Chapter 17: The Battle of the Summit (Part 1)

  After expending a decade of effort and exhausting the national treasury, staking the fate of the nation for a hundred years and the youth of an entire generation of naval officers, the world's number one fleet and the world's second-ranked ocean-going fleet, with fifty capital ships and over two hundred supporting and auxiliary vessels, converged in this unremarkable sea area at the southern end of the middle line of the Skagerrak Strait off the west coast of the Jutland Peninsula.

  And not to mention the illustrious Invincible, Inflexible, Lion, Tiger and Queen Elizabeth, nor the renowned Moltke, Deutschland, Seydlitz and Derfflinger, there are also Indomitable, Bellerophon, St. Vincent, Neptune, Colossus, Orion, King George V and Iron Duke; The two fleets of Invincible and Nassau, Helgoland, Kaiser and K?nig classes alone cost over ￡100 million for the construction of their main battleships, not to mention the astronomical costs of maintaining and training their attendant cruisers and capital ships.

  March 4, 1915, this day belonged to Germany and Britain, this day belonged to the shallow North Sea, this day belonged to giant warships and dreadnoughts, this day was destined to be written into history, forever etched in the memory of a generation, becoming the key to changing the course of history.

  As the fast forces of their respective countries, Raeder was a good friend of Admiral Sir John Jellicoe, Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Fleet, but at sea they had only room for a fight to the death. The battle continued with Lütjens against Lion, Hipper against Tiger, Scheer against Indomitable and New Zealand, Mauve against Queen Elizabeth and Australia, Deutschland against New Zealand and Inflexible, the two fleets forming two roughly parallel lines of battle at 13,000 yards' distance.

  "Entangle the British fast fleet, forcing Admiral Jellicoe's main force to reinforce, and let the Royal Navy, which is implementing a long-range blockade, fight us ahead of schedule." Regarding Queen Heidie's order to continue fighting, the commander and staff of the exhausted First Reconnaissance Fleet had some reservations. In their view, the First Reconnaissance Fleet had already overfulfilled all its tasks, they only needed to hold down Beatty's fast fleet and wait patiently for the outcome of the main force's line-of-battle fight. "General, perhaps we should conserve our strength, after all, Beatty still has eight fast capital ships in his hands."

  "Eight fast battleships?" The pain and dizziness brought on by her nervous breakdown came flooding in, but Wang Haitian dared not open the medicine box in her pocket no matter what. The expensive medication would relieve symptoms in a short time, but the side effects were unbearable mental fatigue, dullness, and drowsiness that Wang Haitian could not tolerate.

  Wang Haitie sat dryly near the corner of the armored wall of the command tower, where it was relatively dark, and his subordinates could not see his pale face under the cover of the shadow.

  A faintly confident voice belonging to a seasoned general came through, a finger covered in age spots emerged from the darkness and swayed back and forth under the dim yellow light of the command tower. "To be honest, I don't think much of Betty's fleet, which is mixed with battleships, battlecruisers, and 'fast cruisers'."

  Just as Wang Haitian was tirelessly showing off his disdain, the situation at sea confirmed his confidence and was undergoing some subtle changes: in the prolonged high-speed dash and melee of seizing advantageous shooting positions, the long-term strong pressure ventilation caused damage to the boiler, the propeller overspeeding made the main shaft overheat, and the Queen Elizabeth was thus dragged down by the Germans, losing 25 knots of speed and gradually falling behind.

  As a product of the fast battleship theory, the British Empire citizens and Royal Navy personnel had high hopes for this new dreadnought design with speeds over 25 knots. However, the first North Sea cruise inspection in 1915 made the proud English gentlemen somewhat embarrassed, as they found that Queen-class could not run at 25 knots in actual combat.

  Refit was unavoidable, and the Royal Navy set the builders a demanding target: Queen Mary should complete all refit work and light harbour trials within one month, and be capable of 25 knots in service.

  This is a nearly impossible task to complete. Researching data parameters, finding design flaws, proposing improvement plans and conducting feasibility verification, shipyard retrofitting, and sea trials in the bay all require time to accumulate, and one month's time is far from enough. The pressure from the Navy has made the shipyard designers and technicians somewhat hasty, and the designers only made minor modifications to the boiler efficiency and piping issues, secretly replacing the Navy's technical specifications for a maximum speed of 25 knots with an overloaded boiler operation scenario.

  It must be admitted that the Queen Elizabeth class is a high-performance dreadnought, with 13-inch waterline belts giving the British their first battleship with defensive capabilities approaching those of German ships. The 15-inch main guns and actual speed of 25 knots after modernization are also eye-catching. Unfortunately, the British did not put the Queen Elizabeth class into the main fleet, but instead incorporated it into Admiral David Beatty's fast squadron as a battlecruiser escort. Although the Queen Elizabeth class had a significant advantage in terms of speed compared to German battleships, once classified as a battlecruiser, its relatively high 25 knots "top speed" quickly became an Achilles' heel.

  The consequences of the shoddy workmanship became apparent during the prolonged battles at sea in the Dreadnought era, as HMS Queen Elizabeth, positioned fifth in line, suffered severe boiler damage from prolonged forced draft operation and gradually fell behind during the running battle towards the Skagerrak.

  Even after the British had outdistanced the Queen Elizabeths, they still had a numerical advantage. However, the First Scouting Group had always been in the shadow of the British since its formation; when the Germans converted their large armored cruiser Blücher into an almost-battleship, the British already had the Invincibles. When the Germans were still debating whether to build battlecruisers or battleships, the British had three Invincibles and three Indefatigables in service, and by the outbreak of war, the commander of the British fast squadron was pressing the shipyards for delivery of the last Lion-class battlecruiser and the newest Tiger. Meanwhile, the Germans quietly maintained a force of only five battlecruisers. Despite this disadvantage, the First Scouting Group did not lose heart; in fight after fight against superior numbers, they were tempered into the most combat-effective and spirited force in the German Navy. The British advantage of two capital ships was not taken seriously by the officers and men of the First Scouting Group.

  "As we are the First Reconnaissance Fleet, we were born under pressure from the British. We have no choice but to rise up and defeat our opponents." Despite being exhausted, Wang Haitian's sharp tongue, honed during his gold-digging days in Turkey, quickly rallied the morale of the First Reconnaissance Fleet's officers and men.

  Young people were infected with Wang Haitao's sincere motivation, shouting and working hard in their respective positions. Wang Haitao looked at the young people who were on fire, and couldn't help but think of himself on the podium of the National Congress Hall in 1893, with a worried and hopeful smile on his face.

  The Seydlitz engaged the British Lion and Tiger, holding her own against them with her powerful armament; the badly damaged Tiger flew the signal "I am severely damaged, abandoning action", attempting to withdraw from the battle, but the commander of Derfflinger chose to stay in the fight, drawing fire away from his comrades in the First Scouting Group. The New Zealand showed no mercy to its opponent, pounding Derfflinger with a fierce barrage; the Queen Elizabeth's withdrawal allowed the heavily engaged Moltke to catch her breath, and she began to return fire with her four 305mm (12-inch) main guns that still had a firing angle.

  Poor Australia was hit by two 305mm capped armor-piercing shells in an extremely short period of time. One armor-piercing shell penetrated deep into the hull from the No. 1 funnel, completely destroying the engine room and steam pipes below the No. 1 funnel. The explosion produced thick smoke, fierce fire, and white steam that rose high into the sky, looking particularly terrifying in the light-colored North Sea. Before the British could react, another armor-piercing shell roared in from the semi-turret's half-cannon shot, easily piercing Australia's waterline belt main armor and coal bunker, which also served as a defensive function, successively damaging two watertight compartments and the port electrical room.

  The British might have been lucky, as the second armour-piercing shell almost grazed Australia's after funnel and entered a separate boiler room. Of course, using "might" to guess the thoughts of the British is only because the temporarily escaped Australia had an undesirable ending.

  The second AP shell did not have enough power to destroy a 18,500-ton capital ship. Penetrating the citadel and destroying one of the boiler rooms would at most cause Australia to take on water and lose speed. However, the British themselves messed this up.

  In 1906, after the Invincible-class battlecruisers were laid down, the British Admiralty believed that the number of existing battlecruisers would be insufficient for future warfare needs. Therefore, in the 1908 naval budget, they requested to rebuild three more. The financially strained British government considered battlecruisers too expensive and, to reduce the fiscal deficit, only approved the construction of one, with the remaining two ships' construction plans postponed until the 1909 fiscal year. In fact, even though the construction start dates for the next two ships were pushed back to 1910, the shipbuilding funds were still insufficient.

  Financial difficulties forced the use of inferior materials and construction methods. The six-inch armor belt was a joke, its narrow coverage area being particularly shocking; the number of watertight compartments was reduced, reserve buoyancy was insufficient, longitudinal bulkheads were non-existent, and the limited strength of the watertight subdivision only existed in the engine room, boiler room, steering gear compartment, and magazine.

  Seawater poured in through the hole blown by the armor-piercing shell, and with the pumps out of action, the Royal Navy's damage control team found that their leak-stopping equipment was useless. The water overflowed two watertight compartments and spread through the connecting passageways. The damage control team finally realized that their efforts to stop the leaks had failed, and they hastily retreated from the compartment and tried to manually operate the mechanical arms of the watertight doors in the connecting passageway, closing a few of them. By this time, seawater had flooded several compartments near the boiler room and was continuing to seep into the bottom compartments, causing the ship to list more than 10 degrees to port.

  The consequences of the lack of longitudinal bulkheads and inadequate watertight subdivision were becoming apparent, as every so often a dull explosion could be heard from deep within the hull of Australia, followed by strong vibrations and heart-stopping noises that reverberated through the steel fabric of the ship, indicating to damage control parties that another compartment had been breached. Damage control parties were at their wit's end, with the large fire in the engine room below No 1 funnel being completely out of control, while the amount of water pouring into the hull was an alarming figure, and the poor watertight subdivision design and structural strength of the ship only added to the difficulties of damage control.

  At 07:17, Australia's hull listing increased and water was only a metre from the deck. The captain had no choice but to order "abandon ship".

  At 7:19, an E-class destroyer fired a torpedo at Australia, which broke in two amidships and sank within less than a minute, becoming the second victim of the Battle of Jutland.

  The sinking of the Australia was not the end of the energy of the two fast fleets, which continued to exchange blows. At the other end, the two main fleets of thirty-seven battleships gradually opened fire at a distance of seventeen thousand yards, and the battle would only become more bloody.