Just as the British destroyers fired a salvo of torpedoes and the German battleships swerved to avoid it, German cruisers and destroyers, which received orders from Prince Heinrich, were also rushing to block the attack. However, the British had been prepared for the entire attack.
The Germans, who cooperated with each other and acted hastily, could not achieve the same tacit understanding at all. Chaos immediately broke out between the high-speed battle fleet and the even faster cruise destroyer fleet. In the chaos, the battleship Hessen was diagonally inserting outwards.
and the fast battleship Lorraine, each collided with a destroyer almost at the same time. As a huge impact sounded on the sea, the two first-line battleships of the German Navy were rammed and sunk at the same time as each other.
Stopped.
The damage to them from such an impact was negligible, but this brief pause cost them their lives. Just as the captains of the two ships reversed in panic, more than ten heavy torpedoes all hit them in a very short period of time.
Under the waterline, a huge explosion sounded instantly.
Looking at the dazzling fire, the nearly 100,000 naval officers and soldiers of the two countries who were fighting on the entire sea were all dumbfounded. Prince Heinrich, who was on the Deutschland, dropped the telescope in his hand to the ground. He never expected that it would appear.
As a result, these are the two most powerful battleships in his hands. The ten 356 cannons of the Deutsche-class Hessen and the 32-knot high speed of the Braunschweig-class Lorraine are all guarantees for his victory.
, the damage caused by the sinking of these two battleships far exceeded the previous losses of the three battleships.
At this time, Admiral May on the King Edward VII was also stunned, but he quickly came to his senses. As the two German battleships sank, the battle between the two sides was still a draw.
"Order the destroyer fleet to divert the German destroyers and the main fleet to continue fighting." The admiral immediately ordered.
However, he wanted to continue fighting, but the Germans did not. After learning that five battleships had been lost, Tirpitz immediately ordered Prince Heinrich to withdraw to Wilhelmshaven. Britain was not the only enemy of Germany.
The purpose of dispatching them all was to take advantage of the fact that the Russian Baltic Fleet was frozen in the Kronstadt naval port. It would be thawed in less than a month. Once the losses were too great and everyone was in the dock, how could they fight against the four fast battleships and two
A battleship?
This is how the second naval showdown between Britain and Germany ended. After losing five battleships, the remaining eighteen battleships of the German High Seas Fleet withdrew to the mine array in Helgoland Bay under the cover of cruisers and destroyers, and then re-divided into two fleets.
Each returned to Wilhelmshaven and Kiel Port. Of course, these warships must undergo repairs to varying degrees next.
After the threat of the German High Seas Fleet was resolved, the battleships of the British Home Fleet also returned to their naval ports, leaving cruisers and destroyers to guard against German submarines along the coast of the Netherlands. Then their withdrawal from the Netherlands went smoothly. Britain was strong.
The sea transportation capabilities of the British Army ensured this depressing retreat. An entire army group of British troops evacuated the Netherlands in batches. However, two divisions of rearguard troops still failed to withdraw from the Netherlands. After a bitter battle, they had to attack the Netherlands in The Hague.
The German troops who attacked them surrendered.
The British troops withdrew from the Netherlands did not even undergo any rest, and then got packed into the merchant ships bound for Italy. The situation there was now very dangerous. The Austro-Hungarian Sixth Army, which was moving south along the east coast of Italy, had already reached Afghanistan.
Scolipiceno, while the total strength of the Greek and Montenegrin forces in the south has exceeded 400,000, and they are now attacking the Taranto military port with all their strength. Because of the offensive of the German and Austrian coalition forces in the north, the Italians no longer have the ability to provide reinforcements there. Five consecutive
Less than 300,000 Allied soldiers, including 10,000 British troops, were struggling to defend the outskirts of Taranto. Moreover, according to the information obtained by British intelligence personnel, the regent Queen of Italy had already met her father, the Grand Duke of Montenegro Nicholas I of the Allied camp.
The specific content is likely to be that if the Greek-Hero coalition breaks through the outer defense line of Taranto, Italy will surrender, or simply turn to the Allies.
In this case, the British have no choice. They must fully support Italy. Not only will the army group withdrawing from the Netherlands be put into the Italian battlefield, but they will also urgently put together an army group at home, so that the total number of British troops used in the Italian battlefield will be reduced.
The strength of the three armies reached 500,000. So far, including the nearly 2 million that have been lost, the British have mobilized more than 6 million troops for this war, and there are hundreds of thousands more including Canada, Australia, and India.
The colonial army, of course, does not include the Asian battlefield. In fact, in the Indonesian battlefield alone, the number of Asan, Malay, and Japanese, which are not considered by the British government, exceeds 300,000. They and the Indonesian monkeys have beaten all the islands.
Rivers of blood flowed.
At this point, Britain's war capabilities have been completely drained.
However, if the British army wants to reinforce Italy, they have to go through another hurdle. The Oshi fleet that is besieging Taranto will not let them enter the Mediterranean casually. Although the joint force class is slow and not suitable for long-distance voyages, it is not suitable to go to the sea to block it.
The British fleet, but the two fast battleships of the Greek Navy and a group of heavy cruisers can easily harass the route. Coupled with the elusive submarines of the Austro-Hungarian Navy, the entire Western Mediterranean was filled with murderous plans for a while. Because the French still refused to dispatch
Their Dante-class battleships and the British Home Fleet had to transfer two battlecruisers to join the Mediterranean Fleet. Together with their old battleships, they were busy protecting their merchant ships heading to Italy.
"It still doesn't work. The Allies still need a victory." Emperor Yang, who was seeing off the voyage training fleet, looked at the two super battleships, two aircraft carriers, six battlecruisers, and six ships that were leaving Port Arthur.
The heavy cruiser said very dissatisfied.
This indeed did not meet his requirements. Although the Allies were freed from the danger of defeat, they still did not have a thrilling victory to lure the small countries in South America to join their camp. The naval battle could only be said to be a draw.
The land battlefield can't even be considered as an advantage. Both the east and west fronts are still in a stalemate, and the Italian battlefield has not yet gotten rid of the crisis. From the overall situation of the war, the Allies are still at a disadvantage. In this way, even if Chile has the intention, it will not have the courage to attack Argentina.
.
What's more, Argentina only participated in the war, but its troops did not leave the country.
Because they are in a position that cannot contribute to the war in Europe at all. The mission given to them by the Germans is actually to attack Africa. Now there is no Allied maritime power in the entire South Atlantic that can compete with the Argentine Navy. They can
Easily drive the fleet to a British and French colony on the African coast, then occupy the port and use it as a base to attack all Allied colonies in Africa, or simply sail to Cameroon, where it will help the German and Nigerian resistance that are holding on to this colony.
The army jointly dealt with Britain and France.
Of course, if the Argentines have other plans, the Germans will also be very supportive. Anyway, as far as Germany is concerned, as long as Argentina joins the war, they will have completed Emperor Yang's mission. As for how the Argentines fight, there is no need to care too much about it. Even if the Argentines
If they want to go north along the coast of South America and attack French Guiana or the British colonies of Jamaica and the Bahamas, or the Russian colonies of Dominica and Northern Colombia, that's all up to them.
But these suggestions are very unreliable. If the Argentine fleet wants to reach Africa, it needs to cross the Atlantic. Unfortunately, they are facing the widest section of the ocean. Even if they sail from Buenos Aires to the nearest
Namibia also had to sail a long distance of more than 7,000 kilometers, and there was no place for resupply along the way. Although their battleships and heavy cruisers had the endurance to fully meet this requirement, those light cruisers and destroyers simply couldn't do it. They couldn't just
Drive past two battleships and three heavy cruisers, right? They don't have the large supply ships of the Chinese Navy, and if they transport troops, those merchant ships can't go that far.
The normal route from South America to Africa is from Brazil to the northwest corner of Africa, and then along the coast to other places. However, the neutral country Brazil will definitely not allow the Argentine navy to set off from their ports. Therefore, although Argentina declared war at this time, there is no other way to go except
After grabbing the Falkland Islands, there was no other action. Of course, this was mainly because they had no intention of joining any battlefield in the first place. Argentina was far away at the end of the world, so it would be great to just wait for the news of victory.
But if they don't leave, with such a huge fleet and a newly armed army of 200,000 people stationed there, it will be difficult for Chile to have the courage to take action.
"Are the two battleships ordered by Chile not completed yet?" Emperor Yang asked the chief attendant beside him.
"It will probably take a while. They are too late, and they don't have enough funds. I'm afraid this deal will drag on for a long time. You also know that they only rely on selling some saltpeter and copper. Now we and the Allies don't need them.
Yes, the Russians also buy our finished products directly. Even if Britain and France only buy them, they actually can't make much money a year. What's more, their saltpeter mines are all controlled by the British, and the bulk of them are directly taken away by the British.
Argentina entered the war and massively expanded its army. Although Chile did not participate in the war, in order to cope with it, it had to massively expand its army, which required money to purchase guns. With their little tax revenue, it would be difficult to maintain the construction of two more battleships.
Yuan Shikai said hurriedly.
"That won't work. Ask the Chilean minister if they are willing to replace the battleships with Hongwu-class battle cruisers. Just say that we want to add two more battleships. If they are willing, we will pay them directly according to the part of the payment they have already paid.
The two Hongwu-class battlecruisers and the battleship under construction belong to us." Yang Feng thought for a while and said. (To be continued, please search Piao Tian Literature, the novel is better and updated faster!