Chapter 2129: Retreat
"The other two British dreadnoughts are coming soon!" A K8 bomber spotted the Thomas fleet rushing to the battlefield. At this time, the Thomas fleet was only 15 kilometers away from the battlefield. If it was daytime, the two sides had already fought ! But it is a pity that at night, the combat distance between the two sides was compressed to about 7 kilometers.
"Send a telegram to the earl, the British reinforcements are coming!" Major General von Liorer glanced at the Hercules, which had been covered in flames in the distance, and decisively chose to retreat, and he didn't miss it at all. There's no way, it's dangerous to stay here for an extra minute. And he was destined to be unable to kill this big guy.
At the same time, the battle between the Colossus and the Spey fleet has also entered a fierce battle. The battleship Caesar in front has been beaten like a fire dragon swimming on the sea, while the earl's flagship Caesar Frederick the Great has been beaten because of The positional relationship was not taken care of by the giant battleship, and when Major General Liole's telegram was forwarded, the Caesar in front played a series of light signals.
"My ship will cover the retreat of the flagship! Long live the Empire!" Afterwards, the Caesar rushed towards the Giant not far away like a raging dragon crossing the sea. Realizing that the battle situation was irreversible, Earl Spey also issued an order to retreat. Therefore, with the Earl's active retreat, the second confrontation tonight came to an end!
In the end, the battleship Kaiser became the second German battleship to be sunk in this battle after being hit by the British torpedo salvo in the Strait of Dover. Major General Liao Le had no intention of continuing the fight, and began to consider retreating, and Earl Spey also decided to hide again. While retreating, Earl Spey subconsciously glanced at his pocket watch, it was 3 o'clock in the morning! The critical time has come for the withdrawal of the British fleet!
Today, Thomas has realized what it means to be as good as the sky. If the two sides fight in an open posture, how can the two British dreadnoughts lose to the Germans' pile of scrap metal? But now it's all right, the weird battle situation has completely lost the advantage of the Hiss fleet, and they were hit twice on the back of the head at a very close distance. Even though Major General Hiss finally killed a German battleship, Thomas also realized that the rest of the things were not so easy to handle!
The German fleet is hidden in the night again, and it will take time to search and annihilate. However, now, it is time for the fleet to return, but looking at the current fleet, both the Colossus and the Hercules were damaged, and the rear of the Colossus hull Too many bombs, serious tail tilt, some damage to the drive shaft, and at least 1,500 tons of seawater! And Hercules is not doing well, with a power loss of more than 40%, plus water ingress and other problems, the speed of 14 knots can be very high! However, according to the plan, the fleet needs to leave the battlefield at a speed of more than 18 knots!
"If the Luftwaffe is prepared, I'm afraid these two battleships will be handed over here!" Thomas lamented in his heart, but this time is obviously not the time for pessimism and disappointment, although the current situation has developed in a direction that is not conducive to the British fleet, but As the best officer in the British Royal Navy, Thomas still has a backup! "
"The fleet retreats, we have already lost today, but we must not lose all the weight in our hands!" At this time, Thomas did not go up, but chose to retreat rationally. To be honest, if he can successfully take all four capital ships If he brought it back, then he made money tonight! According to the assessment of the battle situation just now, the last surviving German battleship will not be able to attack again in a short time, another armored cruiser is expected to go and need to be overhauled, and the status of another ship is unknown. In this case, the German fleet In the future, warships can barely be used to make up a fleet of 4 to 5 ships. But now, Thomas subconsciously thought that his journey home would not be smooth!
"Send a message to headquarters,
Report our current situation, and then send a report to the covering fleet, we need their help to retreat tomorrow. In addition, the light cruiser detachment was ordered to immediately receive as many non-combatants as possible from the two damaged dreadnoughts, and then evacuated early. Thomas ordered. "In addition, send a report to the Neptune, and the two undamaged battleships will evacuate separately, and the two damaged battleship formations will evacuate!" "
"Your Excellency, Commander, are you going to abandon the Giant and the Hercules?" An officer next to him said in surprise. "They're damaged and need cover and help."
"If, unfortunately, they run into a German bomber or fleet, it doesn't make any difference whether we are there or not. If we go separately, the probability of a successful retreat will be higher." Thomas's mind is very clear now, the so-called willingness, You have to give up to get something! After Thomas repeated his order again, the entire British fleet began to execute. Of course, in order to prevent the lucky German fleet from catching the tail of the Hiss fleet again tonight, before leaving the battle zone of the strait, Thomas's other two warships were Will provide cover for the Hiss fleet.
"The British fleet has withdrawn!" 45 minutes after the British fleet withdrew, the earl received a telegram from the K-plane group again.
"It seems that our battle tonight is over? Order the fleets to prepare to return. Although the results are not satisfactory, everyone's performance is very good. I will bear all the responsibilities. In addition, tell everyone to stand on the last post, I don't want any problems when the fleet returns." The earl said with a long sigh, no matter what, he and most of his warships finally survived. His flagship may be scrapped in the future, but no matter what, he still brought back more than 800 officers and soldiers on his flagship alive!
At the same time, in Harwich Port in southern England, with the help of guides, several large ships left the port from the defense system deployed by sunken ships and minefields. If an experienced British naval officer passed by at this time, He would be surprised to find that these ships that left the port were not the Boldness and the dreadnought Hercules that participated in the Battle of the Dover Strait tonight?
Of course, this cannot be true. These are British camouflage warships, and civilian ships can be simply improved. In order to confuse the Germans' investigation, the effect is very good, and in World War II, the British once again used the dreadnoughts in World War I to disguise themselves as cutting-edge battleships to deceive the Germans, and the effect is not bad. A lot of camouflage warships were built, and this time, they came in handy!
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