There was nothing wrong all morning, and two hostile fleets were heading towards one target. The commanders of both sides were proud of their plans, believing that the opponent had no idea of ​​their whereabouts, and who knew that the other party was like him, were waiting for the fish to take the bait.

After lunch, Admiral Jelico was slightly disappointed to walk on the rear deck of the flagship "Iron Duke". The sun shone on the oak deck, reflecting a dazzling yellow light. The sea was calm and as time passed, the hope in his heart was slowly dissipating.

"General, telegram from the Admiral." At this time, the communications officer stood in front of him.

"Um..." Jelico hurriedly glanced at the telegram, and the telegram sent by the Admiralty said: At 11:10, the directional radio signal indicated that the enemy's flagship was still in the Jasper anchorage, and perhaps the German main fleet was still in the harbor.

The Germans' tricks on radios seemed to have worked, which affected Jelico's judgment. Considering that the local fleet might have to stay at sea for a while, he ordered the destroyers to refuel and was not in a hurry to meet with Betty's fleet.

This further widened the distance between him and Betty's fleet to 71 nautical miles.

The afternoon sun was very warm, and he stood on the bridge of the battle cruiser "Lion" with his hands in his arms. It seemed that his expected battle was a bubble. The sailors on the deck were sitting together lazy to bask in the sun or clear their posts, which was about 7 nautical miles away from Heen Reef. He had ordered the fleet to start turning back in 20 minutes.

"Another boring cruise!" The lieutenant general muttered, in fact, he wanted the Admiralty to transfer his fleet to the Mediterranean to fight a fierce battle with the damn Austrians. They had occupied Malta and even bombarded Gibraltar, ruining the face of the Royal Navy.

The Royal Navy has carried too many accusations and now it is too much needed to boost the people's hearts.

But the cunning Hippel was like a loach, constantly playing hide-and-seek with him.

At the same time, on the sea about 40 nautical miles southeast of Betty's fleet, in the combat room of the flagship "Luzzo" battlecruiser, the fleet's senior staff members were wiped out with enthusiasm, and the atmosphere of hope spread within the closed commander's tower. The three cruisers twenty nautical miles away still did not find any trace of Betty's fleet. It seems that Lieutenant General Hippel's ambitious combat operation will definitely not achieve the expected results.

"Based on the intelligence sent back by the submarine force, the British fast fleet was dispatched at 2 a.m. Based on their course and speed, our cruiser should be able to detect the enemy now, and the British may have started to return." Captain Oglot, the navigator, threw the drawing pen on the chart table and said boredly. He glanced at the bridge outside, Lieutenant General Hippel was standing there, holding a cigar in his mouth, his eyes were always staring at the sea surface, and he didn't know what he was thinking.

As time passed by minute by second, the commander tower fell into an awkward atmosphere of silence.

At 2:15 pm, a layer of mist began to spread on the sea surface. Lieutenant General Betty ordered the fleet to start returning. The signal lights on the "Lion" kept flashing, and the fleet began to follow the order. At this time, the light cruiser "Galatia", who was in charge of the search mission, saw a slowly moving smoke column about 8 nautical miles.

"Order the 'Galatia' to go over and check it out." Betty said casually after receiving the report, his fleet continuing to turn. This is just a routine matter, and it is certain that the 'Galatia' discovered a neutral merchant ship.

If the Danish freighter "Fjord" hadn't accidentally entered the two fleets that were eager to fight, Betty and Hippel would have passed by, and perhaps history would have been rewritten.

But history is composed of many coincidental events.

Now Hippel's flagship is less than 45 nautical miles away from Betty, and no one can see each other. The cruisers in the two fleets of search missions are also 18 nautical miles apart. Since there has been a layer of light fog on the sea, the opponent cannot be seen.

At this moment, the "Fjord" urgently added coal into the boiler to cool down due to overheating of the steam engine, which caused an unusually thick black smoke column to spray out from the ship's chimney, which was very eye-catching on the sea. The German cruiser "Elpin" first discovered the cargo ship, and ordered the two torpedo boats, b109 and b110, to intercept and inspect.

At this time, the British cruiser "Galatia" also discovered an abnormality on the sea, so Brigadier General Sinclair, the commander of the First Cruise Fleet under Betty, also ordered his ship to check the situation. The "Fjord" cargo ship was intercepted by two German destroyers. At 2:20, the "Galatia" sent out a signal: "Discover the enemy! It may be that two enemy cruisers are intercepting the cargo ship, southeast and southeast, and 8 nautical miles away."

At the same time, the German destroyer also discovered the "Galatia", retreating back and sending a signal to the "Elpin" to report the discovery. Major General Potic, the commander of the German Second Reconnaissance Detachment on the "Frankfurt", was startled after receiving the light signal from the "Elpin". Due to the error in interpretation, the message was: enemy ships were found in the direction of 164 Northeast, 24-26 battleships were found!

Fortunately, 5 minutes later, the "Elpin" continued to report the situation on radio again: "164 degrees left, two enemy cruisers were found!"

Major General Potic calmed down his mood that had caused violent fluctuations due to excessive fright, and ordered the fleet to sail towards the enemy, continue to understand the situation, and report the latest discovery to Lieutenant General Hippel.

The battle alarm sounded, and the trained German sailors quickly ran from the cabin to their combat position, like a sophisticated machine began to run at high speed. The "Elpin" discovered that the "Galatia" was chasing the b109 and b110 torpedo boats at high speed. The British cruiser was splashing with huge waves on the bow of the ship, and the front main gun was spitting fire, rushing towards the German cruiser team at a high speed of 28 knots.

"I think it is a warship-ranking-crusting-surface-foreign ship!" The signal soldiers on the Frankfurt were reading the light signals from the "Elpin" word by word. Major General Potic held up his telescope and kept observing the enemy ship. No matter how he looked at the other side, it did not look like a warship. Then another warship appeared in sight, which was the British cruiser "Fedton" that rushed over.

"That's just a British cruiser!" said the Major General, and then he ordered: "Each ship is ready to fight!"

The cruisers of both sides launched a fierce artillery battle, and two cruisers, the British Second Cruiser Fleet led by Brigadier General Goodnow, joined in, 4-on-4, and the two sides were evenly matched.

Behind them, the commanders of both sides were anxiously waiting on the flagship for the latest news from the cruiser, where, in number and in size of the enemy's main force. Unfortunately, the commanders of the two cruisers were only concerned about fighting each other and forgot their main responsibility - reconnaissance of the enemy's main force fleet.

Lieutenant General Hippel stood in the combat room of the "Luzzo", and the staff were placing the British fleet on the chart table based on the intelligence sent by the reconnaissance fleet. His eight battle patrols lined up and set up battle formations to sail westward. The telegram sent by the "Elpin" said that the enemy's main force was right in front, and he ordered the fleet to turn southwest and go to pick up his cruiser fleet.

Hippel looked at the two main turrets on the front deck through the porthole. The main guns of the "Deferringer" class battle patrol are the same as those of the Austro-Hungarian Navy's "Radetsky" class. They are all four 330mm main turrets arranged 3-2 in front and rear. Now the 5 330mm heavy artillery has been adjusted to almost the maximum elevation angle.

The "Elpin" in battle can already be seen from the telescope, but judging from the splashing water column, it was just some medium-caliber shells.

"General, 'Frankfurt' sent a report back, they were exchanging fire with four enemy cruisers!" Major General Potic reported the correct situation in time. Hippel judged that Betty's fleet was behind them, so he changed the order again: "Order the fleet to turn northwest and move forward at full speed!"

So, his fleet turned into a single column, with two "Deflinger" class battle patrols in front, followed by the "Sedlitz" and then followed by two Austro-Hungarian battle patrols commanded by Lieutenant General Verennik, and the last were the "Moltch" and "" and the entire fleet rushed towards the British cruiser at a high speed of 25 knots.

...
Chapter completed!