Chapter 27: Both Sides Win So Thoroughly They Are Numb to Victory

After sinking the "Queen," Hipper immediately turned east, with no intention of lingering for further glory or battle.

He gave no thought to how much rage and humiliation his actions that night would inflict upon Minister Wharton. Those were not concerns for a pure soldier. All he wanted now was to retreat to port as quickly as possible and let his men celebrate and relax.

He patrolled the ship in high spirits, even bringing out several bottles of fine wine to share with his crew. However, he soon noticed that the atmosphere among the men was far from relaxed; they remained anxious.

Perplexed, he turned to Lieutenant Lelouch, who accompanied him and possessed a keener eye. Lelouch leaned in and whispered a reminder: "General, you ordered the return voyage along the original route, but you never specified that the final destination was Antwerp. The men don't know this; they assume we are still trying to break through back to Wilhelmshaven. Naturally, they are uneasy."

Hipper was stunned. He reflexively touched his forehead, laughing at himself: "Look at my memory—I was so focused on the fighting that I forgot this detail. I shall announce it immediately to put everyone at ease."

"General, is it truly wise to announce it so quickly?" Lelouch cautioned kindly.

Hipper looked at Lelouch, startled. "What do you mean? We have already won a total victory. Do you have some other trick up your sleeve?"

Lelouch replied, "I do have some insights regarding the details—perhaps a bystander sees more clearly. Please, just hear me out. After this battle, I am about seventy or eighty percent certain that the British have cracked our naval codes. That is how David Beatty was misled and why Hastings was caught off guard. We must guard this secret at all costs, pretending we know nothing even though we do, in hopes of pulling off an even bigger score next time. To do that, you must continue to play the role of someone acting out of 'coincidence and insubordination'..."

Hipper waved his hand impatiently. "You've said all this before! Get to the point!"

Lelouch continued, "The point is, if we return directly to Antwerp, it will appear as though you had planned your escape route all along, rather than having 'no other choice, forced by circumstance.' It would be best if you first pretended to explore other possibilities. Just like in those British common law countries, first-degree murder is 'premeditated and long-planned,' while second-degree murder is 'impulsive and committed in the heat of the moment.' You need to act as if this were a second-degree offense. Of course, I only suggest this from the perspective of intelligence deception. If military security is at risk, do not complicate matters."

Hipper understood immediately. Thinking it over from a purely military standpoint, he realized it was indeed actionable—a perfect way to balance military necessity with intelligence deception.

He exclaimed with delight, "Your idea is brilliant! And I can pull it off! In a moment, I will pretend we are heading back to Wilhelmshaven. Once we encounter Beatty’s search party, I will pretend to be afraid of a superior enemy and decisively turn toward Antwerp! It will make it look as though I was 'cowardly, afraid of the strong, and forced into Antwerp,' rather than having planned it from the start. Furthermore, Beatty is surely desperate to find me. He will fear my escape, so he will spread his fleet thin to search. If I concentrate my force on a single point to break through, even if I run into his ships, I won't be facing too many at once. I can turn around and shake him off with absolute certainty!"

The more Hipper thought about it, the more he felt this plan was bold, inspired, and truly marvelous.

Seeing his confidence, Lelouch was inwardly pleased and added, "Moreover, this allows us to weave in further intelligence deceptions. For instance, as we discussed, the biggest risk of retreating to Antwerp is that 'there are no large naval shipyards there, so damaged warships cannot be repaired.' You are willing to go there now because none of our capital ships are critically damaged and in need of major repairs. But if you act as if you 'fled in panic after meeting Beatty and were forced into Antwerp,' you can later pretend that 'several battlecruisers are severely damaged.' You could even use the compromised code to send a request to the rear for 'expanding the Antwerp shipyards to repair capital ships,' tricking the enemy into further lowering their guard, thinking you are lying crippled in Antwerp..."

Hipper caught his breath, his heart racing. This was devious—a chain of deadly, trap-laden maneuvers! But since it was against the British, no level of deception was too extreme. After all, their very name—in Chinese—suggested cunning; this was simply paying them back in their own coin.

Hipper accepted every part of the plan, feeling deeply grateful to Lelouch.

***

Everything that followed proceeded logically. To make the act of "using any means necessary to stir up trouble" look more authentic, Hipper orchestrated a few low-cost, high-impact diversions.

At 4:00 AM, while passing the port of Dunkirk on the return journey, he did the unprecedented: he ordered several battlecruisers to position themselves 15 kilometers from the shore and suddenly unleash a barrage of high-explosive main gun shells upon the harbor, docks, warehouses, and naval barracks.

The bombardment was brief, lasting less than 15 minutes in total. Each main gun fired 20 rounds of high-explosive shells—which were rarely used in naval combat—shattering over a dozen facilities, killing thousands of sleeping French soldiers, and destroying over a hundred thousand rounds of stored ammunition along with several dry docks and piers. These losses were enough to keep General Joffre in a state of utter chaos for quite some time.

While Hipper's capital ships were busy with this opportunistic strike, the "Scharnhorst-class" armored cruisers, which he had left in the rear due to their slower speed, were not idle either. Starting shortly after 1:00 AM, these two armored cruisers, accompanied by a few light cruisers, launched a counter-bombardment against the positions the French had just captured in the town of Nieuwpoort.

Earlier that night, German troops were defending that area, while the French were attacking, with British battleships providing fire cover. The French had finally captured the town thanks to their allies' continuous support, only to find that shortly thereafter, those same allied battleships had been blown to pieces. Then, to their horror, the French realized it was now the enemy's turn to bombard them!

The French forces, having just occupied the ruins and unfamiliar with the terrain, were hammered again, suffering heavy losses and a total collapse of morale. The Germans had been prepared for elastic defense, with secondary lines and small boats ready to ferry troops. The French, however, had no such preparation; they took the full force of the shelling, losing thousands more in the carnage.

***

Hipper's series of maneuvers were interpreted by the enemy as a "desperate attempt to stir up confusion to cover his true location."

For a time, the intelligence systems on the other side of the Channel were thrown into massive disarray. Some urgent reports suggested Hipper was at Dunkirk and would head back to the mainland immediately after the bombardment. Other reports placed him at Nieuwpoort or even Ostend, intending to head northeast from there. The most outrageous rumor claimed he had reached Flushing, a port city at the bend of the Netherlands peninsula, and was going to hug the coastline, violating Dutch neutrality to force his way north.

Three conflicting reports arrived at once, each suggesting a northern route separated by at least an hour's sailing distance from the others.

Which one should David Beatty believe?

Ultimately, considering Minister Wharton's fury and the ultimatum that he must not let Hipper escape, Beatty had no choice but to divide his battlecruisers into three groups of two or three ships each, stretching them into a search net spanning sixty nautical miles from west to east. No matter which point Hipper hit, reinforcements from the other points could quickly arrive to surround and destroy him.

At the same time, Beatty knew that by splitting his forces, any single group encountering Hipper would be at a local disadvantage. Therefore, he ordered that if any sub-fleet discovered the enemy, they were absolutely not to engage in a prolonged fight. Instead, they were to maintain distance, "drag" the enemy while staying stable, and radio for all allies to rush over for a decisive battle once the encirclement was complete.

Compared to German battlecruisers, the British still held a slight speed advantage, so Beatty was confident they could "fight if they could, and run if they couldn't."

***

On the other side, Hipper, having finished his deception, chose the middle of the three northern routes as his feigned breakthrough path. It wasn't because this route was the best, but because he had no choice—the two "Scharnhorst-class" armored cruisers were left in the waters near Ostend, and he had to rendezvous with them before heading north; he could not let the faster battlecruisers abandon their comrades.

Of course, knowing he would soon have to turn back toward Antwerp, Hipper took an extra precaution: he intentionally let the battlecruisers lead, while the armored cruisers trailed slowly behind. On the surface, this looked like "the whole fleet is breaking through at full speed, and the faster battlecruisers are in front." In reality, since he intended to act as if he were being defeated and flee in panic once he met the enemy, the "rear would become the front," allowing the armored cruisers to save over a dozen nautical miles and return to Antwerp faster.

All details were perfect.

When the fleet sailed past seven in the morning, shortly after the sky had brightened, Hipper's fleet spotted two large enemy ships patrolling on the northern horizon. These were clearly Beatty's battlecruisers, sent overnight to intercept them.

"Two enemy battlecruisers spotted due north! Suspected 'Indefatigable-class'! Bearing 345/355."

With the enemy sighted, all four of Hipper's battlecruisers tensed, moving to battle stations. After the night's fierce fighting, two of Hipper's battlecruisers had been hit by 305mm shells and sustained minor damage. The other two had been struck by 150mm secondary batteries, destroying some upper-deck facilities or secondary guns. Having also shelled the enemy port, their ammunition supply was nearly half-depleted, and their combat readiness was certainly not equal to the pristine condition of the British battlecruisers.

Analyzing the situation, Hipper muttered to himself, "There are only three 'Indefatigable-class' ships, and the *Indefatigable* is currently in the Mediterranean fleet, so these two must be the *Australia* and the *New Zealand*... All ships turn to 120, line formation to meet the enemy!"

A heading of 120 was 30 degrees south of due east—the course back to Antwerp, though it would require a further southerly turn at the end. For now, maintaining 120 degrees ensured the optimal firing angle, allowing each ship's forward main turrets to rotate to the maximum angle to target the enemy while "dragging" the engagement.

***

"Four German battlecruisers spotted! Bearing 75/85, confirmed as Hipper's battlecruiser fleet!"

Almost at the same moment, on the bridge of the *Australia*, Beatty's deputy, Rear Admiral Archibald Moore, received the report. Moore's first reaction was also to maintain distance until Beatty's other five battlecruisers could arrive, at which point he could overwhelm the enemy with seven against four!

It was currently two against four; victory was impossible. A wise man doesn't fight a losing battle. Although the British had more total force, because they were stretched in a search net, all ships could not gather immediately, so they had to drag it out. An hour, or two at most, and the rest would arrive. That would be the end of Hipper.

But to Moore's surprise, shortly after he gave the order to turn and "drag" the engagement, he noticed the Germans had also turned! The German ships began to veer 30 degrees south to open the distance, while the British ships veered 30 degrees north to do the same. The two sides were quickly moving further apart.

"What is happening? We are afraid, and the enemy is afraid too? Hipper is fleeing as soon as he sees me? No, turn around! Hard to starboard! Turn to 150! Chase them! Keep your distance, don't get too close, but don't let them run! Do not close within 15 kilometers, or they cannot pierce our main armor! Just harass them with fire from maximum range! Delay their retreat!"

Rear Admiral Moore knew he couldn't win, so he sought to maintain distance and stall. If the opponent were forced into a state of engagement, they would have to slow down to increase accuracy. At high speeds, wind and waves caused significant shaking, drastically reducing hit rates; only at cruising speeds could they fire accurately.

***

"How foolish. Do they think we are trying to bypass them to find another breakthrough angle? Heh, I intended to return to Antwerp all along. Since you want to bite, I'll give you a taste of what's coming. Turn north 15 degrees, let's get a better broadside angle!"

Hipper saw Moore chasing eagerly and knew the enemy had miscalculated again. Since that was the case, he didn't mind slowing down slightly, from 26 knots to a cruising speed of 18 knots, while turning slightly north to gain a T-crossing advantage.

As everyone knows, the T-crossing advantage in naval warfare occurs when one side's line of battle is perfectly set, allowing all main guns to fire a broadside, while the enemy enters the range one by one in a column. Initially, only the first ship can return fire, and it takes time for the others to adjust and fire.

Since Moore was chasing, he fell into a formation disadvantage, becoming the vertical stroke of the 'T', while Hipper was the horizontal one. Once both sides entered range, only the *Australia* could fire immediately, while the *New Zealand* would take another ten minutes to join in. This meant for the first ten minutes, the German ships could focus their fire four-on-one against the *Australia*.

"Boom, boom, boom, boom!"

As the *Australia* entered range, 16 305mm shells and 16 280mm shells began trial salvos. Because the distance was too great, all shells missed by a wide margin and required recalibration. Even so, Moore was startled—being the target of 32 shells at once was a dubious honor. He ordered his eight 305mm guns to return fire, and the two sides began exchanging salvos.

Two minutes, five minutes... as time passed, both sides exchanged seven or eight rounds, gradually completing their range-finding and becoming increasingly accurate.

Ultimately, quantity ensured quality. By the eighth round, the *Australia* was struck by a 280mm shell. Fortunately, the distance was great enough that it failed to pierce the core armor. But more shells followed, and two landed on the bow and stern, blowing huge holes in the non-armored sections and causing flooding. Damage control teams immediately sealed the watertight doors, eventually limiting the flooding to two or three thousand tons. The ship's speed dropped, and it could no longer catch the enemy.

By the end, the *Australia* had been hit by seven large-caliber shells, its bow and stern were a mess, and its maximum speed was reduced to 15 knots. The *New Zealand* was also hit twice, destroying a secondary gun deck and a bridge observation tower. The British ships managed to hit two German ships once each, but the extent of the damage was unclear due to the range.

The result of this engagement was nine hits for the Germans and two for the British, after which they broke off. Moore had indeed bought some time, but considering David Beatty's other five battlecruisers were about to arrive, Hipper didn't want to linger and fled while the advantage was still his. Moore, seeing the *Australia* crippled and fearing that the *New Zealand* would be sunk if left to fight four against one, could only watch the enemy escape.

When Beatty arrived with his main force and seven battlecruisers in total, he pursued them aggressively, but Hipper had already gained a thirty-minute head start and was gone.

By noon, Hipper had entered the fjords near Antwerp and passed the Flushing headland. Beatty continued the pursuit, but shortly after entering the fjord, a scout destroyer suffered a massive explosion and sank.

"The Germans have laid anchor mines at the entrance to the Flushing fjord! This area was under Belgian control just days ago! They must have just laid them!"

Seeing the narrow terrain and another ship lost to mines, Beatty dared not pursue further. He could only blockade the entrance, ensuring Hipper was trapped, and sent a telegram to Minister Wharton.

Minutes later, at Downing Street in London, Minister Wharton received the call.

"Your Excellency, we intercepted the Hipper fleet 40 nautical miles northwest of Flushing. But upon seeing our strength, Hipper turned and fled. We pursued and scored multiple hits, but due to the long engagement range, we could not inflict fatal damage. The enemy fled in panic to Antwerp. We cannot enter the fjord, but we have ensured the enemy fleet is trapped inside."

Hearing that the enemy was at least bottled up in Antwerp made Wharton feel somewhat better. At least the enemy could do nothing now; they had become a "fleet in being." Moreover, since they had fled so ignominiously, he could exaggerate the damage to the German ships to restore some face for the Royal Navy.

Wharton calmed down and immediately ordered a victory bulletin to be sent to *The Times*. It stated that "all four of the enemy's advanced battlecruisers in the North Sea theater were heavily damaged by Admiral David Beatty’s fleet in today's engagement. To avoid total destruction, the enemy fled in panic to Antwerp. There is no other way out, and no naval shipyards there; all four German ships are in a desperate predicament."

In short, according to *The Times*, the Royal Navy had won a crushing victory. Hipper’s four battlecruisers were supposedly beaten to a pulp, hanging by a thread, and in a state of "one-shot-kill" misery. As for the ships the Royal Navy had lost, they were merely twenty-year-old junk that needed to be scrapped anyway; the Germans had simply saved the Navy the trouble of breaking them down.

Of course, this was for public consumption; the internal review would be another matter entirely.

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