire battleship tilted about 10 degrees in a short time! Some of the seawater even continued to seep into the hull through the cracks, and before long some of the core compartments were flooded, and the German naval officers and men had to struggle to plug the broken holes in the water that could submerge the calves. …………。

"Damn, I obviously hit 2 torpedoes, why did I explode one?" Captain Goryunov cursed, but it was clear that now he had no chance to attack again. Project 57 mini-submarine did not have tail torpedo tubes. And to wait for the front torpedo tube to reload, it will take at least half an hour. And the German destroyer would not let him attack again with peace of mind, less than 2 minutes after completing the attack...... The explosion of strings of depth charges began to sound in the water. Unable to continue studying the unexploded torpedo, the No. 57 submarine began to dive quickly to avoid the German destroyers chasing after it.

"The Goeben broke away from the battle column and began to retreat, and the destroyer released smoke to cover the retreat of the fleet!" At this time, Hipper was depressed to a certain extent, not only did he not complete the task, but he made Essen yin, and then he knew what it means to be old. The guy who can survive many bloody battles is definitely not that simple. However, Hipper was still more confident in preserving the Goben. After all, the fleet speed is okay, and the torpedo boats can buy enough time for the fleet, and more importantly, Scheer will soon arrive with 4 King-class and 2 Caesar-class battleships. If Essen dares not to leave, then he will get it back with interest in a while! …。

But to Hipper's disappointment. Essen did not continue to pursue the evacuated German fleet, but turned directly to the evacuation, because just now, the telegram of the airship unit said that the main German fleet had arrived, and it was less than 1 hour away from here! If you don't leave at this time, you may not have a chance to leave for a while!

Thanks to the book friend Soaring in the universe of the constellation of the crouch for the reward and monthly pass support~~, the book friend zhouyu1976 for the tip, and the book friend D309EBC77 for the monthly pass support~~. (To be continued...... ）。