In this way, the largest naval battle in World War I was beginning to take place and brewing.
The German High Seas Fleet has a total of 101 maritime warships, currently divided into two battle formations, traveling from south to north, one after the other, while the British Golden Navy Home Fleet has 151 warships of various types, divided into three formations, also in
Sailing from north to south, the two sides finally naturally met each other on the sea due to their mutual motion.
From then on, a life-and-death struggle at sea began...
At that time, the battle order configuration of the German Navy's High Seas Fleet was as follows: the fifth squadron of the 3rd Battleship Squadron (four König-class battleships): the flagship battleship König, Grosser Kurfürst, Crown Prince Wilhelm, and Margravegraf.
The König-class battleship is Germany's latest dreadnought, with a standard displacement of 25,390 tons and a full load displacement of nearly 30,000 tons. It is 575 feet long, which is 175 meters. Its main power is 15 boilers and 3 steam turbines. It is a 3-axis, 2
The rudders are arranged in parallel, but the maximum speed can only reach 19.5 knots.
Crew: 1,315 people. The main armaments include 5 twin-mounted 50-caliber 12-inch main guns, 14 single-mounted 45-caliber 5.9-inch secondary guns, 10 3.5-inch guns, and 14 single batteries.
Equipped with 45 times the caliber 3.5-inch artillery and 5 underwater torpedo tubes.
These four König-class battleships are all improved versions of the Caesar class, which mainly improve the layout of the turrets. The German High Seas Fleet and the Fifth Squadron of the Third Battleship Squadron composed of these four König-class battleships are in Jutland.
It contributed a lot in naval battles and was the only battleship that left a deep impression on the sailors of the Royal Navy.
Detachment 7 (four Caesar-class battleships): Kaiser, Empress, Prinzregent, flagship Friedrichshafen (commanded by German Admiral Scheer).
1st Squadron of the 1st Battleship Squadron (four Helgoland-class battleships): flagships Ostfriesland, Thuringia, Helgoland, and Oldenburg.
Second Squadron (four Nassau-class battleships): Flagship Posen, Rhineland, Nassau, West**, the battleships of the Second Battleship Squadron are all pre-dreadnoughts, because the German battleships
The quantity was not enough, so I had to use them to recharge.
The third and fourth detachments (six Deutschland-class ships, old-fashioned ironclad cruisers): Deutschland, Hesse, Pomerania, Hannover, Silesia, and Holstein.
The Deutschland class has a full load displacement of 14,000 tons. It is mainly powered by three steam turbines, 3 shafts, and has a maximum speed of 18.5 knots. Its main armaments are: 2 twin-mounted 40-caliber 11.1-inch main guns, and 14 single-mounted 40-caliber 6.75-inch guns.
Secondary battery, 6 underwater torpedo tubes.
However, the German Second Light Cruiser Squadron and Fourth Cruiser Squadron were assigned to perform reconnaissance missions during the naval battle.
At 14:00 on the afternoon of March 3, 1907, the Betty Squadron of the British Navy's Home Fleet and the Hipper Squadron of the German Navy were 15 nautical miles apart. Originally, the two fleets were in a parallel situation. Generally, the chance of discovering each other was small. However, due to the German Navy
Hipper's squadron was looking for the opponent, so it attacked east and west.
After three German battleships fired a salvo, the Betty Squadron of the British Navy's Home Fleet, which had not discovered the other side, immediately changed direction and rushed over. At the same time, it contacted the other two British squadrons, and a great battle began.
Already.
When the vanguard warships of the two squadrons passed through the sea area within the firing range and approached, all the warships on both sides burst out tongues of fire, and the shells flew rapidly towards the target in the rifled cannons. Suddenly, there was nothing but steam coming out of the warships on the sea.
, and the smoke of war immediately rose.
At this time, German Admiral Hipper immediately ordered the squadron under his command to turn around and retreat, led by the light cruiser Elping, after a thirty-minute artillery battle with the British Navy.
However, due to the mistake of the flagman on the German warship, the order was transmitted incorrectly, causing the ships of Hipper's squadron to think it was thirteen points. Therefore, after a fierce battle between the two sides, the light cruiser Elping of Hipper's squadron was
took the lead in withdrawing from the battle.
Immediately, other warships also began to turn around, which puzzled German Admiral Hipper. However, what is needed on the battlefield is cooperation. No matter what the reason is, this is not the time to pursue it, so in the first artillery battle
After a while, the squadron commanded by German Admiral Hipper withdrew from the battle.
The British fleet naturally launched a direct pursuit and immediately notified the British Home Fleet of the situation.
At 14:20 on the afternoon of March 3, 1907, the British Home Fleet reconnaissance light cruiser Galatea reported that it had discovered a very large naval fleet heading southeast, which was suspected to be an enemy naval fleet.
So Betty, the commander of the British Navy's Home Fleet, immediately ordered the Home Fleet to stop pursuing Hipper's squadron and instead turn the steering wheel to the southeast. However, a strange problem occurred again. Due to the wrong order given by the British signal flagman, the British mainland
The fifth battleship squadron of the fleet did not turn around in the end but continued to pursue the German Hipper squadron.
At this moment, the problem arose, because the German High Seas Fleet was approaching from the direction of the German Hipper Squadron pursued by the British Fifth Battleship Squadron, but the British Navy's Home Fleet turned around and rushed over, but it was the Far East Navy's Northeast Aircraft Carrier Battle Group.
.
However, Betty, the commander of the British Navy's Home Fleet, still ordered the Ergarding seaplane carrier to dispatch an aircraft for long-distance reconnaissance. However, the British Navy's seaplane took about 20 minutes to prepare before it could take off, so
Before the British plane took off, the carrier-based reconnaissance aircraft of the Far East Navy aircraft carrier Liaoning had already discovered this large British fleet that was approaching in a hurry.
At such a critical juncture, the communication equipment of the Hipper Squadron of the German High Seas Fleet malfunctioned, causing the main force of the German High Seas Fleet to be unable to determine whether the British Home Fleet had fallen into the trap. Therefore, German Admiral Scheer re-interpreted his plan.
The plan finally changed the sailing and headed northwest, and this direction was the direction of the British Home Fleet and the Far East Navy's Northeast Aircraft Carrier Battle Group.
Scheer's order to lead the team to turn around was actually not wrong, because if the German Hipper squadron that lured the enemy had been destroyed or was engaged in a fierce battle, then the German High Seas Fleet would be very wrong to directly approach it, so he decided that the entire fleet would
Increase the speed to 18 knots and go around like this.
Vote to support the author and receive points and k-beans