Chapter 1,163 The Action Begins!

Chapter 1163 The action begins!

"This is the first time I have seen the High Seas Fleet in action. It is strong, fierce, and fearless. Although it is not as large as the British Grand Fleet, it is more agile! Fast! Deadly!" Looking at the people around him, Giant ship. Hipper's heart was racing. This is a true full-scale attack! In addition to the 17 fast battleships, there were an additional three slow battleships, and the light cruisers and destroyers originally assigned to the Baltic Sea were also mobilized.

This brings the total number of battleships dispatched by the High Seas Fleet to 20 for the first time. There are 24 light cruisers and more than 50 destroyers and torpedo boats! If you include 6 seaplane carriers, the number of warships deployed by the High Seas Fleet has exceeded 100 for the first time! Except for the Royal Navy, no country in the world can come up with such a level of configuration!

The entire fleet was reorganized. A total of 17 fast battleships formed 4 battleship squadrons. Vice Admiral Scheer commanded the 1st and 2nd battleship squadrons. The 1st battleship squadron was composed of 5 Bavaria-class battleships, while the 2nd battleship squadron was composed of 5 Bavaria-class battleships. 3 Helgoland-class battleships and the newly improved Rhineland battleship.

Hipper commanded the four Bavarian-class battleships of the Third Battleship Division, and the Fourth Battleship Division was his original battlecruiser squadron, with a total of three super-dreadnought battlecruisers and one Von der Tann. As for the remaining three slow-speed battleships, they were organized into the fifth battleship detachment, and the lieutenant general still couldn't figure out what the purpose of these weak battleships was. If it's a mobile battle, then don't take them. If it's a desperate battle, then take out a few more quasi-dauntless ships. Anyway, the speed has been slowed down, and there can be more output...

The battlecruiser detachment still moved forward to perform reconnaissance missions, and the remaining three battleship detachments formed a three-row phalanx to follow. The three slow-speed battleships were far behind, and they were getting further and further away, except for the four light cruisers attached to the battlecruiser detachment. Another four light cruiser detachments accompanied the movement of the main fleet. The vanguard is about 20 nautical miles away from the main fleet. When the fleet entered the depths of the North Sea, the six accompanying seaplane carriers also began to release seaplanes for reconnaissance operations. And naturally all this cannot be hidden from the British!

"The Germans are out again?! They are really difficult to deal with!" Jericho received a telegram from a British submarine stationed off the coast of Germany 2 hours ago. In addition to the routine telling Jericho about the direction of the German fleet and In addition to discovering the time, he also specifically emphasized that the opponent's scale this time was somewhat large... Tell Jericho to be careful. And the larger scale means that it may bring non-fast battleships.

"Unfortunately, our two Queens and one Revenge-class battleship are in the dock." Lieutenant General Charles Madden said somewhat depressedly.

"If the Germans are just wandering around on the sea, there is no need for us to cause trouble for them." Lieutenant General Jerram said, he is also a pessimist now. He thought it would be better not to fight his opponent until his strength was restored. Because the Royal Navy suffered losses in previous battles.

"No, we must let the Thomas fleet join us. If the German fleet is really deployed in full force, then the large fleet cannot defeat them! And if we choose to give up, then for the auxiliary cruise fleet that is near the North Sea blockade, this It will be a disaster!" Admiral Jericho categorically rejected.

The entire High Seas Fleet! 20 Dreadnought and above battleships. There may also be 6 quasi-dreadnoughts. And what about the British Grand Fleet? Now there are 8 super-dreadnoughts equipped with 13.5-inch naval guns. (Two are under maintenance), 4 Revenge-class battleships, 10 dreadnoughts, and 3 battlecruisers. Jericho was certain that if auxiliary battleships were not considered, his 25 battleships would never be able to defeat 20 German dreadnoughts and several quasi-dreadnoughts... There is no way, the quantity is not much different, but the quality is too different... If the Thomas fleet does not come, the grand fleet may really have to hide away when it encounters the German fleet...

Although Jericho estimates that there are two possibilities for the German fleet to dispatch this time, one is to attack the North Sea blockade. After all, the large fleet cannot patrol with precious light cruisers all day long. The endurance is not enough, and the number is not enough. If this blockade can be severely damaged again, Germany can obtain overseas supplies. Another possibility is that he plans to have a fight with the Grand Fleet... The possibility of this idea is really not small, otherwise the German fleet would not need to bring slow warships.

No matter what, Jericho believes that Thomas is the only choice! At least the British fleet after the grouping is definitely not afraid of the German fleet's head-on confrontation! The German fleet with a large number of slow battleships is indeed stronger, but unfortunately, the Germans have also lost the mobility they are proud of, unless the German fleet commander regards them as expendables.

So this time Jericho decided to concentrate the main force of the Royal Navy like last time. The Thomas Fleet was ready to depart almost as soon as it received the intelligence, and the Grand Fleet was also ready to depart 40 minutes after receiving the intelligence. Therefore, within a month, the two largest fleets on the planet once again We met at sea!

The German fleet attacked very early. At the first high tide in the early morning, the huge High Seas Fleet rushed out of Wilhelmshaven. But the two sides met relatively late. After the huge German fleet almost crossed half of the North Sea along the eastern border of the North Sea, the British fleet found the German fleet under the guidance of airships and V1500 seaplanes. By this time, it had already It's three o'clock in the afternoon, and sunset is only three hours away!

"Well, that's stable!" Jericho looked at the sunset. The two sides met a little late, which meant that if there was no night battle, then the confrontation between the two sides would probably be over. Jericho believed that the German fleet would not choose a night battle because the uncertainty of a night battle was too great. Moreover, the lethality of destroyers and light cruisers will increase dramatically at night! This was a weakness of the German fleet and they naturally should not do this.

"The British must have been frightened this time. They were very cautious and kept a close distance from us. The Thomas fleet did not take advantage of their speed, but stayed with the large fleet. They were more like It was a turtle with its head, tail and limbs retracted into its shell. It was watching us carefully from a distance, just to restrict us from continuing to go north. We don't know how the British understood the purpose of this attack, but it was obvious that such a situation Very good for us!" Lieutenant General Scheer, who had already understood the plan, wrote in his diary.

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