As the distance between the target continued to approach, the British destroyer seemed to have discovered that the situation was not good.

The battle cruisers of Austro-Hungary and Germany are still very different in appearance from the British. The battle patrols of Austro-Hungary and Germany both use shorter and thicker double chimneys, while the British battle patrols are arranged in two fronts and one back and three chimneys, and their chimneys are also relatively high.

At the same time, the lookout hand also found two black smoke pillars behind the small destroyer. Now it is certain that they encountered a small enemy fleet.

"Target 23,000, position 108!" The report of the artillery commander stated that the other party had entered the maximum range of the main gun of the ship. Cromwell immediately ordered the preparation for shooting, and at the same time ordered the signal soldiers to send a volley to the ship.

"Target 21,000, position 106, one high-explosive bomb!" The artillery commander continued to issue instructions to each turret.

"Target 18,000, position 102!" The voice of the artillery commander sounded again.

Meanwhile, the watchtower reported that the other party issued an identification signal light, which seemed to be turning.

"Fire!" Cromwell gave the order decisively.

A thunderous roar suddenly sounded on the sea surface, and the fire balls sprayed out of the muzzle instantly lit up the sea surface. The entire left side of the warship was suddenly shrouded in brown smoke. The huge recoil generated by the volley of ten main guns caused the warship of tens of thousands of tons to sink down. Even if it was more than ten nautical miles away, people could still clearly hear this huge roar.

The shells flew towards the distance in the air with a sharp whistling sound. The officers observing the sea in the command tower could not see the sea at all. Only the watchtower and gun command tower above could observe the bombing point in the distance. After more than ten seconds, several huge white water columns splashed on the sea behind the British destroyer.

At this time, on the armored cruiser of the Devon, a telegram from the Lizard had been received. At first it only reported that it had found two columns of smoke and believed that they were two merchant ships.

Brigadier General Bell ordered the warship to be on alert, and then ordered the Blanche and the Lizard to go over and check the situation. The news that followed made him feel uneasy.

The light signal was sent from the Lizard, "I think that is two military ships!" The signal officer read word by word. Then, the lookout hand on the Devon also reported to him that he had found the target.

Brigadier General Bell ordered the fleet to turn and head towards the target.

"Oh, my goodness!" At this time, the signal officer shouted and reported loudly, "The 'Lizard' raised the signal flag and found the enemy ship!"

Bell immediately ordered: "Give a battle alarm!"

A shrill alarm sounded on the sea, and the crew hurriedly ran to their combat positions. Bell stood on the bridge and observed the situation in the distance from the telescope, while Captain McCall hurriedly issued an order: "All boilers are connected in parallel and operate at full capacity!"

The battle flag was raised on the warship, and the steam engine made a loud bang, and the entire warship seemed to tremble.

"Those are two battle cruisers!" The lookout hand continued to report.

"Report to the Navy Command: Two enemy battlecruisers were found, with a target position of 36." Brigadier General Bell ordered the situation to be reported upwards, and then ordered the warship to turn, as if he wanted to stay away.

The Devon County just started turning when a roar came from the sea.

"It is firing at the Lizard!" the lookout hand shouted anxiously.

"Order all warships to start retreating!" Bell issued another order, realizing that the strength of his and the enemy was too huge.

At this moment, the shells came in the air, flew over the warship, and flew into the sea about 300 yards away, and then several columns of water were blown up on the sea surface.

"They seem to turn the muzzle to us!" The lookout hand and the gun captain seemed to report the situation at the same time.

While he was talking, another round of volleys came over, as if they were shells fired from another warship. Colonel McCall heard the sound of those shells and said, "It should be 300 caliber shells!"

Bell nodded, "Leave the battlefield at its maximum speed!"

"They are chasing me!" The lookout hand shouted anxiously, "Oh my God, the 'Blanche' has been shot, it is stalling rapidly!"

Brigadier General Bell hurriedly looked at his left, as if the shells fired at them had deviated from their target, and a shot near the loss of bullets but accidentally hit the Blanche who was turning. The speed of the light cruiser suddenly dropped. He closed his eyes and looked a little painful. The Blanche is over!" He immediately realized that the situation was not good.

The Devon finally turned around and began to retreat quickly to the south. The two destroyers also retreated quickly while casting smoke.

At this time, on the "Radetsky", Major General Cromwell ordered that the British reconnaissance cruiser that was severely damaged be ignored, but pursued the British armored cruiser with all his might. The other side informed Hippel of the situation, the German fleet is currently about 35 nautical miles south of them.

The two sides started a chase war on the sea. Two Austro-Hungarian war patrols kept firing at British armored ships with their front main guns, while the Devon used two rear main guns to fight back. Now the enemy ship has approached the range of its 203mm main gun. As a county-class armored cruiser with a twelve-year-old ship, its designed speed is only 25 knots, but due to the aging of the ship, the Devon could only run a little more than 22 knots even if it tried its best, while the two "Radetsky" were four knots faster than it.

However, in the high-speed pursuit, the shells fired by the three warships failed to hit the opponent, and some were even outrageous. However, as the distance between the two sides continued to get closer, the shells seemed to be more dangerous. At 11:06 am, the fire group that Major General Cromwell had been looking forward to finally rose on the sea. The "Devon" was hit by a high-explosive bomb and rolled black smoke suddenly emerged from the ship.

"Okay, hit it, keep going!" the gun commander shouted loudly with a slightly excited voice. After that, more and more shells fell on the Devon.

Five minutes later, the British warship had lost its power and was floating on the sea.

"Send a signal to surrender!" Major General Cromwell ordered, answering that the British continued to fight back with the small-caliber artillery on the ship. The two Austro-Hungarian warships began to bombard fiercely. Just a minute later, a large ball of flame rose from the terminal of the "Devon", and then it broke into two pieces and quickly disappeared on the sea.

After throwing some lifebuoys into the sea, Austro-Hungarian warships immediately left.

They don't have time to rescue the British crew who fell into the water.
Chapter completed!