"The submarine force is looking for a route that is really good. We have not encountered French warships along the way. We can now see the lighthouse on Lesvos Island. According to the map, if we walk south for another 6 nautical miles south, we can see our first target today's Port Herresos." An officer sent the navigation chart work that had just been completed to Earl Spee. A trail marked with a blue dotted line continued to extend southeastward, pointing directly to their first stop tonight!

"Very well, go as planned, prepare to take off the seaplane, and let Prince Eugen take a destroyer team forward. If the intelligence is not wrong, there will be a patrol fleet outside the port, find them, and then kill them!" Earl Spee ordered.

Even though the Allies believed that the Mediterranean fleet of the Allies had no combat effectiveness, the defenses of Britain and France were still in place for key ports. For example, outside the Port of Herresos, a French armored cruiser team and a destroyer team were patrolling back and forth 15 kilometers around the port. Their mission was to deal with small warships and submarines of the Allies that might have sneak attacked.

Originally, the French planned to deploy two former dreadnoughts here, but the situation in the port was already very crowded, so these former dreadnoughts were temporarily deployed elsewhere.

Under the command of French Rear Admiral Trassu, the armored cruisers Elnester and Edgar Kinne were taking six destroyers to patrol along a fixed voyage. However, what the French did not expect was that in the dark, two hideous giant beasts were slowly approaching the target, showing sharp fangs at a distance of less than 8,000 meters! (I will explain why the four warships did not act together, because it takes time to change the bullet weight of the battleship, so the two battleships attacked the French light cruiser. In addition, all other warships used high-explosive bombs to attack land targets while exchanging fire at sea, which was better.)

"We found the French fleet, which were almost all lights, seemed to be searching for submarines that might appear on the sea. The destroyers behind them were the same, but they were on zigzag routes that evade submarines."

"The distance between the two sides is 7,200 meters! Our rangefinder can clearly observe the target. The seaplane has broken the radio silence. (When the telegram is very short, for example, just a few characters, it cannot be tracked effectively.) It means they enter the sky above the target!"

"The artillery is ready, and the half-armour-piercing shells are loaded!" Soon the gun captain said that everything was ready. The huge half-armour-piercing shells had been sent to the turret. With the help of the servo equipment, one round of shells and the launch cartridges were loaded into the slender cannon, and finally sent into the depths of the cannon with the help of the push rod. Earl Lukner was willing to choose to fight around 7,000 meters, because at this distance, the elevation angle of the artillery and the loading angle are the same, and can fire at the maximum rate of fire! (In fact, in the second battle, the main guns of most battleships were fixed, except for the French who created a device that could be loaded at any angle...)

The huge turret slowly pointed at the opponent like the sharp teeth and claws of a hidden beast in the dark. The two super fearless battleships adjusted their speed and course, almost consistent with their course. The six destroyers began to follow the cover of night to get closer to the opponent. Compared with these huge armored cruisers with targets, destroyers are more difficult to kill because their speed is faster and more difficult to detect!

"Each ship is staring at its own target, don't fire one!" This message was conveyed on the signal light of the S-85 destroyer. The brief strobe did not attract the attention of the French. According to the plan, when the destroyer team approached about 2,500 meters, the two super fearless ships will launch a general attack!

"Okay, the time is up, we can't wait! Open fire and attack!" Earl Lukner issued an attack order!

The 16 350mm main guns were placed almost horizontally, and the thick and long muzzles were aimed at two distant ships who were not yet aware of their fate. The two armored cruisers were still leisurely cruising on the sea. The destroyer's hydrophones did not hear any abnormal sounds, and there was no periscope coming out of the sea. Everything was so beautiful tonight, until huge fireballs suddenly rose in the night not far away!

A deafening sound came from a distance, and the speed of the shells and the light of the ships were much faster than the sound. A French officer and soldier on duty on the lookout post happened to see the direction of the German fleet. The sudden firelight appeared was so dazzling, which made the soldier who was already familiar with the low light and brightness feel a flash in front of him. The too bright light made him temporarily lose his vision!

Before 99% of French naval officers and soldiers could react, a strike like a steel storm had swept across! A shell hit the Edgar armored cruiser 6,900 meters away. The shell hit a very good position and directly hit the power bay in the middle of the hull! However, the 6-inch steel plate could not block the attack of the large-diameter semi-armor-piercing shell at this distance. This shell easily smashed the outer armor and the inner dome armor into pieces like cutting butter, and then pierced its head into the burning boiler!

Boom! A ray of fire soared into the sky rose from the middle of the Edgar's hull. The huge pillar of fire rose to a certain height and spread to the surroundings, forming a huge mushroom cloud. Flames and thick smoke quickly spread around from the bomb, accompanied by the downtime of the boiler. The armored cruiser quickly lost power, and white high-temperature and high-pressure water vapor, flames and thick smoke spread around in the narrow cabin. The soldiers who were resting even took their lives by the high temperature and poison gas without even knowing what was happening outside.

"Damn, what happened?! Send an emergency telegram immediately! We were attacked! The German battleship came out!" Just as there were still bursts of violent explosions on the Edgar, Major General Trassus, who was on the flagship Elnester, immediately ordered his subordinates to send a message for help.

However, all this seemed a bit late. When the telegram was just halfway through, Prince Eugen finally got the first hit tonight! A 350mm shell hit directly under the main mast of the Elnester. The huge mast fell down amid the explosion, and then smashed the radio room located in the front of the bridge to pieces!

In the gap after the main gun was fired, the side-stringed secondary guns of the two Austro-Hungarian battleships also began to fire. Relying on the extremely high rate of fire, a series of high explosive bombs hit the armored cruiser. The towering "various illegal buildings" on the French cruiser became the best target under the reflection of the flames. The explosions came continuously, which really set fire to the deck of the battleship!
Chapter completed!