empress ch37

“I see what you mean by a blind man’s archery contest against the Mongols.”

Hipper muttered, gazing at the distant British fleet through his binoculars.

On the vast ocean, devoid of any terrain to conceal oneself except for violent storms or dark clouds, naval reconnaissance was of paramount importance, almost embarrassingly so when compared to its land-based counterpart.

It allowed for a near-certain assessment of the enemy’s detailed size, position, formation, and composition.

And currently, the Imperial forces possessed a reconnaissance capability that was, in comparison to the British, truly ‘overwhelming.’

“Report from the reconnaissance aircraft. British fleet detected 30km northwest. Consisting of 3 Invincible-class, 4 Tiger-class, 2 Queen Elizabeth-class, and 19 other light cruisers.”

Everything is visible. The enemy’s detailed size, position, formation, and even composition. Literally everything is visible.

It felt like looking down at monkeys struggling in the palm of God’s hand.

As an Imperial officer, no, as a commander, how long had it been since he felt such a special sensation?

Is this how the Mongols felt when they looked at the heavy cavalry slowly approaching them? If so… apologies to his ancestors who fought against the Mongols, but he was far too happy at this moment.

He was overjoyed by the fact that an environment had been created where he could freely use absurd tactics that would have previously ended in mere fantasies.

“All ships! Commence firing!”

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Dozens of cannons spewed fire towards the British. Simultaneously, numerous large-caliber shells flew in parabolas towards the enemy’s heads.

However, the results were less impressive than expected, as Admiral Hood had ordered his 3rd Battlecruiser Squadron to break formation and execute free evasive maneuvers.

As mentioned before, naval battles were still, like those of ancient times, a clash of formations.

But breaking formation and ordering free evasive maneuvers was an act of completely abandoning offensive power.

However, Admiral Hood’s judgment was not wrong at all. No, it was actually a quite rational decision. In front of the Imperial fleet, Admiral Hood’s 3rd Battlecruiser Squadron was a mere handful of forces.

But if things continued this way, constantly repeating evasive maneuvers would inevitably lead to being hit by a ‘lucky shot’ from the Imperial battleships and becoming fish food. Admiral Hood soon made a decision.

“All destroyer squadrons, charge the Imperial fleet.”

This was essentially ordering his destroyer squadrons to commit suicide to buy time. But they were ready to die for their country at any moment.

Dozens of destroyers and light cruisers broke away from the formation and charged towards the Imperial forces to a distance of 10km, which, in a naval battle where the basic engagement range exceeded 15km, was considered ‘close combat,’ and began firing torpedoes.

Of course, their brave but reckless charge was futilely crushed by the Imperial forces’ shelling.

“Fire!”

Destroyers and cruisers were ‘auxiliary ships’ that supported battleships. Naturally, unless it was a surprise attack at night, a frontal charge under a clear sky was like infantry charging into a machine gun nest.

“Ugh!?”

In the end, the British destroyers had no choice but to flee in vain, without inflicting any significant damage on the Empire.

But they had very successfully achieved their original goal: ‘to buy time until Admiral Hood and Beatty’s fleet could retreat.’

“Tch… torpedoes… Evasive maneuvers! Evasive maneuvers!”

No one was foolish enough to take a direct hit from a deadly torpedo. In the end, the Imperial forces broke formation and began evasive maneuvers to avoid the torpedoes flying towards them.

Naturally, the Imperial forces’ pursuit was temporarily halted, and in that gap, the British reconnaissance fleet and the 3rd Battlecruiser Squadron used their speed to shake off the Imperial forces’ pursuit and join the main British fleet.

Up to this point, the fleet battle in the North Sea could be said to be a clear and overwhelming victory for the Holy Roman Empire.

The British had lost 5 battlecruisers and various cruisers and destroyers, while the Imperial forces had only suffered major damage to one battlecruiser.

But Admirals Jellicoe and Hipper knew instinctively.

The real battle was about to begin.

The Imperial forces’ goal was to gain naval superiority in the North Sea at this very moment and engage the British fleet in an all-or-nothing battle, inflicting as much damage as possible.

The British goal was to drive the chimera named the Imperial forces, which dared to poke its head beyond the North Sea, back into its ports.

Neither side had yet achieved what they wanted. And war was something that only ended when one side got what it wanted.

Three hours later.

“The seaplanes are reporting that their fuel is running dangerously low.”

“I see. Then allow them to retreat.”

Hipper stroked his chin and thought. It felt like he had opened his eyes for a brief moment, only to return to being blind again.

Of course, the scenery he had witnessed when he opened his eyes for that brief moment was incredibly beautiful. But the sense of loss he felt when he closed his eyes again was also indescribably great.

Ha… He sighed and muttered the emperor’s words.

“Your Majesty was right. It really was an archery contest between a blind man and the Mongols.”

Of course, even though they were currently blind, there was no major change in what they had to do. Neutralize as many British battleships as possible. In other words, take as many enemies with them as possible. That was all.

‘Should I send the battlecruiser squadron forward again for reconnaissance?’

No. Currently, our fleet is quite close to the British fleet. If we send the battlecruiser squadron, there is a possibility that we will encounter the Anglo-French combined fleet before we can rejoin the battlecruiser squadron.

The opposite is also true. In fact, the decision to abandon the battlecruiser squadron and engage the enemy in battle is not exactly a ‘correct’ decision.

“Hmm…”

If I were the British commander, what decision would I make?

If I were the British commander, I would use my superior strength to crush the Imperial fleet.

Of course, our forces themselves surpassed the British fleet, but the centuries of British strategy and tactics were enough to bridge the gap between our navy and theirs.

‘We are not defending, but breaking through. So we will continue to move north. No. To be precise, we will be expected to continue to move north.’

Then the British will move south-west to form a T-formation against us.

On the other hand, what we want is a decisive battle, a single, all-or-nothing battle.

“All ships! Advance west!”

Admiral Jellicoe thought. The Imperial bastards were aiming to break through the North Sea and open up the blocked sea route. But that was a miscalculation.

“Crazy bastards…”

If that wasn’t the case, there would be no reason to carry out such a maneuver.

“Sir, Imperial fleet ahead! Austria, Imperator Franz, Landsknecht, Metternich… Uh, there are a lot of them!”

The only thing the Imperial bastards wanted was one thing! A clash of blood and steel, with everything on the line!

“Turn 22 degrees to starboard! Press their head…”

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The Imperial cannons spewed orange flames and spat out shells.

“Damn it…”

How long would it take for those shells to reach the main ship? 10 seconds? 5 seconds?

In any case, one thing was certain. It was already too late to change formation.

“Maintain formation and pour all the shells we have into those bastards! That’s an order! Show those bastards our power!”

Immediately afterwards, the Anglo-French combined fleet also began firing.

Now all that remained was a battle of blood, steel, and gunpowder.

Ka-boom!

The first to explode were the Pre-dreadnought battleships. As outdated battleships, they struggled to withstand even the 12-inch cannons of their own class, let alone the 15-inch cannons of the latest battleships.

The next to explode were the battlecruisers. It was nearly impossible for eggs armed with hammers to survive in the midst of a battle between giants.

The next were the steel monsters created by mankind. The battleships.

The shelling of large-caliber cannons exceeding 15 inches was enough to pierce the armor plates that they had confidently declared invincible and detonate the ammunition depots hidden deep inside.

And what remained was blood.

Blood, blood, an endless, immense amount of blood.

The battleships, once so revered, became coffins filled with countless neighbors, friends, and family, and were buried deep in the seabed.

The slaughter between the two nations only ended after the sun had completely set.

The Battle of the North Sea, the largest naval battle in human history, ended in that way.