In the vast sea, if you want to gallop, you often have to rely on the courage to ride the wind and waves and the speed to overwhelm the opponent. Therefore, when countries are fighting for their lives to develop representative combat ships of large ships and giant cannons, more cruisers and battle cruisers are launched at the same time, forming the backbone of the naval fleets of various countries.

For the ocean, warships are very small. So no matter how many of your warships are, they are a drop in the bucket in the face of the vastness of the ocean. Then letting warships patrol more sea surfaces at higher speeds and control larger sea areas with fewer ships has always been the dream of the Ocean Empire to pursue unremittingly.

Driven by this great dream, the world's naval powers are scrambling to explore high-speed warships and have developed generations of "the strongest warships in history". At least among the British Navy's warships, warships such as the Hood are all warships with very high-speed maneuverability and first-class firepower.

After the assault order was issued, the slower battleships in the British fleet, the British King George V and Howe, were immediately thrown away. After all, the Hood battlecruiser has an extreme speed of up to 30 knots, so now it can easily speed up to a terrible 26 knots.

The maximum speed of King George V-class battleship of the British King is only 28 knots, so it can only drive to around 24 knots when chasing. After all, no madman is willing to let the power boiler of the battleship run at full load without getting close to the enemy, which will cause the terrible consequences of overheating the power unit.

Cruisers and destroyers generally have higher speeds, but according to the fleet's allocation orders, many ships were left to sail with battleship troops, and only a few ships rushed forward with the Hood and the Prestige.

So after an hour of intense voyage, the British fleet had gradually distanced themselves, forming two fleets in front and back, driving in a straight line. At this time, the British fleet was only 79 kilometers away from the German Navy's high seas fleet.

However, the two sides are now chasing and fleeing, so the distance that seems not far is actually very far away. Because the German Navy's ship age is generally not long, it is not much of a loss in speed.

At this moment, Lütjens was looking at the chart nervously, estimating the location and time that both sides might encounter. Around him was a huge fleet composed of German naval ship formations. Even such a huge fleet was still not slow at present.

It should be said that it is not just slow. They almost ran out of the extreme speed of fleet formations in this world. The entire aircraft carrier fleet is shaking waves at a speed of 23 knots. As an aircraft carrier formation, this speed can be said to be at the world record level.

The problem is a bit serious for the German naval fleet. From the first day of darkness at 7 pm to 5 am the next day, the British Navy had at least 10 hours to shorten the distance, and it seemed that the German Navy was doomed.

The two fleets were playing the speed race on the vast sea. At 8:03 pm, Lütjens ordered the fleet to adjust its course and deviate from the outside seas to try to avoid the British fleet.

However, soon the British fleet adjusted its course as if it had eyes, and entered the route of the German fleet, which shortened the distance by 1 kilometer. At this time, Lütjens could only rely on his own judgment to determine the position of the British Navy's fleet.

"It's not good! I always feel something is wrong!" Lütjens walked around the chart table, and suddenly slapped his hands like he realized it: "I understand! I know where their eyes are!"

He walked to the front of the chart, pointed to the surrounding area and said to the first mate: "They are following us with submarines! Although the submarines are not fast enough and cannot be followed for a long time, they are following us while adventuring and floating on the water surface! Our radar system is dark under the lights, and no one finds anything wrong!"

"Order the special forces of the Navy and Aviation Army to take off urgently at night!" Lütjens smashed the table hard: "It's time for them to see our preparations! Drive away all the tails of these enemy submarines!"

"Yes!" An air force liaison officer stood attentively and walked out.

Soon, under the guidance of several searchlights on the German aircraft carrier, two helicopters took off into the air. The aircraft carried a deep-water bomb and a high-power searchlight, which was a special weapon that the aircraft carrier had only recently equipped and a secret weapon for search and rescue and night anti-submarine.

News soon came from these planes. Two British submarines following the fleet were forced to flee, and the submarine liners arranged in advance were left behind by the German fleet. However, this was already after 11 o'clock in the night.

At 0 o'clock at night, Lütjens received a telegram that made him feel disgusting as if he had swallowed ten flies. The telegram was sent by a German submarine. The submarine discovered the British fleet, the fleet heading north to Norway, in the waters near Denmark. Now this fleet with two old battleships is traversing the waters near Wilhelmshaven, and the high seas fleet waiting for the German army to escape to fall into the trap.

In this way, Lütjens, who was originally planning to take the risk of changing his course again, was unable to make up his mind. He did not dare to risk returning to William's military port, so he did not dare to change the route again and let the fleet lean towards the coastline. Now there are only two ways, one is to risk escaping to the Netherlands, and the other is to risk continuing to penetrate the North Sea.

The road to escape to the Netherlands seemed foolproof, but Lütjens thought about it carefully and knew that this road was actually very dangerous. The Dutch port is pretty good for replenishment. If he escaped and then was blocked by the British Navy and started a close war, it would be really damnable. If the British were asked to exchange several battleships for all the high seas fleets, I believe the Royal Navy would still be willing to do this deal.

And keep the route continuing to escape to the depths of the North Sea, at least you can estimate the time of the fleet encounter. However, if you flee to the Netherlands at a right angle, if the British pursuer fleet takes a shortcut and cuts a short side to catch up... From 2:00 to 4:00 a.m. to encounter and start a war, the German Navy may not be left.

It is not safe to escape to the ocean. At least it has to wait until dawn before it can fight back. In this situation, it is estimated that it is almost dawn, which is the time when the British Navy fires artillery. It is hard to say who will take advantage of it at that time. Moreover, Lütjens must always be alert to the third British fleet led by the British Ark aircraft carrier, which disappeared on the North Sea.

"It's really okay to play any game!" Lütjens couldn't help but say this enviously. It's not that Lütjens was very envious, because even in turn, the British Navy did not move, and once it moved, it even set up three fleets to set up a net of heaven and earth. In terms of the number of fleets, both sides seemed to be not the same opponent of the same order of magnitude.

"Keep the route! Continue to drive north!" Lütjens finally gritted his back teeth and took out the greatest courage in his life to issue this order. At this moment, he seemed to have seen an illusion. In the hallucination, he commanded a huge and beautiful battleship, entering the North Sea in the bitter cold wind, and completing his tragic battle.

"If it were a year ago, I would only dare to escape in front of the British Navy, and maybe I would have fled back to the Netherlands. However, the head of state told me a truth - an army that dared not draw the sword will always have the possibility of failure! This time I chose to draw the sword! As the front commander of the Imperial Navy, I will draw the sword today!" Lütjens said calmly standing on the bridge.

This is his choice, this is the choice of the High Seas Fleet of the Third Reich led by him. This road is extremely bumpy. A slight mistake will lead to an endless consequence. It is also an opportunity for the German Navy and an opportunity to make a fortune.

This is a big bet. If the German Navy can take off the carrier-based aircraft after dawn, then the British Navy will most likely lose, and this defeat seems to be more damaged than the previous few times, and it may be really in a slump.

If the German Navy is caught up before dawn, there will be almost no warships in the entire fleet that can compete with the Hood reputation, and they will end up being wiped out at most two hours.

A very fair battle, the winner controls the North Atlantic and becomes the most powerful new overlord on the seas of Europe; the loser loses the maritime power and faces a cruel blockade, and may eventually lose all the fate of the country.

When Lütjens made this decision, Lieutenant General Holland, the commander-in-chief of the British fleet, was also facing an important choice. At this variable moment, German Admiral Lütjens and British Admiral Holland made the most important decision in their lives.

The submarines that had been ambushed were all expelled by the German Navy. Lieutenant General Holland has now become blind like Lütjens. Without intelligence support, he can only judge the movements of the German Navy by guessing, which makes it quite difficult for the pursuit of the British Navy.

"Order the fleet to keep its course unchanged!" Lieutenant General Holland finally issued an order to pursue according to the current route, but he also issued another crucial order: "Order two towed battleships to sail out of the Netherlands. If the Germans escape into the Netherlands, we will rush into the port and sink them! No matter how much!"

For the British Navy, this decision was undoubtedly the safest. The only two choices of the Germans were blocked by Holland's fleet. Now Holland is sure that Germany cannot run away this time and must fight him upright.
Chapter completed!