Long live Joachim

Chapter 146: Counter Strike On the evening of late summer and early autumn, the cool breeze blows gently, making it suitable for hibernation. However, in the waters of the Thames estuary in England, the rumbling sound of artillery creates a strange noisy atmosphere. The German Navy used "Caesar", "King", and "Elector" as the first artillery squadron, and "Oldenburg", "Goeben", and "Moltke" as the second artillery squadron to carry out long-range shelling on the stranded British dreadnought ship "Ajax" at a distance of 16000 to 18000 meters. Each artillery team's three warships are equipped with the same type of main gun, with the central ship as the command ship, issuing unified firing instructions. In order to correct the impact point, during the first few rounds of shelling, each ship used ordinary shells with high explosive power. During the shelling, two German seaplane reconnaissance planes that departed early continuously sent back calibration information through radio stations. Although the visual conditions at night are far inferior to daylight, the starry sky intentionally helps the Germans, and the outline of the coastline and the shadow of the "Ajax" can be seen very clearly from the low to medium altitude aircraft. Therefore, the shells fired by the German fleet quickly threatened the maintenance ships anchored around the "Ajax", forcing them to temporarily suspend external auxiliary repairs, retract the divers who were working, and hastily evacuate the scene. Upon receiving the enemy attack alert, officials from the British Navy and Naval Staff naturally thought of Jericho's main fleet first. After withdrawing from the battle, this fleet quickly returned to the mouth of the Thames River and then sailed into the Thames River. On the one hand, there are first-class shipyards such as Thames Steel Company on the banks of the Thames River, where damaged British main warships can find suitable shipyards for repairs. On the other hand, if the German fleet forcibly blocks the mouth of the Thames River or even sends ships into the river, the British main fleet can engage in a life and death battle to prevent German warships from threatening the capital London under any circumstances. Due to the need to prevent attacks from the German fleet, Jellicoe led the fleet to the River Thames and only allowed the most severely injured "Conqueror" to go to the Thames Steel Company for dock repairs, while most warships including "Bold", "Thunderbolt", and "Collingwood" were repaired only by conventional means. After several hours of hard work by naval sailors and repair workers, the leakage of the damaged ships' hulls has been temporarily controlled, and most of the lightly damaged or malfunctioning naval guns and weapons have regained their combat capabilities. In addition, all casualties and officers on board have been removed, and each ship has correspondingly replenished its reserve personnel. The situation is not optimistic, but at least it is much better than the state of near collapse at the end of the battle. Even in the quiet of the night, it was difficult to detect the artillery battle that was taking place more than forty kilometers away with normal visual and auditory senses, but Jericho couldn't bury his head in the sand. First, General Oliver from the Naval Staff, and then Churchill called Jellicoe, who stayed behind on the HMS Bold, to inquire about when the fleet would be able to go into battle. In fifteen minutes, I will lead the fleet to set sail, with some maintenance workers voluntarily staying on board to continue the repair work. All the officers and soldiers are also determined to defend their honor. However, as a fleet commander, I must point out that since the German fleet has arrived at the mouth of the Thames River, we should use torpedo boats and submarines to maximize their power. Only then can we have a greater chance of winning in the battle between the main fleet and the main fleet, "Jellicoe said over the phone. All torpedo boats have received battle orders, "Churchill said loudly on the phone." It won't be long before the bodies of British warriors float over the water at the mouth of the Thames River Jellicoe remained silent for a long time before speaking in a gloomy tone, "If we had won the battle during the day, we wouldn't have the troubles we have now. Unfortunately, we basically didn't have a chance to win. This is not a matter of anyone's negligence, but because the enemy is indeed stronger than us, and they have an unprecedented advantage in technology Now is not the time to discuss this, "Churchill retorted impolitely," Britain's situation is like a drowning man, only by struggling can one gain a glimmer of hope I understand, Your Excellency the Minister of the Navy, "replied Jellicoe." Tomorrow when the sun rises, you will see many sunken masts at the mouth of the Thames River, with either our St. George's flag or the German eagle flag hanging on them... Tonight there will be only British warships sunk without retreating Putting down the phone, Jericho took out his pocket watch. It was only over twenty minutes until midnight. A few minutes later, the "Bold" raised its anchor and communication personnel cut off the telephone line connected to the land. Without hearing Churchill's aggressive tone for now, Jericho felt relieved. The temporary anchorage is located downstream of London, with a distance of over 20 nautical miles to reach the grounding site of the Ajax. Jericho ordered all ships to sail at a speed of 6 knots, which means they will not engage the German fleet again until at least 3 hours later, giving the British torpedo boat fleet ample time to launch an attack. Three hours may not be long, but the Ajax cannot last that long. Faced with fierce artillery fire from the German fleet, the officers on board quickly operated the main guns to retaliate. Due to the lack of guidance from ships or aircraft for firing, relying solely on optical instruments to measure and observe distant cannon flames could not pose a substantial threat to the German fleet. Captain De Robeck immediately ordered a ceasefire. However, despite strict light control measures implemented throughout the ship, including maintenance and escort vessels being in a state of off light, the German fleet maintained a high level of precision in long-range shooting. In the first twenty minutes, the deck building of the "Ajax" was flooded by seawater stirred up by shells, and the easily blocked loopholes were shaken open again. Several near misses also caused new cracks, and the crew on board was forced to evacuate the open battle positions. In the next twenty minutes, the 'Ajax' began to be hit by enemy shells. Under the long-range shelling, the angle of incidence of the shells was larger, making it easier for them to hit the weakest defensive positions of the warship, such as the deck. This means that with very few direct hits, it is possible to destroy this British dreadnought ship. In telegrams sent to the Naval Staff and fleet flagship, De Robeck reported the precarious situation of the "Ajax" and believed that the German artillery fleet consisted of at least five main ships. Based on the exchange of fire on various battlefields during the day, the British Navy can basically determine the main lineup and combat damage of the German fleet. Although it was not as powerful as expected, its performance was unexpectedly strong. Despite several fierce battles, not a single dreadnought or battleship cruiser sank, once again proving the amazing anti sinking performance of the German main fleet. However, if the severely damaged ones are excluded, the German fleet has less than five main warships that can be put into combat, which contradicts De Roebuck's judgment. However, in this situation, neither the senior British Navy nor Jericho's fleet command team would be overly surprised, as battle reports on the battlefield have a certain degree of subjectivity. Even if a German dreadnought did suffer heavy damage, its combat effectiveness could be maintained through damage management and repair. Just after midnight, the first group of British torpedo boats appeared at the mouth of the Thames River. They did not sail from the upper reaches of the Thames River, but entered this water area from another river that flows into the mouth of the Thames River - the Medway River. Prior to this, a British patrol ship had already discovered the trace of the German fleet in the northeast corner of the Thames estuary area, and sent out the location coordinates via telegraph before the German light ships sank it, saving the trouble of the British torpedo boat fleet scattering to search for targets. Listening to the distant rumble of artillery and watching the bursts of flames in the sky, the fighters on these British torpedo boats knew that the German fleet was wreaking havoc on their "Ajax". Filled with anger, they suppressed their inner fear. They wished they could use torpedoes to send all the German warships to the bottom of the sea. However, before they could see the shadow of the German main ships, a huge threat had already silently charged towards them Torpedo When the sharp eyed British crew let out this heart wrenching scream, the nearest torpedo had already darted to the near side of the sea. If only a few tons of high-speed torpedo boats were used, they could easily avoid enemy torpedoes by turning around. However, the British Navy did not specialize in high-speed warships like Germany and Italy, nor did they focus solely on building high-speed destroyers like the French Navy. They continued their multi pronged and diverse technological style. In the past decade, not only have multiple models of ultra light high-speed warfare boats been produced and constructed, but also medium-sized high-speed torpedo boat projects of 50 and 100 tons have been launched. In addition, by the outbreak of the war, the British Navy still had a large number of torpedo boats and torpedo boat destroyers ordered in the late 20th century in service with the coastal defense fleet and reserve forces. The British torpedo boat that was suddenly attacked by torpedoes belongs to a group of conventional torpedo boats built before torpedo boat destroyers officially stepped onto the historical stage. It has a displacement of nearly 200 tons, a maximum speed of 26 knots, and is equipped with four old-fashioned 18 inch torpedo launch tubes. Most of the officers on board are reserve personnel who were called back to the navy after the war broke out. They do not lack experience in piloting boats, but rather a calm attitude and keen reaction to deal with danger. As a result, the torpedo boat was immediately sunk, and only 4 out of 52 crew members survived. Subsequently, German torpedoes appeared one after another on the sea surface. These light torpedoes had relatively small power, but were more than enough to deal with small and medium-sized ships. They also had fast speeds and concealed trajectories. In just a blink of an eye, two British torpedo boats were caught off guard and both exploded and sank, with a small section of their masts just above the water surface 11 "Lightning 14" and 14 "Thunder" - In response to the main fleet's combat operations at the mouth of the Thames River, the German support fleet dispatched all remaining high-speed warships to the battlefield, with 4 large torpedo boats serving as their tactical leaders. For the same purpose, the German submarine fleet returned to the waters of the Thames. Under the cover of night, they either hover at the depth of the periscope or semi float on the sea surface, quietly peering into this vast expanse of water, using radio to transmit information about enemy situations to their own surface ships at any time.