Chapter 117: Schemes

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Feng Chengqian was plotting against Jellicoe, and Jellicoe was plotting against him as well.

At the time, Jellicoe had carefully devised a route for Beatty. He first ordered Beatty to retreat southward, creating the impression in Feng Chengqian’s mind that the Grand Fleet was not far away to the south. Under Jellicoe’s plan, Beatty would turn west at half past four in the morning and reduce his speed to twenty-two knots. If Feng Chengqian continued to pursue him closely, then by around half past six the distance between them would have narrowed to less than ten nautical miles.

By then, dawn would be near. Since Invincible would be heading west, Berlin, pursuing from behind, would be the first to be exposed to the light of the rising sun, while the Grand Fleet to the west would still remain shrouded in darkness. In other words, when the Grand Fleet entered the battle at around half past six, it would be able to see Berlin without being detected by her.

Jellicoe’s entire arrangement could practically be described as using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

After all, Berlin was merely a cruiser with a standard displacement of just over twenty thousand tons. She was not even a capital ship. Was it really worth deploying the entire Grand Fleet against her?

Of course, Jellicoe’s plan had one advantage.

Once Berlin entered the Grand Fleet’s effective firing range, there would be no hope of escape. If twenty-three battleships opened fire simultaneously, then no matter how fast Berlin was, she would probably be struck by heavy armor-piercing shells before she could bring her speed advantage into play.

Naturally, Jellicoe’s tactics were also extremely ingenious.

For one thing, when Invincible retreated southward, Feng Chengqian had failed to see through the maneuver. Just as Jellicoe had hoped, he assumed that the Grand Fleet was not far away to the south.

Fortunately, Feng Chengqian did not make an even greater mistake at that moment: he did not send a wireless message to Hipper.

Under Feng Chengqian’s arrangements, Hipper was to engage the Grand Fleet after it appeared. Berlin’s mission was therefore to lure the Grand Fleet out. Given the circumstances, Feng Chengqian had every reason to send a message ordering Hipper to lead the High Seas Fleet south of Invincible. Perhaps Feng Chengqian was not yet entirely certain of his judgment—or perhaps reality had not unfolded as he had expected—so he did not rush to send the telegram.

At that moment, Feng Chengqian preferred to lure the Grand Fleet into the ambush that had already been prepared rather than have the High Seas Fleet redeploy. In any case, changing the course of a single warship was easier than rearranging an entire fleet.

At half past three in the morning, Invincible turned again.

When Strang discovered that Invincible was heading west, he immediately sent someone to summon Feng Chengqian.

“What’s the situation?”

“Invincible has just altered her course to two hundred and seventy degrees, and her speed has dropped slightly.” Feng Chengqian’s brows twitched. “Did we hit her?”

“Impossible. In the past fifteen minutes, we fired fewer than twenty shells, and we saw no flashes from any explosions. We certainly didn’t hit Invincible.”

“Is she still firing?”

“No. Her aft turret hasn’t fired for five minutes.”

Feng Chengqian knitted his brows, finding the matter suspicious as well.

“Look! Invincible is firing. Those are muzzle flashes from her main guns.”

The muzzle flashes of twelve-inch guns were extremely conspicuous; even from twenty kilometers away, they could be seen clearly. A moment later, the distinctive sound of heavy shells tearing through the air reached them.

Clearly, Invincible’s aim was too far aft. Both shells landed behind Berlin.

“Captain…” Strang was also filled with doubt.

“Looks like we underestimated Jellicoe.” Feng Chengqian let out a long breath. “If any of you bet against me at the beginning, then you’ve won.”

“You mean…”

“You thought Invincible had reduced speed because she was damaged?”

Feng Chengqian paused briefly. “Beatty is plainly trying to lure us into the Grand Fleet’s ambush, and Jellicoe isn’t to the south—he’s to the west. In another three hours, dawn will break.”

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“If the Grand Fleet is to the west, we’ll be the first to appear in the sunlight.”

“And we’ll be the first to come under fire.”

“This…”

“How far are we from Invincible?”

“About twenty-one kilometers. Perhaps a little less.”

Feng Chengqian quickly calculated in his head.

“Accelerate and catch her. Try to cripple Invincible severely—at the very least, force her to reduce speed.”

“This…”

“I’ll tell you what to do next. For now, go issue the order.”

Strang asked no further questions and immediately ordered the ship to accelerate in pursuit.

“Wolff, you will take personal command of the gunnery.”

The second officer said nothing more and took his place beside the gunnery control.

Before becoming Berlin’s second officer, Wolff had spent twelve years serving as a gunnery officer.

Feng Chengqian stroked his chin and said to Strang, “Tell the gunners in Turret A that if they can hit Invincible within ten minutes, I’ll reward each of them with an extra month’s pay. I’ll also personally petition His Majesty to award them medals and request that His Majesty receive them at the palace.”

Strang froze for a moment, then immediately seized the telephone and relayed the captain’s words to the gunners in the forward main-gun turret.

“Now let’s see what Beatty is made of.”

Five minutes later, Berlin’s speed had risen to thirty knots.

The warship was still accelerating, and the boilers were no longer burning coal but oil.

Just after four o’clock, when the distance had fallen to less than eighteen kilometers, Turret A aboard Berlin fired its first salvo.

By then, Beatty had already discovered that Berlin was pursuing at full speed and that the distance had narrowed to under twenty kilometers. The earlier fighting had shown that Berlin’s main guns had a very high hit rate at around eighteen thousand meters. Yet escaping Berlin was virtually impossible, because Invincible’s maximum speed was considerably lower.

Clearly, Beatty dared not maintain a speed of twenty-two knots.

At that speed, the distance between the two ships would fall below ten kilometers within half an hour, bringing them within the direct-fire range of the main guns.

Invincible began to accelerate as well.

The battle was not easy. At thirty knots, Berlin’s main-gun accuracy would not be particularly high. Fortunately, Invincible was in an even worse position. Her excessive speed and the heavy wake thrown up at her stern made her main-gun accuracy still lower.

At that moment, both sides could be said to be relying on luck.

At 4:38 a.m., when the distance had narrowed to roughly fourteen kilometers, Invincible drew first blood. A twelve-inch armor-piercing shell struck Berlin’s bow. Unfortunately, the shell’s fuse detonated prematurely, exploding after it entered the hull.

Although the violent blast almost completely destroyed Berlin’s bow and temporarily silenced Turret A, it caused no greater damage. The underwater portion of the bow remained intact, and Berlin’s speed was unaffected.

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Five minutes later, Turret A aboard Berlin opened fire again.

This time, fortune favored Berlin.

In the first salvo, a 280-millimeter shell struck Invincible’s stern with perfect accuracy, hitting near the steering compartment. The armor-piercing shell penetrated three compartments before exploding close to the steering compartment, killing dozens of officers and men in the vicinity.

More importantly, the shell temporarily disabled Invincible’s main steering gear.

Although Invincible did not turn at that moment, this meant that she would be unable to turn thereafter.

That single shot decided Invincible’s fate.

At 4:45 a.m., Berlin turned to port. Two minutes later, the aft main-gun turret gained a clear field of fire and joined the battle.

Because of the damage to her steering gear, Invincible could not turn to bring her forward turrets into action. Her port-side main-gun turret had also been knocked out, leaving her able to fire at Berlin only with her aft turret. Worse still, Invincible was forced to reduce speed in order to repair her main steering gear.

To slow down at that moment was tantamount to waiting for death.

Over the next ten minutes, Berlin gained an overwhelming advantage in firepower. The engagement distance was around twelve kilometers, and as the speed fell, her accuracy improved dramatically. During those ten minutes alone, Berlin’s lookouts observed six direct hits.

Unfortunately, Berlin failed to seize the opportunity to sink or destroy Invincible.

At five minutes past five, Invincible’s main steering gear was repaired. Although the range of movement remained limited, she could at least control her course once more.

Beatty did not choose to fight Berlin to the bitter end, because he lacked the strength to do so. Invincible had already lost her second turret. Even if she turned to port, only her forward main-gun turret could still be used, while all six of Berlin’s main guns remained completely intact.

More importantly, Jellicoe’s Grand Fleet was about sixty kilometers to the west.

To be precise, it was already less than sixty kilometers away. When Berlin accelerated in pursuit, Beatty had sent a wireless message, and Jellicoe was now leading the Grand Fleet toward them at full speed.

If Invincible could hold out for another hour, she would receive the full support of the Grand Fleet.

During that hour, Beatty’s task was simply to do everything in his power to evade the shells fired by Berlin.

Unfortunately, Invincible’s maneuverability had already been severely reduced. Even under the cover of darkness, the fires burning aboard the ship made it difficult to conceal her position. Berlin, by contrast, remained hidden in the darkness, revealing herself only through the flashes of her guns when she opened fire.

Beatty could do nothing but hope that Jellicoe would arrive as quickly as possible. Otherwise, the sacrifice he had made would become meaningless.

Would Feng Chengqian give Beatty that chance?

Clearly, knowing that the Grand Fleet was about to arrive, Feng Chengqian would never stay behind to await death merely for the sake of sinking Invincible.