Chapter 351: Open Fire

"Any findings?" the veteran Moriz asked beside him. Moriz had served twelve years in the navy and was the most experienced man at the lookout post.

"Nothing at all." Klaus set down his telescope, rubbed his eyes, "Only fog, damn fog. I feel like we're sailing in milk."

Moriz did not smile. He kept holding his telescope, slowly and systematically scanning the sea. "In fog, sometimes you hear before you see."

"Hear what?"

"Engine noise. Cannon fire. Or…" Moriz suddenly stopped, "Wait."

Klaus immediately raised the telescope again: "What?"

"Starboard, two‑o'clock direction." Moriz's voice tightened, "In the fog… something."

Klaus looked in the direction he mentioned. At first he saw only a gray‑white. Gradually, he discerned some outlines—huge, dark, moving slowly.

That was not a ship.

It was many ships.

"God…" he murmured.

Those outlines flickered in the fog, like a mirage, yet terrifyingly real. He could see towering masts, massive gun turrets, stout smokestacks… the vessels lined up in a neat row from left to right, almost filling the entire view.

"It's the Yingguo fleet!" Moriz's voice sharpened with shock, "The entire Yingguo main fleet! They're… they're directly ahead of us!"

Klaus's heart raced. He grabbed the communicator, but his hand trembled.

"Report! Enemy fleet spotted starboard at two o'clock! Multiple large battleships, formation… formation is a single Column! They… God, they're right in front of us!"

A brief silence came from the bridge, then the captain's urgent voice: "Distance? Bearing?"

"Distance… Distance is very close! Less than ten thousand yards! Bearing… they're directly ahead, heading… wait, their heading…"

Klaus carefully observed the slowly moving outlines in the fog. He noted a terrifying fact—the Yingguo fleet's Column was exactly perpendicular to the heading of the Frankfurt. No, not just the Frankfurt, but the entire Deguo fleet's heading.

The Yingguo fleet was positioned across the front of the Deguo fleet.

Like a wall built of steel.

"They're across from us!" Klaus almost shouted, "The entire battle line! From northeast to southwest! We're… we're heading straight to the front end of their Column!"

The captain's gasp of cold air came through the communicator.

Immediately, the Frankfurt's alarm sounded mournfully throughout the ship.

At 18:25, on the bridge of the Frederick the Great, Admiral She Er received an emergency report from the Frankfurt.

At first, he thought he had misheard.

"Yingguo main fleet directly ahead of us? Across our course?" he stared at the communications officer, repeating the report, "Are you sure?"

"It was seen with my own eyes from the Frankfurt, Admiral." The communications officer's face turned pale, "They report: multiple Yingguo dreadnoughts spotted, formation is a single Column, heading roughly 080 degrees, nearly perpendicular to our fleet's heading. Distance… Distance less than ten thousand yards."

Ten thousand yards.

Within the Main Gun's Effective Range.

She Er rushed to the chart table. The staff had already marked the Yingguo fleet's position based on the Frankfurt's report. The moment he saw that marker, She Er felt the blood in his body turn cold.

The Yingguo main fleet had not indicated in the telegram that they had "formed a battle formation".

They had already formed.

Moreover, their battle line was exactly across the Deguo fleet's forward path.

"Crossing the T‑head…" Chief of Staff Te Luota muttered, his voice full of fear, "God, we've rammed into the T‑head…"

She Er forced himself to stay calm. He was the fleet commander, the lives of over forty thousand people hinged on his decisions. Panic would only lead to ruin.

"Order the entire fleet," his voice unusually steady, "Emergency turn! Hard left! Adjust heading to 180 degrees! We must disengage immediately!"

"But Admiral," Te Luota hurriedly said, "if we turn now, the whole fleet will become a chaos! And turning takes time; before that…"

He didn't finish, but the meaning was clear—before the turn completed, the Deguo fleet would continue charging toward the Yingguo battle line, and the Yingguo had enough time to fire.

"Then release smoke!" She Er roared, "All destroyers forward, release a smoke screen! Light cruisers prepare torpedo attacks! We'll use every means to disrupt them!"

Orders were broadcast wildly via radio and light signals. The entire Deguo fleet, like a startled herd of beasts, began turning, accelerating, and releasing smoke in chaos.

But in the thick fog, under the massive fleet Scale, the transmission and execution of these orders took time.

And time was the most luxurious thing at this moment.

Exactly 18:30.

On the bridge of the Iron Duke, Admiral Jie Li Ke held a telescope, staring at the dense fog ahead on the starboard side.

He saw nothing. But the Signal Room's reports kept coming:

"Enemy fleet Distance about nine thousand yards, still approaching…"

"Bearing remains essentially unchanged, angle with our heading about 70 degrees…"

"Detected changes in enemy fleet engine noise, possible turning intent…"

Jie Li Ke lowered the telescope. He knew the moment had arrived. The Deguo might have already spotted them, might be turning. But turning takes time, and that interval is a firepower window.

He walked to the megaphone and opened the broadcast channel to the entire fleet.

His voice was calm and clear, reaching every corner of the twenty‑four Yingguo dreadnoughts:

"All fleet, attention, I am fleet commander Jie Li Ke."

"Target, starboard, Deguo open‑sea fleet."

"Distance nine thousand yards."

"All Main Guns—"

He paused, taking a deep breath.

"Fire."

The moment the order was given, the Iron Duke's hull shuddered violently.

Ten 13.5‑inch (343 mm) Main Guns fired in two salvos—turrets A and B first, followed immediately by turrets X and Y. The massive muzzle flame ripped through the thick fog, casting orange‑red light on the gray‑white sea. The shells' shrieking as they tore the air sounded like a chorus from hell, soaring toward the Deguo fleet nine thousand yards away.

Behind the Iron Duke, Orion's Main Gun fired next. Then came the Monarch, the Conqueror, the Thunder… the entire Yingguo battle line, from the lead ship Malborough to the rear ship Akincul, the Main Guns of the twenty‑four dreadnoughts roared in succession.

Over two hundred large-caliber naval guns completed their first salvo in less than a minute.

It was a spectacular sight rarely seen in the history of human warfare — though obscured by thick fog, the muzzle flashes still illuminated the sea surface, and the explosions were incessant, like a continuous thunderstorm.

On the Deguo fleet's side, the scene was hell.

When the first Shells fell, Scheer was still on the bridge of the Friedrich der Grosse, trying to organize a turn. He heard the sound of gunfire in the distance, then saw the sea ahead suddenly erupt with countless towering columns of water.

Those columns of water were not scattered sparsely.

They were terrifyingly dense, like a white forest suddenly grown from the seabed, covering an entire stretch of sea.