"The British fast fleet has only 8 warships, and if we can concentrate the superior fleet, it is not impossible to inflict heavy damage on them." Hipper hesitated for a long time, and made a great determination before deciding to persuade Scheer to change his original battle plan once again, and abandon the tactics of everyone fighting together, but to divide the fleet into two parts, and let himself lead the most elite warships of the High Seas Fleet to defeat Thomas's fast fleet first, and then turn back to support his own team.

"Why did you change it again?" Scheer couldn't help frowning, and there was strong dissatisfaction in his eyes. At the beginning, it was you who said that everyone was on the same page, and now you have overturned the original plan, are you playing tricks? Moreover, it is taboo to change the battle plan before the battle.

"I promise, give me an hour and I will be able to inflict heavy damage on our opponents, our Bismarck-class battleships and the Mackenson, the Yorke (the German name for the Izmail-class battleships) are stronger than the Queen. I'm sure I'm sure of two Moltke-class fast battleships, 8 against 8! The biggest reliance of the British is the 10 15-inch gun capital ships, only by destroying them, we can achieve the final victory, the result of the equal distribution of the fleet is that any place is vulnerable, we can only concentrate the most powerful warships to form a fist on the opponent's vital point, there will be a turnaround. ”

"And the biggest advantage of our battleship is protection, although the firepower of the King-class is far inferior to that of the Vengeance-class battleship, but it has a level of protection that is no less than that of the opponent, that is, even if we can't beat the opponent, at least we can withstand the opponent! Jericho's team is only 10 super dreadnoughts. 5 revenge-class battleships, the other 5 are crispy 13.5-inch battleships. As for those dreadnoughts? In addition to causing a point fire, the threat to our fleet is leisurely. And your fleet, even if weakened, has 14 super dreadnoughts! There was still half a sentence that Hipper didn't say. That is, even if Scheer can't beat Thomas, then be a meat shield to resist for a while! After cleaning up Thomas's fleet, he turned his head to help Scheer!

To be honest, Scheer is very dissatisfied with Hipper's suggestion, and he is going to fight, and you plan for Lao Tzu's temporary change. What did you do earlier?! In fact, what Scheer didn't know was that Hipper's final decision to change the plan was made after the reconnaissance submarine had determined that no two Dutch battleships had been found. Otherwise, no matter how conceited Hipper is. I would never think that 8 to 10 would have a chance to win quickly. After all, the battle has been fought to this extent, and the warships on both sides are no longer the crispy ships they were at the beginning, well, although there is still a Tiger on the British side that is more brittle. But the two Moltke on the Germans' side are also not hard!

However, with two Dutch warships went to trouble with the Italians. The situation has changed, as long as two more Moltke-class battleships are added, then the Hipper fleet will have a certain advantage! And if it is really enough to use this local advantage to break the backbone of the British Navy, then maybe it can really be decided in a war!

After listening to Hipper's suggestion, Scheer impatiently looked at the charts, then at the deduction on the table, and occasionally glanced at the commanders of the various detachments next to him, who were also looking at each other. I looked at their opinions, but the results were unexpected. No one dared to put forward their own views on this issue. After all, they are only the commanders of the detachment, or in other words. Just command your own 3 or 4 battleships, and this kind of question related to the overall strategy is still left to the bosses to discuss. More importantly, he is too sensitive at this time, and every word he says will have an extremely far-reaching impact on the future war situation and even the entire war. They don't think they have the level and courage of Hipper.

From the point of view of command, this plan does not seem to need to be changed much, after all, Schell's flagship is the King, and Hipper's flagship is the Bismarck. When the plan was first formulated, Scheer gave Hipper the task of smashing the British Queen-class battleships and revenge-class battleships with 4 Bismarck and 2 Mackensen, as well as 4 Caesar-class battleships. The only change is that Scheer will need to bear the attack of 5 revenge-class battleships himself.

"Although it is very abrupt, this plan is indeed feasible." After walking for more than half an hour, Scheer agreed to Hipper's proposal. "Vice Admiral Hipper, I now hand over to you the most powerful cavalry guns and the future of the High Seas Fleet, and give the empire a satisfactory result and a brilliant future!" Scheer patted the other man's shoulder heavily and said.

Thus, on the eve of the war, the German High Seas Fleet completed a pre-war adjustment, and the first battleship formation consisting of 4 Bismarck-class battleships and the second battleship formation consisting of 2 Mackensen-class battleships and 2 Moltke-class battleships were handed over to Hipper, while Schell would only have a third battleship formation consisting of 4 King-class battleships and a fourth battleship formation consisting of 4 Caesar-class battleships, in addition to 6 upgraded to the 5th and 6th battleship formations of the super-dreadnought. The German High Seas Fleet has put together a lineup that can be called the pinnacle since the start of the war! Waiting for the arrival of the opponent!

At the same time, after Jericho led the large fleet south to search unsuccessfully, he also decisively commanded the fleet to go north to prepare to return to the northern anchorage. But when he returned, Jericho could clearly feel the uneasiness in his heart, or it could be understood as a kind of euphoria. Was it even a gut feeling that he was sure that he would encounter the German fleet when he returned? Jericho didn't know, but it made him remind his men over and over again to prepare for war, because the biggest naval battle in history could break out at any moment!

On May 7, 1917, off the coast of Forth Bay, the most formidable fleet on the planet was sailing from south to north, and the whole fleet was lined up in a strange formation, with Thomas's fast battleship formation at the front, five Queen Elizabeth-class battleships at the head, then the Tiger, and then two overseas collar-class battleships. These ships were lined up in a single column at the time of the engagement, ready to go into battle at any time. The entire fast fleet and the accompanying escort warships sailed quickly on the surface of the sea like a sharp lance. Make the way for the main fleet behind. And behind it was Jericho's main fleet.

16 capital ships are lined up in a 4x4 box-shaped formation. On the far right are the four Revenge-class battleships, then the Royal Oak, the fleet's flagship that Jericho is riding, and then the five remaining 13.5-inch super-dreadnoughts and six antique dreadnoughts. Around this huge fleet, the hedgehog gathered at least 16 light cruisers and dozens of destroyers of various kinds. Although the entire Grand Fleet was divided into two parts, the distance between the two sides was not far, and the distance between Thomas and Jericho was only about 5 nautical miles. In the sky above the fleet is still not hovering some twin or even quadruple aircraft, they provide reconnaissance and anti-submarine for the fleet, under the patrol of these sea hawks, all those who want to do some small maneuvers under the surface of the water can only stay honestly!

Soon, however, the British discovered that an extremely dense smoke screen had appeared on the northeast side of their fleet, and in this case, they did not need to think about the identity of the other party. "The battle will come, and the British Empire expects every man in the navy to be loyal to the Empire!" Soon, a banner modeled after the Battle of Trafalgar was raised on the Royal Oak, the fleet's main flagship. "God bless the British Empire! Long live the Royal Navy! "After hundreds of years of waiting, another fleet dares to challenge the sea power of the British Empire head-on! As highly aggressive Royal Navy officers and men, they are looking forward to this era, and even more to being able to surpass their predecessors and defeat their opponents in an unprecedented naval battle! "Admiral Jericho, you will surpass Nelson and become an incomparable presence in the navy of this era!" Thomas's telegram reads. The war is about to begin, and there is no point in suffering from gains and losses, and it is the best choice to fight to the end with full morale!

"Our guests are here." As the distance approached, Scheer could already identify through the telescope the British Grand Fleet slowly approaching under the protection of aircraft and auxiliary warships, two of the most powerful fleets in the world had been placed on the gambling table, and every beat of the dice would mean the life and death of hundreds of people, and the future of the two superpowers. Under the shroud of smoke, the sea knights of the German Empire, like their ancestors, wore heavy armor and held sharp blades, slowly approaching the target under the blowing of the sea breeze, although the capital ships of the two sides were not much different, but in terms of auxiliary warships, the Germans were still much less than the British. So in terms of scale, the high seas fleet is still worse!

Hipper was the first to raise the battle flag, his fleet, like Thomas, had always been deployed in battle formation, the main fleets of both sides took time to deploy due to their size, but the first two fast fleets were ready to fight. As the saying goes, strike first and then suffer, when he saw Thomas's fleet turn to the northeast, Hipper also quickly commanded the fleet to turn, two straight battle lines quickly pulled out, the two sides were ready to fight before the most rear, the majestic battleship, the thick barrel exuded a chilling murderous aura, the huge turret slowly rotated, before the battle, the commanders of the two sides determined the battle sequence at the last time, and the smoke from the huge chimney spread in the air, The huge warships looked even bigger against the smoke screen. The most crucial battle will finally begin, and both sides will have a whole day to decide the winner!

"Thomas, let's get started! We'll be very happy to keep up! "Just when the two forward fleets were fighting on the battle line, the main force of the British Grand Fleet and the main force of the German High Seas Fleet also completed the change of formation, and the columns side by side slowly unfolded into a battle line, both sides chose the northeast direction, and the two huge fleets sailed to the depths of the North Sea, where there was enough space to fight!

Thanks to the book friends zhouyu1976 and hukaikaka for their tips, as well as the book friends Kuaifeng, Brother Haixiong, and a19690620 for their monthly ticket support~~~. (To be continued......)