"Boom boom!"

At both ends of the battlefield, there were loud explosions almost at the same time below the waterlines of the Earl of Bismarck and Brandenburg, and the waves caused by dozens of meters were shaking, and the two 10,000-ton giant ships were shaken several meters high, almost overturned.

The hit part of the Earl Bismarck was about three meters underwater on the left front side. Fortunately, the armor of the Earl Bismarck rose to three meters underwater, which played a certain protective role. However, the huge explosion still exploded a gap of more than four meters below the waterline. More than a hundred German soldiers were killed and injured, and the gaps covered three sealing chambers. In addition, five nearby sealing chambers were cracked and seeped in water. A large amount of sea water poured in quickly. In a blink of an eye, three cracked sealing chambers were filled.

Fortunately, Captain Heinrich was still able to calm down. While commanding the Earl of Bismarck to retreat to the battlefield for emergency repairs, he also put the "no matter" flag and handed over the command of the fleet to Queen Victoria Louise behind him.

The Earl Bismarck had been leaving more than ten kilometers away from the battlefield before stopping. During this period, the German naval soldiers fought hard to rescue and finally blocked the seepage of water. However, during this period, hundreds of tons of seawater poured into the front of the Earl Bismarck. The bow of the ship sank nearly three meters, and the tail was upturned, even the propeller was exposed. Therefore, Captain Heinrich had to order to put another 300 tons of seawater into the bottom cabin at the tail to maintain the front and back balance of the entire ship. However, this also caused the Earl Bismarck to enter nearly a thousand tons of water, the waterline dropped by more than two meters, and the speed also dropped from 19 knots to 14 knots.

Another torpedoed Brandenburg was not as lucky as Count Bismarck. The torpedo hit four meters below the waterline behind the right rear of Brandenburg. There was no armor protection here, and the Brandenburg was also longer in age, which caused five sealing chambers to rupture and eight sealing chambers to seep water. More than 100 soldiers on the ship were injured and killed. The torpedo hit was just near the power chamber. A steam engine was damaged and could not work, and the speed dropped sharply to less than 10 knots.

Captain Samur also posed the banner of "exit the battle" and drove a warship out of the battlefield for emergency repairs.

The first ships of the two German squadrons were injured and exited from the battle. They were due to the Earl Bismarck or the flagship of the entire team. They didn't know how the other party hit him. Obviously, they were not hit by artillery, because the explosion came from underwater, so they could only be torpedoes. However, the torpedo ranges in this era were within 1,000 meters. If you want to launch a torpedo, you must venture into this distance by the torpedo ship. Moreover, the torpedo navigation is traceable, but the other party's strike came silently. Either the other party invented a torpedo with better performance, or the other party had another new weapon. Therefore, the blow to the morale of the German fleet can be imagined.

Of course, Earl Bismarck withdrew from the battle. Although the command of the guerrilla fleet was handed over to Queen Victoria Louise behind, Wadesi and the German fleet's general command did not transfer to Queen Victoria Louise. The reason for this consequence was that Earl Bismarck's injuries were too severe, and the personnel on the ship were busy repairing the damage pipes, but Wadesi and others also forgot about it.

Wadesi and others were all from the army and were not familiar with the naval tactics. Therefore, it was not until the Earl Bismarck left the battlefield that he found that the entire fleet's command was still on the ship and had completely lost the command of the fleet. Although he could put down the ship and sent Wadesi and others to other warships, the German fleet was completely in chaos on the sea surface and running around everywhere. Water columns on the sea surface were everywhere. It was too dangerous to send Wadesi and others with a ship. As a result, the Earl Bismarck sailed more than ten kilometers away. It was too late to try to send Wadesi and others with a ship.

The first two torpedoes achieved significant results, and then the torpedoes fired by the Yueyang ship and the Sanya ship also hit their own targets, hitting the battleship Wools and the ironclad ship Fertenburg respectively. Several other battleships that were shooting head-on with the crossing fleet. When the ironclad ship saw it, they dared to continue fighting there. This is not that the German navy is afraid of death. Even if they are hit by the opponent's artillery continuously, the German navy will not feel scared. However, the opponent's attack is too strange and has exceeded the German navy's understanding. If they fight with such an opponent, no matter how strong the soldiers are, they may not be able to continue.

Although the entire battlefield has reached twenty kilometers, the crossing fleet has carrier-based helicopters and high-altitude drones monitoring, so it is well aware of the situation on the entire battlefield.

The German main fleet had begun to retreat from the battlefield, while the guerrilla fleet on the other side was too far away and had no unified command, so it knew nothing and continued to detour to the flank of the fleet under the leadership of the new flagship Queen Victoria Louise.

So Shang Jinfeng, the commander of the fleet, ordered the Xiangyang ship and Huaihua ship to fight the German guerrilla fleet with the Kunming ship. Because these three warships were equipped with strong firepower artillery, and torpedoes were used to use protective cruisers and torpedoes, it would be a bit wasteful. Using cannons is enough to sink them. At the same time, the Yueyang ship and Sanya ship were responsible for defeating the fleeing German main fleet, but the main purpose was not to sink all the German main fleet, but to not let one of the transport fleets behind. It would be best if it could be captured. When necessary, the Haihongqi 16 missile could even be used for long-range attacks.

Shang Jinfeng is a calm-minded and considerate commander. He knew that the Travel Group had determined to establish its own base in Shandong, so the two foreign concessions on the Shandong Peninsula, Weihai and Qingdao, will be the main targets of the next Travel Group, and this fleet carries either the German army, military supplies, or both.

If the German main fleet escapes, it is irrelevant to the overall situation. After all, in the eyes of the Crossing Fleet, these German ships are dishes on the plate and can be eaten at any time. If the German transport fleet flee back to Qingdao, it will inevitably greatly strengthen Qingdao's defense and bring great difficulties to the battle behind the Crossing Group. After all, attacking Qingdao mainly depends on the army, and the navy can only play an auxiliary role. Therefore, in the long-term strategy, the German transport fleet poses far greater threat to the Crossing Group than the combat warships.

And if several ships can be captured, it would be even better. Not only can the materials on the ship be used by the crossing group, but the captured German soldiers are also good and free labor. Negotiating with Germany in the future is also an important bargaining chip.

The fact that the situation later developed also proved that Shang Jinfeng's decision was extremely correct and important, and solved a major threat for the Time Travel Group to attack Qingdao later.

After the order was issued, the five crossing warships immediately separated, the Kunming ships, Xiangyang ships, and Huaihua ships turned to face the German guerrilla fleet. The Kunming ships fired first, and ten guns fired continuously, bombarding the leading Queen Victoria Louise. Although the two sides were about 1 kilometer apart at this time, 10 shells still hit four, and two were almost missing.

Queen Victoria Louise is just a large protective cruiser with a displacement of 6,700 tons. Although German ships have always attached importance to defense capabilities, protective cruisers cannot be compared with armored cruisers after all. The 10mm caliber artillery on Kunming is the only artillery in the fleet that can engage in artillery battles with battleships of this era. Its power is not much worse than the strongest 80-caliber artillery in the German ship. A protective cruiser like Queen Victoria Louise is hit by one or two guns, not to mention that it is hit by four guns in a row, plus two rounds of near-missile bombs.

As a result, the entire ship was suddenly beaten to pieces and quickly sank the water. The soldiers on the ship were injured and killed countless soldiers. Although the soldiers on the ship struggled to rescue, almost every joint of the ship was seeping water, and it was impossible to defend. Therefore, after more than ten minutes, the ship's deck was less than two meters high from the sea surface. Captain Ziggfei had to order the soldiers on the ship to abandon the ship and escape, while he was locked in the command room and sinking with the warship. This is also the tradition of European naval.

While the Kunming ship fired the bombardment of Queen Victoria Louise, the cannons on the Xiangyang ship and Huaihua ships were also fully fired, bombarding the Ferya and Queen Augusta behind them. Although they also hit several guns of enemy ships, the power of the main guns of the two ships could not be compared with the Kunming ships, and their luck was slightly worse, and they failed to hit the deadly part. As a result, although the two ships were scarred and countless German soldiers on the ships were injured, the two ships still floated on the sea and did not even reduce their speed, because the power of the two ships was not damaged.

Seeing that the situation was not good, the two ships immediately turned the bow, used strong pressure ventilation, and fled the battlefield at full speed. The other two German ships behind, Princess William, did not dare to fight again, and also turned around and fled.

The officers and soldiers on the Feria, Queen Augusta, Xiangyang, and Huaihua were all breathless, which would make these German ships run away and chase them at full speed.

The maximum speed of the Xiangyang ship and the Huaihua ship is 7 knots, while the maximum speed of the Feria and Queen Augusta is 1 knot. Under strong pressure and ventilation, the ability to avoid strength can reach the knots. If you really want to run, you will definitely not be able to run.
Chapter completed!