Unlike another world, the strength of the two fleets, the Royal Navy Fleet and the German High Seas Fleet, is so close that it will surely evolve into a evenly matched maritime sound: the Germans dispatched 23 battleships and 7 battlecruisers, while the British had 28 battleships and 9 battlecruisers. In addition to having the advantage in the number of cruisers and destroyers, the tonnage, the number of main guns and the caliber of the two fleets is so close, and those cruisers and destroyers did not play any role in the final battle of the main ships, and they could only watch the battle on the side or rescue the people who fell into the water.

The fast cruiser fleet led by Lieutenant General Hippel sailed north along the Denmark coast. The fleet was in a single column, and the two Austro-Hungarian combat patrols were in the back of the queue. The "Grand Kwok" followed behind the "Radetsky". Behind it was the "Moltch" battle cruiser. Each battleship was about 60 chains. The stars were shining on the sea and there was no moonlight. In order to lure the British to intercept, the ships contacted each other without any scruples. The senders even boredly joked with each other in the telegram.

The fast fleet led by Betty left Port Roses at 11 p.m. on the 30th. A few hours later, the German submarines ambushed outside Port Roses sent a telegram to the local fleet of "the enemy fleet sailing" to the local fleet. Hippel's "bait fleet" was also under the surveillance of the British. The two fleets that almost burst out believed that their "bait tactics" had been successful, and they rushed to the scheduled battlefield. At this time, neither Spee, Scher, Hippel, Jelico and Betty had expected that the other fleet had been dispatched. Not to expect that soon, they would personally direct and perform a decisive battle of the world's largest battleship fleet that would be recorded in the history of naval battles forever.

In the early morning of August 31, when a glimmer of dawn gradually appeared on the sea in the east, Lieutenant General Hippel had been on the bridge of the flagship "Luzzo". On this night just passed, the fleet led by him sailed north for more than 100 nautical miles, and there was no accident on the way.

The morning breeze blew, it was a nice sunny day.

Before sunrise, the feeling of fatigue that had not been asleep for a night reached a new level, and the deep fatigue made people feel drowsy. In order to drive away the tiredness, the Lieutenant General walked to the open platform on the side of the commander tower, holding a cigar in his hand, and leaning his body against the railing. The air outside was very fresh, with a slight chill, and several blurry gray shadows of the scattered fleet could be seen on the sea surface.

When Chaoyang was about to jump out of the sea level, Captain Hader, who was on the offside in the second half of the night, also got up. So Redder called the staff officer and the main leaders of various departments on the ship to the conference room at the stern, held a brief breakfast meeting, and personally conveyed the combat plan to them.

Basically at the same time, the captains of each ship also began to convey this new combat order downwards.

The officers showed more excitement about this plan to fight with the Betty fleet, who often chased them behind them. Although Hippel's tactic of fighting and running for more than a year has made the British angry, it also made his soldiers feel extremely depressed.

Now they have a chance to vent their anger.

After the staff marked the entire plan on the chart table, the exquisiteness of the plan formulated by the senior commander and the fleet staff showed the way in which the fast cruiser commanded by General Hippel was ahead at a speed of 18 knots, and the battle fleet commanded by General Schell also followed about 40 nautical miles behind them at this speed. On the other hand, another battle fleet commanded by General Speel would penetrate from the Skaglak Strait to intercept the retreat of Betty's fleet.

Everything looks perfect.

According to the plan, they may meet Betty's rapid fleet in the southern Norway waters between 1 and 3 p.m., and the fleet commanded by Admiral Spey will turn south at the same time and intercept Betty's retreat.

The staff officers seemed very excited, and placed the position of the Betty fleet on the chart over and over again where they might have reached, and the three fleets on their side did show the momentum of siege.

Lieutenant General Hippel sat down next to the table and said in a plain tone: "According to the reports sent by the submarine force twice, Betty's fleet set off about 2 hours earlier than us. They set off from the Rises military port and drove about this route..." He drew a straight line on the chart with his fingers, and suddenly found that Betty might start returning on Hen Reef, "We also want to turn our target to Hen Reef."

He made this decision temporarily and adjusted the course slightly, which was not a big problem.

But their fleet distance from Admiral Schell could be as large as 45 nautical miles.

"Well, it seems that the speed of Betty's fleet is about 20 knots, and the British seem to be very anxious," said Colonel Hader. "We will have to prepare for battle at about 1pm."

"Okay, that's it, have lunch early." Lieutenant General Hippel walked to the door and was about to return to his bedroom next to him. "I'll go back and rest for a while, and call me if you have anything to do." He said to his accompanying adjutant Hart.

Since the cabin on the "Radetsky" was occupied by Lieutenant General Cromwell's staff, it was difficult to provide a more comfortable living environment for guests from China, and members of the viewing group from China were arranged to the "Grand Duke of Franz".

After more than a month, the officers and soldiers on this Austro-Hungarian warship have become accustomed to the existence of these yellow-skinned oriental guests.

After breakfast, Wang Chongwen and others came to the rear deck of the warship for a walk. The calm sea was filled with sunshine, and the residual heat in late summer had long been blown away by the cool sea breeze on the Atlantic Ocean. At this time, there were also soldiers who came out to breathe out everywhere on the deck of the "Grand Duke of Franz", and some sailors in their working uniforms were cleaning the deck.

"Don't sleep well?" Wang Chongwen leaned his left hand against the railing on the backside and said to Shen Honglie beside him.

Shen Honglie nodded and looked at the German fleet on the sea. Hippel's fleet consisted of more than forty warships. Even such a squadron was enough to compete with the Japanese joint fleet that he thought was very powerful. "Well, from the captain's command last night, it can be seen that this was a planned large-scale maritime operation. I had a premonition that a major war might occur." Shen Honglie nodded, "British and German fleets are really too powerful."

"Wars in the industrial age are a competition of national capabilities, and the role of commanders is getting lower and lower." Wang Chongwen said: "As the Austro-Hungarian Crown said, the result of the naval battle was actually decided on the ships of both sides."

This topic made several naval officers from China silent. More than a month's trip to Europe made them understand how big the gap between their country and the real powers was.
Chapter completed!