Chapter 436 Tragic

"General, Your Excellency Commander, let us move closer to the main fleet. They will arrive at the battlefield in an hour." A communications officer on the battleship 'Queen Elizabeth', the flagship of the British Navy's 2nd Battleship Squadron, reported to Rear Admiral Benjamin.

"One hour? God! After one hour, we have been sunk by the Germans." Major General Benjamin exclaimed.

The current situation is very unfavorable to them. The three "Queen Elizabeth-class" battleships have been injured in many places. Even the flagship HMS Queen Elizabeth was hit many times. One of the four main turrets has been reimbursed, and only one-third of the firepower is left. In addition, there are big holes everywhere in the garrison and the stern. It can be seen how fierce the previous battle was.

The most severely damaged ship was undoubtedly the second ship 'Barham'. With the death of the captain and others, the navigator is now in command of the battleship. However, due to the serious damage to the hull, the combat effectiveness of the battleship has dropped a lot.

The battleship "Malayan" is also struggling to support. Rear Admiral Benjamin did not pay attention to the "Moltke-class" battlecruisers of the German Navy before, so that the three "Moltke-class" battlecruisers could fire without any interference. This directly led to the three "Queen Elizabeth-class" battleships of the British Navy being hit by them many times. The performance of these three "Moltke-class" battlecruisers was even better than the performance of the three "Derfflinger-class" battlecruisers.

Under such a huge loss, Major General Benjamin is determined to persevere, but he really has no idea whether he can persist for an hour. It's not that he doesn't work hard, and it's not that the soldiers don't work hard. It's just that the strength gap between the two sides is too great!

Similarly, the remaining three battlecruisers of the battlecruiser detachment led by Lieutenant General David Beatty are also struggling to support. Moreover, their situation is more difficult than that of the British Navy's 2nd Battleship Squadron. Among other things, the defense of these three battlecruisers is far inferior to the three 'Queen Elizabeth-class' battleships, which made them suffer a lot.

"General, Your Excellency Commander has arrived with the main fleet. When they arrive, we will have hope." An officer said.

However, Lieutenant General David Beatty remained expressionless. He knew very well that the best strategy was that Admiral John Jellicoe immediately led the main fleet to retreat. In this case, the main force can be preserved. As long as the main fleet exists, even if it is trapped in Scapa Flow, it is a great threat to the German Navy. If the main fleet goes out to battle, it will be wiped out by the German Navy. Then, the Royal Navy is completely finished. Britain will also lose this war completely, and it will be defeated.

Of course, Lieutenant General David Beatty also knew that there was no way for General John Jellicoe to do so. On the one hand, Churchill's order made him only able to lead the main force of the fleet to fight the German Navy desperately, hoping to sink as many warships of the German Navy as possible, and prepare for dozens of former dreadnoughts to return to the battlefield. On the other hand, if the Royal Navy avoids a decisive battle with the German Navy, the German Navy will definitely repeat its tricks and launch attacks on British coastal cities. At that time, it will inevitably cause huge losses to Britain. As a last resort, Admiral John Jellicoe could only implement Churchill's order and fought a decisive battle with the German navy.

"Hopefully, we can fight the Germans in this battle and lose both sides! In that case, we still have a slight chance. It won't be like what it is now. There is no chance at all." Lieutenant General David Betty murmured Said.

Indeed, Lieutenant General David Beatty has now set his goal to be able to fight the German Navy and lose both sides. As for winning, he knew that it was simply impossible. That is simply an unrealistic luxury.

"Boom! Boom!"

The violent explosion made Lieutenant General David Betty's face even more ugly. I saw that the superstructure of the 'Queen Mary' was on fire.

In the shelling just now, the battlecruiser "Prince Frederick" of the German Navy scored a hit, and two 380mm shells hit the battlecruiser.

A shell hit the defense of the battlecruiser 'Queen Mary', and the fragile armor of the battlecruiser 'Queen Mary', in front of the 380mm main gun, was no different from paper, and was easily torn opened. The entire bow of the ship was blown off in a violent explosion, just like a piece was chewed off by a monster. Sea water has begun to pour into the hull of the battlecruiser 'Queen Mary'.

Another shell exploded on the superstructure of the battlecruiser 'Queen Mary', which not only ignited a raging fire, but also knocked down a chimney, causing the speed of the battlecruiser 'Queen Mary' to begin to drop. . In such a fierce naval battle, once the speed drops, everyone knows what it means.

"General, the Queen Mary has been hit and they're asking to withdraw from the battle," a communications officer reported.

"No! Tell them, as long as they are not sunk, even if only one main gun can fire, they must continue to fight!" Lieutenant General David Betty ordered with a dark face.

"Yes, General." The communications officer immediately forwarded the order.

The battlecruiser "Queen Mary" has no choice but to hold on to the bomb. As the bow continued to enter the water, the draft of the battleship became deeper and deeper. At the same time, the speed of the battleship is also further decreasing.

In the ensuing battle, in just five minutes, the battlecruiser "Queen Mary" was hit many times, with three 380mm shells and seven 243mm shells hitting him. After eating so many shells, the battlecruiser 'Queen Mary' has become riddled with holes and holes everywhere. Sea water frantically poured into the hull of the 'Queen Mary' from these holes, causing the battlecruiser to quickly sink into the sea. None of the more than 1,000 naval officers and soldiers on the battleship survived.

Upon hearing the news of the sinking of the 'Queen Mary', Lieutenant General David Betty closed his eyes in pain. He knew that it was all because of his order that the 'Queen Mary' was sunk.

Soon, however, he thought, he would be able to atone for his order. Because, the remaining two battlecruisers will certainly not last long under the siege of the six battlecruisers of the German Navy. Soon, they will follow in the footsteps of the battlecruiser 'Queen Mary'.