Starting with the smashing of Dunkirk

Chapter 83 Hipper bravely slays the Warspite, David Beatty cuts off the tail to survive (8,000-word chapter)
February 19th, 6:50 AM, just as dawn was breaking over the Beihai Sea.

In the bridge command tower of the HMS Queen Elizabeth, David Beatty, who had been exhausted all day and had just dozed off for a short while, was suddenly awakened by the alarm sound of his subordinates.

"Commander! Head 75, distance 24 kilometers, enemy fleet spotted! 4 battlecruisers, 2 armored cruisers, and several light cruisers and destroyers, suspected to be Hipper's fleet!"

David Betty's dazed and confused state lasted less than ten seconds before he rubbed his face hard to force himself to come back to his senses.

"What? That's impossible! Weren't Hipper's warships severely damaged three months ago and have been waiting for repairs in Antwerp?"

"Even if the Demacian Navy has the resources to repair the large shipyards within Billygin, it shouldn't be repaired so quickly! Could it be that Hipper, that madman, is going into battle injured?"

David Betty quickly went through all the possible contingencies in his mind, but in the end, this was the only possibility he could think of.

More than three months ago, Hipper's four ships were all hit by his own warships and fled in disarray, billowing smoke. Betty had done all of this himself and witnessed it firsthand, and he was absolutely confident in his victory.

Moreover, after the war, Hipper did indeed send a secret telegram to the Demanian Navy requesting assistance and asking for the expansion of the shipyard for ship repairs.

Bretonnia also widely publicized and downplayed the defeat, claiming that Beatty had severely damaged Hipper's four battlecruisers, leaving them all with only a sliver of health, as the truth.

A lie repeated a thousand times becomes the truth. Although Betty hadn't been able to observe the damage to the ships up close, after hearing it so many times, he began to believe it himself.
His subconscious gradually altered his memories, and with each recollection, he felt that the damage those shots had inflicted on Hipper had increased several times over.

It must have been a critical hit from every shot that caused this terrible damage.

But none of that matters now. The real issue is how to deal with Hipper's four recklessly damaged battlecruisers.

Betty glanced at her forces. She had 13 warships. How could she possibly lose to Hipper, who only had 4 battlecruisers and 2 armored cruisers?
Even if several of my own ships are also severely damaged, including two with their firepower completely destroyed, Hipper can't take advantage of that!

Beatty immediately ordered all ships to turn to 345 degrees, which is 15 degrees west of due north, and to cruise at full speed, to meet Hipper's charge head-on in a T-formation!
Of course, Beatty also sent a telegram requesting that her own battleships in the near sea and those on alert in various northern ports also send reinforcements to this area.

The war has been going on for so long, and so many unexpected things have happened. Even the main battleships of the Burgh forces deployed in Scapa Flow and Edinburgh have sailed south.

Similarly, within Demania, since the fierce naval battle broke out last night, the High Seas Fleet of Wilhelmshaven has also temporarily dispatched two additional battleship squadrons, each with six dreadnoughts, to provide support, one after the other.

If Beatty and Hipper drag on long enough, and the naval battle lasts all day, then reinforcements from both sides could arrive on the battlefield.

……

"Betty seems quite confident in her condition, actually wanting to fight me head-on instead of trying to escape and get back to her home port as soon as possible."

Inside the bridge of the Derfflinger, Hipper saw that Beatty had set up a formidable battle formation, and the distance between the two sides had been reduced to less than 20 kilometers. He decisively ordered the fleet to turn to the 190-degree direction.

That is, it is in a relatively parallel position to Betty's line, but at a slight angle of about 25 degrees. However, at the same time, the two sides are heading in opposite directions.

In this way, Hipper could continue to close the distance with Beatty and gradually enter engagement range. At the same time, he could keep up with the tail of Beatty's slower fleet and pull further and further away from the head of Beatty's fleet.

Hipper dared to do this because he had noticed Betty's unusual behavior and had gathered the intelligence—Betty's fleet contained several slow-moving pre-dreadnoughts and several heavily damaged warships with significantly reduced speed. These ships would inevitably fall behind the formation if they couldn't pick up speed.

Hipper's fleet was in excellent condition, with all battlecruisers able to maintain speeds of over 26 knots and armored cruisers able to maintain 24 knots.

As long as Hipper focuses on finishing off the enemy's slower and lagging ships, Beatty will have no choice but to change tactics! She either has to send her high-speed warships back to chase Hipper, or she can only watch helplessly as the slower ships are finished off!

"Damn it, he's planning to bypass my high-speed main force and target my slow ships first! Change formation! All warships turn around on the spot! Dreadnoughts become the vanguard, battlecruisers become the rearguard, press forward! Shorten the distance between ships and switch to the densest column formation! Don't give the enemy a chance to defeat us one by one!"
The four pre-dreadnoughts formed a separate battleline, positioning themselves as far back as possible to create distance from the enemy and await the arrival of the battlecruiser squadron!

Upon seeing this, Betty decisively implemented a series of tactical changes. Previously, the Burmese fleet had been using a relatively conventional formation with a spacing of over 3 kilometers between each ship. After the change, the spacing was reduced to 2 kilometers between each ship.

This distance is already quite dangerous at sea, increasing the risk of collisions, and changing formations in case of an emergency could easily lead to chaos. But in order to avoid being picked off one by one by the enemy, he had no choice but to do so.

Especially now in February, the North Sea is experiencing high winds and rough seas in the dead of winter. The battlefield here is no longer off the coast of Dunkirk, but has moved dozens of kilometers to the north in the open sea, where the sea conditions are even more severe, and the close-in weapon system would greatly reduce the margin for error.

Betty's choice was the best of all the options he could have made, but unfortunately, changing the formation takes time, and it can't be done in less than twenty or thirty minutes of adjustment.

With the two sides already within 20 kilometers, Hipper took advantage of the time difference caused by the enemy's change of formation to further close the distance and cut to the rear of Beatty's formation—something Beatty could not avoid, as his fleet had a weakness in overall speed, and the pre-dreadnoughts were not able to form an effective battle formation with the battlecruisers.

Before Beatty's battlecruisers arrived at the battlefield, Hipper first closed the distance with the last ship of Beatty's formation to within 15 kilometers. Then, with a relatively advantageous approach angle, he concentrated the guns of the four battlecruisers and opened fire on the pre-dreadnought "Hybernia" at the rear of Beatty's formation from a distance of 13 to 15 kilometers.

The HMS Hybernia also raised its guns to their highest elevation, firing with all its might regardless of whether its fire control system could support such long-range accuracy. The HMS Africa and HMS Dominion followed closely behind, firing with great effort, but it seemed that their shells were barely reaching that distance.

At an engagement distance of about 15 kilometers, coupled with the deceleration effect of air resistance, the shells were falling at an angle of about 30 degrees.

The protective designs of the old-style pre-dreadnoughts were all designed for engagements within 10 kilometers in the old era. There were no high-altitude ballistic trajectories in that era, so the main armor belt on the sides was very thick, but the horizontal armor was very thin—for example, the main armor belt on the sides of these "Edward VII" class ships was 228 mm thick, but the horizontal armor was only 50 mm thick.

Before Beatty joined the artillery battle with her high-speed battlecruiser, Hipper had already hit the Hybernia with one 280mm armor-piercing shell and one 305mm armor-piercing shell thanks to the 20-minute time difference he gained.

One of the 305mm armor-piercing rounds from the Seydlitz easily pierced the horizontal armor and then two layers of structural steel before exploding inside the compartment.

Fortunately, the pre-dreadnoughts used triple-expansion reciprocating steam engines, not steam turbines, so the engine compartments were not as long and narrow as the later engine rooms, and the machines were more robust and durable.

The shot hit the joint of the engine room, but did not damage the steam engine. It only damaged several boilers on the lower port side, causing the warship to lose nearly half of its boiler steam output and its speed to drop sharply from 19 knots to 13 knots.

When Beatty led her high-speed fleet into firing range, she watched helplessly as the "Hybernia" was half-crippled. Enraged, she engaged in a fierce, hand-to-hand combat with Hipper.

"Boom boom boom~"

In a short time, dozens of Royal Navy 305mm heavy guns, 12 343mm heavy guns (the 13.5-inch guns of the "Lion" class), and 6 380mm heavy guns entered firing range one after another within half an hour, firing in turn, the sound shaking the sea and sky.

Magnificent columns of water, like monuments, rise majestically from the sea, causing steel structures tens or even hundreds of meters away to tremble.

Hipper retaliated just as fiercely, firing in turn from 16 305mm guns and 16 280mm guns at the HMS New Zealand and HMS Indomitable, which were leading the charge after Beatty's fleet turned.
Because of Betty's sudden turn, his original formation, which had the damaged and slow-moving ships at the back, now saw the damaged warships leading the charge. In particular, those warships that were damaged but not in their propulsion systems were involuntarily thrust to the forefront.

The two sides exchanged shells frequently at a distance of 15 to 18 kilometers. Since neither side had locked onto a target and was still calibrating, each turret was firing test shots in turn, rather than firing a salvo.

This probing process can easily last 20 minutes or even half an hour. In adverse weather or sea conditions, the calibration process can take even longer.

In the North Sea during winter, there is often still fog in the early morning, which also affects observation. Both sides maintained a high speed, which further reduced the stability of their shooting. They fired at each other for half an hour without hitting anyone.

Beatty was keen to reduce to cruising speed to gain a more stable firing platform. Unfortunately, Hipper wouldn't let him succeed, and all the boats were pulled to 24 knots.

Hipper knew very well that a significant portion of Beatty's fleet could not reach 24 knots. If he maintained the fleet's high speed, Beatty would either have to give up or be pulled out of formation.

As they continued their pursuit, Beatty also noticed the problem. So he decisively ordered all the former dreadnoughts to stop fighting. These ships were only fit for shore bombardment and would only be a burden if they stayed on the battlefield, unable to catch up with the enemy.

The last three undamaged pre-dreadnoughts of the Burma fleet—the Edward VII-class HMS Dominion, HMS Africa, and HMS Hindustan—broke away from the formation and headed back towards their home port of Dover. Meanwhile, HMS Hybernia, with its boilers damaged, could only operate at 13 knots and reluctantly followed suit.

After a brief tug-of-war between Hipper and Betty, Hipper deliberately lured Betty south to keep her distance, and it gradually came to past 8:30 in the morning.

As the sun rose higher, the fog dissipated somewhat, and the snowflakes in the sky became smaller.

From the southeast, towards the port of Dunkirk, a reconnaissance squadron from the De Mania Air Force finally flew in this direction. Soon after, reconnaissance aircraft from the west, towards Dover, and even to the southwest, towards Calais, also arrived to provide support.

The two sides engaged in a fairly intense air battle in the nearby airspace. The French and Burgundian aircraft that came this time were all equipped with heavy machine guns. It was clear that they had learned their lesson after suffering losses in the recent air battles with Demania and dared not come without heavy machine guns.

However, installing heavy machine guns means that large, two-seater aircraft must be used, and the number that can be mobilized will be far less than that of the Demacian army.

The Demania military can equip even the light "Dove" reconnaissance aircraft with an MG15 air-cooled light machine gun and belt-fed ammunition.

The overwhelming numerical superiority, coupled with the tactical training of Immelmann and others, allowed the Demania reconnaissance aircraft to maintain a clear air superiority.

With the reconnaissance aircraft providing the information and calibration, Beatty quickly realized that even with just a few high-speed battlecruisers that had caught up with Hipper, he still couldn't gain the upper hand in a gunfight.

His own formation was already disjointed; HMS Queen Elizabeth had no firepower, while HMS Warspite, due to excessive flooding and slow speed, had fallen far behind. He could only rely on his 13.5-inch and 12-inch guns to fight Hipper on equal terms.

Hipper's artillery skills, aided by aerial fire correction, allowed him to aim several times faster than Betty.

Around 9 a.m., Hipper's two Derfflinger-class ships hit the HMS New Zealand and HMS Indomitable three times in succession.

The Indomitable had already been repeatedly damaged in its previous battles against coastal defense guns and the Brunswick-class pre-dreadnoughts, with its firepower almost completely destroyed. This time, it was only able to join the battle by relying on its relatively intact propulsion system to help its allies share the damage and buy time.

As if things weren't bad enough, the ship was hit by three more shells, suffering extremely severe damage, and the entire ship was engulfed in flames. Two holes were also blown through the main armor belt, one of which, close to the waterline, caused flooding.

Betty knew that if she let the Indomitable share the firepower, something terrible would happen, so she quickly ordered the Indomitable to retreat while it was engulfed in flames.

While the HMS New Zealand suffered further damage and the HMS Indomitable was forced to retreat due to fire, Beatty's main fleet only managed two hits on the HMS Setriel. The ratio of hits between the two sides was a staggering 3 to 1.

Beatty's subsequent ships, unable to find positions to fire at the Demacian battlecruisers and unwilling to waste time, had no choice but to turn their guns around and waste their firepower on the two armored cruisers, the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, at the back of Hipper's formation—which was exactly what Hipper wanted to see.

Hipper led these two armored cruisers with the aim of using their 240mm guns to "wash the decks" of enemy ships several times and destroy some of their superstructures in order to weaken the enemy's combat performance.

Secondly, these ships' rapid-fire main guns can be used to block the torpedo attacks of enemy light cruisers and destroyers.

Thirdly, Hipper's fleet of large warships was too small, so he needed to use some inexpensive secondary warships to share the enemy's firepower with his main ships.

Just like in Earth's history, the Bismarck carried the Prinz Eugen to share the enemy's firepower.

The Scharnhorst-class battlecruiser had a top speed of only 24 knots. After wasting the firepower of the HMS Warspite, which was at the back of Beatty's fleet, and two other battlecruisers for more than half an hour, the Scharnhorst was unfortunately hit by a 380mm heavy armor-piercing shell and was soon on its last legs.

The Gneisenau was also hit by two 305mm guns in succession. One penetrated the stern, causing significant flooding, while the other struck the main armor, rendering both 240mm main gun turrets on the aft deck unusable. Upon learning of the situation, Hipper decisively ordered the Scharnhorst to be abandoned, instructing the crew to launch as many lifeboats as possible and evacuate quickly, hoping that their large torpedo boat squadron could recover and rescue the crew.

If the situation becomes unfavorable, the Gneisenau may be abandoned at the discretion of the ship's management.

During the time gained by Scharnhorst being destroyed and Gnaeus being crippled at the end of the battle line, Hipper's four capital ships gained a clear advantage in the first half of the battle line.

The Burkina Faso ship "New Zealand" finally succumbed to the continuous concentrated fire from the four capital ships. After being hit by more than a dozen large-caliber shells, it finally suffered several small explosions. Combined with the excessive flooding that had previously penetrated too many compartments, it eventually struggled and sank into the sea.

This was also the first battlecruiser of the Royal Britannian Navy to be sunk since the start of World War II.

This ship had been damaged more than three months earlier, during the final stages of the Battle of Ostend, when it was attempting to intercept Hipper's return to his home port of Wilhelmshaven.

HMS Australia was hit by seven shells and was severely damaged, requiring extensive repairs at the shipyard, which would take at least six months to recover. HMS New Zealand was only hit by two shells and was repaired for three months before returning to service. However, it was severely damaged again in the fierce battle of Neoport last night, and after being hit repeatedly, it finally succumbed to the fire and sank.

If the war had ended there, Hipper's results would have been quite good. He had lost a well-maintained armored cruiser in exchange for a half-crippled battlecruiser of the Burgundian army.

There's a significant difference between abandoning a heavily damaged and combat-ineffective warship and sinking it outright. German ships often had better waterproofing, so even if they were completely destroyed, abandoning ship could still save the majority of the crew. In contrast, a Blazeev warship, even if it slowly sinks after taking on water, would still suffer more than half of its crew casualties.

Moreover, today's battle is far from over and cannot be stopped at this point.

The brutal, hand-to-hand combat between the two sides continued unabated, with Hipper maintaining a more than double accuracy advantage thanks to his aerial intelligence.

Hipper always adhered to the principle of "kicking the cripple's only good leg," so he focused on killing the wounded warships under Betty's command first.

Shortly after, he blasted the Bujörköping battlecruiser into a massive fire. The ship had been hit by a total of five 305mm and 280mm armor-piercing shells, tearing two large holes in its main armor belt and leaking its inner heavy oil tanks, causing a large amount of fuel to spill onto the sea surface, creating a sea of ​​fire. The entire ship was billowing thick smoke, and the hull showed obvious signs of listing.

The only comparable result achieved by the Blüchers in this process was to further cripple the already damaged Gneisenau, while also working together to severely damage Hipper's Blücher battlecruiser. Throughout the fierce battle, the 13.5-inch guns of Beatty's two Lion-class battlecruisers were almost constantly focused on the Blücher.

As one of the oldest first-generation German-made battlecruisers, the von der Tann-class, the Blücher's protection had certain shortcomings. Its armor thickness was indeed insufficient against 13.5-inch calibers. Multiple vital structural components were torn apart, its power decreased, and water ingress gradually reached over a thousand tons, and was still pouring in.

However, the Blücher's firepower and fire control capabilities remained in good condition; the damage it suffered was mainly due to flooding and power issues.

Seeing that the Demacian fleet had suffered almost no firepower loss, while he himself had severely damaged and sunk one battlecruiser each, Beatty could no longer help but feel terrified as the battle progressed to this point.

Looking at the planes in the sky, he knew he had chosen the wrong battlefield. If he continued fighting, even if he won, he would have to pay several times the price. And the chances of winning were extremely slim.

The warships were in terrible condition, all the soldiers were at their physical and mental limits, their tactical and technical skills had declined, and their fire control and observation capabilities had deteriorated to an appalling degree.

Realizing her recklessness and helplessness, Betty had the first thought of giving up.

Only when the Empire's air force catches up with the gap and rebuilds its aerial reconnaissance advantage, and when its own soldiers are back to normal, can it avenge today's blood debt and wipe away the shame.

Looking at his own damaged warships, he decisively ordered: "All warships with intact engines, retreat immediately! Do not linger in battle!"

The reason he insisted on fighting to the death was because he had too many damaged warships with low speed, making it impossible for them to leave. Now that the Demacians have helped him destroy one already heavily damaged ship and another is on its last legs, he can finally make the tough decision to abandon them.

After the order was given, the remaining four battlecruisers and the battleship HMS Queen Elizabeth all chose to disperse. Although HMS Princess Royal was also slightly damaged, it did not affect the retreat at all.

Only the battleship HMS Warspite, due to excessive flooding, was likely doomed, just like HMS Inexhaustible. Captain Howard, captain of HMS Warspite, radioed that he would continue the counterattack and, together with HMS Inexhaustible, buy time for the main fleet to create distance.

The Hyperion, whose speed was reduced after being severely damaged, also made a similar choice.

The Warspite, the Tireless, and the Hybernia headed toward the Demanians' crippled battlecruiser Blücher and armored cruiser Gneisenau, adopting a desperate stance.

Knowing that its speed was also decreasing and that it was unlikely to escape, the Blücher adopted a sideways approach and opened fire on the oncoming Warspite with all eight of its main guns.

The stern firepower of the "Warspite" was already almost completely destroyed, so now that it was facing the enemy from the bow, all four forward-facing main guns could be used effectively, so it wasn't a complete loss.

The two sides exchanged shells fiercely. Hipper, with the other three battlecruisers, first focused fire on the weaker HMS Indulgence, and then on HMS Warspite.

In close-quarters combat within 10 kilometers, after only half an hour of exchange of fire, the Indulgence finally exploded and sank. Before sinking, the Indulgence had also managed to hit the Blücher with at least five 305mm shells and the Von der Tann with two. The Blücher was completely wrecked, with its firepower, fire control, and propulsion all severely damaged.

Subsequently, all four German ships turned their fire on the Warspite, quickly inflicting further damage and destroying almost the entire superstructure.

"The new battleship with 15-inch main guns is really tough. Was its armor designed to withstand 15-inch guns? Our 11-inch guns can hardly penetrate it, and our 12-inch guns can only penetrate some very minor areas."

Hipper was deeply shocked by the sturdiness of the core armor box section of the "Warspite"; it was practically an iron turtle.

Using an 11-12 inch cannon to fight this kind of monster is too overconfident.

The Blücher had already been hit multiple times by 13.5-inch guns and had been fighting back and forth with the Indulgence for so long. Now, with the Warspite getting closer and closer, and bombarding it continuously with 15-inch guns at close range, the Blücher's main armor belt was finally blasted with several huge holes, and seawater rushed in. The starboard side also listed downwards at a 30-degree angle, and it was already in a precarious situation.

The main gun turrets of the "Blücher" completely lost their firing angle; even with the gun barrels raised to their highest elevation, they couldn't reach the "Warspite." The shells didn't fly far before falling directly into the sea due to their low angle.

If it weren't for the other three battlecruisers, Hipper, continuously firing their weapons and completely destroying Warspite's firepower system, turning it into a dead fish with no firepower or power and taking on thousands of tons of water, the situation would probably have been even more dire.

"Commander, should we send a large torpedo boat to execute it? The battle over there on the 'Hybernia' is over. The 'Seidlitz' sank the 'Hybernia,' but before it died, the 'Hybernia' also managed to take one down with it, completely destroying our heavily damaged armored cruiser 'Gneisenau.' The captain has already ordered it abandoned."

Hipper looked blankly at the half-dead HMS Warspite in the distance, nodded silently, and signaled the destroyer to go forward and execute it.

However, the order was not successfully executed in the end—just as the destroyer was about to move forward and finish off the enemy with torpedoes, Hipper discovered that the side of the Warspite facing him was tilting up—it seemed that the other side was taking on too much water and the list was approaching 30 degrees.

Due to the severe listing, a section of the hull on the starboard side of the HMS Warspite was raised and exposed.

The main armor belt of the Burkina Faso battleships was notoriously "belt armor." While the Queen Elizabeth-class battleships were somewhat better, the portion of the armor belt extending underwater was still very shallow.

After the bottom of the ship was exposed, Hipper keenly noticed this and ordered the Derfflinger to flatten the muzzle as much as possible and press it against the gunnery drills.

Several 305mm armor-piercing shells hit the Warspite in succession in areas that were originally submerged underwater and not covered by the main armor, successfully creating several huge breaches.

Seawater surged in from this side, quickly relieving Warwear's list symptoms and causing the side that had been tilted up to sink back down, thus eliminating the need for further treatment.

The warspite, having taken on too much water, quickly sank to the bottom of the sea.

Because of the delay caused by "war weariness," the other Burgundian fleets had already gone far away, and Hipper could no longer pursue them.

In the battle just now, all three of his surviving battlecruisers were damaged and in poor condition. If he tried to catch up, it would be like trying to fight a wolf with a stick, where he would be afraid of both sides.

When Hipper retreated, he chose to sail south close to the coast of Bilikin first, and then turn east to return to his home port.

The Blücher was eventually towed to the vicinity of Zeebrugge with the help of its teammates, but it was too flooded to be saved and sank in the near sea outside the port. All the survivors were safely transferred.

Fortunately, the "Blücher's" fate was not unique. During the evacuation of Beatty's ship, the already heavily damaged and near-death "Indomitable" also succumbed to fire, rough seas, and increased flooding, running aground and sinking near Dover. All personnel were evacuated.

This pursuit ultimately resulted in the Hipper fleet sinking one battlecruiser, the Blücher, two armored cruisers, and five large torpedo boats/destroyers.

取得了击沉皇家海军1艘“伊丽莎白女王级”战列舰（厌战）、击沉3艘战巡（不挠、纽西兰、不倦）、重创1艘战巡（皇家公主）、击沉1艘前无畏舰（海伯尼亚）、2艘轻巡洋舰（“林仙级”的无常、无惧）、6艘驱逐舰的胜利。

The two light cruisers lost by the Burkina Faso were sunk by Hipper's armored cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. The Scharnhorsts not only drew a lot of enemy fire, but also used their 240mm guns, firing a salvo every 12 seconds, to stop some torpedo attacks by Burkina Faso auxiliary ships, so they died a worthwhile death.

戴维.贝蒂最终在2月20日凌晨，带着火力全毁的“伊丽莎白女王号”，和4艘战巡（3完好，1小残）、3艘前无畏回到了港口。

Dover and other major Royal Navy bases were shrouded in gloom. Such rapid changes in just a few days were difficult for everyone to adapt to and unimaginable.

After initial inspections in dry dock, HMS Queen Elizabeth was determined to require at least a year of repairs before it could be put back into service.

The repair time is already more than half the time required to rebuild a ship, and it will be at least until the second half of 1916 before the ship can be put back into service.

On the Burma side, in the final battle, only the crews of the HMS Warspite, HMS Inexhaustible, and HMS Hyberia were all killed or captured. The crews of the other Burma ships that sank were able to be rescued to some extent, especially the HMS Unyielding, which "died after returning to the rear," and basically all of its crew members were rescued.

Ultimately, Hipper's fleet suffered 1020 dead or drowned and 735 wounded in the battle.

Beatty's fleet suffered 4560 casualties (killed, drowned, or captured) and 954 wounded. (Betty escaped, so Hipper won the right to clean up the battlefield. Some of Beatty's crew were rescued and captured by the enemy, while none of Hipper's men were captured.)

After the battle, the Demacian Navy had three battlecruisers left in the North Sea, but all of them were damaged and would require 2 to 6 months of repairs before they could be put back into combat.

The Defflinger suffered the least damage and is expected to return to service in early May after assessment. The Von der Tann will be able to return in June, while the Seydlitz will have to wait until autumn.

On the Bretonnians' side, although Beatty only managed to escape with four battlecruisers, HMS Tiger was already on other missions, patrolling and blocking the Faroe Islands shipping lanes to the north, and did not arrive. HMS Lion and HMS Australia, which were damaged in previous battles, are currently under repair.

The Burkina Faso Navy ordered all shipyards to shift their focus to repairing old ships. After assessment, it was determined that the HMS Lion and the recently damaged HMS Royal Princess would be able to return to service by summer. The HMS Australia would also be able to return to service by autumn.

Therefore, after both sides' battlecruisers were repaired, the ratio of battlecruisers in the North Sea Theater remained 7 to 3, with the advantage lying in the deployment (originally 10 to 4).

However, the Britannians currently have no battlecruisers under construction that are nearing completion. The two "Reputation-class" battlecruisers that they just started construction on in January of this year will not be commissioned for at least 18 months.

The Demanians also have two follow-up ships of the "Defflinger-class" that have been under construction for almost two years. The third ship will be commissioned in the second quarter of this year, and the fourth ship will be commissioned in the third quarter.

By the second half of this year, the ratio of combat patrols between the two sides in the North Sea Theater will become 7 to 5, and if nothing unexpected happens, this ratio can continue for another year.

Given the navy's outstanding performance since the start of the war, the emperor and the Ministry of War of this world may be willing to invest more resources in the navy in the future.

(End of this chapter)