The last destroyer was unable to withdraw from the battlefield. After rushing out four torpedoes, the destroyer was blocked by the Wiesbaden, who turned back. A 120mm shell landed on an unlaunched torpedo launcher. Then, a huge fireball rose from the sea, and hundreds of tons of sea water rushed into the sky. When the flames and water mist dissipated, there was no trace of the ship's existence except for some fragments.

"Well, let's keep going!" After killing three destroyers in less than 20 minutes, the German fleet continued to evacuate southwest.

"It seems that this will be a long hunt. Send a report to the Second Squadron, so that War-War and Barrym are ready to keep up!" Thomas ordered.

The Queen's ship design was still a little bad. When the German fleet reached a speed of 27 knots, the Queen of Thomas' fleet finally couldn't hold on anymore, and Thomas did not dare to maintain 25 knots for a long time. After all, the two warships had hidden injuries. The speed gradually dropped to 24 knots, which means that the distance between the two sides would be about 6 kilometers per hour. Two hours later, Thomas could no longer see two German battlecruisers, but it didn't matter. The seaplane mothership waiting beside began to send planes to track the two warships. In order to ensure the accuracy of the tracking, the British implemented a dual-aircraft tracking strategy. The data provided by the two aircraft were used to determine the location of the German fleet.

The visibility is good today, and the two British Short seaplanes were smoothly targeting two German battlecruisers that did not run far.

"Look, the two German battle cruisers, they are so beautiful. Compared with these two guys who are like black panthers, our lion and tiger are like bobcats." Lieutenant Shobert, who was flying one of the planes, sincerely exclaimed to the two German battleships.

"It seems they slowed down?" said the back seat observer.

"Yes, is there something wrong with their power system? The two warships slowed down at the same time. I think we need to lean on and take a look." Second Ensign Schaubert said.

"Okay, send a signal to Martin and say we'll go up and take a look." As he said that, Lieutenant Shobert operated the plane and leaned on it.

There is a saying that goes? Curiosity kills the cat! And Lieutenant Shobert was killed by curiosity. At this time, it was located on the slender rear deck of the battle cruiser Blücher. Two seaplanes were ready to go. The crane next to the apron had placed two J-1 seaplanes on the sea surface. Relying on its own power, the two aircraft took off one after another. Lieutenant Shobert's seaplanes were just targeted by one of them!

"It's a German seaplane! I should have known it long ago." Lieutenant Shobert operated a huge twin-engine aircraft to try to avoid his opponent. You know, this aircraft is simply a reconnaissance. In terms of range and endurance, it is much stronger than the J-1, but in terms of air combat, it is really impossible to beat and run away!

The twin-engine aircraft carrying a huge float was caught off guard by a sensitive opponent. The opponent knocked half of the wings of the seaplane with just one point shot. After the second point shot, a bullet directly smashed the windshield in front and shot the second lieutenant. One minute later, the plane crashed into the sea, and another J-1 seaplane successfully drove away another Shorty seaplane.

"We seem to underestimate the British." Colonel Lefsov said, touching his chin after he temporarily threw away his opponent. He walked to the huge chart hanging on the wall and began to rethink the fleet's way out.

"We have been being followed! All our most direct and most likely choices are in the other party's calculations. It is not right to only come out of two queens, what about the other queens?" Colonel Lefytov said after looking at the route marked on the chart by the staff.

"We cannot return to the North Sea now. The British fleet is in our northeast direction. And there is a wide cordon in front of the main battleship. If they find us again, they can intercept it. Maybe the opponent has deployed additional troops in the direction of the North Sea blockade line. When we go back, we can only throw ourselves into the trap. Now we must not turn to the North Sea!"

"Order the fleet to evacuate directly north!" said Colonel Lefsov.

"Captain, our fuel is actually not enough to support the fleet in the Norwegian Sea and the other side in the Norwegian Sea! If our warships sail at a speed of more than 20 knots, since they are fully loaded, our fuel can only last for about 150 hours! Now we can last for up to 4 days." said an officer.

(The fuel consumption of warships when sailing at high speed is several times that of low speeds. For example, if the Emden sails at a speed of 12 knots, it only consumes 2 tons of coal per hour. If it sails at a speed of 23 knots, it consumes 15.7 tons of fuel. If it travels at the same distance, it consumes 4 times more fuel!)

"It is precisely because of this that we need to make a long-term plan. We cannot waste limited high-speed navigation time. We need to go farther, save fuel, and then slowly rub back towards the North Sea at night." Colonel Lefsov said.

The colonel's idea is this. Judging from the current situation, the British rapid fleet has recovered. They have at least 6 Queen-class battleships and have been scattered like wolves. Now only one is exposed, so where are the remaining at least 2 Queen-class fleets?

The situation of the German fleet is very bad now, and the Colonel is almost in a dark situation now. But even so, the Colonel can guarantee that the British fleet must have been arranged at the entrances and exits of the North Sea! A large number of reconnaissance ships and at least two queens.

Theoretically, if the fleet turns around and returns at a high speed of 25 knots, it can return to the North Sea before dawn the next day. However, there is a premise, that is, it cannot be targeted by the British fleet again. Now the fleet that just chased itself is in the northeast direction, and there is a cordon that runs across the east and west, and there is also a seaplane. Under today's visibility, if you go north, you will probably be discovered, and then the other party will take a shortcut to intercept it. Before nightfall, the other party will definitely be able to stop him.

And the most important thing is that this route is too dead. In addition to the queen, the British battlecruisers may have been impatient to wait? The British had sufficient warships to deploy two blockade lines on their way south. They could even temporarily block the German gate. At the same time, at least two queens and a bunch of escort warships were left to wait in the Skagerak Strait. If so, even if they returned to the North Sea, they would still be very dangerous, and they would even fall into the trap! Do you think it would be safe to rush through the North Sea blockade line? Tusen breaks!
Chapter completed!