What Colonel Dietrich encountered was indeed his target - the British patrol fleet, but it was different from the ordinary patrol force he imagined.

The German battlecruiser was discovered by a British submarine. In order to report the information as soon as possible, the submarine sent a telegram directly to all surrounding friendly forces.

The telegram was received by surrounding patrol ships, various Royal Navy ports, and various British naval combat commands.

Therefore, only part of the fleet sent by the British this time was the target that Dietrich expected.

Dietrich's target was the reconnaissance cruiser launched by the British Royal Navy around 1905, which was developed from the protected cruiser.

In 1905, Britain commissioned six Class III reconnaissance cruisers with a displacement between 2,600 and 2,900 tons, with a speed of about 25 knots.

Although the displacement is not too small, these warships are only equipped with 76mm guns, and their armaments are basically the same, including 10 76mm guns, 8 47mm guns, and two 457mm torpedo tubes.

Later, the British found that these warships had poor firepower and were not fast enough to undertake the mission, let alone to fight against the German small cruisers, so they built larger medium-sized cruisers of about 5,000 tons.

Generally, a reconnaissance cruiser carries two to three destroyers to form a patrol team, and then 34 patrol teams and a detachment equipped with two Bristol-class medium cruisers form a patrol group.

In this way, a patrol group will be hundreds of nautical miles wide, with an investigation range of more than 200 kilometers.

Dietrich had four 5,000-ton cruisers and a dozen destroyers, which was enough to defeat even one patrol group.

However, in the entire Beihai, there are not ten but eight such patrol groups. This is hundreds of warships, all in the washbasin of the Beihai.

Although no matter what the slightest sign of trouble can be discovered, any big move the Germans want to make will definitely be discovered.

Just like Hipper had been collecting intelligence for several months, he had roughly figured out the British pattern of changing patrol times and patrol routes. If they wanted to cause trouble, they could only set out secretly at night.

Because at dawn, 1 will definitely be discovered by this airtight net composed of small and medium-sized destroyers and cruisers.

Hipper himself was surprised that it took so long for Hipper to be discovered this time, and he found that the frequency of British patrols had dropped!

Hipper's first reaction was that the British couldn't hold on anymore. Large-scale patrols cost money. Not counting mechanical wear and tear, the daily coal and oil costs for hundreds of warships were a huge expense. The sailors still had to pay for it.

Eat and drink.

If the British Empire is really out of money, then this is great news for the Germans.

Just like the Qing Empire's defeat in the Sino-Japanese War of 1898-1899, it was ultimately due to financial corruption. The only funds available were misappropriated and defaulted on, so that the fleet could not be maintained and the morale of the army was low.

If you have money, even if you lose the battle at sea, you will not lose on land. During the Qing Empire, if you could afford the money, there were many people who were willing to sacrifice their lives. If you gave them enough money and adequate settlement allowance, they would be able to heap the lives of the Japanese to death.

…

After the British patrol fleet learned that the German navy had dispatched battlecruisers, it realized that the Germans were carrying out some conspiracy.

In order to prevent accidents, the patrol fleet began to assemble so as not to encounter the German naval battlecruiser alone and be unable to escape.

"Vincent, we found a fleet ahead, about 12 nautical miles away. Four warships, they should be Germans. Judging from the silhouette of the ships, they should be cruisers." The chief of staff of the British patrol fleet handed the report to the fleet commander, Lieutenant Vincent.

school.

"If you dare to come here in broad daylight, the German battlecruisers should not be far away." Vincent held a telescope and stood by the window to search.

"Order the destroyer leaders to join the queue, the Adventurer, the Attacker, and the Explorer with the remaining destroyers to search both sides. It is impossible for the Germans to come alone and find their destroyers."

"Send a report to the base. The current wind force on the sea is about level 4 and the sea is calm. Please request an airship for reconnaissance. I doubt... no! I am sure that the German battlecruisers are around."

Vincent simply made the campaign deployment.

The current situation is not favorable to the British. Among the dozen warships, three reconnaissance cruisers are only equipped with 76mm guns and have no armor protection themselves. They cannot enter the fleet battle at all.

Not to mention how many guns it can withstand, let’s talk about the range and power of the 76mm gun. It can only be used for escort. In serious artillery battles, it can only wash the deck.

Two Bristol-class light cruisers, with a displacement of 4,800 tons, equipped with two 152mm 50-caliber naval guns and ten 102mm single-barreled rapid-fire guns.

The firepower is good, but without armor protection, it can only rely on the hard roof of the hull. If the number of warships is smaller than the enemy, it will suffer a lot.

So Vincent added the two leading destroyers in the fleet, that is, the large destroyers, to the battle queue, and instead released the larger cruiser.

The original design idea of ​​the reconnaissance destroyer is to coordinate and command destroyer battles, which can be regarded as making the best use of it.

The two destroyer leaders entering the battle group.

A Shakespeare-class destroyer with a displacement of 1,200 tons, slightly larger than other destroyers, equipped with five 120mm single-barreled rapid-fire guns.

A W-class destroyer, with a displacement of about 1,000 tons, equipped with four 102 mm artillery pieces.

Both have two triple-mounted 533mm torpedo tubes, and both have speeds exceeding 30 knots.

"The enemy is heading northwest, sir, we must turn." The fleet staff officer said to Vincent, who was silently calculating firepower.

"Zoom to 12,000 meters and then turn left and let the Explorer search north to see if the Germans have hidden the battlecruiser in the north." Vincent was interrupted and was stunned for a moment.

said.

The 152mm 50x caliber naval gun equipped by the Bristol class can reach a range of 12,800 meters. This range is beyond the reach of the 105mm rapid-fire cannon on the German cruisers.

If there is enough time, Vincent can grind slowly and cause the Germans a lot of trouble at a distance of about 10,000 meters.

However, Vincent could not guarantee whether there would be enough time. After all, a battlecruiser could appear at any time. Its large-caliber main gun had a longer range, greater power, and faster speed.

Therefore, Vincent chose not to enter the range of the German troops. While taking the initiative on the battlefield, he also observed the battlefield and began to retreat at any time if something went wrong.

…

boom!

At a distance of 12,000 meters, the front main gun of the flagship Bristol fired a high-explosive bomb weighing several dozen kilograms.

Because the Bristol was still traveling at a high speed and the shooting distance was relatively long, the water splash caused by this shell did not even reach the German warship. It only caused a splash of water 400 meters away from the German light cruiser formation.

"Start to turn left, turn in sequence, and be parallel to the German warship." Vincent glanced at the impact point, and it was indeed too far away to see.

Since there were only 4 fast warships, it only took more than ten minutes to complete the shift and re-formation, and the battle officially began.

The four 152mm naval guns on the light cruisers Bristol and Glasgow fired one after another. Because of the long distance, the rate of fire was not fast and it was not bluffing.

But precisely because of the long distance and beyond the range of the German warship's 105mm rapid-fire cannon, only the British were firing on the entire battlefield.

This was a blow to German morale.

…

Boom boom boom...

Several 105mm guns on the Magdeburg raised their elevation angle to the highest level and fired in the direction of the British.

But the impact point of the artillery shell was still more than 1,000 meters away from the British, and it was simply out of reach.

"This cannot continue like this. If we are passively beaten, the soldiers' faith will be affected." The staff officer of the 7th Cruiser Squadron of the German Imperial Navy said to Dietrich.

"Turn around and try to get closer to the British." Dietrich held the telescope, his face so gloomy that it almost dripped water.

According to the German plan, the mission of the 7th Cruiser Division was to fight with the British and try to attract the surrounding British cruisers.

In addition to attracting some British light cruisers, a formation of four light cruisers may also attract some British armored cruisers and even battlecruisers on duty nearby.

The Germans did not know that after the British reconnaissance submarine network was rolled out, the British Royal Navy no longer allowed battlecruisers to conduct daily patrols.

Only when needed, Betty would send a few battlecruisers out to show the Germans their presence. Most of the time, the battleships would stay in various ports and wait.

Once a telegram is received from a submarine or other patrol warship and the movement of a large German battleship is discovered, the battlecruiser will be dispatched.

As for the British armored cruisers, only one of the newer ones is in the country, and they are not currently performing combat readiness missions.

Most of the old armored cruisers were sent to the colonies by the British to deter other countries or locals, or to maintain the security of the routes on the routes.

For example, the Royal Navy's Mediterranean Fleet has all old warships, including old armored cruisers, which guard the Suez Canal and at the same time express their presence to Italy.

"We can't get closer, these cowards! The British have forgotten Nelson's spirit!" The fleet staff officer looked angrily at the British warships that also turned.

"Try to retreat." Dietrich felt something was wrong keenly.

The British seemed to have something in mind when they did this. Otherwise, according to the glorious tradition of the British Royal Navy, they would have rushed up to fight the enemy long ago.

In the past so many years, the reason why the British navy has been able to dominate the oceans is because of its victory in battles. If retreat becomes the norm, how can it win?

Dietrich had a bad idea in his mind, so he wanted to test whether it was what he thought.

…

"Sir, the German turned around and seemed to want to run away."

"Catch up and don't let them run away. There's no reason to just stop fishing before we catch the fish." Vincent said expressionlessly.

…

"Colonel, they are catching up, but once we stop turning, they also stop. We have been hit by several artillery shells, and the morale of the soldiers is a bit low."

"Release the torpedoes, release the smoke, and turn right." Dietrich gave the order stiffly.

"yes."

…

"They released torpedoes, and there was smoke. Are they going to run?"

"Run? How can it be so easy? Turn around, face the enemy with the bow of the ship, catch up, and once the enemy turns around, immediately turn parallel."

"Be careful to avoid torpedoes."

…

"Inform General Hipper, I suspect that the traces of the main fleet have been leaked, and the British behavior is very suspicious."
Chapter completed!