Three Hundred and Sixty Fight Speed

On the vast sea, if you want to gallop vertically and horizontally, most of the time you have to rely on the courage to ride the wind and waves and the speed to overwhelm your opponent. Therefore, when everyone worked hard to develop the representative battleships of the big ships and cannons, more cruisers and battlecruisers were launched at the same time, forming the backbone of the naval fleets of various countries.

For the ocean, a battleship is very small. So no matter how many warships you have, it will be a drop in the bucket in the face of the vastness of the ocean. So letting warships patrol more seas at a higher speed and control a larger sea area with a smaller number of ships has always been the dream pursued by the ocean empire relentlessly.

Driven by this great dream, the world's naval powers are scrambling to explore high-speed warships, and have developed generation after generation of "the strongest warships in history". At least among the warships of the British Navy, warships such as the Hood are warships with very high-speed maneuverability and first-class firepower.

After the assault order was issued, in the British fleet, the relatively slow battleships King George V and Howe were immediately thrown away. After all, the battlecruiser Hood has a speed limit of up to 30 knots, so now it can Easily speed up to a terrifying 6 knots.

The maximum speed of the King George V-class battleship is only 28 knots, so it can only drive to about 24 knots when chasing. After all, no one wants to let the power boiler of the battleship run at full capacity without getting close to the enemy. The dire consequences of overheating a power unit.

The speed of cruisers and destroyers is generally high, but according to the fleet's distribution order, many ships were left behind to accompany the battleship force, and only a small number of ships rushed forward with Hood and Renown.

So after an hour of intense sailing, the British fleet has gradually opened up the distance, forming two fleets before and after, driving in a straight line. At this time, the British fleet was only 79 kilometers away from the position of the German Navy's High Seas Fleet.

It's just that the two sides are now chasing and fleeing, so the distance that doesn't seem to be far is actually very far. Because the age of the German Navy is generally not long, it does not suffer much in terms of speed.

At this moment, Lütjens was nervously looking at the chart, estimating the location and time of possible encounters between the two sides. Surrounding him is a huge fleet composed of German naval fleets. Even with such a huge fleet, the current speed is still not slow.

It should be said that they are not slow. They have almost run out of the speed limit of fleet formations in this world. The entire aircraft carrier fleet is cutting through the waves at a speed of 23 knots. As an aircraft carrier formation, this speed can be said to be a world record level. .

Now the problem is a bit serious for the German naval fleet. Counting from 7:00 p.m. on the first day to 5:00 a.m. the next day, the British navy has at least 10 hours to shorten the distance. It seems that the German navy Doomed.

In this way, the two fleets played a speed race on the vast sea,

At 8:03 in the evening, Lütjens ordered the fleet to adjust its course and deviate some corners to the open sea in an attempt to avoid the British fleet.

But soon the British fleet adjusted its course as if it had eyes, and cut into the route of the German fleet, even shortening the distance by 1 kilometer. At this time, Lütjens could only rely on his own judgment to determine the position of the British Navy's fleet.

"It's not good! I always feel that something is wrong!" Lütjens walked around the chart table, and suddenly clapped his hands as if suddenly enlightened: "I know! I know where their eyes are!"

He walked to the front of the chart, pointed to the surrounding area and said to the chief officer: "They are following us with submarines! Although the speed of the submarine is not enough, they will not follow us for long, but they are following us in the state of adventurous floating and sailing! Our radar Instead, the system is dark under the lights, and no one notices anything wrong!"

"Order the special forces of the naval aviation to take off urgently at night!" Lütjens slammed the table fiercely: "It's time for them to see our preparations! Drive all the tails of these enemy submarines away!"

"Yes!" An aviation liaison officer stood at attention, saluted and walked out.

Soon, under the guidance of several searchlights on the German aircraft carrier, two helicopters soared into the sky. These aircraft carried a depth charge and a high-power searchlight, which was a special weapon that the aircraft carrier had only recently equipped. It is also a secret weapon for rescue and anti-submarine at night.

These planes soon got news. The two British submarines following the fleet were forced to dive for their lives. The submarine eyeliner arranged by the British in advance was left behind by the German fleet, but this was already after 11 o'clock at night. .

At midnight, Lütjens received a telegram that made him sick as if he had swallowed ten flies. The telegram was sent by a German submarine. This submarine discovered the British fleet in the waters near Denmark, that is, the fleet that went north to Norway. Now this fleet with two old battleships is in the waters near Wilhelmshaven. The High Seas Fleet, which was waiting for the Germans to escape, threw themselves into the trap.

As a result, Lütjens, who was going to take another risk to change course, was undecided again. He didn't dare to take the risk of returning to Wilhelm Naval Harbor, so he didn't dare to change course again to let the fleet approach the coastline—there are only two ways now, One is to escape to the Netherlands at risk, and the other is to continue to venture deep into the North Sea.

Fleeing to the Netherlands seems to be a foolproof route, but Lütjens thinks carefully and knows that this route is actually full of dangers. The Dutch port is not bad for supplies on weekdays. If you escape in and be blocked by the British navy to fight at close range, it will really be a disaster. If the British were to exchange a few battleships for the entire High Seas Fleet, I believe the Royal Navy would still be willing to do this deal.

And keep the route and continue to escape to the depths of the North Sea, at least you can estimate the fleet encounter time, but if you turn a right angle and escape to the Netherlands, in case the British pursuit fleet takes a close cut and catches up with the short side... 2 o'clock in the morning By 4 o'clock, the two sides encountered and fought, and there might be nothing left for the German navy.

It is not safe to flee to the ocean, at least until dawn to fight back, and in this situation, it is estimated that the British navy will fire at around ten o'clock in the morning. At that time, it is really hard to say who will take advantage of it. Moreover, Lütjens must always be on guard against the first British fleet led by the British aircraft carrier Ark Royal that disappeared in the North Sea.

"You really can do whatever you want with a rich family!" Lütjens couldn't help saying this enviously. It is no wonder that Lütjens is very envious, because even under the repeated defeats, the British navy did not move, and even set up a fleet and laid a net. The number of fleets seems to be not an order of magnitude.

"Keep the route! Continue to drive north!" Lütjens finally gritted his teeth and gave this order with the greatest courage in his life. At this moment, he seemed to have seen a hallucination. In the hallucination, he commanded a huge and beautiful battleship, entered the North Sea in the bitter cold wind, and completed his tragic battle.

"It was a year ago! I dared to run away from the British navy, maybe I would have fled back to the Netherlands. But Yuan told me a truth - an army that dare not show its sword will always only fail. Possibly! This time I choose to use my sword! As the frontline commander of the Imperial Navy, I will use my sword today!" Lütjens said calmly while standing on the bridge.

This is his choice, and this is the choice of the High Seas Fleet of the Second Empire led by him. This road is extremely bumpy, and one wrong step will lead to a doomed end. It is also an opportunity for the German Navy, an opportunity for prosperity.

This is a big gamble. If the German Navy can take off the carrier-based aircraft after dawn, then the British Navy will probably be defeated, and this defeat seems to be more traumatic than the previous few times, and it may really be a setback. .

And if the German navy is chased before dawn...

On the other hand, there are almost no warships in the entire fleet that can compete with the Hood's Prestige, and the entire army will be wiped out in at most two hours.

It was a very fair battle. The winner would control the North Atlantic Ocean and become the most powerful new overlord in the European sea; the loser would lose his sea power and face a cruel blockade. In the end, he might even lose the fate of the country.

When Lütjens made this decision, Lieutenant General Holland, the commander-in-chief of the British fleet, was also facing an important choice. At this moment full of variables, German Admiral Lütjens and the British Navy Lieutenant General Holland made the most important decisions in their lives.

The submarines that realized the ambush were all expelled by the German Navy, and Lieutenant General Holland is now as blind as Lütjens. Without the support of intelligence, he can only rely on guesswork to judge the movement of the German navy, which makes the pursuit of the British navy quite difficult.

"Order the fleet to keep its course unchanged!" Lieutenant General Holland finally issued the order to pursue the current line, but at the same time he issued another crucial order: "Order the two trailing battleships to sail to the sea off the Netherlands. The Germans are fleeing into Holland, we're going straight into the port and sinking them! No matter the cost!"

For the British Navy, this decision is undoubtedly the safest. The only two options for the Germans were blocked by Holland's fleet. It's a fight.

However, the variable of this speed race remains unchanged. This variable is the time of the battle. No one knows whether the Germans can delay the start of the battle until after dawn.