Chapter Sixteen: The Trump Card (Four)

  In the not very rich resume of Lieutenant General Lewin Tso, he always held deputy positions such as Second Naval Lord, Deputy Chief of the Navy, Fleet Chief of Staff and Deputy Commander of the Fleet. On March 3, 1915, Lieutenant General Lewin Tso finally got his wish and led this iron fleet to challenge the British Royal Navy.

  "Fire from Lysov's gun ceased, overshoot, minus 300 meters!"

  "Command, fire control tower quickly corrects the data, the main turret of each ship in the First Reconnaissance Fleet fires five rounds of armor-piercing shells!" The muzzle flash from the main cannon declared the determination of the Germans. Lieutenant General Leventsov, who had temporarily taken command, estimated the strategic intentions of Wang Haitian and the dwindling ammunition reserves of the First Reconnaissance Fleet, and issued a stern order with a hint of arrogance.

  The mainland nation's German naval commanders all had some tragic and sympathetic emotions in their hearts, they who had reason and rigor engraved into their bones and buried in their blood rarely had the passionate command of the British Royal Navy's David Beatty. The elegant demeanor and temperament of the Royal Navy, its spirited state of mind, were highly praised before World War I, while the Germans were questioned due to their rigid and biased nature that had seeped into their blood, however, passion and depression collided, everything was revealed on the bloody Jutland coast line shrouded in smoke and blood.

  While the fleet was still not shrouded in sea fog and the impending smoke, Lewin's command was expressed word by word on the searchlight of the mainmast of the Ryazan. In the next one and a half minutes, the seasoned First Reconnaissance Fleet worked like a spring full of force, a precise machine. Re-measuring, calculating shooting elements, adjusting the angle of the main gun and the elevation of the barrel, supplying shells with the shell-ejecting machine, these tactical movements seemed to have become part of the life of German sailors, being executed smoothly.

  "AP round loaded, all turrets left half main guns firing in unison, fire!"

  The North Sea was calm in the sea fog, so that the main force of tens of thousands of tons did not need to consider the rolling period of the warship, and the firing command was shouted out by the gunner in the fire control tower. The four 350mm armor-piercing shells of the Lev Tov were fired, smashing into the unknown sea area like a broken bamboo.

  "Armor-piercing shell, left secondary turret salvo, fire!"

  Due to the use of two aft superfiring turrets, the center of gravity of the Derfflinger-class battlecruiser was raised, which would undoubtedly reduce the ship's seaworthiness and cause it to roll excessively with insufficient turning ability. At the same time, the ship's survivability was also greatly compromised. Therefore, the 12 150mm secondary turrets and 12 88mm secondary turrets of the Derfflinger-class were moved down one deck level. The relocation of the secondary turrets effectively lowered the center of gravity of the Derfflinger-class, but it also made the forward firing arc of the secondary guns limited, while cross-deck firing became a pipe dream. However, the British were within the firing arc of the Lützow's secondary turrets.

  "Commander's tower, long shot, minus 300 meters!"

  The observation tower of the Lützow began to feed back more detailed data to the fire control command tower by observing the fall point of the shells. The experienced gun commander could recite the detailed trajectory of the 4 x 350mm main guns with his eyes closed, which was not a natural talent for the gun commanders, but rather the result of countless artillery training sessions in the wind and sun, recording every detail bit by bit. Good gun commanders and high-performance shooting discs made it possible to modify the firing parameters quickly, and after new data was transmitted to the main turret, the electrically driven main turret began to adjust the firing angle and elevation angle, and Lützow's gunfire sounded again.

  "AP round loaded, all turrets right main guns firing, fire!"

  Even though the command tower's armor thickness exceeded 400 mm and had a shock-absorbing device, the recoil from the 350 mm main turret's gunfire still made the soles of the feet of the commanders inside the Lützow's command tower numb. The waiting process was the most unbearable, even if the first round of cannon fire scored a hit, it was hard to come by, and even though the Lützow's main gun barrel had used up more than half its lifespan, its accuracy had already decreased. The atmosphere here was somewhat heavy, at this time, the telephone receiver in the command tower interior transmitted a burst of noise.

  "Commander's tower, British testing cannon, close shot, landing point at 276 degrees on the port side, distance about 500 meters!"

  The news from the observation tower made the commanders feel slightly relieved, and then felt regretful. The relief was that the British trial shot at a distance of 4000 yards did not have an ideal effect, which means that the possible range and hit rate of the British would be pushed back. Unfortunately, the result of the first round of full main cannon firing from all turrets on the right side remained a mystery.

  "Commander's tower, long shot, minus 150 meters!"

  The news from the observation tower allowed the commanders of Lützow to breathe a little easier, 150 meters was equivalent to five British battleship widths, which already counted as a long shot.

  Lützow's second salvo from the left half of her main turrets was already in preparation, while Derfflinger, Seydlitz and Moltke began their first salvoes one after another. The British counter-attack was slow to develop. Clearly, the First Scouting Group had the advantage of the line of battle; at least the forward P-turrets of the three Indefatigable-class battlecruisers could not be brought to bear on an enemy to port due to the limited space between their first and second funnels.

  Restricted by the 18,500-ton standard displacement and the use of coal-fired boilers, the design requirement for a top speed of 25 knots forced the designers to fit as many boilers as possible into the limited space of the Invincible-class battlecruiser. As a result, the forward and aft positions were occupied by boilers, leaving barely enough room between the three funnels for a centreline arrangement of main gun turrets.

  The allure of maintaining a main armament numerical superiority is unimaginable to ordinary people. To avoid losing the firing position of the two aft superfiring turrets on Queen Elizabeth-class battleships and the single X turret at the stern of the Indefatigable, Admiral Moore ignored his subordinates' advice and ordered the 2nd Battlecruiser Squadron to turn in succession, maintaining a line ahead. As a result, after the ineffective first salvo by the British, they spent a long time trying to complete the turning maneuver, being passively pounded.

  "Target ship entering fog area, fifth salvo right half battery firing simultaneously, battle results unconfirmed!"

  Under the cover of night, ranging work became a "dreaded path", three minutes and four main guns fired, the first scouting fleet's shooting speed was not fast, and none of them achieved any results. Although so, the three-minute fierce battle still made the mediocre old general Muur break out in cold sweat. Muur almost confirmed that the second battlecruiser squadron would lose one or two main battleships, fortunately a sea fog "saved" the old general's wild thoughts, as the blackness flashed through the rangefinder tower of the Indomitable at the end of the queue, Muur finally could let out a sigh of relief.

  "Chief of Staff, this is a successful turn!" The old general took off his military cap with sweat stains and said lightly.

  "Commander, I'm afraid the message from the telegraph room will ruin your good mood!" The chief of staff of the 2nd Battlecruiser Squadron led a cryptographer from the telegraph room into the command tower with a gloomy face, saying: "The Queen Elizabeth was hit by secondary shells from Lützow thirteen times, the second funnel, two secondary guns and the right davit were destroyed, the right side underwater armor was deformed and flooded due to a large-caliber near-miss shell explosion, twenty-nine sailors died; Australia was hit by secondary shells from Seydlitz twelve times, the midship bridge, one secondary gun and one lifeboat were destroyed, eleven sailors died; New Zealand was hit by secondary shells from Moltke twice, but with minor losses; Indomitable was not attacked at all, and its observation tower did not find its opponent throughout..."

  "In other words, General Beatty's report was overly conservative and in fact the German battlecruiser Derfflinger had already sunk or been completely disabled?" A fleeting glimmer of excitement flashed across Admiral Moore's aged face, perhaps in the next second those orders to turn away from the fight would be a thing of the past, and the 2nd Battle Cruiser Squadron would throw itself headlong at the heavily damaged Germans.

  However, the HMS Hood was unfortunately hit in the last salvo of the German main battery. A 350mm armor-piercing shell penetrated the upper armor belt on the starboard side of the Hood, destroying the starboard steering compartment and some adjacent compartments, killing forty-four sailors... The chief of staff of Admiral Holland shattered those unreasonable ambitions with ease, reporting the cruel facts.

  "Rudder... rudder room?!"