1890 King of Southeast Asia

Helmut Karl Bernhard von Moltke, Count of the German Empire, Marshal, served as Chief of the General Staff of Prussia and the German Empire for 31 years, commanded the Austro-Prussian War and the Franco-Prussian War and won victory.

It can be said that Marshal Moltke made an indelible contribution to the establishment of the Second German Empire. In order to commemorate this famous general, and also to please the Prussian officer corps in order to win military funds, the Navy specially named a battlecruiser after Moltke.

In the previous battle, Moltke fired 420 305mm armor-piercing shells, hit 26, and hit rate 2%, which is already very good.

It was also hit by 17 large-caliber shells and dozens of 152mm secondary gun shells. If it weren't for the Germans' almost crazy obsession with defense, the battlecruiser would definitely not last so long.

On the evening of June 26, Moltke, behind the von der Tann, faced three Indefatigable-class battlecruisers of the British Royal Navy.

At 6:52, the No. 1 and No. 2 turrets of the Moltke hit the New Zealand battlecruiser in succession.

The Indefatigable-class battlecruiser is a simple improvement of the Invincible-class. Its design concept is the same as that of the Invincible-class. It is used to attack enemy cruiser fleets and counter-interdiction operations.

These battles do not require much armor, but rather have great requirements for speed and range.

The Indefatigable-class battlecruisers born from this tactical concept have waterline armor of only 127 to 152 mm thick, and cannot even effectively defend against 152 mm shells.

Moltke hit the New Zealand three times in total. The first hit the bow, penetrated the second deck, and left a hole more than two meters wide in the hull.

The second round hit the midship, penetrated multiple layers of barriers, and exploded in the boiler room, causing a series of explosions in several boilers in one boiler room.

The boiler was filled with high-temperature and high-pressure steam, and the explosion power was greater than that of a large-caliber shell. This round killed the New Zealand and almost broke into two sections.

The third round hit the rear main gun mount. The 8mm gun mount armor could not withstand the power of the armor-piercing shell fired by the 305mm 50-caliber main gun and was easily penetrated.

At this time, the rear main gun of the New Zealand had just been put into use. In order to speed up the progress of the shelling as much as possible, the gunner did not close the fire door as required.

The shell exploded under the gun mount. The high temperature and vibration caused the turret to deform, which squeezed the shell and caused the barrel to explode.

The high temperature generated by the explosion of the picric acid shells rushed straight to the ammunition warehouse at the bottom of the warship along the fire door that could not be closed. There were more than 100 main gun shells and more than 10,000 kilograms of Cordai MD double-base propellants stored here, which led to a more violent explosion.

After the two explosions, the stern of the New Zealand completely disappeared, and the hull began to take on a lot of water. Because the damage was too severe, the damage control had no time to play a role.

In just a few minutes, the bow of the New Zealand was lifted up, and a few minutes later, the bow had been lifted to a 30-degree angle, and the huge stress pulled the hull.

Its midship was already seriously injured and almost broke into two sections. The keel could no longer withstand the huge stress. The New Zealand made a tooth-grinding creaking sound, then broke into two sections and sank straight down.

"Who did it?" Hipper was stunned by the result. It took only twenty minutes from the start of the battle to the New Zealand breaking into two and sinking.

A warship with a full load displacement of more than 20,000 tons requires the cooperation of hundreds of factories in the entire system and hundreds of shipbuilders for two to three years to build.

But it only took twenty minutes to sink such a ship.

"It was the shells fired by Moltke. What a lucky guy." The chief of staff smacked his lips, a little surprised and a little regretful.

"There should be enough shells, right? Let them pursue the victory!" Hipper looked at the Indefatigable and Australia fleeing the scene, his eyes shining.

He had already seen that the defense of the Indefatigable-class battlecruisers was very poor, and any main battleship of his fleet could cause fatal injuries. If he continued to chase, the exchange ratio would definitely be much better.

"General, it's dark." The chief of staff shook his head and said softly as if sighing.

"What a pity, we should have met them earlier." Hipper sighed, shook his head, and threw away the idea of ​​pursuit.

"The First Battlecruiser Fleet returns to the main fleet, maintains two formations, and the speed is 20 knots. The entire fleet implements a blackout."

"Send a telegram to Wilhelmshaven. The First Scouting Fleet has fought a fierce battle and is returning. Request for support."

After Hipper finished speaking, he walked to the captain's room. He needed to think carefully about how to report to the superiors.

…………

On June 28, Hipper returned to the port with the fleet. When he returned to Wilhelmshaven, the scene surprised him.

First, the German battleship division came out to greet them. After entering the port, the honor guard, the officer corps, and a large number of "civilians" were waiting at the dock.

"What's going on?" Hipper stood stupidly on the side of the ship, holding the railing, looking at the lively crowd and the serious honor guard.

"I don't know. Did the Grand Fleet duel with the British during our absence?" The chief of staff was also confused.

"It's the Marshal, he's waving at us? Hurry, get off the boat." Hipper saw a bearded man in fancy clothes waving at him on the shore, took out his telescope and saw it was Tirpitz.

"Marshal!" Hipper hurriedly got off the boat, came to Tirpitz, straightened his back, shouted loudly and saluted.

"You did a great job. I can't think of anyone who could do better than you." Tirpitz smiled and patted Hipper on the shoulder.

"Let's go. Your Majesty is waiting for you." Tirpitz smiled.

"Your Majesty? Marshal, can you tell me what happened?" Hipper asked in surprise.

"Talk as you go. Don't make your Majesty wait anxiously." Tirpitz nodded.

"The British are so anxious. The Queen Mary sank. I told them not to tell you..."

The Queen Mary was hit by a shell, which means that it did not hit the hull directly, but entered the water at a small angle not far from the hull. After that, it did not explode but continued to move forward and hit and penetrated the underwater part of the hull.

In the short history of battleships, underwater shells are not uncommon. The Japanese even used underwater shells as a killer.

This underwater shell hit and penetrated the Queen Mary's underwater unprotected area and exploded, opening a large hole in the hull and destroying the bulkhead watertight compartment, causing the hull to quickly take in water.

After withdrawing from the battle line, damage control intervened to drain water, but the drainage process was not smooth. The underwater pressure was too high, and it was very risky to open the watertight door. In the end, the Queen Mary's damage control chose to close the surrounding watertight doors to deal with it.

Within half an hour of withdrawing from the battle line, the Queen Mary took in more than 980 tons of water and continued to seep water.

The battleship tilted seven degrees to the right as a whole, and the captain had to order water to be injected into the other side to balance the hull to avoid capsizing.

Unfortunately, what you fear will come true. It happened to be low tide at night, and the North Sea was windy and rough. The water injection had just started, and a wave came over and hit the starboard side of the Queen Mary into the water.

In normal times, this kind of wind and waves are trivial for the Queen Mary, but at this time the Queen Mary had tilted a lot, and the underwater cabin pressure was extremely high.

The already damaged watertight compartments were squeezed by the water pressure, and several dozens of centimeters of breaches appeared. By nine o'clock in the evening, the Queen Mary had more than 2,000 tons of water on the starboard side and 490 tons of water on the port side.

The captain ordered water to be injected into all the watertight compartments and ammunition depots on the port side in an attempt to rebalance the hull, but the water injection system failed and the water injection was not smooth.

At 9:40, the Queen Mary tilted 15 degrees, and capsizing was inevitable. In order to avoid unnecessary losses, the captain ordered the ship to be abandoned.

After the first mate took away a series of important items and documents such as the ship's bell, the captain opened the sea valve and sank into the sea with the Queen Mary.

In this way, the British sank two battlecruisers, while Germany only sank one.

The British originally wanted to cover up the news, but French destroyers participated in the rescue, and the French also participated in the rescue of the sailors of the Queen Mary. The French would not keep it secret from the British, even if they were allies.

This news soon appeared in newspapers in Paris, and then the whole world knew that the British "lost".

Of course, the British would not say that. The British would only say that they successfully uncovered the German conspiracy and, after paying a heavy price, interrupted the German hand reaching out to the ocean.

"Look, our hero is back." William II looked very happy, pointing at Hipper and speaking loudly to the people around him.

"Your Majesty, I am not a hero. I just did something that an imperial naval officer should do. In fact, I don't think I did it well enough." Hipper saluted William II and began to act.

That's right, on the way here just now, Tirpitz had told him that the purpose of William II's coming here this time was mainly for publicity.

Since it is for publicity, many things cannot be said, especially about the truth.

In the current form of war, although Germany is still on the offensive, it cannot make a breakthrough on the battlefield, external trade is blocked, and supplies including food are beginning to be in short supply.

The Germans need a victory. Before the results are achieved on land, the victory at sea is precious, even if it is only a tactical victory and has no effect on the overall strategy of the German army.

"Well said!" William clapped his hands happily. Although he knew that he was acting, if he could get such results every time he went out, the Germans would be victorious.

With an exchange ratio of one to two, can the British afford it? Do they dare to fight?

"Franz Hipper, led the First Reconnaissance Fleet to sink two battlecruisers of the Royal Navy, with a total tonnage of 50,000 tons, and seriously damaged three battlecruisers of the Royal Navy."

"In recognition of your bravery and fearlessness in the war, I will award you the Grand Iron Cross, and the King of Bavaria will make you a noble. Congratulations, General Franz von Hipper."

William took the Grand Iron Cross, showed it to everyone, and put it on Hipper's chest.

"The war has reached a critical stage, and we must..." After the awarding of the medal, William began his speech again.

In the final analysis, the strength of the German army has basically reached its peak, and the Germans have placed all their bets, but the situation on the battlefield is not clear, and the Germans need a victory to inspire people.

Of course, this was also related to William's optimism about Hipper.

William was happy about Hipper's exchange ratio, while Tirpitz praised him because Hipper escaped with his fleet during the British encirclement.

You know, the British acted very quickly. If Hipper made a slight mistake in judging the situation, causing him to be a step slower and allowing the British to gather, the result would be different.

Throughout the battle, Hipper, who was always at a disadvantage in overall numbers, was always using his local advantage in numbers to face the enemy.

If this were not the case, the British could have easily defeated Hipper and made him lose his resistance. If they could not penetrate the main armor belt, couldn't they have attacked other places?