Chapter 8: The Otaku's Fleet (Part 2)

  Due to intelligence from Room 40 and the powerful force of the First Battlecruiser Squadron, a large fleet with 16 capital ships halted on the northwest edge of Dogger Bank, watching as a raiding force led by Admiral Hipper with 8 capital ships annihilated.

  By 20:00, the British were in a very advantageous position. The Queen Mary had sunk the Derfflinger at a moderate cost of two damaged boilers and 350 tons of water forward, listing slightly to port; the Tiger, Princess Royal, and Rear Admiral Evan-Thomas's three dreadnoughts were closing in on both sides of the crippled Lützow, whose magazines would soon explode, sending her to the bottom; although the Lion had been badly damaged by the desperate Derfflinger, she was still making more speed than the German ship, and David Beatty versus Hipper would decide the issue.

  Victory was within their grasp, and the Marlborough's night watch sailors lounged with satisfaction near the forecastle, humming a tune that had been sung in the Royal Navy for centuries.

  "When Britain was first in the world,"

  When placed by the Creator above the azure sea

  I have already made a vow to the gods of this land

  I swear to protect this continent forever with all the gods

  Rule!

  Rule, Britannia! rule the waves!

  "The British will never be slaves!"

  In the age of sail, the sails fluttered, and the Royal Navy with a king-like aura defeated the invincible French era under the inspiration of "Rule-Britannia"; In the steam age, the smoke billowed, and the Royal Navy with Nelson's Z flag accompanied this military song, planting the cross flag in every corner of the world, establishing the glorious British Empire; On November 14th, this majestic and stirring military song re-echoed on the long-forgotten Dogger Bank waters, glory seemed to be just ahead.

  A stirring military tune drifted in, and General John Jellico, dozing on the hard iron bed in his quarters, turned over and began to hum the familiar melody softly, temporarily forgetting the fears that lurked beneath. Just as Jellico was drifting off to sleep, the communications officer of the fleet flagship burst in with an unceremonious push of the door, his heavy voice booming through the small cabin.

  "Commander, urgent telegram from the Ravenswood fleet!"

  Jellico made no move to pursue the matter of the communications officer's mistake, instead flipping over onto his back and tossing on a robe, then reading through the telegrams by the dim light of the bedside lamp.

  "In a northeasterly direction, the main force of the Grand Fleet was discovered. They had two ships equipped with 350mm guns of the Derfflinger class. This was a trap and I had to order the fleet to retreat and request powerful support from the High Seas Fleet."

  "I knew it, I knew it!" Jellico's face was like that of an aged man who has lived through many years of storm and stress. His hand trembled as he clutched the dispatch. "Signalman, notify all battle divisions to get under way!"

  At 20:04, the temporary flagship Marlborough's wireless room received an urgent telegram from Admiral Arthur Limpus. Just a few minutes ago, he was still feeling good and declared that Dogger Bank would no longer have any boats with iron crosses and black eagles, but it seemed that Admiral Limpus had suddenly contracted amnesia, and various contradictory and leaky telegrams came in like snowflakes, one after another, as if Limpus wanted to express his fear in plain code!

  Even the most experienced staff of a large fleet could not infer from these incoherent telegrams what "perilous situation" General Arthur Ransome faced, let alone guess the true state of the turbulent Pacific Fleet.

  How did the two Derfflinger-class battlecruisers, which were supposed to be refitted at Blohm + Voss, end up in Dogger Bank and become two ships? How did the elite of the High Seas Fleet sent by the Emperor to the Baltic Sea fly to the face of Beatty's fleet? Is it a German conspiracy that Derfflinger-class returned to the factory for renovation, the Kaiser's order, and the password book obtained from Room 40? Was David Beatty's bold attack with his First Battlecruiser Squadron a godsend to destroy the Germans' ambush plan, or was the execution date of the Germans' ambush plan actually November 14th, or did the Royal Navy, which had been sailing the seven seas for hundreds of years, forget its attacking tradition in a daze and over-rely on so-called intelligence advantages?

  Innumerable doubts were festering in the mind of the commander of the Marlborough fleet, but the situation was already extremely precarious and did not allow the fleet commander and his staff to deliberate at length on those themes that had gone beyond simple military matters, extending into philosophy, psychology, politics, and other vast fields.

  There is one fact that can be certain, an unknown number of German capital ships have reinforced the area, and at this time the Grand Fleet was still 40 miles away from the Beatty's force. What's more frightening is that on November 14th, the Grand Fleet, which did not have a numerical advantage, could not defeat the High Seas Fleet!

  "The 1st Cruiser Squadron, the 3rd Light Cruiser Squadron and the 1st and 2nd Destroyer Flotillas were attached to the 1st Battle Squadron as an advance guard; they immediately weighed anchor and proceeded towards the area of engagement. The main body of the Grand Fleet turned south ten minutes later, with the 2nd Battle Squadron and the 3rd Destroyer Flotilla forming a rear guard at a distance of ten minutes from the main body."

  Admiral Jellicoe, known for his caution, was not taking any risks that might jeopardize the Grand Fleet. The old admiral realized that the Royal Navy was walking on thin ice in a decisive battle, which is what the Germans were "eagerly awaiting" and what the Grand Fleet could not afford.

  "Each fleet should take responding to the First Battle Cruiser Squadron as its primary task and avoid any substantial clash with the Grand Fleet!"

  ****

  At 8:10, Commodore Leberecht Maas led the Second Scouting Group of four light cruisers and the First Destroyer Flotilla of eight destroyers at a speed of 27 knots around the battlefield, taking advantage of the darkness to head towards Dogger Bank. The Second Destroyer Flotilla, led by the cruiser Magdeburg, slowly approached the battlecruiser Von der Tann, while the other side, Royal Princess and Tiger, fired torpedoes and released smoke to cover their retreat.

  Unfortunately, it was too late. At 8:16, the Friedrich der Grosse was engulfed in flames and smoke. Captain Marx ordered the crew to abandon ship, and they transferred to a destroyer under the command of the remaining officers.

  At 8:15, the bow of the battleship Von der Tann broke off and sank quickly. It was then discovered that Captain Hahn was not on board a rescue destroyer, so several brave sailors jumped into the icy North Sea and swam towards the capsizing cruiser.

  At 8:20, the sea water overflowed the main deck of the Fregattenkapit?n, the hull tilted more than 20 degrees to the right, the power system was completely interrupted, and thick smoke enveloped the entire ship. The sailors had to put on gas masks and searched for Captain Hahn's figure again and again in the dark upper structure.

  The sailors' efforts were not in vain as they found Captain Hahn tied to the steering wheel in the pilot house.

  "On September 5, 1912, I was ordered to take over the position of Colonel Robert Mischek and become the captain of the great Von der Tann! Hahn refused the sailor's kindness, he bowed his head and gently stroked the old ship again and again, which had a standard displacement of 21,000 tons, equipped with 305 heavy guns, and a top speed of over 26.5 knots. The middle-aged face, worn out from years of war, was filled with a sense of comfort and relief, like that of an old father, and he smiled slightly: 'This is an old ship that started construction in 1906, I thought it couldn't bear the glorious mission of the rise of the German Navy and the great battleship duel. However, under the command of General Heidekamp, it bombarded the ports of the British Empire, and the landing party on board landed on British soil, sinking the enemy's Invincible in the first round of fire.'"

  The battleship is sinking at an accelerating rate, and the hull is occasionally transmitting dull explosions. The sailors know that another sealed cabin has been flooded with seawater. A sailor cautiously takes a step forward, hesitantly opening his mouth to say: "Captain, Germany will have even more advanced warships than the Von der Tann put into service, and many first-rate warships are waiting for your command. The surviving crew members of the Von der Tann are all waiting for your call, expecting to return to your flag and set sail again!"

  "The German Navy doesn't lack a mediocre commander like me, it has Heide- Westphal, Bernhard von Oden, and Wolfgang Weigern, Erich Raeder, a group of young people who will carry on the legacy of the six-week war at sea. They will make the black-white-red tricolor flag of Germany, the iron cross eagle flag of the Navy exist all over the world." Captain Hahn shook his head, with a calm face: "Since I came to Von der Tann, I have taken this old and worn-out battleship as my everything, now my everything is about to sink in Dogger Bank, how can I survive alone?"

  The sailors left with their heads hung low in grief. On the surface, on the destroyer, the surviving crew members of the Von der Tann witnessed a tragic scene: accompanied by an ear-piercing screech, their battle cruiser completely capsized, exposing the hull covered with barnacles below the waterline to the air, and within less than thirty seconds, forced their respected Captain Hahn, who had fought bravely in battles, to sink together with the battlefield into the muddy bottom of Dogger Bank, leaving behind only a huge whirlpool on the surface.

  At 08:29, SMS Von der Tann sank as the third battleship to succumb in the disastrous Battle of Dogger Bank, coming to rest on the floor of the North Sea.

  ****

  Before the sinking of the Von der Tann, another capital ship had met its end in the North Atlantic.

  The First Scout Fleet hit the Ragnarok, drawing General Arthur Leyenson into a terrible whirlpool. Frightened and desperate to preserve his existing victories and avoid any unnecessary losses, he could not and did not dare abandon the Ragnarok.

  The encounter war magnified Ravenstoke's mediocrity to an unbearable degree. Perhaps in peacetime, as a commander nurtured by the Royal Navy's assembly line, Major General Arthur Ravenstoke could handle all fleet management tasks, leading the fleet to win a low-intensity native war. However, once encountering high-intensity, unconventional close combat, night battles and chaotic battles, Ravenstoke's negative psychology and conservative tactics became the Royal Navy's worst nightmare.

  On learning that the Repulse had been hit, Rear Admiral Phillips ordered the Prince of Wales and the Repulse to reduce speed and turn to port so as to bring all guns to bear on the enemy and cover the withdrawal of the Repulse.

  At 8:17, the King and Conqueror turned their guns, ranged, corrected their aim, and waited for a good crossing shot. Meanwhile, the First Scouting Group concentrated its fire on Lützow with four accurate salvoes, turning her from lightly to heavily damaged. The Revenge fleet then opened two ineffective counter-salvoes, resulting in Lützow being hit three more times: one of her 4-inch secondary guns and its lower magazine were struck, the waterline armor belt was torn open by a 350mm shell, three compartments on the starboard side flooded, fifty-six sailors were killed, and over a hundred wounded.

  Ravenswood, who had been taken advantage of, only then remembered to notify Tiger and the Royal Princess to counterattack, but at this time, the two battle cruisers were withdrawing from the battlefield at a speed of 27 knots according to Ravenswood's previous retreat order, with a distance of 10,000 yards from Ravenswood's fleet. Even if the two battle cruisers took the difficult maneuvering actions of reversing or turning around, it would take at least 20 minutes for them to join the battle.

  "Various contradictory orders, clumsy command skills and cowardice led to a one-sided situation in the encounter battle around 20 o'clock."

  At the secret military tribunal after the war, the captain of the Tiger cruiser testified in court and told everything to the military judge in a few words. After that, Arthur Rainsford was stripped of his military rank and forced to retire early.

  At 20:25, before Tiger and Royal Princess could complete their awkward return run, the heavily damaged Raiden couldn't hold on any longer. A single armor-piercing shell ripped through the horizontal armor, detonating the X turret's ammunition storage. A brilliant flame burst forth from deep within the hull, splitting the Raiden in two as it sank to the ocean floor.

  "Shall we hold up those two battleships, sir?" asked Commander Singlerail, the new chief of staff of the First Reconnaissance Fleet.

  The general fell silent for a moment, gazing at the Ravenston fleet rushing in disorder, and shook his head faintly.

  "General Sheer is still 50 minutes away from us, and the first and second battleship squadrons are another two hours away. The main fleet departed earlier than us and should be cruising nearby. Once the battle escalates to a showdown between the main fleets, our tactic of adding oil may not necessarily give us an advantage!"

  Although the ultimate goal of the Dogger Bank battle designed by Wang Haitie was to solve the main fleet with a Trafalgar-style sea battle, break through the long-range blockade of the Royal Navy, and recreate or annihilate the First Battle Cruiser Squadron, which was only the minimum target. However, whether it was Friedrich von Ingenohl's solitary gamble or Hening von Holtendorff's boldness, they all tended to stick to the minimum target. Franz von Hipper, the most outstanding tactical commander of the High Seas Fleet, had the heart to achieve the ultimate goal, but due to the premature outbreak of the battle, he lacked intelligence support and could not grasp the battlefield situation after arriving at Dogger Bank.

  "The fleet is going west, save the Moltke!" Hipper took a deep breath, with some regret pointing to the Dogger Bank area.

  The Royal Navy's military song, Irene has been mentioned for a long time, and after listening to it, it indeed has some maritime flavor, and the lyrics are quite stirring. I wanted to copy the English lyrics, but certain points were too frustrating. Finally, I recommend Tang Renyu's book "Stock God Revelation" again, which was a bit dull in the early stages, but the later content is absolutely brilliant! The ultimate side book "The Sino-Japanese War: A New History of China", a naval technical article, with a more solid foundation than mine.

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