Chapter 263: Spee Toys with the Mediterranean Fleet! |
"Report, Commander! We have confirmed the enemy fleet's information. It consists of the battleships Barham and Bellerophon, the battlecruiser Tiger, two pre-dreadnoughts, and several other auxiliary vessels!"
On the bridge of the Goeben, Admiral Spee swiftly received the report from the observation officers, a faint smile touching his lips.
Major General Lelouch's words were like a divine revelation. Every time he warned, "Be careful not to let the enemy do such and such," his words ultimately came true.
As expected, Britannia had made a move against the Italy fleet. And, true to form, the Italy fleet's will to fight was far higher than their army's, causing the Britannia forces to miscalculate and resulting in mutual devastation.
This was the perfect opportunity to strike while the enemy was weak and finish them off! Since they had crossed paths, how could they miss this chance?
Relying on long-range observations, the quick-witted and highly professional Admiral Spee made several brilliant tactical judgments.
"According to the radio broadcasts from the Italy garrison at the Port of Taranto, the Brit Nation fleet suffered continuous bombardment from coastal defense guns as they fled the port. Most of their damage must be concentrated at their sterns.
"Now that Robeck's capital ships are running the moment they see us, it proves he knows his combat strength is compromised and he can't defeat us. We shouldn't try to close the distance immediately. Instead, we'll cut in from behind and fight a pursuit battle. The enemy ships definitely won't be able to bring their rear firepower to bear!"
Robeck's Brit Nation Mediterranean Fleet was to the northwest, and Count Spee's Demania Black Sea Fleet was to the southeast. The two sides were approaching each other at an acute angle.
However, Spee decisively chose a route that would prolong the pursuit and slow the rate of closure.
He did not sail in a straight diagonal line toward the projected intercept point ahead of the enemy's course. Instead, he deliberately veered slightly to the right, trailing directly behind the enemy's current path before biting onto their tails and slowly closing in (as shown in the diagram below).
It was common knowledge that the shortest distance between two points was a straight line. Taking a slightly curved route to get behind the enemy before chasing them forward would be slower.
By doing this, Spee was essentially trading a delay of one to two hours before engaging to ensure he could fire from the enemy's rear when he entered the battlefield. The rear main guns of the enemy's capital ships had just been heavily damaged, drastically reducing their firepower.
This was a trade-off between time and the density of the enemy's counterattack fire.
Sharpening the axe does not delay the work of chopping wood.
Merely ten minutes after Spee executed this turn, Admiral Robeck recognized his intent.
It was too despicable! He actually wanted to flank their rear!
At first, Robeck wanted to put up a struggle, so he immediately ordered the destroyer flotilla to turn and meet the Demania capital ships head-on. By firing a few torpedoes at maximum range, he hoped to deter the Demania forces from using this formation for their pursuit.
But as soon as Robeck gave the order, several captains of the destroyer squadron reported, "Our ship has already exhausted its torpedoes in the previous battle."
Many destroyers of this era were unable to reload torpedoes at sea. They fired the torpedoes pre-loaded into their tubes before leaving port, and then had to return for resupply.
The technology for reloading torpedoes at sea wasn't fully mature even by the early stages of World War II. Even with such technology, reloading required four to eight hours of operation, demanding extremely stable ship conditions and navigation. Reloading while sailing at high speeds was absolutely impossible.
The Brit Nation Mediterranean Fleet, however, had fought several battles in succession. Just yesterday, they frantically launched torpedoes to ambush the Italy fleet in the harbor, and later fought two more skirmishes against the Italy patrol fleet. Before returning to Malta, where could they possibly reload and resupply their torpedoes?
Therefore, most of the remaining nineteen destroyers under Robeck's command were all bark and no bite. Over half of them could only threaten the enemy with 105mm and 120mm naval guns.
Robeck's scalp tingled with frustration at these complaints, but after some thought, he decided to take the risk. "Continue with the orders! Destroyers without torpedoes are not to get too close to the enemy ships; simply suppress them from a distance. The enemy doesn't necessarily know we're out of torpedoes!"
Robeck clearly hoped to use this tactic to scare the enemy again. If it could stall them for a few more hours, it would be worth it.
"The Britannia forces have realized we intend to flank their rear, so they've sent a destroyer flotilla to intercept us head-on. Are they planning a torpedo strike? Order the Breslau, the Stralsund, the Dresden, and the Nautilus to meet them at full speed!"
Upon discovering Robeck's intentions, Spee immediately ordered all four light cruisers in his fleet to engage.
Among these four ships, the first two were Magdeburg-class. They had been sold to Osman alongside two Moltke-class battlecruisers on the eve of the war. Both were equipped with seven 150mm guns, making them cutting-edge light cruisers completed just before the outbreak of hostilities.
However, the Breslau had sustained some damage. During the previous raid on the Suez Canal at Port Said with the Goeben, it had been hit by a few shells from enemy light cruisers and destroyers. Although its sailing capabilities were unaffected, its combat strength had declined slightly. The Demania Black Sea Fleet's forces were stretched so thin that even damaged ships had to continue fighting, unable to return to port for major repairs.
The other two light cruisers were much older, built before 1910 and sold to Osman long ago. The Dresden boasted ten 105mm naval guns and belonged to the same class as the Emden, which had sunk early in the war.
The Nautilus was a light minelayer cruiser with relatively weak firepower, but it could carry four hundred sea mines. When not performing minelaying duties, it could also carry numerous torpedoes, making it an early German attempt at a torpedo cruiser. There was another ship of the same class, the Albatross, in the Home Fleet; only two had been built in total, and this one was sold to Osman.
The screening fleets of both sides soon became locked in a fierce melee. The German 105mm naval guns rapidly pummeled the Brit Nation destroyers into a steady retreat. In just over half an hour of fierce vanguard combat, four British destroyers were sunk by concentrated shellfire.
Although the German warships also took many small-caliber shells, the 120mm and smaller munitions could hardly inflict fatal, sinking blows to the light cruisers. At most, they could only cripple them. As a result, the four German ships traded blows evenly with over a dozen enemy vessels.
More importantly, the Demania light cruisers' fearless, close-quarters charge seemed to have exposed the Britannia forces' true colors—many of their destroyers were merely bluffing! They had run out of torpedoes long ago!
Even if a small fraction of the destroyers still had torpedoes, they were reluctant to waste them in a clash against light cruisers, hoping instead to threaten the Demania battlecruisers.
Amid this intense battle, the Demania battlecruisers gradually closed the distance. The twelve 150mm secondary guns and twelve 88mm secondary guns on each Moltke-class ship began furiously firing at the Brit Nation destroyers from a distance of eight to ten kilometers.
Although the hit rate at this range was low, it remained outside of torpedo range, guaranteeing absolute safety.
The German light cruisers held the front line stubbornly, refusing to let the British destroyers get within four kilometers of their battlecruisers, while boldly closing the distance between themselves and the British destroyers to under four kilometers.
Furthermore, while the British destroyers refrained from launching torpedoes, the German Nautilus couldn't hold back and unleashed its entire torpedo payload.
It was clear that the Nautilus knew it wouldn't have the chance to launch torpedoes close to the enemy capital ships in today's engagement. Stockpiling so many torpedoes without using them would cause massive trouble if an enemy hit triggered a magazine explosion. It was better to unleash them all against the destroyer group.
Amidst the chaos of the battle, a Brit Nation destroyer unexpectedly became the first to take a torpedo hit, obliterated instantly by a single strike.
The remaining Brit Nation destroyers, realizing the German battlecruisers were calling their bluff and refusing to back down, gritted their teeth, unleashed all their torpedoes, and then turned tail and fled.
During the fierce exchange, the already damaged German light cruiser Breslau sustained overly severe damage from continuous shellfire. Relentlessly bombarded until its hull breached and it lost speed, it ultimately failed to dodge the enemy's final torpedo salvo. Struck by a torpedo, it sank into the Mediterranean.
However, its military accomplishments in following the Goeben on the surprise attack of the Suez Canal would be forever remembered. In the future, the Empire would surely build a cutting-edge cruiser bearing its name as a replacement.
The Nautilus was also heavily damaged. An artillery strike triggered an explosion in its remaining torpedoes, ultimately forcing the crew to abandon ship.
Yet these sacrifices bought a catastrophic collapse for the Brit Nation screening fleet.
Even before the Breslau was hit by a torpedo, the Brit Nation destroyers had already suffered an accumulated loss of six ships. The subsequent exchange of torpedoes and artillery pursuit claimed three more British destroyers and severely damaged two others.
This meant the British had traded nine destroyers for two Demania light cruisers, one of which was a relatively older light minelayer cruiser. It was not a profitable exchange at all.
The remaining combat-capable destroyers in the Brit Nation Mediterranean Fleet plummeted to a mere eight, and their torpedoes were entirely depleted.
On the Demania side, two lightly damaged light cruisers remained battle-ready alongside nine destroyers in perfect fighting condition (three of which were borrowed from the Romanian Navy). Most importantly, the two Demania battlecruisers were essentially at full combat strength, while the three opposing battleships and battlecruisers were heavily crippled.
Spee continued his pursuit. None of Robeck's armored cruisers or protected cruisers could stop Spee's battlecruisers from closing in.
After taking half an hour of one-sided bombardment to his rear—resulting in another protected cruiser being sunk by a 280mm shell and the Barham's aft deck taking two more hits—Robeck finally lost his temper.
"Turn! Hard right rudder to the northwest! Present our broadsides to the enemy! Barham and Bellerophon, target the Moltke! Tiger, target the Goeben!"
Once the British ships turned, their forward main gun turrets would gain a firing arc, abruptly narrowing the firepower gap between the two sides.
But what was the cost?
The cost was that upon turning, the fleet would no longer be heading toward Malta. Instead, they veered off at an angle of at least sixty degrees. Even if they sailed for several hours before coming about and turning hard left by one hundred and twenty degrees, it would be equivalent to sailing a zigzagging equilateral triangle path, doubling their travel time to Malta.
Should they double their escape time to Malta, or prioritize speed while enduring a helpless beating? Faced with this question, Robeck chose the former.
He would rather be slow than take a beating without fighting back.
Boom! A colossal column of water, kicked up by a 15-inch heavy gun, soon crashed down beside the flank of the battlecruiser Moltke, sending a chill through the Demania men.
Spee's fleet had been operating in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean since the first day of the war. Until now, the soldiers and officers here had never seen the 15-inch main guns of the Queen Elizabeth-class.
"Hiss—is this the might of a 15-inch gun?"
The crewmen, who had previously only ever faced up to 12-inch guns, naturally gasped in shock.
"Return fire! Don't be afraid! The enemy's gunnery accuracy is garbage! Their superstructures and fire control systems suffered catastrophic damage in the previous engagements! They can't aim accurately!"
Over the Moltke's internal comms, the roaring, encouraging shouts of the chief gunnery officer and other fire-control officers periodically leaked through amid the tactical commands.
Although it wasn't entirely their place to say such things, the captain and other senior officers tacitly permitted it, as it boosted morale.
The ordinary sailors quickly calmed down in this atmosphere, loading ammunition and taking aim with their usual meticulous precision.
Over the next ten minutes, the two German ships gradually found their range, landing one lucky shot each on the enemy's Tiger and Barham. Although the shells failed to penetrate fully, they inflicted fresh damage on the opposing British vessels.
The three British ships opposite them were also trending toward finding their marks, but their shell impacts were either three or four hundred meters too far or two or three hundred meters too short. In terms of rangefinding, they were at least five or six calibration salvos away from landing a hit.
The German ships' morale instantly recovered and surged, with all gun emplacements transitioning to rapid fire.
But just then, the decisive Admiral Spee issued an order that baffled his men who were frantically unleashing firepower below.
"Turn! Hard right rudder to open the distance, come about to heading 165, and switch to engaging with our starboard broadside!"
The captains and chief navigators of the two ships below could hardly believe their ears.
Initially, both the enemy and friendly forces were on a heading of 225—sailing precisely southwest, with their bows pointed toward Malta.
Later, suffering continuous, one-sided bombardment to their rears, the three British ships turned sixty degrees north to a heading of 285 to clear the firing arcs for their forward main guns. At that time, the two German ships followed suit, shifting to 285 to parallel the enemy.
But after a mere ten minutes of long-range dueling, just as their side started scoring hits and the enemy was still struggling to find their range—only showing a trend toward finding it—the commander was actually ordering a turn to break off?
Moreover, the commander had specified a hard right rudder. Turning right would indeed open the distance, but the final heading was 165. Didn't that amount to turning 240 degrees?
In other words, a U-turn in place was 180 degrees. The commander wanted to turn right by 240 degrees, which was equivalent to turning left by 120 degrees, wasn't it?
Why not just turn left by 120 degrees directly?
This question briefly bewildered the captains of both ships, but they instantly realized the answer: the enemy was on their port side. Turning left would close the distance, while turning right would open it.
The commander did this to prevent the enemy from easily finding their range and securing a hit. He would rather take the more cumbersome 240-degree right turn than the equivalent but perilous 120-degree left turn.
As for the final heading of 165, this was understandable. They would end up at a 120-degree angle to the enemy ships, allowing them to execute a trailing sword maneuver at long range, ensuring both sides had abysmally low hit rates. However, since their speed was 28.5 knots while the enemy was down to 15 knots, the massive speed disparity meant they would still circle around to blast the enemy's rear!
The commander refused to take a single risk. When the enemy turned, he turned with them, ruthlessly clamping onto their tails—where their aft main turrets were already blown to pieces—and refusing to let go.
If the enemy were unwilling to accept this and wanted to close the distance to avoid being toyed to death by the trailing sword tactic, that was fine too. Then they could just let the fastest battlecruiser, the Tiger, charge forward alone.
But the result of doing so was obvious. The crippled Barham, the antiquated Bellerophon, and those pre-dreadnoughts could never keep up with the Tiger's speed, which remained at a solid 25 knots. If the Tiger charged ahead recklessly, Spee would simply continue to pull away, using his two Moltke-class battlecruisers to gang up on the solitary Tiger.
Would the three capital ships suffer endless delays and tail-chasing, severely hindering their progress toward Malta? After all, as long as they circled the enemy, the enemy could disrupt their heading and speed, preventing them from sailing toward Malta.
Or would they let the Tiger bear the brunt of a one-versus-two disadvantage alone?
Admiral Robeck had to choose to stomach one of these two disadvantageous scenarios; he could not evade both.
It was time for another agonizing dilemma.
After being thoroughly frustrated, Robeck still opted for the former.
Because he knew the Franks' Mediterranean Fleet was also on its way to reinforce them. Even if he were stalled and couldn't return to Malta in time, it didn't matter! As long as the Franks arrived, a mere two Demania battlecruisers would be helpless against him.
"Circle if you want! Delay if you must! At worst, we'll wait for the Franks to arrive and then chase you off completely! I am waiting for the Franks, but what are you waiting for?"
Admiral Robeck couldn't figure out what Spee was waiting for. As he continued to circle with the enemy, it took quite a while before a realization finally dawned in his heart:
Could the enemy be waiting for reinforcements too?!
Moreover, as the two sides kept circling, unable to close the distance, their capital ship main gun duels yielded no results, but the sky was gradually darkening.
If the entirety of June 20th slipped by into dusk, or if the weather worsened into thunderstorms and dark clouds with poor visibility, who knew what unexpected variables might arise.
Ever since their disastrous defeat at Dunkirk last year, the Britannians had faced severe resource shortages. Needing to concentrate resources on accelerating the construction of large warships, the Admiralty had completely scrapped the research lines for both heavy cruisers and submarines. No new submarine construction was initiated; they merely completed the vessels that were already on the assembly lines.
As a result, the Britannia navy now suffered a glaring technological gap in the submarine field, leaving the Mediterranean Fleet without any new submarines to deploy. Ordinarily, this wouldn't matter much, as absolute naval supremacy in the Mediterranean belonged to Britannia. With no enemy transport ships present, there was no need for Brit Nation submarines to execute raiding missions.
But at a critical juncture like this, the Demania forces had taken precautions days in advance, preemptively mobilizing submarines into this potential combat zone.
Some of the Italy submarine units had previously been deployed toward Sicily, or they had missed the interception battle off the coast of Taranto yesterday. However, as long as the Britannia forces wasted enough time circling in the waters east of Sicily, it was entirely possible for some Italy submarines to arrive on the scene.
But until he actually suffered a loss, Admiral Robeck would remain blind to his mistake.
Right now, only one thought consumed him completely: he must not let Count Spee flank his rear! He would drag this out!
