Chapter 643: Something Dangerous

In the southern waters of the North Sea, the sun slowly rises from the east. It should have been golden, but because of the thick fog, only a vague fireball can be seen.

A fleet is moving slowly in the fog like a ghost. The ship's body shakes regularly, and it hits the waves and makes a heavy sound, like a groan or a heartbeat, one after another.

The leader is a battlecruiser. The 8 305MM main guns on the ship are ready. The gunners are in their positions. They look around nervously waiting for orders. The towering gun barrels are straight into the sky, and occasionally they adjust the direction slightly, as if ready to roar at the enemy at any time.

This is the "Lützow" battlecruiser of the German High Seas Fleet. It is the flagship of the First Fast Fleet and is recognized as the fastest, newest and most advanced battlecruiser.

(The picture above shows the battlecruiser "Lützow", which was commissioned on August 8, 1915 and is the second ship of the "Derfflinger" class battlecruiser)

In the captain's room, Rear Admiral von Cavis took out his diary from the drawer as usual after breakfast, opened it to a blank page, and wrote in cursive with a casual expression:

February 25.

I don't know what kind of weather this is, it's like fog but also like drizzling rain.

The North Sea is like this, 270 days out of 365 days are cloudy, and half of the time is filled with fog.

But I think this is an advantage for us, because the British reconnaissance planes can't see us, at least until the fog clears.

And the French.

They are the target of our operation this time. We detected that a fleet would pass nearby, and the escort fleet was 15 destroyers and 2 cruisers of the French fleet.

I hope they won't discover us too early and choose to escape.

Especially those destroyers, they can find our submarines...

Suddenly, the staff officer pushed the door open and reported: "General, the fog has dissipated."

Kavis said "hmm", closed the notebook and put away the pen, muttering to himself: "Next, let's write the battle report!"

Without hesitation, he stood up and took the staff out, and walked quickly up the gangway to the command tower.

Major General Kavis was as steady as a rock in the swaying hull. He glanced around and saw that the fog was indeed dissipating. The visibility was getting higher and higher. Rays of sunlight shone through the clouds and mist like sharp swords onto the sea, creating a little light like fish scales.

"Full speed ahead!" Kavis ordered.

Kavis always let the fleet reach the highest speed before the battle.

"Full speed ahead!"

"Full speed ahead!"

...

The orders were passed down one by one.

The fleet's speed increased, and the chimneys on the warships were billowing with smoke, and occasionally sparkling sparks could be seen.

The signalman used signal lights to constantly inform the ships behind him to keep up.

This is a fleet of 20 warships, including the battlecruiser "Lützow", the "Moltke" and the "Sedley".

The latter two are "Moltke" class battlecruisers.

Because their speed is not much different from that of the "Lützow", they are organized into the "First Fast Fleet" to carry out quick attacks and withdrawals on targets.

In addition, there are 2 cruisers and 15 destroyers.

Major General Caves firmly believes that such a lineup can defeat the French fleet in a short time.

If time permits, Major General Caves also hopes to seize a batch of merchant ships and take them back to Germany.

Germany needs these supplies too much, daily necessities and gasoline, and unused munitions will be blown up and sunk on the spot.

"Release the seaplane." Major General Caves ordered in a deep voice.

"Release the seaplane!"

"Release the seaplane!"

...

Seaplanes can expand the reconnaissance range and allow the fleet to find the exact location of the target.

However, Major General Caves soon found that this was redundant.

Ten minutes later, the lookout standing on the mast tower shouted down: "Target found!"

Major General Kavis raised his telescope and looked in the indicated direction. Sure enough, he saw a vague shadow in the fog that had not yet completely dissipated.

"Prepare for battle!" Major General Kavis made a prompt decision: "Change to a column formation to fight!"

(Note: It is more convenient to use the "1" long snake formation when the fleet is sailing. When fighting, you should try to deploy firepower to form a "1".)

The fleet was deployed smoothly. The faster destroyers and cruisers in the rear caught up at high speed and deployed on both sides, forming a column with three battlecruisers as the core, rushing towards the enemy in a mighty manner.

The target was getting closer and closer. Major General Kavis could see the target's hull in the telescope. At the same time, the artillery had been loaded and aimed at the target, waiting for his order to spit out flames at the enemy ship.

But at this time, a signalman reported: "General, an enemy fleet appeared on the flank."

No mistake, one sentence, one post, one content, one book, one bar, one 6, one 9, one book, one bar, one look!

Major General Caves understood it instantly.

The French fleet used merchant ships as bait, and its main force took advantage of the fog to go around the flank of the fleet.

"Change the formation!" Major General Caves shouted.

But it was too late. The sound of the cannon rang out the moment Major General Caves gave the order.

The whistling sound came from far away, and a series of towering water columns exploded around the fleet. The ships shook on the turbulent sea surface, and several shells hit the ships, bursting into flames and smoke.

The "Lützow" was also hit by a shell, but the shell failed to penetrate its 300MM thick side armor, and only caused a little imperceptible shaking on the ship.

Major General Kavis turned his head and looked at the flames of the shells exploding on the hull, with a sneer on his lips. This is the difference in strength.

The reason why the experienced Major General Kavis fell into this trap was that he did not expect that the escort fleet of only cruisers and destroyers would dare to challenge head-on.

These fools should choose to escape or wait for the main fleet to arrive before re-entering the battle.

If they launch an attack now, they will only get destruction!

"Boom boom boom!"

"Boom boom!"

...

The main gun of the "Lützow" opened fire.

Major General Kavis raised his telescope to observe during the violent shaking. The first shells formed a cross-fire around the enemy cruiser. This is a good start.

(Note: Cross-fire refers to the observation that the water column caused by the salvo shells is distributed in front and behind the target warship during the bombardment, which means that the shooting parameters are very accurate. Continuing to adjust based on these shooting parameters can hit the target with a high probability.)

Suddenly, a black shadow passed over his head.

Major General Kavis did not take it to heart at first.

That was Charles's "Caproni" bomber. Major General Caves thought, let it be used as a reconnaissance plane, and let it watch how we sink our targets one by one!

But at the moment when the "Caproni" bomber flew out of sight, Major General Caves seemed to be stabbed by something.

He didn't see clearly what it was, but his subconscious told him that it was a dangerous thing!